Chapter 17

"No! Hermione!"

Ron woke with a start. It was still pitch black in his room, which told him it was only a little after midnight on Christmas morning. Despite the coolness of his room, he was covered in sweat, the blankets kicked off him and his breathing heavy.

He reached for his wand on the table beside him and lit it. Hermione was staring at him, concern etched on her face.

"Are you alright?" she murmured.

Ron's heart slowed at the sight of her. It had just been a dream. She was alright; he was alright. They were both safely in bed.

"Y-yeah," he said, just as quiet. "Yeah. Just…"

"A nightmare?" Hermione guessed.

Ron nodded.

"The same ones as me?"

He nodded again, swallowing hard. He had been at Malfoy Manor again, screaming for Hermione, but this time… this time Bellatrix had managed to kill her. He'd woken just as the green light filled his vision and the cackling of Bellatrix Lestrange filled his ears.

"It's horrible, isn't it?" Hermione shuffled over in the bed, laying her head against his chest. Ron set down his wand, coating them in darkness once more. His chest heaved up and down, gradually slowing as he ran his fingers through her tangled hair.

"Yeah," he said again. "I don't know why I dreamt it, though. I haven't… not like that before." He debated whether to tell her how it had ended, but decided against it. What was the point? It was the beginning of their first Christmas together as a couple, and it wasn't like the dream would ever be true.

Though, as Hermione fell back into a deep sleep — nightmare free for her tonight — Ron found himself staring up at the blank ceiling, replaying the moment over and over in his mind.

Why had he dreamed about that? After so many months and not a single nightmare, why now? What had triggered it? Nothing had happened the night before that he thought might have brought it on. In fact, he had been blissfully happy to fall asleep with Hermione beside him for the first time in months.

He'd been so happy, filled with joy and wondering if she'd like the present he got her for Christmas. His last thought that night before drifting off had been of just how much he couldn't imagine his life without her anymore, that the idea of losing her would be —

Ah! That could have been the reason.

He finally managed to fall asleep as the early hours of the morning began to peek in through his window, and it felt like only moments before he was being woken by Hermione prodding him in the chest.

He blinked. It was a bright, yet overcast, day outside.

"Merry Christmas!" Hermione said cheerfully, and when he turned to look at her, she was smiling.

"M-merry Chr-christmas." Ron yawned, then rolled onto his side and returned her smile. "What's the time?"

"Eight," Hermione said. "A little after. I would have let you sleep longer, but Ginny kept bugging me to wake you up."

It was then that Ron realised Hermione was fully dressed for the day. He slammed his head back onto the pillow.

"Did you not sleep well after… after the nightmare?" Hermione asked, now watching him with concern.

"I couldn't get to sleep for hours," Ron told her. "But I think I dreamt it because last night, I fell asleep thinking about how I couldn't imagine life without you anymore, and that moment was the closest I'd ever come to… to it. I don't think it'll happen again." He reached forward and gripped her hand tightly. "You're here now."

It appeared that Hermione didn't know whether to feel sad or happy about what he'd said, which resulted in her giving a rather awkward smile and saying, "Come on! Get dressed and then we can all head over to the Burrow."

Ron allowed her to drag him out of bed by the hand, and once on his feet, he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her towards him, planting a light kiss on her lips. "Merry Christmas," he said softly. "I love you."

"I love you, too," she whispered, smiling up at him. "But, seriously, get ready. We're going to be the last ones there."

Ron dressed quickly and then hurried downstairs with Hermione to find Harry waiting for them.

"Where's Ginny?" Ron asked, looking around the kitchen for his sister, but not seeing her.

"She, er, said you were taking too long and went already," Harry said, his eyes glinting with amusement. "Apparently Christmas is really important." He looked at Ron, wearing the same concerned expression Hermione had earlier. "Hermione said you had a nightmare."

Ron shot Hermione a reproving look. She turned faintly pink. "It was nothing," he said. "Once off. That's all."

"We've all had them, mate," Harry said. "Trust me. I spent years having them. And they haven't stopped just because I'm not a Horcrux anymore."

"Not funny," Ron said.

"I thought it kind of was." Harry shrugged. "The point is, it's nothing to be ashamed about. I've been told memories, the trauma, it can affect you months, even years later. Even when you think you're fine."

"It wasn't that," Ron said, sighing. "It's alright. I am fine."

Harry didn't look convinced, but he nodded. "Just, we're here if you need, alright?"

"Thanks," Ron muttered. "Should we go?"

