Virtues

"Hermione?"

"Yes?"

The sun was setting on the Australian coast, sending the most glorious shades of orange, red and pink streaming into their hotel room, oozing around them, giving them a sense of peace and safety. The birds called outside, and Hermione sat up and looked a short distance away to where Ron was lying down. In a seperate bed. She wandered why Ron had dumped his stuff on the other bed and later gotten into it. Why didn't they just push the beds together? They had shared a bed at the Burrow a few times. It became natural, normal, and comforting for them both, so why have your own bed now? She leant on her hands and waited for his question.

"Can I ask you something?"

"You just did" she smiled. He grinned and copied her movemet, leaning on his arms towards her, their faces two metres apart at the most.

"Very funny"

"Looks like you rubbing off on me"

He gulped "The thing is..." She could see the uncomfortablness in his gaze, the way he kept making eye contact and looking away again, how he was scratching the back of his neck, and grinning, licking his lips. "When you and - okay. Erm- well, what I mean to ask is- when you were going out with McLaggen-"

"We never 'went out', he took me to the party, tackled me, recieved a kick in a delicate area and then never spoke to me again. I hardly class that as a relationship"

"Oh" Ron looked at her. She could practically see the cogs whirring and turning in his head."Okay , well, when you and Viktor-"

"We were aquaintances for a year and a half. He kissed me at the Yule Ball, once outside the Library, once on school grounds and then we exchanged letters for six months. I was genuinley surprised to see him at the wedding last year, I never thought in a million years- well anyway. We danced, he kissed my hand, and I haven't heard from him since"

Ron's grin was threatening to crack his face in two. "Oh- so-"

She could see him debating over his next question, and then his lips parted.

"Oh...so...your still a virgin then?"

Hermione whipped her head around fast, meeting Ron's gaze from across the room once more. He didn't go red this time, but his face portrayed nothing but sheer curiosity and hope.

"Ron! When would I have had the time between Dumbledore's death and now to go gallivanting off with someone and take part in such... activities?"

"I don't know, I was never sure, I thought I'd ask you outright . That's what you told me, we'd be honest with each other, and here I am, telling you what I've been worrying about for the past two years"

Hermione tutted "Two years?"

"Hermione" Ron said with the air of someone with old age wisdom "Your a stunningly attractive women, you should hear some of the things Seamus and Dean said about you. I'm not the only one that would sweep you off your feet at the first chance I got you know! How do I know someone hadn't already come along and done it before me- it's not like we had the type of friendship where we could talk about this sort of stuff"

"Mainly because you were the 'stuff'" Hermione whispered.

"Oh"

"And I have yet to be swept off of my feet" she said, raising her eyebrows in question.

"Well, I could do something about that?"

"I'm waiting", she smirked.

He got up from his bed, he pjamer bottoms falling dangerously low, and in two strides was standing over her. She squeeled in delight as he threw the covers back, leant down and scooped her up into his arms, her arms circling his neck. He walked back over to his bed, dropped them both down and with Hermione still in his lap, pulled the covers over them, the both of them sat staring into each others eyes in wander.

"Why didn't you do that sooner?" she asked into the darkening room.

"I don't trust myself"

"Trust yourself?" she asked, hanging on his every word.

"To be alone with you. In bed. And I mean fully alone, not Mum and Dad a few floors down, nor Harry and Ginny a few foot away, I mean just us, no interuptions, that ridiculously small nightgown threatening to drop any second" he looped his fingers through the strap, and pulled in back up to her shoulder where it had slipped from.

Hermione's eyes rested on his face as he watched the sunset once more. Raw emotion was still there, but it was healing. Like a pheonix being reborn, Ron needed his time to get rid of the old wounds, and make space for a new life, his new life with her, maybe. She circled his chest with her hands, and feeling his heart beat like a hammer drill underneath his precious skin, knew that it was affecting him too.

"And have you ever...?" Hermione trailed off suggestively.

"No"

Hermione's heart soared, and she couldn't hide the delight on her face.

"Pleased you has it?"

"Well of course it has. Lavenders been with far too many boys in my opinion, there's a new one in the dormitory every week, you could have caught anything, gotten her pregnant, regretted it later on for a number of reasons"

"There would have only been one reason to regret an act like that"

"Oh? Care to tell me what it is?"

Ron blushed a firey red and looked away. Her legs were across his lap, and she could feel the ache in her body for sleep, but her mind was telling her differently. Her mind was telling her to touch, kiss and caress. Her body was telling her to shut down, sleep and dream. What was that saying... mind over matter? Did this apply here?

She lowered her hands and felt downwards...down...down...until her hand rested upon his stomach. His bare stomach. She circled his belly button, using her sense of touch only as the blankets covered them, and then felt across her palm a sprinkling of hairs, a few centimetres below. She remembered catching a glipse of those few summers ago, during one of the many times they had taken to the tree near the lake. How he had stretched out like a cat on the grass, and revealed them to her for the very first time. He had no idea she had seen them of course, but now she wouldn't have to remember anymore, she could just look. When ever she wanted.

So that's what she did.

She threw the blankets back and Ron watched her curiously. She trailed her fingers along his abdomen, making Ron chuckle nervously for a moment, then back up past his chest, and along his jaw line. All her senses were filled with Ron, with love for him, his smell, his hair, his touch, his voice, everything. It was all too much.

"Ron?"

"Ye-" he coughed "Uh-huh?"

"Kiss me?"

Ron didn't need telling twice. He turned over and kissed her with all the energy he had, hovering above her and gliding his hands up and down her waist, feeling, touching and engrossed in everything Hermione. Everything eachother.

"Make me a promise?" Ron asked, inbetween kisses.

"Yes" she replied without thinking.

"Save your virtues for someone that deserves them"

"Okay" she whispered kissing him back with passion. Their noses were bumping, their teeth clashing, neither of them wanting to push the other too far. Ron's hand glided up and down her waist once more before settling on her chest. Hermione brought her leg up, pushing his bottom, so he was closer, she could feel more, taste more, touch more. Hermione's hands, now preoccupied with Ron's hair, came to a stop on his chest, and they broke apart, both of them breathing heavily. Their eyes made contact, and both of them knew how easy it would have been, to carry on and never stop. Ron smiled, kissing her forehead and leaning down to place his head on her chest, feeling the beating of her heart beneath his ears.

"Ron?"

"You deserved them years ago... you just didn't know it"

They fell asleep, their hands and legs entwined, the sun finally setting. Tomorrow would be a new day, a new day containing a promise.

rh-rh-rh-rh-rh

Hmmm.. I don't know about this one. I could have easily made it into an M, but I find it so hard to write, believe me I've tried. Anyway, if you like the M rated stuff, go to JesRod82's profile, her stuff is amazing, especially 'Look at Me' blew me away, and don't forget to give her a review !

Coming up...

"Well, Ron and I are going two weeks tomorrow. I would have asked you to come Harry -"

"Oh no, I'm good here" he said knowingly as Ron shot him a look. "Besides, you two need a holiday, some time away"

"Oh" Hermione asked "And you don't?"

"I've got Ginny. That's a holiday all year round"

...

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