Right Here All Along
by Sunshine
vee_sunshine@yahoo.com

Rating: still PG-13 right now, probably higher later on
Category: Ron/Hermione, Romance
Disclaimer: Were not, are not and never will be mine. The characters belong to J. K. Rowling, the title to Amanda Marshall
Summary: The Morning after...the sleepwalking incident
Feedback: Well, YES of course. Please.

Author's note: Thank you to all of the reviewers, I do intend to continue - and the rating *will* go up (sorry, Chibi-Usa) - but it'll take a while because I am busy studying.

A/N 03-12-02: I'm *very* sorry for the long delay - when I started this fic I didn't expect to have months between chapters...But real life caught up as usual, and I'm also sorry to say that I won't be able to promise a shorter interval this time. I promise I'll try, but as there is so much studying I'll have to do in the next months...Y'all wish me luck and I'll do my best!

A/N 03-24-02: Herm- Well, I was going to wait until my beta had given his opinion on the last sentence, but you just couldn't wait...no, seriously, if he disagrees, I'll just change this version a bit!

And now have *fun*!

***

Chapter 2

Only a short while later the portrait hole opened again and Ron climbed through. He grinned when he saw Harry and Hermione waiting for him and joined them on their way to the Great Hall.

"So, did you get your socks?" Harry asked when he started walking.

"My socks?" Surprised Ron turned towards his friend.

"Oh", Hermione prompted, "I told Harry about how you forgot your socks and went up to your room to get them."

After Ron had gotten her point he smiled quietly to himself and quickly agreed, and by the time they had reached the Great Hall they were chatting amicably about their plans for the day. Hermione wanted to review the ingredients for a limb-growing potion they were going to prepare in the next week and intended to spend some time in the library. She had already finished all her homework the day before, so when Ron and Harry proposed that they visit Hagrid for tea she went along with their suggestion.

There weren't many people having breakfast when they sat down at the Gryffindor table. It really was quite early, and even after they finished their meal and went back to the common room only five other students were sitting in the chairs throughout the room.

The three friends flopped down onto the couch and easy chairs by the fireplace where Ron and Harry continued their conversation about Quidditch techniques. Sometimes Hermione wondered how they could keep on talking about Quidditch even after having spent six years doing just that, but she knew how much they both loved the game and idly followed their discussion.

She herself had never been much good at flying, feeling out of control when riding on her broom, and therefore she had not taken much of an interest in Quidditch. It probably was a really fascinating sport, but if you weren't actively participating you could just not get into it, Hermione supposed. At least it was like that for her, and the only thing she regretted was not knowing what Harry and Ron talked about when they discussed weird manoeuvres. Like the *Wronski* feint. She'd definitely never forget that!

Regardless of the fact that she didn't know much about Quidditch, she did go and watch every match. Harry and Ron were on the team, Ron having taken over the position of Oliver Wood after he'd left Hogwarts. He was a good Keeper. Maybe not as great as Harry, the Seeker, but then Harry was a natural talent, and Ron had to train hard, especially on his old broom.

At the games she tended to get pretty emotional, too. Surprisingly enough, this was an occasion when theory just didn't interest her half as much as the actual outcome, and it was always exciting to see Ron do some outrageous stunt while trying to block the Quaffles - he was even worse than Harry at scaring her to death!

When Hermione turned her attention back to her two best friends they'd apparently changed topics. Now they were talking about some upcoming homework that surprisingly Ron had already finished. Harry still had to do it though, and he went to get some parchment and the books from the boy's dorm.

"Hey Hermione, you reckon we could play chess?"

"Well, why not. I might defeat you again today."

"As if. You only managed to beat me once, and that was because I was still recovering from that mind blocking potion Snape had me test!"

"Hah, you're only saying that because you don't want to recognize my victory for what it was. But I'll prove it to you, you'll see!"

Ron grinned at her. He knew of course that he'd let her win that one time, just so she wouldn't stop playing with him. She'd become frustrated sometime during their fifth year and he had been afraid that she would not want to keep doing something she knew she was never going to master, and he'd used the mind blocking potion as an excuse. It was just so much fun doing things with her, especially if they resulted in another small fight.

