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 8: Love in Outer Space

The door from the room with the lake opened into a small room, about the size of a comfort room cubicle. It smelled of mint. On the right wall, there was a red button, surrounded by a sheet of steel. Above that button, there was a sign.

Press Me.

Ron glanced at Hermione, Hermione glanced back. "Well?" Hermione said impatiently, "press it then"

Ron nervously reached for the button and pressed it lightly…nothing happened.

"Oh let me do it"

Hermione pressed it once and then suddenly, the wall disappeared, and it was replaced by a glass case with some Astronaut suits inside.

"Why me?" Ron thought out loud.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Focus, Ron", she said, "How do we get them out"

poof

A sign appeared right in the middle of the glass case.

Kick Me.

Hermione backed up, getting ready to kick.

"Hermione, let me do it", Ron said, and he kicked the glass as hard as he could. There was a shattering noise, but there weren't any shards of glass on the bright blue floor. It just disappeared. Hermione, however, was surprised by the loud sound, and she backed up against Ron, who found the situation amazing. Hermione's hair smelled so good, and it sort of tickled his nose…

Hermione blushed and quickly moved toward the glassless case, and Ron smoothed out his clothes. Hermione took out two of the suits. She gave one to Ron, who reluctantly took it and examined it. Hermione quickly put hers on, then she noticed that Ron was having some trouble.

Ron took the suit, and tried to put one foot into it. "Oomph!"

"Here Ron, let me help you"

"No it's okay…", Ron said sheepishly.

"Ron, I don't think we have any time for this, let me help you"

She took the suit in her left hand, and she held Ron's hand with her right. Ron's knees suddenly felt so weak, although Hermione's grip felt so light. She helped Ron put his left foot in, and the suit felt so new to him that he took a step back, but fell forward instead. Hermione caught him just in time, and grinned. He quickly inserted his other foot, and Hermione helped him with the arms and zipped him up.

"Thank you"

"You're welcome," Hermione said promptly, "Could you help me too?"

She turned her back on him and he saw that her suit wasn't zipped yet. "I can't reach it, so could you zip it up for me, Ron?"

"Uh—yeah, sure"

He zipped it up a few centimeters, but her beautiful brown hair was in the way. He considered pushing it away, but instead, he said, "Hermione, could you push your beautif, your hair away please?"

Hermione took her hair, and moved it over her shoulders. Ron could see her neck, and couldn't help but wonder why she smelled so good. After a few seconds, he realized that he had been staring at her neck…he then quickly zipped her up, and stood straight, looking around the room, his ears turning red.

Hermione then started looking around too, well, it looked like she was…but she was really trying to recall the feel of Ron's hand near her neck. It was so gentle, as if he was trying to assemble a ship in a bottle. He zipped her up so delicately, and so carefully. He even asked her to move away her hair, as if he was afraid to touch her. Why has she been feeling so differently about Ron? Was this a side-effect of the Labyrinth?

She exhaled. "How do we get out?" she said finally.

poof

There was another sign, on the wall opposite the door they came through.

Push me.

Hermione attempted to push the wall, but nothing happened. Ron helped her out, and the wall was pushed farther. Hermione grinned at Ron, although he didn't notice. They pushed harder until the wall disappeared into thin air. Hermione and Ron fell forward onto the rocky ground of who-knows-where.

Then they saw the sign.

Welcome to Pluto! Population as of NOW: 0

They stood up.

Welcome to Pluto! Population as of NOW: 2

Hermione was beginning to get really confused. They couldn't really be on Pluto, could they? I mean, nobody has ever gone to Pluto, right? She looked over to Ron, who sat down on some rock. Then she felt it, it was COLD! Freezing cold, and she didn't know what to do. She only had the packs with her, and so far, the only thing that could provide even a little warmth was the sleeping bag, and she didn't think it would be enough.

"Hermione," Ron called, "It's freezing, freezing…"

Hermione suddenly panicked. It seemed like the temperature was dropping, and it was getting even colder. What more, it was so dark there. Funnily enough, although Hermione didn't see them before, there were street lights scattered around the bare ground of the planet.

Ron suddenly jumped from the rock he was sitting on.

"Burning, burning, hot! Hot!"

