"Stop." Ginny muttered her mouth full of food, not looking at Hermione, focussing her attention on the conversation she was having with Luna and her mother.
Hermione had been staring at the doors of the Great Hall since she had sat down and the food had appeared in front of her as usual. Ginny and Luna wasted no time in tucking in, the work with Molly and Madam Pomfrey had been exhausting, but Hermione had loaded her plate and pushed the food around with a fork, her eyes trained to the door.
"They'll come when they come." Ginny muttered again, her eyes flicking to door again, her tone was normal but still edged with a bit of uncertainty.
"The owl said lunch." Hermione whispered back, staring down at her food for a moment.
"It is lunch. And it will be for another hour. They are more than capable." Ginny whispered, her eyes on her mother, who was smiling but still looked tired, she supposed that her mother remained ignorant to what they were doing.
"I know." Hermione replied, not letting her eyes check on the door. She was being ridiculous, they had been through so much, most of it probably worse. Sighing she gave up pushing her food around, her stomach grumbled again, reminding her of its presence. Keeping her eyes on the table, she began shovelling food into her mouth.
After emptying her plate, she turned her attention to Luna and Ginny, the latter was nodding and smiling, while Luna rambled on in soothing tones about everything that had been happening in the castle whilst they were sleeping, much more informative than her usual choice of topic of conversation.
"I really don't have anything left to do here." Madam Pomfrey was telling Molly as she placed another slice of quiche onto her plate. Hermione and the others had spent the last few hours, fare welling those who were being transported off to St Mungo's, signing out those who were healed and cleaning the beds and ward, stocking the cabinets.
"Isn't that a good thing, I mean…" Hermione said, joining into the conversation.
She fell silent as Madam Pomfrey and Molly looked over at her, with small sad smiles on their faces, their plates empty, getting ready to stand up.
"It's better to be busy my dear." Madam Pomfrey said as she rose from her seat and headed out one of the side doors, on her way out of the castle to disapparate to St Mungo's.
"I'm going to help Minerva, say hello to the boys for me when you see them." Molly said as she rose from her seat and headed out of the Great Hall.
Hermione turned towards Ginny and Luna to find that Luna had headed off while she was watching Molly head out the front doors, who had meet Neville's grandmother on the way and had headed off chatting amicably to her.
With her back to the door she looked up and Ginny and smiled, "They'll come when they come, there's no point…"
"They're here!" Ginny exclaimed jumping from her seat and walking swiftly towards them, smiling broadly at her family and Harry. Who had just appeared around the corner and were making their way into the hall.
Hermione took a deep breath before turning to face them. They were each looking extremely exhausted, with a small number of rips in their clothing, dried blood splattering them each, but overall looking happy and pleased with themselves.
Harry strode at the front next to Arthur, opening his arms so that Ginny could wrap her arms around him and kiss him hello. Percy stood behind them, chatting to Bill and Charlie, all with smiles on their faces and erupting in laughter as the entered the hall. Hermione rose from her seat and walked towards them smiling brightly.
"Hey Harry." Hermione said as he approached, she gave him a quick hug as Ginny hugged her father. Looking behind them she couldn't see Ron or George, the rest of them were here, they were the only two missing.
"Hermione." Arthur greeted her as he pulled her in for a quick hug, before heading to the seat she had recently vacated to dig into lunch.
"You and Ron, blimey, congrats." Percy said as he smiled at Hermione, shaking her hand. He seemed to be making up for lost time, getting along with everyone in the family as he never had before. His few years of separation seemed to do him, his personality and his pompousness some good.
"Thanks." Hermione said brightly, smiling at Bill and Charlie as they pulled her into quick hugs, almost as if the entire Weasley family were welcoming her into the family for good.
Hermione stood staring at the doors for a few more seconds, hesitating, before she turned back and sat down next to Harry as the rest of them tucked in. They seemed more lively now, chatting about the curses they deflected and how well their initial defences had held, even after the death eaters had attempted to destroy most of the Burrow, but seemingly had failed miserably.
