Disclaimer : The Harry Potter characters in this story belong to J.K. Rowling. Many thanks to her for letting them roam about in the world I created for a bit.
First off, I once again want to thank everyone that reviewed. You're praise is very encouraging and it's what makes me feel guilty when I don't updated as quickly as you all would like.
Secondly, I would like to apologize for the delay and for the shortness in this particular chapter compared to the others. As for the delay, a sick child and being short staffed at work last week pretty much kept me away from my computer. As for the length of this chapter, sometimes that's just how the cards fall.
Finally, if you haven't seen Goblet of Fire yet, do it! Personally, I think it's the best movie thus far (but I also think the fourth book is by far the best as well). The one thing I liked best about it was that I thought that it was must better adapted from the book than Prisoner of Azkaban was, which is saying a lot since the book was nearlytwice as thick.
Well, anyway, I'll get off my soap box. I hope you enjoy this chapter!
CHAPTER 9 – Listen to Your Heart
Hermione gasped as Ron entered her depths. Instantly her eyes closed as she willed her body to relax at the slightly painful, yet much desired, invasion. She hadn't been with a man since she had come to the States; one of the guys she'd dated at first had almost succeeded in bedding her, but deep in her heart she felt that such actions would be betraying someone. Then she'd found out that she was pregnant and could at least understand the betraying someone bit; it was everything else that didn't make a bloody bit of sense. That wasn't to say that she hadn't taken care of her needs, herself, a few times…a week. But this; this was the most amazing feeling she had ever experienced, well that she could remember anyway.
Momentarily she wondered what it would be like for someone else to bring her to a climax. She hoped that he'd make her climax. They hadn't beat around the bush, so to speak, with foreplay, so she really wasn't sure what to expect. It was just that the need to be connected so intimately with each other had been too great.
Just as she was trying to commit to memory the feel of every inch of him inside of her, she realized that he wasn't moving. She opened her eyes to find him staring at her with his eyes filled with such emotion.
He gently caressed her face before a smile spread across his face, and he softly said, "You know, you and me, we're pretty good together." He followed up the statement with a waggle of his eyebrows at her.
She tried really hard not to blush, but it was a futile attempt. This was the most intimate that she could ever remember being with a man. Suddenly a thought occurred to her and had it not been for his next comment, Hermione probably would've started to feel extremely uncomfortable. 'What if I'm not as good as he remembers? What if I don't measure up to the other women he's been with? Have there been other women?'
Before she could ponder the thoughts too closely, she noticed that his look had turned serious and his eyes were full of passion and desire and something else that she didn't want to name for fear of getting hurt, because in such a short time of knowing this man, she was quickly falling head over heels, and she just knew that would lead her to a broken heart. She already knew that she was probably going to break his heart, but she didn't want to think about that right now.
However, there was no denying what the look meant when she actually heard him say the words. "I love you, Hermione Granger."
She took in a sharp breath but recovered quickly by smiling up at him. She felt her eyes fill with tears. She couldn't begin to count the number of times she had wished to hear those words coming from any man. Before yesterday morning, she didn't think she would ever hear anyone call her by her real name, let alone pledging her their love. She couldn't believe that she felt it…love…this soon with this man. She couldn't just say it, could she? It was way too soon to be professing love to this man. 'What if it's just lust I'm feeling?' But then another voice sounded in her head. 'But it's not. You feel it in your heart as well as in your loins. Listen to your heart.'
She saw a look of panic begin to cross his face and she knew in that moment that she needed to say it too, because she did feel it. Even though voicing the words was strained from the raw emotion she was feeling, saying the words seemed so natural.
"I…I love you too."
Then Ron's mouth was devouring hers and he was moving inside her and she let go of all thought and listened to what he heart was telling her to feel and what her body was telling her it needed as she began to move with him.
And the feeling was absolutely brilliant.
'----------
Ron was quite thankful for his young age and the stamina that came with it because it wasn't long after he and Hermione started moving as one that he was spilling his seed deep inside her. He felt slightly guilty for not taking the time before hand to bring her to a climax…to completely worship her beautiful body, but he desperately needed to be inside her. He half thought that she was disappointed when he had reached his peak so quickly, because she planted her hands on his shoulders and started to push him away.
