Wow. This story has been SO easy to write that it's been almost effortless! I wanted to keep the chapters semi-short, so I have extended it another chapter.

How will their date go?

oOo

"Knock knock."

Hermione looked up from her desk to see her office door ajar, Ron's bright head of ginger hair poking through.

"Ready?" he asked, his eyebrows raised.

Frowning, Hermione glanced at her watch, realizing that the office had closed ten minutes ago. "Yeah," she replied. "Just let me clean up some." She started to gather up her things, feeling a little embarrassed. It wasn't as if she'd forgotten about her dinner with Ron, but she had purposely thrown herself into work in order to quell her nervousness over their upcoming date.

"Want any help?" he asked as he opened the door further and walked several steps inside.

Hermione shook her head. "No thank you. I'm particular about where I put my things, and no offense, but you don't know my system."

Ron chuckled. "Well, alright. I'll just be useless and watch, then." He walked over and fell into one of the two chairs in front of her desk, his eyes on her.

"Don't be creepy about it," she said a few seconds later as Ron intently watched her every move.

"Just trying to learn your system, boss," he said with a smirk.

Hermione couldn't help but laugh as she rolled her eyes. "You're rather annoying, you know?"

Ron shrugged. "Well, you're the one who agreed to go out with me."

"Don't make me regret that decision," she replied as she finished putting all her things away. "Done!" she said triumphantly.

"Shall we go now?"

Hermione grabbed her purse. "We shall."

Ron stood up, leading the way out of Hermione's office. Once out of the building, Hermione used her large set of keys to lock everything up. She kept her purse on the opposite shoulder to the side Ron was standing, not wanting him to get a glimpse of the contents inside. After she had alerted Hannah that she was having dinner with Ron after work, Hannah had left the room, returning with a handful of condoms that she'd shoved into the purse, even at Hermione's insistence that she absolutely did not need them.

"I figured we could take my car," Ron started in a casual voice. "The restaurant isn't far from here, and I can bring you back after we eat so you can get your car."

She shook her head. "I walked to work, actually. So that won't be necessary."

"Oh," Ron said, his eyebrows raising in surprise. "You must live really close, then."

"My flat's only a couple of blocks away," Hermione confirmed. "So, unless it's raining, I usually walk to work."

"I'm about a ten-minute drive," Ron offered. "But It'd be a much longer walk. I'll just drop you off at yours then."

"How long have you lived there? Where you are, I mean?" she asked conversationally as they headed towards the parking garage.

"Almost two years now. It's nice. A bit small, but I've gotten used to it."

"Where were you working before you got this job?"

"A place very similar. It's about an hour from here."

"Is that why you left? Because of the distance?" she asked.

It took Ron several seconds to answer. "Not really, no."

Hermione's curiosity was instantly piqued, but she decided not to press him. They were now in the mostly empty parking garage, heading towards a black car. Ron pulled his keys out of his pocket and unlocked the car with a beep, and before Hermione could do so herself, Ron opened the passenger door for her. Smiling, she climbed in, placing her purse carefully on the floorboard. The inside of the car was immaculate, and it smelled brand new. Ron opened the driver's side door and climbed inside before starting it up.

"Is this car new?" she asked.

Ron patted the dashboard with affection. "Yeah, she's new. Needed a change."

New job. New car. Ron Weasley sure was going through a lot of changes recently. Again, Hermione stored the information away for later.

"You like Italian food?" he asked, breaking her out of her thoughts.

She smiled. "I love Italian food."

He let out a breath. "Good. Sorry, I didn't even bother to ask earlier. After you agreed to go with me this morning, I called and made reservations for my favorite table. Don't worry," he added after seeing the look on her face. "This isn't a date unless you want it to be."

"Do you want it to be?" Hermione questioned.

"I do." He smiled. "But no pressure."

"Even if I am-" She held her finger to her jaw and looked up as if deep in thought. "What did you call me in high school? Oh, yes. Boring?"

