Chap. 5. Together At Last.

Could this really be happening? Was she dreaming? No. Ron Weasley was kissing her, Hermione Granger. She wasn't really sure what she should do, so she did what she wanted to do. She put her arms around his neck and made the kiss more passionate. Ron smiled at this and put his arms around her waist. They were both living a dream.

Harry woke up to find his two best friends kissing. "Finally" he thought. He didn't want to break something so monumental up so he just tiptoed up to the boy's dormitory. He was amazed. After all these years they finally realized their feelings. Ron wasn't as thick as he thought.

He climbed into bed with that vision in his head. He knew he would have to tease them tomorrow.

Hermione broke apart from Ron. Truly she didn't want to but she knew they needed to talk. "Ron, you know we need to talk."

"Yeah, I know." He took her hand and turned around to lead her to the couch and sat down himself. He looked around. "Harry must have gone up to bed." He said as Hermione lay her head down on his shoulder. "So, err… what do you wanna talk about?"

Hermione sighed. "Just everything that's happened. It was all so fast."

"Okay, but first I wanna know what exactly happened." He said as he lay down on the couch. Hermione laid her head down on his chest and told him what happened. When she finished he bolted upright. "SHE WHAT!"

"Calm down Ron." She said in a calming voice while pushing him back down.

He sighed. "Hermione, I'm-"

"If you apologies one more time I swear…"

"What! Hermione Jane Granger would swear! I wish I had a camera." He said as a sly grin slid across his face.

"You'd be surprised." She muttered under breath, a smile creeping onto her face.

Then it went quiet, but not an awkward silence. This one was totally relaxing and Hermione didn't want to be anywhere but where she was, lying on Ron's chest with his arms around her. Soon they were both fast asleep, dreaming peaceful dreams in each other's embrace, neither aware about the rude awakening they were going to get in the morning.

When Harry woke that morning he realized there was, once again, no snoring. "But isn't Hermione out of the hospital wing?" he tried to think of where Ron could be, but nothing came to mind. Finally he went downstairs, but what he saw was a total surprise. Hermione was lying on Ron's chest and smiling while Ron had his arms wrapped around her in a tight embrace. Harry thought of all the things he could do to them, but seeing as they're his best friends, and everyone was going to be down for breakfast in about an hour, he decided to wake them.

He walked over to the couch and bent his head close to Hermione's ear. "As nice as this seen is, I'm gonna have to break it up."

That did it. She jumped up and made Ron fall to the ground and pull her down with him. "Bloody hell Hermione! Next time try not to scream directly in my ear!"

Harry started laughing. Ron obviously hadn't known he was there because he jumped up and spun around so fast he just fell back down. This made Harry laugh harder. Only he realized something, he wasn't laughing alone. He turned around to see Ginny doubled over from laughing.

She got up and wiped a tear from her eye. "Graceful Ron."

Harry was aware he was red in the face but couldn't do anything about it. "Er… what are you doing up so early?"

"I'm going to the owlery."

"Ron, get off me!"

Harry had forgotten about Hermione. "Hermione! How are you feeling?"

Ron was now helping her to her feet. "I've been better."

Ginny seemed to be overcome with a fit of giggles she was trying to suppress. Hermione just glared at her then looked down at her watch and jumped. "Oh my God! Is that the time!" and with that she sprinted up the stairs.

Ginny turned to them red in the face from laughing. "Well, I guess I'll see you guys later." And with that she turned and left through the portrait hole.

Harry looked at Ron. "Do I want to know why I found you in such a lovely position?"

Ron turned a deep shade of magenta. "Lay off Harry." And with that he went up to the boy's dormitory with Harry at his heels.

A noticed appeared on the notice board later that day. 'Hogsmade trip this weekend. If you are attending this trip please notify your Head of House.' Everyone was excited and talking about who they were going with. Of course Ron already knew.

He was spending the whole day with Hermione. Right now they were outside by the lake just sitting and talking. Even though it was January it didn't feel like it. The sun shown hot on their backs as they sat there. Across the lake Hagrid was attending to his garden with Fang lying in the sun.

Ron looked down at Hermione and asked, "You know there's a Hogsmade trip this weekend, right?"

She looked up at him and smiled. "Yeah, I know."

He suddenly turned very red in the face. "Well I thought… you know…"

Hermione smiled. Of course she knew, but she wanted to hear him say it. "What Ron?" she said, a smile was curling onto her lips.

If possible, he turned a deeper shade of red. "Well I was wondering if you would, you know, like to go with me."

Hermione was over come with giggles. "I would like that a lot." And with that she looked up and kissed him.

The week flew by pretty fast and before anyone knew it, it was the weekend. All the students who could, were going to Hogsmade. Harry was off with Neville in some of the shops while Ron and Hermione sat in a little booth in the corner of the Three Broom Sticks. Lavender kept shooting glares in their direction, but Ron kept shooting them right back. Hermione was starting to feel a little uncomfortable, not that she hadn't been all week. She had to send a few curses Lavenders way more them once.

