Note: Warning…the sexual content starts here! But it's nothing too intense. Chapter complete.

Chapter 6: The Night to Remember

"Now remember you two, don't let anyone in the house. And don't start anything on fire. And don't use magic, no matter what happens!" Mrs. Weasley was lecturing Ron and Hermione right before she left. The Weasley family was heading out to visit a family member, and Ron and Hermione were going to be left alone the whole night, and into the following day.

"Do you guys understand all this?"

"Mum, please! You are acting like I've never been left home alone before!" Ron complained, trying to move his leg off the couch edge so he was sitting with his back against the couch back.

"All right then." She kissed his head, and then kissed Hermione's.

"If you start to feel better, maybe you two can take another crack at those gnomes."

"Are you sure we should leave these two teenagers alone, mum?" Fred teased. "Their hormones are raging, and with the family gone, who knows what may happen!"

"Fred, come off it," Mrs. Weasley scolded, although a look of worry crossed her face briefly. She ushered Fred out of the room, but not before he could add another comment.

"Just stay out of my bed, alright? Those are new sheets on there!" He called, right before the loud slam of the door echoed around the room.

"Whatever," Ron scowled. Hermione was sitting next to him on the couch, her hands folded tightly and eyes fixed on the door. Ron's ankle was aching, but he was too nervous and excited to really notice it.

"So…" he said.

"So…" she repeated.

"What do you want to do?"

"We could play a game of chess," she suggested.

"That would be fun," he lied. She got up and bent low to find his chess game among the scattered books and board games. As her purple shirt rose up exposing her back, marks the same color as the night sky and some deep plum-coloured one's were viewable on her skin.

"Hermione!" he said rather loudly.

"What?" She giggled nervously, pulling her shirt back down. She sat on the floor across from the couch and began setting up the pieces. Ron scooted down to the floor, trying to keep his ankle straight.

"What was that on your back?" He asked quietly, and her hand shook and the piece she as holding fell. Panic filled her face, and her voice wavered.

"W-what? There was something on my back?" She said in an obvious lie, and kept her eyes lingering on the ground.

"Yes. They looked like….like some kind of bruise marks."

"It's nothing Ron, don't worry about it."

"No, tell me."

"No."

"Why?"

"Because," she replied stubbornly.

"Because why?" Ron asked just as stubbornly.

"It's nothing, I told you!"

"Hermione! I care about you, and if anything is wrong, I want to know about it! Please…tell me?" She continued looking at the ground, but Ron could see her eye's glittering with tears.

"You care about me?"

"Of course I do." Ron blushed when he realized he finally admitted that to her.

"You can't tell your family, or my parents," she whispered.

"I promise I won't," Ron moved closer to her.

"Or Harry, or any of our friends, teachers, or any-"

"Hermione. I said I won't." He touched her knee lightly, and he felt the heat jumping around in his fingers.

"They are from my uncle," she said as Ron's eyes widened.

"What do you mean?"

"He used to live with us for a short time, you know? When he wasn't working, h-he used to drink. He'd come home late from these Muggle bars and find any excuse to throw a bottle at me, or a dish or the phone, or just use his hand if there wasn't anything else around. I'd be sleeping, and he'd come banging into my room and wake me, just to take out any anger he had…" she was crying now, tears freely flowing down her beautiful face.

"A-and I never knew what to do! I just let it happen, and wouldn't tell anyone, not even Mum and Dad. He used to apologize to me after it was over, and warned me not to tell anyone, that this was the last time. But it never was the last time." She covered her face in her hands, and Ron stared at her. It took a moment to register what she just told him. Hermione's uncle, her own family, hurt her. He purposely hurt her. He gave her bruises and made her cry. Anger was flowing like electricity through his flesh as he watched Hermione cry. He never….did anything sexual to her, did he? If she said yes Ron thought he would get up and fucking run all the way to Hermione's house and give that man a piece of his mind.

