AN: Inspired by a drawing I saw at http/hpfanart. altervista. org/ RxHgiardino. jpg just take out the spaces. It's an amazing piece of art and I love it to bits. It was so beautiful that my muse got out of her drunken stupour. So you get a piece of R/Hr goodness.
She loved autumn the best. The leaves would turn beautifully red and gold and then fall to the ground, adding colour and warmth to the dying flowers and letting Mother Nature say one last breathtaking goodbye. She remembered when she had talked about her favourite season a long time ago at preschool. Everyone else had said summer because of the heat and the swimming pools and the ice cream but she had shyly put up her hand and professed her love for fall.
The children had looked at her oddly, fall meant the beginning of school. Returning to the boring routine of waking up early and having to bid goodbye to their lazy days and barbequing nights. But she had insisted that she loved fall, she loved the shiver that ran down her spine as the wind whipped her hair and the darkening skies. She loved the way the world went warm and fuzzy around the edges.
Her love of autumn really didn't change, as she grew older she saw the beauty in the other seasons but she kept a special place in her heart for the fall. As she grew up she found herself keeping special places in her heart for other things as well. A place for Harry, her brother in every way but blood, a place for Ginny who was a hybrid of best friend and little sister and finally a place for Ron.
Ron had a place all her own. It was hard to explain it, she didn't love him more than the others and she certainly didn't love him any less either but his place was special, it made her melt when he looked at her for too long, it made her whimper when he kissed another girl. It made her forget about being the bookworm. It made her want to be a girl for once, it made her giggle and it made her cry.
But right now she wasn't thinking of that, she had stepped out of the castle to forget about that. She had decided to take a walk to forget about a lot of things but right now he was on her mind. They hadn't fought exactly, they hadn't really talked at all. But all of a sudden she couldn't take it. The fact that he was so close, that they where so close, but that they where still a million light-years away from where she wanted them to be.
She had slipped out and smiled as a few leaves drifted down from the trees. This was what she loved, the tranquility of the fall mixed in slightly with a buzz of activity. One last chase before the world fell asleep. She wanted to sleep, to wake up when the world went back to normal and she didn't have to worry about her best friends dying. But she couldn't, she could only support her best friends and in the middle of battle believe that there was a god somewhere. That someone was looking after her and everyone else because she couldn't.
A squirrel rushed through the branches and snapped her out of her thoughts. She couldn't be thinking like that again, it wasn't good for her. She had rushed out of the room muttering things about wanting a walk and some fresh air, she had brought her bag and her wand and so she should be safe. Then again you couldn't be too careful nowadays. She made her way into the wood, wary of any signs that she was being followed. She walked until her feet ached but if she walked far enough she would find a place where she could get away from the world. But only if she went far enough.
She found a tree and she sat against it, she dug through her bag and spent a few minutes deciding which book to read, even though she'd read each a hundred times. Pride and Prejudice or Jane Eyre when Ginny had seen them and though she hadn't said anything he eyebrows had risen. There was no particular reason as to why she'd chosen those two, she just… had. Why did Ginny have to overanalyse things anyway?
Sighing she put one back and read the other, the story took over and she dimly realised that she had found a place from which to escape the world. It was temporary but it would do. She didn't notice the sun going low and the footsteps that crunched the leaves. She did however hear her name being called softy though the caller had to say it a few times before she heard. Looking up she saw Ron staring at her with an odd look on his face, mingled with relief and something else. Something that she wasn't supposed to think about.
"Hi." She wanted to way more but his tall frame loomed over her and she felt inexplicably nervous and protected.
"Hello. You where gone for a while, we were scared." He sat beside her but he didn't quite look at her. "Hermione, don't ever do that again. Do you know how dangerous it is out here, especially with Deatheaters at every bloody corner? Do you have any idea how worried I was? God if something had happened I don't know…" He didn't blush but she noticed that the back of his neck was slightly red.
Then to her horror she heard herself asking, "You don't know what Ron?" Her voice didn't break and it gave her a bit of courage. "I can take care of myself you know, I'm not a damsel in distress that has to wait for Prince Charming to rescue me from some bloody tower you know." His face didn't light up in anger as she'd expected but instead it looked a bit sadder and she wanted to take it all back.
He was silent for a while and when he finally spoke she was scared of what he would say. "I do know Hermione. I know that you don't need someone to watch over you but… but I feel better when I can see you. Everywhere I turn I hear that someone's been hurt or…killed and I don't ever, ever, want to hear that you're one of them. Hermione, I don't have much in my life. All I have are people, my family, Harry… and you. And if I lost any of them I would fall to pieces but if I lost you… god if I lost you I don't think that I would be able to put those pieces back together." He still wouldn't look at her, she wanted him to. She wanted to tell him that she felt the same way, she wanted to tell him everything but her mouth wouldn't move.
Her hand did though, it inched slowly towards his and she just held it. She silently begged him to look at her but he wouldn't. "Ron…" this time her voice did break but she didn't care. "Ron, I don't want to loose you either. There are so many things that could happen to us, so many things that can happen to everyone and I worry about it constantly, but I never worry about losing you. Because if I did it would mean me having to think about losing you and I just can't."
He still wasn't looking at her and she wanted to scream. She would have snatched her hand away if it weren't for the fact that he was holding onto to it so tightly. That and that alone gave her hope that he was listening. "Ron, talk to me. Say something, anything and for god's sake look at me!" She felt tears prickling at her eyes but she forced them to go away.
"Hermione… you have no idea how much I worry about losing you. I'd rather die than watch you have to, is that selfish?"
"Yes, it's incredibly selfish but it's alright because I feel the same way."
"Do you? Feel the same way? About everything?"
"It depends, if… if the same way means you love me than yes, I do feel the same way. I have since… I'm not really sure. My life blurs into three categories: not knowing you, knowing you and loving you." Oh god she'd said it, she hoped that her palms didn't go sweaty, he was still holding her hand.
"That is what I mean." She wasn't the only one whose voice could break. "You really have no idea how amazing it is to hear you say that."
Her heart did a few flip-flops while her stomach became unbelievably light. "I do know what it feels like actually." He finally looked at her and she just stared at his blue eyes. He had beautiful eyes but she never got to look at them properly and she could see why, she could easily get lost in them. The world was suddenly perfect and the only thing left was her and him and the crackling leaves.
She moved a bit closer to him and he did the same, his face got closer and closer and just before her eyes closed and she felt his lips on hers she felt the autumn twilight and she added another reason as to why it was her favourite season.