A/N: Just a little Ron/Hermione fluff for you all…Enjoy! Review!
Excitement. It coursed through Hermione Granger's veins. It had been almost a year since she'd seen Viktor Krum, and now he had traveled all the way to Hogsmeade to see her. As of late his letters had been getting darker, but she put it down to a hard Quidditch season. She, Harry and Ron strolled down the main street in Hogsmeade, Ron scowling at the thought of Hermione meeting with Krum, and Harry laughing at the two of them. When they reached the hog's Head, where Viktor had arranged to meet her, Hermione bid her two best friends farewell and walked timidly into the pub.
Looking around, she spotted Krum hunched over in a booth in the corner. As she carefully made her way toward him, he looked up, and his face cracked into a strange half-smile.
"Hello Viktor," she greeted him.
"Hello Herm-o ninny, How nice to see you!" he teased in reply. She made to sit down, but he shook his large head and stood. "Let's go for a walk." She smiled in reply and took hold of his proffered arm. The two then made their way out of the pub and onto the snow covered street of Hogsmeade, Hermione not failing to notice the strong smell of Firewhisky on Viktor's breath.
They walked along and talked quietly for a while, Hermione quite upset at Viktor's obviously intoxicated state. Finally she stopped, drug Viktor into an alley between two stores, and looked him in the face.
"Viktor, why have you done this to yourself?"
"Done whhatt?" he slurred.
"You're smashed Viktor! Is this why you're letters have been so foul lately? You're drunk all the time?!"
"Listen Herm…Hermoninny," he stuttered again. "I are…I..I is…not…d-d-DRUNK!" He shouted the last words with angry force.
"Yes you are! Look at yourself!" She shouted back.
"You little…AARRRGGHHHHH!!!" He shouted and began advancing on her. Hermione, realizing the mistake she'd made, began to back away, only to find that she'd gotten herself trapped at the end of a dark alley, with an angry drunk man advancing on her.
"Vik…Viktor please…I'm sorry…Don't do anything stupid now…" but it was too late. Before Hermione could utter another word, the back of Krum's hand had come in hard contact with the right side of her face. Clutching her hand to her stinging cheek, she slid to the ground, only to be pulled up again by Krum's strong arms. As soon as she was standing, he thrust his fist hard into the other side of her face, making her cry out. This only encouraged him, and he slapped her harder than before. Hermione hit the ground and scuttled backwards, but Viktor was faster. His large dragonhide boot camedawn with amazing force on her stomach, making her double over. "Viktor please!" She panted. "Stop!" but her cries were to no avail, as his fist soon made contact yet again with her cheekbone. She tried to fight back, but he was stronger, and after a few more blows to her head, which he had forcefully slammed against the brick wall when he knocked her over, everything started to fade to black. As her vision clouded, the last thing Hermione saw was Krum standing up, kicking snow onto her, and stumbling away.
"Where do you suppose Hermione has gotten to?" Harry asked Ron as to two sat in the three Broomsticks with Ginny.
"I dunno…Probably off snogging Krum somewhere," Ron replied bitterly.
"Oh stop it Ron," Ginny chided. "You know she doesn't like him that way…but…it is getting late. Maybe we should go look for her."
"You two head back to the castle, I'll find her," Ron offered. Ginny and Harry nodded in reply. The three of them stood up and headed out of the pub, splitting into different directions once outside.
The first place Ron looked for Hermione was the Hog's Head, but the bartender told him they'd left hours ago. And so Ron continued checking all of Hermione's usual haunts-the bookstore, the robe shop, the candy store, all to no avail. Along the way he ran into Neville and Luna, holding hands and strolling back towards Hogwarts.
"Oy! Neville!" Ron called for his fellow Sixth Year's attention.
"What's up Ron?"
"Have you seen Hermione?"
"Hmm…Not very recently. I saw her about an hour ago down at the far end of the village walking with that Krum fellow."
"That's odd. We never go down to that end…Well, thanks Nev."
"Anytime." With that they went their separate ways, Ron heading t=down to the other side of the village.
Upon arriving, Ron already had a bad feeling. It was oddly quiet, and the stores seemed empty. Then, he heard it. It was faint-he almost missed it, but there was a low moaning sound coming from the alley two buildings up. He cautiously made his way toward it, his heart racing. He was getting closer…closer…he was running down the alley, and then-
"HERMIONE!" He yelled. "What's happened to you!?!" Hermione was laying in a crumpled mass on the ground, the snow around her littered with drops of blood, and the obvious signs of some sort of struggle. "Has Krum done this?"