On the contrary, she was far from disappointed and Ron was completely stunned when she wasn't simply pushing him away. No, the beauty that lay below him was pushing him until his back was against the sofa and she was straddling his body.
She kissed him hungrily and then began to rain kisses all over his face and neck. He was already on his way to being painfully aroused again when she started assaulting his nipples with her tongue causing him to begin to wither underneath her.
"Fuck, 'Mione! I need to be inside you again," he said breathlessly.
He was thankful that she didn't make him beg. She reached between their bodies to position him at her entrance once more before sinking onto his renewed erection until fully sheathed. Then she was riding him at a slow pace and it was driving him crazy.
Not long after, he knew he was quickly approaching release again, and he had decided that he was not going to win this race this time, at least not until she did. He slid his hand down her abdomen, from his teasing of her hardened nipples, to the place just above where their bodies were joined. No sooner than pressure was applied, Hermione was bucking wildly as she reached climax with her inner muscles clenching around him and milking the second wave of pleasure from him.
She had collapsed on top of him, panting heavily, and they had been in that position ever since. She was lying with her cheek resting on his chest with her eyes closed while she lazily played with the fringe of hair behind one of his ears. He also lay with his eyes closed with one arm wrapped tightly around her waist and the other hand absently stroked her hair and down her back. For the first time in years, he felt complete and he was going to enjoy the feel as long as Hermione stayed where she was.
Ron was just on the verge of sleep when Hermione sat up quickly and he flinched at the cold that surrounded his body.
"Shit!"
"What's wrong, love?" Ron asked as his eyes raked over her body, really looking at her naked form for the first time since they had removed their clothing and starting to feel the beginnings of yet another stirring in his loins.
Hermione quickly disentangled herself from Ron and the sofa and quickly started sifting through the clothes on the floor, clearly looking for hers.
"Shit, shit, shit! Where are my knickers?"
Ron sat up watching Hermione, quite confused as to what was going on. He noticed that she was about to become quite panicked, when he spotted the missing undergarment lying under the table that sat in front of the sofa. He bent down and retrieved them.
"Here you go, love. Now will you tell me what's wrong?"
She was now hurriedly throwing on her clothes. "I've got to go. I have to pick Daniel and Emma up from preschool in twenty minutes. I can't believe I almost forgot them."
Ron was flabbergasted that Hermione was on the verge of tears. He stood to pull her into an embrace. "It's alright." He had just reached out to her, when she snapped at him causing him to cower away a bit.
"No, it is not alright, Ron. I almost forgot them. They mean more to me than anything and I almost forgot them." Hermione collapsed onto a nearby chair that matched the sofa and began sobbing nearly uncontrollably.
Lightning fast, Ron found himself on his knees, kneeling in front of his sobbing friend…lover…whatever they were…pulling her into an embrace. "Shhh, love."
He had just began to stroke her hair when she pulled away quite abruptly. She hastily wiped the tears from her eyes and off of her cheeks.
"I'm so sorry, Ron. I didn't mean to go all mental on you." Ron used every ounce of his will power not to laugh and tell her that she'd always been a bit mental, but decided now was not the time for an inside joke that she would have no memory of sharing with him and Harry, so he let her continue on. "That's never happened to me before, not in the four and a half years that they've been in my life, I've always been completely conscious of them. I just got so self-absorbed there for a moment and it really scared me…still does."
Ron gave her a warm smile and said, "Well, you didn't forget them, completely. You've still got time to get to them, right? They'll never know that for a few moments their Mum was, for once in probably her entire life, thinking solely of herself."
Hermione just closed her eyes and nodded in response.
"Why don't we go pick them up together and then go to that little park just down the way. They'd like that, wouldn't they?"
"Oh, Ronald." Hermione sighed. "I can't. After I pick them up, I have to drop them off at daycare so I can go to this lecture I have this afternoon."
Ron smiled cheekily at her and said, "Now come on, love. Can't you just skive off the bloody lecture?"
