A/N: These two are it for a while!

For the rest of the summer, Harry and Ron did not have a very good time with Hermione. It wasn't until they stepped onto Platform 9 ¾ that Hermione broke down and cried as she said good bye to her parents. Ron and Ginny said goodbye to their parents while Harry waited for them, gasping for air when Mrs. Weasley started blubbering all over him.

They boarded the train and found a place easily and sat down. They watched Hermione as she just stared out the window, tears falling silently down her cheeks. Ron had the overwhelming urge to wipe them away, but he knew that if he tried, she'd probably blast his hand off. He'd been feeling that way a lot lately. Ever since she had caught them with Dumbledore he had wanted to tell her about their plan but knew that she would be better off not knowing, even if she wasn't in the best mood for the rest of the time.

Silence had ruled the first hour of their trip when Ginny got up.

"I'm going to go see if I can find Neville and Luna," she said before slipping out of the compartment.

Harry glanced over at Ron then at Hermione. "Hermione," he whispered.

She looked away from the window. "What?" she asked.

He couldn't believe he was asking, but he was sure that if he didn't, she'd be so emotional for the rest of the trip that the whole train would hear her bawl the moment they reached Hogwarts. "Do… do you want to talk about what happened?"

Hermione opened her mouth then shut it, her eyes watering. She then looked out the window. "I… I was sleeping when Mum came running in. She smelled like smoke. She was screaming about how dad was dead… that the dresser had fallen on him and he was dead…" She looked up at the boys, tears pouring out of her eyes. "I thought my dad was dead," she whispered.

Ron got up and sat down next to her. "Hermione-"

She grabbed him and buried her face in his neck, her shoulders shaking as she cried. Surprised, Ron looked up at Harry for help. At a loss, Harry shrugged. Never had they seen so much emotion from Hermione. Even during the war, she had not been like this. It seemed as if all of her fears from the war had been personified in that one moment when her mother had crashed through that door, proclaiming death. The fear she must have felt the whole time must have been completely awful. Something Harry and Ron couldn't imagine.

"We tried to get out…" she muttered into Ron's shirt. "We tried to get out but the fire had moved up the stairs. We tried to get to the bathroom. My mum was a wreck. I was so stupid… I could have used my wand but I was so stupid. I was so scared… And all I could think about was…" All of a sudden she pulled away from Ron, her face red. Avoiding the boys' concerned looks; she moved over towards the window and looked down at her hands. "Anyway… Lupin and Tonks came… Lupin managed to get my father out…" she finished lamely.

Harry frowned. "Hermione-"

"Potter!"

They all looked up to see Moody standing there, glaring at them all. Harry stood up instantly, his mind flashing back to fourth year for a moment before he shook his head out of that horrifying year.

"Sir?"

"Come on. Need to talk to you about some things," he growled before moving away from the door. Harry glanced over at Ron. Ron shrugged then looked at Hermione, who seemed to still be avoiding their gazes. Harry sighed and left, closing the door behind him.

Ron looked back at Hermione, observing her as she looked out the window. Though her eyes were red from crying, she was beautiful. Ron didn't know why he found himself thinking about her like that, but he couldn't help it. Every moment he was around her, he couldn't help it. Just now though, when she had thrown her arms around him, he couldn't think at all. His pulse had shot off and his heart had been beating so fast that he was afraid it would burst out of his skin. He had also felt the loss of her warmth when she had moved away so abruptly. He wanted to pull her back to him again. He wanted to be able to hold her again…

Hermione got up suddenly, startling Ron out of his revere. She glanced down at him then moved around his legs. She reached up and tried to get her trunk. In trying to do so, her shirt rose slightly, exposing her flat stomach; not much but enough for Ron's pulse to race again. Her milky skin and small naval seemed to glow as the sun went down between the mountains. It wasn't until she grunted that he realized that she was having trouble getting her trunk off the rack.

Coughing, he stood up and moved behind her, reaching up and taking the trunk off the rack with ease. Placing it on the floor beside him, he didn't move, watching as she turned around and looked up at him with an unidentifiable look on her face.

"Thank you," she whispered hoarsely. Their close proximity was making her nervous. They had been this close before, especially during the last days of the war, but it had never made her feel so… weird. Just the way he was looking at her made her insides squirm and her heart beat wildly.

