LETTERS FROM BEYOND

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, if I did Ron and Hermione would already be together.

CHAPTER 2-SUCH A SNOOP

Harry awoke slowly, forcing himself to push the covers aside and then find his slippers before yawning deeply. The fight between Ron and Hermione had been the music to which he had gone to sleep by. He had gotten so used to them rowing that he had sworn at times that he could now sleep through a blizzard because of that fact. He fumbled his way out of his and Ron's room, not noticing that Ron's bed was empty. He passed Remus on the way to the stairs before noticing that everyone was being oddly quiet, even Tonks, who hadn't tripped over the umbrella stand yet. When Harry got to the bottom of the staircase he noticed that Ginny was leaning against the doorway to the living room with her arms crossed and an almost dreamlike look of contentment on her face as she was looking at something in the room.

"Ginny what…," Harry started to ask with a confused look on his face before Ginny snapped out of her gaze and glared at him.

"Shh…keep your voice down Harry, they're still asleep," Ginny snapped harshly in a whisper as she reluctantly pushed off of the doorframe and walked over to Harry, taking him by the shoulder and then leading him slowly into the living room. Harry wasn't sure if he was still dreaming or wide-awake by the sight that greeted his gaze after allowing Ginny to lead him into the living room. All snuggled up together, under a heavy blanket, were Ron and Hermione, with two mugs of butterbeer resting together on the small table in front of them. The fireplace had an unusually roaring fire in it. As Harry studied the pair he noticed that Hermione looked more content than he had ever seen her, awake or asleep. For his part Ron looked like he had almost found heaven, even though Harry guessed that his best friend would blush a brighter red than any of his Christmas jumpers when he woke up. Gaping at the sight Harry turned to Ginny as if silently asking her how the scene in the living room came to be.

"Got me…I just came downstairs this morning and saw them, mum said that they've been there since last night, Hermione waited up for Ron after he got back from St. Mungro's," Ginny replied softly with a happy smile on her face as she led Harry back out of the living room and into the kitchen.

"You'd best leave them alone until they wake up Harry, Hermione was in a right awful state last night waiting for Ron to come home," Mrs. Weasley added with a worried look on her face before she turned around and went back to preparing breakfast.

"What happened, I heard them rowing but I've gotten so used to it that I just blocked it out and…," Harry asked in a medium whisper as he took a seat next to Ginny and rubbed his eyes.

"Ron found out that Hermione went to Bulgaria and visited Viktor and he…well he didn't take it very well, but then Hermione went and made a joke about how good of a kisser Viktor was and Ron…well he," Ginny stammered out with a slightly nervous look on her face as she looked back and forth between Harry and her mother.

"That son of mine decided that the wall had done him wrong somehow and put his fist through it, broke almost every bloody bone in his hand, just glad the healers were able to fix him up nice and proper for school," Mrs. Weasley replied with a not very pleased scowl on her face as her gaze momentarily darted out of the kitchen and towards the living room.

"Hermione and Viktor, they…," Harry began to mumble with a very surprised look on his face before he popped a bit of toast into his mouth and began to chew.

"No…Hermione just said that to make Ron mad, guess it worked," Ginny corrected quickly with a smile and shrug of her shoulders before she set about buttering her own toast.

"Yeah…a little to well," Harry mumbled back in agreement before Remus walked into the room, carrying with his what looked like three letters, with one tucked away in his back pocket.

"Oh Harry there you are…after Ron's um…rather unfortunate episode with the wall I found these, there's one for you, Ron, and Hermione…from Sirius," Remus stated with a hearty grin on his face at first before he caught Mrs. Weasley's ire and was forced to slip down into a smirk.

"Who's that one for," Ginny asked, unabated, as she pointed at the letter tucked in his back pocket with a double over slice of buttered toast in her hand.

"This one…for me actually, but I'm going to save it for later, here's yours Harry, now don't get that gloomy look on your face, Sirius wrote these for a reason and they should not be taken lightly, now where are Ron and Hermione," Remus stated with a very sad and lonesome smile on his face before he did his best to brighten up and looked about the kitchen.

"They're asleep in the living room Remus Lupin, but don't you dare wake them up for something as simple as a letter, even if it is one from Sirius Black, giving them the letter can wait until they wake up," Mrs. Weasley quickly warned with a stern scowl on her face as he glared at Remus and pointed the wooden spoon in her hand directly at him.

"What letter…," A sleepy and frazzled looking Hermione asked as she yawned deeply while she slowly walked into the kitchen with a half asleep Ron trailing behind her.

"Morning snuggle-bunnies," Ginny announced with a proud grin on her face as she waved a quick good morning to Ron and Hermione before returning her gaze to her plate and taking a big bite of toast.

