Christmas 1998

The fire crackled into the chilly room but the men didn't notice. Only the witch in the chair shivered under the heavy afghan she was huddled under. Warming charms only went so far in the slightly drafty room. The men were distracted from everything except the chess match before them. Harry tried desperately to regain any ground on the board but he was outmatched still by the tall ginger best mate across from him.

"Ugh, why do I keep trying to beat you, playing this game? I've not won a match off of you in over a year."

"Robards said that you needed to think strategically rather than strictly on impulse and reaction. He's the one who took you down the last three times in training. You're balls on for a straight up duel, but you're total pants on planning a mission."

"That's why you're there – to pull my arse out of a jam when everything goes sideways."

"Hey, I had to learn, especially since Hermione can't help me study in the seminars."

Ron called out a move and watched his Rook take Harry's knight. There was a clatter on the board followed by the floor where the piece was flung off of the board. "Checkmate, Harry."

"Bloody hell, how did you do that?"

"I've been planning that for 10 moves. You should have seen it."

"Merlin, I'm sick of losing to you."

"Rubbish. I'll set the board up again."

"Oh come on, it's after Midnight. I didn't even get to give Ginny a snog goodnight. She's probably passed out in her bed and has been for hours."

Ron smirked. "Work comes first, you know that. You've busted my bollocks for weeks over that, when I was pining for Hermione."

"Yeah, and you still got to see her more often than I did."

"It's not my fault that Robards scheduled you for the last six weeks out in the field. You're gonna make Auror a full six months earlier than I am, from shadowing Kingsley this summer. You should be happy about it."

Harry pouted from his seat on the floor. "I missed Ginny, alright? I've barely had a moment with her since we worked through that row we had."

"And you still have other things to do first. Now, come on, we're playing another game."

"Rubbish. We'll play tomorrow. I'm knackered."

"Fine. Suit yourself. Just don't get barmy with me when you cock up the next training session."

Harry flashed a rude hand gesture behind his back while leaning down to give Hermione a kiss on her cheek. "Bloody hell woman, you're freezing. Why didn't you put another log on the fire tonight?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "You would have been complaining it was a furnace in here if we had it warm enough for me. It's fine, really. It's just my hands and feet that are the worst."

Harry sighed sadly. "Well, since I'm leaving, go ahead and turn it into an oven now. I don't want you to catch a cold or something."

Hermione smiled at her brother. "I'll be fine. I'll be going to bed shortly anyway."

"Ugh. I don't want to know."

Hermione snorted. "Goodnight, Harry."

The couple watched him leave the parlor and stomp up the stairs in their shared brownstone in Islington, London. As soon as he was out of earshot, she turned on her boyfriend who was putting away the chessboard into the side table.

"That was mean. You didn't have to do that, keeping him busy and away from her all evening."

Ron looked confused. "I have no bloody clue what you're talking about."

"That's a load of rubbish and you know it. You know they finally worked out their issues and Harry wanted some snogging time with Ginny and you kept him down here all night, away from her."

"She's my sister. I have to look out for her."

"Bollocks."

Ron stared at his girlfriend across the room. "Did you just – "

Hermione stood up from her chair, the afghan draping from her painfully thin frame. "You listen here, Ron Weasley. Your sister needed you last year while we were out helping Harry. Your sister needed you her first year. She doesn't need you protecting her from her boyfriend, especially by her brother."

"But Hermione," Ron whined. "Did you just curse?"

Hermione stood before her boyfriend with a mischievous look on her face. He shrunk back further from her intense gaze. "And if I did?" Her voice dropped 2 octaves in one sentence.

Ron rose to his knees and stayed in front of her with a look of adoration. "Do it again."

Hermione crossed her arms to emphasize what little bust she had. "What would make it worth my while?"

Ron ran his hands up her sleep trouser clad legs. He laid them on her hips before lifting the edge of her pyjama top and dropped a few kisses on her navel. "How's that for firsts?"

Hermione tapped her lips in a feeble attempt to hide the smirk. "So you're saying you will torment me if I use another epithet for you? Is this your way of seducing me tonight?"

"Please, Hermione, something." His expression changed to the one she loved above all else – dilated pupils, snog swollen lips and a growing rose shade to his skin.

