A/N: This was submitted by a reader on the prompt: Ron has to ask Hermione a favor...how does he persuade her? Bwahaha leaving it open ended for ya :)

And now the reminder from my barrister that I don't own copyright or IP for Ron, Hermione, Harry, Ginny or even Grimmauld Place. I do own a table for eating on. That'll suffice for today. -DG

"Hermione, can you help me?"

"Hmmm?"

She turned from the washing in the sink. Ron was sitting at the table in the kitchen in Grimmauld Place, books spread out all around him. He was studying for his first qualifications to become an apprentice Auror.

"I don't understand something. I need your help."

"I'm not doing your work for you, Ronald."

"I'm not asking that, Hermione. I know you can't help me when I take the test but I don't get this passage of notes and it doesn't make a lick of sense to me."

"Can you not read your own handwriting?"

Ron ran his hand across the back of his neck and mumbled into his notes.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you?"

He looked up. "I didn't take careful notes 'cause I had just gotten a letter from you and I was focused on that instead of taking notes."

"Honestly, Ron, my letters can wait while you're listening to the Senior Auror."

"But I missed you. I hadn't seen you in weeks. That letter was the only thing keeping me from going barmy."

He turned his sad eyed puppy look on her – the one that always made her melt and give in to anything he asked of her. "Fine then, hand me the book and the notes and I'll see if I can teach you, this one time!"

He sat up straight on the bench and offered her a sincere look of abject devotion at her teaching moment. He shoved the book and his atrocious notes to her. Within seconds, she was turning the pages of the Auror manual and looking at the scribbles on his parchment.

Ron sighed happily since Hermione could decipher his dragon scratch. Years of practice made his illegible scribbles seem like the finest script to his girlfriend. Thank Merlin I've got a brilliant witch of a girlfriend.

While she devoured the knowledge before her, he tucked into the pudding on the table: slices of chocolate cake his Mum sent over earlier in the day. While Hermione studied, he ate and watched her learn voraciously, much like his eating.

Good thing she devours me on those occasions like she does her studies.

Hermione closed the book and looked at him.

"Are you ready to learn what you missed in those notes?"

Ron wiped the chocolate frosting from his mouth and nodded enthusiastically. "But first, this favor will have some benefits for me, too."

"Anything. I have my exam on Monday. This will be on it, I know it."

A cheeky yet menacing grin crept across her face. "We'll discuss your payment later, then, since I know you'll be good for it. I don't think you'll mind too terribly much."

Ron choked back the bezor in his throat.

"Now, we need to discuss your lesson and notes. Do you have your wand handy?"

Ron pulled his wand from the pocket on his trousers.

"Good, but you won't need it for this."

Ron frowned.

Hermione stood up and pulled the black walnut wand from her concealed holster on her left arm. One non-verbal spell later and she was disillusioned.

"Hermione, where'd you go?"

Ron heard the door squelch behind him.

"Hermione, this isn't funny."

Delicate lips kissed his neck and a gentle bite there too.

"But the lesson and notes are on stealth and concealment. Give me ten seconds and then try to find me."

He felt something pass by his ear and he swatted at it. He pulled back what felt like was saliva, where Hermione had bit his earlobe.

"Damn it, this isn't how the lesson went."

He stood up and felt a sting on his bum. He rubbed it. "Oh now you're getting cheeky, witch."

Ron turned and flashed his wand, thinking disarming spell without it crossing his lips. Nothing happened on the doorjamb. But he felt a swat on his back. He turned again and tried the same spell, aiming at the bench behind him. Nothing happened again.

Minutes passes and he grew weary playing magical hide and seek with Hermione in the kitchen. Each time he felt something, whether a spell just passing his skin or a whisper of a charm land softly on him, he tried to deduce where she was hiding in the kitchen. He'd already spelled each inch of the countertops and even checked in the cabinets themselves.

He tried everything he could to find Hermione in the kitchen.

"You're not going to beat me, Hermione, not at my own game."

They continued their cat and mouse game, each time him trying a new tactic to find her in the kitchen. With her prodigious magical skills and knowledge he was up against a worthy adversary. Every spell he tried failed to deduce where she was.

They continued to practice and play for minutes, slowly turning close to an hour.

A noise under the table made him spin and utter the one she used on Neville all those years ago. A hard thud was all he heard.

"Gotcha!"

He waved his wand under the table and there she was, keeled over and frozen from the spell he uttered. A quick flick and she was released from the charm.

"That was bloody brilliant, hiding under there. I don't know how you managed to do so much for so long."

"Who says I was hiding under there the whole time? I was apparating from spot to spot after each attack."

Ron's jaw dropped. "You're fucking kidding. That's brilliant."

"You said it yourself, in your own notes: don't play the game on conventional rules. It's not a Queen's test, like Cricket. It's catching a bad wizard. You can't fight on his terms."

Ron pushed the bench out of the way and pulled her up to her feet. His lips found hers immediately. She was happy to reciprocate.

"Bloody hell, don't the two of you do anything else but snog?"

They broke apart slightly to see Harry and Ginny standing in the doorway. Mirth was on her face while Harry was mortified once again. "Sorry Harry. Hermione was teaching me stealth and evasive tactics. I've got my quals on Monday for it so I can get to be where you are."

"Yeah, right, and I'm Victor Krum. Come on, let's go grab takeaway. I don't know about you two, but we're famished."

The two couples grabbed their jackets from the front hallway and left Grimmauld Place. While Harry and Ginny took the lead, Ron and Hermione stayed a step or two behind.

"When I have the practical, I'm going to have to use that. Thanks!"

She squeezed his hand while they walked to the corner and towards his future.