Hey guys sorry Ive not posted for a while we've not had the internet for weeks, I've literally been dying without it. Anyway, thanks for the reviews and Im really enjoying writing this fic.

Hands

I remember the first time I held your hand, Ronald Weasley. I was so scared, more scared than I had ever been , or would ever be. I was scared for you, for us, for our futures. We had held hands before, when we were in danger, when our lives were at stake, but never had I touched your gorgeous delicate hands for comfort, just to feel. And thats was what I did. And it was good. Not just good, brilliant, amazing, and it felt so right. And I was so scared that in the split second where out hands made contact, I felt something, and you didn't. You didnt show any sort of recogniton, any emotion across your face, apart from the grief that was already there. Harry was in the next bed, asleep, he needed it after today's events. It was still etched upon my memory, the features of his face when the one person he could call family was murdered a foot away from him. The way the smile on his face just vanished, gone with his godfathers body, through the archway, never to be seen again.

You amazed me, you really did. It was a warm summers night, and yet I was shivering, thinking about poor Harry, where we were going to go from here, and your face sat at the front of my always mind, that smile you own, the one that always makes me feel safe, as long as that smile's around, I tell myself I have to go on.

"Hey, you alright?"

I jumped, I hadn't even heard him get out of bed. And yet, there he was, standing at the bottom of my bed.

Standing.

"Ron, what do you think you're doing, get back in bed now, your wrist-" my scratchy voice was cut of by his grave one.

"I can still walk Hermione. I heard you crying"

I didnt say anything. I didnt think I would be able to. My throat seemed to swell up, my eyes getting more sore and damper by the second. I didn't need to explain to him, he understood. He always does. He feebly walked over and sat on the chair next to my bed. I wandered how many times he had done this and would ever do this. Second year, when I was petrified, I was told how he sat next to my bed, talking to me, its a shame I don't remember it. Last year, after the second task, he came and sat at the end of my bed after the infection to my lungs after swollowing too much water. Every time I woke up here he was. I allowed myself to image how many times he would be here, near my bed, watching over me like my guardian angel. I allowed myself to conjure up an image in my mind of him sitting there, wearing that smile, as I held a tiny bundle of joy, and the sound of a child's cries filling the air. But that was silly, foolish, the impossible...

"It's okay, you know, to get upset, Mum says its good to let your , you know-" he rubbed his neck in obvious awkwardness "feelings and stuff out. You only end up worse if you don't"

I smiled, and wiped my eyes with my sleeve.

"I've never felt to guilty in my life" I said, my voice croaky and hoarse.

"Why? You haven't done anything Hermione, none of this is your fault"

"I know, but if only I had tried to convince him just that little bit more that it was just Voldemort playing mind games, he might have listened-"

"Come of it ! It's Harry, since when does he listen to anyone. If he's got an idea, a plan, then there's no stopping him, you should know that by now!"

"I suppose" I near whispered.

The clock above Madam Pince's desk ticked back and forth, in the bed oppostite us Harry's light breathing filled the air for a few moments.

"What do we do now?" I asked him. He stopped playing with bandage around his wrist and looked up at me. He licked him lips, thinking for a moment.

"We get on with things as best we can. Whether we like it or not, this war is coming. We don't know if it's going to be tomorrow or a decade from now. I could be sitting on the toilet having a nice read of my Chudley Cannon's magazine and Voldemort himself could come strolling up the garden path".

I snorted and tried to control my laughter. Leave it up to Ron to say something like that

"That would be rather funny" I said

"I'd have to attack him with loo roll"

"Duel with a toilet brush"

"Now that is a duel I would win" Ron said, sitting back in his chair, picking at his bandages.

"Does it hurt badly?" I asked quietly.

"Nah, not as much as a few hours ago, but then I do have about 50 different potions on the go"

"Sounds about right, I lost count of how many times I had to have that awful medicine, I don't know if Harry even had any at all. He was made to have a sleeping draught, but apart from that he's open to all the pain"

"Maybe he want's to feel it?"

