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.

Author's Note: You probably have already lost interest in this fic but I thought I'd revive it anyway…and P.S., this chapter will be a little more fluffy than usual. Sorry.

The Labyrinth of Love

Chapter 13: Complications

"Hermione, gerroff me!" he exclaimed, his cheeks turning as red as his hair. He had to admit though, the warmth felt pretty good—and she's hugged him before, mind you…but there was this strange feeling that someone was watching him, enjoying the scene, which was really…strange…very strange, indeed.

However, Hermione didn't have the time to take her arms off Ron. If any, they wound tighter around him, enveloping him, making him feel comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time, as they were swept into a swirling vortex, giving them both a tingling sensation similar to what one felt when holding an active Portkey.

Once they landed safely on the ground, Hermione felt a little embarrassed and quickly edged away from Ron before standing up. Ron stood up, confused and sweaty. Where were they? He was standing on a huge, wide pile of sand—otherwise known as a desert. Hermione looked around and took off her sweater hastily…picked up the backpacks that suddenly appeared in front of them, waiting to be opened.

They both sat down on a flat rock opposite cacti and other desert plants. Hermione took out the Never-Ending Chicken and saw that inside were some toaster pastries and so she assumed that it must be morning…she pained herself to think about the temperature of that place during noontime. They ate in silence, sometimes glancing at the other. Ron took some effort with eating with composure in front of Hermione, and Hermione smiled at his weak effort, appreciating the gesture nonetheless. "You know, Ron…we're both a little hungry…and I really don't mind if you do away with manners … for now"

Ron grinned awkwardly, and moved his hand swiftly to put down his utensils, hitting the sharp edge of the rock they were sitting on. He didn't notice it was bleeding badly 'til the drops of blood actually fell onto his food. "Ron!" Hermione said, surprised and worried at the same time, quickly taking his hand without thinking, her soft skin trying to wipe out the blood. There was nothing else to use, after all. She tried to search the pack for a bandage but there was nothing close. She ripped her shirt a bit, making her look really rugged and she eyed the wound nervously as she tried to wrap the cloth around it.

Ron was feeling really stupid, at the moment. Why'd he have to do that? On the other hand, it felt really good to get all this attention from Hermione. But of course, he was the only one there…who else would Hermione give attention to. "Stupid Ron," he thought.

The blood was seething through the cloth a bit and Hermione pressed on it a bit, trying to apply some pressure and stop it from bleeding too much. She quickly examined it to see if she did anything wrong with wrapping…but she didn't really know much about that so it was pretty useless…she pretended to know everything sometimes—but she knew that with Ron, she didn't have to. She knew him well enough to know that she could act stupid around him anytime. She could be really natural with Ron –and that meant, that naturally, she was unusually stubborn and still wouldn't believe herself sometimes.

Ron quickly got over the fact that Hermione was concerned about him—not really. But he tried not to show it too much. Could it be that this was actually happening—him falling for his best friend? He didn't want that to happen—not in the least. He didn't want things to change. He was having a hard enough time as it is, with everyone thinking that he did like her in that way…and if now, it turns out that he did like her in that way, then it would definitely be a bloody difficult thing to cope with.

He never understood girls much anyway…and was it really the right time to like someone? Especially if it was someone you were stuck with them for the time being until who-knows-when. He might end up doing some utterly stupid stuff, fawning and swooning over her. He didn't need that. Nope, not Ron Weasley.

"Ron?"

"Yes?"

"You could…erm—stop staring at me now"

Bloody hell.

000

Yes, Ron Weasley was staring at Hermione. She couldn't believe it either. The more she thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. People fall in love everyday—it's not uncommon to have feelings for someone…is it? Love is a funny thing, she heard…it's one of the most common feelings in the world, yet to an individual, it feels like the most uncommon thing in the universe. Of course, she knows nothing much about that. As much as she hates to admit it, books aren't the answers to everything.

The question now, was…while Ron was staring at her absentmindedly…was she staring back at him with unconscious consciousness at the same time? How complicated. But it did leave butterflies in her stomach for a split-second.

They sat in silence for a long time, eating and drinking, neither of them brave enough to say anything…but they did want to say everything that was going on in their head right now. Hermione felt stupid and Ron felt confused. The longer they were stuck in that maze, the more complicated it was all getting. But they were with each other…and strange enough, neither of them was complaining.

000

There was a buzzing noise, suddenly, getting louder and louder. They both stood up on the rock to see what was going on. They looked around to see a swarm of orange insects coming closer and closer every instant. They had nowhere to go. Suddenly, Hermione lost her balance and Ron quickly stepped down from the rock to catch her fall, quickly propping her up, as she looked afraid, with the insects scattered above their heads. Peculiarly enough, the insects didn't go for them, but they danced around atop their heads and then grouped together again.