Harry threw some Floo Powder into the kitchen fireplace, and one by one, they all went to the Burrow.

It seemed that now that all but Ginny had moved out, Molly and Arthur had far more time to put up Christmas decorations. The first thing Ron noticed when he arrived was a tall Christmas tree in the corner of the living room, decorated in bizarre mis-matched enchanted ornaments. Some were inherited items that his mother had kept because they belonged to someone important in the family. Others were things that Ron remembered making as a kid with his siblings. Pre-Hogwarts days where Molly had just wanted some peace and quiet for a few moments (usually Fred and George running wild) and she'd sat them all down with something to do. Those somethings had turned into Christmas decorations.

Then there were the bought ones that had accumulated over the years.

Ron had missed Christmas at the Burrow.

The rest of the house was just as oddly decorated, but Ron couldn't help but grin at how homey his parents had made it. Harry had made some kind of an effort to do up Grimmauld Place for the holiday, but training had kept them working until December twenty-third, and they simply had not had time to do much more than a semi-decorated Christmas tree in the kitchen.

"Oh, Merry Christmas you three!" Molly said, beaming, and gave each of them a hug in turn.

"Merry Christmas, Mum," Ron said. "Good to see you looking so happy."

"Why wouldn't I be, Ronald?" Molly asked. "There's a lot to be happy about this Christmas."

Also a lot to be missed, Ron thought, though he didn't dare express that. He'd half expected to find his mum in tears with it being the first Christmas without Fred. Though, ever since Bill and Fleur had shared their news about the baby, he'd found her in such a joyous mood every time he dropped by that he didn't know whether to be happy or concerned.

"Come on, come on!" Molly said, ushering them over to the sofas and armchairs. "We'll open some presents, and then a little after that, we'll have lunch."

Ron squeezed onto a sofa beside Percy and Hermione sat beside him. Ginny and Harry wound up on the floor, and it wasn't until Ron looked straight up did he notice —

"George!"

Hermione's head snapped up, Harry and Ginny spun around. George, who'd still been absent for much of the past few months, was sitting on a chair in the corner of the room.

He looked better than Ron had seen in a long while, even offering everyone a smile and a wave. "Merry Christmas!" he said.

"Merry Christmas," everyone murmured, and George's smile widened slightly.

Molly, as usual, had knitted everyone a jumper. Also as usual, everyone thanked her and smiled, but Ron knew they'd most likely be put away and never worn.

"Oh, Ron, this is beautiful!" Ron looked up from opening his gift from Harry, who'd taken the liberty in buying out a lot of Honeydukes, and saw Hermione holding up a gold necklace.

"Er, you like it?" he asked.

"It's stunning!" Hermione said, running her fingers along the gold chain and settling on the pearl pendant at the end. It had cost him most of his earnings from the Ministry, but seeing the look on her face made every single Galleon worth it.

He beamed. "Glad you like it!" he said. "I was worried maybe I'd chosen wrong, or something."

"Thank you," she said. "It's perfect." She then passed him a neatly wrapped rectangular gift. As he began to open it, she said, "I would have liked to have gotten you the broom, but… that was ridiculously expensive, so —"

Hermione had gotten him brand new, black marble chess pieces. They were smooth and clean, and he'd be the first one to get to use them.

"Woah!" he said, grinning at Hermione, "Thanks. Hey, Harry, fancy a game of chess later today?" He held up the chess pieces to Harry who had just opened Ginny's present to him.

"Sure!" Harry said. "They look nice."

"You know…" Hermione said, setting aside her other gifts and staring down at the necklace, "I can play with you, too. You want to help me put it on?"

Ron took the necklace from her and she lifted her hair out of the way so he could get it on. "You? Play chess? You hate it."

"I don't hate it. I just… don't understand it that well. You could teach me, though, couldn't you?"

Ron fastened the necklace, surprising himself by how easily he'd managed to do so. Hermione turned back to face him.

"You want me to teach you how to play chess?" he asked, not sure he had heard right.

"Yes," Hermione said. "Then we could play together. I'd like to learn."

Ron contemplated her request for a moment, smiling. "Sure, I can teach you, but I won't be teaching you all my secrets. It's the one thing I can beat you at, and I'd like to keep it that way, thanks."

Hermione laughed. "Can anyone beat you, anyway?"

"Yeah, Bill, maybe. He taught me how to play. That necklace looks great on you, by the way." He leaned forward and kissed her lightly on the lips. He wished he could do more, but the living room of his family home with everyone around was not the appropriate place to do so.

