I wrote this after New Year... I was ranting all day on Twitter on New Year Eve about not having anybody to kiss at midnight, blame Friends for reminding me :P And then one fine day I was bored at my grandparents' and this came along.

Hope you will enjoy it! Any reviews will be welcomed. Just another cheesy one-shot, hehe. Many thanks to Lisa for being my beta again *hugs*.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the following characters or places; they all belong to JK Rowling and I do not intend to make money with this.

Resolutions

"Happy New Year!" was heard in the orchard as fireworks sprang everywhere in the skies. It was an unconscious thing then, that everybody turned sideways and kissed the one standing next to them, for they had been there on purpose, their beloved ones. And when I say beloved ones I don't mean that they kissed a random person from the family, for they all have a special place in your heart: I mean that they kissed the person they love the most, for tradition. Of course, such tradition was extended only to the parents at first, when the children were too young. But this was not the case. Most of the people sharing the orchard that night were grown up, and as a matter of fact, their hearts had a better half, beating together. Therefore, there was not a general concern of who to kiss at midnight in the first place; it was only the concern of the ones who were too young as to care, and the ones who were too stupid as to have thought about it in advance.

And when the countdown was over, and the first seconds of a new period of twelve months started to run, everybody turned sideways and kissed the one standing next to them, as I said. Molly kissed Arthur. Bill kissed a pregnant Fleur. Charlie kissed the girl he had brought that night and we barely knew. Percy kissed his fiancée, Audrey. George kissed Verity, the girl who had worked in the shop with him and Fred from the beginning. Harry kissed Ginny: it was not a secret that they had been discreetly together ever since the war. Little Teddy was in Ginny's arms; he did not kiss anyone but was later kissed by all of us. My parents, invited by courtesy of Mrs and Mr Weasley so I wouldn't feel guilty spending the celebrations without them, kissed each other, too.

But the only ones who had to give it a second thought, the only fools who had indeed considered it but did not want to give it a chance until the moment came, were Ron and me.

And there we were standing next to each other, surrounded by effusions of love; he turned to me and caught me off guard, bending slightly and kissing me. It was not a big kiss, it wasn't half as good as the one we pretended to have forgotten and buried in the debris of a painful and close past, yet it was soft, warm, measured relief in the cold night.

A second, it lasted; he quickly parted, turned away mumbling "Happy New Year", and we waited for the others to let go of their special ones so we could run along, exchange hugs and kisses and spare our impulse stained in awkwardness.

Not a soul in that orchard took into notice what might have happened between the two people they had lost hope and interest in, and we all watched the exquisite Muggle fireworks, mixed with no less striking sparks from the wizards on the nearby hills. George was lighting the battery of fireworks that had made the Weasley twins famous at Hogwarts, when I noticed a lonely figure walking away in the dark landscape, to the furthest boundary.

I sure hesitated, not knowing whether I was the most accurate person to go after him, but everyone else was far too heart-lighted as to replace me.

"Ron?" I called to him when I reached the place, his back to the pond that reflected the multi-coloured lights as he leant on the fence. "Are you alright?"

I knew he wasn't, and it was not a stomach ache either.

"Um, ye-no," he replied, jumping a little at the unexpected sound of my voice.

"Ye-no?"

He turned around fully to face me; his eyes sparkled, I thought.

"Listen," started Ron, "I'm sorry about what happened there; it was rather tactless and inappropriate from me to do something like-"

He cut himself off and looked at my resigned expression.

"Merlin's effing pants; here we are, starting a new year, and no matter what resolutions I take, I still don't have enough balls as to be honest with you," he blurted, angry with himself.

I remained in silence, but he took a deep breath and spoke to me again.

"You know what? I'm glad we're leaving 1998 behind, because it sucked. Half of the year, or even more, I did it all wrong, and it was painful for both. But I want to turn the page and make a fresh start all over." He came closer to me and spoke in a lower voice. "Hermione, I didn't forget that we kissed that time, in the middle of the war; I've got absolutely no idea why we've been such a pair of arses with this; it wasn't a mistake to kiss you tonight, and if I can't get you out of my head to have you in my reality this year, I'll have to ask you not to visit The Burrow ever again."

I smiled, although I might have fainted as well, and invited him to kiss me, this time for real and forever.

Now my lips -our lips, I reckon- remembered what they could only dream of after all the months of solitude and silent plea; my fingers sensed again his freckled skin and messy locks under them; my back did not need to imagine the caress of his hands.

At last, I rested my head against his chest, embracing each other.

"I think it's your turn to say something," said Ron after a while.

I chuckled and sighed.

"What a pair we are! Sometimes I wanted to kick your butt, sometimes I thought it was me who deserved to be kicked off… I wouldn't have stood for another year like that, anyway, or dared to step in The Burrow… having you so ridiculously close."

Ron chuckled too, then bent to kiss me again. Further away in the orchard, there was no one left.