Harry Potter and the Forgotten Secrets

Ron's POV

Hermione and I rode back to the stables in silence. We were both taking in what had just happened between us. It was a half hour ride of silent thoughts. Each one made me smile. Hermione was a person I could connect to. Though there were times she had made me mad, like the time I thought her cat had eaten Scabbers, I still loved her. I had realized it our third year at Hogwarts when we were on the hill watching the executioner throw his blade down on what we had thought to be Buck Beak, Hagrid's Hippogriff; Hermione had held on to me so tightly and cried into my shoulder. It broke my heart when she and Harry decided to get together after school. But I stood back, like the best friend I was. I was stuck in the middle of what was known as the perfect romance, as much as I despised the fact that it was Harry and not me.

But now, it was me and not Harry. I'm still not sure why I had asked Hermione to marry me. It had come out of nowhere. I said the first thing that came to my mind, and I wasn't really expecting her to say yes. But she had, and it was the best thing to happen to me since Percy got in trouble at the ministry. Serves him right for being a stuck-up, ungrateful, little snob. But that's entirely another story.

I hadn't even realized we had made it back to the stable until my horse started to get anxious about seeing his home. I turned and looked over at Hermione. She looked so beautiful sitting on that horse. She noticed me looking and met my gaze. I smiled at her, and she returned my smile.

"What's that for?" she asked me.

"Just because." She blushed a bit and I chuckled. "Is this a blush on Ms. Granger's face?" She grinned even bigger and jumped off of the horse gracefully. She made it look so easy. I clumsily fell of the horse, hitting my head on a bail of hay. "Ow."

Hermione started laughing. "You are so un-coordinated."

"Is that a problem for you?" I teased.

Hermione lowered her face and gave me an evil-grin. It made me worried. "That depends on how you are in the bedroom." I dropped my jaw. Did she just ask me what I think she just asked me? She began to laugh hysterically as the stable owners came to take the horses. I ignored her and paid them the extra money I promised for allowing us to go on our own. Apparently it was against their policy, but they were easily bribed. She turned to me and smiled, reaching for my hand, which I gladly took. "Thank you for this, Ron," she said with a smile on her face.

I squeezed her hand and turned to head for the car Hermione had borrowed from Lara, as Harry had our car. "You're welcome, 'Mione." She made me so happy. I don't think she really understood just how much, but I was determined to make her happy in return. "Can I ask you something?" I asked cautiously as we got into the car. She looked at me, a bit surprised.

"Of course, Ron. You can ask me anything." She turned in her seat so that we were facing each other.

I took a deep breath. "Are you okay with me asking you like that?" I had to know where she stood on this.

She nodded, taking my hand. Her touch made me tingle. "Yes, Ron. It was a bit sudden, but I couldn't have asked for a better time or place for it to happen." I smiled at her answer. It was just what I wanted to hear. I wanted her to be ready; I didn't want to rush her into anything at all.

I looked deep into her eyes. Never before had I seen them shine so much. Except, of course when she was with Harry, but Harry's not here. Stop talking about Harry! I slowly brought my free hand up to touch the side of her face, and she leaned her head into my hand. I stroked her face, slowly pulling it towards mine. "I love you, Hermione Granger," I whispered when my lips were just shy of hers.

"I love you, Ronald Weasley," she whispered back. Slowly I let my lips touch hers and we were taken into a slow, long, passionate kiss that neither one of us wanted to pull away from. I let go of her hand and brought my free hand to the lower portion of her back, holding her tightly and pulling her closer to me. I had never felt anything like this. Everything that was around me had suddenly disappeared. It was just me and Hermione and our passion. I felt Hermione take in a deep breath, and then she pulled away from me slowly. I could tell she really didn't want to, but she obviously felt she had to. She looked at me awkwardly. "Sorry."

"It's okay."

"Uh...we better go before we get locked in," she said. I looked up to see the stable owners waiting impatiently for us to leave so they could lock their drive gate. I nodded, not wanting this moment to end. I turned and put my belt on, watching Hermione as she started to drive away. "Ron, thank you."

"For what?" I asked curiously.

"For loving me, but not pushing me." She took a quick glance at me without losing sight of where she was driving to.

"You're welcome, 'Mione." I turned to watch out of the front window. We were coming up to the road that would take us back to the college, but she didn't turn there. "Where are we going to, 'Mione?" She obviously had something in her head.

"Well, since it is the weekend, and tomorrow's Saturday, and we have no where else to be, I thought we'd go find some place where we could...." she paused, a blush forming on her cheeks again, "where we could spend the night together."

I swallowed hard. I was not expecting that, but I wasn't going to complain either. "Uh...sure, 'Mione. O...Of course we can."

She smiled, not taking her eyes off of the road. "You're not nervous are you?" I shook my head, my eyes a bit wider than usual. "I haven't seen you this nervous since the NEWTS."

I threw my head back into the seat of the car. "Don't remind me." Those were our end of school exams that seventh years took. I didn't really want to be reminded of them, but leave it to Hermione to do it. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see." I gave her a confused expression, which only returned me a mischievous grin. I watched as she pulled into the parking lot of an expensive-looking hotel near the park by the lake. "Now, you sit here and I'll go get us a room."

"Are you serious?" I squeaked.

