Lyin' here with you so close to me
it's hard to fight these feelings when it feels so hard to breathe
I'm caught up in this moment, caught up on your smile
Hermione Granger was lying awake in bed again. This wasn't an uncommon occurrence during their stay at Grimmauld Place. Since the trio slept in the living room, Ron was always so close to Hermione at night that she couldn't even dream of sleeping. She heard Ron's soft snores and smiled inwardly. She glanced up at the clock on the coffee table. 1:18. She groaned loudly, which caused Ron to start. Luckily for Hermione, he fell right back asleep.
So the reason Hermione couldn't sleep? Ron Weasley, of course. Every move he made, and every sound, was like music to her ears. Hence, her sleepless nights. Luckily neither of the boys had picked up on it, she couldn't handle the embarrassment of someone knowing her secret.
She turned on her side and stared intently at Ron's face. His crystal blue eyes were hidden behind their eyelid veils but she imagined she could see them, always twinkling. He had the happiest eyes she had ever seen, which caused her to smile whenever he looked at her. Her eyes traced his freckled cheeks. Her mother had always called them angel kisses. "freckles is such an ugly word, darling," she used to say.
Her eyes continued their memorization of his features. She skipped over his lips, she stared at them too much already, she'd almost been caught by Harry a few times. She moved onto his defined chest. He wasn't the tall, lanky boy he used to be. Quidditch practice and the long road to the horcruxes had changed Ron physically. His arms were strong and toned, and you could see his abs through his shirt.
She made herself stop her staring now, she couldn't go any further, Ron had started to wake. She quickly shut her eyes and pretended to sleep. Ron, she thought to herself, I love it when you smile in your sleep.
I've never opened up to anyone
so hard to hold back when I'm holding you in my arms
we don't need to rush this, let's just take it slow
Ron swore to himself loudly. He'd just had the most awful dream about spiders, how was he ever supposed to fall back asleep? He shook his head and noticed Hermione out of the corner of his eye. She was facing him, which was odd to him, she never faced him when she slept. Not that he minded, though. Staring at her would get him through his sleepless night.
She looked so beautiful when she slept. She was gorgeous when she was awake, but when she slept it was a different kind of beauty. Instead of her normal fiery, intense beauty, this was a calm kind of beauty. Ron considered it a luxury to be able to see her like this. For once it looked like she wasn't worrying about horcruxes or Voldemort. She was completely carefree, and this made Ron even more crazy about her.
As if that's even possible, Ron thought to himself as he chuckled. The sound seemed to pull Hermione out of her slumber though, and she looked at him through her dark eyelashes and Ron could barely control himself.
"Why are you up, Hermione?" Ron made himself sound as cool and collected as he could, even though the look in her eyes made him want to jump on her and make up for all the years he'd been missing.
"Not sure really," she yawned and rubbed her eyes. "You?"
Ron blushed slightly. "Bad dream."
Hermione giggled, and Ron grinned at her. "You better be quiet or Harry will hear you," she smirked.
"Bloody hell, when he gets woken up he's worse than bloody Voldemort if you ask me!" Ron whispered.
"I can barely hear you, Ron, let me move a little closer," Hermione log-rolled towards Ron, the end of her roll leaving her nose less than an inch away from Ron's lips. Normally this would make Ron blush uncontrollably, and he would move away. But there was something in the way she looked at him, and the way he looked at her, that made him unable to move.
"Oops," she smiled, batting her eyelashes slightly. That was when Ron Weasley lost control.
Just a kiss on your lips in the moonlight
Hermione had expected Ron to do one of many things when she batted her eyelashes at him. He might blush and turn away. He might laugh in her face. He might not even pick up on her obvious flirtation. But this… this hadn't made her list.
In the split second that she saw Ron's eyes flare up, Hermione realized she had no idea what she was doing. She'd never really kissed a boy. Yes, there was Victor, but she mostly sat there while he did all the work. She knew that Ron had much more experience than her. What if she was bad at it? What if she had bad breath? She mentally slapped herself for forgetting to brush her teeth before bed.
Hermione Granger, brightest witch of her year, who never failed anything, was about to fail at kissing a boy.
Hermione braced herself for the eminent failure of her own kissing skills but Ron stopped and cocked his head at her. He must have seen her conflicting emotions. The love of her life then moved to back away from her.
"No!" she whispered loudly. "Ronald Weasley you are going to kiss me this instant, no matter how bad I am at it."
Ron's jaw dropped a bit. "Bad at it? That's what the look on your face was all about? For the smartest person I know you really can be daft sometimes. It doesn't matter whether you're good at it or not, Hermione."
"What do you mean it doesn't matter? It always matters!" Hermione was very confused. Didn't it matter if you were a good kisser?
"The point is," Ron sighed, "that I want to kiss you, whether you're good or not. So stop worrying, and let me kiss you before I chicken out."
