Meant to Be

Ron looked at his watch. It read 10:45. "Perfect, I have fifteen minutes," he whispered to himself. He had purposely rushed his family the night before to have everything ready so he could have time to see her. He'd see her on the train of course, but it would be different with Harry and all the others there.

"Mum, come on!" yelled Ron.

"Don't use that tone of voice with me Ronald Weasley, and what's the hurry?" asked Mrs. Weasley.

"Sorry mum, no rush, I'm just tired of always being late to the tra-," he suddenly stopped speaking. Off in the distance he saw her for the first time since their last battle with Voldemort...where he almost lost her. Ever since the Yule Ball, she was all he could dream of and when she almost died he realized he had to tell her how he felt about her. Even if she didn't return the gesture, he had to tell her or he would regret it forever. He loved her and there was no getting around that.

"Ronald...Ronald...RON!" Mrs. Weasley yelled at her son.

"Huh...um what mum." asked Ron coming out of his stupor.

"What's wrong with you, are you ok, you just stopped talking all of a sudden." She moved a piece of hair that was covering his forehead when his eyes darted toward her. Mrs. Weasley looked in that direction as well to see what her son was looking at, when she spotted her too. "Oh, never mind. Well sweetie, write as soon as you get to Hogwarts." She pecked him on the cheek. "Now go on and talk to her."

Ron blushed slightly, but started to walk in her direction. When he reached her, he waited until she turned around. He took in the sight of her. She had grown about an inch or two over the summer and even from the back she looked more radiant than ever. When she didn't turn around after a few seconds he tapped her on the shoulder.

She turned around and her eyes widened at the sight of him. "Oh my gosh, Ron, I've missed you so much." She jumped up and gave him a huge hug. "Hey Hermione," said Ron. She couldn't believe her eyes, he had matured a lot since the last time she saw him. He was at least six foot now, he seemed to be more muscular as well, and if it were possible his eyes a brighter blue then ever before. She could get lost in his eyes. Her feelings had in fact surfaced as well after the fight with Voldemort. When she was unconscious, she only saw Ron in her mind. She, as well, wanted to tell Ron how she felt, but was too scared of what his reaction may be. Hopefully she could find the courage soon though.

Ron savored the feeling of Hermione so close to him. He could have stayed like that forever. He knew though that she would soon pull away, but then realized that she too was still clinging onto him. Ron thought to himself, 'Maybe she has the same feelings for me as I do for her.' They stood there about two more minutes just hugging and saying nothing when they both finally pulled away. They both looked a little embarrassed.

"Um...uh," stammered Ron.

Hermione placed a finger over his lips. "Be quiet Ron." He quickly closed his mouth. "I missed you, I didn't hear much from you over the summer."

"Oh, I just thought...you'd need the rest from...you know...what happened."

"What I needed was to see and hear from my friend. Now what's the real reason?"

She could always see through him when he wasn't telling the truth, so he told her, "Well...I thought you'd be mad at me."

"For what?" exclaimed Hermione in shock.

"You know, how I failed you...I wasn't able to protect you." he said as he looked down.

"Ron you didn't fail me, in fact you were actually quite brave."

"Huh, yeah right.," huffed Ron.

"Well it's true whether you believe me or not...come on, we should hurry and get on the train before it leaves us behind." Hermione reached out and grabbed his arm and led him toward the train. She was definitely right about him being more muscular. She could feel the muscles as they walked.

She didn't argue with him over what just happened. I guess she didn't blame him. She called him brave too. Ron came out of it when she touched his arm. He loved the way she touched him, no matter how innocent. Her hand was soft and she kept a hold of him all the way to their usually compartment.

*****

"Hey guys!" said Harry. He jumped out of his usual seat and ran over to them. He gave Ron a hug and then Hermione. He let go quickly since he knew how Ron felt about her.

"Come on let's sit down, none of us talked much this summer," exclaimed Harry.

"Sorry mate, we know, but we have the prefect meeting at the front of the train. We just wanted to say hi and tell you we'll be back as soon as possible." Ron told him.

Harry's face fell as he heard this. "Oh, um...ok see you later. I guess I'll go and find Ginny and the others."

Ron and Hermione walked away, they both hated it when they had to leave Harry by himself.

As Hermione walked in front of him he noticed the way she walked. She had a sway to her hips that he had never noticed before. It was mesmerizing. When she suddenly stopped his reaction was too late and he ran into her back. They both stumbled and fell to the floor, Ron right on top of her.

