This Dance We Do

Chapter 16: The Dream

Ron was frozen as Hermione gently moved her lips against his. Once...twice...

What are you doing?! Kiss her back!

But Ron could not seem to get his body to obey his thoughts, he was caught up in the sensation of Hermione's hand resting on his cheek and her lips slowly moving against his.

She's going to think you're not interested if you don't kiss her, you git. KISS HER!

Before he could do anything, Hermione pulled away.

"I think we should go to bed now."

Ron's heart flipped over. No, surely she did not mean...

Hermione must have seen his expression change, because her blush deepened.

"I mean, I think we should call it a night, and each go to our own beds, separately, for the night, until the morning..."

Was it just him, or was she babbling? He had not even kissed her properly, and he had her babbling.

She's not babbling because of anything you did, she's nervous, you dolt.

Oh, that made sense. Ron forced himself to say something.

"That was good."

That was good? That was good?! Of all the things in the world to say, you say "That was good."

Hermione smiled as she began to pick at a spot on the wall.

"Yeah, it was."

"We should do it again sometime."

Ron groaned inwardly and had to struggle to keep from bashing his head into the wall. He made a mental note to Obliviate Hermione as soon as they got back to Hogwarts; there was no way he was going to let her remember this.

Hermione giggled and bit her lip as her blush deepened.

"Yeah, we should."

Ron almost fell down the stairs.

"Good night."

"Night."

Ron was rooted to the spot as he watched Hermione disappear into her room and shut the door. He knew he was grinning like a fool, but somehow he did not care. Hermione Granger had just kissed him, really kissed him.

It was several minutes before Ron remembered to go to bed.

Ron woke up the next morning without a clue why he had a grin plastered to his face. That was, until the memory of the night before came rushing back to him.

He jumped out of bed and practically ran downstairs. He was going to kiss Hermione, make up for last night, even if he had to ravage her over the kitchen table.

Ron was more than slightly disappointed to find Harry in the kitchen with Hermione. Of all the mornings, Harry chose this one to wake up first. Ron grumbled 'morning' at his two friends before he took his seat.

"So, what do you two want to do today?" Hermione asked as she sat down across from Ron.

Both boys mumbled incoherently; obviously neither of them wanted to do much of anything.

"Well, I suppose we could look through our books and get started on the most obvious assignments."

"We could play chess--"

"--or Quidditch--"

"--or go swimming--"

"--or back into town even--"

It was clear that neither of them wanted to do anything school related so soon.

It was soon decided that they would look at the photo album that Lupin gave Harry before they did anything else. Harry ran upstairs to retrieve the album, leaving Ron and Hermione alone.

Ron cleared his throat as he lightly kicked the leg of the end table with his toe.

"So," Hermione ventured.

"So."

"What was it you wanted to talk to me about yesterday?"

"Huh?"

"Yesterday, when you pulled me aside, you said you wanted to talk to me."

"Oh, yeah, that."

"Well?"

"What?"

"What did you want to say? I'm pretty sure you didn't get to say it," Hermione blushed. "We didn't exactly do much talking."

Ron's ears reddened.

"No."

"So?"

"Right, er..." Why was this so difficult? "You see, the thing is, I sort of wanted to ask you--"

"Okay, got it."

If Ron had had his wand on him, Harry would have been a dung beetle in the blink of an eye. Harry, however, did not seem to realize what he had just walked in on. He took a seat on the floor, and motioned for his two friends to join him.

Ron and Hermione sat on either side of their friend and looked at the photo album in his lap.

"This is my mum and my dad, during their last year at Hogwarts. It was taken right around the time they started dating."

Ron looked down at the picture. The couple waving back at him were most definitely Harry's parents; James looked just like Harry, right down to the hair, but Lily had Harry's eyes.

Or would it be Harry has Lily's eyes, Ron thought to himself. Harry turned the page.

"This is my dad, Lupin, Sirius, and Pettigrew." Harry's voice broke slightly when he said Sirius' name, but hardened when he said Scabbers'. Ron clenched fists in the carpet to keep from hitting something. He had never gotten over the idea that he had harbored that piece of scum for so many years; that he had slept in Ron's bed with him.