"What finally woke you two up," Harry quickly interjected with a sheepish smirk on his face as he watched Ginny chew very slowly.

"Ron was hungry," Hermione replied softly, still more than a bit sleepy, as she slid into a seat next to Ginny and rubbed her tired eyes.

"I caught a whiff of mum's cooking and just had to come," Ron confirmed with a hungry smile on his face as he sat down at the table next to Hermione and then yawned deeply.

"How's your hand, Gryffindor doesn't need to find itself a new keeper does it," Harry asked softly with the edges of his mouth beginning to curl up into the beginnings of a wide grin while Ginny shoved the rest of the piece of toast into her mouth to keep from breaking out into a smile. Ron looked suddenly quite stunned at the idea of possibly not playing Quidditch for a moment before he started to give Harry an answer, but was interrupted by Hermione.

"His hand will be fine Harry, completely fine in time for Quidditch practice," Hermione stated with a very sure of her words look on her face before she warmly accepted a plate full of food that Mrs. Weasley handed her, being completely ignorant of the merrily surprised look on Ron's face.

"Enough talk about Quidditch for now, Remus…you were saying something about those letters that you found," Mrs. Weasley quickly stated in a frustrated huff before she set an extra full plate of food down on the table in front of her youngest son.

"Yes…I was, thank you Molly, here Ron…Hermione, these are for you, they're letters to you from Sirius, not found until after you took out your aggressions on that poor wall Ron," Remus said slowly with a nervous look on his face before he handed Ron one of the letters and then the other to Hermione.

"Any idea what's in them," Ron asked, hoping to sound cheerful and that Harry wouldn't get to depressed at the mere mention of his now dead godfather's name, as he turned the letter over and over again in his hands as Hermione closely inspected hers.

"No Ronald I do not know what is written in them, that is for you to find out when you read them," Remus replied with a serious yet somewhat sad look on his face before he bowed low to Mrs. Weasley and walked out of the room, dragging Tonks behind him just before she was about to trip over the umbrella stand for the first time that day.

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After spending most of the day cleaning out the rest of the house, with Ron almost constantly complaining that he couldn't see how there was still some part of the house that hadn't been cleaned yet, they all got to rest. Harry had retreated to Buckbeak's room and refused to let anyone into the room. Ginny had said that she was only going to sit down and rest but not five minutes after sitting down in one of the bigger chairs she was asleep and snoring softly. Mrs. Weasley had gone downstairs to prepare lunch and await Errol with everyone's Hogwarts letters, leaving Ron and Hermione alone upstairs, both staring oddly at their letters from Sirius.

"Should we read them," Ron asked Hermione with a nervous look on his face, almost as if he were expecting the letter to have some kind of magical booby trap on it.

"Probably…Sirius wouldn't have written them if he hadn't wanted us to read them one day," Hermione replied with a small yawn as she shrugged her shoulders and plopped down on the far end of the nearest couch in the next room after the one where Ginny was sleeping in.

"Good, because I already broke the seal on mine," Ron announced with a sheepish grin on his face as he showed Hermione his letter, with the seal broken neatly in two. Immediately after saying the last word Ron half expected Hermione to scold him six ways to Sunday, but he was completely taken aback when she chuckled a bit and walked over and picked her letter up off of the desk.

"Impatient as always…," Hermione mumbled softly under her breath with a happy smile on her face as she walked back over and sat down in one of the large high backed chairs.

"What was that," Ron asked with a confused look on his face as he hopped into the nearest chair and opened up his letter. They sat together in an eerie silence for several minutes, both slowly reading and then rereading their letter, with a careful glance at the other thrown in every few moments after a particular section of the letter. As he neared the end Ron blushed deeply but couldn't help but chuckle a bit, something that caught Hermione's attention though she decided to not immediately ask him about it.

"So what does your letter say," Hermione asked with a dignified expression on her face as she was doing well to hide her curiosity as to what was in Ron's letter after reading her own.

"Nothing much…sorry for dying, look after Harry, don't let him blame himself…tell her…," Ron replied back with a nervous look on his face as he did his best to keep from blushing after almost saying too much.

"So then our letters are nearly…wait, tell her…tell her what…who is this her Ronald," Hermione started to add with a content sigh before the gears began to spin and turn in her head and her insatiable curiosity got the better of her. Ron cringed instantly under her glare before he could come up with a response.

"Got me…you know Sirius Mione…just having some fun at my expense," Ron quickly stammered out with an easily seen cheesy grin on his face before he quickly refolded his letter and jammed it into his back pocket.

"Oh no you don't Ronald Weasley…it's more than that I can tell, wait…I know what's going on here…you fancy someone," Hermione shot back, being very certain that she was not going to let Ron off the hook that easily, standing up and positioning herself directly in front of Ron's chair, pinning him into it with her intense stare.

