Chapter 1: I Can't Lose You To Him

"He's way too old for you," Ron Weasley was fuming as he stormed through the portrait hole of Gryffindor Tower.

"What?" Hermione Granger gawped. "What? Is that what you think?"

"Yeah, that's what I think," Ron replied flatly, the sneer on his face palpable. He had been seething all night, and had not even bothered to hide it. Seeing his Hermione in the arms of that Bulgarian Quidditch peacock had nearly driven him to distraction. And she had looked - still looked - so bewitching in that pink dress...

"You know the solution then, don't you?" Hermione stalked after him, eyes flashing sharper than a hawk's.

"Go on."

"Next time there's a Ball, pluck up the courage and ask me before somebody else does... and not as a last resort!" Her deep brown eyes were blinking back tears, and the crack in her voice was disturbingly noticeable.

Ron was struck by her comment, even as it ramped up his jealous rage. Did we have to scream it in her face? Well, he would make it clear. Besides, the Common Room was empty, and no one had yet been woken up hearing them row.

"I CAN'T LOSE YOU TO HIM!" Ron grabbed Hermione and gave her a little shake. Her mouth fell open, speechless, and she could only stare at him, as he hung his head dejectedly. "I can't... I always lose the best things to someone else... someone better... like Harry or Krum... I just want something that's mine."

Hermione was surprised. Forcing herself to wipe away the gape on her face, she peered at him. Then, slowly...

She wound her arms about his neck and kissed him deeply. Her eyes fluttered shut instantly, and it did not take long before she felt Ron respond to the kiss. He backed them towards the couch by the fireplace, their lips still fused together, and Ron lowered Hermione onto the cushions. The folds of her pink dress rode up towards her hips, but Hermione didn't care. Ron was kissing her like she was the most beautiful girl in the castle, and it made her feel so proud and valued and loved... She couldn't pretend that when it came to other girls noticing Ron, she had not felt the same things Ron had over Viktor Krum noticing her.

Every kiss, every caress, was making Hermione burn with pleasure and... she never felt so alive. It was without conscious thought that she and Ron began tearing away at each other's clothes, until both were starkers, naked on the couch.

The kiss finally broke at last, and they gazed at each other, panting. Hermione's throat suddenly felt very dry and she gulped. Her eyes could not - would not - leave Ron's.

"Do you... do you want to stop?" Ron pondered her so gently.

"No," and Hermione was flustered to hear how she moaned the word. To stop now would be unimaginably cruel. Here was a man she had loved since she was a little girl, a first year fresh on the Hogwarts Express. Grasping his neck, Hermione pulled Ron down for another kiss. Closer, closer... closer still -

Slowly, he entered her. Hermione flopped back into the cushions, her face scrunching up with discomfort and she let out a whine of pain. To his credit, Ron halted immediately. "Go... go slow," she rasped out. After a moment or two, Ron slowly began to thrust into her back and forth. Sighing, Hermione raised her hips to meet him at every collision of their bodies.

Heat. Pain. Then pleasure, indescribable pleasure. "Huhh... uhh... ohhhh... Godric..." Tears of happiness pricked at her eyes. Finally, she whimpered, "Ron!" She came all around him.

Another slam into her, and then a grunt, as Ron followed inside of her. Hermione's eyes rolled into the back of her head, and her vision became spotty. She sensed their union becoming dissolved, Ron gallantly picking her up, conjuring her dress back onto her, and heading for the girls' dormitory staircase. Silently entering to avoid waking up a sleeping Lavender and Pavarti, Hermione felt warm sheets under her.

She slurred something, but a second later, she was in a blissful sleep.