Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.

A/N: Thanks to ObsessedRHShipper, who is beta-ing this story.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Waiting

Hermione's determination didn't seem to get her anywhere. Her hints of marriage and a future with Ron didn't seem to make him see that she wanted to get married sooner rather than later. Or if they did, Ron never showed that he noticed anything. Two months after Harry and Ginny's wedding, he still had not asked her to marry him. She was starting to despair about this lack of attention on Ron's part, wondering if he really wanted to marry her at all. Even with Ginny and Fleur's assurance that he did, she was starting to think that Ron might have somehow changed his mind about their future.

She started to get depressed whenever she would think about that, because she didn't think she could stand it if Ron really didn't want that anymore. For the most part, she was able to put this thought out of her mind, because Ron showed in so many ways that he was indeed thinking about having a life with her. He had always been more about actions than just words alone and this comforted her when she became overwhelmed, at least at first.

However, as time went by she worried more about this. It became harder for her to talk to Ron about anything. The thought that she was going to fail somehow in her relationship with him filled her with fear. She hated failing at anything, but this was different, because it was more important than anything that she had ever been involved with before. Considering that she had no success in the area of relationships before Ron, her confidence was already low in that department.

She wasn't sure why she had decided to test Ron after these months of living with her doubts of his plans for their future, but she knew that something had changed in those months. They had said 'I love you' less and less; they even talked less in general. Ron went to the pub more often with his friends and came back late and rather drunk. It had become harder to look him in the eyes without showing the worry she was feeling, so she stopped looking him in the eyes as much as possible. She had started working late, not because she had to, but because it was so hard to be with him in this state of uneasiness. She needed to know if he still wanted her like she wanted him, so she prevented herself from initiating anything physical and after two weeks of this, she found that they hardly even kissed anymore. This killed her. She knew that she was going to have to talk to him about this, but it was impossible for her to do, because she feared that it would mean the end of them if she did.

The only thing she could find comfort in those weeks was the fact that no matter when she went to bed … whether he was there before her or not, she would always wake up in his arms. It hurt that the best part of her day were those minutes she took before getting out of bed; during that time, she could feel his comforting arms around her and felt that somehow she could make this work. She found that she would watch him sleep, and he looked just as peaceful as he had when they had first gotten together; when she saw him like that, she hoped yet again that she was just overreacting with her building fears.

She would whisper her love to him as he slept and then get ready for work. It was like that before she got ready for work that Friday. Although there was one difference when she muttered the words to him on this day; today he was awake.

"I love you, too," he muttered. His blue eyes opened in a sleepy way and she wasn't sure if he was fully awake or not, but the words still made her heart skip a beat. She hated that she couldn't remember the last time he had said them. His right hand moved up to cup her face and he smiled, "Merlin, you're beautiful."

He then brought her head down for a kiss that she knew was different that the ones they had shared in the last week, because there wasn't going to be the awkward stopping that had happened. He was really kissing her for the first time in a while and she was kissing him back. Her heart pounded with the hope that was building in her and it had little to do with the fact that his experienced hands were roaming her body as she had yearned for him to do over the past weeks. When his eyes connected with her, she saw the love that he had just declared; the promise in those eyes was something she had longed to see.

She knew that making love to Ron had not solved the problem that was before her, but she also knew that something good had happened this morning that would help her. She leaned up on her elbows and kissed him, smiling in earnest for the first time in a month. "I should have woken you up like this every morning if this was what would come of it."

Ron's eyes sparkled in amusement. "You won't hear me complaining about that."

She leaned in to kiss him softly for a second time before she made to get out of bed.

"Where are you going?" Ron pouted.

"I have to get ready for work," Hermione sighed, wishing that it was Saturday and she could just spend all day in bed with Ron.

"I was thinking that maybe we could play hooky," Ron said, his eyes sparklingly with amusement and now a hint of mischief.

