Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't possess billions of dollars or any rights to the wonderful world of Harry Potter. I just get to live in it.

Hermione had never been a fan of thunderstorms. Frankly, they frightened her. One night near the end of fifth year, there was a horrible thunderstorm. The continuous thunder and lightning kept flashing brightly in her dorm room. With every loud crack, Hermione would jump and further cover her head with her blanket.

I should've been a Hufflepuff if I'm going act like such a baby.Knowing from experience that she wouldn't be going back to sleep until the thunder stopped, she decided to get a book and go read in the common room. Her charms book was on her bedside table, and with O.W.L.s approaching, she decided a little bit of studying couldn't hurt.

She crept out of her bed so as not to wake the other girls and went down the stairs. Once she was in the common room, she saw that she wasn't alone. Ron was sitting at one of the tables sound asleep with his head on a bunch of parchment. Hermione thought that he looked so sweet sleeping. She couldn't help but let out a little chuckle and went over to him to wake him up.

She put her face down near his, and while fighting the urge to kiss him, whispered in his ear, "Ron."

"mmmmm"

"Wake up, Ronald"

When he didn't seem to be moving, she placed her hand on his shoulder. With that, his head popped up, making Hermione jump back a little.

"Bloody hell Hermione! You scared me!"

"I'm sorry! I was only trying to wake you up, but that's not an easy task when it comes to you."

Just then, a loud boom sounded through the room. The thunder made Hermione jump, and this didn't go unnoticed by Ron.

"Scared?" He asked with a sly grin on his face.

"No, just surprised"

"Then why are you coming down here in the middle of the night?"

"I couldn't sleep."

"Because you're scared."

"Ronald!"

"Okay, sorry. I just didn't know a little storm scared you so badly."

She wasn't in the mood to argue. She rolled her eyes and looked at the parchment he had been sleeping on. "Is that your potions essay? It's not due until the day after tomorrow. What made you actually get a head start on it?"

"Quidditch practice all day after classes tomorrow. I figured I'll be too tired to do it when I get back. Do you think you could help me? I finished it, but I don't know if all of it is right and I really can't have another bad mark in that class."

Hermione nodded her head and sat down. She grabbed a quill and went to work on fixing any errors that he had made. There was another round of thunder that made Hermione jump in her seat. Ron began to rub her back. "Ronald, what are you doing?"

Ron pulled his hand back and his ears began to go red. "I… um…. Mum used to do it for us when we were scared or upset. I just figured…. I don't know… thought you might like it. Sorry." He was staring at his knees the entire time.

"No, um it actually felt good. Just a bit… surprising, that's all." She smiled at him and his face lit up. She loved it when he smiled at her. It always made her feel amazing inside.

"Well then maybe I should keep doing it? That is if you want me to. I don't have to though."

There was more thunder which made Hermione move a bit closer to him and nod her head. He moved his hand back to her back and she faced his potions essay. It took a bit longer than it normally would to make all the corrections with his hand distracting her. When there was more thunder, she barely noticed it. He always seemed to know how to make her relax.

Two hours later, Hermione had made all the corrections and Ron was rewriting his essay. At some point, the storm had stopped. Neither could pinpoint exactly when, though. Hermione yawned and Ron looked exhausted.

"You should probably get some rest or you just might fall off your broom tomorrow at practice."

"Yeah, I guess I'll head upstairs. Thanks for helping me."

"Thank you for calming me down during the storm. I needed that."

"So you admit you were scared?"

"Ronald, do not start that again. I'm going upstairs to get some sleep before classes start." Hermione got up, but before she went upstairs, she did something that she had never done before. She bent down and gave Ron a kiss on the cheek. He looked quite surprised, but in a good way. When she reached the foot of the stairs to the girls' dormitory she turned around said goodnight. Then she was gone.

Once she was in her bed, she fell asleep straight away. The rest of her night consisted of dreams of a certain redheaded boy and what it would be like to actually kiss his lips.