With a glance into the steamed up mirror, Hermione pulled on her dressing gown, tying the belt to secure it against her slightly damp skin. She pulled the plug out of the ornate claw-foot bathtub before heading back into the adjoining bedroom which she had claimed a few days into their stay at Grimauld Place. She wondered if it had once belonged to Sirius's parents as, like the ensuite, the bedroom was very grand. Silk, velvet, and dark mahogany wouldn't be her usual choice of decor, but she had to admit there was something rather elegant about it now that Kreacher had cleaned it all up. She particularly enjoyed the fact there were no screaming portraits in here.

Picking up her wand from where she'd left it on the silk sheets of the four-poster bed, she directed it at her wet hair, shooting a stream of hot air out of the end. Being so thick and curly it always took forever to dry, and she made a mental note for what felt like the millionth time to learn some kind of instant drying spell. But then she remembered where she was and why she was there, and scoffed at the idea of wasting time learning such a trivial spell. This drew her thoughts to Harry who was currently watching the entrance to the Ministry of Magic. Her stomach gave a violent lurch as it always did when she remembered this. Though it was - she felt awful to admit - nothing compared to the way she felt when it was Ron out there. The thought of Ron made her will her hair to dry faster still so she could get dressed and go back to the kitchen to be with him. She savoured their time together now more than ever as recently, he'd taken to being much more affectionate towards her. More hugs and hand touches, more loving words towards her, more fear in his eyes whenever the hunting down of muggleborns was mentioned. If they had remained at school without the fear of Voldemort hanging over them, they would've kissed by now, she was certain of it. She would've done it herself. The only thing stopping her right now was concern for Harry. Putting herself in his position, she imaged how lonely it would feel if you could only interact with two other people in the world, and those two people were together. No, it wouldn't be fair to do that to him, not when he had so much to deal with already. The selfish part of her wanted to just do it anyway, especially as she didn't know how much longer she and Ron would have left to live given the danger they were entering into, but she pushed this grim thought aside. Suddenly, the bedroom door flung open and Ron came striding into her room.

'Hermione, have you seen my-' he stopped dead at the sight of her, his eyes wide. She dropped her wand in surprise and the flow of hot air ceased. 'Oh - god - sorry,' he said, averting his eyes. She looked down at herself and realised that with her dressing gown reaching only to her mid thigh and being tied loosely enough that it fell into an open v shape down the centre of her chest, she was showing rather a lot more skin than Ron would usually see.

'No - it's ok. I uh, just got out of the bath,' she told him, pulling the gown more securely around her.

'I'll just…' he gestured towards the door, about to turn away, still not looking directly at her.

'No, don't be silly. What were you looking for?' She asked, fiddling with the edge of her sleeve. He hesitated for a second before slowly looking back up at her.

'I uh… I don't remember,' he said slowly as his eyes traced her up and down before settling on her face. The tips of his ears had grown slightly red, and Hermione bit her lip in an effort to repress her satisfied smirk. This seemed to only add to the effect she was having on him however, and the blush spread to his face. Neither of them spoke for a moment, and her mind strayed to what she had been thinking about just before he came in; about how she was sure there was something more between them these days. In the hopes of making him feel less awkward, she decided to voice the other thing that was on her mind.

'I hope Harry's ok.' The worry in her voice seemed to break Ron out of his trance.

'What? Oh, Harry? I'm sure he's fine. Staking out the Ministry has become second nature this past couple of weeks, you know that,' he reassured her.

'Yes but, I just keep thinking...' now she'd started she found herself unable to stop going on. 'What if… what if he doesn't come back one of these days?' She bit her lip again but this time to keep her voice from breaking rather than to suppress a grin.

'Don't,' Ron said, reaching out and grabbing her wrist so tightly that she was pulled towards him a little. 'Don't say things like that. He's going to come back, like he always does. Like we always do.' His tone was suddenly firmer, as though he was trying to convince himself more than reassure Hermione.