"No, Ronald! I can't just 'skive off.' This lecture is very important to my studies; not to mention, my grade will be docked if I don't attend. If I ever plan on getting out of the Randy Buffalo and into a decent law firm, I can't be lackadaisical with any of my course work and that includes this 'bloody lecture',"
Ron was quickly on his feet and was pacing a bit. "Look, Hermione, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to start a row. Obviously you think this is very important. I just don't see what the whole point of going to this lecture and worrying about your grades is when by the end of the week you'll be back home in England with us."
Ron knew he had made a mistake in stating what he felt was the obvious when she had sprung up from the chair and was standing directly in front of him, looking quite perturbed.
"Excuse me?" Her eyes were full of fire.
"Well, honestly, what is the point? You've already agreed to take your memories back. You weren't planning on staying in this blasted country afterwards, were you?"
Ron wished he had a time turner, when she advanced on him, poking his chest as she accentuated her points. He'd made Hermione mad before, loads of times actually, but the last time he had succeeded in making her this mad, she had set a bunch of conjured canaries loose on him.
"Firstly, I haven't agreed to anything! Shagging our brains out for the last hour was not an agreement to anything, except perhaps that we were both as randy as hell and acted on what feelings we obviously have for one another."
"Secondly, if I do, in fact, take my memories back, which I am honestly considering, that is in no way agreeing to leave behind what life I've created here, not to mention uprooting the twins."
"Thirdly, and pay close attention to this one, Ronald. Getting my memories back only changes who I was. It does not, in any way what-so-ever, change who I am now nor who I want to be."
Ron knew he should be cowering at her incensed actions. He knew from years of row after row and not being on speaking terms that he should just keep his mouth shut, because anything that came out of his mouth right now would do nothing to extinguish the angry fire that was brewing. But, dammit, she had hacked him off.
"Look, obviously, I've assumed some things that I shouldn't have, but you can't stand there and tell me that you plan on keeping my children from me?"
"Well, obviously, you have assumed some things that you surely shouldn't have, and if you are Dan and Em's father, I don't plan on keeping you from them. But we'll be making some compromises. I will not be packing up my life for your convenience."
Ron suddenly felt bile rising in his throat. He just knew that he was the father of the twins. Hell, even that Mark bloke, thought that Ron was the father. Even though Hermione didn't have any memory of being with him, intimately, to conceive the children, her emphasizing the if in her statement made Ron think that she believed that there was another bloke that could possibly be the father. 'Fuck! How many blokes has she shagged since she was dropped off here?'
Hermione adjusted the last of her clothing, quickly put her hair up in a knot on the top of her head and turned her back on him. He only barely registered that she was speaking once again, when fear, self-doubt and complete dread washed over him. In the absence of complete brain function and rationality, he did the one thing that he really hadn't done in a long while. He listened to his heart, and in this moment, it was telling him to get as far away from this situation as was bodily possible.
Just as Hermione was turning back around to face him, he was gone with a pop.
'----------
Reviews not only welcomed; they're encouraged!
'----------
A/N - Okay, for all of those that have their wands drawn and are about ready to hex me into next week for ruining a perfectly romantic and sweet moment between Hermione and Ron, please remember one thing….they're relationship has ALWAYS been quite volatile! What makes you think that five years apart from one another would change that. If it shows nothing else, it shows that even without Hermione's memories of growing up with Ron and with Ron's elation of finally finding Hermione, that the chemistry between the two of them is still the same. And unfortunately, Ron and Hermione are the types that sometime react perfectly together and sometimes react with quite a messy explosive.
The next chapter, Welcome to My Life, will hopefully not take as long to write. Or I guess I should say that I hope that I don't have as many delays and distractions. As I've stated before, this story has become an entity in itself and it has gone in many different directions than when I originally intended. I hope this next chapter will take us through Hermione getting her memories back. Because, yes, she will take her memories back, because our Hermione would overanalyze the entire situation and find that it would just be ridiculous to not want to remember who she really was. That doesn't mean that things will be easy.
Thanks again to all my loyal fans! I hope I continue to provide you with material that you find interesting!