Chapter 2

Almost as soon as the dot appeared, it disappeared.

"You did see that right?" Harry quietly spoke to the others.

They both nodded, ghostly looks on their faces.

"What do you suppose this means?" Ron asked.

Both Hermione and Harry shook their heads in disbelief, "I dunno"

***

Harry continued to check the map periodically throughout the rest of the week but the dot never showed again. It couldn't have been possible that it was a figment of all three of their imaginations… could it? No. Not possible.

Soon the rest of the student body came back to school and things presumably went back to normal… well as far as normal went in their case.

Ron and Hermione were avoiding each other for the most part. After the incident, they both seemed to be a wee bit embarrassed to be around the other. Understandable.

One day, Hermione was in the library just before class gathering her notes together when she heard Parvati, Lavender, and Seamus giggling about something at a table behind a bookshelf. She peered through the opening and listened in on what they were saying.
"Can you believe that? Who would have thought?" Seamus laughed.
"Are you kidding me? I knew it wouldn't be long. In fact I bet they've been together all along and have just been hiding it!" Lavender squealed.

"I dunno, they fight so much, I didn't even think they were friends anymore after the whole Viktor Krum/Fluer thing last year" Parvatti added.

Hermione moved a few books to the left so she could have a better passage way to look and listen through.

"Wow, I cant believe it," Seamus said shaking his head, "Ron snogging with Hermione, I'm gonna have to congratulate the boy!"

At this, Hermione jumped with surprise and the books on the shelf fell to the other side. She quickly ducked then gathered her belongings and ran from the library. She couldn't believe it! Ron was telling people that he snogged with her after she thought it was caring for her well being on his part. Oh, this was the end of their friendship, relationship, thing, whatever it was it was over. She went into the Gryffendor common room to get her remaining books and marched past Ron, not saying anything cause she knew she'd regret it later (for once).

"Hey love," Ron with a smile.
"I'm not your love Ron Weasley" She said sternly as she walked up the stairs.

He got up quickly and followed her.

"Mione what's wrong"

"You should know, you've obviously been telling everyone". With that she stamped past him and walked out of the common room.

Dean Thomas was coming in and lifted his hand for Ron to slap him a high five. "Hey congratulations Ron, I heard about you and Hermione, I knew it would only be a matter of time."

"What exactly did you hear?" Ron asked, not slapping his hand.

"That you snogged with her of course. Its true isn't it?"

"Oh dear" Ron's heart sank to his feet and he ran out of the common room after Hermione.

"HERMIONE!" He screamed after her as he ran to meet her.

"Ron, leave me alone, I wish to have nothing to do with you, I cannot BELIEVE that you would tell people that I snogged with you"

"Hermione, I swear, I didn't. Please, you have to believe me" There was almost a tear in his eye as be backed Hermione up against the wall of the corridor they were standing in. Ron was a good half foot taller than Hermione and she didn't try and fight with him.

"Then why does everyone think that Ron" She said, almost beginning to cry.
"I dunno, but I promise you I'll get to the bottom of this. Believe me, the last thing I want is for you to be upset with me or hurt over something I did - Hermione I - "

"Well that's certainly a new thing, not wanting to hurt me"

Ron's face grew angry. "Is that so, I'm not allowed to care for you? Just because we've spent a good amount of our time in the past years fighting and quarreling with one another doesn't mean that the whole time I haven't had an underlying feeling of affection toward you".

"Do you mean it Ron?"

"Of course I do, Mione, I care so much about you"

A smile came to Hermione's face and to Ron's also. He squeezed her hand and began to walk away.
"Ron" she said faintly, still holding his hand and keeping him from walking fully away, "Do you have feelings for me?"

He came back to her and looked her straight in the eye, then down at the floor, then back at her, "Yes, Hermione, I do have feelings for you"

She smiled sheepishly, and then began, herself, to walk away. This time it was Ron who held her hand to keep her from going.

"Do you have feelings for me?" He asked, sounding boyishly hopeful.

With a big smile, she said "Yes, I do" and turned to walk away.

Ron sighed with an utmost feeling of relief, like all the burdens that had been upon his shoulder his entire life had been lifted from him and placed onto a cloud floating far away from the cloud in which he and his love, Hermione were resting on.

Ron laughed to himself at his own thoughts. How feminine and sensitive they were. What if Harry knew? He leaned up against the wall and slid down the floor. He could have stayed there all day, just thinking about Hermione. Except at that very moment, the very floor beneath him gave out and he felt himself falling through a sharp cold shaft. He landed with much pain onto a damp chilled floor.

He knew his wrist was broken but what concerned him was his location and how he was going to get out of it. How'd he end up in this mess? Wasn't that Harry's job?? He took out his wand and lit the end of it so he could see where he was. He appeared to be in a dark wet hallway.

'There better not be any rats or spiders in here' he thought to himself. He walked for a bit, lighting the candles as he went along. At the end of the hallway he could see that there was a Y and he would have to choose which path he would take. The choice was inevitably made for him. All of a sudden, a dark figure appeared in the doorway of one of the halls and seemed to be floating toward him. Fear embodied Ron and he couldn't think, he turned around to run and grabbed the nearest object, which was a candle on the wall. Before he knew what was going on, the wall had twisted into a circle and he was standing in the school hallways of Hogwarts again. Was that a dream? No, he thought not, his arm was in much pain and he had a rather large cut on his shoulder.

He ran into the nearest classroom where Professor McGonagall was teaching and nearly collapsed.

"Mr. Weasley!" She gasped and quickly escorted him to Madame Pomfrey where he explained everything to her and Professor Dumbledore. Soon Harry and Hermione were at the door eager to know what was going on.
Once the professors had shown their concern and gotten all the details, they left the three of them to be alone.

Ron explained everything to Harry and Hermione and questioned if he should have told the Professors about the figure he saw.

"I dunno" Harry said, "I suppose its better this way, if its Voldemort, then at least Dumbledore will be ahead of the game."

Harry noticed that Hermione was holding Ron's hand. "I see you've made up" he said with a smile. Ron and Hermione both blushed and looked away.

"I'll leave you two alone" he said, smirking and walking out of the room.

Ron moved over on his bed and motioned for Hermione to sit down. She did so. They sat there for a few moments, shyly looking at each other, and around the room.

"This is awkward huh?" Hermione said, laughing to cover up the nervousness.

Ron smiled, at least he wasn't the only one feeling awkward. "Yea… it is…. But I really do mean it Mione, I do have feelings for you… I have for a while, I don't even know how long, but something tells me its from the moment I met you"

Hermione didn't know what to say, she just wrapped her arms around him. Ron, pleased with this, embraced her back with his good arm and closed his eyes feeling refreshed with the feeling of her pressed against him again. He'd only dreamed it would return to him.

He wished this could last forever, but unfortunately the hospital wing isn't a place to be alone.
"Feeling better Mr. Weasley?" Madame Pomfrey asked as she so sternly made her appearance noticeable in the room.
"Yes thank you" Ron said, pink in the face.

"You can go," she said, smiling, "But take the potion with you and drink it again before you go to bed"

"Ok" Ron jumped up, glad to be leaving. Glad glad glad was all that was on his mind, after that wonderful hug. He knew Hermione was now his and what a great feeling it was.