So here's another fluffy chapter. It snowed here today several inches and I got to play in it like a kid again. SO much fun. Anyway, I hope you like it, it's still not plot-worthy, but that's okay, cause it's good 'innocent' fluff. Enjoy.
Reviews for THIS chapter are rewarded with hot chocolate and fuzzy funny slippers, available in blue and pink.
Lying on the couch, Ron put his arms around Hermione and just breathed in her scent. He closed his eyes, extremely happy. He ran his hands up her arms and under her shirt on her side. Bringing his hands over her hip, he felt a rough scar. He leaned over to see it and she pulled her shirt down quickly over it.
"What's that, Mione? Where did you get that scar?" Being in the war together and healing each other, he knew every scar and scrape on her body. This one came after the war, sometime between when he and Harry went off to Auror school and when she came to the cabin.
"It's nothing, Ron. Just a scar." Hermione looked at him and smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes.
"But I know all your scars," Ron said, blushing immediately. "I mean, either Harry or I healed all of your injuries in the war. What else could you have done to leave a scar like that?"
"It's nothing, please leave it." Hermione wouldn't meet his eye and unwrapped herself from his arms. "I'm going to get a shower and go to bed."
He let her go and eventually went to bed himself. Not sleeping well wondering about her and what he did, he woke up early and made his way downstairs. Hermione was already down there. She looked like she hadn't slept. Her eyes had dark circles and her hair hung in her face. She looked up when he came in.
Ginny knew it was too good to be true. After four days of decorating and being cooped up in the house, all hell broke loose. She woke up the next morning after being with Harry, and stretched. She wasn't sure what woke her, it was only seven in the morning. She looked over at the other bed in the room, and saw that Hermione was already up and gone. Suddenly she heard what woke her up.
"It doesn't matter, Ronald! That was two years ago! You don't know what happened! Besides, you didn't even want me then!"
"What do you mean I didn't want you? I've wanted you since we were thirteen years old!"
"Could have fooled me! Why did you wait until we left school and let yourself almost get killed before you said something? Don't you think I wanted you too! I was waiting for you!"
Ginny groaned. Hearing her brother make a git of himself made her realize this wouldn't be another easy fun day. She rolled out of bed, throwing a thick robe on and her slippers. She stepped out of the bedroom door and met Harry in the hall.
He grinned at her and gave her a quick kiss. "Good morning," he said as the volume increased downstairs.
"For us, maybe. Why do they continue to fight like that? It's too early in the morning for this," she replied, entwining their fingers together as they walked down the stairs.
Turning in the kitchen, they were met with a familiar stance. Hermione was on one side of the table. She was standing with her hands on her hips and an angry look on her face. Ron was on the other side, with his hands on the table, leaning into her space.
"Forget it Ronald! You don't know what you're talking about. I don't think I want to see you today. Just leave me alone!" With that, Hermione ran out of the kitchen and stomped up the stairs.
Ron yelled at her back, "That's right! Just run off like before! Don't even consider that this is your fault!" He slammed his hands on the table and turned to the sink.
They heard Hermione stomp back down the stairs. She walked straight to Ron. He turned to look at her and she swiftly slapped him across the face. "Do not compare this to that. I am only leaving now to think about things. You make it so difficult sometimes to want you, did you know that?" Without waiting for an answer, she left the kitchen again. They could all hear her sobs coming from the stairs and then the door to her bedroom slammed shut.
Ginny walked over to Ron. He was filling a pot with water for tea. She jerked it out of his hand. "Don't you think you may want to, I don't know, GET UP THERE!"
Ron glared at her. "Don't you start on me, too. This is her problem this time. I haven't done anything wrong!" He sat down hard at the table and put his face in his hands. He sat there and breathed heavily for a minute before standing up so suddenly, the chair fell over. He threw the chair back under the table and made his way up the stairs.
Ginny brought two mugs of tea to the table and sat down. Sighing, she handed one to Harry. They sat there in silence until Harry cleared his throat.
"Hey, Ginny, I was thinking. We're leaving the day after tomorrow. You've done as much as you can with this place for now. Why don't we relax today and go out?"
