SECOND CHANCES 2

Author's Note: I don't own any of the characters.

London-Number 12 Grimmauld Place

Keeping the fact that you'd snogged your best friend senseless from a house full of very nosey people and one very disagreeable house elf was something that Hermione was finding incredibly intolerable. While it was true that none of them actually meant either of them any harm and were mostly being so nosey because they genuinely cared about them and she loved them for it the effects of it all could be completely suffocating at times. Harry and Ginny were the worst, not because she guessed that either would be opposed in the least to their being together however Hermione knew that try as she might Ginny was bad at keeping secrets, especially when she got her temper up or had a point to prove.

Ever since their kiss Ron had been acting nicer to her, though not so much that the others in the house would easily notice and suspect something. They'd even had a rather nasty row about house elf rights but both had unintentionally found their way back up to the room across from Buckbeak and they had barely looked at each other when the apologies spewed out from them both. After a nervous laugh his lips had found hers for all to brief of a time for her liking, though Harry had just emerged at the top of the stairs and so she'd known that they had to stop. Much to her surprise Ron had slipped her a note after breakfast to say that she should feign not feeling well long enough for Mrs. Weasley to accept defeat and say that she could stay at Grimmauld Place while she took the rest of them to St. Mungo's to see Mr. Weasley. It wasn't until she'd gotten to the door of Ron and Harry's room that she found that she wasn't the only one that had played sick, as Ron opened the door and grinned at her.

"Ron…what," Hermione started to ask softly with a look of some confusion and concern as she'd hated lying to Ginny and Mrs. Weasley but the possibilities of spending a few hours alone in the house with Ron had been too tempting for her to ignore, before he cut her off.

"I had a crazy idea and I needed Sirius' help to do it, don't give me that look he's known the whole time, guess we weren't as quiet as we thought that day," Ron interjected with a quick kiss on her cheek before he couldn't help but get a bit embarrassed and briefly hang his head with a nervous blush.

"Is he going to say anything to," Hermione quickly demanded as her breaths started to suddenly shorten considerably and she suddenly found herself feeling very nervous and almost scared at the thought of Sirius telling someone about them.

"He promised that he wouldn't, but before we go down to the kitchen I have to explain something," Ron answered with what he hoped was a look of confidence and concern at Hermione's worries before he did his best to press on.

"What is it, what's wrong," Hermione wondered aloud, as Ron could see the fear and panic starting to build in her eyes, as she looked up fearfully at him and suddenly wondered when he had had time to get so tall.

"Look Hermione, I don't…hate…Krum, I never did…it's just that I didn't…when I saw you two dancing at the Yule Ball I guess it just hit me that I could lose you…after that I…felt that why would you want me when you could have him, someone far better than me at everything," Ron said after taking a deep breath and trying not to stutter any more than necessary as he'd never been good at saying what he truly felt except if said topic was either something about quidditch or an expression of anger as his hands were on Hermione's sides and she stayed silent while carefully registering the movement of every muscle in Ron's face as he spoke.

"Ron, he's not better than you at everything, believe me…please" Hermione softly replied as she did her best to not make it sound like she was begging for him to believe her even though in all honesty a part of her was as her hands slid up his chest until they got to his face.

"But you went to the ball with him and…," Ron sulked back a bit look thoroughly unhappy and disappointed with himself as he turned his head to one side and suddenly to Hermione he looked almost like his eyes were going to get a bit watery but he composed himself and turned back to her as she spoke, her own eyes getting a bit misty.

"I only went with Viktor because you didn't ask me first, I wanted to go with you…only you," Hermione declared with all the love and honestly that she could muster out of her much smaller body, in comparison to his, as she used her hands on his cheeks to force him to look her straight in the eye and not miss even the smallest bit of the emotions that she was feeling.

"Sorry luv, I should have asked you but I was too scared to, honestly I think that I was just as fearful that you'd say no as I was that you'd say yes, I'm just sorry that I never go to dance with you," Ron admitted guiltily as he shrugged his shoulders and started to slide his hands up the sides of Hermione's body but stopped and then slid them back down to her waist when he felt her take a sharp breath in, as he inwardly hoped that he hadn't overstepped his bounds and gone too far, all the while trying not to blush.

"Me to, but don't worry, you have nothing to worry about with Viktor, just as long as I'm not going to find you and Fleur…," Hermione readily agreed and hoped that her eagerness to agree and the tone of her voice conveyed that fact to Ron before she pushed herself up onto her tiptoes as high as she could go so that she'd make sure that there wasn't any doubt in Ron's mind.

