Here is chapter 2! Yay!

Important: please read the author's note at the bottom of the page, thanks!

Chapter two:

More Than One Tango

Hermione awoke the next morning to a sliver of sunlight pouring through the space in between the curtains that hung over the large, floor-length windows, in her bedroom. She slowly shook off her sleepiness and looked at the clock sitting on her beside table, the face turned towards hers. It read 9:04. Today was Saturday, so she didn't have to go to work.

She got out of bed, reluctantly, and moseyed to her teeny kitchen, where she made herself a cup of coffee. She sat down at her circular, oak table and sipped her coffee while she read the newspaper (both wizard and muggle).

She jumped at the sound of her phone ringing.

She walked over to a small table which contained the source of the noise, and picked up the receiver off the base.

"Hello?" She asked routinely.

"Hi, Hermione, it's Ron."

"Oh, hi Ron."

"You sound sleepy…I didn't wake you up, did I?"

"Oh no-" She yawned hugely. "No, I was up."

"Ok, um, good…" He said awkwardly.

There was a long pause. Hermione was tempted to ask why he called, but decided to wait for him to break the lingering silence.

"Er, I guess I just called…" It was as if he read her mind. "…to ask you if you wanted to maybe go get some coffee or something with me…" Another pause. "…today." He added.

Hermione looked down at her freshly poured cup of coffee. "Yeah, sure, coffee sounds great. Will you meet me at the little coffee shop around the corner in about an hour?"

"Yeah, sounds super." Ron hit himself on the forehead, 'super?'

Hermione quickly stifled a giggle. "Ok, I'll see you in an hour, then. Bye." She hung up the phone.

She quickly went to take a shower…she wanted to look decent, after all. I know he's just my friend, and I shouldn't even feel the way I do about him…but who says I can't look nice for him?

After applying a little make-up, and attempting to tame her hair (the night before it was straight and smooth only because of major application of hair potion, but this morning, and after her shower, it was back to bushy brown), she left her apartment and walked about two blocks to the little corner café

When she arrived, she instantly spotted the vivid red hair that screamed Ron. He was sitting at a table for two, outside in the pleasantly heating August morning.

As she approached him, she noticed his facial expression, which was oddly nervous looking. She sat down at the table and greeted him.

"Hi, Ron." She said, smiling.

"Hey, Hermione." He replied.

He's awfully fidgety, Hermione thought as she watched him twist and untwist his cloth napkin on the table.

A waiter passed by and Hermione caught his attention, and ordered a cup of coffee.

"So," she began, "What's new?" She couldn't really think of anything else to say, Ron had such an odd expression on his face.

He didn't quite meet her eyes. Tell her, tell her now, he ordered himself. "Well, actually, there's something I wanted to talk to you about-"

"Here is your coffee, and be careful, it's hot." The waiter said as he carefully placed the steaming ceramic mugs in front of them. 'Is there anything else I can get you?"

"No, thank you." Hermione said politely as the waiter bobbed and then walked briskly away.

Are you KIDDING me! Ron thought dramatically.

"There was something you wanted to talk to me about?" Hermione asked, interested.

"Um, what I wanted to say was…" He paused thinking frantically. What do I say? I can't tell her now. "I was, um, just wondering if you, er," brilliance struck. "…wanted to go to dinner with me tonight," He finished quickly, with a smile at his own somewhat quick thinking.

Hermione was secretly ecstatic, this was the perfect opportunity to, hopefully, finally tell Ron how she felt about him.

Later that day, leading into the evening, her 'kind-of' date with Ron was approaching in about an hour and a half. Hermione had suggested earlier that they go to a hip, Salsa restaurant that had dancing (that she knew was very romantic). Ron agreed and they made reservations there for 7:30.

She wanted to do her hair with the hair potion again, to make it smooth, but was all out, so she just decided to wear it up in a pretty upswept look. She moved onto wardrobe, and decided to wear one of her favorites, her little black dress. It was a little above knee-length, and was more low-cut than her red dress. She paired the little black dress with a pair of skinny, black heels.

As she was getting ready to leave (it was now almost 7:15), she began thinking about what she was going to tell Ron, and the rational, logical Hermione took over. Am I crazy? I can't tell him how I feel about him! He'll just shoot me down, there's no way he feels the same way. And besides, do I really want to mess up our friendship? No, She thought, walking towards the door. I'm just going out to dinner with my FRIEND, and nothing more. As much as she tried to stifle the way she felt, she knew it was bound to come out at some point.

She arrived at the restraint, and waited for a few minutes for Ron. While she was waiting she heard the salsa music coming from inside, and she felt the sudden urge to dance to the upbeat trumpets and guitars. (Which Hermione usually didn't do in public).

When Ron arrived they approached the hostess to claim their table. They were led inside to a dimly-lit circular table with a crimson red tablecloth, and a single red cinnamon candle burning brightly, and flickering as if to the beat of the music.

They sat down and ordered drinks. Hermione looked around at their dark, but not gloomy, surroundings. In one section of the restaurant, there was a large wooden floored dance area where about four or five couples were. To the left of the dance floor was a band consisting of trumpets, Spanish guitars, and a violin. She looked over opposite the dance floor and saw a shady bar. The rest of the place was scattered with small circular tables like their own.

She then turned her attention onto Ron, who was wearing the same look as he had at the café.