"He never…" Ron choked…"Uh…Touched…Er…Um…Ra-"

"No," she shook her head vigorously. "Never that."

"Hermione," was all he could say as he reached his arm out and pulled her into his hold. She rested her chin on his shoulder and kept crying, her arms wrapping tightly over his back, as though she was afraid he'd fall away from her. He looked down her back, and could see the bruises from where her shirt was rising up. He took a hand and began to rub the skin there softly. Hermione flinched at first and looked ready to move away, but soon let him continue. He just held her like this as the time passed. Who new how long had passed. Ron knew he could spend forever holding her like this. Her sobs slowly ended, and Ron could feel her heart beating against his chest. She leaned off his shoulder and they looked in each other's eyes. Ron thought she looked so beautiful in the light from the fire place.

"I'm actually sorta glad I told you. I couldn't hold it inside any longer."

"So am I," Ron said. But inside he felt horrible. He actually wondered if he would rather not have known about it. It was too fucked up to believe.

"Ron, I…" she started to say.

"I want to say something, but it might sound weird."

"Tell me."

"I think I love you…F-from the first time I-I came to The Burrow, a-and saw you again…"

"I…." he gaped. His heart actually stopped. He could swear it did. She just said she loved him. He searched her eyes, and time just seemed to stop. Did he love her? Should he say it just to keep her happy? As he ran his hand over her cheek, he knew the truth… He had the only answer that mattered.

"I love you too, Hermione," he whispered, and her eyes filled up again.

"I always have."

"Really?"

"Yes." Ron's heart soared high as he pulled Hermione's face into his, and when their lips met, fireworks exploded in both of them. This was definitely better then his birthday. And Christmas. His birthday and Christmas combined. God, she tasted so good. He was so hungry to have her lips on his, and she felt the same. It became an intense, longing kiss, arms wrapped tightly around each others backs. It was probably the most romantic moment in both of their lives. She was sighing lightly into his mouth, and her pelvis was pushed against him, causing every bone in his body to go crazy. Her hands had roamed under his shirt, and they were pulling it up.

"Hermione," Ron breathed, pulling his face away from hers. She looked surprised, and her face was red.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I don't know what I was doing," she climbed off him quickly, avoiding his ankle, but Ron pulled her back onto his lap. She giggled at looked in his eyes.

"Are you sure we should be doing this?" He asked.

"Do you want to? It wasn't my intent to do something," she said quickly.

"I mean, I was just expecting a good game of chess! But now just feels…right, you know?"

"I know…but are you sure you're ready?" Ron asked, not believing those words just came from his mouth. Was he even ready? And what were they talking about? Were they really considering having sex already? Sure, he's known Hermione for years…but they've only just expressed heir feelings now, and they were yet so young… It was too much to handle.

"Ron, I want to," she said quietly. "I have never felt like this for anyone."

"Me neither," Ron admitted. Was this REALLY Hermione Granger? The once stuck-up and know it all from Hogwarts? No way. These thoughts of who was really sitting there on his lap continued in his head.

"Well, where?" Ron said a bit quick. Hermione grinned.

"Let's go to your bedroom," she purred, standing up.

"Of course, somewhere far away," Ron joked. He didn't even care that his ankle was screaming at him to sit back down, he was walking on it up the stairs, in a hurry to reach his room. Since when was it so far away? As soon as they walked in though, Ron's excitement turned to pure nervousness and everything in his room seemed to be spinning.

"Do you, um, have anything?" She asked.

"Oh, yeah! I have a few…" Ron realized what she was asking.

"Okay, I'll be right back. I just have to use the bathroom." She kissed him quickly, and then was gone. Ron sat on his bed, and actually thought he was going to be sick with nerves. Would not be good to throw up right before you lose your virginity. How were they going to do this? Would he know what to do? Sure he had dreamed about this, but when it came time to doing it, it was a down right different story. Ron watched his shoes that were lying on the floor, as if waiting for them to answer all these questions. Hermione returned, and closed his door, locking it. She kicked her shoes off, and walked over to him. Just watching her with that look on her face made Ron's pants tight.