Hermione nodded best she could-she was flickering in and out of consciousness. Her face was stained with blood, from the corners of her mouth and her nose. When she tried to speak she grimaced; Ron guessed that her jaw was broken. Her left eye had developed a black circle around it, which was starting to bleed as well. Ron began to panic. What was he to do? There was no one around to call for help, and he didn't know how severe her injuries were. Finally, he decided that he had no choice, and so he began to remove his cloak which he wrapped around her soaked body. He then gingerly slid one hand under her knees and one behind her upper back, carefully supporting her head. HE lifted her up, and started as fast as he could back towards Hogwarts.
It was past dark when Ron stumbled into the Entrance Hall, staggering under Hermione's weight. His entrance went unnoticed, and he continued his journey up six flights of stairs. Finally, Ron tripped into the Hospital Wing, where he carefully laid Hermione down on a bed before calling, rather loudly, For Madame Pomfrey, who bustled into the room with an annoyed expression on her face.
"What ARE you yelling for, Mr.-Oh!" Her eyes fell upon Hermione. "What happened?"
"I'm not sure. I found her this way in Hogsmeade. I thinhk it was Viktor Krum-That's who she was last seen with."
"You carried her all the way here from Hogsmeade?"
"Umm, yeah," he replied. "Do you think she'll be alright?"
"Well," Madam Pomfrey replied, beginning to examine Hermione's injuries. "It looks like she was beaten pretty badly." She then began to lift Hermione's shirt up, causing Ron to blush and look away from a minute, before looking back to see huge, angry looking purple and red bruises. "Oh my," Madam Pomfrey gasped, pressing her hands gently along the girls sides. "She appears to have a few broken ribs, and a fractured jaw by the look of it, but I should be able to patch her up. Now, I'd suggest you go get some rest, Mr. Weasley. She'll take visitors tomorrow morning, she should be awake by then." Ron nodded and headed back toward Gryffindor Tower, where he was immediately hit with a million questions from Harry.
"Where've you been? Where's Hermione? Is she alright?"
" I found her in an alley. She'd been beaten senseless. I guess it was Krum. She's in the Hospital Wing now. She's hurt pretty bad, but Madam Pomfrey says she'll be alright. We can go see her in the morning." Harry blanched at the thought of his best friend being so badly hurt.
"How bad is it?" he asked feebly.
"A few broken ribs and her jaw's fractured, and she's got an awful bruise on her left eye. You should have seen the way I found her, Harry. Blood everywhere. It was terrible. If I ever get my hands on Krum, I'll make him regret the day he was born. I'll…I'll…"
"Ron, calm down," Harry advised his friend. "Go on up and get some rest. You look exhausted." Ron nodded. He slowly made his way up the stairs, thinking about the long, hot shower he was going to take.
An hour and a half later Ron had showered, donned his pajamas, and climbed into bed. However, his mind would not let him rest. He tossed and he turned, but he just couldn't sleep. He finally gave up and, after making sure that everyone else was asleep, he slipped cautiously from his bed. Instantly he was hit with a draft of cold air. Grabbing a sweater and Harry's invisibility cloak, he pulled both on and headed for the hospital Wing.
Thankfully Ron didn't run into anyone on the way to the infirmary, which was deserted. He crept all the way over to Hermione's bed and closed the curtain around them before removing the cloak. Pulling a chair over to the bed where Hermione remained uncurious, he sat down.
"Oh Mione," he whispered into the darkness. "Why have you let this happen to yourself?" He reached up to brush a stray lock of curly brown hair from her face, noticing as he did so that Madam Pomfrey had cleaned her up, so she was no longer bloodstained and the bruises seemed less angry.