Ron almost jumped when he felt a tiny hand cover his own. He looked up to see Hermione looking at him.

"You okay?" she mouthed.

Ron nodded and squeezed her hand.

There were pictures of Harry's parents at Hogwarts, pictures of their wedding, and pictures of them with baby Harry. Hermione gasped in amazement when she saw Lily's wedding gown.

"Wow, she was so beautiful."

"Yeah..."

Ron watched as James kissed Lily quickly on the mouth, causing her to blush and swat at him playfully.

Ron could not help imagining Hermione in that wedding gown, and what she would do if he kissed her like that during their wedding pictures.

He quickly let go of Hermione's hand and blushed deeply as he realized what had just gone through his head. Ron forced himself to focus on a picture of James blowing a raspberry on a very pregnant Lily's belly, but the image this gave Ron was not much better than the first.

Ron did not really pay attention to the rest of the pictures, he seemed to superimpose himself and Hermione into every situation, something that Ron did not think Hermione would be too pleased about.

When they had finished looking through the photo album, Harry returned it to his trunk, and came back with the Quidditch set Tonks had given him. He and Ron played Quidditch while Hermione read through one of her school books. Ron liked this game a great deal, it was like a combination of Quidditch and chess. Which moves to call, whom to send where; all in all, it was a game that Ron really enjoyed.

After dinner, the three friends returned to the sitting room. Harry read the book Seamus had given him, while Ron and Hermione played a third game of chess. Since Harry was tied up in his book, and Hermione was busy concentrating on what moves she wanted to make, Ron spent his time watching Hermione.

Ron let his eyes wander the curve of her neck as she tipped her head to look at the board from a new angle. He watched longingly as she chewed on her lower lip in concentration. Ron thought of the way she said his name the afternoon before and wondered if he could get her to say his name like that again by biting that lip.

Ron was completely oblivious as Harry wished them both 'good night.' Harry leaned in close to Ron, under the pretence of pointing out a possible move.

"You're drooling," he whispered in Ron's ear.

Ron quickly ran a hand across his mouth, then shot daggers at his best friend.

"Checkmate!" Hermione squealed.

Ron whipped his attention back to her. "Huh?"

"Checkmate! I won!"

"Oh, yeah, great, good job."

"Oh, come on, Ronald. You always beat me. You could at least pretend to be happy when I do manage to win."

"No, I am happy, really. I was just a little distracted." His eyes shot back to her lips briefly.

"Oh." Ron watched the blush slowly creep across Hermione's face. "Yeah, I was sort of counting on that."

"What?"

"Well, I never win, so..." She smiled mischievously at him.

Ron's mouth gapped open in shock. Was she admitting to what he thought she was admitting to? Before Ron could fully think about it, Hermione was moving closer to him.

"So, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Um..." Ron fought to clear his mind; she was so close. Ron looked at Hermione's neck, and remembered how soft it was when he touched it after they got their O.W.L.s. He reached out and ran his fingers from her jaw to her collarbone. Ron groaned when he saw Hermione close her eyes and bend her head to give him access to her neck. He was on top of Hermione before he realized he had moved.

Hermione let out a squeak of surprise that quickly turned into a throaty moan as Ron crushed her lips with his. He put everything he had into kissing her, terrified that after she came to her senses this would never happen again.

Ron was more than slightly shocked when Hermione began kissing him back with the same fervor. He moaned when he felt Hermione's tongue on his bottom lip, and almost died of shock when he felt her suck that same lip with great force. Images flooded Ron's mind and he suddenly needed to pull his mouth away from hers. He started kissing her neck, which caused her to make more noises that only made his current problem worse.

Ron pulled away from Hermione very quickly and closed his eyes.

Focus, focus! What would you think if you caught some guy doing that to Ginny?

"Ron? Is something wrong?"

Ron looked at Hermione, then immediately wished he hadn't. Her hair was a mess, her lips were red and swollen, and she was breathing rapidly.

Merlin, I did that.

"No, no, I'm fine, really. I just," Ron cleared his throat, willing his voice back into its normal octave. "I'm sorry I attacked you like that."

