Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Harry Potter/Wizarding World. They were all created by the genius that is J.K. Rowling.
Author's Note: Proof that I have too much free time right now…I've had the idea for this chapter in my head for…well since I started the story.
Chapter 6: Ron's Confession and the Sunset Ride
By the time the Hogwarts Express made it back to London the snow had started falling again. Molly Weasley, along Fred and George and a few other members of the Order was waiting on the platform. Harry wrapped his arm around Hermione as they climbed off of the train. The holiday though it had just begun, it had already started off promising. Right in front of Fred and George, Lavender gave Ron a tear filled good-bye and went as far as to call him 'Won-Won' in front of the twins. Before they'd left King's Cross Station the ribbing had only just began. The whole way back to the Burrow; Ron's face never faded from that nice magenta color that it turned when he was embarrassed, upset, or angry. Harry was pretty sure that he was all of the above the fact that Fred and George knew it only made matters worse. Mrs. Weasley was still in a state over the fact that Bill had invited Fleur for Christmas the two women seemed to butt heads every time they turned around.
Once they were back at the Burrow Harry and Ron headed up to Ron's room to unpack and tidy up before dinner. It was then that Harry realized that there was more upsetting Ron than the fact that Lavender called him the dreaded 'Won-Won' in front of his older brothers. When Harry asked him what was wrong everything spilled forth like a loose girl at a Sunday confession. He'd had so many things bottled up that he couldn't possibly say in front of Hermione. Even though she was one of his best mates there were some things that were far too embarrassing to talk about with a female present. "That girl is going to be the death of me Harry." Ron said sitting down on his bed and raking his hand through his ginger hair.
"I don't think George and Fred will take things that far." Harry offered.
"Who said anything about Fred and George?" he asked his voice squeaking slightly as he became even more emotional.
"Well she did call you….you know 'the name' in front of them." Harry said.
"Oh this has nothing to do with that." He replied dismissively.
"Then what does it have to do with?" Harry was now very confused.
Ron started pacing. "Last night after you and Hermione went to bed Lav and I were still up." Ron started. "We decided to go skinny dipping in the Prefects bathroom."
"Well it's a bathtub wouldn't that mean you snuck in to take a bath?" Harry offered honestly he wasn't sure how much of this story he wanted to hear. There were things you never wanted to know about your best mate and his girlfriend and this was very close to crossing that boundary.
"Well it's a bit like a pool." The more Ron spoke the more the redder his face became. He cleared his throat. "Did you and Cho ever….."
"I don't think this appropriate conversation." Harry said becoming even more uncomfortable. "Maybe you should talk to Bill or Charlie."
"That's a great idea Bill's shaking up with the most attractive female…ever. And the only females Charlie talks about are scaly and fire breathing." Ron said. "I can't talk to my brothers about this."
Harry sighed, "Once in the Room of Requirement after a D.A. meeting." He said but refused to go into details.
"Well, Lav and I were…..and I am telling you Harry I was…..right….there." he said emphasizing each word.
"Um…congratulations?" Harry offered not sure what else to say.
"No there is no 'congratulations'. Before I could get any further, she pushes me back and asks me if I love her. And I wasn't sure what to say I just sat there naked as the day I was born staring at her."
By this point Harry was trying not to laugh at the situation. On top of that the Ron's voice kept rising the longer the tale went on. "What did she do?"
"She kept asking and asking and I was trying to think of something to say. Finally I said I needed to think about it and she got out of the water got dressed and left. She said she couldn't do that with anyone who didn't love her and want to marry her. I'm only sixteen Harry. Nobody knows who they want to marry when they're sixteen."
"Well you're almost seventeen." Ron shot Harry an evil look, "Is that the reason she was weepy?" he changed the subject.
"You're not supposed to defend her!" Ron snapped. "It wouldn't go down Harry and I was in so much pain I had to crawl back to the Gryffindor Tower! I thought I was going to die. I've not been in that much pain since that life sucking brain in the Department of Mysteries. You know I think it could have more damage than that bloody Whomping Willow tree."
By the time Ron finished his tale Harry was laughing so hard tears were in his eyes. "Well you just started dating the girl you should have known better than to…er…try to steal her…charms."
"This is not even funny and you'd just started dating Cho when you slept with her." Ron pointed out.
"Yeah but Cho wasn't Lavender. Cho was looking for anyway to ease the pain she felt after Cedric died."
"And what were you the….'shoulder' she cried on?" he asked.
"No it wasn't like that it was…..complicated." Harry said not even sure where to begin and couldn't bring himself to betray her like that. "Besides Cho and Lavender aren't the same people. Lavender is….she's a hopeless romantic. I'm sure she didn't envision her first time being a few minutes stolen in a bathroom where anyone could catch you."
