Discalimer : I own nothing that has anything to do with Harry Potter, thank you for your time - that is all.

A/N : YES! Guys we made it! Ahh alright, there's so much to say, so little time! First of all I'd like to start off by saying thank you to every single person who review Four Way Connection! All of you made a difference to this story, good reviews and bad! SO seriously, from the bottom of my heart thank you all SoO much! You really put a smile on my face! (And I don't know if anyone knows this but if hadn't taken down this fic a year ago I would have had a amazing almost 800ish reviews:D This, even if it doesn't show up, is a huge huge accomplishment for me! And I obviously couldn't have done it without every single one of you! Thanks again guys!)

Also, I'd just like to say ... YES! This is the very last chapter, no I wont be writing a squeal, no I wont be writing any more chapters, yes I think I like it that way, yes I'm sure many of you wont like it that way, no that still wont change my mind! lol I do hope you all like how I end it though!

I've been writing Four Way Connection for as long as I can remember ... I started writing it just after Harry Potter OotP came out and now I'm very happy to say, I'm ending it before Harry Potter HBP comes out! (Enjoy the books everyone!)

By the way this is chapter 41!

Now, I've separated the world into two parts, one being the side we're all on now ... the OTHER being the side with Harry Potter HBP! So on an ending note to my A/N I'd like to say SEE YA'LL ON THE FLIP SIDE! And please truly enjoy this last, long LONG awaited chapter to FOUR WAY CONNECTION!

Four Way Connection

The Burrow - Part Two

Can't Stop Loving You

Hermione's PoV

'Hermione?' Ron stutters, seeming more than a bit shocked.

We're standing in a thunder storm sheltered only by the forest's edge, soaking wet with rain, our hair dripping wet. I'm shaking with a mix of anger and emotion left over from the kiss I had just planted on Ron's lips.

'I said explain!' I shriek, my voice bouncing off of tree trunks, stamping my foot in a puddle of rain and mud.

'Don't you ... er, want to go inside? Get out of the ra-'

'NOW!' my eyes flash.

Ron slumps over even more, looking defeated. He kicks at a small rock stuck in the mud of the forest ground, prolonging the moment when he'll have to look up at me. I can tell he's still a little shook up by the kiss, too. He can fell my eyes glaring at him and he looks up with a mix of emotions clearly visible on his face. Anger, shock, annoyance, hurt but ... underneath everything I can see how sorry he looks, it's so visible in his eyes.

My demeanor weakens a bit, anger trying to subside into empathy. I shake my head ever so slightly and focus on how much he's hurt me in the past few days. 'I want to know!' I shout, my fists clench at my sides, my eyebrows scrunching together.

'Hermione, I ...' Ron lowers his head again but looks up quickly, 'I don't think I can ... tell you.'

'Ron? I deserve to know ... don't I?' I say, anger giving way for hurt to pour through. I know he can see it, I know he can tell just how much hurt I'm carrying for this, for him. He can see it.

He lets out a sigh and shakes his head again, closing his eyes and turning his face upward so that rain hits his nose and his closed eyelids and his mouth and his cheeks and every other part of his face and that's when I break down, I let go of all my anger and annoyance and my stubborn, bossiness and I just wait for him to turn back to me, I just wait for the truth.

'I ... I'm sick of all these lies, Ron,' I mumble when he looks back at me, 'I want to be with you, so much. But it's like you won't let me, every time you lie it pushes us further and further apart. Don't ... don't you see that?'

'Mione ... I, it's just - well,' he stutters and shifts his feet uncomfortably, 'Well you see-'

I can already tell he's about to start lying again, 'Don't, just ... never mind. Don't lie to me again, I'd rather not ask if it's only going to make you lie.' I look away, at a tree root sticking up in the mass of mud around it.

The rain is coming down even harder now, pelting us with tiny drops of freezing cold water. I'm shaking, but I doubt it's from the cold. I look back up at Ron and smile sadly; this wasn't going to work, not if he wasn't going to help make it better for me.

I turn to go but he grabs my wrist, 'No, wait,' I turn back to him, an odd expression on my face, 'okay ... I-I'll explain everything ... from the beginning. But, well I want you to know this is ... er, real embarrassing for me, and I know you'll probably get mad at me in the end. The reason I haven't been honest is mostly because of how red I know my cheeks and ears will turn when I tell you. And I know that when you know everything you'll either want to slap ... er, like you just did,' he rubs the side of his face, 'But would you at least just let me finish? Before you do anything or say anything? Because if you interrupt I know I won't be able to get started again which'll only make it more difficult for you, really. So, er ...'

I nodd my head, yes and move to face him again. He looks sincere about this and for a fleeting moment I think I don't want to hear this. What if it ruins things, what if he's right and in the end I'll hate him? Then we wont even be able to be friends. I can't imagine going back to Hogwarts in a few days but not going back with Ron and Harry like I've been doing since forever.

I step back, unsure now, if this is really what I want to hear. Though, before I have the chance to think about it any further Ron plunges on, 'Alright well ... it all started a week ago when we were all on the computer. Luna really did have a sorta crush on me and that's why I was so relieved that you were going to help me ... by pretending to already be going out with me. I thought it was all a really good idea because I'd get you and we'd get to tell Luna I didn't like her all at once.'

