Harsh golden light pounded at Hermione's eyelids, demanding she flutter them open. Moaning, she tried to turn out of the way, only to find that there was a person's shoulder in the way. Opening her eyes, she found herself crooked between the shoulder and chest of someone wearing a very familiar maroon and orange striped t-shirt. Her breath caught in her chest and her eyes flickered up to see Ronald Weasley's face, sleeping gently with his head crooked over on the sofa where her head had been.
Hermione blushed. After the battle they had all stayed awake just long enough to gather the wounded and dead and establish shifts for people to watch over those in the Great Hall and shifts for others to patrol the castle (though all knew they were safe) before they all scattered through the ruins of the castle to allow exhaustion to overtake them. Hermione, Ron, Harry and Ginny had gone up to what was left of Gryffindor Tower, Harry and Ginny in the armchair and Ron and Hermione on the sofa.
She and Ron hadn't talked about kissing. Of course they hadn't, Hermione thought with a wry smile. They never talked about anything. Ron had never stopped holding her, and his arm was still wrapped around her, but he never addressed what had happened.
Or how he felt about it.
She felt stupid. This was years in the making, right? Well, it was for her.
But she was also the one who had kissed him. He didn't exactly have any say in the matter.
Hermione sighed, extracting herself from Ron's arm. She couldn't just sit there, waiting for him to wake up. Slowly she stood and began to walk, not sure where she would go. She climbed through the portrait hole and walked down the curling staircase until a large gaping hole in the tower was revealed to her. She sat, her toes inches from the hole in the floor, her eyes falling on the sunset visible in front of her.
Not long after she had been sitting there, she heard familiar scuffling footsteps behind her, stopping not long behind her. She pursed her lips and looked down, waiting for Ron to speak.
"Why'd you leave?"
"You were asleep." She turned and glanced up at him. He looked scared.
"You leaving woke me up." He said, his chest heaving and his mouth slightly open. "Can I sit?" He asked, shuffling his feet.
"Sorry." She said, nodding to the floor. He sat next to her, his feet dangling over the edge.
"Hermione?" He asked, and she looked at him again, biting her bottom lip. "Are we going to do this?" He asked, his bottom eyelids creeping up on his eyes like shields.
"I want us to." She whispered. "If it's what you want, Ron."
"I really do, Hermione." He said, his voice hanging on her name. Gently he leaned in, taking her in his arms and looking in her eyes and heaving a few nervous breaths before pressing his lips to hers softly, gently. The way she had always imagined their first kiss.
"We're really doing this, Hermione." He said as they broke apart, giving her a soft smile.
"Finally." She said, allowing herself a little laugh as she snuggled down into his side, her heart beating quickly as she realized just how much this meant.