He loved their sparring matches. When she was angry or annoyed or wanted to convince him of something really badly her eyes got this glint that he thought was just too endearing. With her flushed face, her curly hair and her glinting eyes she was the most beautiful thing, but he would of course never tell her that. He would just go on taunting her and make sure he didn't overdo it.

Real fights with her were hard. In their third year they had quarrelled rather seriously, as had they for a short time during fourth year, and although he couldn't have said then why he had been so unhappy all the time he knew today he had just missed her company. Even when she was being her most obnoxious self he could remember all the good times they'd had together, all the times she'd stood up for Harry or him, all the things she had lost by being with them.

She could have been head girl, and she should have been, but because she hung out with Harry and him she got caught up in their plans, especially the ones that went against school rules. In their fifth year the three of them had been made prefects for some reason, although he reckoned Harry and especially Hermione deserved that. But due to some unfortunate incident during their sixth year where Hermione had covered for her friends she had lost her chances of being head girl, a position he knew she had worked for most of her days at Hogwarts.

And she didn't even seem to mind. Ron knew she did, but in the end she had chosen her friends over her dreams and this fact still made him feel achy inside. He didn't know whether he would have done the same thing if he'd been on the list for being head boy although he probably would have, but for her to do this had meant a lot to him. That was just the way Hermione was, always telling them not to break the rules and to be careful, but if push came to shove she would do the same thing herself in a heartbeat.

While they were getting out the chessboard and positioning the chessmen Ron observed Hermione closely. He wondered if she would just ignore the night before and not mention it again, and decided that he couldn't let her. If she pretended it never happened that would be too easy, and he was not going to make it easy in on her.

"So, did you get back to bed alright?" he whispered when he was sure nobody was in listening range.

"Huh?" Hermione looked up startled. She had been sure he was not going to talk about it, but apparently she was wrong. On the one hand she felt glad that he didn't just forget about it, on the other hand this presented her with the difficult situation of having to think about their shared closeness the night before.

"Oh. Yes, I did. Lavender and Parvati both were still asleep and I didn't have any other problems. Well, you wanna go first?"

"Go fir-...no, I'll give you a head start. You'll need it."

"No, I won't. But *thank* you, anyway", she added rather ironically.

"Well, then. Hopefully you know what to do with a chessboard better than what you do at night."

Hermione blushed. The comment hadn't even been a very suggestive one, but the way he'd said it just played havoc on her nerve endings. They tingled all along her body and she had to breath in deeply to master the heavy feeling in her chest.

A few minutes later Harry reappeared with his school things and sat back down at a table near them. They continued the morning in comfortable closeness, talking about everything from Hogsmeade to classes. Of course Ron beat Hermione, but they still had a good time playing each other. Ron had always preferred going against Hermione because she presented the greatest challenge, and Hermione secretly liked trying to best Ron at something he loved.

Harry was doing his schoolwork while listening to his best friends arguing over the importance of homework and planning their next trip to Hogsmeade with an amused expression on his face. These two were just perfect for each other, and he knew they had at least admitted to themselves the way they felt about the other, but they were both too stubborn to do anything about it.

Sometimes he just wanted to lock them into a closet and leave them in it until they admitted their feelings, but it was much more fun to see them dancing around each other like this. Each observing the other when they thought nobody was watching - it was just too amusing.

Right now Ron had "innocently" put his leg so that Hermione would have to change her seated position completely if she had wanted to keep from touching it with her own, but of course she did *not* want to. She herself had leaned forward, put her chin in her hands and was watching Ron contemplate his next move.

Harry could see Colin Creevy out of the corner of his eyes and got an idea. He waved him over carefully as not to disturb his two friends and whispered his plan into Colin's ear. Colin grinned and nodded.

He turned off the flash on his camera and walked a few steps back to take a picture of Ron and Hermione. Then he walked around and took another picture from the other side of the room without the two noticing, so intensely focussed were they on the chessboard and each other. Colin smiled at Harry and turned around to go back to his group of friends, while Harry himself shook his head and went back to concentrating on his essay.

