Well, I make you wait over a month for an update, and then you get two in the space of a week! Just don't expect a third too soon:D

If you're not in a mood for a huge amount of fluffiness I suggest you wait to read this until you are, but I make no apologies for it! You shoud all know to expect some sappiness from me on occasion!

You've all been wonderfeul with your reviews, so if you could carry on being wonderful, it would be much appreciated :D

Step ;)


Chapter 19

It was seven in the morning, but neither Ron nor Hermione were asleep. They had woken up a few minutes ago, but neither of them had made a conscious effort to go back to sleep. They had other things on their mind.

'Well, a dream didn't wake us up, and there's no way in hell I'd voluntarily wake up at this ridiculous hour, so I'm gonna blame you, that okay?' Ron asked, breaking the silence, with half a smile on his face.

Hermione could tell he was smiling and, therefore, joking with her. She chuckled.

'Well I don't know why I woke up if it was me, as you said, we weren't dreaming, and we don't feel unwell, so…I'm stumped!'

'Please don't say things like that, Hermione!'

'Like what?' she asked confused.

'It scares me when you say you don't know something. You know everything!'

Hermione laughed out loud.

'What do you want, Ron?'

'What do you mean 'what do I want?''

'You're flattering me, you obviously want something! What homework haven't you finished?'

Ron chuckled. 'Actually believe it or not, I am up to date with my homework. This whole living with you thing has done wonders for my schoolwork!'

Hermione smiled but didn't reply. Ron's comment had brought their conversation right back to what they were obviously avoiding.

'So, er…' Ron said. 'The…dream thing…'

Hermione was both relieved that Ron had brought up the subject, and anxious at the same time.

'Apparently it's not enough that we share our emotions, our pain, and any hex that we are hit with, we now invade each other's subconscious escapism too!' Ron continued.

Hermione frowned and for the minute bypassed the fact that Ron had come out with the phrase 'subconscious escapism'. Something else he had said had surprised her.

'Invade is a bit harsh isn't it?' she asked.

'Well, what is it if it isn't invasion?'

'Sharing?' Hermione replied.

Ron chuckled. 'That is such a girlie way to put it!'

Hermione smiled. 'And invasion is such a chess playing way of putting it! Anyway I'm sure we're going off on a tangent! Our dreams are joined, and they're…'

What were they exactly? She thought.

'Hermione,' Ron said, before thinking to himself.

'What?' she asked.

'Do you mind if we go for a walk or something. Before breakfast, I promise it won't make us late for lessons!'

'Er, yeah, if you want, and you definitely won't make us late for lessons Ron, it's Saturday!'

'I'm awake on a Saturday at seven am? That's just wrong! But, then again, we can spend longer outside! Come on!'

He pulled his hangings back and Hermione did the same, an amazed smile on her face.

'Outside? But Ron, it's still dark! And there's all the extra security, we'll never get out!'

'Ah, come on Hermione! Where's your sense of adventure?'

'It was hexed out of me at the Ministry last summer!'

Ron laughed, but stopped on his way to the bathroom.

'Look, I know this is a little strange, but I just need to get out of the castle, and I want to show you something. We can steal Harry's invisibility cloak and no one'll see us.'

Hermione was still unsure about this. Surely what Ron wanted to show her wasn't worth a lifetime of detentions and possible suspension? She was about to argue her point when Ron's excitement flooded through her. She felt exhilarated, and the nagging thoughts about rules left her mind.

'So, is that smile a yes then?' Ron asked, a cheeky smile of his own meeting Hermione's eyes.

'Yes, alright!'

'Cool! I won't be long!'

Ten minutes later Ron and Hermione were crouched under the invisibility cloak, stood in front of the entrance to the castle, but on the wrong side to what they wanted to be.

They had quietly made their way through the castle to Gryffindor tower, only once being disturbed by Mrs. Norris. Ron had pulled Hermione into the same corridor that Hermione had forced him into days earlier when she had confronted him about using her to escape Lavender, except this time, they had fallen into each others arms, flushed from the quick escape, and had taken a few seconds to realise where they were, the first few being used to work out whether the mangy cat had left the corridor they wanted to be in. Neither of them wanted to admit to themselves that nothing felt more comfortable than being in the other's arms, and they had carried on into the Gryffindor common room as if nothing had happened.

Harry had agreed to let them borrow his invisibility cloak, although Hermione was less than convinced that Harry was fully awake, and she had a feeling Harry wouldn't remember their broken conversation when he did wake fully.

