a/n: Well... I haven't written Ron/Hermione in literally like seven years, but here I am, giving it a drabble-y shot.
To claim that I own Harry Potter would be absolutely ridiculous, nor do I own e. e. cummings or Imperial Mammoth's property.
–
'you are my fate'
'And though your arms and legs are under, love will be the echo in your ears.
When all is lost and plundered, my love will be there still'
–
1.
As a little girl, Hermione dreamed of castles and dragons and princes rescuing princesses. Her small features were lit up with joy every time her mother plucked the same old fairytale book off the shelf and began reading.
When she turns eleven and gets her Hogwarts letter her parents think she's made it up and laugh until another letter that Hermione never reads falls into their lap by a passing owl.
It doesn't even take a week at her new school for Hermione to decide that the fairytale versions of castles and dragons are much nicer than this place.
The funny thing is, the first time she lays eyes on Ronald Weasley she has just finished reading from the book of fairytales before helping Neville.
She never tells him, but just for a split second she thought maybe he could be her prince.
–
2.
Third year is the first time she feels something stir in her chest when Ron passes her on the stairs at The Leaky Cauldron. He smells like what she thinks warmth would be if it were a scent.
She spends at least two thirds of her year sobbing in her four poster bed over him, wishing that whatever it was in her chest would just go away. She slams her book of fairytales shut one night after a nasty fight, wondering why everything has to hurt so much.
He blunders on through the year, blaming her for all his problems and she realizes that she was so stupid to even consider him any sort of prince.
He apologizes the next day and promises to help her with Buckbeak and when he returns her hug she decides maybe he's not so bad after all.
–
3.
Viktor Krum is everything a prince should be: rich, good looking, kind, but for some reason when she dances with him she finds him much too short and bulky. His dark hair isn't nearly red enough and she thinks his eyes should be blue.
As she yells at Ron later that night she feels herself slipping into something she knows she can't stop. She doesn't think she'll ever stop crying over Ronald Weasley.
For a brief while she wishes she hadn't been rubbish at Divination so that maybe she could see how all of this was going to turn out in the end.
–
4.
The fairytale book is covered in dust as she pulls it out from under her bed in sixth year, her heart heavy and eyes red. Hermione hates herself for ever believing in the stupid stories; there are no princes.
Lavender Brown is the greatest slap in the face she's ever had; she feels like she's forgiven him for so much over the years, but she doesn't know if she will ever forgive him for this.
The previous summer Hermione had spent hours in front of her mirror, trying to do something that would make her stand out. Her hair wouldn't cooperate and she didn't know the first thing about beauty spells.
Ginny helped her sometimes when she was at the Burrow, but even then he didn't notice.
She figures that he probably never will.
–
5.
His voice is all she registers from her place in front of Bellatrix Lestrange, knife carving into her flesh. She focuses on his voice and she thinks that it wouldn't be such a bad way to die.
When he came back to them she had been so angry because he would never see how much of her life she spent either waiting on him or crying over something he'd done. She knew that she was too far gone months beforehand.
And really, she always had been.
Their first night at shell cottage she pulls out the fairytale book from her small beaded bag, smiling at his sleeping figure, thankful that even if they were broken at least they were together.
When he asked what she was reading she'd simply said, "Just some old stories that make me feel like home."
What she means to say is: "You make me feel like home."
–
6.
They don't mention the kiss for a few days after the war ends, mainly because there's no time to. He morns the loss of a ninth of his family and she tries to make sure he's eating properly.
He spends a week in a drunken stupor until she takes the bottle from him and tells him that Fred would have wanted more from his brother. For a moment she thinks he's going to yell at her like he had in third or fourth year, but instead he kisses her.
She finds herself crying over Ron Weasley once again, but this time they're tears of joy.
Maybe he's too clumsy, and foolish, and clueless to be a prince but she wouldn't have him any other way.
–
7.
They get married less that two months later, because really they were always meant for each other.
When Rose is old enough, Hermione lays the book of fairytales on her bedside table, a light smile dancing on her pale lips.