"Hermione…are you…jealous of Fleur," Ron stammered through with his mind whirling as if the thoughts were entering his brain for the very first time and he was furiously trying to figure out how he should think about it if it were true all while trying to take note of his girlfriend's every reaction to see the truth behind her eyes.

"What…of course not, how could you possibly…I mean…maybe…oh come off it Ron, I…everybody saw how you looked at her, I just…I wanted you to…look at me like that," Hermione tried to say calmly back but given the topic at hand and the look that Ron was giving her with the corners of his lips curling up into the slightest beginnings of a smile Hermione's mind was really having trouble forming complete thoughts and sentences, though in the end she got her point across as best that she could.

"You mean like this," Ron let out with an all too cocky grin as he gave Hermione his best smile and tried as much as he could to not look like an idiot, it didn't take very long for him to know that he'd more than hit his mark.

"Er uh…yeah, but," Hermione could only barely manage to weakly mumble with eyes wide as suddenly the only sound that she could hear in her ears was the sound of her own heartbeat as it began to try to keep up with the whirring of thoughts in her head. Ron was only looking at her and she could already feel her knees start to go weak and her insides turning to jelly, quivering uncontrollably rather than remain firm and resilient.

"Don't worry, this git only has eyes for a certain bushy haired smartest witch of our age kind of bird…don't see many of them around do ya, besides…you're a far better kisser than any veela, especially Fleur," Ron shrugged back with a small but relieved sigh before a devious little thought fell into his head and he couldn't help but go with it as he tried to appear as innocent as possible the entire time, though with his smile never once leaving his face, silently waiting and watching for Hermione's reaction.

"Oh thank…wait what," Hermione started to say as she let out a breath that she hadn't noticed that she was holding before the full weight of his words hit her and she sputtered the last bit out with squinted eyes of concern and a small flash of anger.

"Kidding…only kidding, I swear," Ron joked softly with a wide but guilty looking grin as he pulled his hands up off of Hermione's sides and threw them up in the air in surrender before he noticed a small hint of unhappiness in her eyes, a look that seemed to instantly go away when he set his hands back down on her waist.

"You'd better be if you know what's good for you Ron, no bloody veela is stealing my boyfriend," Hermione stated sharply with a very fierce look of determination in her eyes as she pulled back from Ron just enough so that he had to slide his hands off of her hips before she took a firm hold of his right hand with hers and the two descended a flight of stairs before either spoke.

"Deal, just as long as there's no Bulgarian quidditch players trying to steal my girlfriend," Ron agreed with a slightly more than joyous grin as he couldn't help but feel bolstered at Hermione calling him her boyfriend and could only think of admitting the same to her, reveling in the way that his labeling of her brought her whole self to life and she warmly beamed up at him before he couldn't help himself and the two leaned in for a kiss.

"You two better get a move on, I only guaranteed Ron about an hour or so and you've already used a fair amount of it," Sirius declared with a crooked grin as he leaned up against the wall just past the foot of the stairs with his arms crossed over his chest and he made it a point to not look at the pair, something that both relieved and unsettled Hermione at the same time.

"What did you do," Hermione asked with a fair amount of concern and trepidation in her words as she stopped abruptly in front of Ron on the stairs and looked down at Sirius, who smirked casually up at them before he spoke.

"Mr. Weasley and I had a short conversation about a problem that he wished to rectify as best that he could given the circumstances, and luckily for him I am in the unique position to help him, now like I said get moving…I'll be up with Buckbeak so no interruptions," Sirius answered calmly with a faint trace of amusement in his words as he seemed to not be totally overjoyed at getting involved with Ron and Hermione sneaking around however very much liking the fact that he was part of something that he could see to fruition as he kept his gaze on the floor.

"Thank you Sirius," Ron calmly said with an appreciative tone of voice as he then started to pull Hermione away towards the kitchen before Sirius opened his mouth.

"Just remember our deal, keep Harry safe and don't let him feel like he's the third wheel, do that and your secret will never cross these lips as long as I live," Sirius reminded Ron again and Hermione for the first time before he pushed off of the wall and walked over to the bottom step before Hermione's voice temporarily stopped him.

"Thank you Sirius," Hermione replied with a calm but thankful smile, one that Sirius slowly returned with a slight nod of his head, before Ron pulled her around the end of the stairs and towards the kitchen.