'But you know what Harry's like,' she reasoned. 'What if he sees something that makes him snap? Or someone that needs saving? He won't stand quietly watching under the invisibility cloak.'

'And you know what Harry's like. When has he ever not made it back to us before? No matter what mad stuff he's done? Besides, I think you've drummed the importance of keeping hidden into him hard enough that he won't do anything stupid,' he said, his voice even firmer than before.

'I know,' she sighed. 'But what if something does go wrong? I imagine us just sitting in the kitchen, waiting for him to get back, feeling sicker by the minute.' She hesitated before adding 'What if you didn't come back? I... I don't know what I'd do.'

You'd keep helping Harry find horcruxes, that's what you'd do,' he told her, not meeting her eyes.

'What, you honestly think I could just carry on that easily?' Her voice was no longer sad and fearful, but angry instead, angry that he though she could dismiss it so easily. 'What would you do, if it was me, if I didn't come back one night?' She demanded. He didn't seem to have a response to this. He just gulped and glared at her as though by merely suggesting it she'd made it true. Despite the grim satisfaction she felt at this, it didn't do anything to lessen her fears. 'Look, even if waiting outside the Ministry is relatively safe, I still just can't stop thinking about thinking about time.'

'What do you mean, 'time'?' He asked.

'I mean I can't stop wondering just how much of it we have left. It's only going to get more dangerous from here on out. I daren't say it to Harry, I don't want to make him feel guilty, but I can't stop thinking about it.' She paused as though he was going to reprimand her again for being so negative. He continued looking at her but didn't say anything this time, so she carried on. 'I also keep thinking about how the time we do have left is precious. And about all the time we've… wasted.'

'Wasted?' He asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

'Yes.' She nodded. 'All the time we've wasted, thinking we had our whole lives ahead of us. Not being ourselves, not being honest. Not being happy. Not doing the things we really want to do. How this time now may be the last chance we have to do anything about it.'

Neither of them spoke. Ron was searching her face as if willing her to say just one more word, his hand still enclosed around her wrist. She stared back at him, daring him to understand what she meant and to just do it, to finally just do it. The atmosphere had changed drastically since Ron had first walked in on her half-naked; no trace of awkwardness remained. It was now serious and heavy as the reality of Hermione's words weighed down on them. But there was also an anticipation as they looked at each other, both waiting for a sign, wondering if they were both thinking the same thing.

Her heart hammering and unable to think of what to say, Hermione grabbed Ron's hand that wasn't already clutching her wrist and pulled him an inch closer. As though this was the sign he had been waiting for, he closed the space between them in two seconds flat, pressing his lips to hers. After the tense wait beforehand, it was now the opposite; everything went so fast. He dropped her hands in favour of her waist, pulling her as close as possible, before letting one hand stray into her still-damp hair. She wound her arms around his neck, standing on tip-toe as high as she could reach. Maybe this seemed like a reckless act between two young people fearing the future, but she knew better. Yes, they were both scared and therefore susceptible to acting a little recklessly, but this was more than that; she'd been waiting for this for years. And from the way Ron was kissing her, from the way his hands were moving over her, she knew she had been reading the signs right these past few months. Maybe even longer; a thousand images flashed through her mind, from small comments he made to her when they were alone, to their full blown arguments about the Yule Ball and Slughorn's Christmas party. It hadn't been in her head after all, it had all meant something. He had wanted her all this time. But now was not the time to dwell on the past, indeed as she had pointed out, they had wasted so much time already. She wanted to be present for this moment. Ron's hands had now slipped under her dressing down and were pressed against the bare skin of her back.

'Hermione, oh my god,' he moaned against her lips.

'I know,' she breathed, kissing him again before either of them could say anything more. She moved backwards pulling him with her, until she felt the back of her legs hit the bed. Letting herself fall backwards, she pulled him down on top of her. The bare skin of her chest pressed against his jumper and she knew that with one more movement her dressing gown would fall away entirely.

