The Unofficial Date
Finally, their lips broke away. Ron opened his eyes to see Hermione, her head tilted upwards and her eyes shut, as though trying to savour the moment. A slight smile played on her lips. Ron kissed her forehead. Hermione opened her eyes and surveyed him carefully. His hair was slightly more ruffled than usual due to running her hand through it minutes before. His lips were slightly swollen from so much work and were a darker shade of red, Hermione noticed. She pulled herself up to his level and pecked him sweetly on the lips and grinned broadly; Ron retuned the gesture.
"Wow…" Ron exclaimed quietly. Hermione giggled. Snow was now falling so rapidly around them that it looked like they were slowly but surely turning into snowmen. "Do you still want to go ice-skating?" Ron asked, stroking Hermione's hair repeatedly. .
Hermione cocked her head to one side and bit her lip with thought. "Erm…" But before Hermione could answer, Ron said, "Tell you what. I have a better idea … just follow me." Ron beamed at her. Hermione clutched tightly onto Ron's hand, as he began to jog awkwardly through the snow. Never the less he was still quite quick and it was hard for Hermione to keep up the distance without falling over. After struggling for another thirty seconds, Hermione tripped on a hidden rock beneath the dense layer of snow. Hermione landed on the soft snow with a quiet thud, without realising it, Hermione had pulled Ron over too, who was looking startled at the sudden change of situation. Hermione laughed at Ron's expression. Ron used his thumb to sweep a streak of Hermione's hair from out of her eyes, no trace of laughter in his expression. Hermione's giggles subsided instantly. "Do you realise how beautiful you are?" Ron whispered. Hermione's cheeks turned slightly pink. "Ron…" She said, in an attempt to quieten him, although no one was around and it was not a remark to be embarrassed about.
Snow continued to fall from above and some had chosen to come to rest on Hermione's eyelashes. Ron's stomach leaped and seemed to shiver with delight at the sight. "Would it be a total cliché if I kissed you know?" Asked Ron, smiling and staring deeply into Hermione's dark eyes. Hermione laughed, sending shivers straight to Ron's stomach and his heart ached with longing. "Probably …" Hermione smiled. "But I'm prepared to risk it." This time it was Ron's turn to laugh. Without bothering to finish laughing, Ron moved in towards Hermione, shutting his eyes as he went. Hermione did the same, tilting her head ever so slightly to the side. Ron opened his mouth and initiated a tongue battle with Hermione. Pulling away for a moment to laugh and catch their breath, they hurried back to restart the kiss. Finally, Ron pulled away, regretfully, complaining about crap in his hip. Ron got to his feet and put out a hand to help Hermione to her feet. Hermione gratefully accepted.
Ron started to jog once more across the field at the side of the burrow and towards a huddle of tall, evergreen trees. Glancing back at Hermione to make sure she was still on his feet and enjoying herself, Ron smiled and squeezed her hand reassuringly. Hermione returned the smile.
When they reached the trees, Ron stared up at them, as if choosing an appropriate one for whatever he was planning. Grinning broadly, Ron removed his wand from his pocket and tapped the chosen trees trunk three times. Suddenly, steps emerged from the trunk and two long pieces of rope fell from high up the tree. Ron smirked waiting for Hermione's reaction and feeling impressive all of a sudden.
Hermione stared with awe obvious on her face. "After you." Ron announced to Hermione. "W-what? Ron, I can't go up there, that trees about a m-mile high." Hermione stuttered. Ron stared incredulously at her. "Are you afraid of heights?" Ron asked unbelievingly, but without laughing, kindly. "No!" Said Hermione, suddenly loosing the sugary quality to her voice. "…The falling part scares me." Ron laughed at Hermione's honesty. Hermione smiled at him, unable to suppress the giddy feeling she got when Ron laughed at her jokes.
"Ok, well you go up first and I'll go after you, I'll never lat you fall." Ron held both of Hermione's trembling hands in his own, looking sincerely into her eyes. "Do you trust me?" As Ron was finishing the last syllable of his question, Hermione had already answered calmly, in full honesty. "Yes." Ron smiled at her. "Up you go then." Commanded Ron, standing aside for Hermione to start climbing, one arm holding the rope and ready to follow after her.
