Chapter 6: Let the Dating Game Begin….and End!

Ron opened his eyes and shut them immediately as the sun was shining directly into his eyes. Once again, he tried opening his eyes slowly to find himself on a very grassy landscape. When the hell did I land up here, he thought. However, it was beautiful, wherever it was. He stood and looked about. There were no traces of any grey, and he could feel the cool silkiness of grass under his feet. As he explored the place, he saw what appeared to be a lone figure standing…perilously close to the edge of the cliff? Ron panicked. Oh no, he thought assuming the worst, I’ve got to stop that person. Thinking so, he ran to the person. The person was actually a woman. Not only that, she was gazing into infinity, and from all the observation skills Ron had picked up in his Auror training, he could deduce that she didn’t intend to jump from the cliff at all. She was just too deep in her thoughts to even acknowledge Ron’s presence.

Ron tapped her lightly on the shoulder. She started and whirled around. She had a very familiar air around her, but somehow Ron was unable to place her. Using courage that had sprung up from somewhere, he held her hand and tugged at it as if to beckon her to him. She withdrew her hand, and before he could question her, she pointed to the ground. Confused, he looked down and saw a strange sight.

The woman was standing within a circular area bound by a gold ring. The area, unlike the rest of ground, was covered with a baby blanket. Apparently, she was unable to step outside the boundaries of the baby blanket. Before Ron could ask the woman the meaning of all this, the whole atmosphere around him started echoing with a strange beeping noise.

Ron forgot about the woman and instantly covered his ears. But that didn’t do any good. He could still hear it.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

“WHAT THE HELL!” Ron woke up to find his cellphone beeping away to glory. Groaning, he fumbled for the phone. He found it, after knocking a few things from the bedside table, and answered it.

“Yeah,” he said gruffly, still half-asleep.

“Uh…hello, is that you, Ron?” said a voice nervously.

“Yes, this is Ron speaking.”

“Ron! Hermione here.”

“Hermione, aren’t you supposed to be on a vacation? Then, why in the blazes are you awake so early in the morning? Wait, on second thought, don’t answer that.”

“Very funny, Ron. I just called to tell you that I have fixed up a date for you this evening. Don’t worry, I’ll pick you up. Be ready at five o’clock.”

“Okay, see you then.”

~*~

“Now, what am I supposed to talk about with this girl- what’s her name again?”

“Rose Yardley. Oh, just have a casual chat. Talk about her likes, dislikes etc. Don’t be so nervous. It’s not like you have never been on a date.”

“Yeah, I’ve been on other dates…but I didn’t exactly date a new person. All that while I had dated-” he trailed off. “Anyway, where are we going?”

“Gloria Fleur Memorial Park. Here it is, by the way.”

Hermione parked her car and both of them entered the park.

“Is that Miss Granger?” came a voice from their left.

“Yes, that’s me. You’re Rose Yardley, right? This is Ronald Weasley.”

“Hello, Ronald!” Rose said brightly.

Likes and dislikes, eh? I’ll give you likes and dislikes. Just wait and watch!

With a positively mischievous idea in his head, Ron offered his hand and said, “Call me Ron. It’s nice to meet you, Rose…Hermione, didn’t you mention that you had a call to make?”

Hermione was confused, but when she looked at Ron, she understood. “Oh yes! Please excuse me, Rose. I just remembered that I have a very important call to make.” With that, Hermione left them alone.

~*~
Hermione let out a huff of frustration. She was trying her hardest to find Ron a suitable prospective bride, but nothing was working. The last date had been a total disaster. Ron had scared off Rose Yardley with some nonsense, which had ended by making her shout at Hermione, “Oh Merlin! How could you introduce me to a crazy guy like that? Keeps claiming that I am his wife from his previous life. He’s mental!” Then, after apparently amusing Mr Weasley with her “report”, she now had Ginny laughing away to glory listening to all this.

“Well, I am glad that my frustration is a very lucrative source of entertainment for you now,” Hermione remarked sarcastically.

“No.” Ginny squeaked, gasping for breath after laughing for such a long time. “I am sorry. I just didn’t know that Ron could be so creative with excuses. Reincarnation! Honestly, too good.”

“Ha ha, very funny,” Hermione snapped.

“Okay, let me suggest something. Next time, try taking him to a place he’d actually like. And that means no gardens and parks.”

With that Ginny left for her date with her fiancé.

And Hermione had an idea.

~*~

“Ron, I have a surprise for you. I have fixed you a new date.”

“You’re right, I am really surprised…,” Ron said. “Especially after that Rose…” he added, under his breath.

