Summary: Hermione and Ron find themselves stuck in a Labyrinth. If they're going to get out, they'll have to learn to work together. But once they do, what will happen when they discover much more than meets the eye?

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 7: Underwater and Deeper Into Each Other

Ron opened the silver handle and groaned when he looked down. He angrily stomped on the hard wooden floor, and looked further into the room. He and Hermione were on a ledge—again! How horribly has the Labyrinth tortured them? Extremely, deeply. He suddenly smiled when he realized what he was looking down at. It was a clear lake of some kind.

Hermione on the other hand, walked carefully to the right hand side of the ledge and examined the crates. There were several wooden crates. On the topmost crate, there was a piece of paper.

It said "Key".

"Ron, have a look at this", she called out.

Ron carefully moved towards Hermione and looked over her shoulder at the scrawny piece of paper in her perfect…smooth…beautifully taken-care-of hands. Wait! What was he thinking..? They were normal hands…8 fingers, 2 thumbs—a small golden ring on the left ring finger and clean cut nails—just like any other girl's.

"The Labyrinth must be affecting my mind!" he thought.

"Hey Ron, help me out with these crates", Hermione said, and she pulled one out in front of her.

Ron came over and opened the crate. There were tubes and metal canisters. Hermione looked at them and immediately recognized them.

"Diving Gear!" she squealed, "Ooh!" She took out two canisters and 2 tubes, "Ron, open the others"

There were several crates. The second one contained what Hermione called "goggles". The third one contained "flippers"

"Wow, you have weird names for your things", Ron said as he opened the fourth.

"Oh-Em-Geeee!" Hermione squealed again, when it was finally open. She bit her lip excitedly as she took out some brand new swimsuits out of the crate. She handed Ron some swimming trunks.

"Wha—", Ron said, "Why are you so ditzy today, Hermione?"

"I love these! These are my favorite brand", Hermione said. Her thoughts returned to the piece of paper and what was on it.

"I think we have to dive down there"—she pointed to the lake—"—and find a key of some sort"

Her eyes darted to the left side of the ledge. There was a red door. Ron ran carefully to it, but it wouldn't open. He went back to Hermione, and Hermione smiled. "It's not that easy, you know?"

"Okay", Hermione said, "We need a place to change"

Suddenly the Magical Porta-potty (or Porta-Loo) appeared out of nowhere and shook the ledge. Ron held Hermione's hand, and when they got over the shock of the sudden 'earthquake', they went inside the Porta potty and changed into their bathing suits.

Hermione emerged out of the Ladies' room wearing a blue one-piece suit with swirls of bright orange. Ron came out wearing swimming trunks that matched his hair. Deep inside, Ron sort of hoped that Hermione would wear the red bikini—aww, too bad.

He rolled his eyes as Hermione studied him. "Color coordinating, are we?"

"Yes, in fact I am", he replied, "and you?"

"Nope", Hermione grinned, "Hold on, let me put the gear on you"

Hermione helped him with the flippers and the goggles while explaining what they were used for.

"Ron, stay still"

Hermione went out to get the canisters, which were oxygen tanks enough for an hour, but found they weren't there anymore. She peeked below the ledge and discovered that they were there beside the lake. There was a carved ladder in the stone so they could climb down.

Hermione called Ron out of the Porta-potty they carefully climbed down. Ron went first and he had to remove the flippers before going down. When he reached the bottom, he put them on again and watched Hermione climb down…with her perfect body, perfect hair…

Then he realized that Hermione was tapping her feet in front of him and waiting for him to stand up.

"Oh, yeah", he said. He wondered why he was thinking of Hermione non-stop…maybe he liked her.

"Naah!" he thought to himself, "Impossible"

Hermione had liked tapping her foot in front of Ron. It had given her a chance to appreciate his flaming red hair, and his funny expression—which she kind of liked. Maybe she liked Ron—maybe.

"Impossible, I don't like him!" Hermione thought.