"Gosh, I'm sorry Hermione," Ron quickly said while rolling off of her and putting his hands on her waist. Hermione almost didn't hear him, she was thinking of where his hands were right at that moment and she felt lucky that no one was in this compartment. He lifted her up and kept his hands there to make sure she was steady. "What...oh that's ok." She brushed the front of herself off and tried to continue walking, but she realized that Ron was still holding onto her waist. He turned her around to face him. "Um, Hermione...I wanted to ask you something." They were only a few inches apart. 'I'm going to tell her,' he thought to himself, but when she looked him in the eyes he chickened out. "Um...are you, um...alright?" he asked her. She slowly shook her head. He let go of her waist and said, "Um, we better hurry before the meeting starts." He slid by her and continued to walk. He gave himself a mental slap on the forehead, 'why didn't I just lean in and kiss her, or at least said I like you.' She turned around and just looked at him. She could still feel the warmth of his hands on her waist. 'You idiot, we were so close...I should have just kissed him.' She began to walk as well and they finally reached the prefect compartment.

As they sat down, their hands brushed together. They both looked at each other. "Sorry," whispered Hermione.

They sat in a tense silence until the meeting was over. 'Ok this is too much,' Ron thought to himself, 'I am going to tell her how I fell about her before we both get off of this train.'

*****

They finally found Harry sitting in a compartment with Ginny and Neville. "Ron, Hermione, how have you been?" asked Neville.

"Fine Neville, thanks, and you?" asked Hermione.

"Uh, ok just tired all the time, that's all," exclaimed Neville.

They all continued to talk for almost three hours when Hermione tapped Ron. "Come on we better start making our rounds before it gets to crazy out there."

"Aww do we have too Hermione, we just-," Ron stopped speaking when the thought struck him. 'This would be the perfect time to tell her, I hope we find another empty compartment,' he thought. "Yes, now come on, the sooner we start the sooner we can finish," pulling Ron out of the compartment.

As they made their rounds they finally reach the back of the train. After realizing it was empty Hermione made a move to turn around. Ron took hold of her hand and turned her around once again, "Ok Hermione, this is kind of hard for me to say, but-," Ron was interrupted mid sentence when the door to the compartment opened. It was Draco Malfoy and his cronies Crabbe and Goyle.

"Well if it isn't Weasel and Mudblood," exclaimed Malfoy.

"You had better watch what you say to her Malfoy or I'll hurt you!" said Ron in anger.

"Ohhhh, I'm really scared now. Why are you always protecting that filthy piece of Mudblood trash anyhow?" Hermione eyes started to well up with tears.

"Aww, are you going to cry...you should have just stayed in your rotten little house with those fools you call parents. You'll never be a real witch!" Ron jumped forward and punch Malfoy in the face.

"Don't you ever talk to her like that again! Now leave!" Ron yelled.

With Malfoy's nose bleeding, he left the compartment with his goons. Ron turned around and faced Hermione.

"Hermione, are you ok?" Ron asked hesitantly.

Tears were now falling down her face. "Why does he have to be so rotten all the time." Hermione hugged Ron and he could fell her tears wet his shirt. She was shaking. "Hey, hey, shhhhhh. It's ok, hey look at me." Ron said.

She looked up at him with red eyes and tear streaks on her face, still hugging him. 'Even when she's crying she's beautiful,' he thought. He touched her face with his hand. He wiped away the tears with his thumb.

"You know none of what he said is true. You're the smarted person I have ever known and trust me, you're better at doing anything then him," Ron said.

Hermione put her head on his chest and started to cry again. "You're just...just saying that."

He took her chin in his hands and moved her head toward him. He ran his thumb across her lips. "No Hermione, it's true." And with that he leaned forward and kissed her. It was a sweet kiss, just like he thought it would be. "I like you Hermione, and nothing will ever change that. I don't care if you were born non-magical, I mean no one cares really except that prat. Never listen to what he says to you ok...I'll happily go and bust him another bloody nose if you want me too." Hermione smile at his words. He actually liked her.

'Oh no, she's thinking of the kiss, she didn't want that you idiot!' he thought to himself.

"Hermione?" asked Ron nervously.

"You like me," was her only reply.

"Of course, what's there not to like," exclaimed Ron.

She hugged him tighter than before, she looked up again and looked into his eyes. "I like you too Ron."

"Really?" asked Ron in amazement.

"Yeah, for a while actually," said Hermione blushing.

He picked her up off of the floor and spun her around. He stopped suddenly and put her down. 'She likes me' was the only thing going through his mind. She closed her eyes and he leaned forward for the second time and kissed her. She deepened the kiss this time, since the other took her by surprise. He was surprised to feel her tongue on his lower lip. He opened his mouth and when his tongue touched hers she let out a low moan. It sent a shiver up his body. He was falling deeper into the kiss when she started to play with the hairs at the nape of his neck. He started to rub his hands over her back when she pulled away. "What's wrong?" Ron asked.

"Nothing, I just wanted to look at how cute you are." She pecked him on the mouth once more and pulled away. He let out a low moan when her body moved away from his. She smiled at the noise. They turned around to make their way back to Harry's compartment when Hermione this time stopped Ron. "What's wrong, Hermione," asked Ron "are you still upset about Malfoy because I wasn't lying before, I'll bust him another if you want."

