Title: Affirmation
Author: Autumn
Email: R
Pairing: Ron/Hermione
Summary: "This isn't real, but I just wanna feel."
Spoilers" HBP
Disclaimer: Lyrics belong to J. Whedon, characters to J.K. Rowling
"This isn't real, but I just wanna feel."
-Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 'Once More with Feeling'
It had been an hour since they buried Dumbledore. Harry had disappeared with Ginny and Ron was still with her, lightly holding her. "Come with me Ron."
"What?"
"Please?" She asked, not looking at him as she rose from her seat.
When she was eight, her last remaining grandparent had died. It had been a natural death; by old age. Hermione had clung to her parents for a week. Afraid that if she left their sight, if she stopped touching them they would be gone too. They'd go wherever her grandmother had gone, somewhere where only old people went. She wouldn't be able to follow. Human contact, loving arms, fingers combing her hair had been what reassured Hermione.
But this time everything was different. Dumbledore was twice as old as her grandmother had been, but he'd been murdered. And it stung all the more for it. It burned her on the inside, creating a fire that choked the breath from her lungs and the life from her body. "Take your clothes off Ron."
"But Hermi-"
"Please? I just, I need-."
What she was going to say never came out. Ron answered her by firmly pressing his lips against hers.
The warm flesh against her own was reassuring. The damp hair against her scalp let her know that she was still there. The smell of sex told her that this was real. And she smiled.
The rustle of discarded blankets was the only sound as the two dressed themselves. Ron turned towards Hermione, "so, are we together?"
She bit her lip. The look of pain that crested Ron's features grounded her. The affirmation of their new reality.