"Um," he kind of mumbled. "Now what?"

"I don't know," she admitted. There was a silence that made it hard to breathe in the room. Someone needed to take action, or this was going to turn out horribly. Ron knew he was that someone.

"Come here," he whispered, and Hermione obeyed, standing right in front of him. He ran his hands up both sides of her, and then along her neck. She sighed at his touch, and then pushed closer, their pelvises aligned again. Another deep kiss followed, and they were both sighing into each other's mouths. Ron fell back onto the bed on his back, and Hermione climbed on top.

"Are you really sure…" they both asked at the same time. They giggled, and then Hermione leaned down and kissed him again. His hands went softly up the back of her shirt, and she ended the kiss and raised her arms above her head. Ron pulled the shirt over her head slowly, keeping his eyes locked with hers. She was wearing a fancy lace bra, and Ron bit his lip to keep from letting go already. She started tugging at his shirt, and it was off quickly, leaving his hair standing straight up. She ran her hands along his chest, and he had his lightly on her back. She reached back and unclipped her bra, and as it fell away from her skin, Ron moaned. She quickly crossed her arms over her chest self-consciously and her whole face turned a deep shade of red.

"It's okay," Ron said soothingly, lightly moving her arms away. She let him, and they fell back down to his neck.

"Oh my," he whispered, his hands lingering up to them. They weren't big, but not exactly small either. The perfect size in Ron's opinion. He ran his finger along one, and Hermione let out a sound of pleasure, still blushing. Hearing Hermione moan like that was enough to set Ron off, but he struggled to hold it once again. She opened his belt buckle, and the buttons to his jeans, deliberately letting her hands linger down there. She pulled them off his legs, avoiding a bump to the ankle. She just looked at Ron's boxers for a long moment, and he was afraid she'd laugh…he smiled self-consciously, and she smiled back. Ignoring his pulsing ankle, he flipped them over so Hermione was resting under him, shifting his weight so he didn't hurt her. She giggled as they kissed, one of Ron's hands traveling along her stomach and down to her jeans. Pulling the zipper down with one hand took a minute, but Ron finally got it down. He could feel the soft press of her skin against his as she started to breath a little heavier.

"Impressive," Hermione giggled lightly. Ron kept kissing her as his hand snuck down her pants, and found the soft skin on her thighs. Hermione was twitching at his touch, light moans flowing into his mouth. Ron was impressing himself…How in the hell did he learn to do this? But obviously Hermione was enjoying it. It was when he rubbed her gently on the outside of her panties that she really arched up into him, her legs twitching harder. She had snuck her hands down his boxers, and found him fully-erect. One of her hands began to rub it, and they both moaned into each others mouths. She pulled his boxers off his legs, and he gently pulled her lilac underwear down. He quickly found a condom from inside his night table, slipped it on (This only took about 8 seconds!), and settled himself on her, taking one of her hands in his. The looped fingers, and held onto each other tightly. Her legs opened, and Ron could fell the softness of her thighs on his. As gentle as he started to enter Hermione, her eyes were still filling with tears, squeezing his hand tightly every time she let out a gasp. Ron knew everything that he had just taken from her, and suddenly felt awful about the whole thing.

"Hermione, I'll stop," Ron whispered quietly, about to pull back out. What was he thinking? Inflicting more pain on Hermione? This was not what he wanted. It was not worth it, no matter how excited he was.

"No Ron, don't," she wrapped an arm around his back to hold him down.

"Keep going."

"Okay," Ron kissed her ear. It was the most amazing feeling Ron had felt in his entire life. Hermione was still looking a bit scared, but as Ron kissed her cheek and neck over and over her face began to relax. He was surprised he lasted the amount of time he did before he let loose, groaning loudly and panting just as loud as Hermione was...

