A Whole New World
Sirius sounded ready to knock the stuffing out of me when I came hurrying through the door at four o' clock that afternoon:
"And where, might I ask, have you been all day young lady!" he called loudly from the front room, "I got a phone call saying you've not set one foot in school today! Now that's very unlike you; care to tell me where you've been?"
I edged slowly into the front room; Sirius was perched on his usual armchair with the latest baseball match blaring out of the TV and an expression of great curiosity etched across his face; I struggled to put an excuse into words as I remembered who I had been with all day; my stomach was doing somersaults.
"I-I um I was at the local library working on a private home project," I lied quickly; Sirius' eyes narrowed.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I only just decided I would focus on that after you'd gone to work," I continued more swiftly.
Sirius grunted, "make sure you tell me next time," he requested, and then turned his attention back to the television.
Taking a breath of relief, I ran upstairs, locked the door of my bedroom and threw myself onto my bed. Phew! I would be in trouble with the school tomorrow, but hopefully if I told them the same thing I'd informed Sirius, perhaps they wouldn't look into it too much. Yet I could hardly bring myself to regret the reason behind my missing school today; my eyes closed as I remembered those glorious moments we had spent in each other's company...
"Your lips taste of blood," commented Ron as we broke apart from our tender first kiss.
"Sorry," I blushed, my arms still wrapped round his neck, "When I get nervous I tend to bite my lip a lot and-"
Ron silenced me with a soft chaste kiss: "It's ok," he murmured, "I do exactly the same."
"I've noticed," I said, smiling happily at him.
"Have you?" smirked Ron, holding me tighter in his arms, "you must've been finding it difficult to keep your eyes off me these last few weeks then."
"Yes I have!" I admitted openly; it felt nice to be able to finally get things out in the open, "more than you can probably imagine."
"I bet I can imagine a fair deal," said Ron smugly. I raised my eyebrows at him and then, before I knew it, he had pulled me to the ground so we were now sat side by side in the middle of the dazzling clearing.
Ron took hold of my hand in his so there was a part of us still touching. It felt exactly the same as it had done the first time I clasped hold of him: our hands were made to fit. Gazing at them entwined for a few minutes I looked up at Ron, whose expression was calm with his eyes fixed on me, and asked him why he had suddenly changed his mind about us being together:
"Because I'm too selfish," he said honestly, "I was trying with all my strength not to let us fall into this situation but..." he broke off with a heavy sigh and looked at me lovingly, "I need you too badly; you're the most important thing in my life now, and I'll never be able to live without you."
I clasped hold of his hand tightly, "Promise me you'll never leave me," I said, overcome by sudden desperation.
"Hermione, why would I ever do that?" said Ron worriedly, "did you not listen to what I just said."
"Can you not remember what you said before all that," I replied nervously, my breathing was quite ragged all of a sudden, "about it being too dangerous for us."
Ron placed his other warm hand gently on my cheek, I leaned in towards his scent.
"I can hardly say that us being together is not dangerous," he said softly, "but I can reassure you that the odds of us getting into any trouble are not that great," he smiled kindly, "believe me, if you were in any danger, I would do everything it took to make you safe again."
I smiled back at him; it was next to impossible for me not to be happy right now, and yet the feeling of anxiety was also unable to be non-existent. I sighed deeply.
"You're still not convinced are you?" Ron asked apprehensively, "maybe I need to prove it to you a little more..."
Because I wasn't looking at him, I never saw the mischevious grin flash across his face. All of a sudden I found myself lying flat on the floor with Ron on top of me pelting me with kisses.
"Ron get off I-"
But I soon became incoherent as I allowed myself to be swept up in the warmth of his embrace. My heart was pounding furiously as we kissed each other with such fiery passion, I felt like I was going to explode. All the tension we had been feeling over the past couple of weeks was being released in this one kiss; it was extroadinary. I knew there was no going back now, I knew things were never going to change, I knew this was the thing I'd never been aware of not having, but needing intensely; Ron was everything now; he was the reason for my very existence, and nothing in the world would change that...
