Chapter 4

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(F)(L)(A)(S)(H)(B)(A)(C)(K)

A butcher and his wife were really hard at work working in the fields, late at night, while others were asleep in their huts. They had run out of props to eat, they were searching everywhere for any loose scraps of food for the night, the butcher and his wife hadn't eaten anything all day. Along the corner of one of the huts they heard light sobbing, the women peeked her head to see who it was, and it was to her surprise to see a little girl crying into her hands with her knees scrunched together.

'Roger come here,' the women called to her husband. She made her way over to the little girl. 'Are you alright, sweetheart?' The little girl looked up at her, with a tear-strained face; she shook her head, not saying anything. Roger came over and stooped down to get a better look at the girl.

'Where're your parents?' he asked her. The girl didn't answer she was too frightened to speak after what she had just been through. 'Can you speak?' The butcher's wife now noticed something that was very unfamiliar to someone like her. She noticed the girl had a silver pendant on that said 'H.G.' she slowly brought it up with her hand,

'Roger, look, this type of silver is only made in Durmstrang,' the two looked at each other and the back at the little girl. ''This little girl was captured during the raid, which King Arthur kept raving on about, and brought here. Roger sighed as his wife let go of the pendant and it fell back onto the girl's chest. Roger shifted closer to the girl, but she flinched back trying to defend herself.

'I'm not going to harm you, little girl, we just want to help you,' at that, the girl finally lifted her head, and looked right at the two, which made them smile. She was a very beautiful girl, even when she was in this state. 'That's better. Can you tell me your name…please?' The girl stayed silent for a few more seconds still bit shaken up, but she then whispered,

'H-Hermione Jane Granger.'

'Hermione. That's a very beautiful name,' said Roger, 'my sister has that name.' Hermione tried to smile but she couldn't, she just stayed silent. 'You were taken from your mum weren't you?' Saying that just made Hermione let out more tears. The women wanted to cry in too, she was very sorry for Hermione and all that she had been through. The knights must have just dropped her off here by herself, with no one to fend for her.

'Hermione…look at me, sweetheart,' Roger said, quietly, Hermione slowly lifted her head again, 'no one is going to hurt you anymore, ok? Would you like to come and live with us until we find you mother?' Hermione for the first time smiled and whispered,

'I-I would like that v-very much, s-sir.'

'Just call me Roger and this is my wife, Abigail,' Abigail smiled from behind him and winked at Hermione. Roger then picked Hermione up in his arms; she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her head into his shoulder. The two grateful peasants had technically adopted Hermione that night. Roger carried Hermione away to the hut with is wife following close behind.

(E)(N)(D) (O)(F) (F)(L)(A)(S)(H)(B)(A)(C)(K)

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

'Pardon me, miss, are you alright?' one of the servants asked, Hermione, who still was in a deep trance, when she saw that the servant was staring at her, she quickly shook out of it.

'Oh, sorry, yes I'm alright,' Hermione said.

'Lord Harrius had asked me to make you a platter of breakfast this morning,' the servant said, 'so hear you are, some fresh grain bread, with eggs and some little tatties.' She placed the tray down next to Hermione and left. Hermione couldn't help but smile; she hadn't ever received this type of service in her life, being a peasant girl and all. She started to eat taking a bite out of her brown grain bread. The front door in the bureau had just opened, by one of the guards who bowed his head at the entering person. Hermione smiled to see that it was only Harrius; she didn't want to get caught in a royal common room, by King Arthur.

'Oh, you're up, good morning, Hermione,' he said, coming over to her.

'Good morning, Harrius' said Hermione, 'thank you for the breakfast and for letting me stay here last night.' Harrius shook his head at her,

'It was no problem at all, Hermione…I mean what kind of friend would I be if I hadn't offered my best services to you,' he quietly said. Hermione smiled, putting her head down to face her food.

