A/N: Thank you to thesteppyone for the beta and Britpick- much appreciated, dear one!

This was originally submitted for LiveJournal's helmetfest2008 community Month of Hermione Prompt Challenge. My prompt was "Hermione is distracted and a potion goes way wrong."

Watch the angst warning! I don't want anyone being angry and saying they weren't warned once they get to the end!

Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own any of these characters- I would be far richer if I did! They belong to JKRowling- no infringement intended.

Living the Dream

"Don't look at me like that, Ronald Weasley. This is entirely your fault," I practically snarled at my husband, though there was no venom behind my words.

"You think so?" he asked me, not appearing to be worried about my apparent moodiness.

"Yes, I do think so and you know it," I said, a smile creeping onto my face. "Which means that you have to go to the store- now!"

"I seem to recall that you had something to do with it, but if you hold that thought, you can tell me exactly why it's entirely my fault when I get back," he said with a smirk and Disapparated before I could get another word out. His sudden departure took me off guard for a moment and I almost waited exactly where I was, but my feet were killing me. I moved to the sitting room, a smile on my lips at the memory of exactly what had created this situation.

"You were saying, love?" Ron asked as he Apparated back into the room and broke my train of thought.

"No talking- just give me something crunchy," I said and grabbed at the grocery bag in his hands. "Celery? Carrots? Why in the world would- crisps! Yes, these should hit the spot." I tore into the bag of crisps and popped one in my mouth, enjoying the crunchiness and the saltiness. Looking over at Ron, I nearly laughed at the amused and self-satisfied grin on his face. Prat.

"Thank you, Ron. So wonderful of you to wait on me hand and foot and see to my every need, my dear. You are the best husband a girl could ever ask for," Ron teasingly said in falsetto while toeing off his shoes and socks.

"Thanks, I really needed these," I said and nodded at the quickly diminishing bag of crisps in my hand. "The cravings have been coming non-stop for the last week. Frankly, I'm getting a little tired of it."

Ron came around the back of the settee and began to lightly massage my shoulders before leaning down and placing short kisses on my cheek and neck. "Back to what you were saying earlier: why is this my fault?" he asked and his hands stopped moving for a minute. I whimpered lightly and his fingers continued their entrancing dance across my neck and collarbone. Ron's fingers drove me mad, they always had, and feeling them on my body was part of what lead me to my current condition.

"If you recall, four months ago on the full moon, I was working on an important potion when you came home." He didn't answer, but he gave me an extra tight squeeze at the back of my neck that I took to mean he remembered it quite well. "You came home and were characteristically exuberant and enthusiastic." He bent down and gave my ear a light nip as punishment for my little bit of sarcasm. If that's punishment, I need to be naughty more often, I thought before trying to focus again.

"Go on, love," he said next to my ear and I couldn't help the shiver that ran down my spine. It amazed me that so many years later, my body still reacted so strongly to him. I hoped I never stopped feeling this way whenever he was near me.

"I told you that I was in the middle of something important, but you tried to insist it could wait. When I told you it was my contraceptive potion which needed to be made and then taken each month on the full moon, you seemed willing to try being a bit more patient. I said 'try', because you really weren't very patient at all, were you?" I smiled at the memory.

"I'm never patient when it comes to having you," Ron said and I turned my head to meet his lips. Turns out, neither am I. I ran my hand through the ginger strands on his head while our mouths crashed together for a few moments. Mustn't get distracted, I reminded myself and turned to face forward on the settee again.

"Be that as it may, you proceeded to render me quite useless. Do you remember? You leaned forward and unbuttoned my shirt while I was still adding ingredients." As I pictured him doing just that in my mind, I felt his large fingers trace across my breastbone where they dipped down to the front of my blouse and began unbuttoning it. "You pulled it down my arms and tried to take it off as I was trying to vigorously stir the potion anti-clockwise for exactly seventy-seven seconds." His large hands continued their handiwork and slowly peeled my shirt down my arms, tossing it carelessly behind him as soon as I was free of it. Things are about to get interesting, thank Merlin. These damn hormones are making me crazy!

"You unsnapped my bra and started caressing my breasts while I was trying to stir the potion seven times in a clockwise direction, with precisely seven seconds in between each stir." Before I even finished reminding him of the step he took, I felt Ron unhooking my bra and pushing the straps down my arms. My breasts were a bit fuller now than they had been four months ago, heavier, slightly warm to the touch. My nipples seemed to be permanently puckered now, but the gentle pressure from the pads of Ron's fingers circling the tips made them impossibly harder.

"That was very bad of me. Perhaps you should punish me now," Ron said and his hands left me momentarily. He came around the sofa and knelt in front of me before kissing me again. I lost myself in him, in the soft slide of his hand up and down my back, in the slightly rough pulling of my head to his, in the delicious warm sensation beginning to pool in my belly. I loosened his shirt buttons from their slips and pushed the shirt off of him, splaying my hands on his broad, freckled chest.

"No need to punish you, love," I said when we finally pulled apart. "This was the best mistake we've ever made together." It still made me giddy to think about. Ron and I were going to be parents. We were having a baby. Despite feeling the baby moving around and other signs of impending motherhood, I still couldn't fully wrap my mind around the idea.

"Yeah. We've never got anything quite this right before, have we?" Ron said and started kissing his way down my torso. When he came to my slightly swollen belly, he rested his head against it. I had only begun to show a few weeks before and he'd been cataloguing the differences almost daily. I found it endearing, but his meticulousness was unexpected.

"It's true," I said and ran my fingers through his silky, fiery locks. I hope the baby has his hair.