Hermione ignored the comment. “No, that’s not it. The place is the surprise. Be ready at eight in the evening.”

Ron had no chance to retort, as Hermione had hung up.

Fine. Get ready Weasley.

Ron was as much excited about the date as a lamb would be if it were told that it was going to be slaughtered that evening.

Soon, Ron found himself at the entrance of a club, Rockin’ Rhythms, with a different looking Hermione. She was dressed in a little black dress, quite out of character for her (“Just dressed for the occasion”).

“You arranged for a date here? Very nice!”

“Thank you very much. Come with me. I’ll introduce you to your date.”

They reached a table where a girl, who very strongly reminded Ron of Luna Lovegood, was seated.

“Sylvia Forrester?”

“Yes! Hermione Granger?”

“Yes, that’s me. Sylvia, this is Ron Weasley.”

“Oh, Weasley, you said? I have been dying to meet a Weasley. Aren’t you Harry Potter’s best friend!?”

Ron nodded his head. Clearly, he was surprised to know that even after eight years since The War, he was as famous as Harry was. Not that he minded…on the contrary, he was pleased at recognition.

“Yes, I am. Why don’t we sit down, please Sylvia…Hermione?”

Hermione felt that since Ron was beginning to warm up to this date, she could safely leave them alone to get to know each other. Thinking so, she said, “Maybe I should leave—”

She had barely finished her sentence, and had already turned to leave them, when she felt Ron’s viselike grip on her arm. She looked towards him, to find him showing her his ‘puppydog’ eyes, as if saying Please, oh please, don’t leave me alone with her.

Hermione nodded and turned back to join them. Sylvia, unaware of the silent conversation between Ron and Hermione, replied to Ron’s offer to sit with, “Thank you. Please call me Syly.”

Syly. Oh great. Silly Syly. Now I know…Syly and Loony. What a pair of long-lost friends.

Ron could swear that he saw a shadow of a smile on Hermione’s face after Sylvia became Syly.

“Oh, and what do they call you when you are sane?” Ron muttered to himself, but still apparently audible enough for Hermione to hear it.

There could have been nothing faster than the change of expression that took place on Hermione’s face, from a slight smile to a death glare directed full force at him.

Uh oh, now I am dead.

Good job, Bigmouth Weasley.

“So Ron, tell me something about yourself. What are your hobbies?” Syly said.

“Oh. My hobbies?” Ron said, with a mock thoughtful expression on his face.

As if deciding on a final answer, he said, “Looking for prospective brides.”

“Sorry?”

“Oh yes, I come here whenever I have time. I look at a few pretty faces and then go back to work. Pretty entertaining, you know.”

Hermione glared at Ron as she understood what he meant and gave an apologetic look to Syly, who was utterly confused at Ron’s seemingly absurd statement, and said, “Oh, he’s just joking, Syly. I’m sure he doesn’t mean it. Do you, Ron?”

Ron winced at the kick he had just received from Hermione under the table. Gasping, he said, “Of-of course not. I was just joking. Seriously.”

Suddenly, Syly stiffened and muttered an “Oh no!”, as she noticed something behind Ron. In addition to all this, to Ron’s horror, and apparently for no reason whatsoever, she started sobbing. “Oh I am sorry, Ron,” she choked out. “But I can’t see you anymore. No, I cannot do this.”

Alarmed as both Ron and Hermione were with this situation, Ron felt relief seep in. Sylvia was a nice girl, but she was not his type.

Well then, who is your type? That woman in your dream?

Well, maybe.

Before Ron could think of anything else, he began rambling, “Oh…thank you Syly! You know what? I too don’t think we should see each other anymore. I don’t think it will-“

“Ron! Stop it! Don’t you see that you’ve made Sylvia upset? How can you carry on like this? Honestly, don’t you have any respect for other people’s feelings? You better keep your mouth shut now. I am going to talk to Sylvia.”

“Sylvia, I’m —” Hermione turned to where Sylvia was sitting, but she was not to be seen. “Sylvia? Um…where are you?”

“I am here. Under the table,” Sylvia replied, sniffing.

Hermione too crouched under the table and started comforting Sylvia, “I’m so sorry Sylvia. I apologise to you. Ron shouldn’t have said those things to you. That was very insensitive of him. Ron, please say something.”

By now, Ron too was crouched under the table, completely aware of what a scene this must be causing, and how many people must be staring.

“Hermione’s right, Sylvia. That was pretty rude thing for me to say. I am truly sorry.”