'Harrius, you…you don't have to say things you don't mean.' Harrius looked a bit confused, he slightly frowned not knowing what she meant by that. He sat down on the bed beside her,

'What do you mean by that?' Hermione looked back up at him a bit nervously,

'Saying that…you're my friend.'

'But, I do mean it…Hermione, I know you've grown up to believe that we royal and wealthy are mean, unwilling and selfish…and all my life myself and Ronald have tried to be the complete opposite of all that.' Hermione softly smiled at Harrius, 'So, I meant what I said, I want to get to be friends with you.' Hermione smiled again, she gave a long sigh,

'Ok, I would like that too,' Harrius smiled, the two friends leaned in and hugged. Hermione was now very happy, she because she had a friend, not only a friend, but a friend from the royal service of Hogwarts. They broke apart, still smiling, 'So, where is Pr--

Hermione was cut off in mid-sentence when the door burst open; the guard barely had time to open the door. Ron came running through the door, nearly tripping over one of the small round tables; his hair was all messy, and he was trying to hook up his cape from the collar. Harrius snorted shaking his head; he leant in towards Hermione and whispered,

'As you can see even as Prince, he can be a tad bit clumsy,' Hermione giggled, putting her hand to her mouth. Ron now peacefully, rapidly made his way over to the two.

'Harrius, there you are! Hermione, are you alright?' he said, asked worriedly. Hermione blushed and smiled,

'Yes, thank you, Prince Ronald,' she said, still giggling under her breath at his morning condition.

'Woke up earlier than usual today, I did,' Ron said, yawning. Harrius laughed, scrunching up Ron's already messed up hair.

'We can defiantly see that, Ronald,' he said. Ron blushed, running a hand through his hair. 'So, is there any particular reason wh--

Ron stepped on Harrius's foot while walking towards the bed, but Hermione didn't notice, she was to busy eating from her tray. Ron quickly changed the subject, trying hard not to blush.

'So Hermione, are you feeling better this morning?' he asked.

'Yes much better, the wound on my neck healed ok,' Ron smiled, nodding his head. 'And Harrius and I just became friends,' she looked at Harrius and they both smiled. Ron smiled proudly, but couldn't help but feel a wee bit jealous that Harrius had been able to become friends with Hermione quicker than him. The trio stayed silent for a while, and then Harrius cleared his throat,

'Well sorry that I have to leave again, but duty calls,' Harrius stood up before pecking Hermione on the cheek; she nodded. 'Prince Ronald here is more willing to stay with you, aren't you?' patting him on the shoulder and winked. He walked off leaving the two alone again. Hermione was now finished with her breakfast, one of the maid servants came back over to her to take her tray away.

'Thank you,' she said to the servant.

'You have my permission to leave now,' Ron said to her, the maid bowed her head and took off out the door.

Ron didn't really know what to say, both him and Hermione stayed silent. While she wasn't looking, Ron snuck a look at her; he examined her, her hair, rare brown eyes, and above all, how beautiful she was. Hermione played with her fingers, twitched them around as she sat there. She decided to bring up something random,

'I-I had a sort of memory from the night when some elders found me when I was little,' she said to him. Ron looked at her and smiled, 'Just this morning.' Ron moved so that he was now sitting beside her. 'It was a good and a bad memory; I had lost my mother that very same day, but then on the other hand I found people that were willing to take me in and take care of me…my mother, I wish I could just hear something about her, something good, like; she's alive for one.' Hermione now stopped and looked at Ron, 'I'm sorry I shouldn't have said it like t--

'No, no, it's fine, Hermione,' Ron said, 'I'm not really afraid about talking about mothers with anyone now, except my Father…when I was just a boy he would always say I remind him to much of my mother.'

Hermione wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but judging from the look on his face, it meant both in a way. She placed a hand on his broad shoulder and said,

'I've seen your family portrait, and I can see why he told you that.' Ron blushed, at what she had just said; he loved it when people compared him to his mother. 'Well...I better be getting to work, Prince Ronald.' As she made to get up, Ron put a hand on her waist and sat her back down.