"Is something wrong?" She asked attentively.

He glanced to the dance and looked back at her. "No." he said simply.

Ron looked like he was sweating, but she didn't blame him. It was hot in the restaurant, and he was wearing a long sleeved button down shirt and slacks.

He looks nice, she thought as her eyes slowly drifted down his figure. She shook out of this state of mind, but every guy looks nice in nice clothes… She tried to think about something else, which wasn't hard because their drinks had just arrived.

Ron was thinking the same thing about Hermione. That little black dress of hers was making him squirm in his chair.

After they had eaten dinner, things finally started livening up and they started loosening up (a lot of credit for this going to their fourth round of drinks). After their fifth or sixth round of drinks, Hermione was feeling especially wild, and after the band began playing the tango, took action.

"Let's dance!" She grabbed Ron's hand and pulled him out of his chair and stumbled out onto the dance floor. Ron didn't object to this and followed her.

Hermione grabbed Ron's hands and placed one in her hand and the other on her hip. He didn't object to this either, for obvious reasons. She took the lead, being naturally domineering like that.

She steered him for a while, and after he finally caught on, was dipping her and getting really into the song, forgetting himself. She nicked a red rose out of a vase on a nearby table and placed it in her teeth, not even caring about the prick of the thorns.

They were magnificent together and after the song came to an end, they were the only couple left on the dance floor. All eyes were on them, possibly because they were dancing wildly to the intoxicating song that is the tango, but probably because they were both pretty much drunk.

In this passionate moment, Ron knew it was time to strike. "I love you," he said simply. In his state of tipsiness, he thought it would suffice.

Hermione was taken aback. "Are you serious?" spilled out her mouth, along with the red rose, before she could stop it.

Ron was a little hurt by this reaction, and waited until they were outside, to elaborate.

He turned towards her, and gazed into her chocolate eyes. "Hermione, I'm serious." She gazed back, still a little shocked by his words. "I love you. I have for a long time. I've been waiting for the perfect moment to tell you…and…and this just felt right." Now that he started, it was hard to stop.

She felt the same way, she knew she did. She was taken completely by surprise by his mutual feelings, and didn't know what to say.

There was an awkward silence. Ron, not able to bear the intolerable silence anymore, broke it suddenly with an outburst:

"Well? Say something!"

"I, um…Ron…" She paused. She couldn't think or speak… it was hard to even stand at the moment.

Ron couldn't take it anymore. He simply walked away, heartbroken, leaving her standing there. He signaled a taxi and clumsily climbed inside. The taxi sped away, taking Ron's exposed feelings with it.

Hermione saw something glimmer in the moonlight and saw that it was coming from her silver locket, Ron's romantic gift to her our on the balcony.

She suddenly came to her senses, but much too late. I can't believe I messed it up. What am I going to do now? She thought, trying hard to think as clearly as possible, I'll just go to his place, and tell him how I really feel…

Hermione, beginning to lose her head again, hysterically flagged down a taxi and directed the driver to Ron's little flat in downtown London.

The cab stopped with a small squeak, and she saw that they had arrived at Ron's building. She paid the cabdriver, and rang the doorbell on the lobby door. A little old doorman was asleep on a stool inside, next the door, so Hermione quietly crept past him and walked towards the lift.

She was beginning to feel extremely nervous now. She stepped into the lift and pressed the number four button. She felt a jolt in her stomach as the elevator pulled her up.

Ding! First floor. I can do this, I can do this…

Ding! Second floor, Getting a little nervous…

Ding! Third floor, Nervousness growing…

Ding! Fourth floor, Eek!

The doors opened and a dreary, dull hallway came into view.

She walked (and stumbled, breaking the heel of one of her shoes) down the hall past a few other doors, and stopped at 7D. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door. No turning back now…

She heard a rustle from inside, and then heard the lock on the door being undone.

Ron answered the door in messy state. His hair was disheveled, his shirt was haphazardly buttoned (it looked as if he had quickly put it back on when he heard a knock), his belt was gone from his once-neatly-ironed slacks. He looked kind of sexy.

"Hermione." He looked surprised to see her.

"Yep." She answered, and then turned a little pink.

They stared at each other for a minute and then Ron asked softly, "Why are you here."

Hermione subtly cleared her throat and began, "I had to tell to you…" She paused, working out what she was going to say in her head. Ron waited, longing for her to give him good news.

She spoke again, "I had to tell you…that I love you, too."

He smiled hugely, and she could help but grin like a fool too.

He pulled her into hug, which quickly turned into a passionate kiss. He was a surprisingly good kisser.

Everything seemed perfect about this moment, except for the overwhelming smell of alcohol on their breaths. He gently lured her willingly into his bedroom, with a series of hypnotizing kisses, where he slowly shut the door…

Ok, I know I said that this chapter would be longer, but it's like 12am, and I have to get up early tomorrow for my swimming instructor class.

Anyway…I hope you liked chapter 2! I'll try to get chapter 3 up soon, but it's hard with school and work and stuff. I really wanted to wait until I got some reviews before I put this chapter up, but oh well I guess…

Please review, I know you have it in you! In the words of another author (who I can definitely relate with about this, obviously): "reviews are my food, and I like to eat." Well unfortunately, people, I am starving! Please don't let me starve…