As much as he hated Grimmauld Place, he really did like the privacy it gifted them.

"Merry Christmas."

They spent the next few hours around the living room. Ron immediately got out his chess pieces and set up a game with Harry. His new pieces were great, much better than the old ones, and he annihilated Harry three times straight before Harry gave up, muttering something about having to help with lunch.

So, he offered to teach Hermione — who'd been watching his games with Harry intently.

"It's the same as normal chess, isn't it? The rules, I mean?" she said.

"Er, I think," Ron said, setting up his own and Harry's pieces. "Never played the Muggle one before. Besides, you have played it before..." A thought suddenly occurred to him — something he'd not realised before. "Wait, you've played it plenty of times. Why do you want me to teach you? You know how to play well enough to give a good game."

Hermione shrugged, smiling. "Maybe," she said, "I thought it was a good way to spend time together. Besides, as you said, I can play well enough. I want to know some of your tricks."

"... oh," Ron said, feeling his face go red. "Well, right… alright. I'll teach you. Though, there are plenty of other things we can do to spend time together, you know?"

Ginny, who'd been walking past in that moment, scoffed. "Yeah, but chess is something you can do in public."

Ron ignored her, looking up at Hermione and indicating the chess board. "You go first. Let's see how you go."

It took five games in quick succession for Hermione to make an impact. On the sixth one, Ron suspected that perhaps she'd given up. Hermione didn't like to lose, and he could see her frustration building, but she persisted, just so he could keep teaching her, he thought. It didn't bother him, though. It gave them something to do, and he kind of liked the idea of her letting him teach her something.

Halfway through the seventh game, Molly announced that lunch was ready.

"Maybe tomorrow?" Ron asked, smiling at Hermione. "I had fun."

"Of course," Hermione said, standing up and collecting Harry's chess pieces. "Though, I do have to get some homework done tomorrow morning. Maybe in the afternoon?"

"What?" Ron said as they made their way into the kitchen. "Work? You brought work with you? It's Christmas!" He couldn't help feeling a little disgruntled by this unexpected news. She'd only arrived Christmas Eve and had insisted that she needed to return the day after Boxing Day.

He realised it had taken quite an amount of persuasion to get her out of the school to begin with, but he'd thought she could at least put the books down for a few days.

"It's a lot of work, Ron," Hermione said in a hushed voice as they sat down at the table. "NEWTs are even bigger than OWLs, and —"

"So, what am I supposed to do?" Ron asked, also keeping his voice low. "Just sit around and watch you study?"

"No, you can always spend some time with Harry. Ginny…"

"I see Harry every day!" Ron snapped under his breath. "You, however — my girlfriend, in case you've forgotten — I've seen less of since we've been together than I have since I've known you."

"That's hardly my fault!" Hermione hissed. "You would have preferred me to leave my parents in Australia, then?"

"That's not what I meant!" Ron said. "You never told me you wanted to go back to Hogwarts until you'd basically arranged it. I thought… well, I just thought you'd tell me something like that, you know? Bothered to mention it at the very least."

"Everything okay, dears?" Molly asked, looking at Ron and Hermione with a questioning look.

Hermione, who'd been about to argue back, closed her mouth. Ron looked at her and saw that she looked rather upset about something. He guessed his own face showed his frustration too. He'd never been good at hiding his feelings.

"Yes," Ron said, perhaps a little too quickly.

Hermione shot him a scathing look, but said nothing more.

Harry stared at them both from across the table, looking rather alarmed. Before he'd left to help with lunch, Ron and Hermione had been perfectly happy.

Ron piled the food onto his plate, glowering at it as he did. Why did she have to keep doing that? Keep making plans without telling him? He'd thought they'd have all of Christmas and Boxing Day together. Even if she'd bothered to mention that she brought work with her, he could have planned around that. Compromised, even…

Once the table had erupted into pleasant chatter, Bill and Fleur talking excitedly about the impending arrival of their baby in April to anyone who would listen, George — to Ron's delight — speaking about his plans to reopen the joke shop soon, and Percy speaking loudly about how maybe next Christmas, if they were still together (which he hoped they would be), he'd spend Christmas with Audrey's Muggle family. This seemed to interest Arthur, dropping hints about how he'd love to be invited as well.

Under the raucous of Christmas lunch, Hermione elbowed Ron. He turned to her, not at all in the mood to continue on with the argument they'd started. But the look on her face was gentler.