'No, wait-…you don't have to go yet,' he now took his chance, all the tension was killing him, Ron connected his lips with hers, he cupped her face in his hand and kissed again. Hermione obliged and kissed back, before hesitating a little, she wrapped one arm around his neck and the other through his hot ginger hair. Hermione moaned against his lips, not breaking the kiss. Ron now begged permission for his tongue; she let it slip against hers in her mouth. He gently pushed her down on the bed not breaking the kiss or his hold of her. The kisses became harder and harder, Ron started leaving trails of kisses down her neck. Hermione gasped, scrunching up her closed eyes. Ron felt like he was in heaven, he had forgotten that he was in Harrius's common room, all he cared about was that he was in a deep snog on with Hermione underneath him. Hermione then went back to her senses and now realized things were getting out of hand; she suddenly got scared.

'No-..P-Prince Ronald…Ronald, stop,' Ron just ignored her and kept in contact with her neck, 'P-Prince Ronald this isn't r-right, please…s-stop you're h-hurting me.' Hermione now had tears in her eyes, but Ron didn't stop he was losing control. 'P-Prince Ronald…no, stop! STOP! PLEASE!' Ron raised his head to look at her annoyed, she pushed him off of her, and she got off the bed and stood by the window. She left Ron right there on the bed breathing heavily and looking really pissed off.

'What the hell?' he snapped at her.

Hermione sniffed and wiped a tear from her face, she looked over at him.

'W-We shouldn't have done that, Prince Ronald,' she whimpered. Ron was still looking angry and confused.

'Why the bloody hell not! I didn't hurt you or anything!'

"Why is he yelling at me?" Hermione thought to herself. She turned from the window and shot a glare at him.

'Actually you did, Prince Ronald! I told you to stop and you didn't! What if someone had came in and caught us? What if it was King Arthur? Do you know how much trouble we'd get into? Me especially, he would punish me and…maybe even kill me!'

Ron had never figured that for a second, but that wasn't the first thing on his mind, he was still really annoyed and angry that Hermione just pushed him away like that. He just grunted, he got up off the bed and walked up to Hermione and grabbed her by her arms tightly,

'I don't know what all the fuss is about, Hermione!' Hermione tried to push him off of her, but he had his grip on her to strongly. 'Even if my Father did catch us in here, he would find it amusing for me to be snogging you senseless.'

That was the last straw; Hermione stopped struggling and looked at Ron wide-eyed in disbelief. Now more tears were coming down her face, she couldn't believe he had just said that. Ron rhetorically clamped his hand over his mouth; he stepped back from Hermione looking away.

'S-So, that's how you really feel about me?' Ron reached a hand out, but she moved away. 'You just wanted to…to take advantage of me all this time? If you wanted that so much, you should have just left me in the corridors yesterday with that guard of yours!'

'Hermione I did--

'No, no, don't,' Hermione said, moving away from him again. 'You know…before you came bursting in here, Harrius was telling how all your life the two of you were trying so hard not to be like all the others…I believe him, but not you…at least not anymore.' Hermione was now backing away from him, looking a bit shaken up like she did 11 years ago. Ron just wanted to kiss her again and take away all her pain, but he didn't want to make things worse. 'You're just like your Father.'

Ron knew for sure he messed up again, he had to think of something to say, something worth opening his mouth.

'Hermione…I just got caught up in the moment, I-…I didn't want to take advantage of you. I was very foolish to yell at yo--

'Yes you were,' Hermione said, wiping her face, 'Just stay away for me.' At that Hermione walked out of the common room and went back to her work. Ron buried his face in his hands and groaned in frustration.

"Damn! I did it again." he thought angrily. "I have to make this up to her, or else she wouldn't speak to me again, she's already scared of me, bloody hell!"

Ron just sat back on the bed, to do some thinking.

A/N- Please R/R, leave long comments- Danielle