"No, no, but thanks for the one you already gave him. I just wanted to ask if you want to tell anyone about us?"

"I don't know, it's up to you. As long as I can say your mine when it's just us." said Ron.

She smiled at the way he said this. 'I'm his, that just sounds so right.' "If you don't mind I would like to kind of keep us a secret for a little bit. Then I can have you all to myself for a while," he grinned when she said this.

Ron liked the sound of that, so he agreed. They would tell Harry and the others later. He leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. They walked all the way back to Harry's compartment holding hands. Once outside the door they dropped them and entered inside the compartment. They talked like normal all the way to Hogwarts, the only difference was that they kept eyeing each other, something Harry thought a bit odd. 'I wonder if they had a fight,' he said to himself. He shrugged it off as that and let the laughter consume him once more.

They could finally see Hogsmeade off in the distance; the train started to slow down and finally came to a stop outside of the station. "We had better tend to the first years, Hermione," Ron got up and walked out of the compartment. Hermione sat and watched him leave, 'He sure does have a great body,' she thought. She got up and followed him out.

*****

They walked through all the compartments, making sure that no one and nothing was left on the train. Once at the back of the train, they sat down for a second. "I don't know if I can keep this a secret for long Hermione. I just want to kiss you all the time." She was surprised at his boldness to say this out loud. "I know me either." They kissed again, but soon realized they had duties to do.

They stepped off the train to direct the kids. Even while they did this they couldn't keep their eyes off of each other. Suddenly they realized they were the only ones left on the platform. One carriage was left and all the others quite a few yards in front of it heading toward the castle. Ron raised his eyebrow at Hermione. Hermione's mouth turned into a huge grin. "I'll race you there," Ron said jokingly. When Ron turned to look at Hermione she was already half way there. "Hey!" Ron yelled. He ran full speed and passed her about three-fourths of the way there. 'Man, he sure is fast.' thought Hermione. He quickly opened the door and crawled inside. He hit the front of the carriage and said, "Go." The carriage started to pull forward.

"Hey Ron, stop the carriage," she was running full speed and had finally reached the end of the carriage.

"Why," said Ron with a huge smile on his face. He held out his arm until she finally grabbed on to it and he pulled her inside. She landed on top of him and she smacked him in the chest. "That wasn't funny." She smacked him again. "Hey, that's what you get for cheating," he grinned. She suddenly realized she was still on top of him. She started to get off of him when he wrapped his arms around her waist. "Hey you don't get off that easy for cheating." He lifted his head up and kissed her. She turned her head and deepened the kiss. She parted her mouth and felt his tongue enter. 'It is quite romantic in this carriage," she thought. She could feel...all of him under her body. All of a sudden he flipped her around and he was lying on top of her. She could feel the pressure of his weight and continued to kiss him.

'This has to be a dream,' thought Ron as they continued. Her hands once again found their way to the nape of his neck. He let out a low growl and she smiled through the kiss. 'Now I know were he likes it,' she thought. He broke apart from her. "What?" he asked. "Nothing, you just sound so sexy when you make noises like that," she said. He got off of her and sat down on the seat with a mad look on his face. "I didn't mean that to hurt you Ron it's true, I'm sorry." She said as she got off of the floor. "Just joking,' he grinned pulling her onto his lap as she smiled. She straddled his legs and they resumed their business. She rubbed her hand up and down his chest. She could feel the muscles even through his robes. He rubbed his hands up and down her back. She let out a moan through the kiss. He smiled as well. He began to kiss her down her neck. He stopped in certain places to make sure she enjoyed this. She let out another moan. "You like that," he asked. "That feels great," she answered rather hoarsely. The carriage finally stopped outside of the large oak doors to the castle.

"I guess we had better go grab our seats," said Hermione catching her breath. "Mmmmm, not yet." He kissed her on her neck again, as she let out another moan. He stopped and opened the door. "Now we can go," exclaimed Ron.

They stepped out and he went and held open the front door for her. "Why thank you," she said, "now remember let's try and keep it a secret, we didn't exactly do a great job of that back there."

"I think we did," he smiled slyly. She grinned as well and they both made their way to the Gryffindor table. As they reached the end she slightly pushed him to the right so that he would go and sit on the side that Harry was at. He looked at her and obliged. They sat and once again said hello to Harry. As Dumbledore made his usual speech and as the new first years got sorted, Ron moved his foot so that they were touching Hermione's under the table. She smiled slightly and ran her foot up his leg. He grinned as well. The only reason she felt comfortable enough to do this was because there was no way anyone could see under the tables with this many kids in the way. As the food appeared they began to eat, all the while, even through desert Hermione continued rubbing his leg.

More is to come so please give me plenty of reviews!!