Memories

Later that evening when Ron went back home tired from a hard day's work, he was greeted by at the door looking concerned. He smiled and giving her a hug asked, "Hey mum. What's wrong? Why do you look so worried?"

just shrugged and smiled back and added, "Oh nothing honey. Just thinking…."

"About what?"

"It's nothing really! Now you go upstairs and freshen up while I make you hot bowl of soup." With that she started bustling around the kitchen making Ron some soup.

Ron loosened the tie around his neck and when he entered his room, a surprise awaited him.

It was Hermione standing at his window. She smiled as soon as he switched on the lights. Ron threw his jacket on the bed and said, "Hey! How come you're here? I thought you were mad at me!"

She replied surprised, "What gave you that idea?"

"Well, you for one didn't send a reply for my apology and then Ginny comes and shouts at me during Lunch about not being a great boyfriend. She said that you were sick of me for being so casual about us!"

"Actually I was angry at you for a while but then I understood your position and decided that if you could not make it to your date then the date would come to you!"
Ron knew that if he had been in Hermione's place and Hermione in his then she would certainly have had tears in her eyes by now. But he just smiled and hugged her, putting all his feelings of love that he felt for her. When he pulled back she said, surprise written all over her face, "I-I haven't gotten one of those in a very long time."

Ron placed his hand on her cheek and said, "Now it's my turn to make you feel special. I'm gonna take the next few weeks off and we are gonna go away on a trip. Just the two of us. I wanna make up for all the lost time." Ron had made the decision at that moment when she had told him why she had come beamed and placed a kiss on his lips. Ron smiled and repeated, "I haven't gotten one of those in a REALLY VERY long time!"

Hermione laughed and both of them fell on to the bed rolling in fits of laughter. After a while when they'd stopped and were staring contentedly into space Hermione said, "You know Ron, I really miss not having to do anything these days. I mean in school we used to complain that Voldemort was always disrupting our lives but now that he's gone, I really miss not having to track Him down. I miss the adventures that we went through and all that hunting and living in the wilderness. Don't you Ron?"

"Ron?"

Ron had fallen asleep. He was so tired that the moment he hit the pillow he had fallen asleep. Hermione smiled. This was why she loved him so much. He never pretended to listen to her, he just used to be himself and do whatever he wanted around her. She remembered the first time that she had started having feelings for him. It was their 2nd year in Hogwarts and Malfoy had called her a mudblood. Being a Muggle she didn't know what it meant but looking at everyone's face around her she'd figured out that it had been an offensive word. It was then that Ron stood up for her and tried to curse Malfoy for having used foul language but the curse backfired on him and he ended up throwing up slugs for the rest of the day. But that act of bravery was enough to get Hermione hooked on to him and as each year passed by, she unknown to herself started liking him more and more.

In their 4th year when Viktor Krum had asked her to the Yule Ball she had accepted as she was hurt that Ron hadn't asked her to the Ball yet. But the tiny fling had turned serious and Viktor had fallen for her. So when the year had ended and he had to leave, Viktor had pulled her aside and asked her to be his girlfriend and kissed her. Hermione had politely rejected him and told him the real reason why she had gone with him to the ball. He had gracefully accepted it and asked her to keep in touch with him.

But it was only in their 6th year that she came to know of Ron's feelings for her. As usual during the Herbology class Ron was moping about not having been invited to another Slug Club party. But his mood seemed to get worse as she mentioned that she was taking Smith to the next Slug Club party. Hermione had purposely said that to test Ron to see if he really liked her. Her plan worked and he ended up indirectly conveying his feelings for her to her and Harry.

Hermione sighed. All the memories were sure happy but Ron and she shared few unhappy and sad ones too. She remembered their fight in the 3rd, 4th and the year in which they went in search of the Horcruxes. The most major one had been when they had gone looking for the Horcruxes. Ron had left Harry and her stranded in the forest because of Harry's lack of planning. It was then that she missed him the most. His reassuring voice & encouraging smile had gotten her this far but now that he had left, she felt as if she couldn't go on. But then Harry came to her rescue and they continued their search not once mentioning Ron. Hermione could see that Harry too was extremely upset by Ron's departure and missed him as much as she did. But he was a guy and couldn't sit and cry like she did every time he missed Ron. Then the day she came back, she couldn't believe her eyes and once again like old times she was so mad at him for having left her that she'd started punching every part of him that she could reach. Hermione laughed. That had been fun and then giving him the silent treatment very satisfying. At the end of the Final Battle when he genuinely wanted to save the house-elves(considering the fact that he had hated house-elves and treated them like vermin like everyone else in the wizarding world), she couldn't stand it anymore. So she hadn't cared who was looking and had kissed him.

Hermione sighed again and got off the bed. Kissing Ron's forehead, she threw the blanket onto him and apparated to her apartment.