“Oh, it’s not you, Ron,” said Sylvia. “I just saw my boyfriend - no, ex-boyfriend, Robert - behind you. You see, I really love him a lot, and we had a pretty steady relationship for an year, but two weeks back, we had a fight over something really petty and he ended up saying something like ‘Get lost. I can find loads of girls like you and better than you.’ I got angry and said the same thing back to him. But you know, I really love him a lot and I miss him.”

“Well then, maybe you should talk to him,” Hermione suggested.

“No, he won’t talk to me...I know it. We haven’t spoken to each other since that fight. Besides, I didn’t start the fight,” Sylvia said, sniffing.

“But you did let it get better of you, didn’t you? Look Sylvia, maybe it’s not my place to say anything, but I think that when you love someone, it is okay to swallow some pride to get him back. Maybe he misses you too but doesn’t want to talk to you about it, be it because of shame or pride. If you go on like this, you may lose him. What do you think?” Hermione suggested gently.

“I agree but, I don’t know how to start it,” Sylvia asked, looking longingly at Robert.

“Don’t worry about that. Ron and I will do something. Meanwhile, why don’t you go and freshen up a bit?”

All this while, Ron had been carefully observing and listening to the dialogue between Hermione and Sylvia. No doubt, he was impressed by what Hermione had been advising, but right now, he was carefully observing Hermione’s face.

When did she get so beautiful?

Git, she was always beautiful.

Yeah…I know…I don't think I ever forgot that.

Tumhe aaj maine jo dekha

Chamka hai kismet ka tara

Badlee naseeb ki rekha

(When I see you today
the star of my destiny shines bright
the lines of fate change)

Sitting in a crouched position and lost in thoughts, Ron was jerked back to reality, when he heard his name enter into the conversation. He quickly snapped at himself just in time to face Hermione.

“We are going to do something about this.”

“Something about what?” Ron was lost. Clearly, he had missed out on a lot of information when he was so busy staring at Hermione.

Exasperatedly, Hermione summed up the conversation between her and Sylvia, to Ron in short and then said, “I have an idea.”

Surprise, Surprise! Ron rolled his eyes.

Hermione ignored that and continued, “You try getting close to Sylvia and I will try getting close to her boyfriend — what did she say his name was? Oh yes, Robert — we’ll get him to feel jealous about the fact that Sylvia has moved on. Okay?”

Ron did not like the idea much, but after a few protests when Hermione refused to budge from her plan, he gave in.


~*~

“Wow! That was so romantic,” Hermione said, as she and Ron walked out of the club. They were talking about how they had managed to get Robert and Sylvia back together.

“Yeah, it was,” Ron agreed absently.

Although the whole episode was romantic, Ron was not referring to it. In his mind, before he could help it and snap out of it, he was fantasizing how it would have been if, instead of Robert, who had finally succumbed to jealousy, wrenched Sylvia out of Ron’s grasp and given her a passionate kiss, it would have been him doing so to Hermione. When they finally broke away, Sylvia was blushing. If that was too much, then Robert’s impromptu but utterly (and sickeningly, according to Ron) sweet marriage proposal on the dance floor just…well just floored everyone.

It was this fantasy that made him unconsciously sigh out aloud, without meaning to. Hermione noticed and asked, “Anything wrong, Ron? You look tired.”

“Erm…nothing. I am just tired of all that dancing and stuff. I haven’t done it for ages. Shall we go home?”

“Okay, let’s go home.”

It was pretty late when Ron reached home, and although he had lied about being tired to Hermione, he couldn’t deny the fatigue that overtook him.

That night he had the same dream he had had a few nights back. The same place, the same cliff, the same woman standing on the same gold-outlined baby blanket. However, unlike last time, when the woman had had the scarf on her head, this time he could see her hair. It was chestnut brown. Very familiar air here. As he pulled her to him, he saw her eyes. Brown. Then he saw her face. Ron felt thrill, anxiety and excitement rush through him at the same time as he recognised the face he had long since realised as his soul mate and the love of his life.

It was Hermione.

Chhookar mere mann ko

kiya tumne kyaa ishaara

badla ye mausam

lage pyaara jag saara

(You touch my heart so,
what is it you wish to tell me
that the whole season has changed
and the whole world looks so lovely)

~*~

Author's Notes: The first song – from the movie “Kuchh Na Kaho”, sung by Shankar Mahadevan and Sujata Bhattacharya, written by Javed Akhtar.
The second song – from the movie “Yaarana (1981)”, sung by Kishore Kumar and written by Anjaan.
The words in the brackets do not give the exact meaning, word by word, but the meaning of the song as a whole.

A Big Big Thanks to my betas, Kate and CRJ Lupin.