-A Reoccurring Nightmare-

It was a cold November night and Ron couldn't sleep. An hour or so ago, he had had a most horrible dream, a dream in fact that he had had many times before.

As he sat on his bed, staring out of the dorm room window, his thoughts were tangled in a web of confusion and he was feeling pretty worthless. He was again, lost in thoughts about Hermione.

The dream had been about her, nightmares like this one had been happening quite often ever since he had learned the truth about Hermione and Malfoy. The dreams weren't always the same, but the outcome always was; Hermione would leave him for a more sexually pleasing Draco.

As Ron stared out at the frosty scene outside, watching owls flying far in the distance, he began to ponder a question: Why had Hermione been so interested in another man?

The question bothered him.

After the long talk he had had with Hermione two weeks ago, he understood why she dreamed about Draco, he knew that Malfoy had been controlling her dreams, but had he given her something that Ron himself could not?

He remembered Draco saying, "… you both made love so slowly, so passionately… but I felt a need inside of you, a need that I have as well… It was all in your head… you enjoyed sex with Ron, but a part of you wasn't satisfied… you wanted it harder, more animalistic, more untamed and wild, and in different and risky places…"

Ron frowned as he remembered this piece of information; Was Hermione really unhappy?

He had never thought about it before. He thought the sex that they had had been great, he had enjoyed it, but then, had she?

He never really asked her if she had been satisfied, he never really thought about it. But now as Ron sat quietly in his dark dorm, it was all he could think about.

We haven't made love in months… what if we have sex, and it's horrible? What then?… What if I can't satisfy her like Malfoy did? What if I can't please her?

He continued to stare out the window; his mind was running with a million thoughts. He didn't like to feel this way, he didn't like knowing that some other man could please his girlfriend better than he could, he didn't like it at all.

He felt like a complete loser, he felt like an idiot, he felt like his ego had been shot down. And he knew that he would have to do something about it.

He couldn't go on pretending that everything was alright when he was around her, because everything was not alright, he was angry and hurt.

And as he sat awake on his bed for the rest of the night, all he could think about was how to solve this little problem.