I take another step backwards and stumble over a tree root, though I manage to keep my balance.

Ron smiles and moves a bit closer to me, as if to be ready incase I do fall, but he carries on, 'well that's when everything started going wrong, though, wasn't it. I was talking to Harry and he brought up the idea that it would be cool if we ever saw you jealous. And I asked what he meant and he explained how stupid I had gotten over the whole Krum situation ...' he blushes, 'but see, that got me thinking, with the plan we had I got you ... but I didn't really get you, since I knew we'd go back to being friends before the summer was over. And well, obviously I didn't want that, 'he blushes again, ' so I started thinking. Well if the plan we had was going to make Luna go away ... I wondered if it could do the opposite if I switched it around.'

He's not making sense again, I look behind me for the tree root, making sure it's not planning on tripping me again, and take a step sideways.

'So I kinda ... came up with a plan, after that. I mean, Harry mentioned making you jealous and ... well I figured maybe if you got jealous you'd realize that you ... I don't know. Liked me too? Kinda?' more blushing, 'But anyway, I figured that maybe if I got Luna to help me out the way you were helping me out it would get you a little more anger? -Stop looking at me like that, Mione. It's not helping. - So I talked to Luna the next day, on the computer. And well ... I explained everything to her and she was actually quite helpful. She agreed to help me when she came over this week and well ... that's when it all started.'

I shake my head, slightly disbelievingly.

'But, I mean ... you know how loony she can be, and I think he got into it just a bit too much. I mean, she really started pounding down on her role, I think she forgets; at times, what was actually going on. And well, at first ... er, Harry; don't tell him I mentioned his name, told me it was working rather well. That really only made things worse because he told me to stop but ... I don't know, I wanted to see if I could push this further. You know me,' he looks down at the ground, 'anyway, by the time I realized how stupid I was being it was ... too late to do anything and I knew I couldn't take it all back and tell you it was just a ... joke? So I for a while there I had no idea what I was going to do and how I was going to stop all the madness I was causing. Which kinda of got be worried, because I saw that ... well I mean the plan was working at the beginning but I was killing my chances with ... you, the longer I let it go on for.'

I blink, unmoving.

'But Harry helped me out again and he told me to get Luna to break it off with me ... not that I hadn't already been trying but ... well every time I told her I wanted to stop with the plan she would say something weird or stupid, like the time she told me that a Niffiler had once attacked an old lady at the shoe store because she wanted to by silver and gold plated tacos or something like that,' he scratches his head, confused, 'well, yeah. But Harry helped me finally get through to her without some strange comment being thrown at us. So when she finally agreed to stop with the plan it was already pretty late in the game. But Harry said that as long as we broke it off where it was ... there might be a chance at fixing things.'

I stare straight ahead.

'So we made it look like Luna wanted to end everything because she thought I liked you ... which Harry said might be something of a hint. So I just went along with it. But well, you saw that "break up". I think Luna went crazy ... she really took it overboard. I told her to just act like she was mad at me and ... well she acted like she was mad at me, really mad. I couldn't believe it when she threw that thing at me. But Luna's always been like that ... a little overboard,' he mumbles off.

He finally looks up at me, after watching his wet shoes for the past few minutes. I'm freezing cold now but I can't focus on anything except this new information I had just gained. He ... he planned this all? Just to get me? When all he had to do was ask me in the first place?

He has a shy look on his face, as though he doesn't know what to say next. I don't know either; I just stare at him blankly.

My hair is dripping wet; it's in little strands all around my face, sticking to me. My clothes are clinging to me with water running down them. My shoes are soaking wet and half stuck in the mud. My fingers are turning blue and my nose is turning red. But I just stand there ... staring at him, unaware as to what to do.

Then, a bit of the old me comes back into play. Something in me snaps and I pull my feet furiously from the mud and take two big steps over to him and raise my hand, slapping him hard again. My hand and his face both stinging, though this time I think it might have hurt more from the cold which was playing on my side.

'I know I deserve that,' he says weakly, 'would you just listen to me though?'

I let my hand go limp by my side.

'I didn't mean to hurt you, Mione. You have to know that. Even if you never want to talk to me or see me ever again, you to know that I never once wanted to hurt you. That was the last thing I ever wanted to do. I just ... wanted to tell you I liked you without ... actually having to put us in a position where our friendship might be ruined in the end. I don't want to lose you as a friend Mione, I don't want to have wasted away five years of friendship ... but I couldn't just stay a friend, it was driving me insane. I sorry though, I obviously messed that one up too but I mean -'

But I never got to know what he meant because at that moment I stepped up and placed a light kiss on his lips.

I take a step back and say, 'I hate you so much but ... for some annoying reason, Ron, I can't stop loving you,' I laugh faintly but then, very seriously I say, 'But if you ever do something so stupid again ... I'll have you killed.'

Ron grins and pulls me into his arms and kisses me. And right in that instant I can't imagine anything in the world more perfect, and I can't imagine anywhere else in the world I'd rather be than right here ... in his arms.

The End