Light in the Dark World

Disclaimer: None of the people or places in this story are mine. They all belong to the incredible genius we know as J.K. Rowling.

Chapter 1

Confessions

REASONS I RE-DID THIS CHAPTER: The original version of this chapter was extremely rushed and sounded...well, it sounded like an eighth-grader wrote it, which is the truth, so there you are. I wanted there to be a little bit more depth to the way that Ron and Hermione actually got together, instead of it being "Girl sees boy. Boy sees girl. Boy and girl get lusty. Smooches ensue." I'm MUCH happier with this chapter than I was with my original.

Hermione Granger lay on her bed at the Burrow, where Ron's family had invited her to stay for summer holiday. In her hands, she held a copy of her favorite nook, Hogwarts: A History. Even though she had read this book a thousand times, and even though she could more than likely recite the entire thing on command, she still loved to retreat into its pages every now and again. Actually, the real reason that she loved this book – or any book, for that matter – was that it gave her a chance to just sit and think. No one dared to disturb Hermione Granger while she was reading. Today was no different. Hermione Granger was indeed thinking. While reading about the awful detention methods used on the miscreants of Hogwarts through the centuries, Hermione Granger was thinking about nothing else but Ronald Weasley. After a while, she decided to put him out of her mind, and tried to focus on the words on the pages in front of her.

"Flogging was a common punishment in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Flogging, by definition, involves being beaten severely, with either a rod or a whip. When the whips were used, there were usually sharp objects attatched to the ends, so as to increase..."

Ron's eyes are prettiest shade of blue...I've never seen a man with eyes like his.

"...the pain of the victim. Another common method of punishment was to dangle student upside down by their ankles from the ceiling of a room. However, this was deemed to be harmful to the lives of the students in 1607, after the method claimed its 168th victim."

He's got a great body, too. All those Quidditch practices really paid off. His shoulders are broad and manly, and whenever, he bends over, the muscles ripple up and down his, back, and his arse is just – DAMMIT!

Hermione snapped Hogwarts: A History shut and buried her face into the bedclothes. She knew that Ron would never feel the same way that she did, so why did she continue to torture herself like this? She had secretly been in love with Ronald Weasley ever since his heroic act on the giant chessboard in their first year at Hogwarts. But they were young then. It was only a crush. Now they were 17 years old, and she was almost breathless whenever Ron walked into a room. He was good looking, with his flaming hair that matched his face when he got embarrassed. She found the freckles that dotted his face and every other part of him that she had ever seen – and probably the ones that she hadn't seen as well, she thought, blushing furiously – to be absolutely gorgeous. He also made her laugh. There had been moments in the past when she had thought that she maybe had a chance, but they all turned out to just be the hopeful wishes of a schoolgirl. Ron would never be hers. She just needed to accept that fact and try to move on.

Just then, the subject of her thoughts came bounding into the room with two envelopes in his hand.

"School letters!" he announced happily. Harry came into the room a few moments later, looking a little solemn. He'd been like that ever since he and Ginny had split up at the end of the previous year. As she took her letter from Ron, he proceeded to rip his open.

"You two are definitely going to be Head Boy and Girl this year," he commented smugly. Hermione finished carefully opening her letter, and found a shiny new Head Girl's badge inside. Almost simultaneously, Harry pulled his Head Boy's badge out of his envelope with a slight smile. Hermione felt a rush of unbelievable relief. She had been worried, because she knew full well that the choice for Head Boy was between Harry Potter, and Draco Malfoy. She did not want to have to spend all year patrolling with that cretin.

"Congratulations, guys! I can't think of anyone better for the job besides you guys!" Ron said, hugging them both. Hermione felt like Ron held on to her for a little longer than was necessary, but it may have just been her mind playing tricks on her.

Later on that night, Hermione lay in her bed, unable to sleep. Her thoughts kept on returning to Ron, and the hug that he had given her. She knew that she was being irrational, but she couldn't help but wonder about the possibility that maybe...but it was pointless. She was always over-analyzing Ron's actions toward her, trying to make them mean things that they just didn't. Thinking that maybe what she needed was a glass of water and some fresh air, Hermione got up and went downstairs. When she got outside, water in hand, she was surprised to find that she was not alone. Ron turned quickly and smiled upon seeing her.

"Hey," he said. God, how was he able to do that. Even with a completely platonic greeting like that, Ron was able to make Hermione feel like the most important and the most special person ever.

"What are you doing out here?" She asked in reply.

"I couldn't sleep, thought I'd get some air," he answered.

"Same here. I can't believe we're going into our last year at Hogwarts," Hermione said.

"I know. It's kind of a happy-sad feeling."

"How do you mean?" Hermione queried.

"Well, I'm sad that it's coming to an end, but I'm really excited for what's going to come after," Ron said, looking at her and smiling. Hermione stared at him. He was so gorgeous, and she was so close to him...him and his perfectly muscled body. The thought made her shiver. Mistaking her physical expression of pleasure for a sign of being cold, Ron put a concerned arm around Hermione's shoulders and drew her in closer to him. She looked up at him, and finally just let herself do what she had wanted to do for years. Raising herself up onto her toes slightly (good lord, he's tall!), she brought her mouth to his. It was a light kiss, nothing fancy, just testing the waters. Ron seemed to stand in shock for a moment, and then began to respond gently. Hermione's mind began racing: She was kissing Ron Weasley, and Ron Weasley was kissing her back! As they broke apart, Hermione began grinning stupidly.

"'Mione? Are you alright?" Ron asked.

Am I alright? Ronald Weasley just kissed me. I could be on fire right now, and STILL not care.

"I'm fine," Hermione managed to get out in her giddy state.

Get a hold of yourself girl! Let's not make ourselves look like a complete idiot in front of the object of our affections, shall we?

"Good. May I ask, then, why you did that?"

Oh, god, he didn't like it!

"Because...I like you Ron." She said quietly.

"Huh? No, you like Harry, don't you?" Ron asked.

"Harry? No! He's too much like an older brother to me. I've liked you ever since the end of first year." Hermione admitted.

"Same with me, except I've liked you ever since our first potions lesson. I thought that you knowing everything was really attractive." Ron said, going crimson and studying his shoes.

"Hey, there's nothing to be embarrassed about," Hermione said, lifting Ron's chin up and gazing into his deep blue eyes that she had looked at for so long.

"You know how I feel, so it's not like this huge, dark secret."At that moment, Ron was staring into Hermione's chocolate brown eyes, wondering if it was possible to drown in another person's eyes. Ultimately deciding that the thought was a little bit disturbing, Ron settled on kissing Hermione again. The kiss started out gentle, but then their six years of pent-up emotion kicked in. They were lost in a world of their own.

But somebody else saw them. Ginny Weasley. Ginny, who also was having trouble sleeping, walked outside and saw the two in the middle of their kiss and immediately slipped back inside the house without the love-struck teenagers noticing. She smiled. She was glad that Ron and Hermione had finally figured out their feelings for one another. Ginny sighed.

I just wish that Harry would get a clue as well.