Hermione nodded her head and closed her eyes. When Ron's lips brushed over hers the whole world seemed to fade away.
Just a touch of the fire burning so bright
Hermione had finally stopped fighting about whether she was a perfect kisser or not and had finally let him make his move. It only took him a millisecond to bridge the small gap between their lips, and what he met there was pure bliss.
As soon as her lips met his, and he could feel his skin on hers, he lost all sense of the world. All he could feel was her and that was enough. She put her hand behind his neck and he lost all sense of holding back. Now he was kissing her like his life depended on it and she was kissing him back just as hard and Ron could feel a fire start in his stomach.
He worked hard to keep the fire at bay and continue kissing Hermione, but the bloody spark refused to go out. It took every ounce of strength in him to pull away.
And I don't want to mess this thing up
When Ron pulled away Hermione was jerked out of her reverie. It ended too suddenly, she wanted more. Suddenly she had this craving for Ron's lips, a longing for his touch, but he was far away from her, he was moving away. "Ron?" she whimpered. "I was that bad of a kisser?"
The determined look on Ron's face subsided and all the frown lines from his forehead vanished. "What? Hermione, that's not it, I promise."
"What is it then? Why are you all the way over there?" she frowned to herself but he seemed to notice. In a second he was back beside her, close enough that she could feel his breath, but far enough that they weren't touching.
"Honestly, Hermione, if I told you, you'd laugh."
She shook her head angrily. He sighed, but his will seemed completely disregarded. "Hermione, I pulled away because I don't want to mess this up."
"Mess it up? Mess what up? You're not making sense." She growled.
No I don't want to push too far
"We need to take this slow Hermione." Ron stated. She nodded. He reached around for her hand, and as he clung to it, he said, "goodnight Hermione."
"Goodnight Ron."
Just a shot in the dark that you just might
Be the one I've been waiting for my whole life
So baby, I'm all right with just a kiss goodnight
As Ron pretended to sleep, he reminisced on what Hermione's lips had felt like on his own. They moved together as though they were made for each other. When he had kissed Lavender, it was like a battle of tongues, but kissing Hermione was the complete opposite. It was smooth and silky… and sexy…
Take it slow, he reprimanded himself, you don't want to screw this up. Hermione was the only thing he had ever really wanted, so he wasn't going to let his raging hormones scare her away. They would keep a slow and steady pace, and then maybe she wouldn't leave.
Hermione couldn't help but grin inwardly as she drifted off to sleep. Funny, she thought, how can I be tired when I have nothing else to dream about? My dream just came true.
She was happy when Ron stated that he wanted to go slow, because she had to admit, she was a little scared. What if something went wrong and they hard to part forever? Right, she told herself, take it slow.
I know that if we give this a little time
It'll only bring us closer to the love we wanna find
Ron awoke the next morning with his hand enveloped over Hermione's. The intense fire in his stomach from the night before had faded, and he felt it was okay to be closer to her. He wiggled his body towards her so they were barely touching, and he wrapped his arms around her. She was still asleep, so Ron let himself close his eyes and dream.
He dreamed about his future, after Voldemort was dead, when he and Hermione could finally be at peace, together. He wondered what it would be like, to live every day knowing she was his. He would take her out for dinner all the time, and to plays. Whatever she wanted, he would do, because he was the luckiest and happiest man in the world.
It's never felt so real, no, it's never felt so right
Hermione's eyes fluttered open and it took her a few seconds to realize where she was. She felt secure, and safe, more so than she'd felt in a long time. Why? She thought, trying to gain her bearings.
There were arms around her, strong arms. They were covered in freckles and dusted with red hair. She had woken up in Ron's arms. She looked up at his face, and upon seeing him smiling in his sleep, repressed the urge to giggle. Instead she buried her face in his chest.
"Morning, 'Mione," Ron grunted, barely conscious.
"Morning. As much as I enjoy this, we should probably move before Harry sees us. I don't really want to give him another thing to worry about." Hermione said, matter-of-factly. Ron smiled at her.
"Right. Just a kiss first." He cocked his head to the side and Hermione couldn't resist.
When Harry awoke, the duo were sitting in the kitchen eating breakfast. Hermione was skimming through the Daily Prophet (not that she expected to find anything), and Ron was shoveling his food down so fast it looked like he wasn't breathing.
"Morning," Harry yawned, reaching for the plate of toast.
Just a kiss on your lips in the moonlight
Ron pulled Hermione up the stairs quickly but quietly. Harry had decided on taking a nap, so the duo decided to take advantage of their alone time. They ducked into a guest room and shut the door quietly.
"Ron, I have a question," Hermione asked, her brow furrowed. She looked so adorable, and Ron walked over to her and kissed her forehead.
"Yes?"
