SOORRYYYY!!! I know I said I'd get this chapter up sooner, but life is life and im a busy girl. I think I'll do one more chapter after this and then we'll be all done * tear * We'll see. And no anyana, I've never lived in the south. Much Luv, Sara

Disclaimer: see chapters 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 etc.

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The Granger's funeral was one week later. It was a small, quiet service with only about 30 people there. Ron and Harry sat on either side of Hermione. Ron kept his hand tight around hers and gave her a shoulder to cry on as he had so many times before.

It turned out that Hermione had a Grandfather, but he didn't get along with his son (her dad) and came only out of respect to his wife who was also dead. Her other set of Grandparents greeted their granddaughter with great care and caution as if she was made of glass. Family friends, aunts and uncles also came paying their respects to Hermione. Her mother had one younger brother who was stiff and polite through the entire thing, while her father had 2 brothers and 1 sister. His sister was quite hysterical which in turn made Hermione cry hard.

Looking back on it, the memories were very vague of the actual funeral, but 2 weeks after the funeral when they arrived back at Hermione's home was a whole different story.....

~

Tonks greeted them quickly when they arrived at the Knight Bus stop and wrapped Hermione in a big hug immediately soon following to Ginny, Harry, and Ron. Moody and Lupin greeted them and said apologies to Hermione and told them that they were going to be stationed all around the house while the four teens went through her home.

As they approached Hermione's home, Ron and Harry felt as if they hadn't even visited there a simple 3 weeks ago. Tonks opened the door with a swift kick. The door swung open quickly and everyone peered into the house.

"We'll leave you guys to it then," Lupin said laying a hand on Hermione's shoulder.

"If you need anything..... we'll be all around, alright?" Tonks said clapping Ginny lightly on the shoulder. Ginny looked quite nervous at being in Hermione's house. The four teens cautiously stepped inside and looked around.

Hermione felt a rush of memories flow into her brain as she looked around the den. All the Christmases, Easters, birthdays, Halloweens, and holidays. The gentle feel of Ron's hand slipping in hers was enough to comfort her and he gently pulled her through the room with Ginny and Harry following. Looking over at the fireplace he saw the familiar picture and peered into the smiling faces.

"Wow Hermione, what's this?" Ginny asked staring at the DVD player.

Hermione giggled a bit and explained it to Ginny. She stared open mouthed at all the Muggle objects followed by Ron who was completely fascinated by the electric fireplace.

"Well the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree huh?" Harry said to Hermione.

Ginny and Ron looked at Harry strangely.

Hermione rolled her eyes and said, "Muggle expression."

Twisting her neck a bit to get some kinks out, she looked around the room and her eyes fell on a basket of magazines in the corner. She peered inside and saw Modern Dentist and Castles of New England in the basket. Laughing a bit, she put them into neat rows and moved on to her father's small DVD collection. They were ordered alphabetically. Hermione bit her lip as she couldn't help but grin. Her dad was not one to do that, her mum did it and she always thought it awfully sweet how her mum was always helping others out.

Standing back up, she turned around and saw that Ron was still examining the T.V. while Ginny and Harry had wandered somewhere.

"Where's Harry and Gin?" Hermione asked.

"They went around a bit. Is that okay?" Ron asked anxiously.

Nodding, Hermione went over to him and pulled him up, giving him a quick peck on the lips. "Let's look around a bit more k'?"

"K'."

Looking in the kitchen, they saw the fridge full of Hermione's stello-taped awards and more photos. Many were of family friends and Hermione when she was a little girl. Something caught Ron's eye though. A photo of Ron, Hermione, and Harry. It wasn't moving. They weren't even looking at the camera; it looked like it was taken the summer before third year when the trio first met up at the ice cream shop. They were all smiling at each other, innocent and happy. Ron looked at Hermione and saw that she was running her hand over the picture. Ron gave her hand a comforting squeeze which she held back just as tight.

She never felt anything more comforting.

~

Ron and Hermione made their way up the stairs and went into her parent's room. The queen size bed sat against the wall and opposite was a dresser with a jewelry box on it that looked like it had been carved by hand. Hermione opened it and stared at her mother's collection of treasures. She sat down on the ground and Ron joined her in looking.

"Wow, these are so cool," Ron said in awe. His mother didn't have much jewelery except for her wedding ring and a locket with a photo of all her children the day Ginny was born, so he had never seen such pretty things.

Smiling a little Hermione remembering explained, "You know, when I was little, I used to sneak in here and go through all my mum's things because I never had any of my own."

Ron smiled at her.

"I'd take everything out..... " She continued as she took the necklaces out of the box and wrapped them around her neck, "and pile it on because I wanted to look and feel as beautiful as she was," taking out bangly bracelets and slipping them on her wrists.

"You are beautiful Hermione," Ron said without even thinking.

Hermione looked at him and at this moment, Ron thought she looked very much like a little girl he saw in the photo downstairs. Running his fingers through one of her full curls, Hermione turned back to the box and Ron was worried that he had said the wrong thing.

Soon, the jewelry box was empty, except for one thing. A corsage. It was the one her mother had worn at her wedding, and it was dried out and fragile, but it was still beautiful. She picked it up and Hermione put her nose into it and breathed strongly. Then looking as if she couldn't take anymore, she pulled all the jewels off and shoved them back into the box. Snapping the box shut, she picked it up and stood.

"Let's go somewhere else okay?" Hermione asked in a raspy voice.

