A.N: Since this is the final chapter, I wanted to thank everyone for their reviews and their patience. I'm terribly sorry it took so long for me to update…university and a bunch of other excuses made it near impossible. So here it is…I hope it was worth the wait. :)
Ron didn't event wait for Hermione to wipe the look of horror off her face and try to explain. He threw the incriminating sock away from him and left the room. As the door slammed behind him, Hermione came out of her trance. She jumped off the bed and tore after him; he was already halfway down the stairs.
"Ron, wait!"
He ignored her and kept walking very determinedly. She followed him at a run and reached him in the downstairs hallway. She grabbed his arm, but he shrugged her off.
"Sod off Hermione!"
"Ron, we have to talk about this."
"I have nothing to say to you."
They had reached the kitchen where the rest of the group was still partying the night away.
"Please, listen to me." She begged.
He lost control, "No Hermione, because nothing you say is going to make this any better." He yelled.
The partiers had by now noticed the feuding couple, but were doing their best to pretend they hadn't.
"Ron, I…"
"You shagged my brother!"
The room went silent; everyone stared at him in disbelief. Was Ron drunk too? Hadn't they been all over each other minutes ago?
"I did no such thing."
"Yes you did…I found the purple sock."
Bill stepped in to try and defuse the situation.
"Come now bro, what's all this nonsense? A purple sock?" He asked, with a slight smile on his face. His brother was so young to have these kinds of problems.
"Hermione is screwing Percy!"
The room exploded with laughter.
"Ron…you're joking? Didn't we just settle this?" Harry asked between chuckles.
"Stay out of this Harry!"
Harry stopped laughing, "Well I'm just saying, you're being ridiculous."
"No I'm not, I found the purple sock!"
"You found the what?" Harry was confused; it was hard trying to keep up with these two when they were in a row.
"The purple sock--when Percy mentioned it earlier, I didn't think anything of it, but when I found it a few minutes ago, I remembered seeing it before." Ron explained with an annoyed look on his face.
"So Hermione wears purple socks, what's the big deal?"
"She wasn't wearing it, it was on her door knob."
"Why would Hermione put a purple sock on her door?" Ginny asked.
Hermione, who had remained silent until this point, finally found her voice, "to let someone know they could come in." As she spoke, she kept her head down, avoiding eye contact at all costs.
"So you admit that you and Percy have been meeting in secret and that a purple sock is your secret code? How original Hermione, how…inconspicuous…" Ron fought hard to keep his voice level.
"No Ron, I swear I didn't know it was Percy until tonight!"
"Didn't know it was Percy? Didn't know it was Percy? Who the bloody hell did you think it was?" Ron, quite understandably, was quickly loosing his self-control.
"Well, you…at first." Hermione answered, she still wouldn't look at him.
"Me? You're mental! You actually expect me to believe that…"
"I'm serious Ron! Don't you remember the morning I accused you of manhandling me? That was the morning after it started."
"What happened?"
"Well, someone got into bed with me and…and…." Hermione looked embarrassingly at the others in the room, "and well I thought it was you and told "you" to bugger off." She blushed deeply.
"I think we should give these two some privacy what do you all think of a late night game of quidditch?" Charlie asked, and the group quickly escaped outside.
"So after that, did this keep happening?"
"Yes."
"And how long after it started were you convinced it wasn't me?"
She didn't answer, she kept her eyes rooted to the floor.
"Hermione, look at me!" Ron commanded.
She slowly looked up and met his gaze.
"How long until you were sure it wasn't me?" He repeated.
"I was quite sure after we made-out that day, and I knew after the second time it happened."
"But you let it keep happening?"
"Yes."
"You mean that night I came in, and removed the sock--you were actually waiting for him?" Ron looked disgusted.
"Ron, I told you, I didn't know it was Percy!" Hermione's voice was desperate.
"BUT YOU KNEW IT WASN'T ME!" Ron had had enough. He couldn't help but yell.
"Ron, please…"
"NOT PERCY, FINE, BUT WHO? BILL? CHARLIE? GEORGE? WHICH OF MY BROTHERS DID YOU CONSIDER ACCEPTABLE TO CHEAT ON ME WITH HERMIONE?"
"Ron…"
"Or maybe…" Ron cut her off again, though he had stopped yelling, "you didn't think it was one of my brothers at all, maybe you thought it was Harry!" He spat out the name.
"Don't be ridiculous!" Hermione said.
"Me? Ridiculous? You cheat on me and I'm being ridiculous? Why did you do it Hermione, why?"
"I don't know…"
"You had no desire to sleep with me, but you were willing to sleep with whoever else crawled into your bed."
"Ron, no, it wasn't like that. You don't understand." She burst into tears.