"Hermione! Hermione!" I opened my eyes with a jolt: Sirius was calling me.
"Yes dad!" I shouted through my closed door.
"Could you come downstairs and show me how to work the oven please!" he asked shamefully, "I'm not too sure which of the knobs I'm supposed to turn!"
Laughing at my father's incredulity, I heaved myself off of my bed and headed downstairs to what smelt funnily enough like burning.
It was quarter to one in the morning, and I was still tossing and turning in bed like some wild animal. Damn, I hated these restless sleeps; they meant I was never fully alert when in lessons. If only he wasn't so distracting...
"Blimey, you're a really troublesome sleeper aren't you!" said an extremely familiar voice from over in the corner.
I sat bolt upright, "Where are you?" I whispered into my dark room feeling like a total idiot; now I was having hallucinations regarding Ron's voice!
"Here," he replied cheerfully; he sounded closer now. I leaned over and flicked on my bedside lamp, turning back to actually find Ron, hair ruffled and still in the clothes he'd worn yesterday, sat happily on the end of my bed.
I stared at him dumbfoundly for a few minutes, "how-how did you get in here?"
"Apparated," he said amusingly.
"I thought you didn't like that form of travel,"
"No I don't, but it's a lot less noisier than using a broom or floo powder; and I wasn't intending to wake your dad up as well as you," he grinned happily.
"What's floo powder?" I asked curiously.
"Transportation using fireplaces," said Ron, " but you can only do it as long as there is another fireplace waiting for you at the other end, otherwise you'd get a bit stuck."
I grinned, and then looked at him suspiciously: "How long have you been sneaking into my bedroom for then?"
Ron looked slightly taken aback that I had worked out his actions so soon after his arrival.
"Oh um I've been coming up here for the last couple of nights now..." he looked at me shamefully and the tips of his ears went red.
I struggled to process this information; the boy I had been dreaming about constantly for the past few nights had been watching me all along; no wonder I was having restless sleeps!
"I'm sorry," mumbled Ron, and he did look rather guilty, "I know it must freak you out and all but I just have to see you, I have to. I worry about you; I can't rest unless I know you're safe. I know it's still a silly excuse but I-"
He stopped speaking abruptly; I had thrown myself into his arms and rested my head against his warm chest; I could hear his heart beating loudly beneath his ribs and immediately felt content with the closeness between us. Ron's arms wrapped securely around me, and for a long pause we just sat there, enjoying each other's embrace. At one point, I felt Ron's lips touch the top of my head and a smile crept across my face.
"What did I do to deserve you eh?" Ron asked quietly; I moved my head so I could look up into his warm gentle eyes.
"What did I do to deserve you?" I asked wonderously; and for the first time I reached out and stroked his beautiful face. Ron closed his eyes as he allowed my hand to explore every aspect of his handsome features. My smile grew wider; I couldn't believe that this wonderful person had chosen to be with me of all people; it was difficult to justify. As if he had read my mind, Ron's eyes flickered open and he looked at me with such intense emotion, it almost made me cry.
"I'll never want anyone else in the world but you," he told me seriously, then he glanced at my clock, "Blimey; looks about time for us to be getting a bit of shut eye I think," he kissed the top of my head again and then stood up off the bed.
"Please-do you have to go?" I begged quietly. Ron looked at me longingly.
"I don't want to leave you," he assured me softly.
"Then don't," I pleaded, "stay with me,"
Ron looked as though he was doing some quick thinking, then, on making a decision, he went and settled himself in the single armchair on the other side of the room.
"No," I gestured to the space next to me in the bed.
"Are - are you sure?" Ron asked nervously, "I mean we've not even been together for twenty- four hours, it might be a bit..."
"Please, I just want you to be next to me," I said gently, trying to tone down the enormous level of need I had for his presence.
Ron hesitated slightly then, on an encouraging nod from me, he climbed into the bed and lay down next to me.
"I'll have to be up at the crack of dawn now," he grumbled jokingly, I giggled and snuggled myself into his warm arms.
