Breaking the Silence

He saw her standing at the bottom of the staircase, completely lost in thought while shuffling parchment around in her sack. Her hair was tousled and standing out more than usual, which was indeed quite an accomplishment. Her brown eyes were now scanning the hallway, as if she was expecting to see someone at any moment. She looked nervous.

"Fancy seeing you here," he called down to her.

"You're late," she beamed up at him. She didn't seem annoyed or frustrated, but amused and excited. Her nerves seemed to have disappeared at that moment, as if him making the first mistake made everything else okay.

"Fashionably late is the statement I'd like to use!"

"Always such a way with words, Mr. Weasley."

"Well, you know how I like to make an entrance," he grinned to her as he reached the final stair. At least I didn't fall down them, he congratulated to himself.

"Well, er, are you, um, ready to go then?" she finally worked out.

"Sure, lets get it on!"

He mentally kicked himself for what he just said. You. Are. An idiot.

She blushed and turned toward the door, leading the way out into the frigid air.

It must have been the coldest day in December, because it appeared that no amount of clothing was going to block the icy blasts of wind from seeping into their skin. It wasn't by any means an unpleasant day, just unpleasantly cold. The sky was a dim shade of blue and gray, and the ground was thickly padded with snow. It was like being inside a snow globe, only without the presence of actual falling snow.

The snow, had in fact, cleared up several hours ago, making it possible for the students to see their way to Hogsmeade. It was the second Hogsmeade weekend of the year, and Ron was determined to make it the best.

Unfortunately, when you need a good conversation starter, it always decides to hide in the back of your brain until you don't need it. This, Ron thought, was simply too ironic. They had been walking along for ten minutes without saying a single word to each other, and the lack of conversation was beginning to make him considerably uneasy. It was extremely out of character for Hermione to go this long without speaking, which could only mean that those nerves she was fighting had returned. Or maybe it was regret. Was she regretting coming in the first place? Was it just too awkward? Something had to be done about the silence...so being the Weasley that he was, he improvised and said the first thing that came to mind.

"Giant polar bear."

"Excuse me?" she questioned, with an odd look of confusion gracing her wind blown face.

"It broke the ice."

There was silence. It seemed to Ron that this silence was lasting longer than the entire trip itself. Once again Weasley, you have managed to screw up royally. Strong work.

He glanced over at her again, and realized she was biting her lip in a very strained manner, as if trying to hold back a smile. That smile suddenly turned into sidesplitting laughter.

She laughed for what seemed an eternity, and slowly, the laughter became contagious. It simply wasn't possible to stand there, watching her bent over with happiness, and not join in on the fun.

She grabbed at his arm for support, obviously fearing she would soon loose control of her balance. Well she sure knows how to boost a guys self esteem. All these years I've been cracking jokes and she finally likes one! Maybe it's this extreme cold we're currently experiencing. Must have gone to her brain.

As he was thinking up better explanations, he suddenly found himself lying face first in the snow, sprawled out in a very awkward manner. Hermione had managed to pull him down along with her, landing behind a large mound of packing snow. This works, he shrugged, at least no one will see our stupidity this way.

He moved to get to his feet, only to find his feet were currently anchored to the ground by Hermione's stomach. She is insane he laughed to himself. Insanely gorgeous he corrected. She had somehow managed to intertwine his knees with her arms, which wasn't necessarily an unpleasant position, just slightly awkward.

Hermione realized this suddenly, and with some difficulty, pulled her self up, leaving Ron sprawled out in the snow.

She looked down at him, as if he were some sort of goofy puppy that was doing summersaults for attention. Well, I might as well work the goofy part. Knowing from experience that Hermione loved to see people smile, he flashed her one of his infamous goofy, lopsided grins.

She smiled back at him and offered her hand for assistance in rising. This simply won't do, he thought. What's the point in getting up when I'm already down here? No, I think I'll do this.

And with that, he grabbed her hand and pulled, setting off a series of slightly surprising events. The first was actually quite expected, her screaming. The only difference he noticed, between the actual events and his expectations were that her scream was followed by a giggle. Hermione can giggle? Well, I suppose it comes from all those years of rooming with Parvati and Lavender. Can't be too good for ones sanity, being surrounded by all that giggling. I'm sure it would sink into anyone placed in that situation.

These thoughts made several slightly disturbing images of Snape giggling in pink pajamas enter Ron's head, which wasn't helping the situation any. He was just about to surrender his mission of tackling Hermione and pinning her to the ground, when he found the roles suddenly reversed. She grabbed his hands in, what he thought was, an impressively tight grip and spun him under her with a soft thump. There was something about this action that made Ron excited, and he rather enjoyed the feeling.

The final unexpected thing to happen came next, when he leaned up and found himself doing the unthinkable. He was.... kissing her. Exactly where this sudden spark of courage had come from, he wasn't quite sure, but he hoped it would stick around long enough for her to respond.

Her response came sooner than he expected, and it was better than he could have ever imagined. She was kissing him back. It was brilliant. It was unbelievable. It was...wet. He then realized that it wasn't just the kiss that was wet, but his entire body. The apparent 'heat of the moment' had managed to melt what seemed like several gallons of snow, allowing it to penetrate his many layers of robes and jumpers.

He figured that Hermione must be soaking as well, and the last thing he wanted was to be responsible for her catching the flu. So, very reluctantly, he broke the amazing contact that had just happened between them, and gently leaned her forward.

Hermione, being the clever witch she was, understood his motives, and slowly helped him to his feet. They stood there for several minutes, just staring at each other, as if they were still trying to figure out what had just happened. After several long, enjoyable minutes of stares they had finally made the silent agreement to precede onto Hogsmeade, allowing them to pick up where they had started.

They were only about 5 minutes from Hogsmeade, Ron soon noticed, which he was rather disappointed about. There was no way that the destination could top the journey in this scenario, even with the remaining silence.

He began to see that he didn't mind the silence as much anymore, and what had once been awkward, now was priceless. He wouldn't trade the silence for anything now, and as they finally reached the village, he reached down and took her hand in his. He had never felt more complete, and less awkward, in his entire life.