Story: Promising Kisses

Author: QueenyC

Summary: As the war looms ahead and the world is caving in, four young lovers find solace in one last dance and one last, promising kiss.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot and even that isn't terribly original. 

Chapter One

People Like Us

The Burrow had been a veritable bee-hive of activity from the moment she'd arrived, clutching a travel bag to her chest. After a week of visiting with Harry at the Dursley's he had insisted that she and Ron both go home to their parents and spend some time with them. "You have to explain to them what we're doing," he'd said. "They have to be okay with it if we're going to pull this off."

She'd tried, she really had, to stress to her parents the importance of what she was about to do with her two best friends. She'd tried to make them see that not getting involved was not even an option for her anymore. Like Harry often did, they wouldn't understand that she couldn't stay behind. She couldn't watch, couldn't wait, couldn't worry over some small black envelope which would signify the end of her world. A tear streaked down her cheek at the memory of that talk with her parents.

"It seems to me that we've had nothing but trouble since you started at that school!" Her father had shouted. "This is nonsense Hermione, you're only seventeen! I forbid you to go gallivanting off with these boys looking for cursed souls and fighting evil wizards! It's madness!"

"But Daddy-"

"No," Her mother had said, much calmer than her father but still stern, "You're father is right, Hermione. This is ridiculous. You're still a child, our child, and we won't allow you to go."

"Mum...Dad, I'm sorry, butyou can't stop me." Hermione had whispered, knowing how much she was about to hurt her parents. "This is my choice. I'm legally an adult in the Wizarding world, and besides, what power do you have to keep me here? I'm going. I'm not asking for your permission, just your blessing. It'll be a lot easier if I know I have somewhere, someone to come home to when it's all over." She told them softly.

Her parents stared back at her with silent, saddened faces. She could see tears in her mother's eyes. "Hermione please," the older woman muttered, "Just walk away, come back to us. We'll pretend that none of this ever happened; maybe we could even have our memories erased. You could go to university and-"

Hermione faced her mother incredulously. "I can't believe what I'm hearing!" she shouted. "How could you ask me to turn my back on everything that I know, everything that I am? Magic isn't some pastime or hobby, Mum; it's a part of me, of my life! I am magic!"

"It could all be erased; we could go back to living safe and happy. You wouldn't have to remember any of it, any of what you've been through or suffered. Any of the people you've met-"

"Stop!" Hermione shouted as tears streaked down her own cheeks and she threw her hands over her ears. "I can't turn my back on them Mother! I won't! I hate you for asking it of me." She rose from her seat at the kitchen table and faced both her parents in the ultimate defiance, "I will do what I have to and you can't stop me this time. Maybe one day you'll understand and accept all of this. If not…well then I'm sorry for hurting you. I love you both so much, but…there's more to me than my Muggle life. I wish I could make you understand."

"We want to, Princess." Her father whispered. She was dismayed to find tears in his eyes as well.

"I know you do." She nodded. She took a deep breath, "I'm leaving for the Burrow tomorrow for Bill's wedding. You can come if you like. Harry, Ron and I will most likely leave from there." She whispered.

"We have to work, we can't make the wedding. Too short of notice," her mother sighed.

"Right," Hermione nodded, "So then this…"

"…This is goodbye," Her mother finished for her.

"Not forever." Hermione sighed. "We're going to try to be home for Christmas at the very least. You can call Molly anytime you want, she's assured me. I'll do my best to check in but…yes," she said, finally acknowledging her biggest fear, "This is goodbye."

Hermione stared pensively out the window of Ron's bedroom and choked on a small sob as she heard the pain in her mother's voice over and over again. This is goodbye. And it was. It really was goodbye. She didn't know yet if it was for a day, for a week, for months or years. It might even be a forever goodbye.

"'Mione?" she heard a familiar and yet foreign voice whisper. She opened her mouth to reply but only managed another strangled sob. Warm arms encircled her. "It's gonna be okay, 'Mione." Ron muttered into her ear. She'd never heard him sound so sure of himself. His confidence and maturity, she realized, were what made his voice so different to her ears.

"What if I really never see them again?" She sobbed suddenly, brokenly, giving voice to her fears and anguish.

"Do you trust me?" Ron asked her, pulling back to look into her eyes. She met his stunning blue gaze and tried to collect herself. His voice may have changed, he may have grown up, but his face was always something she knew, even in the dark she could see it. His mussed red hair falling down to his forehead, his ocean blue eyes, his lop-sided grin calculating the world, and of course, his smattering of freckles which were her own star map home. She knew each feature by heart.

"Of course I trust you," she told him once she'd gained some control of her voice.

"Then hear this," he whispered, cupping her face in his hands gently and holding her gaze. "I will get you home to your parents, Hermione, I promise."

"Don't make promises that you can't keep." She told him.

"I never do." He replied gently.

Hermione watched from her place at one of the several round tables, seated between Ron and Ginny as happy couple moved about the dance floor. She smiled at the joyfulness on everyone's faces. This is what she would go to war for. More moments like this. Ron coughed carefully and rose from his seat turning to her, the tips of his ears gone red. "May I have this dance?" He asked gently.

"I thought you'd never ask." She nodded, taking his hand without any of her previous hesitations. Belatedly she remembered that Ginny was depressed and turned back to ask if it was okay for her to leave. Ginny only smiled and nodded towards the dance floor with a knowing smirk.

As Ron wrapped his arms around her waist she gazed up into those entrancing blue eyes of his and sighed. "I've figured it out." She told him softly.

"What?" He asked in honest curiosity.

"I've figured out why I'm going, why I have to go with you and Harry."

"You didn't know before now?" he asked with raised eyebrows.

"Well, I did, I suppose. I mean, deep down I've always known that things wouldn't be the same for the three of us, that we'd never have a normal life. But…I've just finally understood what I'm fighting for."

"And what is that?" He asked.

"For people like us, Ron." She told him.

"People like us?" he asked.

She nodded. "People who always knew where their heart belonged but took too damn long to admit it." She chuckled softly, "People who were afraid of admitting their feelings and then never got the chance to. I'm fighting so that I can give them the time we weren't given to become who they were destined to be." She finished in a whisper.

For several moments she stared into Ron's shoulder, afraid to meet his gaze. She had still not worked up the courage when she felt one of his hands leave her waist. She began to panic. Had she scared him away? But then his warm fingers brushed her cheek and then gripped her chin gently and turned her face to meet his.

"I think that's a pretty damn important thing to fight for." He told her before he captured her lips in a searing kiss that promised, if not eternity, at least a tomorrow.