The sun shone weakly through the tint in my curtains, yet it was still enough to drag me back to consciousness. Glancing tiredly at my clock, I groaned loudly and then forced myself into a sitting position, rubbing my eyes as I did so.
"Your hair looks like a bloody haystack! But I quite like it that way."
I threw a pillow at him in reponse to his comment. Ron laughed.
"Good morning to you too!" he said cheerfully.
"How can you be in such a good mood?" I grumbled, still rubbing sleep dust out of my eyes.
"Me? Cause I've not felt this happy for a long time!" he chirped, bouncing over to the bed and giving me a kiss on the cheek.
"Come on then lazybones! We don't wanna end up arriving late for school, especially after we missed a whole day of it yesterday!" he started rummaging through my draws, pulling out clothes for me to wear.
"Hey! Do you mind!" I squealed, jumping out of bed, "don't you know it's rude to go rummaging through a women's personal belongings!"
"Only now," said Ron, "mind you, my sister Ginny goes haywire if you so much as step into her room..."
"Yes well that's because boys have the tendency to stick their abnormally large noses in places where girls don't want them!" I said sternly, gathering up the clothes Ron had layed out for me and turning towards the bathroom.
"Y'know I've got a feeling you and my sister are gonna get along really well together," laughed Ron, as I stuck my tongue out at him and headed into the bathroom.
Sure enough, my hair did look like a haystack. But after washing it, blowdrying it and then brushing it through thouroughly, I decided it looked considerably more decent. Changing quickly into the outfit Ron selected for me, which suprisingly looked rather nice, I took one last glance in the mirror and hurried back into my bedroom; Ron was sat on the end of my bed, and his face lit up when he saw me enter the room;
"You look beautiful," he said sincerely, causing me to blush and look down.
Ron stood up and gestured round my room, "It's nice your room, I've not seen it in the daylight before. I think it really ressembles you."
"You do?" I asked curiously.
"Yeah," said Ron, "especially the amount of books you have," he pointed to my enormous bookshelf, which Sirius had swiftly gone and bought after I'd told him how many books I would be bringing when we'd made arrangements for my coming to stay.
Ron looked at me and smiled. I walked quickly across the room and hugged him; he kissed my forehead.
"Awake now then?" he chuckled happily.
"Hmm just about," I smiled into his T-shirt, and it was then I noticed that it was a different T-shirt.
"You've changed."
"Course I have," said Ron, "I had to get changed into something different for school, otherwise there would be awkward questions to answer when we arrive there."
"I think there will probably be awkward questions anyway," I sighed, thinking about how everyone was going to behave when they saw Ron and me turn up together, but for some reason, it really didn't bother me, "so when did you leave to get new clothes?"
"Not long after you nodded off," Ron replied, "I wasn't gone long, besides you were well out of it," he smiled as though he knew something I didn't; I looked at him worriedly:
"Did I- did I say anything at all whilst I was sleeping?" I asked tentatively.
"Perhaps," mused Ron, and his smile grew wider.
"What was it?" I asked worriedly, I knew I had a tendency to talk in my sleep, and it was usually an awful lot of waffling about some book or other according to my highly eccentric mother.
"Well...," Ron's ears went pink again, "you said...you said that you loved me."
I gazed at him.
"I love you," I repeated earnestly; Ron smiled again and indicated that we should head down to get some breakfast.
"Where's Sirius?" I asked suddenly whilst we headed downstairs .
"Don't worry, he left quite a while before you woke up," replied Ron.
"Oh, I guess he's still trying to work out who's behind them awful killings," I said sadly, remembering Sirius's face the night Remus Lupin had died.
"I reckon they're gonna have a job catching them," said Ron quietly.
"What do you mean?" I asked as I set about preparing us both some cereal.
"Well," said Ron, " for starters, it wasn't a load of your people who commited those murders."
I stared at him, my mouth completely agog.
"You mean it's someone who's a wizard!" I was astounded.
Ron nodded gravely, "I told you there was a war coming Hermione, and it looks like it might be heading this way faster than we thought..."
"Have you told the police?" I asked seriously.
