Summary: Hermione and Ron find themselves stuck in a Labyrinth. The thing is, as they get deeper and deeper into the labyrinth, they begin to fall deeper and deeper in love.

Rating: PG

Pairing: Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger

Disclaimer: I do not, did not and never will own Harry Potter.

The Labyrinth of Love

Chapter 5: Lighting the Darkness

As they pushed themselves through the green doorway, they immediately closed their eyes and opened them up again. It was still dark. Everything was dark. Everything.

The only light they could see was a small flicker of fire on the torch hanging on the wall farther along. They started walking towards it, and felt like something was happening. The light seemed farther and farther…suddenly, the walls closed in, and their noses were just inches away from the torch. Below the torch was a piece of paper. They kneeled down and read it.

Dark is for sleep, rest and relax

Take what you need: Bed, water, snacks

But when you wake, be careful and alert

Get through this room and get on to the third

"There's no bed, nor water or even snacks!" exclaimed Ron, "How the bloody hell—"

"Ron!" hissed Hermione, "Shut up!"

She put her hand up in front of his face, and he backed away a little. She looked around. She had heard something moving. She wasn't sure if it came from the ground, from the walls, or from the ceiling. All she knew is that there was something going on. There was a sort of scuttling noise. They stood up.

Ron heard it too. He opened his mouth to say something, but he decided to press his ears against the wall. It was cold. Everything was. He held his hand to the fire. There was no heat at all. It was just cold, and breeze hit him. He shivered a little.

Hermione looked at him, in a queer and concerned way. It couldn't be seen in the dark, but Ron's ears turned so red. Hermione knelt down again and pressed her ear against the cold ground. Something under there was moving…and she quickly stood up, backing away against Ron, who held her arms tightly. They backed away further and pressed their backs against the cold hard wall next to the piece of paper.

"What was that?" Ron whispered.

"I honestly don't know, Ron!" Hermione said.

Hermione took her pack from her back. It was darkish, and she held it out to the torch and, she pulled out some things. The first one was a small box. She smiled instantly. She knew what it was.

"Ron, move aside", she said, and she pressed a red button on the box.

Then, she threw the box on the ground. Ron squinted, and then grinned. The box had contained a small sleeping bag. From the small light of the torch, Hermione managed to pull it nearer and fix it up.

Ron was already taking out a similar box from his pack. He pressed the button, and a small sleeping bag was laying a few inches away from Hermione's.

He laid it out properly beside hers and smoothed it out. Hermione was rummaging inside her pack again. She had pulled out a small pouch. From that pouch were some pills and capsules.

"What's this?"

"Magic first aid", Hermione said, currently preoccupied. She pulled out a small Styrofoam thing where you put the food in parties, or when you take out from a Chinese restaurant. She opened it up, and the delicious smell of food filled the air.

"Mmm", Ron said, "Never-ending chicken!"

"What?"

"You've never heard of this?" Ron said, "You could buy it in Ireland for a fortune…it's like this box that never runs out of food"

"Chicken for the rest of your life?" Hermione said skeptically.

"No," Ron explained, "It's just what they call it. As soon as you finish a meal, a new one appears in five minutes"

"Handy", Hermione whispered, and she took a spork from the pack. She started eating the meal. It was a sort of noodle dish, which tasted unusually good. Ron did the same, and soon they were eating non-stop. They suddenly slowed down about ¾ into the dish, and they started taking involuntary glances at each other. Everything was silent; each one was too afraid to speak.

"This is silly," Hermione thought, and she turned to Ron. Ron was staring out at the darkness, sort of desperate to find something more.

"Hermione", Ron spoke, "I'm sorry"

"For what?" Hermione said, suddenly surprised. She didn't think that Ron was the type of person who said sorry. She didn't even know why he was saying sorry.

"That I opened the door", Ron said.

"But I told you to"

"But I shouldn't have", Ron argued, and he put his Styrofoam box down and slinked inside his sleeping bag.

"I'm sorry, Hermione", Ron said, "I really am"

"You shouldn't be, okay?" Hermione said angrily, "You shouldn't be"

She herself slunk inside her own sleeping bag and pushed her hair away from her face. Hermione was feeling red all over, and extremely angry. Ron didn't have a reason to feel sorry. Hermione wanted this…or did she? Though she didn't want to think about it, she felt scared and lonely. Ron wasn't someone she could talk to, and she wasn't even sure if she wanted to talk to him. She couldn't even really start an interesting conversation. She and Ron were complete opposites, aside from the fact that they were so-called best friends.

Hermione turned to Ron, and propped her hand up under her chin. Ron was already sleeping. His back was turned to Hermione.

Ron was not asleep. He closed his eyes in favor of an imaginary land with rainbow-ish colors and bright happy sunshine, perfect for quidditch. He was sort of desperate a while ago, trying to apologize to Hermione. She had kept on saying that it wasn't his fault, but he felt like it entirely was. Hermione wasn't really that close to Ron. She didn't know the real Ron. All she saw was this idiot who played quidditch and faked divination homework. Ron vowed, that he was going to make Hermione see the real him, even if it meant having a proper conversation.

Hermione slept well that night, but Ron twisted and turned in his sleep, for some dream. Hermione woke up Ron. Everything was silent again, and it was still dark. Ron sleepily opened his eyes.

Suddenly, the lights came on. About twenty different torches lit up in different corners of the room. The thing is, Ron and Hermione had to shut their eyes again, and get used to the brightness. When they opened their eyes, they felt like they wanted to close them again, but they didn't. The torches glowed different colors. Some were blue, or pink, purple or red…every color that you could imagine. They all created a glowing rainbow that reflected on the floors. The floors; they finally looked down to see the floor. It was a glassy sort of white, quite pearly, and one was able to see one's reflections. There was something else about that floor. It was made to look like pieces of a puzzle. Hermione turned to Ron who just shrugged. Ron's eyes darted to the wall.