Nodding, Ron offered his hand and she took hold of it and they walked out of the room.

~

Eventually they found Harry and Ginny, they had been talking with Lupin and Tonks. It turns out that Hermione's home was going to have to be sold because there was no way she could keep it all on her own. Plus, she'd be much better off with the Weaselys. They had already found a few people interested and a Muggle leaser was having open house in a few days.

Hermione seemed quite upset by that, but when Ron questioned her she shook her head and mumbled, "It's fine. I understand."

They ate dinner from the Leaky Cauldron that Moody had gone to pick up. Everyone sat around the table in the kitchen, and Hermione felt like she was with her family again.

Smiling at all of them she felt Ron's hand patting her knee gently. Nobody knew about them yet, and in a way she didn't want them too. It was all too romantic right now. Sneaking kisses and holding hands under the table, she wanted all the pain and pressure to go away, and just be with Ron.

That night, Hermione, Ginny, Ron, and Harry all sat around in a circle in the den right in front of a flaming fire. They were in their pajamas holding hot cups of cocoa, and just talking. Lupin, Tonks, and Moody were still stationed around the house and would have to be at all hours. All 4 teens sat close to each other and just talked into the night and before anyone knew it, it was already 1:30 in the morning. Harry and Ginny decided to head up to bed. Harry and Ron were going to be staying in the guest room while Ginny was going to sleep in Hermione's room with her.

Hermione and Ron were pretty much silent after Harry and Ginny left, but they didn't need to express their emotions through words. The gentle caress of Ron's thumb running over Hermione's knuckles and the way he simply looked at her sent her heart into overdrive.

After giving a huge yawn, Hermione said, "Well, we should probably head up."

"Yeah," Ron said reluctantly. He could spend all night just staring at Hermione and talking to her.

Standing up with their hands still joined, they walked up the stairs side by side. Stopping in front of the guest room to say goodnight, they spotted Harry and Ginny very much asleep on top of the covers. It looked as if they had simply been talking and fell asleep next to each other. Hermione stopped Ron, who was about to go pick up Ginny and bring her back to Hermione's room.

"Wait..... "

"What?" Ron whispered back.

"Well, I was kinda um, well just only if you wanted to, not to be like forward or anything, but, I was hoping you could maybe sleep in my room. With me?" Hermione was stumbling over her words.

Ron looked at her flabbergasted. That was certainly unexpected, not that he wasn't pleased. Any more time to be with Hermione the better.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," she said firmly.

"Okay," Ron answered.

Once they got to Hermione's room, they felt an immediate sense of rightness. Like this is the way they should be going to bed the rest of their lives. Hermione went over and sat on the bed slipping off her slippers and crawling under the covers soon followed by Ron who slipped in nervously. It was quite awkward now that they thought about it.

Lying side by side.

In her bed.

With no means of parental figures INSIDE the house.

"Um, Ron?" Hermione asked nervously.

"Yeah?"

"I – um, usually sleep on the other side of the bed."

Without another word, Ron rolled over Hermione so he was squeezed in between her and the wall. She only moved over a little bit. Ron was perfectly okay with this, he liked the feeing of being so close to her. It was nice.

Staring up at the starry ceiling none knew what to say. It sent a spurge of excitement through Ron, when Hermione turned on her side and snuggled up close to him, draping her arm over his stomach. The only thing that made sense for Ron to do was to do the same. Turning on his side, he wrapped his arm around her and rested his head on hers.

"Night Ron." Hermione said dreamily.

Kissing her forehead, he replied, "Night Mione'."

Then before he could comprehend anything Hermione leaned over him and kissed him. Ron was a bit shocked, but eagerly kissed her back easing her lips open a bit with his. He felt the outside of her tongue brush against his bottom lip and he jerked a little. Rolling them over so she was slightly under him, the kissing became more needy and deeper. It was so addictive. He felt like he could kiss her forever and never tire of it.

Moving his entire body on top of hers, nothing felt more right than what they were doing right now. Hermione's little hands went under his shirt and gently raked her fingernails against his lower and middle back that sent even more excitement through Ron's body. Then he slipped his hands underneath the t-shirt she was wearing, and rubbed his hands up and down her sides, never going to low or too high. Hermione's little moans only encouraged him more and he slipped off his shirt.

After a few more minutes of intense kissing, Hermione pushed him away gently and exclaimed, "We need to stop."

"Yeah," Ron said in a voice that sounded nothing like his own. "You're right."

He was so aggravated. He knew they were about to go too far, but he didn't have the courage to stop it and in a way he was glad when she finally did.

And when she reached up to touch his face and gently kissed him with shining and lust filled eyes, it was then, that Ron Weasley wondered if he was actually falling in love with Hermione Granger.

She once again snuggled up close to his body and closed her eyes while Ron did the same. Then they fell asleep.

It was the best sleep either of them had had in months.

: ) : ) : )

I hope everyone enjoyed this chappy since it's almost the last one! I think we'll do one more and then an epilogue. I just want to say thank you to all my reviewers even though I haven't really had as many as I would have hoped.

Anyways, for anyone who wants to know, this past summer, I went to the set of HPPOA and got to actually meet DAN and EMMA! It was an awesome experience, and if you'd like to read about it and get a LOT more details, go to www.emma-rupert.com and click on the STUFF sections and you'll see a thing called SARA'S STORY, click on that and wah lah!

Much Luv, Sara