A/N: Don't get used to the sudden double update, the long weekend and a sudden hit of feels got me into writing haze despite the fantastic weather outside. Hopefully though, it means that I'm back at writing those two more regularly. This little piece has some call backs to Australia (by MsBinns), people who have read it will have no problem spotting it. If you haven't read Australia, I encourage you to, though it is not necessarily to read it before reading this.
62. May
She's always liked the end of May.
Summer was almost there and it was time for the end of the year exams at school, which mean she could pour her heart out and scribble all the things she knew.
Of course, since she'd become a witch, May had also somehow ended up being the month of horrible events. Yet they always pulled through. And now, years after the war ended, she looks back to this transitioning month with a bittersweet mix of sadness and happiness.
She can't help but remember what May also means for Ron and her. It's the month of their first kiss, and many other firsts. She smiles tenderly as she recalls their first time in the middle of nowhere in Australia and how awkward it had been.
It's the first year that Rose and Hugo are both in Hogwarts together. And even though it's been hard to let their children go and find the house empty on September 1st, she knows that they are having a blast. She gets it by the letters they send, and also what they don't tell her, she learns from Neville. He makes good on his promise to keep an eye on the Weasley and Potter children, keeping her up to date on their last antics.
So in celebration of a peaceful month of May and an empty house, Hermione decides to surprise Ron with a little trip.
They take a Portkey to Athens and then another one to Syros. The water is a vibrant translucent blue and crickets sing around them when they land. She's booked a room in a small bed and breakfast by the sea. Their bedroom has tall windows that open onto a balcony overlooking the sea. The bed, gosh the bed, is huge, enclosed in a white iron canopy. White sheer curtains falling beautifully around it.
"Not that I am complaining," Ron says eyeing the bed before turning toward her. Her head is spinning, and she can't tell if it's the remnant of Portkey travel or the burning gaze Ron is giving her, "but why are we here?"
"I wanted to take you to Australia, but it felt like too long of a trip for only a couple of days," she fidgets with the hem of her blouse.
Ron stares at her dumbfoundedly, which she gets because they've never celebrated this particular anniversary. She needs to make him understand and suddenly she's embarrassed to explain. The words come out quickly, in one breath, but she doesn't let herself waver or look away from him.
"So I know this is not the hard floor of a tent in the Australian desert, but I thought we deserved an upgrade, plus I really didn't want to go camping."
She watches him as understanding slowly floods him and she can't help but add one more thing. "It's been twenty years since our first time, and it really didn't cross my mind until I did the maths the other day and I was thinking we could use a vacation because you've been working so hard at the shop and I've been in meetings after meetings, and the kids will be home soon," she's babbling nervously now, she's aware she's babbling but she can't seem to be able to stop. "I thought it'd be fun to commemorate that terrible attempt at sex. Not that sex is not good now, it is, so good. We're really really good at it and I don't know why I keep talking please make me st-"
Closing the distance between them with two long stride, he kisses her hungrily, wrapping his arms around her back, urging her closer.
He looks at her with a mix of amusement and lust. Warmth pools her inside and she doesn't understand how he can still affect her like this, but she's glad.
His voice is hoarse when he finally speaks, hands already reaching her blouse to unbutton it, "this is perfect."
