A/N: So, seems like a few people like this story. If you do, and want to see more, just leave a review!

Chapter 2

After dinner the family began to slink away from the table, and each other. First it was Harry, mumbling something about needing to change his clothes. Ginny wasn't far behind, saying she too needed to get changed, but it was fairly obvious to everyone where she was going. She and Harry had a lot to catch up on, and no one wanted to make things worse. After the tail end of her red hair rounded the door frame, George left the table, sending a wink at Ron, although the smirk didn't quite reach his eyes. The others were quick to follow George, each kissing Mrs. Weasley's cheeks before ascending the stairs. After this scattering, only Ron, Hermione, and Mrs. Weasley were left in the kitchen. Ron and Hermione's hands were still clasped under the table. They stared awkwardly at each other, unsure of what to say. Ron opened his mouth, paused, then ran a hand through his hair and lowered his eyes to stare at his plate. Hermione opened her mouth after this, but couldn't find the words of what to say, and also turned her eyes to her plate. It was Mrs. Weasley who saved them from the silence. Previously she had been busying herself with cleaning, trying to watch her son's love life too closely. "Ron, why don't you go get changed? I have a few chores you need to complete." Her voice shattered the silence. Ron and Hermione looked up quickly at her, as though her presence at been completely forgotten. Ron nodded slowly, glancing at Hermione. She stared back at him, searching his face. After a moment she nodded slightly, and then smiled widely at Mrs. Weasely.

"Great idea, Mrs. Weasely. I'm sure the distraction will do us some good." Hermione's voice said meekly. She edged off the chair, and, to Mrs. Weasley's surprise, Ron was following her, connected by their intertwining hands. Hermione began to ascend the stairs, but Ron abruptly pulled away his hand. Hermione raised an eye brow, but seemed to search his face again and ascended the stairs. Ron turned, and before Mrs. Weasley could react, his arms were around her, his face in her shoulder. She uncertainly placed her arms around him, before she felt his body shake with what she knew were tears. She placed a hand on his head, gently brushing through the strands. They said nothing for what seemed like years; him crying into her shoulder, and her comforting him. He gently pulled back from her, the tears rolling off his nose. She resisted the urge to wipe the tears from his eyes. He leaned in to kiss her on the cheek. She placed a hand on his cheek.

"It's alright Ron, to fall in love even as you miss Fred." She whispered, marveling in his sudden widened eyes. Didn't he realize that she was his mother and would always know these things? To her surprise he didn't scoff or turn pink. His face turned serious as he huffed down in the chair he had previously been sitting in. He ran both hands through his hair before staring pleading up at her.

"It's just it's happened during all of this. I should be thinking about Fred and this family, not..." he waved widely around, "snogging Hermione." He ended the last bit in a quiet voice. "And besides, maybe she only kissed me because we could have died." He wasn't even looking at Mrs. Weasley anymore.

'So that's it.' She thought to herself, lowering herself into the chair opposite of her youngest son.

"I mean, why not Harry?" she opened her mouth the reply, but before she could, Ron had already plowed on to his next point, "Besides, it's not even like you and Dad wanted me. You wanted a daughter, and all you got was another stupid son." The tips of his ears were pinkening as he took a sudden interest in a pattern on the table. Mrs. Weasley took a sharp breath in, tear forming in the corners of her eyes. How could Ron think that? She loved him as much as any of the other children. She supposed that because Ginny was the only girl she got special treatment… no, she definitely did get special treatment. She observed Ron closely, him still pretending that the table pattern was the most interesting thing in the world. Where had her little boy gone? She could barely remember the last time he got to act like a child. The moment he became Harry Potter's best friend, his childhood ended. There was never a time that he wasn't fleeing from You-Know- Who. And yet he wasn't the one covering the paper, Harry was. And yet he never expressed this, he was never the jokester that George and Fred were, and he wasn't like Charlie or Bill. And that's when it hit her; he had slipped through the cracks. Her youngest son had slipped through the cracks. She placed her hand on his gently, but he didn't respond.

"Not Harry because she wants to be with you." Her voice was firm, but her gaze was gentle. His eyes were pleading with her to continue, so she tried to keep her voice steady. "You aren't stupid Ron, and you were wanted." He rolled his eyes at this, but she continued, "you are not like your other siblings, and that just makes you, you. You are Ron, and you, not your other siblings helped defeat You- Know-Who. I'm sorry if you ever felt like the odd child out."

"But how could Hermione, even… I mean, we almost died."

"Ronald Weasley, if you try to tell me you two haven't been tiptoeing around your feelings for years, I'm going to box your eyes." She said simply. The sides of Ron's mouth began to curve up at this statement.