"Did you, um, have plans for tomorrow?" she asked, sounding apologetic.

"No," Ron mumbled. "I mean, nothing beyond us doing something together. Making up for lost time… you know..."

"It's just, the workload is really tricky," Hermione said. "And, I just wanted to get a start on —"

Ron turned back to his food, once again in no mood for talking.

"— Ron, please, just…"

"It's okay," Ron said amidst the loud chatter around them. "I get it. You've always been like that. Ever since I've known you. Really, I should have guessed."

"Ron —"

"It's fine, Hermione. Honestly. I'll just… I dunno, maybe I'll come back here tomorrow. Leave you in peace."

The rest of lunch was very uncomfortable for him. Ron didn't speak to Hermione, and despite a few attempts on her part, it seemed she had no idea what to say to him. If she'd just admit that she didn't need to do anything tomorrow, then perhaps they could resolve the issue, but she seemed hellbent on standing her ground, and therefore, so would he.

"Everything okay?" Ginny asked after lunch, when Hermione had quickly volunteered to help Molly clean up — along with Harry, who was probably querying Hermione at this very moment.

"Yeah. Why wouldn't it be?" Ron asked, sinking onto a step at the foot of the staircase.

"Well, you're sulking," Ginny said. "And you and Hermione didn't look very happy over lunch. What happened?"

"Nothing."

"Ron…"

"Not your business, Ginny," Ron said. "It's nothing. Just a small argument, that's all."

"So you're going to sulk for the rest of the day then?" Ginny asked, folding her arms across her chest. "Because if you are, maybe go home. We don't need your mood here. Especially when Mum is trying to keep it together."

"What do you mean?" Ron looked up at her. "Mum's fine. Happy, even."

"You didn't notice, did you?" Ginny said.

"Notice what?"

"The empty seat at the table."

"The — what? I never saw —" Truthfully, Ron had not taken much in at the table, too busy being upset with Hermione to even enjoy himself.

"Yeah, she set a spot for Fred," Ginny said. "Kept looking up at it, fighting back tears. It's tough, Ron. Tough on all of us. So if you're going to be moody, take it elsewhere. Or make up with Hermione. I'm sure whatever's happening is something you can sort out. Tell you're sorry for whatever it is you've done and —"

"I didn't do anything!" Ron snapped. "Why do you assume it's me? It's her… her and her obsession with work. If she just wasn't so obsessed with it, then… then I'd be okay."

"You're upset because she's obsessed with her work?" Ginny asked, sounding amused. "Do you even know her?"

"Yes, I know her! Maybe you can talk to her then. Talk her around. Tell her she's being ridiculous, and she can go one more day without feeling the need to get her books out."

"What are you talking about, Ron?" Ginny asked.

Ron jumped up from the step. "Nothing."

"Well, just try and enjoy the rest of the day, alright? For Mum's sake. Even if you have to fake it, and then you and Hermione can fight as much as you want when you get home."

Ron glared at her, feeling his frustration rise. Why couldn't Hermione just relax a bit? Why did she have to be so —

"Fine," he muttered. "Fine. I'll talk to her." And he stormed off toward the kitchen. Maybe if he made up with Hermione, it would convince her to change her mind anyway.

…

It didn't.

The rest of Christmas had been alright, Ron finding Hermione after his talk with Ginny and making things right with her again. Neither of them had apologised specifically, though he thought kissing her in a manner that left her blushing had been a good step to go about it. He'd still been mad with her, but he tried to let that slide for the remainder of the day and well into the evening.

By the time they'd gotten home later that night, he'd almost forgotten about their argument all together, and their first Christmas together had ended quite wonderfully.

But, by next morning, it seemed that no amount of affection, no amount of I love yous, and no amount of sex could deter her from her work. When Ron woke he found the space beside him empty, despite it being rather early. They'd gotten back fairly late, been awake even longer — he'd thought that she'd want to sleep for hours.

"What are you doing?" After dressing and stopping by the bathroom to see if she was in there, he came down to the kitchen. She was hunched over an impressive spread of parchment and books and was scribbling away rather quickly for this time of the morning.

She looked up, a flicker of guilt flashing across her face, before she said, "I thought I'd get some of it done before you… before anyone got up." She didn't quite meet his eye as she spoke. "You're up early."

Ron took a seat opposite her. "So are you."

She blushed. "Yes, well…"

"You couldn't even go two days without thinking about it, could you?" Ron said. "Not even after what happened yesterday. Was I being unreasonable when I asked for two days of your time over the holidays? That's all, and you couldn't even manage it."