Ginny looked past Harry to the window. It had been snowing for the past two days, but the sun was shining this morning. She grinned. "Okay, sure. We can play outside for awhile. Maybe Hermione and the git will come, too."
"Um, Ginny, I wanted to ask you about…er…well, last night. Are you…umm… ok this morning?"
She grinned at Harry. "I'm fine, Harry, better than fine, because we love each other. It was beautiful and perfect and I'm as happy as I've ever been."
Ron walked up the stairs slowly, trying to calm his breathing and still his temper. He knocked softly. "Mione? Can I come in?"
She didn't answer, but he heard her sniffle. He heard the door unlock and he opened it. Walking in, he saw her curled up on her bed, her face in her pillow and her wand in her hand.
She didn't make any protests when he shut the door and sat down at the foot of her bed. Ron sat there for a moment, not sure what to do. Should he comfort her? Let her shout at him? Shout at her? Her sobs racked her body, and his heart broke. Out of pure instinct, he hauled her up into his lap and let her bury her head in his chest. Stroking her hair with his hands, he just held her until her breathing calmed. He kissed her temple and murmured, "I'm sorry, love."
She kept her head buried in his chest and mumled, "It's okay. I'm sorry, too."
He tightened his hold on her and she wrapped her arms around his waist. Sniffling a little, she looked up at him and smiled a watery smile. She kissed his cheek and put her head on his shoulder. Her voice was shaky when she told him, "I'm going to tell you about this scar, Ron. I want you to know."
"Mione, I'll do anything you want. If you don't want to tell me, that's okay. I'm sorry I got mad. I just realized how much of your life I missed, and I'm just mad at myself."
"No, Ron, don't. This would have happened even if you were there." She shifted a little and got comfortable. Ron relaxed his grip on her and rested his hand on her hip. She leaned into him and laid her head on his chest.
"A couple years ago, I was in muggle London. I wanted to get a welcome home present for you and Harry. You had been gone for so many months at school, and we threw you that party, remember?"
Ron nodded his head. "Yeah, that's when Harry and Ginny got in that big fight. Mum got mad at George for spiking the punch and getting Dad drunk."
Hermione laughed lightly remembering Mr. Weasley attempting to dance that night. "Yeah, that's it. Well, it was about a week before the party. I was in Muggle London buying your present. It was late when I left and the last bus to my neighborhood was running late. I was at the bus stop when a man came up behind me and grabbed my arm. He put his hand to my side and told me he had a knife. He told me to drop my bags and purse and he would let me go. I did what he wanted. He picked up my stuff and grabbed my arm again. He was pulling me back toward the alley behind the stop."
At this statement, Hermione started to shake and Ron wrapped his arms around her again. He was doing all he could not to demand where this happened, to run and find this man who hurt his girl. As he opened his mouth to talk, she interrupted.
"As he pulled me back, the bus turned the corner. The lights caught us and he stuck his knife in my side, threw me down, and took off running. The bus driver jumped out and called the muggle police. They brought me to a hospital, where I had to have surgery and fix some bleeding. After three days in the hospital, I went home. I didn't tell anyone because I was ashamed."
"Ashamed?! Hermione, you were almost killed, honey, why would you be ashamed?"
"I had my wand, Ron. It was in my jacket and I could have just thrown him off of me with it. I was just so scared."
With that, she started crying again. He held her till she calmed down again. Brushing her hair out of her face, he stared at her. "I won't let anything like that happen to you again, do you understand me? I will protect you."
Hermione chuckled. "Ron, you can't be there all the time. Besides, we live miles apart. I've taken muggle defense classes since then. I hadn't thought of it in awhile, and it just got to me last night. I'm sorry."
Ron leaned down and kissed her gently. "I'm sorry for getting mad."
She looked at his face, and the still slightly reddened side. "I'm sorry I slapped you." She ran her fingers over the red mark lightly and leaned up and kissed it gently.
"I'm not, love. You knocked sense into me. I needed it." He smirked at her. As he leaned in for another kiss, his stomach growled. "Oh, you have to be kidding me."
Hermione giggled. She got up off the bed, pulling on his hands till he was standing with her. "Come on, you. Let's get you fed. Ginny has a whole list of things for me to do today. I need some nourishment, too."
