The Gryffindor Rouge Chapter 9: Finale, a harry potter fanfic

Jennifer Fennessy Normal Jennifer Fennessy 5 61 2002-10-10T14:53:00Z 2002-10-11T18:12:00Z 11 2174 12397 FSHA 103 24 15224 9.3821

Notes: Phew! This one took me a long time to write... mainly because all of my text files were deleted from my computer . so I had to re-write this whole darned chapter. One of the inspirations for re-writing it was a new project I recently thought up... the Lightsabre Rouge ^^ It's Star Wars, naturally, but as for the rest of the surprises lurking in it... well, you'll just have to wait and see. Also, I apologize for the dreadful rendition of 'Hindi Sad Diamonds', but it's fairly impossible to re-do.

Also, there were a TON of errors in the first draft, so I cleaned those up ^^ Look for a cast party chapter soon!

Before this fic beings its conclusion, I'd like ta say thanks to some of my reviewers, and apologize for taking so dang long to finish this. Thanks to roxanne, my first reviewer. Thanks to Adnap Nottap and Celeb Ryu, my two best real-life friends (especially Adnap, who read this even though she hadn't seen the movie. Now she's a total Moulin Rougiac just like me! Wee!) Thanks to Saturn T. Riddle, my Obi-loving friend. And finally, BIG thanks to Sweet Innocense, who was my most recent reviewer and a big motivation for my finishing this. To ALL reviewers, THANK YOU!! Without you, this fic wouldn't be here! Heck, I wouldn't be here! You guys are the GREATEST!

And now, without any ado whatsoever, here it is, the moment you've been waiting for... The Gryffindor Rouge: Finale!

(Ron paces his room as he waits for his love to return, his possessions all packed and ready to go. A pair of brooms stand in one corner)

Hermione: (enters the room slowly, her face neutral and guarded)

Ron: (senses something is not right) What's wrong?

Hermione: I'm staying with the professor.

Ron: (blankly) What?

Hermione: After I left you he came to see me - he offered me everything, everything I've ever dreamed of. He had one condition, though: that I must never see you again.

Ron: What are you saying? What about last night, what we said-

Hermione: (cuts him off) I didn't expect you to understand. The difference between you and I is that you can leave anytime you want, but this is my home; the Gryffindor Rouge is my home.

Ron: (shocked) No, this can't be true, there's something else - this can't be real! There's something the matter, tell me what's wrong! Tell me the truth!

Hermione: (stiffly, concealing her sorrow) The truth? (Gathers up her last reserves of strength) The truth is, I am the London courtesan, and I choose the Death eater. That's how the story really ends. (Swiftly turns and walks out before Ron's broken protests stop her)

Harry Voiceover: The jealousy has driven him mad!

(Ron chases after Hermione and stands outside the Gryffindor tower, howling up to her lit window, oblivious to the heavy raindrops pounding his skin)

Ron: Hermione! Hermione!! HERMIONE!!

(A pair of Slytherin thugs round the tower and grab Ron's arms, dragging him off. They savagely punch his face, stunning him, and drop him into a muddy, water-filled ditch. Ron looks up at the tower briefly, then slowly collapses into the mud, unable to rise.

A short while later his revolutionary friends find him and take him back to his dormitory. If not for them, he might have died. They peel the mud-encrusted robe from his soaking form and cloth him in a fresh, dry robe, and fix him hot soup. Throughout all of this Ron remains silent and unmoving, and his eyes have a dead look in them. Eventually all the revolutionaries but Draco leave)

Draco: Things aren't always the way they seem, Ron.

Ron: (bitterly) Things are exactly as they seem.

Draco: (sighs) Ron, you may see me only as the spoilt, rotten brat of a child with Death Eaters for friends and thugs for allies, but I know about art and love, if only because I yearn for them with every fiber of my being. She loves you, Ron - I can feel it!

Ron: (quietly) Go away, Malfoy.

(Draco crosses his arms and remains where he is, fixing Ron with an intense gaze)

Ron: (fiercely) Go away. GO AWAY!!

(Draco, hurt, leaves, but not before giving a backwards glance to Ron's stony form.)

Ron Voiceover: I wanted to shut out what Draco had said; but he had filled me with doubt. There was only one way to be sure... (We see Ron pawn his beloved owl Pig to some Slytherins in return for a Slytherin robe and a few galleons) And so I returned to the Gryffindor Rouge one last time.

(At the Gryffindor graduation, the grad play is in full swing. A heavily made-up Harry is onstage among the dancing Gryffindors in their wild costumes)

Harry: (loudly) She is mine!

Draco: (wearing his magic wand costume, descends a set of gothic stairs built into the stage chanting) I only speak the truth

I only speak the truth

I only speak the truth!

(Milicent sings a gothic, medieval chant as Hermione suddenly appears, and the crowd goes wild)

Hermione: (beings to sing, but suddenly coughs hard and nearly falls over. Harry looks on, concerned, but Hermione regains her breath) Kiss... hand... aces best friend...

Kiss... grand... top marks best friend

Friends.... cold... grades old

And it's all worth the time in the end...

