Author's Note: This fic was written as a reward to the winning team of round one of the Shipping Wars Competition on HPFC: Princessss, Debs1990, and siriusbarks. All three chose a prompt for me to combine into a fic, and the prompt they chose were: (object) a gift, (dialogue) 'Sand… it gets everywhere', and (setting) Hogwarts library. Let me tell you, these were some hard prompts to put together into one story, but I managed! Hope you three enjoy this!

This was also written for Lexi (Book of Hope) for the Ultimate Fic Exchange. Hope you like it, Lexi!

The light Spring rain splattered against the windows of the library, a faint noise that did very little to distract the girl hunched over her table of books. Her frizzy brown hair hung around her shoulders, only pinned back enough to keep the curly strands from falling into her face and obscuring her vision.

As usual was for a Saturday, the library was empty except for Hermione and Madame Pince. Even with final exams approaching in a few weeks, the room remained as silent as ever. Not that Hermione would ever complain about that. She enjoyed the time alone. She'd never had such a sociable year at Hogwarts. Despite the DA and the Daily Prophet and even the Slug Club, Hermione had managed six years with only two best friends. With both of them gone, she had worried about a repeat of her first year—the sting each time she noticed someone avoiding or ignoring her—but instead, she'd never been so, well, popular. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy having people to talk to—and for people to actually listen to what she said—but keeping up with everyone was exhausting and time-consuming. She needed the day by herself if she was ever going to be ready for her N.E.W.T.s.

"Should've known you'd be here."

"Ron?" She jumped in surprise at his voice, not believing he was really there until she saw the tall redhead walking towards her with a lopsided grin. "What are you doing here?" she asked, blinking her eyes as if he might disappear.

"I came to—" He was cut off as Hermione's surprise wore off into pure excitement. She leapt from her chair and into his arms, pulling him down into a sound kiss that almost made up for not seeing him for three months.

She pulled away with a smile, reaching up to wipe away a droplet of rain that clung to the end of his nose. "You were saying?" she asked.

"I, uh… yeah…" His hand retreated from her waist to rub the back of his neck as he gathered himself. "You weren't in Hogsmeade."

"Oh, I completely forgot it was a Hogsmeade weekend," Hermione said. She'd stayed up so late the previous night and gotten up so early that morning that she'd missed all the usual excited chatter that prefaced a Hogsmeade trip. "Why didn't you say anything in a letter?"

Ron shrugged. "It was your turn."

Hermione opened her mouth to argue but stopped her words before they left. "Yes, well." She lifted a book cover and held up the letter, already sealed in an envelope, sitting beneath. "I promise I was about to send it."

"And you complain when I don't write back right away," he said with a shake of his head.

"I've had a lot on my mind." She sighed and then smiled up at Ron, feeling a fresh wave of happiness over having him there washing over her again. "Oh, I feel just awful," she said, crinkling the letter in her grasp. "I should have remembered it was a Hogsmeade weekend. I should have remembered you'd be here. Let me clean up here, and we can go to the Three Broomsticks or Honeyduke's or anywhere you want."

She set the letter on the table and reached for one of many open books before Ron stopped her. "It's alright," he said. Though his words made her pause, she looked up at him with a disbelieving expression. He smiled. "I know better than to try to pull Hermione Granger out of the library. Besides, it's been a while since I've watched you revise."

His cheeky smirk sent a warm shiver down her spine. The suggestion was far from sounding unpleasant, but Hermione shook her head. "There are some things more important than school work," she said, flipping the book closed.

Ron chuckled. "Well, of course, I knew that," he said. "I just didn't know you knew that."

She gave him a playful glare before continuing her clean up, stacking the books into a neat pile before shrinking them with her wand. As she tucked them into her bag, Ron handed her a pair of quills and an inkwell. She was just about to swing her bag over her shoulder and suggest they go when Ron said, "Oh! Wait, I almost forgot." He stuck a hand in his jacket, fishing around in the pocket until he pulled out two slim pieces of paper. "I did actually bring a real surprise with me," he said as he handed them to her.

Eyeing both the papers and her boyfriend curiously, Hermione took them and saw that they were tickets. "These are… these are aeroplane tickets… Muggle aeroplane tickets," she added, flipping them over as if expecting to see a Ministry logo hidden somewhere. "How did you get them?"

"I'm not completely useless, you know," he said with a hint of indignation. "And… I might have gotten Harry to help."

Hermione laughed, not caring how Ron got them. She was still impressed. "To Australia?" she asked, finally reading the destination printed along the side. "You do remember that my parents aren't there anymore, right?"

"Yeah, I know, but with Auror training, I couldn't go with you the first time." His light-hearted teasing turned more serious as his cheeks grew pink. "I thought it might be nice to go."

Her heart felt like it might swell and burst with affection. She clutched the tickets to her chest and smiled up at him. "Oh, Ron, that's so sweet." She stretched up on her toes to kiss his warm cheek, then stared down at the tickets again. As she read the date printed on them, her heart shrank back with disappointment. "It… it really is perfect… but…"

His wide smile dipped down in concern. "But what?"

"Oh!" She put a hand to her head, rubbing at her forehead. "I really should have sent that letter to you sooner. I… I took a job at the Ministry." She looked up at him, biting her lip to keep herself quiet until the torrent of words overtook her. "Professor McGonagall knows all about S.P.E.W. and that I want to work for the Department for the Control and Regulation of Magical Creatures after graduation, so she contacted the Head of the department. It all happened so fast. I've already had an interview and everything, and I was so excited, I said I could start as soon as I'd graduated. My first day is the day after graduation and…"

"And that doesn't leave a lot of time for a holiday," Ron finished with a disappointed sigh. Then he shrugged and put on a fake smile. "Well, that's alright. I mean, I can return the tickets and all, right? And it's not like you haven't been to Australia already. Besides, it's like one big beach down there. It's hot and sunny, and we'd probably both burn. Plus the sand… it gets everywhere. And salt water is just… gross."

Hermione smiled at his made up excuses, knowing from the excitement shining in his earlier words that he really didn't care all that much about the sun and the sand. He'd been to Egypt for heaven's sake. "Ron," she said, taking his hand. "We should go."

His eyes light up for a moment before he shook his head. "No, no, you've got a career to start—"

"Which I can do after we get back." She glanced down at the plane tickets and felt a surge of giddiness rush through her, a feeling she'd long forgotten about. "I can't remember the last time I had a proper holiday. For the past few years, it seems like we haven't had a break. With everything that happened, we never got to celebrate the end of the war." His hand tightened around hers, and she looked up at him with a warm smile. "I think the Ministry of Magic won't mind giving the both of us a holiday."

Ron grinned down at her. "We did save their arses by winning the war."

"Yes, I'm sure they love being reminded of that."

He leant in for a chaste kiss, and Hermione had never felt more content. As she handed him back the tickets and reached for her school bag, she said, "You might want to reconsider Australia though."

"Really? Why? Didn't you like it?"

"I thought it was perfectly lovely." She swung her bag over her shoulder and took his hand. "But they do have spiders there as large as dining plates."

Ron's face paled, and he lagged behind as she led him out of the library. "Yeah… well… maybe we'll find someplace better. Someplace that doesn't have spiders."

Hermione chuckled. "Where are we going to go that doesn't have any spiders? Antartica?"

"That sounds perfect."