They walked into the kitchen holding hands. Seated at the table was Harry, with Ginny in his lap. Ginny had her arms around Harry's neck and Harry's hands were nowhere to be seen.
"Oi! Potter! Hands off the sister!" Ron yelled.
Harry jumped back like someone shocked him. Ginny glared at Ron and opened her mouth to retort.
Ron smiled, "I love that you guys love each other. I really do. I just don't want to see it. Okay?"
Ginny's ears lessened in redness and she slid off Harry's lap. Walking over to Hermione, she took her hand. "You okay?"
"Yeah," said Hermione, "I'm fine. Let's get some breakfast so we can get to work."
"Oh, we aren't working today, Mione." Ginny grinned. "Today is play day. Look, the snow stopped. After breakfast we're all going outside to play."
Ginny shrieked and ran behind the nearest tree. A snowball raced past her ear. She bent down and formed a ball of her own. Peeking out, she saw Harry sneaking her way. She waited till he got right on her then jumped out and hit him square in the face with the snow. Sputtering snow, he laughed. She stuck her tongue out and got a face full of snow herself. Harry pulled her to him and kissed her. She looped her foot around his knee and made him fall back into the snow, dragging her with him. He brought his mouth down on hers and gave her a kiss she could feel down to her toes.
Ron wasn't having any better luck. He and Hermione had built a snowman. As he placed his hat on the snowman's head, he was hit with a ball of snow in the back of the head. Spinning around, he saw Hermione tying her scarf, with a not so innocent smirk on her face. He growled at her and scooped up a hand full. She screamed and started running. Catching up to her, he dumped the snow unceremoniously down the back of her shirt.
"Ronald! That's cold!" she screamed while jumping up and down, trying to dislodge the ice in her jumper.
He just hugged her from behind pushing the snow further into her skin. She kicked out and they went flying, both of them landing face first in the powder. Sitting up quickly, Ron looked at her. He was scared he'd hurt her. She looked at him and started laughing. She leaned in for a kiss. He started back but at the last second pushed snow in his face. She got up and ran off again, heading in the house. He followed her in.
She ran up the stairs taking her hat, scarf, and jacket off as she went. He chased her and grabbed her before she got to her room. She squealed and held on to him. He lowered her down and brushed some snow out of her hair. Kicking her shoes off, he noticed that her teeth were chattering.
"Ron, I'm cold. I'd like a hot bath, okay?"
"Yeah, okay. I guess I'll go downstairs and wait for you, okay?"
She just smiled at him and pulled his hand. He followed her out of the bedroom into the bathroom. She shut and locked the door. Turning around she found him with a look of question and desire on his face. She walked by him and turned the faucets on. Steamy water started to fill the bathroom.
She pulled his hat and scarf off. He shrugged out of his jacket and gloves. Smiling softly at him, she lifted her jumper over her head. Her undershirt stuck to the sweater, bringing both of them off together. He swallowed heavily before placing his hands on her hips.
She hissed and pushed his hands away. "Your hands are like ice!"
"Sorry," he said with a smirk on his face.
He turned the water off and looked at her. He watched as she slid her pants off and stood in front of him in her bra and knickers. His breath hitched as she unclasped her bra. She walked over to him and lifted his shirt from his body. She quickly undid his belt and buttons, but her hands were shaking so much. She grinned at him and slid her knickers down her legs. Before he had a chance to reach out for her again she climbed in the tub. Sinking into the hot water, she sighed. He finished getting undressed and climbed in behind her. Settling between his legs she laid back and rested her head on his chest.
Ron moved her hair off her shoulder and kissed her neck gently. He nipped a little at the sensitive skin. She moaned softly and pressed herself further against him with her back. He slid his hands around her front and brought one hand up to her breast. His still cold hands on her warm skin brought sensations to her she didn't know existed. His other hand dipped under her stomach into the water. She pressed herself against his hand as he continued feeling her. She could feel his want against her back. Turning herself around she straddled his lap and lowered herself onto him. He wrapped his arms tight around her waist and they started to rock.
Ron kissed her fiercely. Pulling back from her mouth, he groaned into her neck. "I love you, Hermione."
She gasped as her body let go and felt him do the same. She let herself fall into his chest and breathed heavily. She was choked up. "I..I l-love you, too, Ron."