Lost Love

The Morning After

Hermione woke the next morning to the sound of the bedroom closing. God, she thought to herself, don't let it have been a dream. But if it had been a dream, it was awfully vivid. And then she realized there was an arm around her waist, and a warm body behind her. But that either meant that Harry was being awfully cuddly, or...

"Hermione?"

Her heart plummeted for a moment when she heard Harry's voice, then she realized that it had come from in front of her. She opened a groggy eye to see Harry looking down at her, bemused. She couldn't help but smile. "Morning, Harry."

"Merry Christmas, you mean. Does this" he waved his hand at her and the body she could feel snuggled beside her "mean what I think it does?" His eyebrow was raised, but she could see that he was barely keeping his smile hidden.

Hermione turned to her back so she could look at Ron's sleeping face. "Not quite, but..."

Harry couldn't contain the grin any longer. "But, Hermione? I mean, he's right there..."

Hermione glared at her friend. "We just talked." Then she blushed. "All night."

Harry whooped.

"Shush. Don't wake him. Is Stephen up?"

"Well, I was going to go check on him, but I got a bit...distracted. And besides, Hermione, this is Ron we're talking about. He could sleep through an air-raid siren."

"Still..." She carefully moved out of Ron's grasp and sat up. "Why don't we see if Stephen is up. Then you can take him down. I'm sure he'd like that."

"Well, actually, I was going to have him wake you, so I could go find Ron. Everyone else is awake. The kids are all about to mutiny if they have to wait any longer to open presents, but Molly insisted that all of us should be down there first."

"What time is it?"

Harry smiled. "Ten."

"Ten! Why didn't you come up earlier? Stephen's probably bouncing off the walls in there!" She hurried to open the door to Stephen's room and saw him grinning happily at her from the center of his bed, fingers in his mouth, apparently unconcerned about the fact that there were presents to be opened that he could not get to.

Harry moved past her. "Hey, buddy. Ready to go open presents?" Stephen nodded. Harry turned to Hermione. "I'll get him dressed. You go work on Ron. You'll probably be at it a while." He grinned and ducked as she threw a half-hearted slap his way.

"Some best friend..." she grinned at him.

"I am, aren't I?" He winked, then closed the door to give Hermione some privacy with Ron.

Hermione dressed quickly, then returned to the bed where Ron was softly snoring, cuddling with her pillow. It amazed her how young he looked. Almost as though this Ron had remained unchanged from the first day they had met. But the red fuzz on his face and the child in the next room attested to the fact that at least some things about him had indeed changed.

She didn't particularly want to wake him. She knew she could sit here all day watching him sleep. But when Harry appeared with Stephen in tow, still grinning at her, she glared at her friend, then reached out to wake Ron. "Ron. Wake up, Ron. Time to get up." He mumbled something, then grabbed her hand and pulled her next to him.

Harry laughed. "I guess Stephen and I will just leave you to it, shall we?"

Another glare. "You will pay for this, Harry, I promise you. Even if I have to apparate into your bedroom one night when George comes to visit you to get even with you."

"You wouldn't!"

"Just watch me."

"Okay, okay, we're going. I'll tell everyone you'll be down momentarily. Just don't blame me if they all come up to see what's keeping you." He took Stephen in his arms, walked out into the hall, closing the door behind him.

Hermione turned back to the sleeping man curled around her. She gave him a shake. Nothing. "Ron, wake up." Another mumble. Something about the eggs waiting another few hours. "Ron..." she leaned forward to whisper right in his ear. "...If you don't get up right this second, I'll never kiss you again."

Brown eyes immediately snapped open. "H-Hermione?"

"'Bout time, sleepyhead. I was beginning to think I was going to have to get a glass of cold water," she grinned.

"You wouldn't," he looked horrified.

"Only if you hadn't woken up. Come on, everyone's waiting on us."

"Are they?" Ron sat up, but still had a hold of her hand. "Maybe we should make them wait a bit more." He tugged her towards him, catching her around the waist when she had moved close enough. Despite the fact that she knew that Ginny or Fred would probably come barging in at any moment, she couldn't help herself. Her eyes closed as she leaned towards Ron, and their lips finally met. But only for a moment. She quickly pulled away.

"Later, Ron. You have to get dressed." She looked away, slightly flushed.

He pulled her chin so she was facing him again. "Promise?"

She nodded, then pulled away from him. She stood up, then tidied her clothes. "I'd better go. Stephen's probably panicking. I'll see you down there, okay?"

He grinned. "You bet."