Chapter 1. King's Cross.
I am looking out the window. The movements of the train are extremely relaxing, and Crookshank's fur pressing against the bare skin of my leg is comforting. Ginny is in front of me, babbling about something Harry said in his last letter. Since Christmas break Harry and Ginny got together again, with one of Harry's surprise kisses. They were at the Burrow's garden, talking about the war and Ginny's plan for the future; when, out of the blue, Harry kissed her in the "deepest and most sensitive way", according to Ginny's narrative.
I'm clenching between my hands the most valuable possession I own at the moment. I grip the parchment so tightly that it may rip at any second. I am impatient to get to King's Cross. And while the scenery in the other side of the glass begins to change, I hear the shifting of trunks and murmurs of kids impatient, as I am, to get to the platform.
"Isn't it, Hermione?"
"Yes, of course, Ginny." She knows I haven't been paying much attention to the conversation. She gives me that dirty look she always gives to Ron. I open my mouth to excuse myself, but we are already at the station, so we grab our belongings and begin to exit the train. As I get into the platform, I can't suppress the grin that spreads through my face.
One by one I see them, first their red hair, then their freckled faces. Mrs. Weasley is the first one that I greet, Ginny has already move on from her mother to her father. Mrs. Weasley catches me in a hug a little far away from the Weasley clan.
"I'm so glad you are here, Hermione, darling."
"Thanks, Mrs. Weasley."
Then we break apart, and she motions for me to keep walking to greet the rest of her family. I scan the unusual group with my eyes before walking to them. Ginny has already finished greeting her whole family and now is in Harry's arms, kissing in a way shouldn't be public. Charlie is there, trying to get Harry in his grip to keep them apart, apparently, no other Weasley has notice the lustful kiss. I didn't know he would be here. I thought he was still in Rumania. George is there too, with a twisted smile in his face, but still some sadness in his eyes. Apparently, it's Harry's turn to babysit Teddy because George is holding him in his arms. Today, Teddy's hair is bright purple. Percy is watching me intently, with that look of superiority, with his hands and his spectacles in the crook of his nose. Bill is in Shell Cottage with a very pregnant Fleur, so I don't expect him here. But I don't see the only Weasley I am, in fact, expecting.
"Ron couldn't come. Sorry." Mrs. Weasley explains. "He had to stay in Auror training. Apparently he failed his last test and had to stay to practice. Oh dear, he was so mad about it he send a Howler."
"That sounds like Ron." I conclude.
I can't lie to myself, I am extremely disappointed. Ron promised he would be here in his last letter. IS not that he is my boyfriend or anything. We had only kissed twice. But I was hoping that here and now, with the emotion of seeing each other for the first time since Christmas, we may have gotten together.
The second time we kissed was in Christmas break. We never actually talked about the kiss we shared in the Room of Requirement. It was a sensitive subject, so we left it untouched for many months. Our relationship had changed since that kiss, though. We weren't arguing as much as before, and we touched each other more often. The kiss had broken the sexual tension that grew over the years. We now know how we feel about one another, so our relationship has relaxed a bit.
So in Christmas break we spend it at the Burrow. It was a beautiful and snowy morning that of Christmas. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had gone to Diagon Alley to do last minute shopping, leaving Harry, Ginny, Ron and me all alone in the house to prepare the decorations for that night's party. Of course, the instant Mr. and Mrs. Weasley Apparated to Diagon Alley, Harry and Ginny sneaked out of Ron's sight to Ginny's bedroom.
"Get me those lights, Ron, if you please." I was desperately trying to distract Ron from the fact that his little sister and his best friend were missing.
"Hermione, you're actually going to take my mum seriously, aren't you?" Ron asked from the couch. He was holding a Butterbeer in one hand, resting it on the arm of the couch.
"What do you mean?" I asked from the Christmas tree, looking directly to an specific leaf.
"You're going to decorate the whole tree." He explained, dropping his Butterbeer in the coffee table.
"Your mum said we should." I stepped down from the tree and gave him a significant look.
"You don't have to do everything you're told to. Be more spontaneous, do what you like. Just like you did in—" He got cut off by the present thought of our kiss. I know it was about that, he always cut it off when it was about our kiss. And also, I know that, as well as me, he couldn't think in anything else that wasn't the kiss.
He stood up, facing me, stepping closer at every second. "Well you know what I mean." He muttered in a clumsy way.
"You were referring to the Room of Requirement." I said it so abruptly that he looked at me in surprise. His face turned burning red, his ears became scarlet, and a tiny grin spread through his face, just before looking at the floor.
"Well, yeah." He admitted. "That was spontaneous and that was what you wanted…" Then he looked at me with a worry in his eyes. "…Right?"
"Yes, I wanted it." I assure him, but keeping my gaze at the wall behind him.
"Just then?" He asked still with the worry in his eyes. At that moment he was so close to me that I could feel the sweet heat emanating from his body.
"Yes, well, it was in the spur of the moment, wasn't it?"
"No, no. I'm asking if you no longer—" He cut it off again. He was looking at the floor again, but he's so tall that I could still see the very deep blush gashing through his cheeks.
"As a matter of fact, Ron, I…" I talked with the hope my sentences wouldn't shake. "I still want to…"
But my words fade away with the impulse of kissing him. I couldn't help it, he was looking so marvelous and perfect with that blush and that embarrassment that I had to do it. So, as I stepped in my tiptoes, my mouth touched his. He got paralyzed for one second, not being able to reply to it. But as my hands crept through his chest, his lips relaxed and then opened so his tongue was pressing against my lips. His touch became tight around my waist and I could feel him pulling me closer. My mouth parted as well, leaving enough room for full access. But the physical part was not the best.
Oh no, it was the emotion. My stomach swirled in excitement and happiness. That's why I knew all that was supposed to happen, because the rightness of the kiss, and the numbness I felt inside me. The world was disappearing around us, no more looking out for Ginny and Harry and Ron not finding out; no more Mr. and Mrs. Weasley arriving at any moment; no more Christmas tree to decorate; just me and Ron and that kiss.
Of course things went back to normal between us after that. We continued not talking about our now two kisses, and him touching with the tips of his fingers the skin of my arm send spasmodic shocks into my brain. But we are the same as we were before the kiss: just friends.
That's what I thought, until I received the piece of parchment that I'm holding right now. Pigwidgedon delivered it two days ago, but it's so wrinkle that it could pass as a hundred-year-old letter.
Harry holds me as we head out of Platform 9 3/4, his untidy black hair covering his scar, and a hat on top of that, preventing people for getting close and ask him questions about Voldemort. It's not working, people are starting to notice me and the whole Weasely clan. His green gaze is fixed in Ginny, I don't know why he bothers in holding me if he keeps wanting to snog Ginny. Maybe is Charlie, who's behind us.
I take a look at my hand and the piece of parchment in it. I remember exactly what it says, word by word. It's the result of reading it over and over again the past two days:
"Hermione, I'll be waiting for you at the platform. There's something we need to talk about.
-Ron."