Hermione came over and helped Ron put on his oxygen tank. Ron found it heavy and Hermione found it cute that he struggled with standing up. Giving up, he sat down and waited for Hermione to put on hers.

"I could need some help, you know?" Hermione said impatiently.

"Oh—yeah sure"

Feeling embarrassed, Ron stood up and helped her. He put it on carefully. She smelled like heaven. Her hair felt so soft when his hand accidentally brushed against it.

Then, Hermione thought him how to breathe through the tube. Ron learned quickly and nodded, and they got ready to dive.

"Look for the key—but we have to stick together", Hermione said.

Everything seemed to make sense when she said it.

Hermione gave a small smile, and led him towards the shore. They slowly walked deeper into the water and soon they were underwater. Hermione led him past weeds. They looked everywhere.

The lake was bigger than it seemed. They looked through seaweed, under rocks—everywhere. There wasn't any sign of life in the lake—well, except for the plants, but that was it. They looked in crevices and in small cracks…they weren't even sure what kind of key they were looking for. They dug in the underwater sand and found a few rocks—no key.

Also, they were running out of time. They had less than fifteen minutes left for them to find a key.

There was nothing. Hermione led Ron towards a higher ground (which was in a cave) that she found…suddenly there was a loud beeping about 30 meters from the cave. Hermione checked the oxygen level. Gone.

She couldn't breathe. They were way below the surface to reach it, and Ron gave her and alarming look. He quickly pulled her towards the cave. As they neared it, Hermione was about to faint. Ron squeezed her hand, and he thought of giving him his oxygen, then there was a another series of beeping. His air was gone as well. He quickly pulled off his oxygen tank and he swam as fast as he could to the cave's shore. He pulled Hermione onto the shore, and to his horror—she was lying unconscious.

His mind quickly reflected on everything that happened. This was his mistake… He quickly pushed lightly on her stomach, and some water came out. He squeezed her hand. He knew nothing much about Muggle healing. He was so desperate. He pumped out a little more water out of her. She wouldn't wake up.

He breathed heavily. Why couldn't it have been him? Why? He looked up as if talking to someone up there. "Why me?" he whispered, asking the fates for something better.

He thought of something: resuscitation…mouth-to-mouth. He shook his head at the thought. "No thanks" then, his eyes darted to Hermione.

She was lying unconscious: eyes closed, mouth open…desperately in need of help.

After all, it wasn't really kissing…

He took a deep breath and leaned in, after every three seconds, he checked to see if Hermione was awake already. Every time, he saw no sign of consciousness and tried again. Then, Hermione's eyes opened. She held Ron's hand, and feebly squeezed it.

"Thanks", Hermione said, and she carefully stood up. Ron wiped his mouth.

"I can't believe you did that for me…" Hermione said a few minutes later.

"Right. But we still haven't found the key"

"It's getting late. Let's try again tomorrow, okay?"

-

They set up camp in the cave, as far from the shore as they could get. Ron went to the other side of the shore, and took both of their packs. He helped Hermione with her sleeping bag, and they took out the Never-Ending Chicken, and they ate some finger foods. They hadn't realized that they were so hungry until they ate up all of it and started sipping the Just-Enough Juice like crazy.

There was that awkward silence again.

"Oh, I wish he'd just talk to me", Hermione couldn't help but think.

"I kissed her! I kissed Hermione!" Ron thought.

So, sad to say, no progress. They remained silent for the rest of the night.

Hermione nodded at Ron, and he acknowledged it. Then, she crawled inside her sleeping bag and fell asleep.

Ron was just as tired as Hermione, but he couldn't get to sleep.

"What will she think of me tomorrow?"

-

They were awakened by the thud of the magic porta-potty/loo. Ron scratched his head and sat up, yawned, and then quickly entered the Porta Loo.

Hermione turned, faced the ceiling of the cave, and tried to recall what happened the day before. It wasn't long until she stood up too.

Hermione showered quickly, and she changed into a new swimsuit as well. This time, it was the red bikini Ron had secretly wanted her to wear. She didn't really like all the other ones in the closet, so she settled for the red one. She wrapped a towel around her waist, and sat on a chair beside the pool.