"I wish you would wake up and talk to me…tell me that I shouldn't be here, that I should be back in my bed asleep. But I couldn't sleep, Mione. Not knowing that you were here all alone…and in this state. I care about you a lot, you know. More than anyone could imagine. I care more about you than anything else. Anything." He gaped at what he had just said. It was a good thing she was asleep, or he would have just admitted to her that he had feelings for her. He hadn't really been thinking about what he was saying, since she couldn't hear him anyway. And so, here he found himself, pouring his heart out, and holding her hand. Holding her hand? When had that happened? And yet, there it was, her small, fragile hand held delicately in his own, his thumb running up and down the back side of it gently. Reluctantly letting go of it, Ron realized what this meant. He had just admitted not only to a sleeping Hermione, but to himself, what he really felt. He loved her. Not just liked, not just cared about, loved. 'And,' he thought to himself, 'it's time for her to know.' It had taken almost losing her for him to realize that life was too short to hide your feelings. Tomorrow, he decided, he would tell her. Finally noticing that it was about two in the morning, Ron stood up to leave, and noticed Hermione give a little shiver once the warmth of his body had left her bedside. Ron carefully peeled the sweater from his body and laid it over top of her; It easily covered her small body and arms. And with that, he pulled the cloak back over him and headed back to his dormitory.
Later that night, Hermione slowly opened her eyes. Where was she? It was white, annoyingly sterile…the hospital Wing! But why was he here? She moved her head off the pillow, only to feel her head explode with pain. Moaning, she laid it back down on the pillow, and the memories of her fight with Viktor came flooding back. 'I was so stupid to have ever gone to meet him,' she thought to herself. 'I should have listened to Ron.' Ron…She smiled as she pictured him. She could almost smell him. Wait-smell him? She looked down, and gave a little gasp of surprise when she noticed the wooly maroon thing covering her. Maroon? She carefully moved her arms out from under it, moaning as she stretched one of her ribs accidentally, and picked the blanket up. Wait, it wasn't a blanket-it was a sweater. A thick, wooly, maroon sweater with a big R on the front. Ron! She pressed the soft fabric of it to her face, breathing in the scent. It smelled, clean, like fresh laundry, mixed in with Ron's fragrant soap. She drank in the scent, feeling almost as if he were standing there, wishing he was. Suddenly, she stopped herself. Why was she wishing Ron were there? Why was she smelling his sweater? How had she gotten his sweater in the first place? The last question was a mystery to her, but the first two she couldn't deny knowing the answers to. She liked Ron, more than one likes a friend. She liked him a lot, she even went as far as to admit, if only to herself, that she loved him. But she feared that she could never tell him this, as she was sure he didn't feel the same way, and she didn't want to ruin their friendship. So, she contented herself with pulling the big sweater over herself, though with difficulty, snuggling into it, and falling back to sleep.
The next morning, Ron was up and dressed before the sun was even fully risen, and he set off for the Hospital Wing. He didn't bother with robes over his jeans and tee shirt, only the invisibility cloak, which got him safely to the infirmary and behind Hermione's curtain before he removed it. Keeping one hand behind his back, he leaned down and shook Hermione shoulder very gently. "Hermione…Hermione wake up!" he whispered. Slowly but surely, Hermione's eyes fluttered open.
"Ron?" she whispered groggily.
"Morning, Mione," he answered, producing from behind his back a red rose, which he offered to her. "Good to see you're awake."
"Thanks,' she replied, smelling the rose and then placing it on the table. "What're you doing up so early though? It's Sunday…isn't it?"
"Yes, you only slept through the night," he assured her.
"Ron," she started nervously, "How did I get here?"
"Well, you were late coming to meet us, so I let Ginny and Harry head back here, and I went looking for you. I found you laying in an alley, in the snow, soaked, and all bloodied up. I carried you back here, and here we are. But, what on Earth happened to you, Hermione?" Tears filled her eyes as he quickly retold his story, and the memories continued to throb in her mind, but she soon spoke.
"Viktor…we went for a walk, but, he was drunk. Very drunk. I confronted him about it, and he got angry, and started hitting me. It was horrible. I've never seen him like that. I hit the ground, but he didn't stop…the last thing I remember before I blacked out is him walking away." Ron shook his head, hate burning in his eyes.
"I'm sorry, Hermione."
"What? What are you sorry for, Ron? You didn't do this to me. I let it happen to myself…I should have known better."
"No, it's my fault for leaving you alone with him. I should have stayed with you…I knew he was no good…I just didn't think he'd have the indecency to be drunk in front of you…" Hermione smiled, laughing inwardly at Ron's way of making it seem like it was his fault, when in reality it wasn't as she shifted her arm, she felt soft wool rub against I, and suddenly remembered Ron's sweater, which she was still wearing.
