Was going to make you wait, but I thought that would be mean...especially if you made it through all my updates in one session. Also, I'm pretty confident I've stayed within the PG-13 boundaries here, but if I haven't let me know. Hope you like this chapter.
Chapter 16:
Ron opened the note and read it. It said--Hermione, I need to talk to you. I've been wanting to tell you something for weeks now. Please meet me at the main doors at 7 tonight. I'll be looking for you.--Ron. He read it again, then re-read it. He glanced at Hermione, who looked like she just wanted to run away and hide. His mind raced as he read it one more time. He folded up the note and put it in her shaking hand.
"You have some dirt on you face." He said simply.
Hermione was startled. She had expected him to make fun of the note or something...not dismiss it.
"Dirt?" She asked, bewildered.
Ron came closer. Pulling his sweater sleeve over his hand, he used it to carefully rub her cheek, removing the dirt smudge.
"There." Finished, he slid his fingers out from under the sleeve and brushed some hair from her face. "So, you went downstairs because you thought I would be there..."
Hermione's voice shook as she whispered. "Yes."
"You thought I would be there alone."
"Yes."
"You thought I had something important to tell you."
"Yes."
"Something really awful could've happened to you and it would have been because of me."
"It wouldn't really have been your fault."
He tucked some of her hair behind her ear, leaving his hand there to hold her face up.
"I don't know what I would do if something terrible happened to you..."
Slowly, he began to lean down closer to her. They looked at each other, scared out of their minds. Ron brought her face to his and kissed her softly. Pulling back a little to see her reaction, Ron was worried he'd done the wrong thing. Maybe he'd misunderstood the meaning behind the note. Instead, he saw Hermione gazing up at him fondly. She stood on her toes to come closer. Leaning up against him, she kissed him warmly, amused that he tasted like raspberry Bernie Bott's beans. His hand fell to her waist as he held her closer. He was surprised to discover he'd never felt so happy as he did right now.
Before she knew what was happening, Michelle turned and took Harry's face in her hands. Guiding him to her, she kissed him. Slowly and carefully, her mouth moved with his. Each kiss became a little deeper, as Harry got over his inital shock. He had just wrapped his arms around her when she started to pull away.
"I shouldn't have done that..." Michelle said breathlessly, trying to back away. Harry held onto her.
He leaned down, his mouth brushing hers as he spoke, "No, don't say that." He kissed her softly.
Michelle gave in and kissed him back. They embraced for several minutes before Michelle broke away to catch her breath. She tried to speak as Harry kept planting short, soft kisses on her lips.
"Harry...I have...a few things...I...really need...to...tell you..."
He paused, "About tonight?" He kissed her before she could answer.
She reluctantly pulled back, "Sort of..."
He caught her eye and smiled, "Let's talk later."
"Okay." She kissed him slowly, sucking on his lower lip as she pulled away. "Soon though, it's important." He nodded and was going to kiss her again when they heard footsteps outside the door. He planted one more kiss on her before putting some space between them.
Daphne peeked inside the door. She looked between the two of them and could see they were flushed and out of breath.
"You two getting along all right?"
Michelle caught Harry's eye and almost started to laugh. "Yeah, you could say that."
