DISCLAIMER: I don't own Ron, Hermione or heartbeats.

Heartbeat

Blurb …

Feel it? / Your heartbeat? / It's going just as fast as yours. :Oneshot Valentines Day Special RHr postDH:

It started with silence.

Hermione hugged her legs tighter to herself as she laid curled up on one of the sofas in the common room. It was silent, save for the fire crackling and her heart, which was still beating at a frantically fast pace, as if she was still fighting in the battle.

Hermione was thankful that the Gryffindor common room was empty. It hadn't been for most of the day. It had always been full of people, no matter their age or house, who had come to hide away, or to sleep, or to be together.

Hermione only had to sit in a chair for five minutes before she had to leave. So she had been down in the main castle all day, helping to move the dead Death Eaters into an empty classroom, helping to repair some of the major damage, scrubbing the blood off the marble staircase, doing anything she could to try and remove the memories. She had practically scrubbed her brain right out.

But she could still remember.

She wished she could be Harry, who was sleeping in his dormitory and had been for the past fourteen hours or so. Night had fallen across the common room and the only light was the fire.

Hermione hid her face in one of the sofa cushions. Fire. The Fiendfrye. Crabbe was killed. Soon after, Fred joined him. She would always remember.

Then there was no longer silence.

"Hermione?"

She leapt a mile as Ron's voice whispered behind her in the darkness. She had her wand out and was poking it into his face before she even realised what she was doing. When she finally noticed that it was her best friend, she scowled and whacked him on the arm. "For Merlin's sake, Ron! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

Ron gave a sheepish grin. "Er, sorry," he said, jumping over the back of the sofa to sit next to her, facing sideways on the sofa so he could face her. "It was really quiet and I didn't want to scare you …"

"That turned out well …" She said, scathingly. "God, my heart's still going a hundred miles and hour."

Ron managed a grin and she swore her heart went even faster. "Again, sorry," he said. "Mum practically forced me up here, said I had better get some sleep or she'll force-feed me a potion. Or she could have said poison. Either one wouldn't surprise me."

How Ron still managed to make her laugh, Hermione would never know. He joined her and their laughter echoed around the common room. It sounded wrong, however in the silent room and it died down pretty quickly.

"Is your Mum still cleaning?" Hermione asked, quietly.

Ron shrugged. "She was when I left. I don't think anyone will be able to make her stop."

"What about George?"

Ron winced. "He's still out on the Quidditch pitch. Refuses to come inside. Everyone's gone to try and talk to him, but …"

Hermione hesitated for a second before asking, "What about you?"

Ron gave her a look. "What about me?"

She sighed. "How are you?" She asked. "You haven't properly spoken to me since this morning when Harry caught the Elder Wand. I've been as worried as hell and you didn't say anything to me."

Ron winced. "Sorry." He muttered.

Hermione rolled her eyes and collapsed back into the sofa's cushions. "Right. Sorry."

There was silence again in the Gryffindor common room. This time, the only other sounds were the fireplace and two heartbeats, one fast and erratic, one slow and soothing.

Hermione glanced at Ron for a moment before saying, "I'm sorry about Fred."

For the longest time, Ron didn't answer. Then, he folded his arms and said without looking at her, "It doesn't matter."

Hermione narrowed her eyebrows. "Doesn't matter?" She repeated. "Ron, he's your brother. Of course it matters!"

"Was, Hermione," He said, still not looking at her. "He was my brother. Now he's dead. There's no point in being sorry about it, it won't change what's happened."

"Ron-"

"Hermione, would you just leave it for a change?" Ron cut over her. "You're always cutting in, trying to help in some way. It's bloody irritating and it's not going to be any use now."

Hermione couldn't answer him. She refused to let tears come anywhere near her eyes, so instead, she picked up the nearest book. However it happened to be a copy of The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore, and she soon threw it down in disgust. Ron watched her movements.

"That book is a load of bollocks." Ron noted.

"I know." Hermione said, glaring at said book. She didn't even tell him off for using such a crude word.

"Hermione …" Ron began and Hermione glanced back up at him. She suddenly became aware of how close they were sitting. She had stretched out her legs so they lay across Ron's lap and he had rested a hand on her lower leg. She hoped he wouldn't be able to see her cheeks flush in the dark light of the common room. "Look, I'm sorry for running out on you guys … I was just angry and … I didn't mean to-"

"Ron, you've already apologised a million times." Hermione said.

