Ron woke early, a month or so later, as the sun started to creep through his curtains. He frowned for a moment as he couldn't feel his arm but before he could start to panic, he heard a small snuffle next to him. Turning his head in the direction of said arm, he smiled as he watched Hermione shift in her sleep. This had started to become a nightly occurrence, and she was getting very good at sneaking into his bed without waking him up; although he suspected that was due to the fact she had added an undetectable extension charm when he wasn't paying attention. He carefully shifted his body towards her, taking great pains to not wake her so he could spend a little bit longer watching her sleep.
Ron's mind drifted back to the conversation he'd had with Harry after the first night Hermione had woken him up. Harry had been out feeding the chickens, and Ron had wandered over to him after he'd finished cleaning the chicken coop.
"So last night..." Ron shoved his hands into his pockets as his friend looked up from the bag of chicken feed. "You weren't in your bed..."
"Nightmares... I didn't want to wake you up so I came down here." Harry threw out another handful of feed.
"You didn't have to do that. Anyway, seems like Hermione has the same problem..."
Harry raised his eyebrows, but didn't take his attention from the chickens. "She didn't tell me..."
Ron shrugged. "Guess she thought she didn't want to bother you with them? She woke me up though, spent the night with me. She slept better though..." Ron punched Harry's shoulder as his friend finally lifted his head, a smirk plastered over it. "Shut up, it's not like we did anything!" Ron blushed bright red. "Well apart from talk, and maybe a bit of snogging..."
"Oh Merlin, save me the minute details..." Harry pretended to puke into the bag of feed, but grinned as he saw how bright Ron's cheeks were. There was nothing more he loved doing than teasing Ron about his romantic endeavours, especially about the very public displays of affection he and Lavender had gotten up to during their 6th year. It was even funnier to Harry that Ron was now dating their closest friend.
"It's great she's coming to you for comfort. And it's even better that you two have finally had your heads knocked together. I know how hard she's had it with her nightmares. There were nights in the tent when it was just the two of us and there was absolutely nothing I could have done to look after her. Though Merlin knows I tried..." He sighed slightly. I'm very glad you two have decided to see sense and get together. But if she's going to start sneaking up to your room every night, I'm going to need somewhere else to stay and well, Ginny has been making noises about me going to stay with her... I don't have to if you don't feel comfortable about it..." Harry trailed off, having suddenly taken a great interest in the toes of his trainers.
Ron shuddered as an image he never wanted to see again travelled through his mind. "Yeah I guess, as long as I don't have to hear about it... she is my sister..."
"And Hermione is my sister... well kind of," Harry interrupted. "I'll be happy if we both keep all the details to ourselves." Another smirk crossed Harry's face. "As long as you're happy to share your copy of 'Twelve Fail Safe Ways to Charm a Witch...'" He wriggled his eyebrows at Ron to tease him.
"Oh fuck off..." Ron punched Harry's shoulder again, and they carried on feeding the chickens together.
Ron was slowly brought back from his daydream as Hermione started to stir in his arms. "G'morning..." He whispered softly as she opened her eyes.
"Good morning..." She stretched out her body, reminding Ron of the way Crookshanks often lazed in the sun. "How long have you been awake?"
"An hour... maybe a little bit more. You started talking in your sleep, and I lost all feeling in that arm you're so happy sleeping on..." He carefully pulled his arm out from under her head and rubbed it until the feeling started to come back.
"Awww I'm sorry..." She stretched once more. "Do you want me to kiss it better?" She pressed a kiss against his arm. "I was having a really good dream..." She lifted her head to give him a sleepy kiss, smiling as he returned it eagerly. She carried on kissing him, letting out a soft moan as he pulled her closer.
Ron continued to kiss her for a bit before finally pulling away for breath. Hermione gave him a small frown. "Don't you want to know more about my dream? She smiled in that way that made Ron think she was up to something, the blush that started to creep up her neck giving her away.
"I would..." He grunted. "But I'm very aware that we agreed to take things slowly. I'm also very aware that you've been coming to bed with very little on, using the heatwave as an excuse to bed in my bed looking the way you do. And waking up next to you looking like this..." He flapped an arm at her as if to demonstrate how impossible she was being, but smiled so she knew he was joking. "Well, I'm sure I don't have to tell you what you're doing to me right now..."
