Disclaimer: All that is copyrighted belongs to She Who Shall Be Revered. Everything else is mine.

A first brush with…

"Putting up with her is enough to make anyone go mad!" Ron thought angrily. "No letters-not one single bloody letter the whole time while she was flying over the Alps with that bloody Bulgarian." Ron hadn't seen either of his two best friends all summer as Harry was hiding out with the Muggles and Hermione was "traveling". They hadn't even met up at Diagon Alley and now he was going to have to deal with her going on and on about her precious Vicky.

"Ron, is something wrong?" Ginny inquired from across the compartment. Ron's ears and cheeks were flushed and he had his face molded into a scowl all morning. At the sound of her voice his face smoothed into a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Of course nothing's wrong, I'm just worried about my grades, that's all."

Ginny looked at him with doubt in her eyes. "Worried about your grades? Your starting to sound like Hermione…not that it's a bad thing."

At the sound of her name, his face went back into a scowl.

            "That's absolutely right. We've got to take our OWLs this year," they heard Hermione say from the hallway as the compartment door opened and Harry and Hermione walked in, dragging their trunks behind them. They stowed their trunks and took their seats, Harry next to Ginny and Hermione next to Ron. He barely spoke the whole train ride. He focused his attention at the scenery outside the window; his silence seeming to compel the other members of the compartment to lapse into silence as well. He broke his gaze from Mother Nature's eyes a few times, noticing that Ginny and Harry had fallen asleep while leaning on each other and Hermione had her nose buried in a book with Crookshanks curled on her lap. Only now did her notice that her hair wasn't the same, it was curly instead of bushy. Without knowing, he reached up and tugged a curl gently, then watched it spring up. Finding some amusement in this, he repeated his actions, making the curl spring over and over.

            "You know Ron, that's actually a bit annoying," Hermione said, not lifting her eyes from the book. He withdrew his hand and Crookshanks, seeming to think it was something to play with pounced on it where it lay in his lap. He heard her laugh as he tried to free his hand from underneath the ginger cat. Eventually he gave up and the cat fell asleep.

            "So…how was your summer?" asked Ron, attempting to make conversation.

            "It was good, I had a lot of fun in Bulgaria."

"Really?" he returned his eyes to Mother Natures.

"Yes." She continued to read. Ron was torn between asking her to elaborate and not wanting to hear all about her precious Vicky, but at the moment his hand was falling asleep. Crookshanks awoke crankily and suddenly and bit. Hard.

"Ow! You stupid-" He attempted to throw Crookshanks off, but Crookshanks had already sunk and released his claws in Ron's arm before jumping onto Hermione's.

"Crookshanks, that wasn't really nice." Hermione's eyes still traveled across the page rapidly.

"Look what your cat did to me," he said, waving his hand in front of her eyes.

"Ron, you'll get blood on my book."

"That's the point. The blood."

"Oh you big baby." She tapped her wand on his arm, healing the scratches. "Better." He just stared. Sighing, she kissed his arm. "Now?" His ears twinged pink. He looked from his arm to her lips, back to his arm, then back to her lips. They were so soft, and he was so tempted. He leaned to her mouth and kissed her, squeezing Crookshanks out from between them. He pushed the book aside and delved into her mouth when she made a sound of protest. The inside of her mouth was silky, the little bumps on her tongue a sensation he had never felt before. He was aware he was pressing her beneath him, holding her face between his hands. She arched her back, pressing against him. The book fell to the ground with a load clunk, followed by an angry yowl from Crookshanks whose tail had been pinched by the book. Ginny and Harry snorted in time with each other and Ron and Hermione sprang apart, hoping they hadn't noticed the kiss. Ginny's head slid down Harry's chest to rest in his lap and Harry's hand came to rest on her hip. Ron scowled before turning back to Hermione. She had returned to reading her book.

Just letting you know, I have no idea where to go with this. Please give me ideas!