Author's Note: This chapter is dedicated to my reviewers(save a gizzle). You make my day!

The words are hushed lets not get busted, just lay entwined here, undiscovered

Hermione had lied. It wasn't fine. It was so much better than fine.

Ron had kissed her. Almost. His breath had smelled like the apples Mrs. Weasley had brought out to the boys at lunch.

Hermione wanted to touch him again, afraid that if they broke contact for too long, they'd slip back to how they'd been this morning, nervous and uncomfortable, as if they'd never been a couple, or even friends.

Suddenly she realized her hand was still at her lips. Ron was watching her intently. She reached out for his hand and began to pull him gently toward the stairs. This must have snapped him out of his daze because he quickly forced past her, and proceeded, dragging her vigorously down the stairs behind him.

"I'm starving! Hurry up, will you?" He called back at her. Fortunately for him she was simply to happy to point out that she had been the one pulling him only seconds ago.

Just as they were reaching the dining room, Hermione dropped his hand and grabbed his arm, stopping him.

He turned to look at her. "I wasn't kidding. I'm really hungry."

"Me too." She said softly, her eyes falling to his lips. She bit her lip and glanced up at him when she realized the implication of her words. He laughed, and tucked a silky brown flyaway behind her ear. A shiver rushed through her as his fingertips grazed her neck. She stepped closer to him, close enough that her breasts brushed his chest. He swallowed, visibly.

"We need to get into dinner or we'll never hear the end of it from Fred and George," Ron managed gruffly.

Neither Hermione nor Ron moved. "You forgot Ginny." His stomach rumbled, and Hermione couldn't help but burst into a fit of laughter. She turned to walk into the dining room, brushing him playfully as she past. "You're incorrigible. Or your stomach is at least."

To prevent herself from hanging all over him, Hermione chose the seat directly across from Ron.

Mr. Weasley, recently returned from the Ministry, grinned at Hermione. "Hello Hermione! Did you have a nice holiday?"

"Wonderful." She smiled back, "The weather's been so nice, it would have been hard to have a bad time."

"Perfect weather for quidditch," Ron put in.

Deciding that she still wasn't ready to forgive him for ignoring her all day, Hermione kicked him in the shins underneath the table. Ron winced, and then glared at her.

"You should have seen Ron up there today! It was brilliant," Fred said winking mischievously at Hermione.

"Yeah. I didn't know someone could be that bad. He was worse than his bloody usual,"

George added excitedly.

"Don't swear, George," Mrs. Weasley scolded.

Ignoring his mother, George launched into a story describing Ron's terrible keeping antics from that afternoon, but Hermione had stopped listening. Ron's foot was rubbing distractingly against hers. The movement tickled erotically. She tried not to look at him, focusing instead on her dinner.

Suddenly Mrs. Weasley dropped her fork onto her plate with a loud clatter gaining the attention of everyone at the table. "I almost forgot. Arthur, we have an Order meeting, and I told Albus we'd be there early, to help get things ready."

Mr. Weasley blinked, shocked, and then glanced quickly at the clock. "In that case we should've been there five minutes ago."

Mrs. Weasley had already risen from the table, and was beginning to grab her things. Mr. Weasley joined her and they both headed toward the fireplace. "Boys, you finish up here. But don't be late," Mrs. Weasley called over shoulder to the twins before stepping into the fire.

Safe from the earth and all the stupid questions... "Hey did you get some?" Man, that is so dumb.

"So did you finish unpacking, Hermione?" Fred looked at Hermione, then Ron.

"Yeah," Ron answered, cocking his head in warning at his brother.

"Certainly took you long enough to get down here for dinner," George said, straight-faced.

"We were catching up," Hermione defended, giving the twins her best stern face.

"Catching up?" Ginny teased, "I'll bet you and Ron had a lot you wanted talk about. It'd been, what... about an hour since you last owled each other."

Hermione felt the annoying need to explain herself. "Owling isn't the same as seeing someone in person. I mean, when you actually..." She wasn't quite certain how to explain, so she paused, looking at her food in deep concentration.

"Oh we know what you mean." Fred assured her.

"You do?" She asked, excitedly, turning toward him only to realize he was making fun of her when his grin simply widened.

She looked across the table at Ron. His ears were burning again, but from anger, more than embarrassment now. He began to rise from the table, obviously preparing to pounce on Fred. Hermione kicked him under the table causing him to fall right back into his chair with a loud thump. "Ouch! That hurt, 'Mione!"

"Are you all right there, Ron?" Ginny asked, not bothering to suppress her laughter.