Ron grimaced. "I'm sorry about that. And if it helps, I was lying when I said it. I never thought you were boring."

Hermione tilted her head to the side. "Really?"

"Yeah. It's just that you were looking at me like I was scum, and then you called me an ass." He shrugged. "It was the only retort I could think of at the time."

"Most people in high school thought I was boring," Hermione mused. "Hell, even most people at the office think I'm boring."

Ron shook his head. "Not me. I would never ask out a boring person."

Hermione smiled, her eyes going to the window as Ron pulled up to a small, but fancy looking restaurant. "We're here," he said in a cheery voice.

"It looks nice."

They both climbed out of the car, and Ron walked around the front bumper. He held out his arm, and after a moment, Hermione took it as they started towards the restaurant. It surprised her how comfortable being with Ron was. She'd expected to be much more nervous, but there was something about him that made her feel calm. Hermione had been on a handful of first dates and had been in only one serious relationship. Even so, it had been a long while since she'd been out with anyone, so she appreciated that Ron was making this so easy for her.

Once inside, they were led to a small table in the back, the waitress perking up at the sight of Ron as she eyed Hermione with curiosity.

"I usually come here alone," Ron admitted once the waitress had walked away to grab the bottle of wine Ron had ordered. "So, you might get a few curious looks from the staff. They know me here."

"Okay," Hermione said. "That's fine."

She stored this bit of information away as well. If Ron usually came here to eat alone, he likely wasn't some kind of womanizer. Not that Hermione had thought he was, but one could never really know.

The wine Ron picked out was delicious, and the pair of them ended up drinking a couple glasses each before their food was even brought to them. Conversation with him was easy, with a lot of back and forth. There were no awkward silences, and a fair amount of laughter. Being the lightweight she was, the alcohol was having an effect on Hermione, and she found herself shamelessly flirting, though Ron didn't seem to mind.

"I have a confession," he said as they were coming down from laughing at a story he'd just told her about one of his brothers.

"What is your confession?" Hermione asked, taking a bite of her pasta.

"You remember that night Lavender and I got together? At that party?"

Hermione thought about it. "Yeah. She dragged me there and left me alone while you two snogged on the couch."

Ron looked remorseful. "The truth is, I went to that party that night hoping to ask you out- not Lavender."

Hermione blinked. "What?"

"Yeah," he said sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Misunderstanding, really. My pal Dean was close to Lavender, and I had him ask her if she and her friends would be going. I was trying to make sure you'd be there, but when Dean asked Lavender, she thought I was trying to hook up with her. Then she threw herself at me and- well, you know the rest."

"Wait a minute," Hermione said, still trying to process Ron's words. "You fancied me?"

He nodded. "I did. For a few years, actually. Mind you, it was just a harmless high school crush, but yeah, I never had the courage to do anything about it."

"That's…wow. I honestly had no idea," Hermione mused, still feeling stunned.

"Of course not," he teased. "If you'd had, I would have swept you off your feet way sooner than tonight."

She felt herself blushing. "Who said you've swept me off my feet tonight?"

Ron chuckled. "Alright. Trying to sweep you off your feet, then," he relented, his blue eyes sparkling as he looked at her from over the rim of his wineglass.

Hermione swallowed. This whole last week, she'd not allowed herself to think about how attracted to Ron she really was, but with his words and the wine in her system, she was no longer able to do so. In fact, it scared her just how much she wanted to take this man home with her, to touch him, to have him touch her. The thought of it was beyond tempting, even if shagging a man on the first date was something that Hermione absolutely did not do.

"You're not failing," she admitted.

He smiled. "Good." His face then changed into a more serious expression, and he cleared his throat. "Another thing I should tell you before anything else happens, Hermione, is that I'm freshly divorced."

Hermione's mouth fell open in shock. It then occurred to her just what was happening right now. What better way to get over a divorce than to jump into bed with a girl you'd had a crush on in high school? It was like living some sort of unfulfilled teenage fantasy. Ron most likely didn't want anything serious with her at all, and the thought stung Hermione way more than it should have.