Hermione looked down to see the rock glowing, and suddenly there was a loud sound coming from around the rock and the rock was replaced by what looked like a huge Tupperware. Hermione slowly lifted the lid to reveal a two pieces of parchment.

Ron took the smaller piece and Hermione examined the bigger one.

Ron held the parchment in his hands. On it was a sketch of what looked like a small crystal. Hermione's parchment had a rhyme written on it. Personally, Hermione was getting so sick of poems.

Look for crystals, there are three

If back on earth you want to be

One is as blue as the deep blue sea

For a box containing a key

To open a sphere with sparkling green

In order to find crystal three

"Three crystals? If finding them is as hard as finding the key in that other room…", Ron started to say.

"We don't really have a choice, do we?" Hermione responded.

"I guess not, Hermione, we better start looking"

"The first good idea I've heard from you Ron", Hermione grinned, and she started to fold up the parchment.

Hermione and Ron started looking around. The ground was quite solid, so the crystal couldn't have been hidden anywhere underground.

After about thirty minutes, Ron was starting to get frustrated and Hermione was becoming impatient.

Hermione took out the parchment again, but she couldn't read it because she was far from a lamp, so she moved the paper to another angle, towards the light.

Flick.

Something happened with the paper. The writing seemed to change. Hermione was surprised and she moved the angle of the paper away from the light, and back again. She discovered that if you put the paper at the correct angle, another set of clues appeared. She was wrong. There was no new set, technically. There was only one word:

Metamorphic.

"Metamorphic, metamorphic…", Hermione whispered, "Ron! Help me think, Ron…"

"I have no idea what that is, Hermione", Ron admitted.

"I've heard...no—metamorphic, metamorphic…Meta—", Hermione then remembered: "Rocks!"

"What?" Ron said, confused.

"There are three kinds of rocks", Hermione explained, "Igneous, Sedimentary and Metamorphic"

Hermione hung her head, and sat down on one of the rocks near to her.

"There must be millions of rocks here", Hermione said.

"What do you mean?"

"Clearly, Ron, what we are looking for is inside a brittle rock", Hermione said, "but I don't know where to start"

Ron took out the small piece of parchment and looked at the picture. The crystal was small, only a few inches, in length and width.

He exhaled. "Well, it probably isn't a very big rock", he said, "Seeing as the crystal is quite small"

Hermione grinned. She looked around and saw the smallest rock she could see. Then, she threw it against the rock she was just sitting on. It broke in half, but nothing was inside it. Ron got the idea and started picking out small rocks and taking them to Hermione so she could throw them against the bigger rocks.

So far, there was nothing. Suddenly, at about the 25th rock, it broke into several pieces and then something shimmery fell onto the ground with a small clink.

It was the blue crystal.

Hermione, taken by surprise, hugged Ron quickly and took out the parchment.

"Okay," she said finally, "We need a box for the crystal to open"

"That plastic box over there," Ron suggested, pointing to the Tupperware box where the parchment came from, "But I guess there's nothing there"

Hermione shrugged, "Can't hurt to double-check", she said. To Ron, it seemed like the most sensible thing in the universe. Why was Hermione so smart? Why was she so beautiful?

Wait! Beautiful? That must not be the same Hermione…that Hermione was bookworm Granger, the same Hermione who he was angry at just a few days ago, on the train ride…the same Hermione…who wore the red bikini…who he saved from the portal, who kissed him…the same Hermione with the beautiful hair…okay, maybe she was beautiful.

Hermione walked over to the huge Tupperware and she turned it upside down. Something fell from it. It was a small metal box, engraved with several symbols.

Hermione took it and examined it. There was a small hole in the left hand side, obviously for the crystal. Ron, who was holding the crystal, gave it to Hermione, who took it with a wide smile.

The box didn't open. Instead, there was music, sort of like from the world's smallest piano, because it had a high, squealing sound. It lasted for a few seconds, and then the box sprung open.

Inside it was a glass key. They could see that inside the key was some kind of blue liquid. Floating around the liquid was something like a grain of rice. There was very tiny writing on the grain of rice, and it read:

Snap

"Snap?" Hermione bit her lower lip, "What does that mean?"

"I really don't know, Hermione", Ron answered…then it dawned on him.

He snapped his fingers.