Hermione had started gathering up all her bits and pieces, her face filled with guilt. "I thought if I got it done in the morning, then we could… we could have the rest of the day together."

"It's not the point, Hermione!" Ron said, feeling a surge of anger inside of him that he'd not felt towards her since… well since he'd thought Crookshanks had eaten his pet rat. "Last night, when we got home, you said to me you could leave it another day. I asked you, and you specifically said —"

"I know what I said!" Hermione told him in an anguished tone. "Alright, I know what I said, but you asked me just after we'd had sex, and I was obviously in a good mood, and, well, you caught me in a moment of weakness. And I didn't want what you were doing to stop."

Ron stared at her. She seemed to have realised what she'd said, because her whole face went a furious red and she jumped to her feet so quickly she knocked her chair over.

"I-I'm sorry, Ron. I didn't mean…" she set the books back on the table and with a tap of her wand, they vanished. Then, she picked up her chair and sat back down, burying her face in her hands.

Rather than feeling sorry for her, Ron said, "So you lied to me? Just so you could have sex with me?"

"No!" Hermione groaned. "No, I didn't lie to you. I meant it when I promised you I'd stay away from it. But then when I woke up this morning, I started to stress over it. You seemed out of it, so I thought if I just got an hour in, before you woke up, then… I'm sorry, Ron. I know I promised. I know it looks really bad. I'm sorry."

"It feels pretty bad, too," Ron said. He'd really thought he'd convinced her last night, but now all he felt was that she'd used him. He couldn't recall a time he'd felt so bad about Hermione — as her friend or otherwise — and he'd been pretty miserable when he was convinced she would never see him as anything more than a friend. But it seemed that this now took the cake. Wasn't she supposed to love him?

"I'm sorry, Ron. I really am. I won't even look at any homework until I set foot back on school grounds. I won't even think about it. We can do anything you want today. I'll —"

"Maybe you should leave," Ron said darkly.

This seemed to upset her more than anything else. "Ron —"

"You made it clear from the beginning that you were only coming here because I asked you to," Ron continued, unable to stop himself. "You would have much rather stayed at the school, spending Christmas with your head in your books than with me. You —"

"That's not true."

"You then told me you'd changed your mind, acting like you actually cared and I'd managed to convince you that I was better than staying on top of your work, when in reality, I apparently just had you 'in a moment of weakness', and then once that was over, once you'd snapped out of that, you couldn't have cared less about what you'd said to me."

"No! That's not true at all, Ron. I do care about you. More than anything. More than —"

"You're still lying, Hermione! Just… just stop."

"Ron, I really, really am —"

"Just go," Ron said. "I really shouldn't have bothered trying to fix things with you yesterday. It clearly meant nothing."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hermione asked.

"It means that I was still mad at you yesterday, but Ginny convinced me to patch things up for the rest of the day because of Mum. So I thought I would, and I realise now I was wrong, because you don't even care. You never did."

For a moment, the room was filled with silence. Hermione's face gradually grew darker as his words sunk in.

Ron momentarily looked away despite himself. He was angry with her, but he still loved her, and even though he knew he was right in being upset about it all, he hated knowing that what he said was true. He had pretended to make up yesterday because of Ginny's words. But she had also pretended, so they were kind of even.

He pushed away the small seed of guilt that had planted itself inside of him at his words and glared at her.

When she spoke, her voice had lost all of its remorse.

"You mean to say," she began, "that all of those things you said yesterday, all of last night, was just an act? And here I was, feeling guilty because —"

"No, it wasn't an act," Ron said. "Because believe it or not — and stupidly, so it seems — I actually got over it. By the time we came home, I'd almost forgotten all about it. Would have been nice for you to apologise, though."

"Me?" Hermione shrieked, and they both glanced to the door to see if it would draw Harry and Ginny down. "I wasn't the one being unreasonable yesterday. I wasn't —"

"So, me asking you to take two whole days out of your life for me is being unreasonable, is it?" Ron leapt to his feet, his own voice rising for the first time.

"It is when I told you I needed to get stuff done!" Hermione cried, also springing to her feet. "You didn't even have a plan for today. You just wanted me here."

"Yes, because I stupidly love you and want to spend time with you. You're my girlfriend, and we've spent more time apart than we have together. I hate it, and I miss you. When we get two days together, I just want it to be us. You have every other day to do the other stuff.""

They glared at each other across the long table, both breathing heavily, both furious.