Hermione laughed. "You didn't attack me. Okay, well, you sort of did. But if you noticed, I wasn't exactly complaining." She blushed at her words, as did Ron. No, she was not complaining, far from.

"Yeah, but what if your parents saw us? Or Harry?" Ron swallowed forcibly. Harry would probably do to him what Ron would do to any guy he found snogging Ginny; beat him to a bloody pulp, then beat the tar out of the pulp.

"Right." Hermione seemed to be trying to make herself as small as possible. "I'm just going to go to bed then. Good night."

Ron shot up off the floor to block her path; he was not going to let her go to bed thinking that he regretted kissing her. He leaned forward and brushed his lips across her cheek.

"Good night."

Hermione smiled at him before she started to climb the stairs.

Ron fell into bed minutes later, thinking of what it had felt like to kiss Hermione. He had to admit, it was better than he thought it would be. Ron drifted off to sleep, replaying their kiss in his mind.

Ron was standing in the Gryffindor common room. He looked around, where was everyone?

Ron jumped when he felt someone snake their hands around his waste, felt their lips graze his bare shoulder.

"Hermione?"

"Yes?" Hermione kissed his shoulder again.

"What are we doing here? It's not time yet."

"It's time enough."

Ron gasped as he felt Hermione's hands dip to new places.

"You shouldn't, you know they don't like that."

Ron turned around, taking both her hands in his. She smiled at him as she led him from the common room.

"Let's ask, shall we?"

Ron followed Hermione out through the portrait hole and into the Defense class room. Ginny was kneeling on the teacher's desk, wearing her school uniform, but not her robes. Her hair was in pigtails, something Ron had not seen her do since she was five. She had a sucker in her mouth and was braiding someone's hair. Ron looked closer and gasped. Snape was sitting on the desk with Ginny, wearing the pleated skirt, white button down shirt, and red and gold Gryffindor tie that girls wore under their robes. Ron watched Snape blow a large bubble with his chewing gum as Ginny continued to braid his hair.

Shaking his head, Ron walked through a door to his left into the sitting room at the Burrow. Ron was hurt to find Hermione in Harry's lap, but simply sat on the sofa and picked up his book.

"And I got this one when I conquered Lord Voldemort," Harry said, pointing to the scar on his forehead.

"Oh, you poor thing," Hermione crooned, running her finger along the scar. "Did it hurt terribly?"

Ron tried to focus on his book, but he could not make out the foreign language.

"En het bloed zal stromen, de mensen bevrijden."

"Hermione," Ron called. "I can't read this translation, could you tell me what it means? Hermoine?"

Ron looked up from his book; Hermione was gone.

"She went up to your room, mate. She's been waiting for you for hours."

Ron thanked Harry and started up the stairs. He finally reached the door, with its plaque reading "Ronald's Room" still there. Ron pushed the door open, and walked down the steps into the Death Chamber.

There was a chair waiting there for him; his chair. Ron sat down and felt the bonds tie themselves around his wrists. Hermione walked forward from the shadows, pulling down the hood from her cloak.

"You look like a Death Eater when you wear that," he informed her.

"Isn't that the point?"

Ron nodded; that was, indeed, the point.

Hermione walked towards him, and traced her finger along his brow.

"They were rough with you," she said, holding her finger out to show him the blood there.

"Aren't they always?"

Hermione started laughing hysterically. She sat on Ron's lap and whispered in his ear.

"It all comes down to the blood, my son, that's all there is in the end. "Laat het stromen tot de rivier op droogt."

Hermione pulled away from Ron, only, she was not Hermione anymore. The woman in Ron's lap had flat, dark, heavily lidded eyes.

Ron awoke with a start. He was breathing heavily and was drenched in a cold sweat.

What the bloody hell was that?

Ron did not have time to think about his dream, however. He heard footsteps in the hall, followed by voices whispering.

"You two go get the girl, you get the boys, I'll handle her parents."

Ron heard Harry sit up quickly and grab his wand. Ron followed suit.

As soon as their door opened, two voices cried out "STUPEFY!"

Ron watched the two streams of red light hit someone in the chest. Ron watched his brother crumple to the floor, knocked unconscious by the spell, as his twin yelled at Ron.

"What the bloody hell did you do that for?" Fred screamed at him.