"By all means, Hermione, enlighten me…make me understand." Ron's eyes were cold as they bore into her.
"At first I was overcome with feelings, but as soon as I got in control, I told Percy that I wanted my first time to be with you, but then we kept having all these difficulties and I started to worry that I wouldn't be good enough for you. That I wouldn't be able to satisfy you because I was so inexperienced, and then Percy sent me a note telling me to leave a purple sock on the door and I thought, maybe if I did it with whoever was propositioning me, then I would be better at it when it came time for us, and then you wouldn't be disappointed. I'm not saying it makes up for it, but I did it with you in mind, and I was happy when you came in instead of him, I'm glad you took the sock off the door, and I was really looking forward to tonight." Hermione said all of this in a rush, and was quite out of breath when she finished.
"Hermione, that is the biggest load of bullshit I have ever heard." Ron said, quite calmly.
"It's the truth!" She insisted.
"Well then you're an idiot. To think that I would want you to be anything other than you are, and then to use that as justification for cheating, well I don't even know what to say."
"Ron, I…"
"No Hermione, I've heard enough. There's only one thing to do."
"What?"
"I have to kick Percy's ass!"
"Ron, you really don't have to protect me…you don't have to…"
Ron cut her off, "oh I'm not protecting you Hermione, this is just something I have to do."
"Ron, I know it doesn't mean much, but I'm sorry."
"You're right, it doesn't mean much, in fact, it doesn't mean anything."
"Ron…"
"Look Hermione, as far as I'm concerned, we're done. Once I've bloodied up Percy, you can shack up with him for all I care. Hell, you could even call up Krum or McLeggen…I'm done."
Hermione looked as if he had physically slapped her. "Ron…"
He ignored her and turned on his heels and went outside.
--
By the time Hermione found enough strength to go outside, Ron had already given Percy a bloody nose and it looked like he was about to break a few ribs. Bill, Charlie, George and Harry all stood by, but no one intervened. Ginny and Fleur ran to Hermione as she came outside.
"What did you say to him? He looks crazed." Ginny said.
"I…I…told him the truth."
"That you want to be with Percy?"
"No that I want to be with him."
"Well you sure have a funny way of showing it." Ginny mused.
Before Hermione could respond the fight interrupted them.
Ron was standing over Percy, holding him by the scruff of the neck.
"I just want you to know that you're dead to me, and as for Hermione, you can have her, because as far as I'm concerned, so is she." He let Percy fall to the ground and turned to walk away.
Hermione felt numb, but then she saw Percy reach in his pocket and take out his wand. He pointed it at Ron's back. Without thinking she lunged forward.
"No…Ron…look out!" She threw herself in between them.
"Crucio!" Percy shouted.
Hermione heard a blood-curling sound, that she didn't realize she was making, and then everything went dark.
--
Hermione slowly opened her eyes. She looked around her trying to ascertain where she was. As far as she could tell, she was in Ginny's room. She gasped in surprise when she saw who was sitting by the bed with his face in his hands.
"Ron?" She whispered.
He looked up, "You're awake."
"So it would seem."
"Good, now I can yell at you. What in the name of Merlin were you thinking? As if getting tortured by an unforgivable curse once in your life isn't enough, you go and throw yourself in the way of another one?"
"Well it seemed like the best idea at the time. I didn't want you to get hurt."
"Why would you care about that?"
"Because I love you."
"Hermione…"
"I know, we're done, and I completely understand. I deserve it. But just because we're done, doesn't mean I don't love you, that I won't always love you, and it certainly doesn't mean I want to see you hurt…"
"Hermione…"
"No Ron, I just want you to know, that I realize how stupid I was, and I am terribly sorry and I…"
"HERMIONE!"
"What?" She jumped, startled.
"What on earth am I going to do with you?"
"What do you mean?"
"There is just something about you, ever since you told me I had dirt on my nose…"
"What are you going on about?"
"I'm trying to tell you that I love you too, silly." He shook his head exasperated.
"But you said…"
"I know what I said, and I'm pissed as hell, but that doesn't mean that I don't love you, that I won't always love you…"
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" She barely dared to hope.
"I can't believe it, but yes I am."
"Oh Ron…"
"Now this doesn't mean that you're off the hook. There is going to have to be a lot of groveling involved and special favors granted…."
Before he could finish, Hermione sat up and pulled her face to his. When they finally came up for air she asked, "Is this the kind of groveling you had in mind?"
"Well, it's certainly a good place to start, however, I seem to recall certain X-rated dreams you were having that I would love to see acted out…" He grinned.
"What are we waiting for?" Hermione asked. Without waiting for an answer she once again pressed her lips to his.