It didn't take Hermione as long as she'd expected it would to climb the tree, she wasn't sure if it was because the tree was magically modified, because Ron was with her or because she was so eager to see what was at the top. She guessed it was probably a combination of the three. Once at the top, Hermione heaved herself into the spacious room in the sky. "Wow…"
Ron grunted from the entrance, he has one leg in the room but seemed to be having trouble pulling the rest of himself in. "Ron!" "'Mione, my leg's stuck…" Ron muttered, trying to conserve all his energy. Hermione leaned cautiously around the doorframe and muttered "Diffindo!" at the vine that had wrapped itself around Ron's ankle. Instantly Ron tumbled into the room. Hermione rushed to his side and helped him up. Ron panted for a minute before asking, "Do you like it?"
Hermione beamed at him in realisation at what he meant. She stared around the room. It was clearly a bewitched tree house. And by studying the drawings of brooms and flowers, attached to the walls, it had once belonged solely to Ron and Ginny. There were four large windows, one in each wall of the house, with very different views. One was a few of deep snow, white and crisp and several snowmen on the ground. The second was a great contrast and blazing sunshine beamed through the window, Hermione lanced outside to witness a beautiful large blue and green lake, birds were playing in the shallows and there seemed to be no breeze what so ever and no clouds in the sky. The third window showed a field covered in golden and red leaves, dancing in the wind, which was unfelt by Hermione. The fourth window displayed a view tampered with by rain falling strong from above, landing onto many flowers in the field below and the sounds of many animals playing in the rain could be heard.
Hermione then turned her interest to the objects inside the room, there was a small table covered in a patchwork tablecloth, in the middle with two chairs. A small sofa, full of holes and stuffing falling out but Hermione could tell, it was still comfortable and cosy. A bewitched muggle radio sat on the floor by the side of the sofa, which Hermione betted Ron had probably somehow got off his dad. More posters covered the walls, many of quidditch teams from all over Britain and some of unicorns and baby dragons. A desk stood in the corner piled high with toys and scraps of parchment and quills. Hermione tutted at the sight of a desk being unused so cruelly. A few lamps stood in each corner to obviously give light in the winter or at night. Hermione glanced up at the ceiling to find it was very similar to Hogwarts's. Except it didn't show clouds or blue skies or rain, no, it a showed perfect night time view, hundreds of stars glistened from above, not interrupted by branches of the tree they were in, which really should be happening. The moon was beautifully visible and shooting stars danced across the sky. Hermione sighed. Ron knew what to do.
While Hermione stood, transfixed at the sky, Ron busied himself, shutting curtains to block out the four window views, grabbed the blanket which had been folded on the sofa and laid it over the floor, he then tapped the muggle radio. Slow, hypnotic music emitted itself from the speakers into the room. Hermione smiled and momentarily distracted herself from stargazing to gaze around the room instead, and threw her arms around Ron's neck. Ron wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her in towards him, smiling and humming to the music. They began to sway to the music and revolve on the spot. Ron took to playing with Hermione's hair once again, and Hermione tilted her head to the side in apparent enjoyment. She opened her eyes and Ron leaned forward planting a kiss on her soft, sweet lips. Ron was just about to pull away when Hermione moved her head with his, clearly wishing to prolong the kiss. This kiss was much different to the previous ones; it was much more romantic, no tongue wars or giggling, but sheer love and emotion. Their love for each other was evident Hermione pulled herself up to Ron's height a little more and Ron bent further down and tipped his head rhythmically with Hermione's. The need was to get closer than they could ever be without being one person, to be together forever, to never let the passion, they felt at that exact moment, burn out.
Ron picked up Hermione and carefully lowered them both to the floor, they kissed for what felt like eternity, until the kiss became softer due to tiredness and they pulled away gently, but not to leave too much room between their lips or eyes. They had a certain knack for knowing each other's thoughts and requests. Hermione stared deeply into Ron's ocean blue eyes. "I never knew you were so good at poetry." Whispered Hermione over the music, finally. Ron blushed. "I guessed you'd be." Replied Ron, smirking. They smiled at each other. "I really do love you, 'Mione." Hermione's heart leaped. "I really, truly love you, Ron." Ron's insides squirmed with joy. He kissed Hermione one last time before stroking Hermione's hair until they both slipped off into the land of sleep, clutching each other close, under the stars.
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A/N: Taa Daa! Hope you liked! I actually love this chapter, it's a lot longer than I usually write, but I felt you all deserved it, you've been very loyal readers and reviewers and it's the best possible ending I could think of. Hope you liked it, will be delighted if you loved it! Love you all, best wishes, Samina xxx
P.S. I want to cry! I've grown to love this story sooo much!