10 Years Old
Hermione hated thunderstorms, she really did. She trembled so violently that it was a wonder nothing bruised. Wrapping the thick duna around her, she tried to bury her face deep into her pillow. The noises still didn't go away and there was a huge clap of thunder that made her scream into the bed. She sat up to glare at her huge bay window that showed downtown London being drowned in the heavy rain.
Being so high up in her flat, she felt dangerously close to the murderously black clouds. She ran a hand through her unmanageable bushy hair and felt her body shake even more.
If only she could go and tell her parents, cry in next to her mom. She wanted so bad for someone to know she was scared of lightning - but no one would believe her. At school she was the smartest girl there, sure she was picked on a lot, but she was still proud of who she was. But if she told any one her deepest fear, they wouldn't believe her, or maybe even ridicule her for it.
'Hermione Granger! Miss know-it-all! Afraid of a little lightning?'
She could just hear it now. She shivered and then jumped into the air as another ripping sound came form the sky. As she let out a stifled scream her alarm clock fell off the bedside table.
11 Years Old
She was still as a board, all her muscles tense. Each time Thor cracked the sky with his lightning and thunder, Hermione tensed even more. She longed for her solitary London room! Here in Hogwarts all her room mates would hear her if she thrashed around and cried out. She could just imagine Lavender Brown, the girl in the bed next to her, trilling loudly as Hermione wept at a particularly loud crack.
She found herself longing, as always, to tell someone her fear. If someone knew - she wouldn't have to hide it. But she saw no one she particularly wanted to indulge in in her dorm room. She half wished Ron and Harry with her. They had just saved her from a troll about two days ago, and now she saw them as safety. They were her friends. They would understand.
If only Hermione could just be brave enough to expose herself - without fear of teasing.
13 Years Old
You wouldn't have heard her even if she had been mere inches away. Hermione walked on light feet under the cover of darkness, any noise she would have made was covered by the large cracking of thunder across the skies. Hermione was only just realizing, for the first time, that country stillness only made the sounds louder.
She wound her way up two flights of creaky stairs, before she arrived at the destination she had been searching for. She didn't think he'd be asleep at the moment because he never slept right now, Hermione always heard him creaking around on the floor above her.
She knocked timidly, tense and ready for the next crack of thunder, and waited for him to open his door. It was a few scary moments of hesitation. He was probably wondering who the hell would come knock on his door at this time of night! But finally it creaked open, and he gaped at the sight of her, shaking and frightful.
"Jeez! What's wrong with you!" he said in a frightened voice, his brow creased as he observed Hermione in her pajamas and her hair put into messy pigtails.
"Thank you so much, Ronald." Hermione said back angrily. "Can I come in?"
He froze momentarily, his blue eyes stuck in wide surprise, but then he stepped out of his doorway and Hermione walked in.
His room was messy, but Hermione wouldn't have expected any more from him. His messiness was almost enduring. Harry hadn't come to the Burrow yet, so his trundle bed was out and waiting. Ron stumbled back to his bed and crossed his legs as he sat down at the head. Hermione moved and sat at the other end.
"What's wrong, Hermione?" he asked, he tried to reach to get her hand, but he thought better of it and scratched the back of his neck.
"I have to tell you something," Hermione said, looking sheepishly down at her hands. He stayed respectively quiet, waiting for her to go on. "I'm scared of thunder."
She waited for laughter, and it came. But it wasn't as horrible as she thought it would be. His laugh was warm - it was like a hug that made her calm. She saw Ron smiling kindly at her. "So? I'm scared of spiders!"
Hermione just sighed, and just as she thought that maybe the fear would go away, another thunder shook the Burrow and Hermione grabbed to Ron's hand tight. She shook all over and he gaped at her, grasping at her hand with the same tightness.
"Don't tell a soul!" Hermione made him swear, and so Ron swore to her in the dimness of his room.
14 Years Old
She sneaked out of the dorm, silent as always having had practiced over the vacations at the Burrow. She didn't know if he'd be there that year, after all he had been so angry at her when he saw her with Krum at the Yule Ball. It wouldn't be unlike Ron to continue to hold the grudge, but did that mean he would let it effect this? Their secret?
She need not worry. Ron, though highly reactionary, was a truly loyal friend. He awaited her on the couch in front of the fire. He was reading over The Daily Prophet quietly, ruffling the pages as he turned them. Hermione would have been able to enjoy the noise of Ron and the crackling fire, if it hadn't been for the huge thunderstorm outside.
"You came," Hermione whispered, hurrying to sit next to him on the couch.
"I knew you needed me." Ron replied, and Hermione smiled as she sat close by him, just taking comfort in the fact he had shown. Krum wasn't forgotten, but neither was their love and friendship.
15 Years Old
The worries that had been festering over the holidays were making this night worse then it normally is. Hermione had been fretting over Harry, and the disturbing catches of information that had been passing through head quarters, that when the first rolling sound came form the clouds above, the need for Ron began and didn't stop.
She clambered out of the bed, trying hard not to wake Ginny in her haste to find her friend. And as she opened the door, the squeak was covered by a mad bang that had Hermione jumping around so much, she hit her arm against the door frame. She covered her mouth so her cry was muffled, and she brushed away the wetness in her eyes.