It was moving farther and farther away again, and then suddenly there was a loud crack coming from the floor, and a piece of the puzzle-like floor came off and floated in mid air for awhile, then it zoomed towards Ron and Hermione. Hermione grabbed Ron's hand and they ducked. The puzzle piece hit the wall and fell to the ground, shattered into a thousand pieces.

When Ron and Hermione stood, Hermione was still clutching Ron's hand. They noticed this, and then they quickly pulled away. They both walked to the part of the room where the piece came out of. They were both blushing furiously. Hermione knelt down. She saw nothing. It was an empty space below, all darkness. She started to bring her arm closer and closer and push it in the emptiness, but Ron stopped her.

He grabbed her hand, and said "Don't"

"Ron—"

"You said it yourself Hermione, anything can happen"

"Still…"

Ron gave in, but he didn't let Hermione's hand go. Instead, he put his own hand in. It was cold. He pushed it in the crack deeper, and he felt water. With his hands he formed a cup and took some. He splashed his face, and felt the best feeling in the world. He felt so refreshed, and so renewed, and so happy.

Hermione looked at him curiously and she put her own hand in. She took a careful sip of the water. It was the best water she had ever tasted. She wasn't even sure if it was water, but it was a clear, odorless liquid with a delicious taste.

Then, Hermione began to feel dizzy, and she suddenly blacked out.

"Hermione!" Ron whispered hoarsely.

He felt her hand. It was very, very cold. Ron started to worry. He bit his lower lip and started to look around the rainbow colored room. Then he remembered. He took the pack from the floor and opened it up. He took out some of the pills and capsules, and looked at each one with a confused look.

Finally, he did 'eenie meenie minee moe' and took a bluish pill. He slowly held up Hermione's chin and opened her mouth, putting the pill under her tongue. It made her tongue turn the same hue as the pill, and slowly, it made Hermione entirely blue. Her hair remained brown, but everything else was a light shade of blue.

Ron breathed. He remembered that this was what was supposed to happen. He laid Hermione down on her sleeping bag and he waited.

After a few hours, Hermione awoke. Her eyes darted to her arm. It was blue! Then, it faded to a pink, then to peach, then to the color it was supposed to be.

Ron was sleeping. He became tired of watching Hermione, and he had dozed off at some point. Beside him, the Styrofoam box was still full of beef and rice. Hermione watched Ron as she ate the rest of the beef.

Ron lifted an arm and rubbed his eyes. When he opened them, Hermione was sitting by his sleeping bag, watching over him. She set down the Styro box and she came up to him.

"Are you okay?" she asked him.

"Are you?"

"Fine", she said cheerily, "Thanks…again"

Ron looked away and started crawling towards the crack on the floor. With his bare hands, he took another puzzle piece away. Inside were pieced of blank parchment. He pocketed them, and took another piece of the puzzle.

Hermione did the same, although she had no idea what they were looking for.

"We're looking for a key", Ron said blankly, as if he read Hermione's mind.

"For what?"

Ron pointed to a far corner of the room. There was a bright green door.

"I've been there. We need a key", Ron said.

They searched and searched for a key, finding different things in each puzzle piece. They found some stones, broken CDs, slippers, and popcorn. Finally, they opened each puzzle piece. They had not found a key.

Hermione had started digging through the popcorn, and Ron had started rummaging through some little pieces of clothing that looked like they belonged to a doll. They had searched through every useless thing, and they found nothing. Finally, they gave up.

In frustration, Hermione walked to the door, and started trying to pull it open. Ron had started to fix the things in his pack. He had figured out how to fix up the sleeping bag and he had put it inside when his hand brushed against something hard and rough.

He took it out. It was a small package wrapped in some rough parchment. He opened it up. An old, tarnished, silver key fell out. He smiled widely and called Hermione to come over.

"Hermione!" he shouted.

"Yeah?" she said, depressed.

"I found it"

Hermione smiled wider than Ron, and she ran over to take the key. She pocketed it then started fixing her own pack. Together, they walked to the door, grinning widely at each other.

Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad after all.

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Thanks for all of your awesome reviews! I'm really sorry I wasn't able to update. Our computer's internet connection failed, and y'all know the rest. Aside from that, I got writer's block. Boo to me.

Panda- it rhymes to me…thanks anyway.

Photochick- thank you so much. You've been reviewing like crazy

Bellarose- thank you, and yes, you are quite special…

Siriusrocks- sorry you had to wait so long.

Relaxing picachu- Right! That's my goal exactly

Psychick- thank you. :)

Anon11- oooh, you again…!hehe.

Esrb- I have about 20 chapters planned, maybe more. No sequel, maybe. I'm not really sure at this point

King Harold- I totally agree. I hate those kinds of fics.

Chuckles- thank you…yup, quite off. About 20 chapters?

Goldenflower- I like DMHG fics, but I still find interest in reading rwHg ones. So I wrote one.

Sasami tombo- I'm sorry if you find this chapter short as well, but that's how I write fics.

Belanna- the 'click' isn't for another few chapters. They cant fall in love just like that, can they?

Deep blue quill- I really don't know if there are going to be any monsters. I write plots as I type. I just go with the flow, so I'm not really sure. As for the green, I'm not sure either. I just like green…nothing special.

Sailorhermy- thank you. I lurve detail.

Ablondehermione- hope you're not dead yet…

Celi- thank you for your review!

I LOVE YOU ALL

Please review, or I shan't post the next one…I'm really busy. ;)