SECOND CHANCES
Author's Note: I don't own any of the characters.
Hogwarts
She knew now that the kiss hadn't been planned. Ron had just been so overjoyed at winning the Quidditch Cup that his enthusiasm had just overtaken him and he had acted impulsively. To say the others in the common room had been shocked had been an understatement. The others had been in the middle of wolf whistles and cries of joy when her hand had connected with his cheek. She hadn't meant to slap him but it had happened regardless. She had of course apologized furiously and Ron had accepted her apology while trying to save as much face as he could and not become the butt of the joke. Though no apology could remove the look in Ron's eyes after the slap from her memory she wished for something to happen to remove it. Every day she went over possible ideas as to how to make it up to Ron, though any real idea that came to her only served to further enhance the number of butterflies in her stomach every time that she thought about the kiss.
Thinking of any Christmas present for Ron presented her with a conundrum, only compounded by how disappointed she knew that her parents would be that she had sent them an owl saying that she wasn't going to go skiing with them after all. Should she get him something that showed just how sorry she was for the slap, or should she get him something that showed that the kiss was at times the only thing that she could think of. Thinking of how his lips felt against hers and how good she felt with his arms wrapped around her led to often to bouts of dreamy daydreaming. Shaking those thoughts from her head she chose to worry about the present later and head off to what she had expected to be several hours of uninterrupted sleep. She got less than four that night before Ginny shook her awake.
"Hermione, Hermione wake up," Ginny exclaimed as loudly as she dared as she unkindly began to shake Hermione out of her slumber.
"Nnh Ginny, what is it, what's going on," Hermione mumbled out softly with bleary eyes as she sat up in her bed and looked to Ginny.
"McGonagall said Harry had a vision or something about my dad, she said that he was hurt pretty badly doing something for the Order, Harry and Ron are already in Dumbledore's office," Ginny explained looking terrified, a rare look indeed for the usually fiery redhead, before she had to swallow hard to hope to keep her composure.
"Okay just give me a minute to grab my robe," Hermione muttered softly as she struggled to slip into her robe with one hand while trying to rub the sleep out of her eyes with the other.
"I don't know if we have that long," Ginny remarked looking terrified with eyes wide as she hurried to the dorm door and then turned back to face Hermione.
"Why…oh, Umbridge, you're right, let's go," Hermione exclaimed nervously as she tied the front of her robe tightly and then followed after Ginny down the stairs of the girls dorms and caught the worried looks of Fred and George before Professor McGonagall led them all away from Gryffindor tower.
The meeting in Dumbledore's office was something that later on Hermione would really wish that she had paid more attention to. She had thought up several questions in her mind on the way to Dumbledore's office and had wanted to give Harry a reassuring hug but the moment that she'd stepped into the office and seen the lost expression on Ron's face all of that had slipped instantly from her mind. He had just looked so lost and distraught that her heart had immediately leapt up into her throat and made it impossible to either speak or care about anyone or anything else but Ron. She sat down beside him in a very uncomfortable chair and took his hand in hers, glad that he didn't flinch or pull away, but rather the physical contact seemed to do him some good.
Only Harry's momentary outburst pulled her away from her focus on Ron before Dumbledore had produced a portkey and looked at them all hopefully. She wasn't sure that she was truly ready to go but knew that this wasn't really a good time to open a discussion into the topic. As before the portkey felt very uncomfortable and she was eternally glad that it was all over in a matter of seconds. Number 12 Grimmauld Place felt even gloomier and lonelier if that were possible as her feet hit the floor and she saw Sirius rushing towards them.
Again her mind couldn't concentrate on anything but Ron. Even the twins almost coming to blows with Sirius couldn't shake her focus away from Ron, who looking like he needed to go to the hospital wing due to his more than usual lack of color and haunted expression. She could see that even butterbeer did nothing to raise his spirits and Harry looked like he wanted to be anywhere else than sitting amongst her and the Weasley's. The hours slowly passed by and intermittently she felt bold enough to reach her free hand up, as her left hand had rested on top of Ron's since the moment that they had sat down, and gently rub first Ron's shoulder and then the back of his neck in what she hoped was an act that would soothe his overly frayed nerves.
Only the final arrival of Mrs. Weasley saying that Mr. Weasley would be okay seemed to shake Ron from his stupor. Feeling like she had to answer the call of nature after so much butterbeer she sped off and was more than a bit worried when she came back to the kitchen to find Ron not there for a meal, something was definitely off. Telling Mrs. Weasley that she'd look for Ron Hermione slowly made her way up through the house, checking in all of the bedrooms first before finally deciding that he might be keeping Buckbeak company. She checked in the room and found the creature slumbering softly and was about to go back downstairs when she heard a soft sniffle coming from one of the other rooms.
"Ron," Hermione softly called out as she gently opened the door and then stopped to listen before she heard the sounds of someone shuffling against the far wall and trying to stifle a sniffle or two. Slowly she stepped into the room and shut the door behind her, for some reason wanting to maintain the sense of privacy that she guessed that Ron had been shooting for when he'd come up here.
"I'm fine….really," Ron replied as she knew that he was trying his best to sound confidant and calm but that he had failed miserably and she could hear the pain in his words.
