Are You The One That I Want? (Dramione Love Story)

Chapter 42: A piece of advice

Chapter 42: A piece of advice

Hermione gasps as she quickly turns to look who caught her off guard.
'For Merlin's sake Ronald, don't sneak up on people, you scared me half to death.' Hermione tells him. Ron chuckles and sits down next to her. 'At least you're still half alive then.'
'Very funny.' Hermione mutters. 'What are you even doing here?'
'I saw you sit here by yourself and figured "why not grant her with my presence".' Ron grins. 'So what are you doing here on your own?'
'Oh just trying to clear my head.' Hermione shrugs. 'What are you doing outside by yourself?'
'I was on my way to the Quidditch training.'
'Shouldn't you be off then? Before Ginny kills you with her bare hands.'
Ron laughs. 'We wouldn't want her to that, now would we? Why don't you walk with me?'
'Clearing your head is better done by yourself.'
Ron stares at her for a moment, silence stretching out in front of them. 'Did something happen?'
'No.' Hermione shakes her head.
'Or something that didn't happen?' Ron asks, furrowing his eyebrows.
Hermione raises her eyebrows at her best friend and can't help but let out a chuckle.
'What? That's some kind of girl logic. You say you don't want us to do something, but still you expect us to do said thing.' Ron defends. 'That can be very confusing.'
'I'm sure.' Hermione chuckles.
'So did Malfoy screw up again?' Ron asks.
'Ronald!'
'What? You might like him, but that doesn't mean I have to like the guy.'
'You don't even know him.' Hermione protests.
'I know him from our previous years, the 6 years we were at school together, you know those 6 years that he tormented us, bullied those who were, as he would call it, under him.'
'Right.' Hermione sighs.
'I'm just messing with you Hermione- sort of.' Ron says. 'So tell me, what happened?'
Hermione takes a deep breath in as she turns to look at him again. 'Draco asked me to move in within after we graduated from Hogwarts.'
Shock washes over Ron's face, but he manages to recover quickly and slowly nods. 'Okay.' he says slowly after a moment of silence. 'But you look like that's not a good thing? Is it not what you want?'
Hermione sighs. 'I thought it was, but then Harry said something this morning and now I'm not sure anymore.'
'What did he say?' Ron asks.
'He told me to think this one through before jumping into things because Draco and mine relationship hasn't been the most stable one ever since it started.'
'Harry told you that?'
Hermione nods.
'You can't say it's not true, Hermione. I'm sorry to break it to you, but there are more stable relationships.'
'I know.'
'But that doesn't mean you can't make it work. Perhaps it just needs some getting used to. Don't get me wrong, I despise the guy, but he seems to make you happy and that's all that matters, now doesn't it?' Ron says. Hermione looks up at him, rather surprised by this sudden piece of advice, especially since it's coming from Ron, the guy who has been against her relationship with Draco since the beginning.
'You think we could make it work?'
'Of course, you can make everything work as long as you put enough effort into it. If you really like this guy, why not give it a shot? Why not put that extra effort into it? If he's really worth the energy, you should go for it. I know I've been an extreme jerk in the past and I don't like how our relationship ended, because I hurt you and that's something I never wished to do, but that doesn't mean I won't look out for you or that I don't care about you anymore. I'll always love you, just in a platonic way. And if he does something to hurt you, I will personally make sure he dies a horrible and painful death.'
'Thank you Ron.' Hermione says, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him in for a hug. 'That honestly means a lot to hear from you.'
'I'd gladly kill him.' Ron grins, hugging her back.
'Ron!' Hermione exclaims, slapping his back.
'Just kidding, just kidding- sort of.' Ron winks, pulling away. 'Done clearing your head?'
'I think I am.' Hermione nods.
'Come on then, it's time for training.' Ron says, getting up from the bench and offering Hermione a hand. Hermione takes it to pull herself up and follows him back to the path and down towards the Quidditch field where the Gryffindor team is just about to mount their brooms.

It's been half an hour since Hermione and Draco went to bed. It had been a long day for her, rather emotionally draining. Several thoughts had been keeping her mind busy throughout the day and even though the chat with Ron helped to push what Harry had told her that morning away, it still kept bothering her in some way and she didn't know what to do about it. She knew she felt good with Draco, she loved him, but when they were fighting it felt like a heavy weight was put onto her shoulders and someone was trying to rip her heart out of her chest. She pulls the duvet higher up to her chin and snuggles closer to Draco, who slightly moves under her head.
'Mione? Are you awake?'
'Hmm?'
'Are you awake enough to remember what I'm going to tell you now in the morning?'
'Yes?' she whispers.
'I want you to know that if you change your mind about moving in together at some point, you just have to tell me.'
Hermione looks up at him and furrows her eyebrows. Does he know she has been struggling with this the whole day? 'How come you tell me this?'
Draco shrugs. 'It felt like a rushed decision last night and I want you to have the time to think about this before committing to it. I just wanted to let you know that you don't have to feel guilty if it turns out you'd rather not live together just yet after school.'
Hermione gives him a small smile. 'You wanted to give me time? But what about you?'
'I know I want to live with you. I've been thinking about this for a while and I can't help but feel happy with the idea of us sharing a flat after school. No obligations of course, but this is the way I think and feel about the matter.'
'You know,' Hermione starts, a small smile playing at the corners of her lips. 'We haven't even had a first date yet and we're already talking about moving in together.'
Draco chuckles. 'Who needs a first date when you can see your whole future spend together with that one person?'
'Any other girl would probably have been scared off by this, Malfoy. It normally comes across as slightly creepy and stalker-ish when you haven't even gone on your first date yet.'
Draco laughs. 'But you're not any other girl and you can't really call this a normal situation.'
'Luckily not.' Hermione smiles up before softly pressing her lips against his.

A/N

aaah it was just Ron who caught her off guard, thank goodness. Now thank you Harry for making Hermione doubt her relationship and who would've expected Ron to give her a piece of his advice concerning her relationship with Draco and it'd turn out to be good advice! 

thank you once again for reading, voting, adding and commenting on this story, it honestly means a lot! :D 

lots of love

xx