Author's Note: I do not own Harry Potter, that's all the work of J.K. Rowling. I do however have mine own ideas of what would have happened behind the scenes and what might have happened opposed to the epilogue.

-------------------------------After Harry's Triumph Over Voldermort----------------------------

Ron didn't know what to think about the changes in the wizarding and muggle world. Voldermort was dead and there would no longer be the major threat of Death Eaters, the threat of Voldermort hunting down the trio. Most importantly to Ron, there would no longer be people hunting down Hermione because she happened to come from a family who weren't blessed with magic. Ron had been in his own hiding the entire time of their search for the horocruxes, and he was hiding to save his family. But Hermione, she was hiding because she and her entire family would be murdered. She had a terrible record with the Ministry of Magic; the muggle-born witch who was accomplice to Undesirable No. 1. There was a sudden feeling of relief that fell over Ron like a home knitted blanket.

Ron hadn't felt so free and relieved since McGonagall chose not to expel he and Harry in second year after the flying Ford Anglia incident. He may have felt relieved, but there was still something lurking inside him. What is there between he and Hermione? Nearly a year ago he had told her that he loved her, then she completely falls to pieces in his arms out of fear, and then during the battle she came out of the blue and kissed him. It seemed to him that the feeling was mutual but how could he know. Hermione had been scared the entire war and the fact that she may never see him again may have been her only motivation.

Ron couldn't love someone who didn't love him back. Was it possible that Hermione only acted like that to feel complete before he possibility of her own death? Did she need to feel loved? Ron knew she needed to be loved, as anyone did, but he needed her to love him. He needed to ask her, to find out the truth, but the last time he put his heart on the line he hadn't gotten any official response. The way Hermione had acted around Ron over the past year very obviously led to the idea that she loved him, or at least had feelings for him, but Ron was scared that it was all out of fear.

As he continued to walk around the Hogwarts grounds, he felt his pace slow, his heart's thudding no longer beat a thousand times a minute, and his breathing steadied. Ron saw Hermione's face looking at his. She was sitting in front of the small entrance through the Whomping Willow. The branches were swinging as much as usual, but there something more serene about them, something much more fluid about the way they moved. Hermione, his best friend, sat directly in front of him, with the lightest smile on her face, gazing into his own eyes. There was a look of confusion on her face, accompanied by desire and fear. Ron knew exactly how she felt.

It took all of the bravery in his heart to drag his shoes across the blood stained grass. It was only a few yards to the woman he believed to be the love of his life, and it felt like it would take forever to get close enough to feel her breath, touch her skin, and smell the very scent that defined her as Hermione. Ron wanted all of that, he needed it, but it was taking an eternity to get himself close enough.

Once his battered torn shoes had carried him the short distance he needed them too, he let his body lazily plop down on the ground next to her's. Ron let out a loud "Umphh" as his body hit the hard ground, but he tried to cover up his pain by moving him closer to Hermione. From less than a foot away he could barely smell Hermione, but that was because her own scent was masked by the sweat and blood of herself and others. Ron could see the trails of tears embedded in her face, their tracks had cleared the dirt and grime of battle off her innocent skin.

Hermione turned herself around, so that Ron was now facing her instead of hiding behind her. She lost the look of fear the moment she saw it on Ron's face. She knew that this was finally the moment, the time to tell all.

"Ron, I love you. I love you with all of my heart and nothing will ever change that." She said with a authoritative voice that Ron hadn't heard in months, it was her real voice.

"Then why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you say something? We could have had so much more together!" He half yelled at her, knowing he should have restrained his voice, but he had to let it out.

"Because I couldn't bare to lose you! If we were together, it would have been so much worse to lose you! I couldn't let myself get any closer to you." She had raised her whisper to a high pitched scream. She stood herself up and the blood in her heart climbed high into her cheeks. The thick branches of the trees no longer swayed rhythmically as if there were some sort of musical wind, they had formed a complete cage around the two. Each branch had implanted itself into the grass and dirt beneath them. Ron hadn't seen Hermione explode like this before, he hadn't seen her this passionate in, in forever.

Ron couldn't deny the fact that this was an entirely different side of Hermione and he knew it would only make his love for her grow. He couldn't walk towards her when she was like this, his heart was beating so fast and his mind was so sure that he ran full heartedly towards Hermione. Ron immediately bent over and took her face in his hands, kissing her hard and trying with all of his might to match the passion he had just seen flaring in her eyes, match it all in one kiss.

As Ron pulled her face into his, Hermione threw her arms around his neck and pulled him in even closer. All of the power in this kiss was flowing through Hermione and the air around them was rushing within the Willow cage. Ron could feel the passion inside of them surging, this painful amount of love, need, and desire spinning inside of them. Ron's world was finally the way it should be.