Wanting to even things out a little, she reached for the hem of Ron's jumper and pulled at it until he removed it. They pulled apart for him to take it over his head, their breathing ragged, and she took a second to look at his bare chest before pulling him back down on top of her. They made quick work of his jeans, underwear, and eventually her gown. The seriousness and urgency that had gripped them both so far fell away for a second as he took her in, his face even more dazed than when he had first entered the room. This time she didn't try to hide her smirk. To her surprise, he didn't blush, but returned it with a smirk of his own, before pushing her back down and kissing her again.

***

After, she rested her head on his chest, his arms wrapped around her. She could hardly believe after so long of the smallest of touches, the subtlest of comments, the pining for him, that this had happened so fast. It was as though each of those moments had built up, adding to the tension, until they couldn't take it anymore.

'Why did it take us so long to do this?' Ron asked, laughing slightly.

'You know why,' she sighed.

'Yeah,' he said, sighing too. 'The mission comes first. And we can't make Harry feel even lonelier than he probably already does.'

'Exactly,' she said sadly.

Ron hesitated for a moment before asking 'What about tonight though?'

'What about tonight?' She asked, unsure of what he meant.

'What if I come back tonight? I mean, Harry's staying all the way up in Sirius's room, he wouldn't know. Not just to do this again - not that I wouldn't love to do this again - but to just... be together.'

'I've wanted that for a long time,' she said. 'Sleeping alone these days is so scary, I keep waking up in a panic that something will have happened to you or Harry in the night. On our first night here I wanted to ask you to stay with me, to make me feel better. But I kept thinking about poor Harry, how awful he must've felt, and I couldn't bare to think of him sleeping all on his own after what happened at the wedding. That's why I suggest we all sleep in the living room.'

'I held your hand all night though,' he said slightly proudly.

'I know you did,' she smiled. 'And now Harry seems happy enough to sleep by himself in Sirius's room. I suppose if we try to keep it quiet you know, be subtle. Then maybe...'

'Maybe we can keep sneaking... alone time?' she could hear the smirk in his voice.

'Yes,' she laughed.

They were quiet for a few minutes, the only sound that of their breathing.

'I don't want you to come to the ministry,' Ron spoke suddenly.

'What?' She asked, snapping her head up off his chest to look at him.

'The ministry. When we go to try and get the locket, I don't want to you to come,' the words tumbled out quickly.

'Why on earth not?' She demanded, 'Ronald Weasley, I hope you don't think that just because we've had sex one time you can suddenly tell me what to-!'

'Hermione! Of course I don't! It's not that - I've been thinking about it this whole time anyway. I just don't think all three of us need to go-'

'It isn't that either,' she interrupted him, 'you know that's not true.'

'Fine!' He said sitting up too, 'I just don't want you in danger! Everything you said earlier, I've been thinking that too. I can't handle the idea of something happening to you. I've felt that this whole time but I just can't take not saying it any longer.'

She sighed. 'I know. And if it was up to me, you wouldn't go either. But unfortunately Ron, it doesn't work like that. I'm going to the ministry and I'll keep doing everything I can to help Harry like I know you will too.'

He collapsed back onto the pillows looking defeated. 'Come here,' he said after a few moments, holding his arms our towards her, and she gladly went into them. 'I guess if I can't stop you, I'll just have to make the most of you now, and try and protect you while we're out there.'

'Yes. Me too.' She looked up at him with a sad smile, before closing her eyes and resting her head back on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. So they don't know what the future has in store, she thought, so what? At least now each stolen moment could be filled with love instead of attempts to ignore what each of them was clearly feeling. At least they'd now have every night until they had to leave Grimauld place. Their words and touches around Harry would mean so much more now she didn't have to second guess what Ron meant by them. At least, if something were to happen to them on this quest for horcruxes, they'd had his time. They'd had now.