"N…no one, really Mione…no one but you," Ron quickly stated with a slight look of panic on his face, although very clearly only thinking the last four words in his head. For a few agonizing moments it seemed that Hermione didn't believe him as she continued to stand in one place, intense glare staring him down right through to his very soul. But then she sighed and shrugged her shoulders before turning and walking away, leaving a very confused looking Ron to stare after her.

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The time left before they would all be going back to Hogwarts was fast approaching. Hermione had begun to spend much less time playing and correcting Ron's language and more time studying and finishing her summer homework. As per norm Ron had yet to begin his and Harry had only scribbled a few lines of his first essay. Ginny, hoping to both avoid Hermione's wrath and be free to help Harry with his homework, had started early on her homework and by the time that Hermione had forced the remaining Hogwarts students at 12 Grimmauld Place to do their summer homework she was almost done.

"Can we stop now, my hand feels like it's going to fall off," Ron moaned with a pained look on his face as he used his left hand to massage his sore right wrist, hoping that Hermione would show him a bit of mercy.

"Well then if it does you're just going to have to tape it back on because if we stop now then you'll never get your summer homework done in time for school," Hermione countered with a very stern pout on her face as she whirled around on Ron and stared him down.

"Well what if I don't want to get my summer homework done, what are you going to do then," Ron argued defiantly as he slammed his quill down onto the parchment, which caused a little glob of ink to spill over the word that he had just been trying to remember how to spell, before he stood up and glared right back at Hermione.

"Ronald Weasley you will sit down and finish your essay or else I will hex you into next week," Hermione snapped back with her hackles all riled up as she angrily strode up to Ron and glared right back at him, although with neither noticing that their noses were close to touching that had one of them taken a deep breath their noses would collide. This fact did not go unnoticed by Ginny or Harry, as the former did all that she could do to contain a fit of laughter that suddenly bubbled up from somewhere within her while the latter was torn between laughing himself or separating his two best friends before Hermione made good on her threat.

"Easy Hermione…you to get any closer and I'll start telling everyone at school that I saw you two snogging like…," Harry started to joke with an amused smirk on his face, the first one that either Hermione or Ron had seen on his face since Sirius' death, before Ron and Hermione turned and stared at him with looks on their faces as if Harry had grown a second head.

"Harry," Hermione gasped with a very shocked look on her face as she and Ron quickly took a step back away from each other, although Harry could have sworn that as she spoke her face flushed more brightly red than he had ever seen it. Meanwhile Ron's complexion had seemingly just smashed the land speed record for going from normal to Rudolph's nose red in under a second. To break up the awkwardness of the situation, and to take the focus off of himself, Ron quickly sat back down and elbowed Harry hard in the ribs, something that ended up only causing Ginny to lose her ironclad concentration and burst out laughing while Harry coughed and choked a couple of times and Hermione seemed to be at a complete loss for words as to what exactly to do.

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It was once again just after dark before Ron and Hermione would be in the same room together for more than a few moments. Ever since Harry's odd comments Ron had hidden himself away up in the attic of 12 Grimmauld Place, saying that he wanted to be alone if he was going to get any more homework done. Although his true purpose was that he wanted to be somewhere by himself long enough to read his letter from Sirius again and figure out if he should take the advice written therein and tell Hermione how he felt about her or act as if he had never seen the letter and let things play out how they were destined to. He hadn't noticed that he had fallen asleep until he heard someone softly whisper his name. He propped open an eye and was thankful that it was dark in the attic as he saw Hermione nervously weaving her way through all of the junk in the attic on her way to him from the trap door. Not knowing what to do, and with his heart beating like mad, Ron quickly closed his open eye and did his best to act as if he were still asleep, hoping that Hermione would see that he was asleep and turn and leave. For a few moments it looked as if she would do just that. But then she noticed that Ron had left his letter from Sirius out on the floor just a few inches from his now curled up form. Barely popping an eye open Ron could see the look of uncertainty on Hermione's face as she debated with herself whether or not to red his letter. For a moment Ron thought about waking up just then and snatching the letter away from her before she could get a hand on it. But something made him hold back when she reached down and nervously picked up his letter. Ron noticed that her hand was shaking and that she looked back over her shoulder twice before carefully unfolding the letter and turning it right side up. He hazarded opening his eyes up far enough to watch Hermione as she slowly read his letter from Sirius, her mouth silently forming out each word. When she arrived at the end Ron had to bite his bottom lip to keep from smiling as he saw Hermione blush and have to look away and compose herself lest she tear up. When she politely and carefully set his letter back down on the floor, with Ron quickly shutting his eyes and appearing to be asleep again, he saw his chance. As Hermione slowly and cautiously began to tip toe her way back towards the trap door Ron did his best to quietly stand up and follow her. Just as she was about to get back towards the warm glow of the light coming up through the trapdoor Ron rushed forward and after grabbing Hermione tightly around the waist he lifted her up off of the ground and twirled her around. She responded with a loud and scared shriek of surprise.