Quickly, and with less cation then usual, Hermione wound up to Ron's room. She knew he was awake, for it was a tradition they stay up with the storms that came. She knocked on the door, and there was no hesitation before it was opened.
"Hey," she whispered, relieved more than words can say.
Ron mirrored those looks, seeing as Harry plagued them both. "Hey."
They went to the bed and curled up together. Hermione grasped to Ron's hands with her own, and felt him grasp back at her. Their eyes connected and Hermione felt her breath leave her. What was that?
Ron didn't seem to want to answer, because he buried his face into the pillow they shared, and he closed his eyes, and Hermione was left gazing at her wonderful friend.
16 Years Old
She wouldn't cave in, not this time. No matter how scared and shaken she was, she would not go down and see him. Hermione hated herself for it, but she felt betrayed, she felt as if Ron had stolen himself form her. She knew it sounded crazy, and it had plagued her thoughts for some time. Lavender was the devil incarnate, and Hermione would not approve of his consorting with her. No matter how scared she was of the huge bangs that would surely knock Hogwarts down.
She gave out a sob, feeling the whole that thunder created, and Ron couldn't fill that night. She shivered with loneliness, wishing for nothing more then Ron to come and hold her. And that wish was soon granted.
There was a bang on her dorm room and she jumped. She could have considered it part of the storm outside, but she knew it wasn't. It was Ron, and he was at her door! He banged again, and Hermione looked wildly about her, Parvati had squirmed!
She cast the mufliato spell upon all five roomies, and then slipped out of her bed. She took slow steps to the door that was on the other side of the circle room. Another huge bang came at the door, and it made her quicken her steps. Maybe if she just saw him, she could feel whole again...
She threw the door open with a peeved stare, and she could see Ron standing there, looking angry and wild. She could have shrunk back if she hadn't known Ron would never lay an arm on her. She drank in his red hair and blue eyes being closer to her then they had been for weeks now - too long! She wanted him next to her, in her arms, but she was stubborn and would take the high ground.
"I need to see you," he said suddenly, and Hermione fought the urge to close her eyes and smile at the familiar sound of anger in his voice.
"I'm not Lavender," Hermione said coldly. "She's still asleep."
"I don't want to see her!" He cried desperately. "I want to see you!"
His eyes were wild and passionate, and his body language showed her he would not take no for an answer, but how could she deny him? He was what had kept her going in the darkness, she wasn't cruel enough, to him or herself, to push him away.
"Fat chance," she muttered, just for appearances, but he knew she had given in, and so he leaped in and wrapped her body in a hug. Hermione hugged back tightly, burying her nose in the crook of his neck, smelling her favorite smell.
She silently took hold of his hand and placed him on her dorm bed. After glancing around the room making sure no one was awake, she sat down too, and pulled the curtains closed around them both. The thunder clapped but Hermione was less scared then she had been in her whole life.
Ron leaned forward, and Hermione didn't shrink away. She needed Ron. He planted a kiss on her lips, sweet and caring, just like he was. It wasn't like he kissed Lavender - harsh and clumsy. But passionate and slightly timid. Hermione kissed him back with the same reserve, and then they suddenly came apart. Afraid of what they had just done.
"Hermione..." Ron began, but she shook her head and took hold of his hand like always.
17 Years Old
He left her! He took off into the stormy night, not caring that she called out his name. And now she was stuck with Harry, listening to the storm raging outside their tent, and wishing for Ron more then ever. How could he? They were in love? Maybe it had just been her... Maybe her brain had gotten over indulgent with imagination, and that stolen kiss a year previous never happened. She hoped not! It had made her happier then she had been for a while.
She curled up into fetal position and cried out, not caring that Harry heard her. Her grief was surely never ending. The pain of unrequited love was like bitter poison, and Hermione wanted to die form it. The thunder storm hit her hard, and broke her shattered heart even more. It would never be repaired.
20 Years Old
Hermione was deeply asleep, and Ron was lying next to her. He was awake, knowing that a loud storm would come tonight, and Hermione would soon wake and cling to him. Hermione stirred, as if her body was preparing to wake her up for the oncoming storm.
He brushed her curls out of her face, and smiled. He knew Hermione hated storms like this, but he loved them. Ever since they were thirteen and Hermione had come to his room, giving him her deepest secret. He never would have guessed that a simple childhood fear would bring them together.
When the thunder kept Hermione up with shakes, it kept Ron up with promises. He held to Hermione, knowing that he would never let go. He loved her too much to let her shake alone.
He had fucked up once, when they had gone with Harry on the hunt for horuxruces. There he had lost it, and abandoned her and Harry alone. Thinking on this horrid thought, he bent down and kissed Hermione's temple, confirming he had been lucky enough to earn her forgiveness.
The loud crack came and Hermione stirred even more, and her groggy eyes found Ron's. Another one came and she shot up, her hands instinctively searching out Ron's. He offered them freely and she looked out the window of his Burrow bedroom.
"A storm," he told her, and she moved in closer to him. There, in each others arms, they found peace where the storm stirred discontent. And they found it in each other.