Ohh... ohh... ohh... ohh!

Top marks are a

Top marks are a...

Girl's... best... friend...

Harry: (spoken) She is mine.

Snape: (From the audience, grinning maliciously) She is mine.

(The curtain closes to wind applause, which effectively cover up the thunking noises Ron makes as he creeps through the walls to the backstage area. Meanwhile Hermione is in the throes of another coughing fit, and is being tended by a very worried McGonagal. Up along one of the many catwalks Draco and Lupin walk to their places, and Draco rambles on endlessly about Ron and Hermione's troubles)

Draco: I know she still loves him... there's got to be a reason...

Lupin: Maybe it's because one of them is a professor, and the other- (turns into a werewolf and topples off the catwalk, whacking his head against a jutting block of wood and going unconscious. The unlucky werewolf lands right in front of Ron, who gets the bright idea to don his clothes)

(A bit further away, in the wings, Crabbe has sought Harry out)

Crabbe: (menacingly) Weasley is here.

Harry: (worried) I told Hermione that if Ron came back here, he would be expelled!

Crabbe: (grins viciously) He very soon will be. (Cracks his knuckles)

(Up above, Draco has overheard the exchange below)

Draco: Killed... that's it, that's it! That's why she's pushing him away - to save him! I've got to warn him! Ron!! Ah! (The platform Draco is standing on suddenly rises shakily into the air) Dear god, this thing is unstable!!

(Back in Hermione's dressing room, Ron appears. Hermione spots him in her mirror and whirls around, startled and fearful)

Hermione: What are you doing here?

Ron: (angrily) I've come to pay my bill.

Hermione: You shouldn't be here! Just leave! (Forces her way past him)

(Ron chases her out behind the set, the bag of galleons clenched in his shaking fist.)

Hermione: Please...

(Onstage, the curtains have opened)

McGonagal: She's got to get onstage!

Harry: (on stage) Jealousy has driven the auror into hiding!

Ron: You did your job so very, very well (snarls) why shouldn't I pay you like everyone else?

Hermione: Ron, its nothing, just leave-

Harry: (on stage) But I have found them!

Hermione: (sees Crabbe lurking) (whimpers) Go! Please go-

Ron: But if it wasnt real-

Hermione: Go…

Ron: Why can't I pay you?

Draco: Ron! Ron!!

Harry: (on stage) Open the door!

Ron: (on the verge of hysteria) Let me pay! Let me pay!

Harry: (on stage) Open the door!

Ron: Tell me it wasn't real! Tell me you don't love me!

Harry: (whispers to a stagehand) Open the doors!

Ron: (desperately) Tell me you don't love me! Tell me you don't love me!

(The doors suddenly fly open, exposing Ron and Hermione to a very confused crowd of teachers and students. The young Weasley is obviously not Lupin.)

Harry: (desperately trying to save the situation) Haha! I am not fooled! Though he has dyed of his hair and adopted a disguise, my eyes do not lie! For this is the same penniless auror!

(The audience nods and smiles, feeling clever)

Harry: Driven mad by jealousy!

(The audience gives a concerted aww…)

Ron: (appears to help Hermione down the stairs, but once they reach the stage, he drops her carelessly. Ron glares fiercely at Snape as he speaks) This woman is yours now. (Hurls the bag of galleons at the floor near where Hermione lays, crying. Ron's next words are savagely angry) I've pair my whore! I owe you nothing, and you are nothing to me. Thank you for curing me of my ridiculous obsession with love! (He stalks off the stage, his face contorted with sorrow and rage. As he passes Snape's seat a look of pure venom flits across his features. Snape merely smirks.)

(Up in the rafters, Draco is having his own problems)

Draco: I've forgotten my lines!

Harry: (still trying to keep in character) This auror doesn't love you! See, he flees the kingdom! (kneels down beside Hermione and whispers to her) Griffling, its for the best. (To the audience) And now, my bride, its time for you to raise your voice to the heavens and sing your wedding vows!

(Hermione shakes her head and cries weakly on the floor, much to the distress of the audience and Harry. Up in the rafters, Draco is blessed with divine intervention and remembers his line)

Draco: I've got it! I've- Ron! Stop!! Aack! (the beam he's standing on suddenly snaps and he's left dangling several meters above the stage. The shock jolts his line out of him, and he bellows it so loudly he scares a bunch of owls sitting outside away) The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love!! (gasp) and be loved in return!!

(Everything in the building seems to stop. Somewhere in the complete silence, Hermione realizes that Draco's words are, for once, true, and she knows she loves Ron, and that's all she needs. She slowly rises, finds her voice, and begins to sing softly, gaining strength every moment)

Hermione: Never knew I could feel like this

Like I've never seen the sky before

Want to vanish inside your kiss

Every day I'm loving you more and more.

Listen to my heart, can you hear it sing?

Some back to me and forgive everything! (she gasps and stumbles, and the audience mutters worriedly. However, she soon regains her footing and continues)

Seasons may change, winter to spring

(whispers) I love you

Until the end of time.

