Disclaimer: Sadly, they don't belong to me. They're the creation of the wonderful JKRowling, I'm just playing with them for a little while. No infringement intended.

A/N: This was written for the RHR_ficrecs community Innuendo Challenge on LiveJournal. My prompt that I had to base the fic around is below.

Prompt: Quotes taken from Chapter 11 of HBP: Hermione's Helping Hand

"Give me another go!"

"No. You've had your go."

Having Another Go

*****

"Oh, come on, Hermione."

"No, Ronald."

"I don't see why you're being so bloody stubborn about this!"

"You know very well why."

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you do."

"Don't."

"Do."

"I really don't."

"You really do."

"Oi, knock it off you two," Harry interjected, only slightly irritated.

"Harry, tell her to let me," Ron implored his best mate.

"You're on your own, mate," Harry responded, not looking up from polishing his broom, but grinning madly.

"Gee, thanks, you wanker- she already let you. You already know what it's like," Ron said sullenly.

"Go ask Ginny if you need to do it so badly," Harry said casually, knowing the rise he would get out of Ron.

"Harry!" Ron exclaimed, horrified. "How can you say that? She's your girl and my sister- I can't do that. I'm amazed you could do it to Hermione," he said dramatically.

Hermione snorted loudly, then quickly pasted a nonchalant look on her face.

"Really, Ron, you're being so histrionic about this," she said, turning back to her reading. "It's really not as big a deal as you're making it."

"I'm being what? Hang on a second, not that big a deal? Hermione, it's very intimate. How could that not be a big deal?" he asked incredulously.

"Histrionic, Ron. It means pathologically over-dramatic," Hermione responded, purposely ignoring the rest of his comment.

"I am not being over-dramatic," Ron practically yelled, looking to Harry for support. Harry merely raised his right eyebrow at him in a quizzical expression.

"Besides, this is off the point," Ron continued as Ginny walked into the room. "It's a big fucking deal and that's why I want you to let me. It will show me how much you trust me. And you let Harry!"

"Merlin, are we on this again?" Ginny asked. "Ron, if it means so much to you, you can just do it to me," Ginny offered.

"Ginny, I better not hear that anyone but Harry has done that to you. Even him I'm wary of," he said teasingly.

"Hermione, just let him. You've already let Harry and the twins," Ginny said on her brother's behalf.

"You let the sodding twins do it? Together or separately?" Ron burst out angrily.

"But, he's already done it once. That was enough for me," Hermione said with a smirk, again deliberately ignoring his outburst.

"It clearly wasn't enough for him," Ginny said, before the two friends erupted into peals of laughter.

"If the twins and Harry have all done it with you, you obviously don't think it's as intimate as I do. Let me, Hermione. Please."

"No."

"Please."

"Nuh-uh."

"I'll be careful."

"You weren't last time."

"This time I promise I'll be gentle."

"Again, you weren't the last time."

"I'll make it good for you."

"Ronald, stop it. If you honestly think it's that intimate an experience, then you shouldn't be asking a lady, much less your best friend, if you can do it to her."

"I always thought I would be your first."

"You were."

"But I don't remember any of it."

"Not my problem, Ronald."

"Please, Hermione. I'm begging you."

"I don't know, Ron," she said, her resolve clearly weakening. Ron grinned widely at her, knowing she wanted to give in to him. She glared back at him.

"Give me another go!" Ron said cheekily, smiling charmingly at her.

"No. You've had your go," Hermione responded, irritated at his persistence and cockiness.

"I was so pissed from the wedding the first time that I hardly got to see anything. I barely felt anything before I passed out," he whinged.

"I promise you, the experience was no more memorable for me, except for the pain," she retorted.

"I'll make it good this time. Really nice, I promise you."

"That remains to be seen."

"It's something special I want us to share."

"I've already shared it with other people."

"I can ignore that. After all, I was your first."

"So you were."

"I certainly intend to be your last as well," he said, lowering his voice.

"I really don't know, Ron," Hermione said, equally quietly and almost wistfully.

The pair had slowly been inching toward each other, oblivious to their two best friends with them in the room. Harry and Ginny looked on in amazement as Ron reached out and touched Hermione's cheek. She closed her eyes at the contact with his hand and a visible shudder passed through her body.

"If we've already done it once, then doing it again wouldn't necessarily change anything, right?" Ron asked softly.

"You mean," she began, "you don't want it to change anything?" Hermione worried her bottom lip with her teeth, looking nervously at Ron.

"Yes! I mean, no! I mean, I want things to change if you do."

"So, if I did want-"

"Well, I definitely want-" He suddenly broke off and turned around at the sound of muffled laughter. "Oi, could you two bugger off for a couple hours? This is private!"

Gathering up her books and grabbing Harry by the arm, Ginny said, "Just do it already and get it over with. The tension in here is killing us all!"

The couple closed the door firmly behind them, leaving Ron and Hermione alone. Ron flicked his wand at the door, locking and silencing the room, all while blushing madly. Hermione tried desperately to look disinterested, but failed miserably. Looking up and catching Ron's eye, she knew it was futile to continue fighting the inevitable conclusion.

