Hermione woke up halfway through the night. She looked around her to figure out where she was. Then looked down to see Ron, sleeping peacefully. His arms were still wrapped around her, and she realized it wasn't all a dream, though she partly wished it had been.
She then remembered the incident with Malfoy and Seamus. Her eyes welled up with tears again, but when she laid her head back down on Ron's chest, she remembered him. How he had come to her rescue and pulverized Malfoy. He picked her up and whisked her away. He made it all better. Bur more importantly, he loved her. He had admitted it to her.
That thought brought Hermione many ideas. She looked up at him, looked at his hair draping over his face. His pale skin dotted by warm freckles. She took one hand and ran it across his jaw line, feeling the stubble from having shaved yesterday. Hermione kept her fingers on his face, tracing up his cheeks and pulling his hair off his face. She then pulled her body up against his and kissed him on the cheek.
How Hermione smiled. Wow. That felt, well…right. So Hermione shifted over slightly and kissed him right on the lips. They're perfect. His lips are perfectly soft and they.. Thoughts were rushing through her mind. As she was pulling away from the sleeping boy (slowly so as not to wake him) he did end up waking.
"'Mione? You okay?" he asked, very sleepily. But Hermione just looked into his eyes. They were a light aqua, nothing super-natural, but they were just perfect to Hermione. She melted inside before speaking again.
"Ron, thank you. For everything. I'm sorry." She said, those tears coming back in her eyes. But Ron looked into her glassy brown eyes, wondering why she was sad, wondering why she was sorry.
"Sorry? You have nothing to be sorry about. You didn't do anything, it's not your fault." Ron said in a hushed voice, then took her head and lowered it to his chest as if telling her go back to sleep, but she propped back up.
"No Ron, I should be sorry. This was my fault. I only went out with Seamus to make you jealous. You never liked me and when Seamus asked me out I thought I could use that to my advantage, I wanted you so badly I was willing to hurt someone else. But my efforts were failing and I felt so guilty. I was going to break it off with Seamus tonight, tell him everything. I couldn't keep doing that to him, and I missed being with you. I would rather have you as only a friend then as nothing at all. I'm sorry Ron." Hermione said, almost all in one breath. She seemed relieved that she said it, but looked worried when Ron said nothing in reply.
"You….you…you did that for m..me?" he stuttered. She nodded, then buried her head in Ron's chest out of embarrassment. He kneeled his head closer to her to smell her hair and hold her closer. He didn't know how to tell her he felt the same. He had done the same thing, he went out with Lavender to get Hermione's attention, but it never seemed to work. He felt so flustered, but needed to say something to her, do something.
So he took the hand around her waist and pulled it up to her chin. He tilted her chin up so she was looking him dead in the eyes. Her eyes looked so perfect, swirling around with emotion like a chocolate whirlpool (wtf. I dono why I typed that) Then he leaned his head in towards hers, still refusing to break eye contact. He couldn't' tell whether she looked scared or confused. But he knew he wanted this now more than ever.
He pulled his face down right in front if her's, so close that you could barely tell where one ended and the other began.
"Hermione, don't you know…" he stopped and kissed her, He still had his arms around her but that didn't matter, he was absorbed in the kiss as was she. He could feel his hair falling back to his eyes but he didn't care. He could feel her heart beat speeding up, he could feel it through his own chest. Then he pulled away, gently, softly, and looked at her again. Her eyes were closed. He took her chin in his hand once more, looking her right in the face, paused his thoughts to soak in all of the feeling he had for her, then spoke once more. "I've always loved you." And kissed her once more on the tip of her nose.
At this she opened her eyes and smiled. He began to slip his head back to the armrest and his hand back to her waist, but she took it in her own. She scooted up a little bit so her neck was perfectly slipped between his head and shoulder. She could smell the nearly faded smell of his cologne, right where he had sprayed it. There was something about the way he smelled, like home. He smelled of cinnamon and the outdoors. Her heartbeat was once more in tune with his, but her breathing steadied to the opposite of his. When his chest rose, her's sank into his. She curled up even closer into him, if possible, and then remembered she was wearing his shirt, and pulled it up to her lips. From there she found that it too smelled like home, and thought how lucky she was to be wearing his shirt.
Ron wasn't sure if he was happy, or upset with himself. Had he gone too far? She was vulnerable; she had been assaulted mere hours ago. But that changed when he felt her breathing in, in the nook of his neck. It wasn't like she was smelling him in a weird way, but he felt glad that she was comfortable in his arms, in his shirt, with him.
So yet again Hermione and Ron fell asleep that night, with a whole new idea to think about. Neither one knew if it was real or not, maybe it had all been a dream, but then again, maybe it wasn't.
