A/N: I read so many fics that just make Ron look like a total ass… so, I wanted to portray him in a more positive note.

Chapter 1: Empty

It was like any normal day. The trio, plus Ginny was walking through Diagon Alley, helping Hermione get all her textbooks she needed to teach the next term of Transfigurations. Ginny was also looking around at any bridal shop she could, seeing as Harry had proposed only weeks before their outing. They were walking around in a bookstore when Hermione finally mustered up the courage to pull Ginny aside.

"Ginny, I need to talk to you, in private…" Hermione urged.

Ginny allowed Hermione to grab her by the shoulder and lead her away from the two boys. "What is it?"

"Ron and I slept together last night," Hermione blurted.

Ginny clapped her hands over her mouth. "Hermione! Yayyy," she mused. "You deflowered my brother, congratulations for feeling the need to share that with me."

"NO!!" Hermione hissed. "We didn't sleep together… we just slept in the same bed."

Ginny frowned. "Okay? Go virginity then…? What's the big deal, Hermione?"

Hermione sighed. "The big deal is that it was weird and it felt unnatural…"

"For Merlin's sake, woman… you two just moved in together and last night was your first night that you slept in your place as in you and Ron's place… of course it's going to be a little off. You did actually sleep in the same bed right?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Yes…"

"Sorry, I had to ask. I mean, at your old place you made him sleep on the couch…" Ginny pointed out.

"Well, I don't sleep well with others in the bed… and besides, it was my place at the time so I felt more able to tell him what to do."

"You know you have that poor, love sick puppy wrapped around your fingers, Hermione… You could make him do whatever you wanted. It's actually quite sickening."

Hermione scoffed. "And you don't have Harry twisted around those bony fingers of yours?"

"Hey..." Ginny held up her finger and examined it. "My fingers aren't that bony. You're the one that's a size two…" Ginny shrugged. "Anyway, Harry isn't that love sick. At least not as much, now that he knows he's spending the rest of his life with me. It's a shame really… I should have said no, or at least made him sweat it out a bit more when he proposed…" Ginny trailed, lost in her thoughts.

"Ginny! That's a terrible things to toy with a man about!" Hermione giggled.

"Oh well."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Well, anyway… I think that tonight is the night. I mean, he's been dropping hints all day. He bought me flowers. He said he was making his roast. Oh, and he bought me wine… granted, it's from a box, but… Ginny, are you listening to me?"

"Hm? Oh, yes… yes… Tonight's the night." Ginny thumbed through some books. "Gotchya."

Hermione sighed. "Right. Shall we get back then?"

Ginny grabbed a book off the shelf and tucked it under her arm. "Alright, let's go."

Hermione frowned. "What's with the book?"

Ginny shrugged. "I dunno… I just felt like reading about something… Let's go…"

Hermione grabbed for the book and yanked it out from under her arm. "Ginny Weasley! You are not buying this book while we're here. You can't embarrass me in front of these children! I am a professor at Hogwarts and this shop is teeming with students! Act normal and stop trying to buy books about sex."

"Hello? I'm a Weasley. I'm so past being normal."

Hermione put the book back on the shelf and dragged her friend back to where Ron and Harry waited. "Ok, has everyone had their fill of reliving the pre-Hogwarts déjà vu?"

"Yes," Harry replied. "I was over it when we walked in. On top of coming here and having to go to that bridal shop..." Ginny whispered something in his ear and pointed to a small bag in her hand. Hermione only assumed it contained lingerie. "On second thought, the bridal shopping may pay off." Harry beamed.

Hermione rolled her eyes and looked over at Ron. "Ronald? What on earth are you doing?"

"Some stupid little prat jinxed my shoes," Ron replied distractedly as he tried lifting up his shoes that were now melting into the floor.

Hermione bent down and looked at the shoes. "Ronald, you just let a teenager bewitch your shoes..."

Harry and Ginny started laughing as Ron mumbled something inaudible and tried to get his shoes back to normal.

"Should we all be getting back then?" Harry asked, eyeing the small bag in Ginny's hand.

Ron glared at his best friend. "What's the rush, mate?"

