Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. If I did, Hermione and Ron would have hooked up by now.
Chapter Six The Hot Spot and Perfectly Perfect Perfection
July 30th was a beautiful day at the Burrow. A light breeze tickled the grass, and the sky was periwinkle blue. It was the day before Harry's sixteenth birthday, and the surprise party that Hermione and Ginny were secretly planning was the next day as well. The invitations had been sent out, and the replies had been received. Nearly four dozen of Harry's closest friends would be attending, from Hagrid to Luna Lovegood. The only person who hadn't sent a reply to the invitation was Cho Chang (much to Ginny's delight).
That day, Harry, Ron and Ginny had planned on practicing Quidditch and Hermione would watch, like they had every day. But at the last moment, Ginny dragged Harry off to play a 'quick game of chess', leaving Ron and Hermione standing alone in the garden.
They stood there in awkward silence, until a silly idea occurred to Ron and he spoke up. "Do you want to go for a walk?"
Hermione brightened. "Sure!" He led her out the gate of the backyard and towards the woods.
"I know a place where we can be alone," he whispered in response to her confused look. They walked into the cluster of trees and onto a well-worn path. After several minutes, they reached a clearing. Hermione gasped at the beautiful sight in front of her.
Two very large, very old trees stood like pillars in the middle of the moss-floored clearing. Strung in between the trees was a hand-woven, weatherworn hammock with just enough room for two people to sit. The afternoon sunlight shining down upon it was beckoning for them to sit and enjoy the beautiful weather.
"What is this place?" Hermione asked.
"Just a place to be alone," replied Ron, and he added, his ears turning pink, "I believe my brothers have nicknamed it the 'Weasley Hot Spot'." Hermione giggled, and his whole face turned pink. "It's quite famous in some circles. Whenever anybody comes over they always want to see it. My brothers used to bring their – er – girlfriends here, and even Mum and Dad's friends have been here, a long time ago. There's a bunch of concealment charms on it so that no one can barge in and interrupt." He blushed more deeply, but Hermione grinned.
"That's sweet, Ron." She walked over to one of the trees and touched its bark. "What's all this carved on it?"
"Oh, all the couples who come here always carve their names in one of the trees. My parents were the first, see here?" He pointed out the place where 'ArthurMolly' was etched. "And there's Percy and Penny--" He pointed out PP 4ever-- "Bill and Fleur--" B&F-- "Even Sirius and some old girlfriends of his." SBGF, SB&ER, and Sirius & Barbie were all crossed out, but still legible after several decades of being there. Hermione smiled sadly at the thought of Sirius, but then she glanced around the other side of the tree.
"Ron, what is this?" She pointed accusingly at a large carving in the tree that had been outlined in a heart, and was also crossed out. He moved closer to look at it. The words 'Ickle Ronniekins & Herm-O-Ninny 4ever' were quite comprehensible, although it looked as if someone had attacked that part of the tree with a saw.
"Oh!" said Ron, turning very red. "Fred and George carved that a year or so back. You know, before I knew that you knew—"
"It's okay," Hermione interrupted. "I'm not sure we're worthy of 'the tree' yet." She smiled playfully, and motioned to the hammock. "Come sit." They plopped down, and the hammock swung dangerously. Ron had to grab the sides to stay on. Hermione laughed, and pulled him up so that they were sitting shoulder to shoulder. Ron loved being this close to her, but he was quite uncomfortable. He gulped, and put his arm that was next to Hermione around her shoulder. She glanced up at him, and smiled, snuggling up to him.
Ron sighed. It was amazing how perfect Hermione felt in his arms. He wondered if it would ruin the wonderful mood of the moment if he tried to hold her hand. Before he could, however, Hermione reached out and laced her fingers in his.
Now she was the one who sighed. She fit perfectly snuggled up in his arms. Even their hands fit together perfectly. She felt the need to comment on this perfect moment. "This is perfect," she said softly.
"More than perfect," Ron added dreamily.
"Perfectly perfect."
"Perfection." Hermione smiled up at Ron. He drew a strand of frizzy hair out of her face, and leaned in to kiss her. In the same moment, she shifted her position to move even closer toward him, which caused the hammock to flip over, toppling them to the ground.
Ron cursed quite audibly and lifted himself up. He held out his hand to give Hermione a hand up, but she was laughing so hard she wouldn't budge. She finally grabbed his right hand in her left, and clutched her stomach with her other. Ron couldn't help but chuckle as well. She looked so pretty when she laughed. He gazed at her, adoration in his eyes. Hermione finally stopped laughing, and looked back up at him. For a breathless moment, their eyes were locked. Then, before either of them knew it, their lips met.
Their first kiss was nothing compared to this. The last one had been shy and awkward, but now that they knew how perfectly each of them fit together, they did not hesitate. He ran his hands through her hair and down her back, sending shivers down her spine.
They held each other in a passionate embrace for several minutes before they broke apart, panting slightly. Neither of them could find the words to say, so Ron motioned to the hammock. He half-sat, half-laid on one side of it, and patted the spot next to him. He gave Hermione a lopsided grin, and she sat down on the hammock next to him. Ron longed for the feeling of her lips on his another time, so he attempted to lean in and kiss her. But, just like the last time, he leaned over too far and fell to the mossy ground with a thud. Luckily, Hermione didn't laugh too hard this time, and helped Ron up.