She reached her hand down to his face. He shaved this morning after they shagged, since he had to go into work while she was on break from Hogwarts. She caressed his cheek, him leaning into her slightly chilled touch, and leaned in close, barely ghosting her lips across his face.

"Are you begging me to use coarse language for you?"

His hands wrapped further around her frame and groped her bum, grabbing two handfuls. "Merlin, yes, please!"

She kissed him with a purpose this time. "Shall I quote the letters I sent while I was in my room those cold nights, telling you how I had to fantasize about you while I was driven mad with desire for you?" She trailed desperate kisses across his face including a tender one on his forehead. "Shall I tell you how I had to take many midnight trips to the Prefect's bath just to slake the burn I have for you?"

Ron ran his hands up the back of her vest and jumper and felt the skin starting to warm under his touch.

"Do I need to recount to you all of those nights where my hands weren't enough?"

Ron moved the waistband of her sleep trousers and dropped a sloppy kiss on her abdomen. "Hermione," he growled.

"Or those mornings when I just couldn't fall asleep because you weren't there, snoring in my ears. Do I need to remind you that I was so exhausted that my thoughts drifted while in class to those nights when you would make love to me until we both fell asleep?"

Ron pulled his hands from her hips and ran them up her vest. "Fuck, you're not wearing a bra."

"Or shall I tell you about how randy I was after writing you those love letters? I know the guys occasionally took the mickey from you, but I had to write those words for you." Hermione threw her head back in reaction to Ron's ministrations. "Would you like to know what happened those mornings when I woke from a particularly vivid dream, only to find that you weren't there, making love to me?"

Ron lifted her jumper and vest. She was responsive to his touch and he needed more. He knelt taller and took one breast into his mouth.

"Oh Ron, please!" She pleaded through her quiet moaning.

"Talk to me. Tell me what you need," he growled with his mouth full. "Use those words you love to hear from me. I want to hear them from you."

Hermione pulled his face away from her chest. He saw that her eyes were dark, like a Cadbury Dark chocolate bar. Hermione leaned further down and captured his lips. Fire burned through them both. "Fuck me, please!" she whispered across his lips.

"Bloody hell, that's hot!"

She grinned back at him. "Only for you, my love."

Ron stood up and lifted the jumper and vest from her body. Gooseflesh stood out on her frame. He tore the clothes from his body and her eyes grew even wider. "You look – "

"Amazing," he finished. "But this just won't do." Ron ran his hands down the bare flesh of her body to the waistband of her flannel sleep trousers. "Sorry, love, but these have to go."

Ron sat back on the edge of the couch and pulled her between his splayed knees. His thumbs ran inside the waistband of her sleep trousers and the knickers underneath. He dropped more sloppy kisses on her skin and tasted the first drops of salt-laden perspiration on her skin. "Honey," He whispered into her skin. "You taste better than honey."

His hands grasped the band of her trousers and knickers and worked them down her legs. The aroma of her desire assailed him from his seat on the couch. He ignored his own needs for the moment, so he could have her skin to skin. Ron dropped more kisses on her slowly heating skin.

Hermione started shivering. "Are you cold?"

"Barely now."

Ron sat back just enough so she would have room on his lap. She sat down, straddling his legs. He immediately took a breast back into his mouth while the other hand worked further down her body. "Keep talking. Tell me more, the things that you didn't put into your love letters."

Hermione gave him a look before falling back into the bliss his fingers were providing. His fingers quit moving while she pondered his request. "Ron," she whined.

"Tell me of those lonely nights. I had plenty of mine too."

He wiggled one digit to get her attention. Hermione threw her head back at the sensations his ministrations were giving her. She opened her eyes and saw his filled with love and adoration. "You really want to know how much I missed you, don't you?"

Ron leaned forward to drop a gentle kiss upon her lips. "I do, really. Too many cold showers while at training on too many lonely nights. Cold water wanking is terrible."

Ron took his other hand from her bum and placed it on her scar covered chest. The burns healed but the nerves were still affected. He moved his hand over her heart and felt the tattoo under his fingertips.