They were laying side by side in bed not long after. Hermione had her eyes closed, and Ron was watching her. Their hands were still clasped together, and Ron gave it a squeeze. Hermione squeezed back, and her eyes opened, still glittering lightly with tears.

"Hey," he whispered.

"Hi," she replied.

"Are you okay? Did I hurt you too much?"

"I'm fine, don't worry," she nodded. "It hurt at first, but it started to get better. It was wonderful."

"So you are glad that we did it? No regrets?"

"I am." No regrets at all.

"You?"

"I'm extremely happy," he said truthfully. She scooted closer to him, and kissed him gently.

"I'm just still having trouble believing that…I'm really here with you like this. I've been thinking about you all summer, and even more since you arrived here."

"I know…And as horrible as it is to say, I am kind of glad that Harry isn't here with us. Not that I don't want him around…"

"I just wanted you to myself for a little while," Ron finished for her.

"Exactly," she smiled.

"Hermione," Ron started to say. As great and perfect as the mood was right now, he just couldn't get what Hermione had told him earlier off his mind. They couldn't dance around it anymore; he wanted, almost needed, to talk about it.

"Hmm?"

"So what are you going to do about your uncle?" He asked slowly.

"Ron, I thought you said you weren't going-"

"I said I wouldn't, and I won't. But I think that YOU should tell someone. What if it happens again? I don't think I can live with knowing that when you aren't with me, you are getting hurt."

"I'm not going to be around him for awhile, I'll be with you at Hogwarts," she tried to change the topic.

"That's not my point. You are going to see him again eventually, you live with the man for awhile, and he could move back in with you guys again at anytime. And I mean…he needs help."

"Jesus Ron," Hermione said angrily, climbing out of bed with the blanket wrapped around her, leaving Ron laying there with no covering.

"What?"

"Can't you just let it go already? I mean, really!"

"No, I can't!"

"I shouldn't have told you. You are blowing this way out of proportion! You don't understand ANY of it, okay?"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Ron sat up, anger flooded in his words. Why was Hermione suddenly getting so defensive?

"What, do you think what your uncle does is right?!"

"I didn't say that!"

"Well, you are acting like he's some saint or something! He's an asshole, Hermione. He is. You don't need to try and protect him, especially around me."

"Oh, you really don't understand! He's my family, Ron! He's really close with my Dad!"

"Maybe by blood, but that's about it! And stop telling me I don't understand! I have the facts all lined up, and any idiot with half a brain could figure this out!"

"What the hell does that mean?!" Her face was filled with the most anger Ron had ever seen come across those beautiful features.

"It means that you are blinded by a certain image you have your uncle made out to be, you can see who he REALLY is!"

"Oh, so now I'm blind am I?"

"Yeah, you are!"

"I'm glad I found out what you really think of me then," she said, starting to search for her clothes.

"Maybe I shouldn't have even come here in the first place. Maybe I shouldn't love you! Maybe I don't even need you in my life right now!" Ron felt like ice water was just poured all over his head, and he ran his hand through his hair and tried to remain calm.

"Hermione, I just don't like seeing you in all this pain, all right? You don't deserve that. You deserve to be treated as the wonderful person you are. And maybe you're right; maybe I don't know all the facts. But from what I know, it needs to stop. Right now. And you know that the thoughts I have of you are all good…Full of love, admiration, beauty, trust…I could go on and on. I thought that I-I just showed that to you with what we did…" Silence. Ron waited for her to say something, but she just kept looking at her feet.

"And if you think you don't need me, then fine. I need you, probably more than I need anything else in this world…But fuck it. I'll get over it. Some how." He stood up (ignoring his ankle…this was not an issue now) and slipped on some random pair of pants.

"I'll leave you alone to pack then." He quickly left his room and shut the door without another look at Hermione. He didn't get far down then hallway when he slumped against the wall, and slid down. He was crying quietly…He hadn't cried since he was seven years old, and that was when George had stolen one of his favorite Quidditch posters and used it to make a fire. He had Hermione….And now he just lost her. Or so he thought.

