Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not mine.
"They're beautiful, aren't they?" asked a quiet voice next to Ron. He turned to see Hermione staring up at the stars.
"Yeah," he breathed not quite sure what to say.
"They make me feel safe" said Hermione dreamily.
"Safe?"
"Yeah, it's like having billions of fairies watching over me every night as I sleep. When I was little, I used to dream that the stars would fall from the sky at night and dance around my head, protecting me from harm," explained Hermione. She gave a little laugh. "I know, I must sound so silly."
"No, not at all. That's beautiful," said Ron, he was awed by Hermione's picture. "Do you want to go for a walk?"
"Sure," replied Hermione. They got up and headed toward the trail Ron and Harry had walked on earlier that day.
"Have you thought about what you want to do now that we're out of Hogwarts?" asked Ron. "I mean, Harry and I have wanted to be Aurors since Moody told us we could 5th year, but you never really mentioned what you wanted to do."
"Well, I never really knew. There are so many possibilities that I didn't want to exclude any."
"You're the brightest witch in our year, you can do anything you want!" exclaimed Ron. He was slightly pleased to see her face twinge pink.
"I didn't want to spend extra years training for something that I would end up hating," explained Hermione. She didn't leave time for Ron to protest that she wouldn't need extra training and that if she did, she would zoom through it at twice the speed of everyone else.
"You make it sound like you know what you want to do," commented Ron.
"I do. I want to teach," said Hermione.
"That's wonderful! You'd be a great teacher! What do you want to teach?" asked Ron.
"Well, I would love to teach Transfiguration, but that position is filled right now," said Hermione.
"Well, I'm sure that you'll find a position. Besides, maybe McGonagall will retire once she sees that she's no competition for you," Ron gave her a lopsided grin. Hermione just gave him a small smile, but didn't respond.
"Do you still want to be an Auror? Now that the war is over and everything?" asked Hermione.
"Yeah. There are still dark wizards. And perhaps now I'll get a vacation or two, and maybe have somewhat of a normal life. I don't think I could ever get out of the fighting dark arts thing, but it'd be cool to have time to have a family and stuff," said Ron. He blushed fiercely. He hoped that Hermione hadn't thought that he was implying anything about them by saying that. It had just always been his dream to have a family.
"So you want to have a family?" asked Hermione.
"Yes, I want big one. I love my family, and I don't think that I could deal with a quiet household."
"I know what you mean. I have such a small family, and I love them and all, but yours is so much more fun. There's always something going on, and everyone seems so closely connected. And it brings people closer together, like you and Ginny," said Hermione.
"Yeah, I never thought about it like that, but I guess that you're right," responded Ron. "Wow, look at that."
"Wow, I've never seen a sunrise before," said Hermione in awe. There was just a tiny bit of light coming over the horizon. Ron put his arm around Hermione, and she leaned her head onto his shoulder. They sat like that in silence, watching the sun rise higher and higher over the lake. The lake glittered in the sunlight. Ron looked at Hermione's contented face and thought, once again, about how perfect everything had seemed the past couple of days. It was too good to be true. He lightly kissed Hermione's forehead. Ron felt her sigh, and he sighed in return.
"I suppose we should get going," said Hermione regretfully into Ron's chest.
Ron sighed again. "I guess so, Harry and Ginny will be livid if they have to clean up camp all by themselves."
Hermione smiled, "Yeah, especially after they find out that I can do it with one flick of the wand." Ron grinned wryly.
"I would love to see their reactions. Hey, I've got an idea!" Ron told her his idea as they followed the trail back to their campsite.
When the couple got back to the campsite, Harry and Ginny were sweating. Everything except the last tent was packed up and ready to go.
"Hey Mione, how about some lunch?" asked Ron casually.
"Why Ron, that sounds lovely," replied Hermione. They then proceeded to unpack everything that was necessary to make some lunch, plus some extra things that they just happened upon along the way. By the time they were cooking, the campsite was a mess.
Harry looked dumbstruck and Ginny looked furious – Mrs. Weasley furious. She put her hands on her hips and gave Ron a stare that would normally make him cringe. He barely flinched this time, though.
"What's wrong with you?" he asked Ginny.
"What's wrong with me? WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME!" Ginny shouted. "I'LL TELL YOU WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME! WE JUST SPENT ALL MORNING PACKING THIS STUFF UP, AND YOU HAVE THE AUDACITY TO –"
"Calm down, Ginny," said Hermione gently.
"Calm down? CALM DOWN? I would expect this kind of behavior from Ron, but from you?"
"Excuse me?" asked Ron, but the girls ignored him.
"Maybe you're going out with my brother, but I didn't think he rubbed off on you this badly," retorted Ginny.
"Well for your information…" Hermione swished her wand and re-packed everything. She put a wide grin on her face and said, "You did way too much work this morning."
Ron and Hermione started laughing, but Ginny stood there for a second, and then the fury left her face. She started laughing, and pretty soon Harry was laughing.
"Ready to go?" asked Hermione.
"I am if you've repacked everything," said Harry. The four grabbed their bags and the tents and headed back toward the Burrow.
The four walked up to the Weasleys' backyard, the couples holding hands. Mrs. Weasley saw them from the kitchen and ran to the backyard. When she got outside of the door she stopped and clasped her hands together in delight.
"Oh my goodness! I knew this would happen someday! Oh, Harry dear, let me carry that." Mrs. Weasley took the tent that Harry had been carrying and laid it by the shed. Ron got all ready to hand his mother the tent that he was carrying, but she brushed past him.
"Oh, Hermione! I always knew that you and my little Ronnie would be together someday!" Hermione blushed fiercely, but it was nothing compared to Ron's crimson hue. Mrs. Weasley was practically shrieking in excitement. "Well, what are you all waiting for? Come in, come in, dinner is almost ready. I'll quickly whip up a little extra so we can feed everyone!" Mrs. Weasley practically danced back into the house.
Ron took the tent over and set it next to the one Harry had been carrying. "Well, I guess that we don't have to tell Mum, now do we?"
"Nope, we just have to worry about the rest of the family," groaned Ginny.
"Ooooh, Ickle Ronniekins and his ickle friends are back!" the four heard someone shout behind him. Ginny groaned again, this time accompanied by Ron. Fred and George walked up behind them, smiles on their faces that Ron had never trusted.
"Well George, it looks as if our little tents worked," said Fred.
"Yes indeed, Fred. It looks like they worked better than we had anticipated," replied George.
"Wait a minute. You two planned this?" asked Hermione.
"Why, of course. You don't think that we thought that trapping people in tents when it rained was a good idea for just anyone, do you?" asked Fred, pretending to be insulted.
"Of course we wouldn't do that! We had your interests purely at heart," added George.
"Now, Ginny and Harry here is a surprise to us," said Fred. "I guess the tents worked extremely well.
"We weren't trapped in a tent," retorted Ginny. She shut her mouth after that, knowing that there was really nothing she could say that would do anything concerning Fred and George.
"Dinner!" called Mrs. Weasley from the kitchen. The four, plus Fred and George, went into the house to enjoy Mrs. Weasley's home-cooked meal.
A/N: I'm so sorry for not getting this out to you on time! I was going to work on it when I was at home, but I had started the chapter and forgot to bring it with me. I know it's shorter, but I have some ideas for the next one, which I'm going to try to get out tomorrow!