"Cold showers never dampened my ardour for you. My wand was a pitiful substitute for you and my fingers are nowhere near as talented as yours are." Ron moved his hands gently once again. "I tried everything." Words were lost under his ministrations. "Only you can satisfy me, make me come." Hermione groaned out under her shuddering. She arched her back and moaned loud enough to be heard in the front foyer. Heavy breathing harmonized with the crackling from the fire.

Hermione came down from her high and laid her hands on Ron's bare chest. Under her fingertips she felt the almost invisible hairs there. She ran her fingers through the fine hair on his chest – ones that only showed when he was out in the sun working for his Mum. She ran her nails down his chest a second time and watched the slight red rows flourish under her fingertips. Hermione leaned in close, taking in the smell of the chocolate biscuits he had earlier in the evening. "But the worst was the cold. Blankets and jumpers and flannel are never enough. I was so cold in that bed, so cold without you there to make my blood boil."

She pressed her lips to his. He reacted immediately by grasping her hips. "I've not been warm since this morning. Warming charms only work so well. Only you can make me hot."

Hermione sat up from his lap, her feet hanging over the edge of the fabric couch. Her eyes were so dark and her lips were the color of elf made wine. "Please, I need you!"

Ron grinned like a gorm and adjusted himself for her benefit. She saw what he did for her. Lust crossed her face. Hermione moved and settled back onto his waiting lap. A sigh from her punctuated the parlor.

"Blimey, so fucking hot!"

Hermione rolled her hips. Ron threw his head back onto the top of the couch.

"Yeah, ride me like a broom."

Hermione opened her eyes at him to see the bliss on his face. "Your broom is the only one I want between my legs." She continued rolling her hips on his, grinding away. Quicker than she anticipated, she felt the coil in her core tighten to the breaking point. She moaned loud a second time, feeling the wave wash over her body.

"Blimey, you're on a roll tonight!" She rolled her hips again and he moaned louder. "You keep that up and we're going to be over right quick."

Hermione continued her actions and sped up her ministrations. "Ready for your mind blown?" Ron nodded frantically at her increased motions. He started thrusting his hips. It wouldn't be much longer. Hermione leaned in close and felt his hand working between their hot bodies. Her mortification would be worth it, for her knight.

"Been waiting for your cock all day."

"OhMerlinssaggybollocks!" Ron growled before grabbing her hips and shoving her onto hips twitching lap. "OhfuckHermione!"

Frantic panting reverberated around the room.

Ron opened his eyes while barely being able to see straight. "Blimey, what got into you tonight?"

Hermione looked at her lover through her half-lidded eyes. They were glassy through her lashes. "You just did, I reckon."

"Cheeky witch."

Hermione blushed at his question. "I dunno. I missed you so much this term that I thought that you'd want me to indulge you in such coarse language." She nudged further on his lap and laid her head on his still heaving chest. "I was serious. I was so cold in my room every night. I had a blazing fire going and wore flannels and jumpers to bed and it still wasn't enough."

Ron wrapped his long arms around her and felt the chill starting to creep back into her skin. "It's only a few months more and then you can sleep with me every night."

Hermione looked up from his chest and saw the truth written on his face. "Promise?"

Ron smiled, the one that he kept just for her. "We're getting married, someday. It's only a question of when. You already know that."

He felt her head move under his chin.

"Hey, ready for bed?"

"I don't think I could walk up those 2 flights of stairs to our bedroom. I seem to be worn out for some reason."

"Are you a witch or not?" Ron looked down at his lover in his arms. "Just kidding. I'll carry you up there."

"You'll do no such thing, Ronald Weasley." Hermione reached over to the side table and picked up her wand. "I'll be awake before Harry and Ginny so I'll clean in the morning."

"Bloody hell, it's one in the morning. How will you be awake before them?"

Hermione shrugged. "You know I can't sleep much past five much anymore."

"Barmy woman."

"Barmy for you. " Hermione snuggled into his arms. "Hold on tight. I'll apparated us upstairs."

Ron grinned while she twisted inside his embrace.

They landed with a plop on their bed on the second floor. "Impressive. Got shagged senseless and you can still apparated us to our bedroom. I knew you were smart."

Hermione slapped his arm. "Prat."

Ron leaned in and kissed her in reply. "But I'm your prat and that's how you want it."

"Merry Christmas to me!"