"Since when did you get all this insight to girls?" Ron asked.
Harry shrugged, "It's not insight I just…pay attention. Hell if you would have listened to half of the stuff Hermione has told us over the years, you might not have ended up in this situation." Ron didn't have any more time to ponder on the subject as his mother called them all to dinner.
Harry had always loved the Burrow and meal times were usually the most interesting parts of his visits. Even better was the warmness that he felt when Hermione reached for his hand under the table and looked over at him and smiled. They listened to Fred and George give them details about how business was going at Weasley's Wizard Weezes and their latest line of jokes and what have you. At the other end of the table Fleur was going on about wedding details while Ginny made faces behind her back making it hard for Hermione to keep a straight face while Mrs. Weasley complained about the length of Bill's hair. After desert was finished and the dishes washed and put away Harry grabbed his and Hermione's coats off of the coat rack. "Come on." He said to Hermione.
"Where are we going?" she asked knowing that per Dumbledore's orders Harry wasn't supposed to go off too far without a guard from the Order.
"It's a surprise." He said helping her into her coat before pulling his own on. "Bundle up it will be cold."
"Not a chance you're going to tell me what we're doing?" she asked buttoning the buttons on her coat.
"None," He assured her as he tied her scarf around her neck and used it to pull her into a soft kiss. "Gloves and hat too."
After they were dressed for the weather, Harry led Hermione out into the crisp evening air. The sun had just barely started to set and was casting long shadows over the Burrow. The snow was still coming down in large flakes. "Wait here." Harry said walking towards one of the storage sheds.
"What are you doing Harry Potter?" she asked watching him warily.
"It's a surprise." He said pulling out his Firebolt and walking over to her.
Hermione shook her head, "I am not getting on that thing." She said.
Harry grinned he knew that Hermione had never mastered flying. After all it wasn't something you could learn in a book. "Yes you are."
"You're barking if you think I am." She protested.
"Why does flying scare you so much?" he asked.
"Flying doesn't scare me." She said bravely even though at the moment the thought was terrifying. "I have seen you on that thing, I know exactly how fast it goes and I have seen the crazy things you have done on it."
"Do you trust me Hermione?" he asked taking her hand in his.
"Do you even have to ask that?" she countered as she looked up at him.
"Just answer the question." He said.
"More than anything." She said.
"Then fly with me. I won't take you up too high or too fast or do anything crazy." He assured her. "I give you my word I won't do anything you won't like."
"You won't let up about this will you?" she asked.
He shook his head and grinned, "How often do you drag me to the library?"
"Point taken." She said.
Harry helped her mount the broom and climbed on it after her. He pulled her firmly against him he'd wanted her to feel secure but at the same time he knew having her soft body pressed against his more intimate parts was going to be pure torture. It almost made him feel bad for laughing at Ron….almost. "Relax." He said wrapping his hands around hers. "I'm not going to let anything happened to you." He assured her once again.
"Do you know how many people die in freak broom accidents every day?" Hermione asked as Harry kicked off of the ground causing the broom to soar up.
"And do you know how many people snuff it home warm in their beds? And with the whole Wizarding World going to hell you're more concerned about dying in a broom accident." he asked.
"Since when did you become the highly logical one?" Hermione asked.
Harry ignored her he question as he made the broom climb higher and higher in the sky. Once they were about twenty feet in the air he let the stick go level. He knew that her hands were white knuckled around the broom stick. "Open your eyes Hermione." He said.
"I think it would better for the both of us if I kept them closed." She argued.
"I thought you trusted me." He said.
"That's not fair." She said looking over her shoulder at him.
"Look out there." He said nodding to the sun setting in the distance. From their position up in the air the world below them looked like a fairy tale village made out of ice. The light reflected off of the white ground causing it to shine like diamonds. Already in the Muggle village the twinkle Christmas lights were lit up in the village.
"It's beautiful." Hermione said.
"Are you ready?" Harry asked after he'd given her plenty of time to adjust to being in air and her nerves to settle down.
"Ready for what?" she asked.
As a reply Harry made the Firebolt shoot forward at full speed. He knew that once he got Hermione up in the air and relaxed she'd love it. "Harry James Potter you lied!" she squealed with delight.
"And you loved it." He laughed as he made the broom soar higher and the dive back down causing Hermione to laugh. He brought the broom to the ground as the sun was just sitting over the horizon. "Now you know what you're missing."
Hermione's curls were tousled to the extreme and somewhere over one of the Weasley's pastures she lost her hat. While she enjoyed being up in the air with Harry she knew that flying would be something she always shared with him. "I still prefer the library." She teased.