Watching Sirius slouch up the stairs Hermione was on the fence about what she was expecting. She knew that Ron and Sirius hadn't had much time to do anything but still the simple fact that Ron had done anything at all for her drove her excitement, that and the looks that Ron was giving her as they carefully made their way down the hall only added to her anticipation. She hoped that the two wizards hadn't done anything that couldn't be undone quickly as she didn't care to explain everything to Mrs. Weasley and the others just then.

She reluctantly agreed to close her eyes and keep them closed until Ron said that she could open them. Trusting in him she let him lead her into the kitchen. Almost at once she could feel that the room was warmer than usual, as if the fireplace was putting out far more heat than usual and even through her closed eyelids she could see the clear presence of more than a fair amount of light.

"Okay, you can open your eyes," Ron whispered softly to her and she felt more than a little bit nervous at the clear fear and uncertainty in his voice, though she thought that she could also sense a large amount of restrained excitement mixed in there as well.

"Okay…Ron…oh…what," Hermione gasped out loud as she slowly opened her eyes and took in the scene around her. In years to come she would readily admit that it was one of the happiest moments of her life and definitely worthy of using to produce a strong Patronus. If she hadn't known that she was in the basement kitchen of number 12 Grimmauld Place she would never had guessed it. Every surface seemed to have been cleaned until in gleamed, especially since the usually dark room was now simply overflowing with light, though not enough Hermione thought to make one need to shield their eyes from it.

Banners and streamers were tastefully wrapped around the room and hanging from the ceiling with little red and pink conjoined hearts floating all throughout the room, and when Hermione looked closer she saw that on each heart was a small moving picture of either her face or Ron's, both smiling happily and glancing lovingly at each other. A swarm of small lit candles hovered all throughout the room giving off a soft glow that Hermione felt left the room looking much more welcoming and inviting than it ever had. The tables and chairs had vanished and in their place was a thick carpet that ran wall to wall. In one corner sat a small radio that was softly playing a tune that she had first heard at the Yule Ball the year before, one that she had wished that she and Ron had danced to.

"Do you like it," Ron asked softly with a very hopeful but fearful look in his eyes as he was nervously blushing about as deeply as Hermione had ever seen him, his ears were practically glowing.

"It's…it's…beautiful, but what…," Hermione exclaimed almost breathlessly as she looked all around the room time and time again, trying her very best to keep her eyes from overflowing with happy tears.

"I know I messed up last year and didn't invite you to the Yule Ball like you wanted and I know that this isn't exactly the same but…best I could do on short notice," Ron replied as he did his best to explain it all while slowly walking around the room, looking like he was more than on pins and needles despite what Hermione had already told him as he looked like everything was going to perfectly and he was fearing that the other shoe would suddenly drop and ruin everything for her.

"It's perfect Ron, I love it," Hermione cried out as loudly as she could as her feelings of love for Ron were conflicting with her attempts not to blubber like a little girl as she leapt up into Ron's arms, wrapping her arms around his neck, before she pulled him down into a kiss that only ended because of their combined need to breathe. Ron tried to say something then but the small radio started the song over, her arms stayed around his neck with her beaming her grandest smile up at him while his hands set on her waist as they slowly swayed back and forth, soon disappearing into their own little world. Sirius had sworn to give them as much time as he could and keep their secret as long as he lived. He kept his word.

END OF SECOND CHANCES 2

Author's Note: Thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing this story. I am continuing it though I'm not going to write like fifty chapters I'll just use the signpost moments in each book and such to serve as an anchor for the chapters. Like the next chapter will probably take place after the Ministry fight and then go from there. At the end I couldn't help but hear the lyrics of the song We Danced by Brad Paisley. A couple of other good Ron/Hermione stories about DragonHeart by BuckNC-it starts out Draco/Hermione but doesn't end that way and is a bit long, and Eavesdropping by honouraryweasley12. If you watched the old television show Smallville I think back to the third episode of the fifth season as towards the end of the episode there's a moment when Clark lifts Lana up and her toes are at his shins as he's much taller than her and I think that correlates to the heights of Ron and Hermione. When I get to the later chapters I have some fun planned and some slight changes to a few things that'll either make your head spin or your heart shatter into a million pieces…though I don't have to kill anybody to do that and this will always be a Ron/Hermione fanfic, no doubt about it. Thank You.