(At the back of the room Ron listens, trying to block out the words, but he can't. Her song stirs deep emotions in him and he turns, a smile lighting up his face. As he joins her in singing, the entire audience turns around in surprise)

Ron: Come what may.

Come what may

Come what may!

I will love you!

(Snape looks like he's having epileptic seizures with the way his face is contorting in rage)

Hermione: I will love you!

Ron: Until my dying day!

Both: Oh, come what may!

Ron: Come what may!

Hermione: Come what may…

(No one notices Crabbe lurking but the very perturbed Malfoy)

Both: I will love you until my dying day…

(Crabbe aims his wand at Ron)

Draco: RON! Aaaa!! (swings from a conveniently located rope straight into Crabbe. The thug's wand goes skidding across the stage) He's got a wand! He's trying to CURSE you!! (the audience laughs)

Harry: Shut up!

Draco: I'm serious! Look, he's got a gun!

Black: (runs out onstage) Vive le vie la Order of the Phoenix! (turns into a dog and starts running all over the place)

(Amid the chaos that ensues, Lupin awakes and bursts through the doors)

Lupin: No problem! Go back to work!

Draco: (singing) No matter what you say!

Cast: You shouldn't stand in our way. You've got to stand your ground! For Freedom, Beauty, Truth and Love! Children of the Revolution...

(While all of this is going on, Crabbe is fumbling wildly for his wand. Throughout the song he is kicked, stepped on, shoved, knocked over the head with a sandbag, and hit with a falling flowerpot. The wand eventually skids further across the stage and flies off onto the floor)

Hermione: One day I'll fly away!

Ron: My gift is my song…

(In the background the cast repeatedly sings 'No you wont fool the children of the Revolution')

Hermione: I'll fly away!

Ron: My gift is my song!

Cast: Come what may!

Hermione and Ron: I will love you!

Cast: Come what may!

Hermione and Ron: Yes I will love you!

Cast: Come what may!

Hermione and Ron: I will love you!

(Snape, who moments before was stalking out in rage, notices the wand lying on the floor. In a fit of insanity he grabs it, aims it at Ron, and runs up towards the stage, screaming)

Snape: My way!! MY WAY!!

Cast: Until my dying day!

Snape: MY WAY!!

(Just as Snape is about to curse Ron into a toad, Harry punches the enraged professor so hard he succeeds in knocking him out)

Harry: Yes!

(The wand goes flying out a window and into the whomping willow. Needless to say, the wand isn't going to be useful to anyone anytime soon, except maybe as a toothpick.)

(The audience goes wild as the cast takes a bow, and the curtain falls. Backstage everyone cheers wildly for the success of the show and the defeat of Snape. However, not everything is going as well as the show did.)

Moody: Stand by for curtain call!

(As Ron and Hermione walk to their places hand in hand, Hermione has another attack, this one is quite severe. Wracking coughs cause her to stop and collapse, and Ron kneels beside her with extreme worry.)

Ron: Hermione! Hermione, what's the matter? (she coughs in response) Hermione, what's wrong? What's… (he notices spots of blood decorating the sleeve of his robe from where he was holding her, and a thin trickle of blood slides from the corner of her mouth like a tear.) Oh god… SOMEBODY GET SOME HELP!

Harry: (to a stagehand) Go fetch Madam Pomfrey!

Hermione: (wheezing) Ron, I'm sorry, I- (coughs) I'm dying…

Ron: (desperately) Shh, its all right-

Hermione: I'm sorry…

Ron: Its all right, everything's going to be all right… (as if reassuring himself and attempting to block out what she's said) Its all right…

Hermione: (gasping) I'm cold… I… Ron, hold me… (He does so, cradling her gently and smoothing the hair from her pale forehead) Ron, you've got to go on.

Ron: I can't go on without you

Hermione: You've got so much to give… tell our story, Ron.

Ron: (whimpers) No

Hermione: Yes, promise me, promise me…

Ron: (softly) Yes.

Hermione: I will… I'll always be with you …

(Ron rocks Hermione gently as she slowly goes limp in his arms. He bends over her, sobs shaking his frame as he gives her one last kiss. He closes her sightless eyes, tears falling upon her pale, still-warm skin. He then throws back his head and utters a terrible animal howl of grief, a keening wail that sends shivers down the spine of everyone who can hear it. Outside, though, the audience is still cheering)

(Draco has fled the scene, unable to hide his sorrow but unwilling to add to the grief. He stands at one of the towers open windows and sings softly, and as he does the scene changes the grass seems greener, and the finery of the graduation has faded or been removed from the walls)

Draco: There was a boy... a very strange, enchanted boy...

(Inside the old, dusty turret sits Ron, looking a little more well-groomed then when we first saw him. He sits at his desk, quill in hand, and the fait scratch of ink on parchment can be heard as he writes. As he speaks we see the words forming on the paper)

Ron Voiceover: Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months and then - one not-so-very-special day - I went to my typewriter, I sat down, and I wrote our story. A story about a time... A story about a place... A story about the people... But above all things, a story about love: A love that will live forever. The End.

(The scene slowly fades to black)