"Ronald Weasley, put me down this instant," Hermione exclaimed with a very nervous and shocked look on her face before Ron stopped twirling her around long enough to set her down. What Hermione hadn't counted on was becoming dizzy by Ron swinging her around and around so many times and seconds after Ron had set her down she tried to take a step but ended up crashing into Ron's chest.

"Whoa there Mione," Ron said with a nervous smile on his face as he held Hermione upright until her world stopped spinning and she had regained her balance.

"What was that for Ron, you nearly scared me to death," Hermione demanded with a very unhappy pout on her face as she wheeled around on Ron and glared up at him.

"Hey…it's your fault for reading my letter from Sirius," Ron shot back with a very confidant look on his face as his hands slipped to his hips and he glared, but only lightly, right back at Hermione. For a moment Hermione looked about ready to row like usual, but then her face slid into a full blush and she bit her bottom lip for a bit before finally speaking.

"Oh…you saw that, well I…was just making sure of something…," Hermione finally answered with a nervous smile on her face as she looked up at Ron and took a hesitant step back.

"Oh really, it must have been something very important to make Hermione Granger snoop into someone else's affairs…I wonder what it could be," Ron surmised with an amused smirk on his face even though his heart was racing a mile a minute at the thought of what Hermione's reason might be. He had a hope in his wildest dreams but at this moment he was sure that she was only trying to confirm something that Sirius had told her to do with Harry, mainly protect him and keep him from doing something stupid like blaming himself.

"None of your business," Hermione grumbled back in sharp reply as she stomped her foot and started to turn around and head for the trapdoor but was stopped by the seriousness and sincerity in Ron's voice.

"You wanted to know if Sirius told me to admit my feelings to…," Ron began to say with a very nervous and sincere tone to his voice as he slowly took a step forward and hoped that he could find the courage to continue.

"Me…," Hermione whispered very softly with a scared silly look on her face as she half turned back to look at Ron, doing her utmost to keep the tears that were threatening to pour out of her eyes from doing so.

"Yeah…before a bloody Bulgarian seeker…," Ron began to mumble back with a very scared and embarrassed look on his face as he took a step towards Hermione before she broke in.

"Viktor…," Hermione mumbled softly with a slightly unsure look on her face before she turned fully back around to face Ron, not looking up at him but instead focusing her gaze on a small hair on his shoulder.

"He's a lot smarter than I am…richer to…guess Sirius warning came a bit to late," Ron groaned with a very sad and somber pout on his face as he hung his head and looked as if her were about ready to cry.

"Only if you let it be…Ron, Viktor and I are just friends…but not like you and I, we…," Hermione started to say softly at first before she found a bit more confidence, enough to look Ron in the eye.

"Can't go five bloody minutes with rowing like…," Ron replied back with a nervous look on his face as tears subtly began to form in his eyes.

"Five year olds…yes Ron I have to admit that you can be quite childish at times," Hermione countered with a cheesy smile on her face, one that only grew as her nerves grew.

"Me…I'm not the one that poured that bowlful of mashed potatoes down the back of Ginny's robes last Christmas," Ron shot back with his trademark Weasley grin on his face as he leaned in a bit closer to Hermione.

"I thought that we had agreed to never mention that again, lest she find out that it was me and not you…," Hermione came back with a very serious look on her face at first before she couldn't keep a smile from etching itself upon her face. To further prove her point Hermione lightly poked Ron in the chest, although afterwards she left her hand there, oddly enough right over his heart. She giggled internally as she felt his heart rate quicken at her touch.

"Well it is your fault that now every time that I pick up the bowl of mashed potatoes she glares at me until I pass them off to someone else, you're a bad influence on me Mione," Ron stated with a fake look of anger on his face as he half heartedly glared down at the young woman standing now so close to him.

"I'm a bad influence…you're the one that's always getting me into trouble Ronald Weasley, not the other way around…," Hermione softly whispered back with a fake look of contention on her face as she leaned into Ron a bit more, not noticing that their noses were once again touching.

"Guess I'm just completely incorrigible," Ron mumbled back softly as he and Hermione locked their gazes and edged just a tad bit closer.

"Completely…," Hermione started to reply silently before both did the unexpected and leaned in closer until their lips met.

Twenty minutes later Lupin poked his head up into the attic to tell Ron and Hermione that Harry was looking for them but when he caught sight of them snogging in the far corner he only smiled softly and went back down the stairs, certain to not say a word to anyone until after he had talked to Ron and Hermione about it.

END OF CHAPTER 2