As they had discovered before they arrived at Hogwarts when they were following Malfoy through Diagon and Knockturn Alley, it was noe becoming much harder to walk normally under it, mainly because of Ron's continual growth in height. They both knew that it would have been much easier to walk under the cloak with an arm around the other's waist, but both ignored this very logical act, and managed to make their way to the entrance hall without tripping or unintentionally pulling the cloak off them. Now they just had to get out the castle.

'Er, Ron. We seem to have a problem, unless the door's been charmed to open when you stare at it intently, we can't get out. I doubt there's going to be a teacher up at this time to open it, and even if there was, I don't think I need to remind you that we shouldn't be doing this.'

Ron simply turned to her and smiled.

'Oh ye of little faith! Do you think I went into this whole thing without a plan? I'm offended, Hermione!'

Hermione was about to argue Ron's point when the door opened from the outside. Ron grabbed Hermione's hand and pulled her towards the door. Hermione watched as Hagrid trudged into the castle. Ron pulled Hermione through the quickly closing door and it shut behind them with a loud thunk. They heard a series of extra thunks as the various bolt, bars and locks slid into place, and they heard the swish of what could only be an umbrella moving deftly through the air. Hermione felt the air around the door crackle, there was no way anyone was getting through that door, which did beg the question, how were they going to get back in?

Ron kept a tight hold of Hermione's hand and guided her away from the castle as comfortably as they could while still under the invisibility cloak. Hermione smiled to herself when Ron didn't let go, but she tried to suppress the feeling of almighty glee inside her so Ron wouldn't feel it too. Little did she know that Ron was trying to suppress the same feeling.

'So, what do you want to show me that was so fantastic we had to break most of the school rules to see?'

'You'll see in a bit.'

She wasn't sure if the squeeze Ron gave her hand was subconscious or not, but she returned it anyway.

They continued to walk away from the castle and down towards the lake, and they finally stopped when they got to the water's edge, still in close proximity and still under the invisibility cloak.

'You brought me to see the lake at seven o'clock on a Saturday morning? Hermione asked with a cheeky smile.

'You know, you are getting far too cheeky Hermione Granger, I think I shall have to tell McGonagal of your cheekiness and suggest she strip you of your title of prefect! And anyway, it's not seven o clock anymore, it's nearly twenty to eight!'

Hermione was, once again, about to open her mouth argue against Ron's point but, once again she was interrupted, this time by the man himself.

'Luckily for you, your dawdling…ness…didn't make us miss what we're here for; we actually have a few minutes to wait. Do you mind if we sit down?'

Once again Hermione was cut off before she had started talking by Ron.

'Good!'

He waved his wand over the frost-covered grass and it dried and warmed slightly.

'You've gone awfully quiet, Hermione!'

Finally he gave her the chance to reply to him.

'Well, if you'd give me the chance to reply I bloody well would've done! And don't even think about having a go at me for swearing, Ronald! In the last two minutes you have called me cheeky, suggested I wasn't responsible enough to be a prefect and called me a dawdler! And don't even get me started on your attempts to bring new words to the English language!'

Although her words could be considered harsh, she had said the whole of her piece with a smile on her face and at the end of it Ron laughed out loud.

'So, are we sitting?' Ron asked, as if Hermione hadn't just spent the last minute ranting at him.

Hermione shrugged, realising her words had had very little effect. 'Yeah, okay then. She looked at the ground and the cloak that covered them. 'Er, how are we going to work this? I don't think the cloak will quite cover us if we sit side by side.'

'Oh, right. Well, if you didn't mind…I could…sit behind you.'

'I don't mind!' Hermione replied, a little too enthusiastically for her own liking.

'Oh! Okay then. Good!'

Ron waited for Hermione to sit down on the patch of grass he had dried and warmed for them and then crouched down behind her. He shuffled his feet forward, either side of Hermione before sitting down and stretching his legs out as far as the cloak would let him. If he was honest with himself, it wasn't the most comfortable position in the world, but at that moment in time, he didn't really care.

'Comfy?' he asked Hermione as he slowly inched forward, careful not to make too much contact with her.

'Yeah, I am, thank you for asking. Now, do I finally get to know what were here for?'

'You'll know when it happens,' he said quietly.

He hadn't meant to breathe on the back of Hermione's exposed neck, her hair being in a ponytail, but he had and he felt her shudder.

'Sorry,' he said quietly, 'I didn't mean to make you shiver.'

