Disclaimer: All right, the story's mine, no one else's. And Harry Potter is © J.K. Rowling and other related companies.
Author's Note: I'm not sure what to call this. Either 1) A one shot sequel to A Fact In Itself 2) A one shot stand alone or 3) A story all on its own. You pick; while I was writing this, I was imagining it to be a semi sequel to AFIT. Anyway, enjoy! I suppose . . . "he" is Harry, "she" is Hermione, and you decide which one is Ron. :P "Jambled" is a made up word that means the same thing as "jumbled" or "tangled."
Author's Note 2: The line "time of submerged eternity" doesn't mean anything. Just losing themselves in forever . . submerged in forever. O.O
Author's Note 3: To all the Wonks. This goes out to you. Especially Kalie and Sandra.
Trivial.
That's what it had been.
That had been all she had cared about before.
Trivial things.
Silly, jovial things that seemed so . . . stupid now to her. Things that made her think how could she have ever cared about them?
All that didn't matter now.
After her earth shattering realization, she was honestly at a loss on what to do. Never had she been so confused until now.
What was she going to do about this?
Well, she couldn't do anything about it. She had accepted it. No more questioning, doubting herself about it. Her feelings were uncontrollable. And, really, that was that. End of story.
Or maybe the beginning of one.
She looked out the window now. Nothing, except her own reflection stared back at her. A sigh escaped her lips. She was completely at a loss on what to do. Her heart told her to tell him, of this silent feeling she held. Yet her mind was adamant about keeping her realization and feelings secret. Her heart would not listen to reason. Nor logic, for that matter. As far as sentimental matters were concerned, reason had no role in any of this. Neither did logic. Reason was a whole different story altogether; completely apart. Separate.
So reason had no say in any of this - her realization and acceptance. And questioning on what she should do next. Reason had no say in this at all.
She caught a glimpse of him then. Him. The word reverberated through her mind, giving off a sense of foreboding, insecurity - she wasn't sure which. But this was a signal from her mind; a warning bell. A sign. Then she knew, at that minute, what she was going to do. Just from that sign.
Taking a deep breath, she squared her shoulders and left the common room. To meet whatever was coming at her. And to face everything she now knew.
They were having a snowball fight. She stopped near them and just stood there, watching. Yet her eyes glanced around quickly to see where he was - if he was there.
Then her eyes lit up upon his figure. There he was, hiding behind a snow-built fort, small, tightly packed snowballs next to him. People of all ages and from all four houses were there, happily pummeling snowballs at those unfortunate innocent persons who were busily working and didn't realize until the last second that they were being targeted. And by vicious snowballs, no less. Once they realized it, they ran for their lives - however, some stayed back, their work now forgotten, and retaliated with ruthless snowballs of their own. Some, like her, just stood back and watched.
Of course, this was all in good fun.
She couldn't let herself get distracted, she knew; yet all this gave her a sense of foreboding, a twinge of something she couldn't define, couldn't find words for. She had absolutely no reason to approach this with a sense of foreboding. No reason at all.
She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. Her tension ebbed, and she felt herself relax a little bit.
She looked at the situation with fresh eyes. Then she started to walk. Toward him.
This was a still moment in time, she reflected later. A moment paused; frozen in time. That's what it felt like to her. Around them, sounds seemed to cease and the people did not exist. Only he and she existed. Everything was drowned out, even the snow - leaving only them. Alone.
He was the first to speak, his eyes questioning, brimming with something.
"You know it too."
Now that he had said it, this was the only thing that stood invisibly between them.
It was the simplest thing in the world. They both knew it. How did he know? she vaguely wondered. Her thoughts were nothing but a blur, an unseen but acknowledged jambled mess. That was the only thing that was coherent in her mind - how did he know? Did he just know, without a single question or doubt about it? Without a single explanation? Or did he figure it out?
Anyhow, that wasn't important. She shouldn't pay any mind to it. There were more important things to care about. And the both of them, he and she, knew what they were.
She could only nod; nothing else. That was her response to the truth. And slowly, as if pulled by something, an invisible force that was drawing them together, they walked toward one another. Him to her; her to him. As if nothing was stopping them. And there was nothing.
She couldn't stand it any longer then and ran into his arms.
Automatically, something clicked in her heart; she didn't feel empty anymore - as if the other half of her was missing. She was complete, as was he. They were one.
Now they could only hold onto each other and pray that the moment would never end.
It didn't. Instead, they just forgot everything and lost themselves in the moment, the time of submerged eternity.
He raised his eyes to hers. They could only stand there, motionless. Unmoving. Just looking at each other.
So this wasn't something trivial after all, she thought. Not trivial at all.
Now that they both knew what this was that they felt, and how the other person felt, the only question that remained was this: Was what they felt trivial? Or was it not?
The question roared in their minds, demanding to be answered. Their only answer for this was no, it was not trivial. Far from that. Something like this could never be considered as trivial.
Nor was her realization, she thought. Somehow that didn't surprise her.
She felt him whisper three words; three words that were fact. That were true. And she whispered them back to him; lacing something intricate, a hidden meaning, within the words. The Three Words of Fate. Holding a meaning that they both knew.
He understood and took her hand, his own shaking slightly as he did so. Neither of them regretted this. Not at all. Nor did they regret their actions.
All of this was right. She had accepted it long ago. She had faced it. She knew it. And he knew it too. They both had accepted it.
Glancing at each other now, they exchanged slight smiles and then turned so that they were now facing the castle. A slight wind ruffled their hair; it was all that she could do was push back the bit of hair that had flown in her face and swallow an unheard scream down.
Then they walked together toward the castle.
None of this was trivial, they knew. None of this. Only this mattered - them. Always together . . which they were.
Now she knew what trivial truly meant, Hermione realized as she walked off hand in hand with Harry.
Trivial had been all she had cared about before -
He and she were an exception.