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Hermione spent a lot of her time watching Jughead instead of actually reading the book that she had taken along on their trip with her. She couldn’t help it. It was weird to see him like this, as if taking a wild animal out of their natural habitat and dropping them in the middle of the streets of London. She didn’t think that Jughead had ever been this far away from Riverdale before and while she thought that it was amusing and good for him, it was painful to watch at the same time.
It didn’t help that it was a lot hotter over here in Bali than it was in England or even in Rockland County. It had been a welcome change when they had first gotten there. Hermione had enjoyed lying out in the sun and letting its rays bathe her skin. She had enjoyed seeing Jughead actually get some colour in his pasty skin - and even remove his trademark beanie when she had taken him for a swim in the ocean.
But it wasn’t until the first day of their holiday that it rained that Hermione actually saw Jughead truly happy. It was as if by the heavens opening up, he was able to feel some sort of relief. She had hoped that he would enjoy some time away from Riverdale, that he would be happy to put some distance between himself and the town that had tried to break him down on more than one occasion. Instead, he seemed to have been made miserable by her attempt to do something good. He’d brought his laptop with him and Hermione had thought that he’d be using all of their new found free time to do some writing, but that had yet to be the case.
When she’d asked him what the problem was, Jughead had told her that everything was fine. Hermione had wanted to believe him, but she couldn’t. There was a tone to his voice that she'd never heard from him before, one that actually reminded her of Harry. In particular, it reminded her of when she and Harry had practically lost all hope while out on the run. She didn't understand why Jughead would feel even remotely like they had back then just because they had gone to a different country. She really wanted him to enjoy this holiday, but it didn't seem as if that was going to happen any time soon.
The rain at least kept them inside for the day and it was much harder for Jughead to avoid Hermione when they were locked in together. It was harder for him to avoid his laptop as well, especially now that he was sat with it resting on his outstretched legs, seemingly in a bid to avoid having a conversation with Hermione.
She wanted to ask what he was writing, if he had managed to write anything, but often she found that he didn't like to discuss his latest short story with her until it was finished. Once, during an argument, he had yelled at her that it had felt wrong because she wasn't Betty.
Hermione had tried not to take that to heart - in her opinion, it was a good thing that she wasn't anything like that serial killer. But it did mean that a part of Jughead missed his ex-girlfriend, and that hurt. She had hoped that by forcing him to spend time with only her, without any reminders of Betty (including their mutual friends) that he would remember why they had fallen for each other in the first place but that seemed to have completely backfired.
Instead of attempting conversation of any sort, Hermione had curled up in another corner of their hotel room with a book. It wasn't how she had wanted to spend the day, but every time she glanced over at Jughead, he did seem to be happier. She found herself hoping that it meant he had gotten over whatever block had been ailing him.
With a small smile on her face, Hermione actually let herself start to get lost in her book until something landed squarely in the middle of the pages. She jumped, flinging the book and it's new passenger up in the air with a squeal.
The book dropped to the floor with a dull thud whereas the brightly coloured object - which Hermione could now see was in fact a beach ball - bounced off before rolling towards Jughead who was now sitting watching her. His legs were crossed at his ankles and his laptop was closed on the windowsill beside him.
"What was that for?" Hermione asked as she picked up her book, smoothing out its pages and checking that the spine was in no way damaged from its impromptu flying lesson.
"I just wanted to get your attention." There was a grin on his lips, the same kind that had appeared that morning when they had woken up to the rain hammering against the window.
"There are simpler ways, Jug." Hermione pointed out as she set the book down on the floor beside her, adjusting the cushions she was using to sit on.
Jughead grinned and moved to kneel on the floor in front of her, his lips pressing to the tip of her nose. "Like this you mean?" He asked. His grin was still fixed in place and honestly it made Hermione feel a hundred times better, almost as if dragging him to another country had been a good idea after all.
"Exactly like that." She nodded before she kissed him gently.
He didn't let the kiss linger for long however, pulling back so that their eyes met again. Hermione glanced down at his hands that were on her outstretched legs before she met his gaze properly.
"I'm sorry that I've made this into the worst vacation ever." Jughead apologised as he gave her leg a gentle squeeze. "I thought I'd be able to run from my ghosts but I think they followed me here instead."
Hermione chewed on her lip slightly. She knew that he meant metaphorical ghosts and it was in moments like this that she was reminded of the very different worlds that they had grown up in. She might have been a muggleborn, but it had been a long time since she had lived a completely muggle life. Even now that she was living in Riverdale, she was still working as the British Ambassador to the MACUSA.
"It's okay to miss her." Hermione said quietly as she lay her hands over his and attempted to give him a small smile.
"I know." Jughead said softly. "But I don't. I just know she won't approve of what I want to do."
"What you want to do?" Hermione repeated, frowning slightly in her confusion as she tried to figure out what he was on about. He often talked in code, but usually she was able to keep up with him. Today, however, was not one of those times.
"Yeah." Jughead kissed her nose again before he moved away and grabbed his laptop from the windowsill. He also grabbed his raincoat before he handed her his laptop. "Just...read the story I wrote and I'll meet you down on the beach front when you're done?"