Oh, she wished he'd say something instead of stare at her with those piercing blue eyes. Those eyes that usually mocked her yet now, knew exactly what she was thinking and that above all things scared her to no end.

Biting her lip, she managed to pull away from his gaze and tried to move around him, but unfortunately the train hit a small bump and the trunk slid into her knees, pushing her closer to him, causing their bodies to touch. The tension in the compartment seemed to be crushing her now as Ron held her so she wouldn't fall. She could smell cinnamon and before she could help herself, she closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. She then opened her eyes and looked up at him to find him staring at her with a weird look.

"You ok?" he asked softly.

To his surprise, instead of answering, she stood up on her toes and kissed his cheek, her lips dangerously close to his. She lingered there longer than necessary then pulled away, looking down at her shoes, her face growing incredibly red. For the longest time, Ron just stared at her and Hermione grew nervous again. She looked up to see what was taking him a long time to speak and he was still staring at her. Panicking, she pulled out of his arms and looked around.

"We should get changed," she muttered, turning around.

Ron glanced out the window and frowned. "We're not even close to Hogwarts," he commented.

Hermione paused and for a moment wondered if he meant more by his statement. Standing, she moved over to the window and looked out. Biting her lip, she sighed. "I guess you're right," she whispered. She then looked up at him and he looked down at her and once again they were caught in time with absolutely no idea as to what to do. This time, their faces were so close that Hermione was so afraid that if he moved any closer, he'd kiss her. The air began to suffocate her as she waited for him to move. For him to make a move. She saw him glance down at her lips and she could feel her heart in her throat. What really scared her was when he leaned in and his lips were so close to hers. She seriously yelped when his lips grazed hers, surprised by how he had just gone for it. No hesitation. Just a will. Still, when she yelped, he pulled away, backing up and staring at her in embarrassment.

"Look, Hermione, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you-"

Shocked by her own actions, she put a hand to her lips, eyes wide.

"Oh… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. I was just so surprised-"

They both stopped and went completely red. Hermione bit her lip, musing over what had just happened. Had they actually kissed? Had Ronald Weasley actually kissed her? Her? Hermione Granger? The fact that he had actually taken that step into the next level still surprised her. They had been dancing around the possibility of fancying each other since fourth year but, she had never actually thought Ron would be the one to make the first gesture. Her mind was spiraling out of control and she was so caught up in her own thoughts that she had not noticed Ron inching closer until she felt his piercing gaze on her. In that moment, two options presented themselves to her.

One: kiss him and let everything else fall into place or…

Two: turn around, leap over the trunk and bolt out of the compartment to find Ginny and pretend like this hadn't happened.

When she saw Ron reach up and touch her cheek, her mind was really going for choice number two just because she wasn't ready to face what would happen. She didn't want to be confused. She didn't want to not be in control of her emotions. She didn't want to feel the weak feeling all over when Ron looked at her. Hermione Granger wasn't weak. Hermione Granger knew everything. Hermione Granger was not about to let some kiss bring everything she had worked so hard to build up come crashing down around her. She was not going to-

Ron kissed her again.

SCREEEEEEEE!!!!!!!

The two were thrown foreward into the seats, holding their ears as the screeching continued. The Hogwarts Express came to a noisy halt and then the noise of confused students filled the small halls. Ron stood up and helped Hermione up before looking out the window.

"I can't see anything," he whispered.

Suddenly the lights went out and Hermione's mind flashed back to third year. She grabbed her wand and went over to the door, opening it and looking outside. Several other students were looking out as well, just as startled as she was.

"What's going on?" Hermione asked Moody as he went marching by on his way to the front of the train. "Where's Harry?" she called.

Moody ignored her, disappearing into another carriage. Suddenly there was a beep and then someone's voice came up on some sort of loudspeaker.

PLEASE REMAIN CALM. THERE SEEMS TO BE SOMETHING ON THE TRACK BUT WE ARE HAVING IT REMOVED. EVERYTHING IS UNDER CONTROL. WE WOULD REQUEST THAT ALL STUDENTS REMAIN IN THEIR COMPARTMENTS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION.