"Molly said it was just a matter of time…" Arthur said glancing over at Hermione who was only sort of listening to their conversation, her attention on her plate of food as she ate again.
"What was?" Hermione asked, wishing she knew the context.
"Ron and you." Arthur said smiling over at Hermione.
"She knew!" Hermione exclaimed dropping the apple from her hand onto the plate.
"We all did. Eet was obvious." Fleur said, her head resting on Bill's shoulder as he ate.
"I didn't." Percy said smiling earnestly at Hermione.
"I did." Charlie said, smirking as he grabbed another chicken leg from the plate in front of him.
"You were in Romania!" Hermione exclaimed, looking shocked, which caused the rest of the table to laugh.
"Still knew." Charlie smiled, "A brother always knows."
Hermione shook her head, she couldn't believe it. How could she have been so oblivious, they all knew, seemingly she was the only one who didn't. Her ears were burning and she blushing slightly, but it was nice to know that she had Molly's approval, that they all approved. Turning her head to face the door a broad smile stretched across her face and she jumped up.
"Ron!" Hermione yelled as he walked around the corner deep in a conversation with George. Looking up, a grin spread across his face.
"Hermione!" Ron yelled, turned to George and said something that Hermione couldn't hear and strode towards him, his long legs covering the distance between them in seconds.
Wrapping her arms around his neck, Hermione kissed Ron, who wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her off the ground in his excitement.
As cheering erupted behind them, their lips separated and Ron placed Hermione back on the ground, but didn't let her go. Hermione rested her head against his chest, lowering her arms to wrap around his waist instead. Ron smiled at his family, his ears reddening, winked at them and then kissed Hermione on the top of her head.
"Let's walk." Ron murmured into her hair.
"Ok." Hermione let go of Ron, waved goodbye to the Weasley's and Harry, before entwining her fingers with Ron's and heading out the door.
Before they exited the Great Hall Ron grabbed two rolls on his way out and by the time they reached the top of the stairs, he had finished them.
"How was your morning?" Ron said, looking over at Hermione.
"Good. We, that is to say Ginny and I, spent a few hours helping out, Luna joined in of course, we were helping Madam Pomfrey and your mother in the…" Hermione said, smiling as they walked down corridors that she knew like the back of her hand, having spent so much time in them. Sometimes running, sometimes walking, at night in the dark sneaking around, or in the door heading to classes, or meals or to the library.
They wandered around for half an hour, laughing and talking as usual, Ron telling Hermione all about his trip to the Burrow, but not mentioning what else he had been doing or where else he had been going. Hermione noticed that every so often Ron would turn suddenly, and take a detour, not to avoid people, but avoid certain places, that supplied either of them with horrible memories of the battle.
Together they walked out the front doors of the castle, and headed towards they lake, off to their favourite tree. The weather seemed to reflect their mood, the sun was shining than it ever had during May for several days in a row. The lake was now a light shade of blue, the water for once looked inviting. Rubble and debris still scattered the castle, although most of it had been cleaned and moved. The students and staff and others had been more than more to help Mr Filch, whose mood had not changed much in light of the recent joy that the others had succumbed to. He was still as grumpy and foreboding as usual, perhaps begrudged that what took him hours to do, took others a flick of their wand, so he now took to supervising the others, enjoying shouting instructions at the helpful volunteers.
Reaching the tree in silence, Ron leant against the tree, looking over the lake at the castle, deep in thought. Hermione nudged his knee with her foot, causing him to separate his legs, letting her sit down between them. Ron wrapping his arm around her, the back of her head resting on his chest, her hands resting on his, as he kissed the top of her head again, then resting his chin on her hair, his eyes still focussed on the lake.
"I missed this place." Ron whispered. "The simplicity of it."
"Simplicity?" Hermione laughed, her eyes lighting up as she did.
"Well it was simple compared to what happened this year." Ron laughed, his blue eyes sparkling as he looked down at Hermione.
"It never was simple, but I sure did miss everything." Hermione looked over at the castle, memories flashing before her eyes.
"Everything?" Ron repeated sounding doubtful, his eyes flicking to the forbidden forest, recalling his encounter in their second year with Aragog and his family.