***

When he went to bed that night Ron couldn't keep from wishing for a repeat performance of the night before. He smiled at the memory of his Hermione - when had he started seeing her as his? - in bed with him, and wondered what it would take to have her in it again. After all, he had decided on being a little more assertive, and he'd not made use of that much this day.

Was there a way? Or should he just wait for her and go over there himself if she didn't come? After all, Harry had not noticed about the missing Invisibility Cloak, had he? And it would be so much fun to get into the girls dormitories unnoticed, and see how Hermione would react to finding him in her bed for a change. Oh, that would be too interesting a chance to pass up on...

He waited for about an hour trying not to give in to sleep, but she didn't show up. Around him the other boys had fallen asleep one by one, as he had lain awake thinking about Hermione. Ever since he had admitted to himself he felt something for her that wasn't friendship, he had allowed himself to observe her more closely than before.

In Hagrid's cabin, for instance, he had taken notice of the way she put both her hands around her cup to keep them warm. It had been endearing to see her eyes peeking up at them over the brim of the cup, and when she'd stumbled on their way back to Hogwarts, not falling down only because he had taken a hold of her waist, it had been hard to let her go. She had seemed so incredibly soft under his hands and he'd been very thankful for the wide robes afterwards, as the memory of her in skimpy thin nightclothes had made his lower body react almost violently.

Impatiently he was just about to get the Invisibility Cloak from Harry's suitcase when he heard the door open. He turned towards it, and grinned slyly when Hermione entered the room as if in a stupor, apparently recognizing his form over by Harry's bed, and zoning in on it.

She walked to him, took his arm and pulled him to his bed with her, then pushed him onto it and crawled over right on top of him. Almost at once she fell back asleep, and he was left with an uncomfortably tight feeling everywhere in his body.

He didn't dare move her too much though; it felt to good having her sprawled all over him like this, her head on his chest and her legs on either side of his. One of her hands was tucked underneath his shoulder, the other intertwined with his fingers. Carefully, as not to disturb her, he pulled up the blankets with the arm she had not taken into possession and completely closed the curtains of the four-poster.

They would have to find out what it was that made her sleepwalk he supposed, but that could definitely wait for some other time. Right now he felt pretty good and he wasn't about to chance that. Regretting that he was simply too tired to do anything else he promptly fell asleep.

***

Harry was the first to awake on Monday morning, and after stretching he got up and went over to Ron's bed in order to wake him. When he pulled back the curtains he was still smiling over his best friend who tended to oversleep if no one woke him personally, therefore he had already reached out for Ron's shoulder when he noticed that it was Hermione's shoulder he was heading for instead.

Before his mind caught up with his hand he let out a small shriek that he was embarrassed about soon after. That sounded a lot like Ginny being nervous around him, and decidedly not like the boy-who-lived! Harry smiled. Here he was, debating on whether he sounded girly while his two best friends were lying in bed with each other - this was simply too good to be true!

For a moment he almost wanted to get Colin in order to take another picture, but thoughts about what waking up to a flashing camera (and probably the entire 6th year dorm who would be awake by the time Colin arrived) could do to Ron and Hermione's budding relationship quickly squelched that stupid idea. Nah, it would be so much more fun to let them deal with their good friend Harry.

Still smiling, he reached out anew for both Hermione's and Ron's shoulders' and shook them.

Ron mumbled something incoherently into Hermione's hair before he started to open his eyes while his bedmate opened her eyes almost immediately upon being touched and shot up into a seated position. She seemed disoriented at first, then glanced around and noticed Ron on the bed trying to curl around her. She blushed furiously when she finally looked up into Harry's eyes and he grinned at her.

Ron, who had not succeeded in getting his eyes open, had only recognized that something was amiss when his very nice and comfortable pillow started to move. His hands wandered up Hermione's upper body in order to find out what this 'pillow' was, and only when she stopped his hands from reaching a too-familiar place did he sit up, as well. Upon having reached this position he saw Harry, and - embarrassed - let his head fall down on Hermione's shoulder.

"Is there anything you want to tell me?"

***

I'd like some feedback...that usually prompts me to write some more! And, of course, I'm always open for constructive criticism.