Ron shook his head. "It's not enough that I've just apologised!" He said, adding his other hand to her leg and squeezing slightly as though that would reiterate his point. "I wasn't there to protect you and Harry! You went to Godric's Hollow, you were attacked by a snake! If I had been there, maybe you would've stood a chance, killed the snake back then, saved Harry's wand-"

"Ron that doesn't matter!" Hermione said, tugging her leg away from Ron's hands as he was starting to squeeze it rather hard. Instead, she moved closer so she could hold his hand. "Neville got the snake in the end and Harry's wand is fixed …"

"That's not the point, Hermione," Ron said earnestly, speaking to their entwined hands rather than her face. "I should've been there, fighting with you. I … should've been with my family during the battle, not running around with Harry, pretending to be a hero …"

"Ron, you weren't-"

"Maybe if I had, Fred would still be alive …" Ron muttered.

Hermione sighed. "Ron, Harry needed you," Was all she could think to say. "Your … your family knew what they were getting into. Harry's our best friend and he needed us to be with him. And …" She paused. "I needed you."

It wasn't quite what she was planning on, but it got her message across. Ron just stared at her for a few moments before tugging his hand away from hers, leaving it oddly cold. "I need you too." He muttered, looking away again. Hermione however, recognised the present tense, rather than the past tense she had used.

Hermione braced herself before saying, "Look Ron, I'm sorry for what I did in the Room of Requirement," For the second time, Ron snapped his head around to stare at her. "When … you know I, er, kissed you."

He just looked at her. Hermione rolled her eyes. "Well, one of us had to bring it up at some point." She grumbled to herself, folding her arms.

Ron shook his head. "You … you're sorry?" He repeated.

Hermione looked puzzled. "Of course. It distracted us both, not to mention how traumatised Harry must be. I'm sorry I did it, I was just … bloody scared that neither of us would make it and when you actually cared about the House Elves …" She couldn't put it into words. "Something just snapped. I'm sorry."

Ron took a deep breath. "Hermione … I don't want you to be sorry."

"Pardon?"

Ron just gave her an incredulous look. "Haven't you been paying attention at all this past year?" He said, sounding much rather like Hermione did when she pestered Ron to take his own notes in class. It shocked her so much that she shook her head. "Hermione, I was so desperate I went to Fred and George for advice," He said. He voiced stuck on Fred's name for a moment, but he forced himself past it. "I've been paying you compliments, trying to be a better person and have a bit more emotion than usual all because of you."

"Y-… you didn't h-have to …" Hermione managed to say. Her heart was completely out of control now. She wouldn't have been surprised if Ron could hear it.

Ron rolled his eyes. "I know I didn't have to," He said. "Ok, I admit that I'm a bit slow when it comes to girls, but even I could see how jealous you were last year with Lavender-"

"-I wasn't jealous-!"

"-And well, I realised that I needed to do something," Ron shrugged. "Hermione, do not be sorry that you kissed me. And all right, it's shit timing and well overdue, but well, I'm in love with you."

Hermione just stared. "L-love?" She said, weakly.

Ron rolled his eyes. "Of course. Can't you hear my heart? It's beating so loud that I'm surprised the entire house hasn't woken up."

It wasn't until Hermione listened that she could've sworn that he was right, that she could hear it.

She just stared at Ron. The face that had once teased her when they were eleven, and now was her rock. Hermione couldn't imagine her life without either of her boys in her life – Harry and Ron just meant that much to her – but there had always been something different about Ron. She couldn't speak. Instead, she took his hand. She saw his ears go red when she placed it on her chest, but she only moved it until the throbbing beneath her skin was also beneath his hand.

"Feel it?" She asked.

"Your heartbeat?"

She nodded. "It's going just as fast as yours."

Ron grinned. Hermione then said quietly, "Don't keep thinking about the fact that Fred's is no longer beating," Ron didn't look away like she guessed he would. He continued to look straight at her. "Just think about what he would say if he knew how girly you were being."

Ron managed a smile. "Yeah … he would definitely beat me up."

Hermione griped the hand on her chest tighter. "And if you didn't get it before, I'm in love with you too."

Ron rolled his eyes. "Hermione, I'm not that thick."

"And yet, we've had a perfectly romantic moment here for the past few minutes and you have still not made one single move to kiss me." Hermione pointed out. This apparently stumped Ron for a few seconds.

"D'you … want me to kiss you?" He asked, hesitantly.

Hermione sighed, exasperatedly. "Oh Ron," She said, rolling her eyes. "You really are an idiot." And she kissed him.

It ended not with silence, but with the fire and two heartbeats that raced as fast as each other.

-Fin.

A/N: Where the hell this came from, i'll never know. But it's here and let's face it, i can't stay away from Ron and Hermione for very long. Happy Valentine's Day. Personally i hate the holiday, but i suppose we could all do with a bit of love in our lives.

Remember that reviews are always appreciated!

Until next time-

-Moon. : D