She chuckled. "Of course I am." I swallowed nervously. She was obviously more ready for someone in her life then I imagined. Now I had to decide if I was ready? I mean, I was anxious to be with her, but after what had happened, I didn't think she'd be ready yet. She bounced back to the car, her long black hair flying behind her. "Okay, we have to be out of the room by eleven tomorrow morning. That will give us enough time to be back at campus to meet Harry and Lara for lunch." She was glowing, and I had butterflies in my stomach.

Hermione looked about the room first. It was a nice-sized room, bigger than either of our dorm rooms. A table was in the back corner under the window, a lavatory just inside the door, and a single bed. This made me nervous. "Okay, Hermione. What have you done here?"

She grinned, pulling me into the room and shutting and locking the door behind us. She pulled out her wand that she had hidden in her pocket and pointed it my way. "We didn't go back for clothes, so here they are," she said, flicking her wand at the closet bar. Two pairs of pyjamas and two outfits appeared hanging in the room. "There, now we have everything we need, so we don't have to leave." I swallowed nervously and she set her wand carefully by the TV. "Ron, hold me."

I obeyed, taking her in my arms and hugging her tightly yet gently. It felt so good to finally have her in my arms. This girl standing in front of me was everything to me, and I was never going to let her go. "Hermione, are you sure you want to be here?" I wanted to be sure before I let anything happen between the two of us. I felt her head nod on my chest.

"Yes," she said quietly. She moved her head and looked up at me. I kissed the top of her forehead and she pulled away slightly. "Kiss me, Ronald Weasley." I smiled at her and let go of her with one arm, bringing my hand up to the back of her neck. I lowered my lips down to hers and kissed her softly. I felt her take in a deep breath, and I followed, taking in the scent of her hair and the warm feeling that came over me when we kissed. I felt her take one of her arms away from me, and I felt her hand again pulling up my tucked in shirt. I pulled away from her kiss, a bit startled. "What's the matter?"

I shook my head. "I just want to make sure you're ready for what might happen."

She nodded, sliding her hand inside the back of my shirt and placing her hand on the middle of my back. "Of course, Ron. I wouldn't be here if I wasn't."

I smiled at her and found my lips on hers again. I felt her other hand on my lower back and I slowly pried her lips open with mine. I wasn't totally sure about what I was doing; I was just going with my feelings. But I had a feeling Hermione was going to teach me everything she knew. I slowly let my tongue slide into her mouth, and I felt her move her tongue to meet mine. I still had a hand on the back of her neck, and the other was on her side. I found myself moving my hand up and down her side, stroking her gently.

She pushed my tongue back and pulled hers back into her mouth. She slowly broke our kiss and looked me in the eyes. "Don't be afraid," she whispered. My heart began to pound, but everything that had just happened felt so right. "Don't be afraid, Ron. I'm not going to turn you down again." I took in a slow deep breath, taking in everything around me. I let go of her and took her hands.

"Hermione, there's something I've got to say to you first." Where had that come from? What was I doing? I had her right where I've always dreamed of having her, and I wanted to talk? Come on you idiot! Okay, I have now reached an all-time low, calling myself an idiot. Though, I couldn't deny that I was. She didn't say anything, but squeezed my hands, assuming to give me confidence in whatever I was about to say. I'm not so sure I knew myself. "'Mione, this is a moment I've been dreaming of ever since we were at Hogwarts. There were times when I even thought about blindfolding you and taking you to the Room of Requirement to have my way with you. But I also knew that you were in love with Harry. But I'm not going to ruin this moment by talking about our best friend." I squeezed her hands and she smiled. "Okay, I've said my piece."

She nodded. "Good." The next thing I knew she had shoved me backwards and I made a hard landing on the bed. "Don't you interrupt me again with your...your 'piece words'. It's my turn to really get to know you in a much better way then I already do." I swallowed hard again as Hermione crawled onto the bed. I backed up nervously, placing my shoulders on the lower end of the pillows. Hermione continued to crawl towards me. "Don't be afraid, Ron. I'm not gonna do anything you don't want to do."

I looked her in the eyes. She was so beautiful. "I know you won't." I smiled and held out my arms, pulling her as close to me as I could get. She was now resting halfway over me, on my side. I stroked her face and pulled her head close to mine. "Just tell me if you want me to stop."

Hermione nodded and I took her into a deep, passionate kiss. It felt so good to be here, holding her next to me, kissing her. I took my free hand and found the bottom of her shirt. I slid my hand onto her skin and stroked her back carefully. She sat up a bit and I pulled her shirt over her head. She smiled, blushing a little, but pulled me back into a kiss. Man, I loved her. I felt so many new feelings that I had never felt before. I also found my pants weren't holding me anymore. I continued to undress the beauty lying beside me, and she began to undress me. For thirty minutes we caressed each other. We were enjoying just having this time to spend together.

Hermione broke our kiss and looked me in the eyes. She smiled and gave me a small, barely visible nod and rolled over on her back. She pulled me over her and wrapped her legs around mine. I slowly separated her legs and pushed her knees down gently. I gave her a small kiss on the neck as I lowered myself down on her, and she let out a small groan. It felt so good to finally be with her this way. I let myself get lost in the moment. The rest of our night was filled with passion and the best night's sleep I had had in a very long time.