Hermione's frown deepened but slowly she nodded as she took the laptop from him. "Okay, sure."
Jughead flashed her smile and blew her an overly exaggerated kiss before he slipped out of the door, his jacket slung over his arm. His beanie was the last thing that she saw as he closed the door behind him, leaving Hermione far more confused that she had ever been before. She tried to shrug it off as she opened the laptop and started reading.
Hermione wasn't sure what she had just read or if it actually meant what her brain was trying to convince her it meant. She was rarely ever wrong so it was extremely hard for her to think that she could be wrong now.
Jughead's story had been a personal piece, as most of his writing was. He'd written all about the murders and other horrors that had taken place in Riverdale when he was a teenager, not to mention his own attempted murder, but this story was different. This story was about them; Hermione and Jughead. The events in it were real, from how Hermione had helped him to move on after the devastating revelation that Betty had taken over from her father in the role of the Black Hood, to them coming here to Bali on holiday. The ending of the story was what confused Hermione, however.
She grabbed the beach ball and her own raincoat from the back of one of the wicker chairs, pulling it on as she exited the apartment and doing up the zip as she took the steps two at a time. She barely looked up as she made her way through the hotel lobby, her eyes on her open-toed sandals as she tried to process what she had just read.
Fortunately the beach was just a short journey from their hotel and she didn't need to pay much attention to where she was going. Her head was elsewhere anyway and briefly she found herself wondering if this was how Luna felt all the time.
That thought flew away pretty quickly as she spotted Jughead at the water's edge. He had his t-shirt off and resembled a marble statue as the sun bounced off his pale skin. Hermione's breath caught in her throat as she watched him for a moment.
He didn't seem to care about the wind that was still hammering down, the raindrops the size of eggs. He did however still have that damned beanie on his head, so she supposed that his hair wouldn't get wet.
She took a deep breath as she attempted to kick start her breathing again before she threw the beach ball in his direction, watching as it just missed him (as she'd expected) and landed with a small splash in the water beside him.
It seemed that it was enough to get his attention though as he turned to face her, a smile flickering across his lips though his expression told her that he was mainly nervous, which definitely corroborated with the ending of his story.
"There are simpler ways to get my attention, Mione." He teased, repeating her words back to her as she closed the distance between them.
"I'm no writer though." Hermione said softly, her eyes flickering to his hands which she could now see were clasped around something tightly. Her heart was pounding in her chest and she was sure that he must be able to hear it, even over the rain and the sea.
Jughead stole a kiss, his lips sweet against hers before he reached for her hand. "I am a man of words, Hermione Jean Granger, but the words to tell you how I feel about you do not exist. I'd hoped that I'd be able to find them when I wrote our happy ending, but they didn't even come to my fictional self so instead it all falls to the real life version of me."
Hermione's eyes were fixed on his as he spoke. She was glad that he was 'a man of words' because at that moment in time she didn't seem to have any at all. She did look away when he pulled his hand away, leaving something velvety soft in her palm.
She discovered that it was a box and she knew what was inside of it without even needing to open it. His story had made it clear what today was, why he had been quieter than normal, why it had felt as if he was pulling away from her lately.
"Are you - are you sure that this is what you want?" Hermione found herself asking as she looked back up at him to find that his face was now painted with an anxious smile.
"I have never been more sure of anything in my life. I've never met anyone like you before, and I never will meet anyone like you again. You are my light in the dark. I don't want to hero worship you, but you did save me." Jughead paused for a moment before he reached out to open the box, Hermione's eyes followed his hands. "I can't imagine my life without you now and I don't want to. Hermione, will you marry me?"
Hermione could only stare as he took a ring out of the box and slipped it onto his finger. This was almost exactly as it had happened in the ending of his story and yet she still hadn't expected it. It was almost like a fairytale ending and after everything that had happened in her life, she didn't expect to get anything that resembled her happily ever after.
"Hermione?" Jughead's voice snapped her out of her thoughts and back to the present. "I… I assumed by you coming down here that you were going to say yes?"
"Oh." Hermione looked up and met his gaze again. "Yes. Of course I'm saying yes." A laugh escaped her before she flung her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply. "Not to be that girl but: yes! Yes! A million times yes!"
Jughead laughed as he kissed her back. "A million times, huh? I think I could only do that once. Well - twice if you count my fictional attempt."
"Oh. I definitely count that." She told him as she grinned up at him. "I guess I'll just have to read it over and over again so I can say yes that many times then, huh?" She hummed before she kissed him again, not caring that her hair was now more or less ruined from the rain.
"Better watch you don't get burnt out from saying 'yes' too much; you've still got to say 'I do' on the day, y'know." Jughead teased lightly.
Hermione laughed and pressed a kiss to both his cheeks. "Don't you worry. I'll save a very special 'I do' just for that day."
She honestly couldn't believe her luck, especially considering how their holiday had started and how she had been thinking the worst. If you'd asked her this morning how she'd have thought the day would end, it would not have been with his arms wrapped around her, much less with a ring on her finger and her heart swollen to twice its normal size. Bali certainly wasn't going to be a place that she forgot in a hurry.