"Ron," she started. "First of all, it's not your fault, and thank you for finding me, not to mention carrying me here…I would have probably frozen to death if it weren't for you." Pink slowly crept into Ron's cheeks as she said this. "Second of all, is this yours?" She moved the covered slowly down to reveal the front of his sweater. Ron blushed like never before at the sight of her wearing his won sweater, and nodded. "Well," she continued, "It's quite comfortable."
"Y-You can keep it, if you'd like, Ron stuttered, a plan slowly developing in his mind. "But, there's something else I'd like to give you." He carefully took her hand, as he had the night before.
"Oh?" she said quietly, her heart pumping madly in her chest. Harry, who had been about to walk into the room, saw what was going on and threw himself into reverse. Ron watched him from the corner of his eyes, and distinctly saw him mouth the wrods 'Go-for-it-mate.'
"Y-Yes," Ron replied nervously. And, before he knew what he was doing, he brought his lips down upon Hermione's, who seemed shocked at first, but quickly gave in and returned the kiss. Slowly pulling away, Ron looked into Hermione's chocolate eys and whispered breathlessly, "There."
Suddenly, realization of what he had just done hit Ron, and he started stammering out apologies. "Sorry…probably shouldn't have…I know you don't-" but he was suddenly cut off by Hermione's lips, which had pressed themselves to his own once again. This time Ron didn't pull away, and the kiss went on for several minutes. When they finally broke apart, Hermione stared into Ron's dazzlingly blue eyes for a moment before whispering, "I've been waiting so long to do that."
"Me too," Ron replied with a smile. Before either could say anything more, Hermione carefully inched her way to the side of the bed, laving a big space, which she motioned for Ron to take. He gently lowered himself into the bed, making sure not to bump Hermione' whose ribs were still very tender, though her jaw appeared to have healed fully. Once he was totally on the bed, he carefully put his arm around Hermione's shoulder, pulling her closer to him, so that her head rested on his own shoulder. She nestled her head into his neck, breathing in the scent she loved so much. They both closed their eyes, drawing comfort from one another, and were soon asleep. And that's how Harry found them thirty minutes later. Exactly how they were always meant to be; In each other's arms.
A/N: Okay, I know, fluffy, but that's the kind of mood I've been in lately. Hope you liked it! Please review! XoXo Sadie
Excitement. It coursed through Hermione Granger's veins. It had been almost a year since she'd seen Viktor Krum, and now he had traveled all the way to Hogsmeade to see her. As of late his letters had been getting darker, but she put it down to a hard Quidditch season. She, Harry and Ron strolled down the main street in Hogsmeade, Ron scowling at the thought of Hermione meeting with Krum, and Harry laughing at the two of them. When they reached the hog's Head, where Viktor had arranged to meet her, Hermione bid her two best friends farewell and walked timidly into the pub.
Looking around, she spotted Krum hunched over in a booth in the corner. As she carefully made her way toward him, he looked up, and his face cracked into a strange half-smile.
"Hello Viktor," she greeted him.
"Hello Herm-o ninny, How nice to see you!" he teased in reply. She made to sit down, but he shook his large head and stood. "Let's go for a walk." She smiled in reply and took hold of his proffered arm. The two then made their way out of the pub and onto the snow covered street of Hogsmeade, Hermione not failing to notice the strong smell of Firewhisky on Viktor's breath.
They walked along and talked quietly for a while, Hermione quite upset at Viktor's obviously intoxicated state. Finally she stopped, drug Viktor into an alley between two stores, and looked him in the face.
"Viktor, why have you done this to yourself?"
"Done whhatt?" he slurred.
"You're smashed Viktor! Is this why you're letters have been so foul lately? You're drunk all the time?!"
"Listen Herm…Hermoninny," he stuttered again. "I are…I..I is…not…d-d-DRUNK!" He shouted the last words with angry force.
"Yes you are! Look at yourself!" She shouted back.
"You little…AARRRGGHHHHH!!!" He shouted and began advancing on her. Hermione, realizing the mistake she'd made, began to back away, only to find that she'd gotten herself trapped at the end of a dark alley, with an angry drunk man advancing on her.