Snap, Snap, Snap, Snap

Then the music started again. There was a light breeze, and with each snap, the breeze began to blow harder.

Although Hermione could not figure out how breeze could get all the way to Pluto, what Ron was doing seemed to work, and so she snapped along.

Snap, Snap…

Hermione's eyes widened and her mouth hung open as rainbow colors suddenly started to fill the space around them. They started swirling around, and the music began to be fainter and fainter, and suddenly louder and louder, until the colors started to become solid, and then they seemed to harden, creating a round mixture of distinct colors. Then, it fell lightly onto the ground, almost bouncing, having formed a sphere.

Hermione stared, and Ron grinned at his success. He took the sphere in his hands and broke it open. From it fell a piece of parchment and a bright green crystal.

Hermione pocketed the crystal.

For crystal three, you will have to wait

You better rest anyway, it's getting late

Wait till a blast of sun shall come

And a breeze shall start to hum

As the light shall hit and shine

Take the crystal and waste no time

"We'll have to wait for a blast of light," Hermione said.

"Hermione, its freezing", Ron said, shivering.

"Here", Hermione said, and she walked over to him, and they sat down.

She hugged him, and he got the idea. He hugged her as tight as he could, and they instantly felt considerably warmer.

"Thanks", Ron breathed, and he felt suddenly a deeper kind of warmth…warmth in his inner self that he wanted to feel for the rest of his life…and his consciousness told him that it was all because of Hermione.

Hermione felt so toasty as Ron held her in his arms, and she began to think that maybe she did like him. Maybe, it wasn't the Labyrinth, but instead her own self…but it was the craziest idea ever. She never thought that she'd like Ron as more than a friend.

"The same Ron", she thought, "the same Ron that's gotten me into trouble, that opened the door, that…that…that, has done so much for me these past couple of moments…"

Maybe she wasn't so crazy after all.

"Ron", Hermione said aloud, "We have to wait for the blast of light, and then what?"

"I dunno", Ron said.

"Hit…?Hit what?" Hermione said, referring to the poem.

"The crystal?" Ron said, sleepily.

Hermione stood up and helped Ron up too.

"We have to set it at a position that the light could hit", Hermione talked to herself, "but we don't know where the light would come from"

As if an answer to her query, there was a sudden bright flash coming from the left-hand side. Suddenly, she hurried and set the crystal on a tall, smooth stone, and the light hit it at the most exact angle.

A blast of light hit them, and they had to close their eyes. There was a loud explosion that sounded as if it came from everywhere. Then, the light disappeared, and they thought it safe to open their eyes. The tall, smooth stone was not there anymore.

It was replaced by a bright red door.

Hermione and Ron hurried over to it and quickly started turned the knob.

Then Ron said, "Look"

Hermione looked down at the knob she was holding.

It was made of a bright red crystal, so beautiful and delicate, she was almost afraid to turn it.

"It's beautiful", she said, admiring it.

"Yeah, it is", Ron replied, but he didn't really mean the crystal…he meant Hermione.

A/N: I know I promised a chapter a day but I was really disappointed by the number of reviews that turned up. I was really hoping for more. Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter.

M.K Slade- thanks you. If you have any suggestions for the next room, you could include it in your next review (if you review again)

Deep blue quill- I know chapt 7 wasn't my best work. Sigh. But thanks for the review.

Scubagirl- thank you

Katsura Yuugao- harry? I dunno. I guess you'll have to wait until the end to find out how he's taking all this

Lorelai- thanks. I loved your review

DesiraeSCLT11- thanks so much.

Ratica- maybe three chapters a week if I get a lot of reviews…wink wink.

jesus? no.. maybe moses – thank you!

MysteryALASKA- I think ill update when I get REVIEWS! Lol

Only-harry- I don't exactly get what you mean…thanks anyway.

BasketKiwi- I hope this chapter wasn't disappointing for you…

chucklesdhobbit- thanks!

Dust Bunny- I thought I'd disappeared too. Actually, I was away for Christmas and New Year so I didn't have much chance to write.

Goblin Monkey- thank you.

Goldenflower- I wouldn't abandon any of my stories, but I was angry at myself for not updating sooner. I was quite busy…

Photochick129- thank you so much. I hope that this chapter didn't take too long.

PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW!

-punknpotter