There was much complaining, but everyone closed the doors. Hermione closed the door and sat down, sighing. Ron remained standing, looking out the window.

"What do you think it was?" he asked casually.

Hermione looked up at him, frowning. "What?"

He turned to her. "What do you think it was? On the track," he repeated, sitting down across from her.

Hermione shrugged, her mind wandering back to what had happened before the noise. Ron knew what she was thinking about and gulped, not knowing how to approach the situation. Hermione looked up at him and tried to smile.

"Well, we'll be arriving late," she commented.

Ron didn't respond. Instead, he took the time to look over her slightly pale features. Hermione squirmed slightly under his gaze.

"Why do you look at me like that?" she asked, unnerved.

"Like what?"

She pointed to him. "Like that. Why do you look at me like that? It's unnerving," she whispered.

Ron raised an eyebrow. "I unnerve you?" he asked, amusement teasing his lips.

Hermione puffed up, upset at her little slip. "I didn't mean that. It's just… you shouldn't stare. It could make some people uncomfortable," she snapped.

"Like you," Ron said, leaning in closer to her and causing her eyes to grow.

"No, not me. Just in general," she ground out, becoming increasingly uncomfortable with his casual tone and close proximity.

"You said I unnerve you. How?"

Hermione's heart began to race again and her lungs seemed to be at a loss of air, making her breathe faster. "I… well…" Just then, the train began to move and Hermione stood up, looking over at her trunk and looking for an excuse to get out of the conversation. "Good, the train's moving. We should be at Hogwarts in about an hour or two. I'm going to go get dressed," she stated before moving for her trunk. She was actually surprised she was able to speak, seeing as she could hardly breathe. The air around them seemed to be crushing her and her own heart seemed to want to escape from its bony cage.

Ron, however, stood up and his taller body loomed over Hermione's small one. Gulping, Hermione looked up at him, her chest heaving as she struggled to breathe. What was it about him that made her lose control? Normally, this kind of behavior would get a rise out of her and end in a rather nasty war of words. But now…

The rolls had been reversed. Hermione was no longer in control of the situation and Ron seemed so sure of himself. So confident.

A look passed over Ron's face the seemed sort of like confusion.

"What's going on, Hermione?" he asked softly.

Hermione was gob smacked. One moment, he's charming and collected and then next moment he's questioning what had happened ten minutes ago.

"I… well… you kissed me… twice. And then the train stopped and now it's moving again, and then you're acting unlike yourself and now you're questioning what happened ten minutes ago-"

He kissed her again. Hermione tensed up for a moment, then she relaxed, allowing herself to get used to this. His lips caressed hers gently and Hermione felt as if she was going to lose it just then. Ron felt the same way as he placed his hands on her waist, pulling her a little closer. This one gesture caused Hermione to gasp into his mouth and place her hands on his chest as her own began to strain from the lack of air. She felt ready to jump out of her skin with a mix of excitement and fear. She knew that if the train stopped again and Voldemort himself came walking into their compartment with frilly pink knickers, she wouldn't have been more surprised and afraid than at this moment.

"Ugh! Leave you two alone for more than five minutes and you never know what could happen," Ginny said in disgust as she entered the compartment with Harry, Luna and Neville. "Personally, though, I would have been more impressed, Hermione, if you had stuffed Ron into the trunk," she added as she sat down and looked up at the horrified couple.

Hermione was at a loss of words. She opened her mouth, but the only thing that came out was a small squeak. Growing bright red, she turned to her trunk, took out her uniform and bolted out the door. Ron sort of just stood there, watching her go before sitting down and staring out the window. Harry grinned and sat down next to her.

"Don't worry. I'm sure it's not because you kissed her," he commented and Neville couldn't help but laugh.

A/N: I know plenty of you were waiting for that.

NairobiDawn: I've already written the ending for this story and have started it's sequel and I haven't seen an ending in sight.

LitaFanForLife: Thank you!

connieewing: I don't think I've heard from you in a while.

OzDust: You don't really see what they were planning until about the fourteenth or fifteenth chapter. So don't worry yourself until then.

FreeSpritSprite: I love their relationship as well.

Wesker888: I think that something else was right. I bet you liked this chapter.

Avanell: We'll never know, really.

NEXT CHAPTER!