"Vik…Viktor please…I'm sorry…Don't do anything stupid now…" but it was too late. Before Hermione could utter another word, the back of Krum's hand had come in hard contact with the right side of her face. Clutching her hand to her stinging cheek, she slid to the ground, only to be pulled up again by Krum's strong arms. As soon as she was standing, he thrust his fist hard into the other side of her face, making her cry out. This only encouraged him, and he slapped her harder than before. Hermione hit the ground and scuttled backwards, but Viktor was faster. His large dragonhide boot camedawn with amazing force on her stomach, making her double over. "Viktor please!" She panted. "Stop!" but her cries were to no avail, as his fist soon made contact yet again with her cheekbone. She tried to fight back, but he was stronger, and after a few more blows to her head, which he had forcefully slammed against the brick wall when he knocked her over, everything started to fade to black. As her vision clouded, the last thing Hermione saw was Krum standing up, kicking snow onto her, and stumbling away.
"Where do you suppose Hermione has gotten to?" Harry asked Ron as to two sat in the three Broomsticks with Ginny.
"I dunno…Probably off snogging Krum somewhere," Ron replied bitterly.
"Oh stop it Ron," Ginny chided. "You know she doesn't like him that way…but…it is getting late. Maybe we should go look for her."
"You two head back to the castle, I'll find her," Ron offered. Ginny and Harry nodded in reply. The three of them stood up and headed out of the pub, splitting into different directions once outside.
The first place Ron looked for Hermione was the Hog's Head, but the bartender told him they'd left hours ago. And so Ron continued checking all of Hermione's usual haunts-the bookstore, the robe shop, the candy store, all to no avail. Along the way he ran into Neville and Luna, holding hands and strolling back towards Hogwarts.
"Oy! Neville!" Ron called for his fellow Sixth Year's attention.
"What's up Ron?"
"Have you seen Hermione?"
"Hmm…Not very recently. I saw her about an hour ago down at the far end of the village walking with that Krum fellow."
"That's odd. We never go down to that end…Well, thanks Nev."
"Anytime." With that they went their separate ways, Ron heading t=down to the other side of the village.
Upon arriving, Ron already had a bad feeling. It was oddly quiet, and the stores seemed empty. Then, he heard it. It was faint-he almost missed it, but there was a low moaning sound coming from the alley two buildings up. He cautiously made his way toward it, his heart racing. He was getting closer…closer…he was running down the alley, and then-
"HERMIONE!" He yelled. "What's happened to you!?!" Hermione was laying in a crumpled mass on the ground, the snow around her littered with drops of blood, and the obvious signs of some sort of struggle. "Has Krum done this?"
Hermione nodded best she could-she was flickering in and out of consciousness. Her face was stained with blood, from the corners of her mouth and her nose. When she tried to speak she grimaced; Ron guessed that her jaw was broken. Her left eye had developed a black circle around it, which was starting to bleed as well. Ron began to panic. What was he to do? There was no one around to call for help, and he didn't know how severe her injuries were. Finally, he decided that he had no choice, and so he began to remove his cloak which he wrapped around her soaked body. He then gingerly slid one hand under her knees and one behind her upper back, carefully supporting her head. HE lifted her up, and started as fast as he could back towards Hogwarts.
It was past dark when Ron stumbled into the Entrance Hall, staggering under Hermione's weight. His entrance went unnoticed, and he continued his journey up six flights of stairs. Finally, Ron tripped into the Hospital Wing, where he carefully laid Hermione down on a bed before calling, rather loudly, For Madame Pomfrey, who bustled into the room with an annoyed expression on her face.
"What ARE you yelling for, Mr.-Oh!" Her eyes fell upon Hermione. "What happened?"
"I'm not sure. I found her this way in Hogsmeade. I thinhk it was Viktor Krum-That's who she was last seen with."
"You carried her all the way here from Hogsmeade?"
"Umm, yeah," he replied. "Do you think she'll be alright?"
"Well," Madam Pomfrey replied, beginning to examine Hermione's injuries. "It looks like she was beaten pretty badly." She then began to lift Hermione's shirt up, causing Ron to blush and look away from a minute, before looking back to see huge, angry looking purple and red bruises. "Oh my," Madam Pomfrey gasped, pressing her hands gently along the girls sides. "She appears to have a few broken ribs, and a fractured jaw by the look of it, but I should be able to patch her up. Now, I'd suggest you go get some rest, Mr. Weasley. She'll take visitors tomorrow morning, she should be awake by then." Ron nodded and headed back toward Gryffindor Tower, where he was immediately hit with a million questions from Harry.
"Where've you been? Where's Hermione? Is she alright?"
