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Chapter 3 – Keep me safe

Waves washed over her head and she felt herself dipped completely under water. Even though the cold water surrounded her, she could feel as well as hear the massive explosion of the whirling hay, which she had just set on fire. In panic she opened her eyes. Where was Ron? Had he been under water too, when everything behind them had exploded? She tried to dive away from the bank, but felt her lungs long for oxygen. Snorting and panting she resurfaced. She looked around hectically.

Relief rushed through every cell of her body when she recognized the red-haired head coming up a few feet away from her. Their gazes met and Ron's eyes were suddenly filled with the same amount of passion as when they kissed in the Room of Requirement.

With a few strong swimming strokes he reached her, grabbed her waist, lifted her up and embraced her tightly.

Hermione let herself sink onto him and started crying. Uncontrolled sobs slipped out. She buried her face in the crook of his neck and hold onto him fiercely.
They stood still in the middle of the little sullen river. Soil and burning hay rained down on them, but otherwise the only sound that was heard was their panting and Hermione's sobbing. It almost felt surreal, but the world seemed so peaceful and calm around them.
She had managed to blow up all of their trackers.

Hermione felt Ron's hands touch every inch of her he could reach. His hands wandered through her hair, stroked her neck, trailed down her back. He then clasped her waist and pulled her as close as possible. His movements calmed her, yet she could not stop herself from crying. This had been ways too close to death than she had ever wanted to be again.

"And once again you proved your brilliance." Ron chuckled and Hermione giggled through a few sobs. When Ron's realized that Hermione did not tremble because she cried, but shivered from the cold water, he lifted her and turned so that she was somehow clinging on his shoulders. "We better get out of here. You're freezing!" Hermione squealed and realized at the same time that she had stopped crying. She embraced him from behind and entwined her arms over his chest. She then nestled her nose to the spot of very soft skin right behind his ear.
"Can you just carry me to Australia like this?" She murmured, then chuckled satisfied, when she heard him groan. She realized that teasing him after almost dying was probably not the way to encourage him to any bold steps in the emotional section. She giggled about her inner argument.

"Enjoying yourself, huh?" Ron stamped through the water in huge strides.
"I have just had a row of thoughts that were not only completely inappropriate but also very silly." Hermione smiled into his skin.
"Look at that! My Hermione admits that from time to time she's being silly… Must be the near death experience!"

In a few more steps they reached the opposite bank, where Ron dragged them out of the water and collapsed into the soft grass. Panting and shivering they lay there; legs and arms entangled, they watched the other side of the river. Most parts of the field were still burning, dark smoke rose in undefined figures.

"Can you explain to me what happened through the last ten minutes?" Ron asked after a few moments.

"We felt too safe…" Hermione sighed and tried to calm down and collect her thoughts.
Over the last month there had been rumours about certain factions of Death Eaters, who had not participated in the last battle, because Voldemort had felt confident about the outcome.
A week after his death there were several attacks, which were correlated with some of those groups. Muggles were robbed, a diner managed by a distant related Weasley blazed up, fortunately all in all there were no deaths registered. A few of the humble Death Eaters were arrested, yet still a small lot of fighters remained. Two weeks ago the last attack of them were registered and rumours said that they had fled.

"They probably started making a plan two weeks ago. Maybe it was just a coincidence we were the target. Maybe they saw the Ministry's employee placing the port key in front of the burrow. I can only speculate here, but they probably managed to change its target." Hermione guessed and looked up to Ron.

He seemed to be satisfied with her explanations. "You have probably just got the world ridden of the last Death Eaters out there…" He stated and looked rather pleased. "Come on, love. Do that little trick that gets us all dry and warm and then we'll get a safe way to your parents."

"Why can't we just lay here like this forever?" She murmured and snuggled closer to him.
"As tempting as it is…" Ron paused. "No, we're both gonna get a cold if we don't do something." Ron detangled their legs and started to get up, when Hermione felt a sudden rush of courage floating through her. She grabbed his shoulder and held him in place. Their faces were only inches apart and she could feel his steady breathe on her face. There was a moment when neither of them spoke, yet so much were said. But this time Hermione would not hold back. This time things needed to be said out loud to make them real.

"I would not bear the thought of losing you." She whispered and closed her eyes not able to look at him. Soft fingertips touched her cheek, wandered down to her neck then buried themselves into her soaking curls. "Me neither…" he whispered back and just as she opened her eyes to look at him, he pulled her head towards his chest.

Duh!
Despite the fact the she always enjoyed leaning onto Ron and despite the fact that she loved being touched by him, despite the fact that she was proud of herself for saying it out loud, Hermione was getting furious. With every second which went by she realized that he had turned down her perfect prompt. The moment had been there and all he did was giving her a friendly hug? Great! Hermione jumped to her feet and started stomping away from Ron, who did not even seem to notice which damage he had just done.

"'right, good attitude!" he shouted, making Hermione laugh sarcastically.

Within her a war was going on. On the one hand she wanted to tell him how stupid he had just acted and on the other there was only sadness and disappointment. What if…
What if he really only felt friendship for her? She could not bear it. Screaming at him would be so much easier than letting herself dwell on the feeling of Ron's platonic feelings.

"YOU!" she had to take a deep breath. "Don't even dare to think of apparating! You almost killed us!" She yelled over her shoulder back to him. She only caught a glimpse of his puzzled looking eyes, then she turned and stormed of.

"Wait, what? Hermione, wait!" She heard Ron trying to catch up, but did not slow down. Tears of anger started to build up in her eyes.
"You should have learnt that Death Eaters can control where you apparate to!" She hissed still walking.

"And where am I supposed to know that from?" Ron asked and Hermione could hear that he had no clue how their hug had turned into an argument.

"Oh, let me think… MAYBE IN THE WAR OVER THE LAST FEW YEARS?" She screamed and let the tears leave her eyes.

"No, don't do that! Don't make me look like an idiot! No one of the Death Eaters has done it before." She had hit Ron's sore point. They had been through too much for her to not know that it was a mistake to discredit him. It was the one thing that would set him straight off.

"Come on, you can look it up almost about everywhere!" Hermione snapped at him, but winced for he had just reached her right then. "It's what they did to you at Malfoy Manor. They can keep you from apparating or they can sometimes control your destination! You put us in great danger, you should…"

"WOULD YOU SHUT UP NOW?" Ron interrupted her tirades with a loud scream. He grabbed her shoulders and shook her upper body. "Sorry about being so bloody scared not to think of a different way to keep you safe! The only thing I could think of was keeping you secure. So would you STOP screaming? You are waking up the last bloody rabbits in this stupid field!" And with that he stomped off, leaving Hermione the one to follow.

Oh my Lord, dear readers, this was a hard one and I'm not completely satisfied. Anyway I hope to read lots of reviews and I have my fingers crossed that the next chapter comes along more easily.

Maybe a review-inspiring question?
Do you think that's the way they would have worked things out? If not, how did you picture them get together?
xoxo