She looked up at Ron. "Can we leave? It's starting to get a bit stuffy in here."

"Sure."

As they passed by Lavender on their way out she whispered just loud enough for Hermione to hear, "I'll get you."

Ron just glared at her and led Hermione out of the pub. She was getting worried that Lavender would actually do something soon. It wasn't the first threat she got this week, and usually when she went up to her dorm Lavender and Pavarti were whispering about something and when they realized she was there they would leave. Of course she hadn't told Ron. She was afraid he would do something drastic.

"Are you okay?"

Hermione jumped a little. "Oh, yeah. I was just thinking."

"About what?"

"It's nothing. Lets go to Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop."

He didn't look like he believed her, but didn't say anything about it. He knew Lavender did something, but didn't want to falsely accuse her. He'd find out soon enough.

Ron and Hermione went back to the castle about dinnertime. As they were passing the Great Hall Hermione said she wasn't hungry and that Ron should go eat, she'd be in the common room when he came back. Ron looked worried but didn't say anything.

Hermione went up the stairs but instead of going to the Gryffindor tower she headed for the library. The halls were crowded from people who had finished dinner already or were just heading down so she decided to take a short cut.

When she was walking down a hidden corridor she heard an unpleasant voice. "Where do you think you're going?" As she turned around she saw Lavender standing at the other end of the corridor. She took out her wand but Lavender was quicker. "Expelliarmus" she was unarmed in a dark corridor that not many people know about.

She tried to keep her voice from cracking. "What do you want?"

"You know what I want. I want my revenge. You stole my boyfriend!"

Now she was panicking. Lavender was an okay spell caster, but when it came to revenge it wasn't pretty. "Lavender you're being ridiculous."

"Am I, or are you just scarred I'll get you again?"

"Lavender-"

"Incar-"

"Expelliarmus!" Lavender was blasted into the wall and fell to the ground unconscious. Hermione looked up and saw Ron coming towards her with Harry not to far behind.

Ron wrapped his arms around Hermione and she sobbed into his shoulder. "Shhh. It's okay. Just tell me what happened."

Hermione lifted her head off his shoulder. "W-well she's been th-threatening m-me for the p-past week, a-and e-even in t-the Three Br-broom Sticks. S-she said she'd g-get me."

Ron, if possible, held her closer. "Well it's okay. It's over now."

"She's just unconscious. She'll wake up soon. We can just leave her. Let's go up to the common room." Harry said as handed Hermione back her wand. Ron kept his arm around Hermione and they made their way to the common room.

When they got there Harry went straight up to the boy's dorm. Ron, however, took Hermione over to the couch and sat down. Hermione curled up next to him and rested her head on his shoulder. "So much is happening so fast."

"I know and I'm sorry. If I hadn't dated Lavender in the first case then none of this would have happened."

"Don't blame yourself Ron. She's just a bit touched in the head."

Ron chuckled. "Yeah. I gotta be more careful picking who I date." He gave her hand a little squeeze.

Hermione smiled to herself. She liked this side of Ron. When he's like this he's sweet, caring, and she wouldn't want to be anywhere but here.

Harry was lying on his bed staring at the ceiling. His stomach grumbled loudly to remind him that he had skipped dinner. He got up and went over to his trunk and pulled out his invisibility cloak. He pulled it on before he went down the steps. When he got into the common room he saw Ron and Hermione snuggling. He quietly crept past them and out the portrait hole.

He just turned the corner when he ran into something hard. He caught himself before he feel but what ever he hit fell. When he looked down he saw Ginny on the ground looking where he would be standing if he weren't invisible. Slowly she reached up and pulled his cloak off to reveal a very red Harry.

"Hey Gin. What are you doing here?"

Ginny smiled. "Getting food from the kitchens. I suspect that's what you're doing since I didn't see you at dinner."

"Yeah. I was to busy playing hero."

Ginny looked scared. "Why! What happened! Is everyone alright!"

Harry laughed. "Nothing happened, well yes something happened, but it wasn't a big problem. Lavender had Hermione cornered in a dark corridor. We got there just in time."

"When you say 'we' I assume you mean you and Ron."

"Yeah."

"I'm so happy their finally going out."

"Took them long enough." Harry said smiling. "You wanna get something to eat with me?"

Ginny smiled. "I would like that very much." And with that they went to the kitchens, just the two of them.

End Chapter 5.

(A/N): omg! I m sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo (yeah I cant fit it all on there) sorry! I was distracted! I had a lot to do and everything was happening so fast! Thanx for all the reviews! Please know that I'm sorry beyond all belief and please keep reading! I'll try to update sooner!