Ron's fingers fiddled with the zipper on my skirt and slid it down, the teeth making a soft clicking noise. I lifted my hips to help him slide the skirt and my knickers from under me and they became two more pieces of clothing strewn about our sitting room. My fingers found the front of his trousers and I cupped him gently before pulling open his flies. With a swift push, his trousers and pants were around his thighs and he somewhat awkwardly moved around until he kicked them back and out of the way.

I hooked my foot around his thigh to bring him closer to me, wanting to wrap myself up in him and never let go. Ron's hands grabbed my hips and pulled me to the edge of the sofa and I felt my legs go instinctively around his slender waist. I expected him to plunge into me immediately and was surprised to feel him lean in and hug me to him. Even though he was kneeling on the ground, my face easily rested against his chest and I smiled at the thought of how well we fit together.

"I'm not sorry I distracted you with the potion. I hope we have at least a few more potions go wrong like that," he said softly and I felt tears begin to rise. He's going to be such a great Dad! We'd both known we would have children someday, but the recent unexpected news had brought out such a tender side to Ron.

"Me, too," I replied just as softly and turned my head up to catch his lips in a kiss. Reaching between us, I positioned him in my folds, not breaking our kiss as I thrust my hips forward to envelop him. It never failed to astound me how I felt when those first moments of joining happened. We were one: two beating hearts, two souls, two minds, but one for a few precious moments in time.

I gripped Ron's waist and raised my foot to rest it on his bum, pulling him forward into me with a small rocking movement. Our actions were slow, languid; our lower bodies mimicked the gentle thrusting of our tongues into each other's mouths. However, once Ron reached down to flick against my clit with his long fingers, a sense of urgency began to flood our movements. I released his mouth and drew in air, breathing heavily. He took advantage of the moment by nipping at my neck and then bending somewhat to catch my nipple between his lips.

I tightened my muscles around his cock, clenching and then releasing around him in time with his thrusts. His low groans and whispered "love you" and "so good" spurred me to lean forward and capture his ear lobe between my teeth. I knew it drove him mad when I flicked my tongue in and out of it and traced around the shell with the tip of my tongue. He tugged my head back to his and swallowed my whimper when his fingers swirled over my clit again and then twisted it between his thumb and index finger. My orgasm surprised me and rolled through my body. It had been building steadily, but it crested over me quite before I was aware it was happening. Ron's fingers continued moving against me until I swatted them away, unable to take the stimulation anymore.

Your turn.

I thrust my hips up to meet his, my right foot on the ground supporting my movement, my left arm around his broad shoulders pulling him impossibly closer to me. I moaned at the change in angle; the friction was undeniably sweet. I knew it wouldn't be quite enough for a second orgasm for me, but it still sent ribbons of pleasure through me.

"Let go," I whispered into his ear and it was as though a rubber band had snapped. His movements suddenly became more purposeful and strong against me, racing toward his inevitable goal. A couple more hard thrusts and I felt a liquid warmth shoot into me as Ron stiffened against me. We clung to each other, sweat sliding down our bodies, and both breathing heavily. In direct contrast to what we'd just done, Ron chastely kissed my mouth, giving the barest of pressure to my lips. I was left boneless and never wanted to move again, happy to stay exactly where I was forever, but then Ron slid out of me and my inner thighs started to protest being held open for as long as they had been.

Ron grabbed his wand from his discarded trousers and cast a cleaning charm on both of us, before pulling me to my feet. I wasn't sure how, but we somehow made it up to our bedroom to sleep for the evening, Ron spooning at my back with his arm resting across my midsection. It seemed I had only been asleep for moments when I became aware of my name being repeated over and over again.

"Hermione? Hermione, wake up! Hermione, are you all right?" Harry's voice interrupted my sleep and I opened my eyes slowly. His eyes searched my face and he looked worried about something.

"I'm fine, Harry, just still sleepy... Wait, where did you come from?" And where in the world is Ron?

"What do you mean where- oh, shite! You must still be having side-effects from the potion that went all wonky."

"What potion?" I squinted my eyes at Harry, confused that Ron had somehow disappeared and I seemed to be back in the tiny tent we had spent months in together while on the hunt for the Horcruxes.

"I don't remember, you just said it was something we needed after we left Bathilda's house. You seemed really distracted and out of it when you were making it, but it turned blue which was what you said you wanted. You took it and the next thing I knew, you were asleep in your chair. I carried you in here."

"But, Ron, he was just here and I..." I trailed off at the look in Harry's eyes. The anger at Ron was gone, replaced by sadness over his best mate's continued absence. Looking around, I took in the surroundings: the uncomfortable bunk, the ugly fabric of the tent walls, the sounds of the forest around us. Damnit, I just want Ron. My eyes filled with tears as the bleak reality settled over the beautiful fantasy my mind had created for me.

"Must've been a dream... We need to start packing, we'll leave as soon as you're ready to get up," he said and turned away from me, walking out into another room.

"Yes, it must have been," I whispered to myself and clenched my eyes shut. I wrapped my arms tightly around my chest, but I knew they were my own and not Ron's arms holding me to him. I tried to reassure myself that my dream would come true someday, tried to promise myself that the last time I saw Ron wouldn't be when he stormed out into the rain and Disapparated without a trace. I tried to comfort myself, to tell myself that the dream was what I was fighting for, what we were all fighting for when it came down to it, but I knew it was no use without knowing if he was still alive.

I knew I needed to get up and help Harry pack, but my heart twinged and I gave in to the grief that flowed through it, my tears washing away the happiness the dream had brought.

I wish I was living that dream.

Fin.

Thank you so much for reading! Reviews are love for my soul- I'd love to know what you thought! -Risie :o)