"No," said Ron with equal seriousness, "there is absolutely no way the muggles can understand or stop this, this is something our Ministry of Magic are dealing with."
"There's a Ministry of Magic?" I said, bewildered as we sat down and began eating our cereal.
"Yep," said Ron thickly through a mouthful of muesli, "the Ministry of Magic's in charge of keeping the Wizarding population under control; no-one else is supposed to really know about us." he looked at me rather guiltily.
"But I know," I replied nervously, "does that mean you've breached some kind of law?"
"No," said Ron calmly, "there's a fair number of muggles who know about us cause a lot of half blood wizards marry them; it's just amongst- you know my bloodline we prefer muggles not to know..." he gazed moodily into his cereal bowl, clearly put out by his legacy's attitude.
"Hey," I said gently, leaning over and placing my hand on his, which was resting on the table, "it's not your fault people of your bloodline behave like that, what matters most is how you choose to behave, and that, I certainly think, makes so much more difference." I smiled heartily.
Ron looked up and gave me a small smile in return, "you're a really smart girl you are Hermione," he said, holding onto my hand and stroking it softly, I felt my face fill with chagrin, and continued eating my cereal in silence, Ron did the same; our hands never breaking apart until we rose to put our bowls in the dishwasher, and headed outside into a chilly breeze.
"How did your car get here?" I asked astoundingly when I noticed it sat on the edge of the road.
"Brought it with me when I went to change into a set of new clothes," Ron grinned cheerfully, opening the passenger door for me and then preceding to the driver's side.
The journey to school was rather enjoyable: Ron told me all sorts of things about the Wizarding World, all of which I found fascinating.
"What? Wow! You really get your post from owls!"
"Yep, that's how most wizards communicate," said Ron, clearly amused by the reactions appearing across my face.
"That's amazing; I thought owls only came out at night! How come I've never seen one of them?"
"Cause they're usually trained to avoid flying in routes where muggles can see them; they're very clever creatures owls."
"Does your family have one?"
"Oh, yeah," replied Ron grumpily, "if you can call him an owl; we've got this one called Errol, and he's absolutely useless- always collapsing, even on lightweight journeys! I tell you, the number of times one of us has sat on him cause he's fainted onto one of the chairs..."
I stared at Ron slightly agog; his owl sounded completely past it , and yet he was talking about it so casually.
"Don't worry," he said assuringly, catching my worried expression, "he's had a good long life, and to be honest I think he'd be better off if he snuffed it sooner rather than later; he's quite literally on his last legs."
I did not say anything else for the rest of the journey; Ron's homelife sounded startingly different to that of my own, and it rather upset me.
The attitude at school was just as Ron and I predicted: the minute we turned into the parking lot, heads spun round in our direction, and mouths fell open in complete looks of shock.
"Oh no, everyone's staring at us!" I squeaked nervously.
"Just relax," soothed Ron, "It's simply my handsome physique- girls can't help but swoon when they see it!"
I scoffed loudly, "well then it looks like a lot of boys here must be having an urge to bat for the other side if that's the reason why everyone's gawping!"
Ron looked down, frowning at me; I couldn't resist the urge to stroke his frown lines etched between his eyes.
"Oh my god!" we both turned in the direction of the sudden outburst; Pavarti and Padma were stood near the entrance to the school, and by the looks on their faces, it was clear they were struggling to contain their apparent disbelief at the sight of me and Ron Weasley, although to be honest, I was subconsciously pinching myself everytime I looked at him and saw his gorgeous smile shining down at me: I feel like the luckiest girl in the world I sighed deeply; sad thing was, I honestly did not feel like I deserved it.
"Come on, wouldn't want you to be late for lessons now would we?" smiled Ron, putting his arm around my shoulders and gently steering me towards the main entrance where Padma and Pavarti were still gawping. I gave them a small wave but they continued to look like a pair of fish. Well, what do you expect, for the last few weeks you and Ron have been making it clear that you hate each other's guts, I sighed deeply. It was going to take a while, but to be honest, I really didn't care; because whenever I looked into the face of the person walking next to me, there was nothing I felt but pure happiness.