Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it belongs to J.K. Rowling. No profit will be made from this, no copyright infringement is intended.

Spoilers for any Harry Potter book may be included. Don't read if you want to be surprised.

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Chapter Three

Before Hermione made it to her room and closed the door she heard the questions start back up and knew that Ron had entered the common room. She went directly to her window and looked down at the Hogwarts school grounds. The students were walking about in groups of three or more, talking and gesturing excitedly. She knew of all the commotion Harry Potter, the-boy-who-lived had generated, and she could only imagine the talk of Harry Potter, the-boy-who-lived-twice. Her eyes scanned out over the dark forbidden forest and were surprised to find a rather large area completely cleared of trees, brush, and basically anything living. The fight with Voldemort had been fierce, but Hermione had no idea that such a large area had been destroyed.

She turned from the window as someone tapped lightly at her door. "Come in." She called, straightening a pile of books on her desk. Of course Hermione was head girl, and having her own quarters was nice. She smiled as Ron came in and remembered to leave the door open behind him. Head girl or not, she wasn't allowed to be in her room alone with a boy with the door closed. Not that anyone would know... 'Hermione!' She scolded herself.

Ron sat down on the windowsill and absent-mindly started flipping through the top book on the stack. "You know I was really scared." He told her, speaking to the book and not facing her.

"Me too." She said pulling out the chair and sitting at the desk beside him.

"I mean, yeah I was scared of facing Voldemort, but I was more afraid of you facing Voldemort." He looked up just in time to see a confused look cross her face. "Not that I thought you would do anything wrong or something like that. I was just afraid that something might happen to you. And well, I'm just glad that nothing did."

Hermione smiled. "Well, I'm glad that nothing too bad happened to any of us either." Was this it? Was Ron actually going to admit that he liked her? "Especially you." Ron broke his gaze away from hers and stared back down at the book. His face flushed to the same color of his hair within seconds. She noticed then that he had a scar behind his ear. A small one, nothing compared to the one that now marred Draco's face.

"Um," Ron cleared his throat, closing the book with a thud. "Well, the real reason I came up here is because of Harry."

"Harry?" Hermione asked taken aback. Surely he wasn't here to ask her out for Harry! Not that she hadn't thought about a relationship with him, but that was ancient history. She and Harry could never be anything more than best friends. That and Ron's sister had confided in Hermione that she was after Harry herself.

"Yeah, he, uh, told me that if I didn't come up here and tell you how I really felt he was going to cast Rictusempra on me." He moved his hand off of the book and laid it gently on top of hers. Hermione looked at their hands somewhat surprised. Sure she had waited seven years for this, but somehow it still managed to make her heart jump into her throat. "I... I really like you Hermione." He took a deep breath and the rest came out in a rush. "And I was wondering if you would like to be my girlfriend."

Hermione swallowed, but her heart still beat loudly in her ears. "I'd really like that." She felt her own cheeks flush, knowing that whatever happened, the relationship between her and Ron had just changed forever.

"You would?" He asked. Seemed her agreeing to the arrangement was the last thing he had expected himself. Hermione bit her bottom lip and nodded. "I wasn't really expecting you to say yes. I mean I wanted you to, but I thought that you may-"

"Ron." She interrupted his rambling. "Why don't you just shut up and kiss me." Ron gulped and leaned towards her. Hermione closed her eyes right before Ron's lips pressed against hers. It was nice. Hermione couldn't deny that. She let her lips part as Ron deepened the kiss. It was definitely better than kissing Victor Krum. Unfortunately it lacked the sparks she had always imagined that it would bring. Nice though, she thought again, really nice. She was the one who finally pulled back, breaking the kiss.

"Wow." Ron said sitting back up right. "That was a lot better than I expected."

Hermione arched an eyebrow at him. "Were you expecting me to be a terrible kisser, Weasley?" She asked in a mocking tone.

He shrugged. "Well I know you got your first lesson from Krum…" He trailed off as Hermione swatted him playfully on the arm. "Do you care if I walk you to Dinner later tonight?" He asked standing up from the sill. Hermione stood as well, and walked with him towards the door.

"If I'm your girlfriend, I think it's expected of you." She said kissing him on the cheek before he turned to leave. "What are you going to do now?"

Ron stepped down a stair or two backwards. "I'm going to take a nap. All that lying around doing nothing has worn me out." He winked at her and headed down the stairs.

"Boys." Hermione said with a shake of her head. She closed the door and kicked off her shoes. She sat crossed legged on her bed. She wasn't tired in the least, but she didn't feel like venturing out of her room into the sea of questions alone. Someone had brought her wand to her room, and laid it on the bedside table. "Might as well catch up on some light reading." She said aloud to herself. She checked her wand over and found nothing to be wrong with it. She pointed it towards the desk, more specifically the largest book on it. "Accio." The book didn't move. "Accio." She repeated, giving her wand a little shake. "ACCIO." Nothing.

She climbed to her knees. "Wingardium Leviosa. Mobilarbus." She tried every possible spell she knew, but the book didn't move at all. She dropped her wand on the bed and went back to the desk. She grabbed the book and yanked it upwards with such force she stumbled back against the bed. "It wasn't attached to the desk." She said to herself in wonder. She tossed it very un-Hermione and carelessly to the floor and grabbed her wand. She turned it over and over in her hands, and again found no sign of damage.

"What is going on?" She asked the empty air, her voice shaking.

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To be continued

A/N: I know the chapters seem kind of short, but there is a reason. I am a mother of a very active five year old, and a two-year-old little boy who needs constant attention. I write when I can and update as soon as I get to s stopping point. So forgive me for all the chapters, but I want to update quickly, without adding the confusion of adding to each chapter.

Also, Accio is a summoning charm. Wingardium Leviosa is a spell to make things fly. Mobilarbus is a spell to make an object move. Rictusempra is a tickling charm. All are listed in one Harry Potter book or another.

I hope you like it so far!! Please review if you do. Nothing better than finding a review alert when you open your email!!! And I hope to have more up tomorrow!!