Hermione and Ron have started seeing each other again. Can they keep everyone else from figuring out before they are ready to tell them?

Song: Hate The Way You Love Me by John Paul White

Hermione stared at the screen of her mobile and tried to figure out what to reply. She should have known better than to let that piece of information slip. Most people in their circle thought she and Ron had slipped back into being friends during their university years. They had no idea that they had tried dating again last year. It hadn't worked. He was always working on a case and her Masters program had taken away what little time they had to spend together.

Ron had surprised them all this summer when he resigned from the police department and joined his brother in the family toy business. He said he was tired and wanted to try something different. She had finally finished her Masters program over the summer and had a little free time again. They still talked often but he was just a friend. He seemed more relaxed since he had joined George at the toy store but, she was not fond of taking risks. Hermione was not putting her heart out there again.

Hermione: Ron has kept his chess set in his footlocker since secondary school
Ginny: Really?
Hermione: Yes, really
Ginny: I never noticed
Hermione: Do I need to bring my computer tonight?
Ginny: Yes…it is faster to type messages to each other on the computer than on my mobile
Hermione: And autocorrect HATES me
Ginny: It hates me too
Hermione: What time are you going to get there?
Ginny: If Harry gets home on time, we should be there by 6:30
Hermione: If he gets there on time….
Ginny: He just messaged
Hermione: Is he running late?
Ginny: He is actually going to get home on time

Hermione couldn't believe that Ginny had believed her. She knew that she needed to warn Ron in case Ginny decided to start ask questions. There was no need to bring up old feelings and memories if they could just avoid them all together.

Hermione knew Ginny would pester Ron until she got the answers she wanted if they didn't throw her off the trail tonight. Besides, thinking about where Ron kept his chess set meant thinking about Ron. Thinking about Ron meant thinking about what could have been and that made her heart ache. She wanted to enjoy the evening, not think about how much she missed him in her life.

Hermione: Heads up. I might have mentioned that you keep your chess set in your foot locker
Ron: Why would that be a problem?
Hermione: Ginny was looking for places to look for Harry's set
Ron: And you mentioned that I kept mine in my foot locker
Hermione: And she asked me how I knew that
Ron: OHHH…what did you tell her?
Hermione: That I remembered you keeping it there during Secondary
Ron: But I didn't start doing that until University
Hermione: Do you want to answer those questions from your sister?
Ron: No
Hermione: So...
Ron: I am not going to mention anything about it tonight
Hermione: Tonight?
Ron: Chess with Harry and the guys at Bishop's Brew
Hermione: I almost forgot. Ginny and I are going to get some non-work writing done
Ron: Can I buy you a coffee?
Hermione: As a friend, yes

Ron threw his mobile down on the bed. Hermione was the most frustrating woman on the planet. Not to mention, the most beautiful. They had tried to make a relationship work several times since school but something always came between them. School commitments, work commitments, stubbornness, fear, just about anything but talking about why they were always drawn back to each other.

Ron had tried dating other people. No one measured up to her. He felt comfortable in his skin when Hermione was with him. He hadn't told her she was the reason why he had decided to leave the police force and work with George. The way she had whispered her goodbye instead of yelling at him when she said she could not come second to his job still haunted him. Hermione never gave up on anything and she had given up on him.

He had spent that night sitting in the dark, Hermione's words echoing in his head. "I love you Ron, more than I know what to do with. But I will not be second to your job. I know I have not been the best about making time between my work and school, but I am running out of reasons to try. I will not do this anymore."

Ron still dreamed about that night. He and Hermione had tried to move towards being more than friends without letting the rest of their friends know. They had watched their friends struggle with trying not to choose between them when they were at University and broke up. Neither one of them had wanted to put their friends and family through that again.

They had gone on a few dates and spent some quiet evenings at his flat, but old issues with work and school had ended things again before they really got started. Ron wasn't sure that he wanted to give up on her yet. He felt empty when she wasn't around. He found himself typing messages to her in his mobile, but never sending thiem. He needed to figure this out before he made a fool of himself.

Ron: Mate, do you have a minute?
Harry: I'm on the train home. What's up?
Ron: Her
Harry: Who?
Ron: Her and me
Harry: Are you thinking about asking her out again?
Ron: I don't know. It feels so good to talk to her
Harry: You still talk to Lavender?
Ron: Mate…you are so dense…Not her…HER
Harry: Who? The only other person you have dated since Secondary is Hermione
Ron: Yes, Hermione
Harry: Are you sure you are ready for that?
Ron: I miss her
Harry: But is she worth it?
Ron: Every time ...
Harry: Every time?
Ron: Every time
Harry: What do you mean every time?

Ron set his mobile on the table. He had opened the door to Harry's question with one of his own. Was he really ready to try to be more than friends with Hermione? It took him a few months after he left the police force to understand what she had been talking about. He had not realized just how much of his time his job had taken.

He still didn't understand how Harry managed to make things work with Ginny. But his sister was different from Hermione just like Harry was different from him. Ron was trying to learn how to leave work at work from George. It was a slow process. George had finally convinced him to leave the lab before 6 pm and keep a notepad handy if he happened to get an idea while he was home.

Now, he had to decide if he wanted to risk his heart by asking her out again. A cup of coffee between friends would have to be a sufficient starting point. He picked his chess set up off his footlocker as his mum's advice ran through his head. "Baby steps, Ronald. No knight wins the battle on the first day."

Ron: Hi
Hermione: Hi
Ron: Still up for coffee?
Hermione: Maybe
Ron: What about more than coffee?
Hermione: It doesn't work
Ron: What doesn't work?
Hermione: Being more than friends
Ron: Why not?
Hermione: I've told you why not
Ron: People change
Hermione: But do they change enough?
Ron: You won't know until you try
Hermione: I just don't know
Ron: So we are stuck at coffee
Hermione: For now

Hermione checked the contents of her bag. She had her computer, her journal and her wallet. That should be everything she needed. She was just meeting friends for coffee and conversations. What did it matter that Ron happened to be one of those friends? He was going to be playing chess with Harry. She was going to be talking to Ginny and working on her poetry collection. Maybe Ginny could help her sort out what was going on in her head. She was having trouble with that. Ginny knew her brothers almost better than they knew themselves. Maybe she could see changes that Hermione couldn't.

Now that Grad School was done, she had too much time on her hands, which meant too much time to think. She could be friends with him, she knew that. They had been friends for years and gotten into way too much trouble with Harry to not be. But there was a tiny voice that still whispered in her ear, a voice that wanted to be more than friends. A voice that wanted kisses in dark corners and quiet nights wrapped in his arms watching flames in the fireplace. A voice that whispered that he could change and second chances were not dangerous.

Could she step out and give him another chance? Were they at a point where what they wanted and the reality of adulting could mix and not tear them apart? She needed to talk to Ginny about this before Daphne got there tonight.

A cup of coffee between friends could be good or it could be fatal. She put her bag on her shoulder and reached for her door. As she closed her door, a quote from Alice in Wonderland ran through her head, "I can't go back to yesterday because I was a different person then."