Ron opted to take a long, warm bath. This was because he was really cold from the night before, but mainly because he still didn't know how to talk to Hermione about what happened last night.

Soon enough, he found himself practicing some lines.

"Hermione, about last night… does it count as a kiss?"

Silence.

"No, that's not right…"

"Hermione, last night…did you feel anything?"

"Of course not, she was unconscious"

Deep breath.

"Hermione…", he started again, hoping this time it would sound right.

"Yes?" Hermione answered from outside.

"Hermione?" Ron's heart sank. She had heard everything he said…maybe.

"Ron, are you alright?"

"Yeah, yes I am, yeah…of course I am, of course"

"Hurry up then, I want to go for a swim with you", Hermione's impatient voice answered.

Ron's eyes lit up. So maybe she hadn't heard it.

He quickly washed off the soap and shampoo, and dressed into some swimwear.

-

Ron entered the room with the pool. The pool itself was huge, and it was surrounded by several comfortable-looking chairs, and a small self-service bar.

Hermione had her back turned to the entrance, so all Ron could see was her beautiful brown hair.

"Hermione?" Ron called.

Hermione turned her head. "Yes?"

Ron saw the bikini. Bliss.

"Wow…you look…"

"Oh shut up, Ron. I didn't really have any choice"

"Riiiiight", Ron grinned.

Then he remembered the mouth-to-mouth.

Ron focused on not tripping. He made it to the pool without slipping. Hermione smiled.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Hermione—Hermione…about last night…"

"Yes…?"

"Wh—when you were unconscious…"

"You gave me mouth-to-mouth"

"…yeah"

"Thanks Ron"

"I hope you didn't take it personally…"

"Oh of course not…" Hermione said, although her voice faltered.

"Great, you're welcome; by the way", Ron answered quickly, although his voice faltered too.

Then Hermione started crying.

"Ron, all I could think about for the past few days is you saving me…and all I could do is say thank you. I've been really mean to you before the maze, and now I just feel like I owe you a lot for saving me tons of times now"

"You've saved me too…", Ron said.

Hermione forced a grin, and then her face fell. "It's not enough", she said, and she got out of the pool.

Hermione sat down on her sleeping bag, and started putting back the food into the packs.

"Hermione, are you alright?"

"We better start looking again", she said, trying not to break down again.

"Okay then—"

He was interrupted by a loud sound. He wheeled around, and the Porta Loo was gone.

Hermione stood up and put in the sleeping bags into the packs, and she picked one up.

"I'll take it Hermione. You must be tired still", he took it gently from Hermione. Hermione smiled.

Hermione bit her lip, took a few steps closer to Ron. She drew in some breath. Then, she leaned closer, and kissed him lightly.

Ron was surprised.

"Thank you", Ron said with a lot of uncertainty, not sure how to take a kiss.

They started towards the exit of the cave, and then Ron suddenly tripped.

Hermione gasped, and she scrambled to help Ron up.

When Ron finally stood up, under the weight of the packs, his eyes were wide. He took Hermione's hand, and led her to a spot in the damp sand where a shiny golden key lay.

-

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A/N: Look, I'm really sorry it took so long. I'll really try to type in a chapter a day, IF YOU REVIEW.

Angela Dawne- you're welcome!

Xxkatherinexx- this was pretty romantic, I guess

Panda-monium- oh no, I LOVE your complaints

Goodgirl13- sorry for the wait. Hope you enjoyed this one.

Chuckles-d-hobbit- I have finals coming up! Aaaah! Thanks for the review. I hope you review this one!

Katsura- I guess. Lol.

Blacktears-animated monster…hmmm…?

King Harold- thank you so much!

Goldenflower- thank you as well

Jakmakai- sorry if this update took so long!

Coco-pop- I so agree.

Deep blue quill- thank you.

Thinkingofaname- I guess they DO like each other!

Please review!

-punknpotter