" I found her in an alley. She'd been beaten senseless. I guess it was Krum. She's in the Hospital Wing now. She's hurt pretty bad, but Madam Pomfrey says she'll be alright. We can go see her in the morning." Harry blanched at the thought of his best friend being so badly hurt.
"How bad is it?" he asked feebly.
"A few broken ribs and her jaw's fractured, and she's got an awful bruise on her left eye. You should have seen the way I found her, Harry. Blood everywhere. It was terrible. If I ever get my hands on Krum, I'll make him regret the day he was born. I'll…I'll…"
"Ron, calm down," Harry advised his friend. "Go on up and get some rest. You look exhausted." Ron nodded. He slowly made his way up the stairs, thinking about the long, hot shower he was going to take.
An hour and a half later Ron had showered, donned his pajamas, and climbed into bed. However, his mind would not let him rest. He tossed and he turned, but he just couldn't sleep. He finally gave up and, after making sure that everyone else was asleep, he slipped cautiously from his bed. Instantly he was hit with a draft of cold air. Grabbing a sweater and Harry's invisibility cloak, he pulled both on and headed for the hospital Wing.
Thankfully Ron didn't run into anyone on the way to the infirmary, which was deserted. He crept all the way over to Hermione's bed and closed the curtain around them before removing the cloak. Pulling a chair over to the bed where Hermione remained uncurious, he sat down.
"Oh Mione," he whispered into the darkness. "Why have you let this happen to yourself?" He reached up to brush a stray lock of curly brown hair from her face, noticing as he did so that Madam Pomfrey had cleaned her up, so she was no longer bloodstained and the bruises seemed less angry.
"I wish you would wake up and talk to me…tell me that I shouldn't be here, that I should be back in my bed asleep. But I couldn't sleep, Mione. Not knowing that you were here all alone…and in this state. I care about you a lot, you know. More than anyone could imagine. I care more about you than anything else. Anything." He gaped at what he had just said. It was a good thing she was asleep, or he would have just admitted to her that he had feelings for her. He hadn't really been thinking about what he was saying, since she couldn't hear him anyway. And so, here he found himself, pouring his heart out, and holding her hand. Holding her hand? When had that happened? And yet, there it was, her small, fragile hand held delicately in his own, his thumb running up and down the back side of it gently. Reluctantly letting go of it, Ron realized what this meant. He had just admitted not only to a sleeping Hermione, but to himself, what he really felt. He loved her. Not just liked, not just cared about, loved. 'And,' he thought to himself, 'it's time for her to know.' It had taken almost losing her for him to realize that life was too short to hide your feelings. Tomorrow, he decided, he would tell her. Finally noticing that it was about two in the morning, Ron stood up to leave, and noticed Hermione give a little shiver once the warmth of his body had left her bedside. Ron carefully peeled the sweater from his body and laid it over top of her; It easily covered her small body and arms. And with that, he pulled the cloak back over him and headed back to his dormitory.
Later that night, Hermione slowly opened her eyes. Where was she? It was white, annoyingly sterile…the hospital Wing! But why was he here? She moved her head off the pillow, only to feel her head explode with pain. Moaning, she laid it back down on the pillow, and the memories of her fight with Viktor came flooding back. 'I was so stupid to have ever gone to meet him,' she thought to herself. 'I should have listened to Ron.' Ron…She smiled as she pictured him. She could almost smell him. Wait-smell him? She looked down, and gave a little gasp of surprise when she noticed the wooly maroon thing covering her. Maroon? She carefully moved her arms out from under it, moaning as she stretched one of her ribs accidentally, and picked the blanket up. Wait, it wasn't a blanket-it was a sweater. A thick, wooly, maroon sweater with a big R on the front. Ron! She pressed the soft fabric of it to her face, breathing in the scent. It smelled, clean, like fresh laundry, mixed in with Ron's fragrant soap. She drank in the scent, feeling almost as if he were standing there, wishing he was. Suddenly, she stopped herself. Why was she wishing Ron were there? Why was she smelling his sweater? How had she gotten his sweater in the first place? The last question was a mystery to her, but the first two she couldn't deny knowing the answers to. She liked Ron, more than one likes a friend. She liked him a lot, she even went as far as to admit, if only to herself, that she loved him. But she feared that she could never tell him this, as she was sure he didn't feel the same way, and she didn't want to ruin their friendship. So, she contented herself with pulling the big sweater over herself, though with difficulty, snuggling into it, and falling back to sleep.