"Hermione, listen," Ron urged, his eyes panicked as if he knew exactly what she was thinking. "Me and her- we've been separated for two years now. I didn't ask you out as some sort of rebound fling- I swear."

She nodded slowly, feeling a little bit of relief at the sincerity in his voice. "Okay," she said. "I'll trust you. Are you willing to tell me what happened, though?"

"If you want me to, then yes, I will."

"I want you to."

Ron nodded. "We got married young- too young probably. I was only twenty, and she was nineteen. To my knowledge, everything was going fine- or at least it seemed to be. One day, three years after we got married, she comes home and tells me that she's pregnant. We're both a bit shocked, as it hadn't been planned, but nonetheless, we were happy. That same day, we went out, bought everything we could possibly need for a baby, too excited to wait." Ron sighed. "Five months later, she admits to me that she'd been sleeping with her ex-boyfriend, and that there was a good chance that the baby wasn't even mine."

Horrified, Hermione's hands came up to cover her mouth. "Ohgod, Ron! That's terrible!"

"Yeah. It was. I was heartbroken. It took me a few weeks to process everything, but I ended up telling her that I wanted to fight for our marriage, especially if the baby was mine."

"Was it?" Hermione asked.

Ron gave a small, sad smile. "No. It was clear as soon as I saw him in the delivery room that he wasn't mine. It took all I had not to break down in that hospital, because I knew then that my marriage was over. She was still in love with her ex, and having his baby only made her want to be with him even more, so I filed for divorce."

"I don't know what to say," Hermione admitted. "I'm truly sorry that you went through that."

"Me too. But you live and you learn, I guess." He paused. "Anyway, the divorce took way too long to be finalized, but when it was, I knew I needed a fresh new start. Not that I am still heartbroken over her or anything," he clarified. "She's happy, and we are more than civil nowadays. It's just that I needed something new- something different."

"And you haven't been with anyone since her?" Hermione asked, hoping she wasn't prodding him too much.

"Nope. Figured it was smart to give myself time, you know?"

"Yeah. Probably what was best," she agreed.

"What about you?" he asked, changing the subject. "Any crazy exes?"

Hermione shook her head. "Only one ex. We dated for four years and just grew apart. It wasn't messy, or painful, or anything like that. We just decided to go our separate ways, and that was the end. I don't think we ever really had any chemistry to tell you the truth. Mutual friends set us up, we got along well. It was comfortable, so we stayed."

"Just the one boyfriend?"

"Yes. I've been on a handful of dates since, but nothing that ever led to anything else. My love life has unfortunately been very dull."

"That's a shame," he said, staring at her in a way that made her feel hot all over.

When the waitress came back, Ron insisted on paying the bill, and after a brief argument, Hermione relented.

It was dark outside as they walked to his car, their hands intertwined. Ron was about to open the passenger side door for her, when in a moment of impulse, Hermione's arms shot out and she shoved him back against the car. She only had a second to take in the bewildered look on his face because only a moment later she was throwing herself at him, pressing her lips against his. It took Ron a second to realize what was happening, but when he did, he pulled her body closer, lifting Hermione off her feet as his arms wrapped around her body. One of his hands tangled into the hair at the back of her head as he deepened the kiss, his tongue seeking entrance to her mouth. Hermione granted it, opening her mouth to him. She was unable to stop a whimper from escaping, the sound causing Ron to groan from deep in his throat. They broke away at the same time, their noses inches apart as they caught their breath.

"Bloody hell," Ron panted.

"Take me home with you," Hermione breathed.

"Really?" Ron asked, studying her face for signs of hesitation. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. I want you."

Hermione had never been so blatantly forward in all her life, but right now she couldn't even be bothered to care. There was something so desirable about Ron Weasley, and for once, she wanted to act and not think.

Ron paused only a moment before responding. "Alright."