Chapter Text
Prompt: Descendo – [action] falling
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Falling
Ron took Hermione on a trip to the coast after the war, just the two of them. They took Ron’s cleansweep. It sounded like a good idea at the time, but Hermione immediately regretted it when the English countryside was just a blur of green far below her feet. Hippogryphs, thestrals, dragons… she’d ridden them all but still, she clung to Ron during their flight, eyes squeezed shut and face buried into his back.
It was rather ridiculous.
Ron took a steep dive suddenly and landed them on the side of a cliff looking out over the ocean.
“Okay, get down. We’re fixing this now.”
Hermione unfurled her arms from around his waist and craned her head around his shoulder to peer at him curiously. “What do you mean?”
“What do I mean?” Ron dismounted and then turned to lift Hermione from the broom. He walked her silently toward the cliff side and looked seriously down at where she was cradled in his arms. “You’re afraid of falling. So let’s fix that.”
Hermione slapped his shoulder, slightly upset at being carried like a child. “You can’t just fix a fear like that, Ron. I’m not just going to suddenly be okay with falling—”
“Yes, you bloody well are,” he interrupted and before Hermione could argue, he asked, “Do you remember what I said to you when we were caught in the devil’s snare our first year?”
Hermione blinked, taken aback by the question’s strange turn. “What?”
“When we were caught in that devil’s snare and I was freaking out and you recognized the plant and were trying to figure out how to get out of it by remembering something you learned in some book or whatever. And then you said a fire would do it. And I was all great, light a fire. And you said that there wasn’t any wood.” Ron looked at Hermione pointedly. “What did I say to you then?”
Hermione was touched. “That was years ago. You remember that?”
“I tend to remember life and death situations, yes. And I especially try to remember what saved us in those situations. In this case, what I told you saved us. So do you remember?”
Hermione smiled shyly. “I think so. You said, ‘Are you mad? Are you a bloody witch or not?’”
Ron beamed. “Good, glad you remember, because I’m about to toss us over this cliff.” He leaned them both over the precipice, and Hermione tightened her hold around his neck. “Now, are you a bloody witch or not, Hermione Granger?”
“YOU’RE MAD!” Hermione screamed.
Ron chuckled. “You love it.”
Hermione’s eyes widened at his statement just as they tipped over the edge.
She did love it. She loved him. And maybe falling wasn’t so scary after all.
She slipped her wand from her sleeve and incanted, “Descendo.” Their fall became something more controlled and the two of them sank into the gentle waves below without injury.
Hermione kicked her legs out of Ron’s hold and faced him, wrapping both arms around his neck and greeting his knowing grin with a cocky one of her own. Ron wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled her close as they treaded water together.
Ron’s eyes were like the blue that met between sky and ocean and Hermione couldn’t help but lean and kiss him, something sweet and peaceful. When they parted, she leaned her head on his shoulder, murmuring a quiet, “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Ron answered, slightly confused. “Uh, but what for?”
Hermione grinned. “For teaching me how to fall like a witch.”