"What?

"I mean, maybe its helping him, feeling the pain, its helping him deal with the grief, giving his something else to think about"

"Well, yes, I suppose..."

"Your still coming to mine in the summer right?"

"Wha-" I was threw off my a sudden change of subject, and the thought of a summer with Ron appealed greatly to me, and then guilt washed over me once more as I imagined Harry at the Dursely's grieving on his own with no one for support.

"I mean, you don't have to" Ron's face coloured slightly and I looked at him curiously. He seemed embarrased. "Im just saying, after a few weeks Harry will be there, and Ginny-"

"And you"

"Well, yeah, me too..."

"Well, I'm going to Paris for a week at the start of the holidays, I'll have to bring you all back some presents-

"You dont have to-

"I know I don't, but my christmas present to you wasn't that good this year, although that homework planner is rather helpful, admit it"

"I suppose" he chuckled.

"I was surprised at your gift"

His eyes flicked up towards me, a wary expression on his face "You were?"

"Well, I was so glad I had something different this year, I was so sick of getting books and quills, it was such a nice surprise to open something I wouldn't usually get"

"So it was a ... nice surprise?"

I chuckled " Of course! All the girls were asking to borrow it, but I didn't allow it, I said it was special and it wasn't for passing around. Lavender was furious, she looked everywhere for perfume like it, but had to make do with her own"

"Really?"

"You look shocked"

"Well, I wasn't sure if it was the sort of thing you - I mean I'm not saying your not a girl bloody hell let's not go there again, but you don't really ..." Ron struggled with his words as the grin on my face grew "I'm just saying you don't look the type of person to - you seem to have more important matters is all..."

"Which would be?"

Ron looked at me in horror, realised I was grinning like mad, and burst out laughing. I shushed him, and he continued "I dunno, work, work, spew, work , occasional death eater attack"

"Not all the time. Well, anyway, a few weeks in to the holidays, make a bed up for me. We'll have to go down to that lake your always talking about with your brothers, I'm quite intrigued. And by the way its S.P.E.W. Not spew, I'm sick of telling you that Ronald"

"Sorry, and did Ginny not take you last summer?" I shook my head " We'll have to make a day of it , take some food down, get Harry's mind off of things, you'll both enjoy it"

"I bet we will"

"Ron?

"Yes?

i lifted up my arm and he looked at me quizically.

"Smell"

"Umm.. you want me to ... smell you?" he laughed.

"No, you idiot, my wrist"

He raised his eyebrows and leant forward, the tip of his nose touching my bare skin. He sniffed and looked at me once more, holding my arm up with his own.

"Is that-?

"My christmas present" I smiled

"Wicked" he grinned, seeming pleased "Didn't think you would wear it"

"I'm not going to let it sit in my trunk unused"

"Suppose"

He went to drop my wrist, but I did something unimaginable, something I never thought I would do in a million years. As he went to withdraw his hand, I grasped it. I looked at him, a reassuring smile upon my face, and his grapsed back, comforting, and I never wanted him to let go. I thought we would both be embarrassed, our faces turning red, as previously done a few years ago, but no, it felt natural, and I felt safe and protected. Like nothing could even stop us now. Ron lent on his elbow on my bed side table and shut his eyes, his other hand still holding mine. I mumbled something about him going back to bed, but he dismissed it, and I smiled, scooting back down.

I looked over at Harry's bed and had the shock of my life. He was sitting right up, grinning at me like a fool, and glad Ron was not watching me,I grinned back. Harry knew. I think he knew longer than I did to be honest. He wiggled his nose at me, snickering and looked pointedly at our hands. It was then I realised he had been awake through the whole conversation. I blushed at the though of what Harry must make of perfume from Ron. But I didnt care. I shrugged and closed my eyes, waiting for sleep to take hold of me. Come what may, because we will be ready.