"Nothing," Ginny intervened. "I'm just tired, Ron. Is there a problem with that?"

Hermione giggled. "There's nothing the matter with that. Go ahead. You two go home. We'll see you tomorrow."

The apparated away and Ron turned to Hermione. "You know they're going back to their flat to have sex, right?"

Hermione shrugged. "So? They're in love. They're engaged. Let it go," Hermione replied and leaned over to kiss him on the cheek. Ron turned and captured her lips onto his.

"Now I can let it go." Ron smiled. "Let's go home. The roast should be done by now."

"Okay," Hermione sighed. She took his hand as they apparated back to their flat.

---

Hermione knew that tonight was going to be the night that they slept together. Ron had been slipping subtle hints and had made her a nice dinner, in theory. His world famous roast was actually quite dry and bland and the wine was excessively bitter for her liking, but she smiled, ate, and drank to please him. The man she loved.

"How did you like it?" Ron asked over his shoulder as he attended to some dishes in the sink.

Hermione sat on the island sipping the rest of her wine in disgust. She glanced casually at Ron and rolled her eyes. "You know you can use magic and save yourself some time..."

"Oh, right," Ron murmured and pulled out his wand. "I s'pose I'm just a little nervous, 'Mione."

Hermione sighed. "Yea, me too."

Ron finished the dishes and turned to her. "You know that I love you right?"

Hermione frowned and slid off the island and wrapped her arms around his waist, kissing his chin lightly because that was all she could reach. "Of course I know that, Ronald. I love you too."

Ron smiled down at her and kissed her forehead gently. "I don't want this to be forced or planned or whatever else... I want this to be real. Just let it happen."

Hermione smiled. "I feel the same."

"Shall we just go to bed then... no pressure?" he asked sweetly.

"I would love that," Hermione replied and kissed her boyfriend lightly.

Ron was the first to initiate things. He held her face in his hands and deepened the kiss, flicking his tongue around in her mouth. Hermione gasped, sucking in the air from his mouth. He backed her up against the island and grabbed her bottom, lifting her back onto of the island. Hermione wrapped her legs around his waist and began kissing his neck. Ron let a moan escape his mouth as he caressed her legs, slipping his hands under her skirt. Hermione was the first to pull away.

"Whoa," she breathed, wiping her lips a little.

Ron nodded with his hand still under her skirt. "Yea."

It's not as if they had never had a heated snogging session before. Actually, quite the contrary. It was just that tonight held the possibility for more and they both knew it. Hermione bit her lower lip and slipped off the island again, brushing her chest up against Ronald on purpose. She began sauntering back to their bedroom and turned when she got to the doorway.

"Are we going to bed or not?" Hermione asked, still a little breathless, but confident, nonetheless.

Ron smirked and nearly sprinted to the bedroom. "Hell yes, we're going to bed."

He picked her up and threw her on the bed, jumping on top of her and sucking on her neck. The spot that he knew made her legs turn to jelly.

"Mmm," was all Hermione could muster as she grabbed the back of his neck. Her hand trailed down towards the buttons on his shirt and after fumbling with one button, she just ripped it open.

Ron stopped what he was doing and looked down at her. "Did you just..."

"Yes," Hermione cut him off. "I'll buy you a new one."

Ron smiled. "It's ok." He kissed her collarbone. "I didn't like it anyway."

Hermione punched him in the arm and flipped them over so she was on top. She pulled off her shirt as she straddled him and bent down to whisper in his ear. "I got you that shirt last Christmas..." she growled and nibbled on his ear.

Ron started to laugh, but that laugh turned into a deep moan as Hermione began to rub on the bulge in his pants that had become obviously apparent.

"Ron..." Hermione breathed.

"Mmm... Yes?"

"I want you to make love to me. I don't want to wait any longer."

Ron looked at her warily. "Are you sure Hermione? Once we do this, we can't take it back."

"I know, Ronald." Hermione leaned down and kissed his nose. "But I love you and you love me."

Ron smiled sweetly. "Of course."

"So I'm ready to do this," Hermione breathed and kissed him tenderly. "I'm ready to do this with you."

