v: The wrong order

"Where do we go from here, Hermione?"

Hermione looked up at him suddenly from where she was sitting. "What?" she asked curiously. They were spread out on the grass, basking in the sunlight in the garden of the Burrow, the first chance they'd had to be alone together since the battle.

"You know... it just seems like we're doing everything in the wrong order," Ron commented.

Hermione always did her best, but this was one of those times when she really struggled to follow Ron's thought processes. "I don't know what you mean."

Ron sighed, looking for a way to explain himself. "Well," he began, "we had a bloody fantastic first kiss. I'm not saying I regret that. But... what does that make us now? We haven't been on a date, or done whatever normal couples do. Are we a couple?" he babbled on. "Because I didn't ask you or anything. I'm supposed to, aren't I?"

Hermione smiled to herself; Ron was adorable when he over-thought things. "I don't know. Did you ask Lavender?"

"Well, no," Ron admitted sheepishly, "but that didn't exactly turn out well, did it? I just want to do everything right this time. Don't you want to sort of... rewind? Start from the beginning?"

Hermione thought for a moment. "Honestly? No," she said, to Ron's surprise. "I don't want to rewind. I want to carry right on from where we left off," she told him, a mischievous glint in her eye.

"Really?" asked Ron, astonished. "But... you're Hermione Granger! You always have to do everything in the right order."

"But maybe the traditional 'right order' isn't the right order for us," she suggested. After all, they'd been dancing around each other for so many years - maybe there was no need to start off slowly.

"You know... I like that," he said, a grin spreading across his face.

"I thought you would," Hermione said, smiling wickedly.

"I need to be sure of something first, though," Ron said thoughtfully, almost to himself.

"You've lost me," Hermione sighed, unable to work out what he could possibly mean.

Ron took a deep breath, apparently trying to decide how to do this. He took the direct approach. "Hermione, will you be my girlfriend?"

Hermione couldn't help laughing; he tried so hard, but he really had just made it sound like they were eleven-year-olds again. "You, Ron Weasley, are utterly ridiculous," she declared, and his face fell. "But how could I possibly say no?"

A/N: I think it's slightly ironic that this whole collection is in the wrong order, yet this story follows on seamlessly from the last... XD

This wasn't actually what I planned to write next, because I wanted to write something happy instead. :)

This is for the Your Favourite Couples Challenge (prompt: your couple discuss their future) and the OTP Boot Camp Challenge (prompt: ridiculous).