It was Ron who looked away first, realising she wasn't going to budge. "Fine," he said. "Fine. Forget I ever asked you. Forget I even bothered. How stupid of me to think that maybe you'd actually want to spend Christmas with me. Next time I'll remember you'd much rather be spending it in the Hogwarts library alone." He turned away, too angry and hurt to even look at her anymore. "I guess this is how it's going to be, isn't it?"

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, and her voice had returned to normal again.

Still with this back to her, Ron said, "You and me. I suppose I've got to get used to coming second to your work."

There was a long silence, Ron focusing his attention on the odd wall patterns. He'd never noticed just how unusual they were before.

Then, "Is that how you feel?"

"At the moment? A little, yeah." He finally turned to look at her again, and he saw that her anger had subsided. He felt his own frustrations melt a little upon seeing her expression, too. She was no longer glaring at him, but looking at him with an air of guilt and surprise — as if she hadn't realised that it had bothered him so much, that it had felt like a rejection to him.

He ran his fingers along the table for something to do — he didn't know what to say now.

"Well, I'm sorry if I've made you feel like that. I never meant to." She looked down at the table where her work had been sitting a few moments ago. "I really did want to come here for Christmas. I really did want to spend the day with you. I suppose… I suppose I just have to learn to prioritise better." She looked up, offering a smile. "I've never done this before. I've never had a proper relationship. I'm still learning."

Her smile had Ron's own resolve weakening. He shrugged. "Yeah, and I suppose I need to be a little more understanding of who you are. I mean, I know who you are, what you're like. I know what's important to you. I'm really proud of you, by the way. Your dedication, how clever you are..." He also stared at where her work had been a moment ago. "And it's not like you wasted the whole day doing it. I wasn't even up, was I?" He felt a tad stupid, only now realising he'd still been in bed the whole time she'd been up, and she'd stopped the moment he'd come down — albeit a little too angry with her.

"This isn't as important as you, Ron. I hope you know that," Hermione whispered. "It doesn't come first."

Ron shrugged again, but said nothing. Sometimes he wasn't sure about that, and sometimes he let his mind get away from him. It wasn't really her fault — it was his own.

He looked back up to her, momentarily surprised to see what was sitting around her neck. "You're wearing the necklace," he said.

"Of course," Hermione replied, fingering the pendant and smiling slightly. "It's beautiful. I love it."

Ron returned her smile, feeling as if a weight had been lifted off his chest upon seeing her wearing it. He'd been hurt by her, yes, but at the end of the day, he'd known her for eight years now and her habit of overworking hadn't changed in all that time. It was a part of her that frustrated him, sure, but it was also the part that he deeply admired and loved about her. He supposed that being in a relationship with her made it just that little bit harder to accept than it had when he'd been her friend.

"I'm glad," he said after a moment. "I didn't know if you would… Hermione, I didn't mean to get so upset. I just… I'm sorry. I miss you. This is a really sucky first year of being with you. I don't get to see you when that's all I want to do."

Still smiling, Hermione stepped around the table so they were on the same side. She hesitated for a moment, and then closed the distance between them.

Ron held her to him, his chin on the top of her head. A moment later, Hermione looked up, and he kissed her.

The door to the kitchen swung open, and Harry and Ginny came in with grave looks on their faces.

"Everything okay?" Ginny asked them. "We heard… well, we thought we heard —" She eyed Ron and Hermione suspiciously, as if she hadn't expected to find them locked together like they were.

Ron looked at Hermione, and they both smiled at one another.

"Yeah, everything's okay," Ron said. "Just a misunderstanding."

"It didn't sound like —"

Harry placed a hand on Ginny's shoulder, and she fell silent, nodding.

"Well, that's good." She then moved over to the benches, opening the cupboards. "You guys had breakfast?"

"No," Ron and Hermione said together.

"Hm, well, what do you two have planned today? Anything exciting?"

"Er —"

"Not sure yet," Hermione said. "Maybe something with just the two of us, though? If that's alright?"

Ginny turned back to them, shrugging. "I don't care what you do," she said. "Go for it. Just, please, for the love of Merlin, remember to put silencing charms around your room this time."

Ron grinned at Hermione, pulling her close again. She had turned a deep pink.

"Love you," he whispered, kissing her again. Then, lowering his voice even further, he added, "Let's never fight again."

Who are Ron and Hermione if they don't get into an argument/fight every so often? They were bound to have one eventually!

I hope you all liked it and thank you so much for your lovely reviews and comments :) They have been much appreciated!