Ron let out a small groan as Hermione deliberately shifted against him, her eyes widening. "Oh I know..." She took a brave breath, using the pause to summon all her courage before dropping her lips back down to his; hovering them painfully close but not letting them touch. "That's okay..." She slowly kissed him. "In fact, that's how my dream started..."
Hermione pushed him onto his back and started to move her kisses from his lips and across his jaw before moving them down his neck. She bravely started breaking up the kisses with tiny bites, pausing at the crook of his neck to suck softly at his skin. At the same time, her hand started slowly drifting over his lower stomach, until it lingered at his waistband. She lifted her head again, making eye contact with him, her breathing laboured and heavy.
"Is this okay?" She ran her fingernails along his waistband, taking his small nod as permission to slowly dip her hand beneath the material of his boxers. She danced her fingers along his skin, chewing her lip as she watched his reactions, making a mental note of the things that made him moan.
"Stop teasing me..." Ron groaned but smiled as she finally took hold of him and gave him a soft stroke. "Bloody hell.." He puffed out his cheeks. Encouraged by her actions; he rolled further onto his back, pulling her with him as he moved. Ron tangled one hand into her hair, pushing her head back to his for a deep kiss. His other hand travelled down her lower back, before running painfully slowly over her thigh.
"Please..." Hermione whimpered against his lips, parting her legs slightly to give him better access. At that moment, she had a fleeting thought that she was glad she had gotten into the habit of using an imperturbable charm on the door that night. Ron brought her back to the moment by slipping a finger inside her. Spurred on by her groans, he added another; grinning at the reaction she gave him.
It didn't take long for either of them to find a rhythm; all those years spent together had given them a connection that most young lovers yearned for. They clung to each other, lips pressed against each other's skin, working around the material barriers as they rode out their pleasure together. Eventually they started to wind down, and Hermione flopped down on the bed next to him. She concentrated hard on getting her breath back and untangling her body from the sheets, her whole body flushed with heat and pleasure.
"Have I told you that I love you?" She sighed from the bed, running a shaking hand over her forehead.
"Not today..." He smirked. "You're only saying it cos we just... well you know..." He leant over her and gave his a kiss. "I love you too!" He grinned to himself as he stroked her hair, keeping eye contact with her. "That must have been a really good dream. If you could have more of those, and less of the nightmares then that would be great..." He laughed.
"I'll try my best..." Hermione closed her eyes for a brief second, finally getting her breath back. It didn't take long for the alarm clock she had set to start ringing. Laughing, she started to sit up, carefully rearranging her tiny pair of pyjamas. "Just in time... I better go swap with Harry and take a shower!"
She gave him one last kiss before getting up. "We have a big day ahead of us..." Hermione wrapped her light dressing gown around her body and slipped her feet into her slippers, before taking one last glance at him lying there looking pleased with himself. "Use Scourgify before Harry comes up." She gave him a knowing smile before leaving the room, feeling like she was walking on air.
Hermione crossed paths with Harry outside Ginny's room. She made eye contact with him and smiled. Since they'd started their little room swap agreement, he had started to look less worn and a lot happier. "You okay?" She whispered as he held the bedroom door open for her.
"Yeah... looks like you had as good a night as I did..." He held his wand up and committed a wordless charm to remove the small bruise on Hermione's neck. "I think those love triangle rumours might start up again if you have a love bite on show in our official photographs." He rolled his eyes as he said it.
Hermione blushed bright red. "Thank you. He needs to get better at checking for me..."
Harry shrugged a little awkwardly; although he found it easier to talk about relationship related stuff with Hermione, he still found it a little bit weird that she was talking to him about Ron. He leaned against the door frame. "Are you all ready for today?"
Hermione nodded, albeit a bit hesitantly. "I think I'll be okay..." She ran a hand through her hair, frowning at the knots. "I'm just worried I may slip up when we get to Godric's Hollow... I don't want to make Ron feel bad..."
The trio had spent the last week drafting an official statement on how they had come to defeat Tom Riddle. They had decided to stick with the story as it was - including their break in at the Ministry and Gringotts, but despite Ron's protests, were excluding the involvement of the Deathly Hallows and Ron leaving them over Christmas. They'd rehearsed it multiple times with Kingsley the day before and it was going to be broadcast across the Wizarding Wireless Network. Luna would also be getting an exclusive interview to release in a special edition of The Quibbler. Both boys had been happy to let Hermione take the lead in telling the story.
"You can have the shower first..." Harry nudged her shoulder softly before heading up the creaky stairs.