"You never told me whether I was a good kisser or not," she harrumphed. Ron leaned back to look at her face, expecting her to be joking, but she was completely serious.
"Hermione you're not a bad kisser. In fact, last night was the best kiss I've ever had." He smiled to try and calm her nerves. She didn't relax.
"How do I know you're not lying to me?"
"Bloody hell, Hermione!" Ron had to stop himself from laughing out loud. "Listen, if it matters that much to you, I've got some of your own advice."
Hermione cocked her head and waited.
"Practice makes perfect." He stated, before pressing his lips against hers.
Just a touch of the fire burning so bright
Whenever Ron was close to her, Hermione seemed to lose the ability to breathe, as well as form coherent thoughts. The same was true when he was kissing her. All ideas of rhyme and reason went out the window and Hermione was left blindly following her heart.
This kiss, though, was a little bit different. She could feel Ron holding back, as he told her he would, and her body seemed to take offense to that. So her heart's path got a little tangled up with her hormones.
This new path caused Hermione to push Ron across the room until he was standing at the edge of the bed. It was because of her mixed trail that she pushed him down onto the bed and climbed on top of him. It was at about that time when her heart decided to give the reigns to the hormones. Her heart was still entirely in it, but she no longer cared about what was "right" or taking it slow. Right now, she wanted to feel Ron's body against hers.
Ron seemed to not notice Hermione's lack of reason, as he slid his hands up and down her sides, pulling her as close to him as he possibly could. It still wasn't close enough for Hermione. She decided that she should take off his shirt.
When their lips parted and she went to pull Ron's sweater over his head, he seemed to regain his consciousness.
"Whoa, Hermione, what are you doing?"
No I don't want to mess this thing up
"Nothing," she said, loudly, still pulling at his sweater.
"We're supposed to be going slow, right? Maybe you shouldn't take off my jumper right now," he said quietly. She frowned and fell onto the bed beside him.
"Why?" she grunted, her heart still beating fast, and her hormones still wildly in control of her decisions.
"'Mione, I don't want you to do something you regret, okay? I can't mess this up. You're the most important thing in the world to me, and if I do something wrong, or make you regret something, I won't be able to bear with losing you. It's not that I don't want to, I mean look at you!" he grinned wildly. "Every time I see you I want to run my fingers through your hair, and kiss your nose, and hold you close to me. If I could kiss you every second of every day, I would."
Hermione had started to calm down and was now thinking much more rationally. "You'd have to eat."
"Right, that's true." He laughed. He put his arm around her shoulders and she leaned into him. "We have all the time in the world, Hermione. Let's just take it one step at a time."
I don't want to push too far
When Ron started kissing Hermione, he had complete control over himself. The fire in his stomach was now just burning embers, and he forced it to stay that way.
Keeping his body calm, however, was hard to do when Hermione started pushing him towards the bed. She must just be tired of standing. I don't mind lying down.
It got a little harder when her body pushed against his on the bed, and she was kissing him deeper and deeper as the seconds progressed. Still, he figured, I can handle it.
The fire flared up twice as high as the night before, though, when she started pulling at his shirt. His head and his heart fought against each other for what seemed like hours. His heart saying "what could go wrong?" and his head saying "everything!" Finally, his head won out and he needed to stop her, before he went too far.
Just a shot in the dark that you just might
be the one I've been waiting for my whole life
So baby, I'm all right with just a kiss goodnight
Hermione cuddled with Ron for as long as she could. She knew that they had to go to the ministry the next day, and who knew what would happen after that? She tried not to think about it, and tried to focus on what was happening now. Ron was real, and he was holding on to her as though he never wanted to let her go, and she was clinging just as desperately.
She didn't know what tomorrow would bring, but today she had Ron, and Ron had her, and that was all that mattered.
No, I don't want to say goodnight
I know it's time to leave
Ron gripped Hermione's shoulder and pulled her as close to him as he could. He thought about their plans for the next day and shuddered inwardly. Who knew when he would be able to hold Hermione again? He pressed a kiss to her temple as a single tear fell down his cheek. Hermione felt the wet and leaned up to hug him.
Ron didn't know how long they laid there, holding each other for dear life. All he knew was it wasn't long enough.
But you'll be in my dreams
tonight, tonight, tonight
The sound of Harry stomping around below them pulled the duo from their shared reverie. They stood up and straightened their clothes.
"Hermione," Ron said, "promise me you'll never leave, all right?"
"I promise, Ron." She kissed him on the cheek before turning and leaving the room.
Just a kiss on your lips in the moonlight
Just a touch of the fire burning so bright
And I don't want to mess this thing up
I don't want to push too far
Just a shot in the dark that you just might
be the one I've been waiting for my whole life
so baby I'm all right
Oh, let's do this right with just a kiss goodnight.