They buzzed towards Hermione and she hid her face in Ron's shoulders. Ron, not being the perfect picture of a brave macho guy, pulled them both down to a crouching position, clutching her tightly, afraid that something bad might happen to her.

The buzzing died down and then boomed back, louder than ever. Ron stood up and whirled around to see the flying bugs in an odd formation, three simple words: LOOK BEHIND YOU.

Ron nervously peeked over his shoulder and saw an unbelievable sight that had certainly not been there a few minutes ago while they were eating. He turned to face it fully and when he turned to look back at the insects, they were gone. "Hermione…", he said, "It's safe now"

000

Hermione was just as surprised as he was, moving towards what they were facing, slowly and cautiously. Was it for real? Or was it just a mirage, calling out to them to make complete fools of themselves? It looked real, at any rate. And why would they hallucinate about a huge junkyard in a desert anyway?

There it was, a revolting smell emitting from it…although it was faint, it was still hideously disgusting. Hermione wrinkled up her nose, smiling idiotically and Ron was coming towards it, pretending not to mind—oh but he did, he most certainly minded.

"Come in!" a middle-aged Egyptian man (Well, at least, they thought he was Egyptian) said suddenly, leaping out of the junkyard, surprising the two. They moved towards him and again, to their surprise, the horrible smell was replaced with the sugary smell of vanilla-scented incense.

"Hello", Ron said uneasily, "what are we supposed to be doing next?"

"Pardon me? Maybe you should first introduce yourselves before I think of what to do with you, man." the man asked. He had a very weird accent—a mix of Jamaican, British and Indian. Go figure.

"Sorry", Hermione said quickly, "He's not very right in the head and sometimes he forgets his manners…I'm err, Hermione and he's Ronald"

Ron glared at her, but didn't really mean it, so he was pretty glad that she didn't see. He hated to think about what would happen if she did see him. He wasn't prepared for that, he was thinking, looking around.

"Hermy and Ron-Ron! Of course…I was expecting you", he said, overexcited, to a wincing Ron as Hermione was trying to restrain her laughter.

"Yes, Ron-Ron and I were wondering what we were supposed to do"

"Don't shoot the messenger, love. Here you go". The man handed her a roll of green parchment. She unrolled it and read it quickly. "Seems easy enough", she said, shrugging.

The man bit his lip and told her, "The scent of vanilla will disappear in three minutes and 17—16… no wait…15 seconds"

Hermione nearly choked. "You must be kidding!" Ron bellowed.

"I'm not."

"Please don't make us go…" Hermione pleaded, handing the parchment to Ron for him to read. It wasn't her thing to plead but what they were about to do was absolutely horrid, not to mention, disgusting beyond reason.

Ron read the parchment quickly and gave the man a look. "You really must be kidding. You can't make us do this!"

"I told you…it wasn't my choice to have to do this. The council of the maze just sent this to me, okay? Good luck!" he added, edging towards the exit of the junkyard and disappearing as he ran towards what looked like an endless mass of sand.

"What the hell? Council of the Maze…?" Ron looked dumbfounded.

"I haven't read anything about a council…I thought the maze ran on it's own magic…must be something new to control it a bit…I guess…" then she turned to Ron, "I really don't want to do this"

Ron nodded miserably in agreement.

000

The smell overpowered the rest of their senses. They were getting it full blast now and Hermione resisted the urge to puke. It was so difficult to cope with this entire thing. The parchment told them to make their way through the mounds of garbage and heaps of junk and navigate their way to the pile of cars at the far end of it, and look inside the compartments for the golden trinkets. Yes, 'golden trinkets'—that's what it said. How specific.

Ron was kind of interested in what the trinket actually look like, so he moved with a little more willpower, trying to steer towards wherever without dying.

000

Was it just her or were they going around in circles?

She just saw that old boot three minutes ago…or maybe that was the other boot...but she was certain that they weren't making any turns. So far, their movements have been careful and sly…trying to find the cars.

They made their first turn at a ghastly pile of fish bones. Ron's face scrunched up at the sheer sight and smell of it. It was utterly nasty.

In Hermione's honest opinion, the worst part was the fact that there were little bugs crawling all over the place. She was rather glad that they haven't seen any spiders, or Ron would've gone mad. She didn't really need that right now.

It's as if someone was reading her mind—someone horribly vicious, because at that moment, a huge spider crawled casually across their path, and Ron screamed like a madman, towards Hermione, holding her awkwardly. For Hermione, was this supposed to be a good thing or a bad thing? Hermione told him to calm down and they quietly went on their way once more.

Then they made their second turn—to the left this time, moving as quickly as possible, the stench embracing them rapidly. The turns appeared more frequently, just as the smell became more and more putrid.

Then there was a fork in the road, two paths separated by a tall mound of garbage. Why did this have to happen now?

"Which way do we go?" Hermione breathed. Ron shrugged, looking even more perplexed.

