I do not own Harry Potter. This is my own idea for book five. All rights are reserved to JK Rowling

I'd like to thank aquamarineangel and Hilde Schbeiker for taking the time to review, thanks ever so much.

Chapter 4: Unexpected Surprises

As soon as those words had left his mouth she subconsciously stiffened. "What on earth could he want?" she questioned herself. "He will probably ask me to do his homework for a month," she concluded. Her nerves were definitely getting the better of her now. Her voice barely audible, she posed the question that was weighing on her mind, "And what might that be?"

"Well, Hermione, before I tell you what I want for my reward I have a question to ask you." At this, he paused and felt the tension in the air build to the point he thought it would burst if someone pulled out a needle. "I was wondering about what happened at Kings Cross Station when you, Harry and me"

"You, Harry and I," she corrected.

"Right, when you, Harry and I, parted for the summer." His voice became a whisper as he ended the sentence.

"What do you mean, 'what happened'?"

"I mean," he stopped dead. He thought to himself, "How am I going to say this to her. What words could I possibly find to fit this situation?" He could feel her eyes upon him as he gazed, unceasingly, at the floor. He felt his face become hot and he knew it meant only one thing, "Red, my face is red." After he took a deep, calming breath, he hastily continued, "is there truth in what Rita Skeeter wrote, about you and Harry?"

Hermione's brow creased in a confused manner as she tried to understand what he just asked her. "Ron, why would you think there was any truth to what the 'beetle' woman wrote?" She wanted so desperately to know why this was weighing on Ron's mind so heavily.

"I just, I just thought you might have, umm, feelings for him because you, er, gave him a kiss on the cheek when we got off the train." There, he said it, finally. Even though he stumbled through it, he had at last gotten it out in the open. He watched tensely as Hermione's face went from concern to understanding.

"Ron, I gave him that kiss because of everything he went through during the year, with Cedric and Moody and Vol-He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named." She hoped that would clear things up. After she had given Harry that peck on the cheek she had wanted to do the same, if not more, to Ron, but she had been afraid. She seemed to be feeling that way a lot lately and was truly starting to question being a Gryffindor, who are most commonly known for their bravery. "I'm sorry if I upset you."

"I wasn't upset, er, I'm not upset, er, I thought may be you didn't think of me as your best friend, that's all." Boy, he fumbled that one.

She slowly walked towards him until they were mere inches apart. Ron's eyes widened as he wondered what she was going to do next. She rose up on her tiptoes and whispered in his ear, "You are my best friend, and I'll make this right." Ron's pulse quickened as her warm breath continued to bounce off his ear. He felt her cheek brush his as her lips backed away and she moved her face once again in front of his. He swore that his heart would thump right out of his chest at that point. She again rose graciously to her toes, but instead of going towards his cheek, her eyes were focused on his mouth as she closed the distance between their lips.

TAP-TAP-TAP

The moment was gone. The tapping had rattled both their heads back to reality and when they looked on each other again it was from a nice safe distance. Both sets of eyes then made their way to the window from which the tapping sound was emanating. A snowy white owl could be seen perched outside on the windowsill. "Impeccable timing, Harry, as usual!" Ron thought bitterly.

Hermione stood cemented to the spot watching Ron as he made his way over to the window; he opened it and removed the parchment from Hedwig's foot. She watched Ron's eyes move back and forth over the letter hoping to see some emotion on his face that would tell what Harry had said. Ron walked cautiously over to Hermione and handed her the letter. It read:

Dear Ron and Hermione,

Guess what??? Great news! Dumbledore has agreed to let me come to the Burrow early. I'll be arriving tomorrow morning. The Dursley's actually agreed to drive me over. I guess they no longer want to take the chance of having more people like me in or around their home in case the neighbors notice. Anyway, I hope you two are enjoying yourselves, but not too much. I can't wait to see you two. Give my best to your family, Ron, especially Ginny.

Best wishes,

Harry

The same thought crossed both their minds when they had finished reading the letter; "I wanted time alone with him/her!" Neither wanted to show the other the disappointment they felt and they both were truly happy at the prospect of seeing Harry, but it would just cause more difficulties with them getting their feelings out in the open.

They both watched Hedwig swoop silently out of the window and back into the dimly lit sky and they made their way into the kitchen after Mrs. Weasley's voice was heard calling the family to dinner. After a nice, large dinner, and a few games of exploding snap with Fred, George, Ron, Ginny and Mr. Weasley, Ron and Hermione once again found themselves all alone.

"So," Ron said trying to break the uncomfortable silence.

"So," Hermione repeated.

"I guess I still have to tell you what I want for my prize," Ron posed.

"Well, Ron Weasley, if you even say that you want me to do your homework for a month I'll hex you from here to the moon!" She couldn't take it anymore. Earlier they had been so close to crossing the bridge she so longed to traverse. There was no way in the world she would ever turn back now.

Ron looked shocked at what she just said. He couldn't believe she thought he would let the prior incident slide by without a second thought. He could see her hands twitch with nervous rage as they clasped anxiously to her slim waist, and her bottom lip looked as if it would be bitten off any second by her pure white teeth. "That is not what I had in mind, but if you are offering"

"I am not!" she exclaimed, not letting him finish his sentence. Calming herself down she continued in a softer tone, "What exactly do you want then?"

"Well, Hermione," At this point he paused for effect. "I would very much like it if you kept your word, if you would 'make things right'." His face warmed, his cheeks swelled with color, his bottom lip trembled in anticipation, but his eyes never left the brown ones in front of him.

She smiled nervously and gradually made her way across the room. She gazed up into Ron's eyes that were a deeper blue than they had ever been, deeper even than when he was consumed with anger. It was a color Hermione wanted to etch into her memory forever. Again, she teetered on her tiptoes but this time Ron placed his hands lightly on her waist to steady her. She tilted her head to the right; he followed her lead and did the same. She closed her eyes ever so slowly, as did he. In that moment, when their lips finally touched, it was as if the world around them fell away. They were alone and they couldn't be happier.

"Her lips are softer than I ever imagined them to be," Ron mused to himself. He cracked his left eye a smidgen to see if she was feeling the same as he ran his tongue across her lips to bid entrance. He noticed her eyelids lift revealing the brown eyes he loved so much and felt her lips move into a smile before they opened to deepen the kiss.

"If this isn't Heaven then I don't know what is," Hermione thought. She just hoped that things wouldn't be awkward tomorrow when Harry arrived, but that was tomorrow. For now, she had Ron exactly where she wanted him.