"Ron…" Hermione had followed him moments later, tears running down her own face. She stopped in front of him for a moment.

"Go on, get packing then," Ron sniffled, turning his head the other way to hide his tears.

"Oh Ron, I don't want to leave!" She clutched the blanket tighter around her chest and collapsed onto his lap in a heap of sniffles.

"I-I didn't mean one thing that I said in there! I do need you…More than I need anything else!" She buried her face on his chest, and he held her to him close.

"You know I just want what's best for you, all out of love," Ron said quietly.

"I know, I'm such an idiot!"

"No, you're not."

"Yes I am! You are the one thing I really love in this world, and I push you away…"

"I'm still here."

"I'm really sorry, Ron…"

"So am I." He kissed her ear, and hugged her tightly.

"We don't have to talk about this until you are ready, okay?" She nodded.

"And I promise I will take your advice…I just need some time to sort all my thoughts and get everything in order."

"I know. Let's go back to bed." And with that, the two of them went back to Ron's room, and fell asleep with their arms tightly around each other. Ron just wanted to sleep and think in the morning. As long as he had Hermione, everything was perfectly okay…

Ron didn't really dream that night, he was too tired. And when he awoke the next morning, he was still tired. His head was still stuffy and his eyes a little wet. They were sleeping in a rather uncomfortable fashion, both on their sides facing each other. Hermione had one arm draped over him, and the other was under his neck. Ron's arms were wrapped around either side of her, keeping her close. He slowly pulled his arms away from her, trying not to wake her. She sighed, and turned to her other side. Ron fixed the blankets around her so she was warm enough, and kissed her head. Going down to the kitchen he almost expected everyone to be sitting there, but then he remembered they were all away. He was going to make Hermione breakfast in bed, but looking at all the different utensils, he got a little nervous. Why couldn't he just use magic for this?

"Pancakes," he said to himself, looking at a box of pancake batter. "I can do this." Getting all the ingredients together was easy enough, but when he started flipping them over the pan, they were flipping off to far and landing in the fire on the stove.

"Shit," he whispered after four pancakes were ruined. "How hard can these be??" He slowly turned one pancake, and prayed that it landed back on the pan. It did, and he started congratulating himself. He managed to make five perfect pancakes after that, and he laid them on a plate. The bacon was easier to make, and pouring some pumpkin juice was not a problem. He was getting into this whole cooking-thing as he places some strawberries along a pancake that Ron proudly thought resembled a heart.

"Ron?" Came a sleepy voice from the doorway.

"Hermione! You were supposed to stay in bed! You know, breakfast in bed!"

"Oh, sorry!" She giggled.

"Oh well, now that you're here." He hurried over and pulled the bench out for her. She grinned as he set the neat plate in front of her, followed by the cup of pumpkin juice. "Ta-da!"

"You did this? All by yourself?" She just stared at the food. He nodded and wiped some flour off his hands.

"Do you like it?"

"I love it!" She said cheerfully.

"Looks wonderful."

"Good. Well, enjoy!" He started to clean some of the pans up.

"Come here," she motioned him with her finger. He sat on the bench next to her, and he kissed him. He kissed her back, and ran his hand through her thick and messy hair.

"So we are really okay?" Ron asked quietly.

"Yes, we are." She ran her finger over his nose to get off some of the flour.

"You have flour all over," she grinned. He touched her cheek with his finger.

"So do you." Then he picked up a strawberry and she bit into it, giggling as the juices dribbled down her chin. Ron licked them off as they dribbled down, and then kissed her lips.

"What a sweet kiss. Literally," Hermione joked.

"I have to get this cleaned up before anyone gets home," Ron forced himself to get up and start washing the dishes. He almost gave up and ran back over to Hermione, but he resisted. What a perfect way to start the day!

Note: Yay, everything is good with Ron and Hermione! But what happens when Harry comes back into the picture? Read on…I know this took a while to finally get up here, but I have been really busy with school, I apologize.