The next morning, Ron was up and dressed before the sun was even fully risen, and he set off for the Hospital Wing. He didn't bother with robes over his jeans and tee shirt, only the invisibility cloak, which got him safely to the infirmary and behind Hermione's curtain before he removed it. Keeping one hand behind his back, he leaned down and shook Hermione shoulder very gently. "Hermione…Hermione wake up!" he whispered. Slowly but surely, Hermione's eyes fluttered open.
"Ron?" she whispered groggily.
"Morning, Mione," he answered, producing from behind his back a red rose, which he offered to her. "Good to see you're awake."
"Thanks,' she replied, smelling the rose and then placing it on the table. "What're you doing up so early though? It's Sunday…isn't it?"
"Yes, you only slept through the night," he assured her.
"Ron," she started nervously, "How did I get here?"
"Well, you were late coming to meet us, so I let Ginny and Harry head back here, and I went looking for you. I found you laying in an alley, in the snow, soaked, and all bloodied up. I carried you back here, and here we are. But, what on Earth happened to you, Hermione?" Tears filled her eyes as he quickly retold his story, and the memories continued to throb in her mind, but she soon spoke.
"Viktor…we went for a walk, but, he was drunk. Very drunk. I confronted him about it, and he got angry, and started hitting me. It was horrible. I've never seen him like that. I hit the ground, but he didn't stop…the last thing I remember before I blacked out is him walking away." Ron shook his head, hate burning in his eyes.
"I'm sorry, Hermione."
"What? What are you sorry for, Ron? You didn't do this to me. I let it happen to myself…I should have known better."
"No, it's my fault for leaving you alone with him. I should have stayed with you…I knew he was no good…I just didn't think he'd have the indecency to be drunk in front of you…" Hermione smiled, laughing inwardly at Ron's way of making it seem like it was his fault, when in reality it wasn't as she shifted her arm, she felt soft wool rub against I, and suddenly remembered Ron's sweater, which she was still wearing.
"Ron," she started. "First of all, it's not your fault, and thank you for finding me, not to mention carrying me here…I would have probably frozen to death if it weren't for you." Pink slowly crept into Ron's cheeks as she said this. "Second of all, is this yours?" She moved the covered slowly down to reveal the front of his sweater. Ron blushed like never before at the sight of her wearing his won sweater, and nodded. "Well," she continued, "It's quite comfortable."
"Y-You can keep it, if you'd like, Ron stuttered, a plan slowly developing in his mind. "But, there's something else I'd like to give you." He carefully took her hand, as he had the night before.
"Oh?" she said quietly, her heart pumping madly in her chest. Harry, who had been about to walk into the room, saw what was going on and threw himself into reverse. Ron watched him from the corner of his eyes, and distinctly saw him mouth the wrods 'Go-for-it-mate.'
"Y-Yes," Ron replied nervously. And, before he knew what he was doing, he brought his lips down upon Hermione's, who seemed shocked at first, but quickly gave in and returned the kiss. Slowly pulling away, Ron looked into Hermione's chocolate eys and whispered breathlessly, "There."
Suddenly, realization of what he had just done hit Ron, and he started stammering out apologies. "Sorry…probably shouldn't have…I know you don't-" but he was suddenly cut off by Hermione's lips, which had pressed themselves to his own once again. This time Ron didn't pull away, and the kiss went on for several minutes. When they finally broke apart, Hermione stared into Ron's dazzlingly blue eyes for a moment before whispering, "I've been waiting so long to do that."
"Me too," Ron replied with a smile. Before either could say anything more, Hermione carefully inched her way to the side of the bed, laving a big space, which she motioned for Ron to take. He gently lowered himself into the bed, making sure not to bump Hermione' whose ribs were still very tender, though her jaw appeared to have healed fully. Once he was totally on the bed, he carefully put his arm around Hermione's shoulder, pulling her closer to him, so that her head rested on his own shoulder. She nestled her head into his neck, breathing in the scent she loved so much. They both closed their eyes, drawing comfort from one another, and were soon asleep. And that's how Harry found them thirty minutes later. Exactly how they were always meant to be; In each other's arms.
A/N: Okay, I know, fluffy, but that's the kind of mood I've been in lately. Hope you liked it! Please review! XoXo Sadie