"You know what I mean." Hermione replied smiling as Ron planted another kiss on her head. She just wished they hadn't wasted so much time, they could have spent a few years of schooling sitting out here like this, instead of bickering and treading around their feelings.
They sat silent for a few moments, both thinking about the past. Ron breathed in letting Hermione's scent fill him, the smell of her hair, just her general aroma. With a lurch, he suddenly figured out what the potion in Slughorn's class in sixth year smelt like, it smelt like Hermione.
"You paused." Ron muttered into Hermione's hair, his eyes on the castle, his mind on his memory.
"What?" Hermione opened her eyes and titled her head to stare at Ron.
"You said something about grass and parchment and then you hesitated." Ron said, more clearly this time, still talking to himself more than to Hermione.
"What?" Hermione repeated as she sat up and moved to sit on the grass beside Ron, staring up him, watching his face with interest. Ron's eyes fell on Hermione, looking as though he had just realised he wasn't alone. Pulled back from his thoughts, he mirrored Hermione, folded his legs and turned to face her, their knees touching.
"Slughorn's first lesson, what did you smell in the potion, you know the one I mean. You hesitated." Ron answered, his eyes searching Hermione, hoping for a specific answer.
Hermione's cheeks reddened, causing Ron to smile. This meant he had something to do with him, he was sure of it.
"You remember?" Hermione asked, her voice slightly higher than normal.
"I remember more than you think. What did Amortentia smell like for you?" Ron whispered, leaning forward, his lips hovering over Hermione's waiting for her to answer.
"You. It was you." Hermione whispered, her brown eyes almost shut, her eyes glued to the ground.
"Really?" Ron asked, his voice hopeful, a smile spreading across his lips.
"Yes, what.." Hermione began as she levelled her eyes with his, the clear blue, her favourite colour in the world.
Ron cut her off by kissing her, gently only for a second before pulling away. Guilt washed over his face as he whispered, "I'm sorry." He ran is thumb along Hermione's chin, his hand cold against her. Without answering Ron knew what that Hermione knew what he was apologising for, he didn't want to bring it up, but knew that in time it would, it was inevitable.
"They knew." Hermione whispered, as Ron traced his thumb up her cheek, pushing a loose hair behind her ear.
"What?" Ron said, pausing for a moment, a look of confusion on his face.
"Your family, they knew. About us." Hermione said, a smile appearing and then growing across her face.
"Of course they knew, I told them." Ron whispered, kissing her again.
"Really? When?" Hermione said, looking shocked.
"After you and Harry went up to bed, after the battle." Ron replied, lowering his hand, and placing it over Hermione's.
"Oh not about that. They knew, before we knew. Years ago." Hermione said kissing Ron as a look of confusion washed over him.
"They all knew?" Ron muttered, his eyes flicking back to the castle before resting on Hermione.
"Even Charlie." Hermione smiled, glad that she wasn't the only one caught unaware.
"But he was in Romania!" Ron exclaimed, blushing slightly at the thought of his family discussing all this without him.
"That's what I said!" Hermione exclaimed her smile growing.
"Blimey." Ron muttered, kissing Hermione again. "Blimey!" He exclaimed as he caught sight of his watch as he looked down at their hands. "I have to go!"
"What?" Hermione said as Ron jumped up and pulled Hermione to her feet.
"I'm sorry, but I have… I.. I'll see you tonight." Ron said, looking frantically at his watch, each second ticking by made him more nervous.
"Ok." Hermione said, not able to keep the disappointment out of her voice.
"I'm sorry." Ron murmured as he pulled Hermione into a quick hug, lingering for a moment before abruptly separating. Kissing her quickly, he turned and ran up to the castle. His long legs carrying him away faster than Hermione would have liked. As he reached the castle, he turned back to her, smiled and ran inside.
Sighing to herself Hermione made her way up to the castle, glancing up at the sky every few minutes, enjoying the beauty of the day, and wishing she could spend more of it with Ron.
This story just writes itself, I love writing it, hope you love reading it!
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