'It's okay,' Hermione replied, although she wasn't quite sure how she had managed to make her mouth form words. She was just very relieved that Ron couldn't see the nice shade of pink she knew her face had turned. The heat radiating from her cheeks was enough to melt all the frost in the Hogwarts grounds.

'So,' she said quietly, 'these dreams we're having, what do you make of them.'

'In a minute,' he said, 'just look up at the horizon.'

Hermione did what she was told and was surprised to see the sky above the horizon had lightened considerably. A few seconds later she gasped when the sun cam over the horizon line.

'It's beautiful isn't it?' Ron whispered in her ear.

Hermione couldn't breathe properly. She had never seen a sunrise before; she thought it was exactly what Ron had said: beautiful. This, along with the fact that Ron was whispering in her ear made her shiver once more.

Ron instantly moved his arms around her waist to try and warm her up. She tensed slightly and he felt it, he quickly pulled his arms back.

'Sorry,' he mumbled. 'I didn't mean-'

'I'm still cold,' she said, cutting him off. 'Would you mind?'

'Oh, if you want me to then…of course.'

He placed his arms back around her waist, this time she didn't tense; she relaxed and leant back a touch. He took the initiative and leaned into her back.

They both sat in silence, watching the sun continue to rise.

After a few minutes Ron cleared his throat.

'Hermione, why doesn't this feel…wrong, or weird?' he whispered.

'I don't know, Ron. My brain's telling me it should, but it doesn't.'

She put her hands on his and slowly stroked the back of his hands with her thumbs.

'Maybe it's the potion doing it,' he said, although his tone made it obvious he wasn't entirely sure this was true.

'Maybe,' Hermione replied in the same tone.

'Did you like it then?' Ron asked, changing the subject. 'The sunrise that is, I know you haven't seen one before and I thought you'd like it.'

'It's beautiful, Ron, but how did you know I've never seen one before? I don't remember telling you that.'

'You didn't, I overheard you telling Ginny last summer. You said you'd never seen a sunrise or a falling star. Well, at least now you've seen one of the two, but I'm afraid there's nothing I can do about the other one!'

She chuckled. 'No there's not. But thank you for remembering and showing me this, it was very thoughtful.'

Ron reddened, and, like Hermione, was very glad that no one could see him.

'So, these dreams.'

'These dreams,' Hermione replied quietly.

'Do you have any idea what they might mean?'

'I'm not sure really. I suppose… The way I see it is, they seem to be progressing, like it's a story or a film or something. Maybe we just…see where they lead. What do you think?'

'It's an idea, and I have a feeling we're gonna keep having them, so maybe it's best not to fight them and just see what happens.'

'Yeah,' Hermione whispered. 'We'll do that.'

They fell silent for a while, just looking at the sunrise.

'Do you want to go inside?' Ron asked. The best bit's kind of over!'

Hermione smiled. 'If you want to.'

Ron's stomach rumbled loudly and Hermione burst into giggles.

'I'll take that as a yes then, shall I?'

She turned around and gasped when she realised how close to Ron's face she was. Ron couldn't do anything but stare into her eyes and Hermione couldn't tear hers away from his.

'Er…' Ron mumbled. 'Yeah…you should.'

Hermione looked away and Ron pulled back. She moved away from him and they both stood up, still managing to keep themselves covered by the invisibility cloak.

They gave each other a smile and started walking towards the castle.

'Hardly anyone will be at breakfast, you know,' Hermione said. 'Then again, you're probably glad, you can eat everyone else's food if they're not there!'

She grinned at him and Ron looked at her, slightly shocked.

'Oh, you're gonna pay for that!'

He pulled her towards him and started tickling her.

She shrieked and tried to pull away from him, but he was too strong for her.

'Ron! Stop it!' she said through her laughter. 'Someone'll hear us!'

Ron stopped tickling her but instead of letting her go, he tucked her under his arm and started walking her towards the castle.

She automatically put her arm around his waist and fell into step with his.

They reached the castle and Hermione turned and looked expectantly at Ron.

His face fell.

'Er, we may have a problem,' he said, realising his slight overlook.

'Oh you have got to be joking! You plan everything except how to get back into the sodding castle!'

Ron shuffled his feet and looked at the floor.

He turned to face the direction they had just come from.

'Wanna watch the sunrise with me Hermione?' he asked with an apologetic smile on his face.

She rolled her eyes at him but smiled.

'I'd love to.'