---

Hermione was pacing her flat, waiting for Ginny. The one girl she could talk to. The one girl who wasn't necessarily her best friend, but seeing as Harry was Ron's go to guy, she had to go with Ginny. Hermione heard a small pop behind her and she wheeled around.

"Ginny," Hermione groaned. "We slept together last night."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Hermione, we went over this last time... sleeping in the same bed is not weird. You live together."

"No!" Hermione hissed. "We slept together last night."

Ginny's mouth formed a 'O' and she slowly sank down on the couch. "This is big," Ginny spoke finally.

Hermione ran her fingers through her hair. "I know it is and I really thought I was ready. At the time I knew I was ready... but now I feel..."

Ginny interrupted. "Weird?"

"No." Hermione shook her head and one tear fell down her cheek as she sat down next to Ginny.

Ginny frowned. "It was that amazing?" She wiped Hermione's tear away as Hermione shook her head 'no' again. Ginny reached out and held her face with both hands.

"What is wrong, woman?" Ginny asked, genuinely concerned this time.

"I..." Hermione began and more tears poured out, soaking her cheeks. "I feel empty."

Ginny's hands dropped and she looks sad. "Wow," she whispered. "That's not good, Hermione."

"Yea, I know, Gin."

---

Harry and Ron were sitting on Harry's couch, betwitching pieces of paper to become animals and attack each other.

"I am so bored," Harry groaned as his lion got defeated by Ron's otter. "And this game is so unrealistic. There's no way a lion would get defeated by an otter."

Ron sighed. "Yea."

Harry looked at his best friend. "Are you alright?"

Ron shook his head. "Not really."

"Why? What happened? Did Hermione make you sleep on the couch last night?" Harry joked until he saw Ron's serious face. "Oh, she did?"

"No, exactly the opposite... we finally slept together," Ron answered.

Harry laughed. "You have slept together before."

"No, Harry... I mean, we slept together..." Ron trailed.

Harry's eyes rounded and then he smiled. "Congratulations, Man. Why the hell are you so bummed about it then? After my first time with Gin..."

"Hey! One: I remember what you were like after you slept with someone for the first time and two: shut up, that's my baby sister," Ron growled. "I'm not bummed anyway. It just wasn't what I thought it would be."

"Like how?" Harry asked, completely confused.

"Well, I love Hermione…"Ron started. "God I love her, you know that." Harry nodded, Ron continued. "It's just that we've become really great friends… and I don't know if we are in love or just love each other. That line has become so blurred."

Harry just stared at him, dumbly. "Yea, that's not good, Ron."

"I know, mate."

---

Hermione was sitting on the couch, drinking good wine this time when Ron apparated back to their flat. Hermione wiped the few tears that she had shed and stood up, facing Ron.

"We need to talk," they both said in unison. Hermione and Ron both smiled weakly at each other.

"Sit," Hermione ordered and patted the seat next to her once she took a seat also. He sat down. "Ronald, I love you…"

"I love you too."

"No listen… I love you, but last night…"

"Was off."

"Right. It was really off and it made me think…"

"…about us."

"Exactly. "

"How we're not…"

"…in love anymore."

"But I do love you."

"And I love you too…"

"But this isn't right."

"At first it was. But yea, it's not anymore."

"I don't ever want to lose you, Hermione Granger."

"Ronald, that will never happen. We're still friends. Best friends. Just not together…"

Ron hugged her tightly. "This hurts."

"I know," Hermione breathed, holding back tears. "It hurts a lot. But I should go finish packing. I have to leave tomorrow for Hogwarts."

"Right," Ron replied, letting her go. "I'll stay at Harry's tonight…"

"No, Ron…" Hermione urged. "That's not necessary."

Ron shook his head. "Yes, it is." He kissed her on the cheek, a pained look on his face. "I'll see you, 'Mione." And with that, he disapparated.

Hermione choked back her tears for the millionth time that night and went to her room to finish packing. At least she wouldn't have to run into him until Christmas. She would be at Hogwarts. Away from heart ache… away from men. Period.