"I don't want it to hurt this time, Ron," she said softly.

"I already promised you I would be gentle," he reminded her tenderly.

"Last time you were pawing at me and pulling on me. That is not how you touch a woman," she said indignantly.

"I know, Hermione, I never should have done that to you." He genuinely sounded contrite about their last encounter.

"A woman likes to be held soothingly, she likes to be caressed- not to have her sides yanked open and handled roughly," she said lightly, trying not to be too reprimanding.

"It will never be like that again. I swear to you," he said earnestly.

"A man needs to be willing to take instruction in these matters. If I don't like something you are doing, you need to be willing to try something new."

"I promise. I will do anything you say!"

"I think my neck nearly snapped from you pulling it back so hard," she said, rubbing her neck as though he had just done it.

"I did that?" he asked, mortified. Ron looked down in shame.

"I knew it wasn't on purpose; you were just excited." Hermione reached her hand out and lightly rubbed his forearm. "I'm sure I didn't help matters. I was making you nervous and I wasn't as trusting of you as I should have been. I could have been more open," she admitted, smiling ruefully at him.

"Maybe we should just pretend that first time never happened," Ron said hopefully, moving closer to cup her face again.

"I still want to remember you were my first," Hermione responded, her eyes closing in anticipation.

"Me, too." His breath puffed lightly out onto her lips before he closed the gap and softly pressed his mouth to hers.

His right hand slid around her cheek to rest on the back of her neck, gently pulling her forward. Ron wrapped his free arm around her waist and slowly began to rub soft circles on the small of her back.

Hermione came to Ron willingly, one arm sliding around his shoulders, while her other hand gripped his upper arm tightly. She couldn't help but whimper quietly when he opened his mouth to her and pulled her body down with his into a nearby chair.

They kissed for what seemed like endless moments, hands tentatively exploring each other before returning to safe territory and starting their dance again. Hermione pulled back, trying to catch her breath. She rested her forehead lightly against Ron's neck, breathing in his scent, relishing the reality of the moment.

"I can't believe we finally did that," she exclaimed with a small laugh.

He responded with a chuckle of his own, looking down at her with open admiration on his face. "I know, that was bloody brilliant! I've been wanting to do that- Merlin, it seems like forever," he said.

"Why didn't you before now?" she asked, genuinely curious.

"We were a bit busy helping Harry save the world, in case you didn't notice, love."

She sat quietly and Ron began to worry that he'd put his foot in it somehow.

"Hermione?" he asked softly. "What are you thinking?"

"You called me 'love', Ron," she whispered back to him, looking up at him with wide eyes.

Ron looked down at her, surprised to see tears glistening in her eyes. "I suppose I did. I mean, that's what you are to me, whether I say it or not," he said cautiously.

"Oh, Ron!" Hermione cried, wrapping her arms more fully around him and smothering him with kisses. "Are we really going to do this? Is this really it?" she asked, hoping they were finally going to drop all pretences and really be together.

"Merlin, I hope so, Hermione. I want to so badly. And are we really going to do that, you know, what we were talking about earlier?" he asked in return, daring her to fully trust him.

"I'm willing, if you want to give it another go," Hermione said, smiling at him in earnest.

Ron shifted her on his lap and looked deeply into her eyes. Seeing she was serious, he kissed her again, pouring all of his love, desire, and hope into her.

*****

An hour later, Harry cautiously unlocked the door, unsure of what he would see when he went into the room. He could only hope that Ron and Hermione weren't at each other's throats again.

Peeking his head into the room, Harry was pleasantly surprised to find Hermione sitting cross-legged on the floor between Ron's knees. Ron was sitting in a chair behind her, playing with the curly tendrils at the ends of Hermione's hair. The two friends had identical, huge grins plastered across their faces and were talking softly.

"Oi, she let you, mate," Harry said loudly, coming fully into the room. He stepped closer, looking at Ron's handiwork. "Wow, she let you do it twice!" he exclaimed, surprised.

"Yeah, mate, and it was bloody brilliant! First, I just touched it lightly and ran my fingers through it," he said excitedly, his voice rising in intensity. "I was really careful to make sure my fingers didn't get stuck in it and that I wasn't too rough with her. Then I-"

"Ron, Harry doesn't need to hear all of the details," Hermione interrupted him quickly. "Besides, I've decided that you're right. It's a very intimate thing between a man and a woman and I don't want to tell everyone every little detail about it."

"Fair enough," Ron said, reaching down to run his fingers over her hair. "Who knew that having another go at plaiting your hair would change my entire life," he wondered aloud, dropping a kiss onto the crown of her head.

Ignoring Harry's look of utter shock at Ron's actions, Hermione turned to face Ron and grinned. "Somehow, I just knew."

Fin.

*****

Thanks for reading and reviewing! I hope you all enjoyed it! ~Risie~ :o)