"Oh dear," she said, chuckling and dusting him off. He stooped down to her level, and tilted her chin up so her eyes met his. He kissed her gently but firmly on the lips, and then asked softly, "Are we worthy of the tree now?"
Hermione smiled. "Maybe, maybe not. I'll need some more evidence to make my decision." She kissed him lightly on the cheek. "Will you provide the evidence?" She smiled playfully. He responded quite positively, and found a way to keep her occupied for the next hour or so.
Meanwhile, Harry was getting his arse kicked in chess by Ginny, and he didn't mind in the least. He was enjoying her company very much.
"It seems that you have picked up some of Ron's talent for chess," Harry remarked, as his bishop was shattered into pieces by Ginny's queen.
"He never taught me anything, but I used to watch all my brothers play when I was little," she answered, grinning triumphantly as she checkmated Harry.
"You have many hidden talents." Harry gave her a charming smile.
Is he flirting with me? Ginny thought. No, of course not."What do you mean, hidden talents?"
"You know, with chess, and Quidditch of course. You should have tried out for the team years ago, you're good enough to at least be a reserve."
Ginny blushed. Harry decided that he liked it when she blushed. It was rather cute. "Thank you. Quidditch does run in the family." She looked thoughtful. "Well, maybe not so much with Ron." Harry laughed. How was it that Ginny, his best friend's little sister, could make him laugh, and other girls, like Cho, couldn't? He felt so comfortable with Ginny. They never ran out of things to talk about. And she's so damned beautiful, he thought.
"Harry!" It took him a few moments to realize that Ginny was trying to get his attention.
"Yeah?" he said dazedly, still waking up from the mini-daydream about the girl sitting in front of him.
"I'm getting sick of beating you. Do you want to go outside for some Quidditch?" Harry nodded, chuckling. They both grabbed their brooms and walked out the back door towards the field.
"Wait!" Harry looked around. "Where are Ron and Hermione?"
Ginny looked around briefly before saying, "I don't know…." Harry could tell that she probably knew where they were, and he looked at her, his eyebrows raised, until she said, "Okay, fine. I think I might know where they are. Follow me." They walked into the same clump of trees that Ron and Hermione had gone into an hour ago.
Harry looked around and couldn't see anything but trees. "Ron?! Hermione!" he called loudly into the woods.
"Shhhh!" Ginny said, slapping his arm lightly. His pulse sped up just from her touch.
"Wha— what are we, spying on them or something?" he managed to get out. Ginny just shushed him again, and beckoned for him to come forward. Harry squinted through the trees, and he could just make out a clearing with two very large trees and a hammock in the center. Two figures were rushing toward them.
"Harry! Ginny! What are you doing here?" Ron said, looking very flushed and was standing very close to Hermione.
"I should ask you two the same thing," said Ginny, looking mischievous with her hands on her hips.
"We were just taking a walk," said Ron. Then he looked from Harry to his sister and said, "What were you two doing here?"
"Looking for you," said Harry quickly. "We were about to do some Quidditch drills, do you want to come?"
"Sure! Just let me get my broom!" said Ron, without hesitation. Then, he added, "Hermione? Why don't you come with me?" She nodded quickly, and they walked back toward the house. Harry and Ginny walked in the opposite direction, toward the Quidditch pitch.
When Ron was sure that Ginny and Harry couldn't hear him, he whispered to Hermione, "I promise, sometime we'll get some alone time together and we won't be interrupted."
Hermione nodded. "But why is it that Ginny and Harry could see us, and the--" she cleared her throat-- "Hot Spot?"
Ron furrowed his brow. "Well, the only way that anyone can get to, or even see that whole clearing is if there are two people looking for it, and those people must possess strong romantic feelings for one another. At least that's how Fred and George explained it to me. They're the only ones who know how to get through to the clearing without being, you know, a couple. That's how they managed to carve our names on the tree." Then Ron backtracked and realized what he had said. Harry and Ginny? Harry and Ginny! Harry and Ginny! Ron was torn between wanting to tear Harry's head off, or give him a brotherly hug. If his little sister had to be with anyone, it might as well be his best friend. But he'd rather she not be with anyone.
Hermione seemed to understand what he was thinking. "Don't worry. Just because they are attracted to each other doesn't mean that there's something going on between them."
Ron smiled. "You know what? I think I'm actually okay with it. It sounds crazy, but I really wouldn't mind if they went out. Then it would be the four of us, all couples. We'd be like… a couple of couples!" Hermione laughed along with him, and they went into the house to get his broom.
That day was perfect for flying. The light wind gave their brooms just enough lift to soar with ease. But despite the wonderful weather, they were all having trouble flying. Ron had not taken his eyes of Hermione below him, and Harry and Ginny were sneaking glances at each other. Harry had to chant inside his head Ron's little sister, Ron's little sister, Ron's little sister! But whenever he would sneak another glance at her, all he could think about was how gorgeous she looked up in the air, all windblown.
Ginny was having similar thoughts. God, his hair! His wonderfully messy hair! He looks so handsome on his broom! It was as she daydreamed that the grapefruit they were using as a Quaffle soared past her head and landed in the grass with a splat.
The rest of the practice and the whole day went on like that, with Hermione and Ron trying to be secretive about their budding relationship, and Harry and Ginny flirting back and forth. But there was one thing that they all knew about and were looking forward to: Harry's party the next day.
A/N: Tee hee! Ok, I hope you all liked that chapter! (btw, the 'couple of couples' line was from Friends) Please R/R!!!!!