Ron crept out of his room and down the stairs, careful to avoid the floorboards that he knew creaked. He arrived at Ginny's door and slowly turned the handle. He immediately stopped when he heard the loud snoring of someone on a higher landing cease. He waited until the snoring resumed before pushing the door open.

He saw Hermione sitting on her camper, knees drawn to her chest. In the small bed next to her lay a huddled mass under the blankets softly breathing. Hermione looked up and saw Ron standing in the doorway. He motioned for her to come over. She shook her head no and covered her face in her hands.

"Seriously, Hermione?" whispered Ron. Hermione snapped her head back up and put a finger to her lips to shush him and nodded at Ginny. Ron rolled his eyes and walked through the doorway. Hermione got up from her camper and for several moments they stared at each other. Hermione's face was unreadable as Ron looked at her. Although the darkness of Ginny's room made it unnoticeable, Ron's ears grew red as he remembered the flushed look on Hermione's face. He could clearly picture how she looked when she was panting and moving under his fingers. He grinned as he remembered the sound of her moaning his name.

Hermione could tell by the look on his face what he was thinking and scowled.

"Oh, get over it," she hissed. Ron continued to grin at her and she frowned back.

"That was brilliant," he whispered.

"Embarrassing more like it," said Hermione quietly, crossing her arms.

"Not for me, it wasn't."

"Well you weren't the one who was—you know—" she started.

"Moaning?" suggested Ron.

"Yes, that," she snapped.

There was the sound of ruffled blankets and movement as Ginny turned in her bed. Both Ron and Hermione looked over and saw that she was still asleep.

They left the room and closed the door behind them before quietly making their way back up towards Ron's room. Ron was about to pull Hermione into a kiss before she rounded on him again.

"You just don't understand how embarrassing that was!"

"Who cares?" said Ron, throwing up his hands. "It's me! It's not like you were doing it in front of an audience. I've seen you as a cat, Hermione. I think that's as embarrassing as it's going to get."

Hermione glared at him. He had thought mentioning her second-year Polyjuice potion screw-up would lighten her up, but as he stared back at her angry face, he figured not.

"You just don't understand," she said again.

"Well," said Ron, moving closer to her. "I can understand if you want. I mean, if you want to help me out here I can probably get a good idea of what you're going through." Ron was testing his courage and her tolerance for inappropriate jokes. If he knew Hermione, she would get angry for suggesting such a thing and then laugh and forgive him. Truthfully, he was only half-joking. He knew that she wouldn't take him seriously but if she did he'd have half his clothes off before she could finish her sentence.

Even though they had already shared their fair share of snogging, Ron was still nervous. He tried to hide it by joking and hoped Hermione couldn't tell. He wasn't used to being so physical with her, or anyone for that matter. He had kissed Lavender, sure, but this was another story. Just months before they were only friends and year ago they weren't even talking to one another.

Hermione looked angrily at him. Then, she broke out in a smile and laughed to herself. Ron smiled, his predictions being correct, and held her hands in his.

"I guess it wasn't so bad," said Hermione lightly.

"Yeah," said Ron. He was barely paying attention anymore. He wanted so badly to kiss her again, to touch her.

"Do you want to talk?" asked Hermione hopefully. Ron looked down at her smiling face. She did love to talk. And boss him around. It wasn't a question as much as it was a statement of what they were going to do next.

"Sure," he lied. They moved back over to his bed and sat down to face each other.

"I'm sorry that I have to leave," said Hermione. She played with the loose threads on his blanket and looked at him sadly.

"Don't be sorry," said Ron. "You need to go. But you have to promise me that you'll be careful and that you'll write me." Hermione nodded. "And I get to come pick you up from your house," he added. Hermione reached over and hugged him tightly. Last year, Ron would have been caught off guard. He would have clumsily patted her on the back or expected her to turn and give Harry the same affection, but now he was used to it. He embraced her.

"Why couldn't you have kissed me last year?" he asked off-handedly. She pulled back.

"You were being a prat most of the time," she said. "Actually," she said, thinking again. "You're still kind of a prat."

"Oh am I?" he asked, acting as if he were insulted. "Who should I act like instead? Your boyfriend, McLaggen?"

"Be quiet," she said playfully. "It was you—," she said as she prodded his chest, "—who drove me to that."

"Yeah, I suppose," said Ron thoughtfully. "Still, that was harsh."

"And you kissing Lavender every second of every day wasn't?" she asked. Her tone was still playful but Ron knew that she was serious. "You knew I liked you."

"Well, maybe," he muttered. Hermione looked at him as if he had grown another head.

"What do you mean maybe?"

"I don't know Hermione!" Ron exclaimed, throwing his arms into the air and getting off of the bed. "You seemed to just want, what d'you call it, 'really good Quidditch players.'"

"I only said that to make you mad, Ron," said Hermione in defense. "You know that. Besides, there was nothing serious with anybody."

"Not even with Krum?" Ron asked, sounding more hopeful than he liked.

"No, not even Krum," she said sternly. "I couldn't like him like that. Not with you around anyway. The whole Yule Ball date was just that." Ron walked back over to the bed and sat down. He was relieved for the most part.

"I'm really glad we're friends, Hermione," he said, sighing and looking at her earnestly. "I probably wouldn't have gotten through half my homework without you and well, you know, and I wouldn't have had anyone to fight with either."

"I'm sure you would have managed," she said. She pulled back the covers on his bed and got inside, bringing them up to her chest. She peered over the top as she spoke to him. "Are you coming in or what?"

Ron looked at her, astounded at her bluntness at first and then figuring that it was more like her to be bossy. He crawled over to join her after reaching over to his nightstand and grabbing the Deluminator. He clicked it, sucking what little light there was in the room, and buried himself under the blankets. His eyes crinkled as he grinned at her from beneath the warmth.

"Ron?" asked Hermione. Her voice was loud, emerging from the darkness in the room. Ron clicked the Deluminator again, restoring the faint light back into the area.

"Will you stop doing that?" Hermione hissed suddenly. "Keep the light in or out of that thing, it's going to drive me mad."

"You're already half way there," joked Ron. He fiddled with the Deluminator again, turning it over in his hands and contemplating whether to click it once more. "So," he said mock-seriously. "Is there a better chance that you'll snog me in the dark or when you can see me?" Hermione swatted him under the covers and snatched the Deluminator from his hands.

"I want to talk to you," she said seriously. Ron propped his head up onto his hand and stared at her. Her fingers closed in around the Deluminator as she looked at it.

"Are you going to miss me?"

"No," said Ron. Hermione narrowed her eyes at him. He smiled at her before closing his eyes and taking the Deluminator back. He clicked it again as he felt Hermione's body relax into sleep next to him, the light disappearing from the room once more.