"Liar," Hermione countered with a slight hint of amusement to her voice, wanting Ron to know that she wasn't angry but also that she wasn't making fun of him, as she softly walked across the room before sitting down next to Ron, who didn't look up at her.
"I'm fine…really Hermione, you don't have to worry about me," Ron again tried to reply in a reassuring manner as he picked his head up and looked over at her, though Hermione could see that his eyes were red and puffy and he still looked more than scared.
"Normally I wouldn't…but this is not normal, things haven't been normal for us since the troll ya know," Hermione remarked in what she hoped was a joke that would at least temporarily lift Ron's spirits a bit as she hesitantly reached out and linked arms with him so that he couldn't just slide away from her.
"You're mental you are," Ron tried to snap back but Hermione was close enough to him to see the edges of his lips curl up into the faintest traces of a smile so she knew that he wasn't really angry with her.
"Perhaps, but your dad's going to be fine," Hermione replied in what she hoped was a tone of voice that would reassure him that everything was going to be alright and that he would regain his appetite.
"I know," Ron slowly nodded back with a forced smile as he used the thumb on his free hand to reach over and rub small circles on Hermione's elbow.
"So then what are you doing up here…alone," Hermione wondered aloud with a curious but hesitant edge to her words as she snuggled up a bit closer to him as she thought that she saw her breath in the air as that high up in Grimmauld Place was colder than she thought that it would be.
"Thinking, trying not to picture my dad when they found him, every time that I think about it…it makes me wanna," Ron admitted with a sheepish blush as his ears went more than a bit red before his countenance turned green and he looked like he might become sick.
"I know Ron, but you have to eat, you have to keep up your strength, you'll see your father later today and it won't do for your stomach to be rumbling the entire time…so come on let's go," Hermione cautioned him while trying to sound sympathetic but certain that what she was saying was the truth to the point that he shouldn't question it and should just follow her lead before he cut her off.
"Look Hermione, I know that it's stupid but…without my father…my family…," Ron tried to answer while looking almost haunted as the full realization of what had been possible had things not gone as they did came front and center to him and he shuddered at what he saw.
"That will never happen Ron, your father will be okay and your family will stay together, don't talk like that…please," Hermione announced as confidently as she could as she bravely reached over with her free hand and laid it gently on Ron's cheek. With tears threatening to form in her eyes she gave his face a gentle tug and was greatly relieved when he didn't fight her and allowed his head to turn so that the two were now looking directly into each other's eyes. With a shared deep breath that neither was aware that they were holding in they leaned forward until their foreheads came to rest up against each other.
"I," Ron tried to get out as he suddenly found it very difficult to think straight or breathe regularly given the physical contact between the two and the very close proximity of everything else and the only coherent thought that was strong enough to run through his mind was to not mess it up if it were possible. He then tried again to speak but found it impossible as he breathed in her suddenly intoxicating scent and felt the warmth from her body seep into his and warm him up a little.
"Please…for me," Hermione answered as she did her best to beg without actually begging in the hopes that the pleading tone to her words would cut right through the fog in Ron's mind and he'd accompany her downstairs, though in her heart of hearts she would admit that she wasn't exactly opposed to staying the exact position that she was in right now, as long as Ron didn't move either.
"Heh…okay Hermione, I'll try…for you," Ron started to reply through a low little chuckle as he unintentionally slid his free hand up Hermione's arm until he got to her elbow and used the tip of his index finger to give a quick press to her funny bone, earning him a shaky laugh from her before she spoke again.
"Ron, what," Hermione could only weakly mumble back in soft protest before Ron surprised even himself and tilted his head back a bit until their lips met. For a few moments the world ceased to be for both as their senses combined into overdrive and blurred everything else out but the feel of the others lips against theirs. It was several moments after they both finally came up for air that either could collect enough breath to actually speak legibly.
"Sorry Hermione I," Ron forced himself to say as his ears were probably bright enough by themselves to light up the entire room as he started to pull back and felt like he'd more than overstepped his bounds again and that she'd probably be rightfully cross with him for what he'd done. The room was silent for several moments, outside of the muffled sounds of Buckbeak clawing at the floor and rooting around in his bedding for scraps of mice and rats that he may have missed earlier before either spoke.
"Don't be," Hermione finally answered through a very shaky breath and a fully flushed face before she reached her free hand back up to pull Ron back down into another kiss, one that she hoped would leave no doubts in his mind about how she felt.
Neither Ron nor Hermione heard him but the only response that Sirius gave to Mrs. Weasley and Harry's questions about if he'd found Ron and Hermione was his usual bark like laugh and then evasive answers as the former prisoner felt that it was better to let the two lovebirds come down when they were ready, and not a minute before.
END OF SECOND CHANCES
Author's Note: As always reviews are greatly appreciated. Still think that there aren't enough fanfics about how Harry, Ron, and Hermione explained their horcrux hunt to the Weasley's and others, Hermione telling her parents about it all, and then when and how Bill and Luna and Dean told the Weasley's about the trio being at Shell Cottage. I'll write more one shots like this unless people want me to continue one of my others, then maybe I'll try some of these topics again. Thank You.