"Yeah?" He asked hopefully, his eyes full of hope. She placed her hand the cheek of her son that had had to grow up too fast.

"Yes." Came her simple answer. Ron seemed to take a stabilizing breath He jumped up from the table in a sudden rush of energy. He seemed to think twice as he leaned down to kiss her on the cheek. He turned to run up the stairs, "don't forget to change out your pajamas!" she yelled up the stairs after him. Her little boy was all grown up, and in love.

Less than ten minutes later Ron was tumbling out of his room in a jumper and jeans. He was combing his hands through his hair hazardly.

"Headed somewhere, mate?" came Harry's voice from Ron's room. Ron could hear the smirk in his voice.

"Sod off. " He replied, unable to keep the smile out his tone. He nearly ran to Ginny's room, hoping Hermione might be in the room. Taking another stabilizing breath, he knocked on the door tentatively. No response. He knocked harder; no response. He was beginning to think she was ignoring him, so he turned to leave, running right into a something that said "oomph". Hermione looked up at him from his chest, her cheeks turning that cute shade of pink that they did. "Sorry." He mumbled, moving out of the way so she could enter the room. She gestured for him to enter the room as well, but he shook his head, opting to stand in the door way. Hermione packed away some laundry, and shuffled some books from her bag into a bookcase. She seemed to be stalling for time. "So… um…" She turned at this, watching him expectantly.

"Yes?" she said almost breathlessly. He seemed to have lost his nerve, now just smiling at her. She sighed. "We're rubbish at this." With a plop she landed on the bed. Ron now joined her on the bed, plopping next to her.

"We are, aren't we?"Ron mumbled, half glancing at her. Then they burst out into laughter, holding their sides. As they calmed down they realized exactly how close their faces were. Their faces burst into blushes as they pushed themselves up into a sitting position, Hermione hiding her face behind her knees. "It happened, right? I'm not just making it up?" That caused Hermione to chuckle.

"Of course it happened." She giggled, earning herself a glare from Ron.

"Well we haven't talked about it." He shrugged. "I thought maybe it was just a mistake." Hermione put her hand out, but Ron ignored it. She turned to face him on the bed.

"I didn't mention it because I didn't think you wanted to talk about it…" He now turned to look at her. "With everything that happened, I thought that maybe you didn't want to actually have done it." She ended, blushing furiously.

"I thought it was you who didn't mean it." He responded.

"I'm the bloody one who kissed you!" She said, sounding almost angry. Ron's eyes widened at her swearing. He chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

"We make quite the pair don't we?" Hermione scooted closer to him. "We can't even tell each other we like each other after we already kissed."

"You like me?" she whispered. He had to resist the urge to roll his eyes at this question. Liked her? Yeah, she could say that. What he felt was more than friendship. He just never thought she felt that she could possibly feel the same. But he simply responded,

"Yeah." She paused, and Ron had the sinking feeling that he had said the wrong thing.

"Me too." She said after a long pause. He couldn't resist the urge to crack a joke at her misuse of grammar.

"You like yourself?" that earned him a smack on the arm, but eased the tension. He rubbed the spot on his arm. She could hit a lot harder than he thought.

"You know what I meant." There it was again, that awkward silence.

"Yeah." He wished that he could be that romantic guy that Hermione deserved and probably wanted, but he was just Ron, the best friend to Harry Potter. He made to get up off the bed, but Hermione grabbed his arm.

"Don't go." She begged. He slid back onto the bed, uncertain of how he was supposed to act. Hermione seemed like she hadn't thought this through either. But she let out an angry sight. "This isn't how this was supposed to go!" Ron leaned back as she said this. "Why can't we ever be simple…" she was starting to rant, which was unbelievably cute to Ron. She was ranting about how she thought that for once in their life they could talk about their feelings without being scared about it; and before he realized it, he had cupped her face in his hands. Her ranting stopped as she looked up into his eyes. It felt like the world had stopped around them, and it was just the two of them. He didn't feel awkward anymore, he didn't feel obsolete anymore. He didn't have any more time to wait before starting at her would just be awkward, so building all the Gryffindor bravery he could muster, he leaned in.

Her lips were soft against his. At first the kiss was gentle, before Hermione grabbed a fistful of his shirt and pulled him in. He opened his mouth a little, and her top lip fit perfectly in between his two lips, her bottom up under his bottom lip. He combed his fingers through her busy hair, reveling in the feeling he never thought he would feel. It felt like their kiss had been endless, but finally they pulled away. Their faces were still over inches apart, and he knew he looking at her lips. "So, does that make me your girlfriend?" Hermione teased.

"You tell me." He said, leaning in more confidently this time, a hand on her lower back side.

A/N: If you liked this, please review, and shoot me a prompt!