Enchanted
Title: Hope
Author: Aramintalupin
Prompt: Enchanted (Also prompted by one of the stills I saw of the new film!)
Ship: R/Hr
Rating: G
Word count: 481
Hermione was seated at the piano stool as Ron walked back into the sitting room. He wondered if he should say something; they really ought to get moving-it wasn’t safe to linger-but it seemed too cruel to remind her.
Instead he sat down beside her on the wide stool and saw that she had her eyes closed, deep in concentration, with her fingers splayed out on the ivory keys in front of her. Ron was enchanted by the movements of her fingers as they ghosted across the piano keys without making a sound, keeping time with a silent melody inside her head.
She’d never told him she could play the piano. It was an accomplishment that seemed out of keeping with the girl he thought he knew, and yet it fit her perfectly: another talent that she had to set her apart and put her beyond his reach. He’d never heard her sing either-except enthusiastically at Quidditch matches- and he found himself imagining how sweetly her voice would sound.
Not that she really had much reason to sing at the moment. As he continued to watch, tears slipped from Hermione’s closed eyes and splashed onto the yellowing piano keys.
“Hermione-Hermione, we have to go. I’m sorry, but your parents are going to wake up soon. They mustn’t find us here.” He shook her shoulder gently, trying not to startle her.
Hermione nodded her head once and closed the piano lid as noiselessly as she had played it, wiping her fingerprints off the polished wood so that no trace of her would be left-she was nothing more than a fading memory in this house now and as each second passed her whole life, the childhood she had spent with her parents, was being washed away.
Ron knew they were running out of time, but he had to make her feel real again.
He put his arm around her, steady and strong, resting his chin on her shoulder and lifting her hair back from her face.
“Your parents won’t be able to forget you completely. How could they? You’ll still be there, on the edge of their dreams, in the second before they wake up and they’ll know they’re missing something important even though they won’t be able to remember what it is,” he whispered to her.
Hermione shook her head. “That’s not good enough. This Memory charm has to be absolutely perfect, Ron, it’s their only hope.”
“It’ll work. But they care about you too much to allow themselves to lose you. Love’s the most powerful magic there is-surely you know that?”
She looked up at him then, just for a second, and in that one look Ron saw the truth of his own words. If he could hold onto that, through whatever trials lay ahead, then there was still a faint glimmer of hope for all of them.