iv: The beginning and the end

For a second, she couldn't quite believe what she was hearing. Ron Weasley, the boy who a few years ago had scoffed at SPEW and been disgusted by Kreacher, stopping in the heat of a battle to consider the safety of the house elves? How was it possible? But, as observations of Ron's behaviour since he'd come back to them flooded over her, she realised that it was perfectly compliant with his recent actions. He really was making an effort.

It was the middle of a battle, they should have been on guard, but her feelings for Ron which had been building up inside her for so long overwhelmed her, surpassing all rational thought. Not even realising she was doing it, she let go of the pile of Basilisk fangs as if they no longer existed and she and Ron were the only people in the world, and she was sprinting towards him...

He looked alarmed, but responded heatedly when he realised what was happening. Hermione gave everything she had; she could feel the passion building inside her, and this was the moment she had been longing for for so long, unrecognisable from her imaginings, but then she had never imagined that kissing him would feel this good.

She was vaguely aware of the fact that they were meant to be looking for the Horcrux, that tonight was where it all ended, when Voldemort would either win or lose, that they might not live through the night and might not even discover the outcome, but that just egged her on even more. Like Ron said, it might be now or never.

But of course it couldn't last forever, and Harry was right - they couldn't ignore the chaos and destruction surrounding them for any longer. The end was near.

However, the thing that kept her going more than anything else throughout the battle was the hope that, for her and Ron, this was just the beginning.

A/N: It was only a matter of time before I wrote my take on this scene... ;) For the OTP Boot Camp again, prompt was 'overwhelmed'.

Just a general note to everyone because of a question I had in a review: the chapters are in no particular order, it's just the order the challenges came up in. So sorry it's incoherent; they aren't meant to be related anyway.

Also, I realise the chapters have been getting shorter and shorter - don't worry, I have a nice big juicy one planned next!