Hermione opened her mouth to say that she couldn't possibly do that when she stopped herself. She longed to be with Ron since she felt so reassured about his love for her. She realized that she didn't have any meetings scheduled for today and the extra hours that she had been working for the last month had put her ahead on many things; she could miss one day of work without too much trouble.

"Okay," she finally said, and she had to smile at the shock look on his face.

"I was joking," Ron informed her.

"Well, I'm not," Hermione said, sitting on the bed again. There was a smile forming on her face that went away when she noticed Ron's expression.

"Sorry," he said with a frown and something else that Hermione couldn't understand. "I've got some meetings today," he smiled at her apologetically, "I never thought you would actually agree …"

"You've always had a bad influence on me," Hermione shrugged, and he smiled at her, but she could still see that odd look in his eyes that she couldn't explain.

"Just the way it should be," Ron said, "You better start getting ready or you won't get to work on time."

"Okay," Hermione sighed, "but I'm just going to say that I'm going to make sure to get off work on time today so you better be here right after work."

He nodded his head and she then went to get ready for work.

O

Ron scowled at the paperwork that he was going over not taking in any of the information that he was supposed to. He was glad that this wasn't for one of the important missions that he was supposed to be working on, but simply going over what had happened in the last training session with the Aurors. It was all too easy for him to think about Hermione as he read this; after all, it was a report about the program that they had worked on getting together after she first was promoted. As soon as his mind went to Hermione, it was impossible for him to think of anything else.

He was troubled about a few things that had been happening in this last three months and he couldn't explain any of it. No matter how much he looked at the problem, he couldn't figure out why things had been going so poorly lately. Hermione seemed so depressed all the time and was pulling away from him a little more with each passing day. Whenever she would meet his eyes, hers were filled with so much sadness that he longed to do anything to change them but he felt so useless because he didn't know how. He could tell that she was bothered by something but she didn't seem to want to tell him about it, and he couldn't bring himself to ask her about again. He had asked her for a week straight what the matter was and she would always answer 'nothing' and then smile at him sweetly as if that settled everything.

She had started working late, telling him that there were a lot of things that she needed to take care of. He knew that she was working hard, evidence of that filled the Ministry, but still it felt like she was just doing these things just to do them, not because they needed to be done by her personally. Things have been shaky for a while, but it was the last two weeks that had Ron really worried. She had stopped offering him kisses of any kind, not even the simple kiss she would give him in the morning to say goodbye as she raced off to work. Whenever he would kiss her, he would feel her sigh, but not in a good way. It was in a way that was filled with resignation, and he was beginning to think that those kisses were just pity or something of that kind.

This morning, however, he had woken up when her warmth raised off his chest. He had known that she slept in his arms every night, though he had never been conscious of moving to hold her. He wondered if she moved into his arms once he was asleep or if somehow in the night they just subconsciously moved towards each other. Either way, the thought had always comforted him. He had then felt her lips press against his in a brief but warm touch. As she pulled away, she whispered, 'I love you, Ronald' in the voice that she used whenever she spoke from the heart.

He would probably be happy right now if he had not made that one quip about ditching work. He never thought she would actually take that seriously, but he could see in her eyes before she said anything that she would agree to it. It bothered him that she would so easily be able to give into that request when she had been working so much lately. It bothered him that she was smiling and happy after they made love and was now suddenly willing to spend her time with him. Actually, it didn't just bother him; it pissed him off.

O

Hermione was able to get off work a little early. She was hopeful that she would be able to talk to Ron tonight and she had come to the conclusion that she would make something for dinner. Even after having several lessons with Molly about how to cook, she still wasn't very good, and only had confidence to make her standby Lancashire hotpot. However, she liked the fact that this was the first thing that she had made for Ron so long ago when their relationship was just beginning. She was so busy making dinner that she didn't realize that Ron had not come home on time. As soon as the preparations were finished though, she saw that it was almost five-thirty and Ron was supposed to be there half an hour ago. She didn't really understand why her heart drummed painfully in her chest at that. It was only half an hour, but she felt a sinking feeling that things weren't going to go how she thought they were.