She turned to Hermione, "You're really bad at that aren't you?"

Hermione didn't understand Ginny's question. "What?"

"The point of playing footsie isn't to make the other person scream in pain, silly." Ginny explained, as if to a small child.

Hermione scrunched her face into what she hoped was a sneer. "Why don't we start cleaning up. Fred and George have to be at their meeting soon, and we wouldn't want to exclude them from the experience of washing dishes."

"Right you are, Hermione, right you are." George said.

Hermione looked at him suspiciously.

"No, we'd never miss an opportunity to spend time with the little lovebirds. They're so cute, I think Crookshanks is getting jealous."

The three boys rose and began to walk toward to the kitchen, dishes in hand. George murmured to Ron in feigned confidentiality, "Now, have you kissed her? Do you want some brotherly advice on the best ways?"

Hermione's heart soared, and for once, she didn't resent the twins intrusion. Perhaps this fraternal pressure was what Ron needed. She and Ginny moved towards the kitchen to better hear the conversation.

"That's none of your business, George. Or yours Fred." Hermione heard the sink turn and then off again a couple seconds later.

"Sure it is! We're your big brothers. It's our duty to make sure this kissing goes right for you!"

A loud clatter sounded, as if someone had carelessly dropped, or throw, several dishes into the sink on top of one another. "I DON"T CARE ABOUT YOUR DAMN DUTY! STAY OUT OF MY LOVE LIFE!"

"Calm down. We were only trying to help you get the right moves."

"Maybe I don't need the 'right moves.' I can get along fine. I know how to kiss. I'm not dumb."

"Alright then. These dishes are taken care of so we'd better be heading off," said Fred (maybe it was George).

"Ginny," George (or possibly Fred) called into the other room, "Make sure to leave Ron and Hermione alone. Ron is going to—"

"SHUT UP!" Ron shouted.

Hermione could hear the crackle of fire start up in the kitchen. Ron reentered the dining room. "I'm sorry about that, Hermione. They can be real jerks sometimes."

"I don't mind," She smiled at him, "They really aren't that bad, are they Ginny?" But Ginny was gone.

Stay quiet, stay near, stay close they can't hear, so we can get some

"I guess it's just you and me." Ron said through gritted teeth.

"Yeah, I guess it is," Hermione returned, raising her eyebrows suggestively. She took a couple steps closer to Ron. "You sound like you think that's a bad thing."

He frowned, obviously still agitated by his brother's comments. "I'm sorry about my brothers, Hermione. I hope they didn't say anything to offend you."

"They were just kidding around. I know that." Hermione smiled. When Ron's countenance failed to brighten, she continued, "I really don't mind they're teasing. They do it because they love you. And me, I hope."

"Hermione, you usually hate their teasing," Ron accused.

She placed her hands on his shoulders, looked directly into his eyes, and said, "You're right. Sometimes it bothers me. I mean, I don't have any sisters or brothers; I've had to learn how to deal with them. But I think I'm getting used to it. Tonight's teasing didn't bother mean at all."

"Really? Cause what they were saying tonight bothered me more than usual. They were talking like you were just some girl I had brought home to do stuff with."

"I am your girlfriend."

"Yeah, but you're also so much more!" His eyes narrowed. "Wait, did you just agree with them?"

"I am your girlfriend..." She repeated.

"That's what this is all about! You're mad cause I haven't kissed you!"

"You're a genius!" Hermione's voice dripped with sarcasm.

"When was I supposed to kiss you? Tell me that." He demanded.

"I dunno... I've only been here for an entire day! But you've been off hiding from me. I don't know what to think. I keep thinking maybe you're scared. Or maybe you just don't want to kiss me after all. I don't know, Ron, I don't know.

"Did ever occur to you that I haven't kissed you for a reason other than that I'm scared, or that I don't want to? That maybe I haven't kissed you because I care so much about this, about us, that I have been planning on our first kiss being perfect? I really don't want to mess it up!"

"You won't have a chance to mess it up if you never do it!"

"You know what? You're right." He kissed her hard on the mouth.

Almost immediately, she pulled away. "If you didn't want to mess it up, then why did you do that?" She stormed out of the room, fighting tears. He was right. She wanted to take back every time she'd ever pressured him to kiss her. Not that it hadn't worked; he had kissed her.

But it wasn't supposed to have happened like that.

My hopes are so high, that your kiss might kill me.
So won't you kill me, so I die happy?
My heart is yours to fill or burst, to break or bury,
Or wear as jewelry, which ever you prefer.