Hermione considered this for a while. "We turned right…then left…then left…then right again…do you remember after that?"

"'Course I do…that's when we passed the gross heap of fast-food leftovers…we turned left there…and then left…then we got here…I think…not entirely sure…"

"Then our best bet is to go right, according to our pattern of movement"

"But what if we're wrong?"

"I expect we'll know soon enough…" Hermione said, as they made their way to the right.

000

Ron stopped in his tracks and Hermione just realized why. This huge brown dog snarled at them, obviously angry. He was on what looked like a very weak leash and he watched them eagerly, hoping to take a bite out of them, or maybe just have some fun. Hermione back away into Ron. Ron, taken by surprise, grabbed her hand and gripped it tightly.

Hermione looked at Ron and said, "I see the cars"

"Where?" Ron whispered, looking around.

She freed her left hand from his hold and pointed to the cars piled messily on top of each other. All of them were oddly the same kind and color. Hermione supposed it was meant to make their search more difficult. Ron really just put his focus on the barking dog, which was now trying to break free, with quick and violent movements.

Ron suddenly coughed up the courage to move towards the dog, edging as close as possible to the garbage heaps. It was a difficult task, with mixed emotions like repulsion and terror, plus that little voice in his head telling him to show off to Hermione. He ignored that one, of course…well, maybe he did.

Hermione looked at him closely. He was being particularly brave today. Her eyes darted from Ron to the dog, and then she decided to take that risk. She skulked towards Ron, her eyes on the dog, intently watching for any sudden movement it might make. The dog was doing the same thing as she reached out her hand clumsily to Ron, who took it quickly and guided her over to the spot where he was standing.

The dog growled and fiercely eyed them and then suddenly started barking just when Hermione thought she was safe. Ron took her into his arms unexpectedly and whispered, "Get ready to run" Hermione nodded timidly and tucked her hair behind her ears, making Ron feel this unexpected feeling of…who-knows-what-that-is-but-who-really-cares-'cos-it's-amazing.

Ron took the matters into his own hands, obviously, acting like he actually knew what he was doing. But really, he didn't really know what he was getting himself into.

Hermione felt like she was going to be safe after all. Ron obviously knew what he was doing.

"Ron?" Hermione whispered.

"Yeah?"

"Don't let me go, okay?" Hermione said quietly. She felt really over-sentimental, but what could she do? She was really, really scared. This dog had something about him what was really, really vicious—like, he knew what they were trying to do and was prepared to do whatever it takes to stop them.

"Hermione…" Ron said, staring, "…don't go all mushy on me"

Hermione's face fell. This wasn't the kind of reaction that she wanted. But really, what did she want? Did she want to finally realize that she really did like Ron? Did she want to let Ron know how she felt? Or was she just playing maiden-in-distress so she could see if he was worth thinking about?

But Ron continued, "…or else, I'd have to go all mushy on you as well", he said, and he smiled.

Hermione's system suddenly stocked up on bravery. "Okay then," she said, acting like she didn't feel anything during that little so-called mushy moment, "on one…two…"

"THREE!" Ron shouted, taking hold of Hermione's elbow then later, her hand. He held her tightly, and soon after, their hands intertwined, moving along with their quick pace. The dog could be heard barking madly in the distance. "I don't think it got loose", Hermione panted. Ron all of a sudden noticed that he was still holding Hermione's hand. Something else he noticed was that Hermione was holding him even tighter than he was holding her.

"Er, Hermione?" he said slowly.

"Hm?"

"You can let go of my hand now…"

"Sorry", she said quickly, and she blushed like crazy, trying to hide the fact that she was actually embarrassed by that.

They made their way towards the bright pink old-style cars that were piled on top of each other, and decided that they'd go through each compartment together, incase the other misses something.

000

The search wasn't very successful during the first few minutes. It was monotonous and frustrating, also considering that they were both very tired from running and that it was nearing noon in that hot, sandy place. Hermione found a few gold doorknobs, but they weren't trinkets, were they? She pocketed them anyway.

Ron found some chocolate with gold wrappers. He was about to eat them when Hermione gave him a warning look. He kept quiet then. They were running out of cars to check when Hermione opened one of the last ones and found a book called Golden Trinkets. Hermione flipped open the book and went through the pages. Some of them had pictures in them, but so far, nothing made sense at all. And then when Hermione arrived on the binding of the book, right in the very middle of it all, a little pool of ink formed.

Ron looked at it hesitantly and decided that he should try and touch it. That's what he did. "Be careful," Hermione warned him, her eyes filled with concern. He stuck his hand in the wet, black pool and took out a set of golden keys.

"I think I know what to do with these," Hermione said slyly, looking around the car they were in.

000

Thank you to all my reviewers who are too awesome. I also appreciate those emails telling me to get off my butt and write. I love you all:)

-punknpotter a.k.a Giselle.

Xx

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