Naked

Naked

I'm naked around you - does it show?

Naked by Avril Lavigne

Rarely had Hermione ever disliked doing Prefect duties. Now, however, she just wished they could be over. Professor McGonagall had told all the prefects to patrol the corridors on the train ride home to make sure the students stayed in their compartments. It was hardly how she pictures her last Hogwarts Express ride.

Hermione glanced at Ron and then quickly looked away before he could catch her. The air around them was filled with a thick, tense, uncomfortable silence. There were a lot of things left unsaid between them. Too many. If one was to be technical (and Hermione usually was), at least two-and-a-half years worth.

And yet, for just a few moments in time at Dumbledore's funeral, none of it seemed to matter. Ron had let her unload all of her despair on his shoulders without hesitation. They had been Ron and Hermione again. But now, after all was said and done, she felt more than a little bit embarrassed. After the emotional beating she had taken from him this year, she was feeling extremely vulnerable around him and she hated it. Whether he knew it or not, Ron quite literally held her heart in his hands and she'd be damned if she even tried to get it back.

"So..." she said apprehensively. She forced herself to look at him. This odd silence was very unnerving.

"Err," he replied. "I'm glad there's nobody in the corridors."

"Right," she said, relieved to have something to talk about. "Me too. I know McGonagall strictly told us to keep everyone to his or her compartments, but I don't know how much of a disciplinarian I could be today. I just don't think I have it in me."

Ron sighed. "Me neither. I...I can't believe this is the last time we'll be riding the train home. It just feels weird because it's so unexpected, you know?"

"I know. I was hoping that I might become Head Girl next year, but now I guess I'll never find out."

"Oh please," he snorted. "Like anyone ever even doubted it since our first year."

"Yes, well..." she said sheepishly and pinked slightly. She knew she was smart, and also knew everyone else knew she was smart, but she never liked to flaunt it in fear of getting called a know-it-all like she used to be called when she was little.

"I wouldn't give up searching for the Horcruxes with Harry for anything in the world, not even a Head Girl badge," she said loyally. It reminded her of their first year when Harry had said something along the lines of "What does it matter to Voldemort if Gryffindor wins the House cup? Do you think that would stop him from killing you and your families?" And he was right. Sometimes (more than she would ever admit to him, of course) she was very proud to be Harry Potter's friend. Not because he was famous or for any of the noble things he had done, but just because of the kind of person he was.

"Or a qudditch cup," Ron added in a mock wistful tone. And yet Hermione knew he felt exactly the same way she did.

She laughed softly. "Precisely."

Now this was much better. This was how things were supposed to be between them. They were how they used to be before the whole Lavender/Christmas debacle. True, they had forgiven each other and were openly friends again. But when Harry was not around them (which he often wasn't) and left them alone together, they were never truly comfortable with each other anymore. And she knew it was because they were both too afraid to admit they had feelings for each other. The situation would actually be very laughable if it weren't happening to her. Because truthfully, she more or less had an idea about what he felt for her. And she definitely knew how she felt about him. And though she hadn't exactly made a public announcement about her feelings, he had to have known what she felt anyway. So really, they had no excuse. Well, except...

Except for the fact that they were each too proud and too stubborn to be the first one to admit. Ron and Hermione, who had fought Death Eaters even though they had been outnumbered, who pushed on even in the worst of situations, was both too afraid to do a simple little thing like declare their feelings for one another.

Pathetic! She thought. And yet still she did nothing about it.

They had almost reached their compartment when suddenly Luna and Neville came tumbling out of it and they heard a loud shout. Without a moment's hesitation, Ron and Hermione both whipped out their wands and raised them before going over to investigate. The war had taught them to always be on your guard no matter how innocent the situation seemed, although to Hermione, it looked like there was nothing guiltless about it.

"What happened?" she asked them.

"And why is this door locked?" Ron asked while rattling the handle trying to get it open in vain. He tried Alohomora but still it would not budge.

Neville, who was slightly red in the face, gulped and said, "Harry and Ginny are in there. They were going on in hushed tones so that were couldn't hear what they were saying. But then Harry must have said something to upset her because --"

"--Because next thing you know, Ginny exploded and Neville and I thought it best if we gave them some privacy," she said in an non-chalant way that suggested that she habitually fled the room at the first signs at Ginny Weasley's temper.

"So now Harry finally gets to experience 'The Wrath of Ginny'," Ron said sarcastically. He went to press his ear against the door but Hermione stopped him.

"They would've put Silencing and Impertuable Charms around it," she said by way of explanation.

"So what are we supposed to do, just sit here and make bets on who can scream the loudest, which by the way my money's in Ginny?"

"We'll just have to cover for them, I guess," she said anxiously. No matter how many times she'd already done it, the thought of getting in trouble always scared her. "Neville and Luna, can you go to another compartment for now?"

"Of course," Luna said and breezed down the corridor, Neville in tow.

"Great, just great. Perfect ending to a perfect day, don't you think?"

Hermione turned to him. "You'd really bet on Ginny? I think Harry can definitely out-scream Ginny. Don't you remember at Grimmauld Place?"

"No, see, you don't know. Harry's big outbursts last year would only be a temper tantrum in Ginny's book. That's why whenever he yelled it didn't faze her much. In fact, I'm surprised the charm is even holding up."

"Well, Harry can be really mean sometimes, and that just makes it so much more worse."

Ron shook his head in disagreement. "True, Harry can be mean, but Ginny can be downright venomous. Like when Harry and I caught..." he broke off suddenly and got an odd look on his face.

"Caught what? What did you and Harry catch her doing?" Hermione asked, very intrigued. Whatever had went down, why hadn't she known of it?

"It's nothing, Hermione," he said, avoiding her eyes.

"Come on, just tell me."

"Dammit, Hermione, I said no! Just leave it alone," he snapped.

His words and tone stung her and incensed her at the same time. She'd only wanted to know what it was that made him so evasive. It wasn't like she was demanding much from him.

It always hurt her feeling so much when Harry and Ron kept things from her. They were supposed to be a trio, but instead they were more like a duo plus a tag-along. But Hermione had at least figured that they had gotten past all this. She had come to accept that Harry and Ron were both boys and so therefore likely to share boy things. She had and always would be the girl (and frankly, she'd be a bit worried if her girl status changed). But this - this obviously wasn't something just between the guys.

"Fine," she snapped back, feeling like she had all of the maturity of a five year old. "But at least Harry and Ginny can talk about the problems instead of acting like everything is 'fine, just fine' between them."

Hermione hadn't meant to say it. She hadn't meant to blurt out the thing they had been avoiding so profusely. But she also felt relieved, because she was tired of being in a hiatus.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Ron asked, getting red in the face.

"Figure it out," she spat and started to stalk away. She was confident that he would follow.

And sure enough, just as she barely managed to take a few steps, he caught her wrist and pulled on it (quite hard, actually) so that she was jerked right back to him.

"No," he said stubbornly. He grabbed onto her other wrist, spun her around, and pinned her against the wall. His body was excitingly close to hers, so close that she could feel his warm breath graze her hairline. Ron seemed to realize the closeness too because his breathing hitched and he unconsciously liked his lips.

She had dreamed of being in this position for so long that now that it was actually happening, it didn't seem real. But it was, and she felt like she needed this kiss that was waiting to happen even more than she needed air. She loved the fire that she felt raging within her and between them, and she didn't care if she got burned.

She brought her hand up to the back of his neck at the base and pulled his head down so that his lips met hers. Obviously, she caught him by surprise (she took herself by surprise as well; never could she have ever imagined that it would be her to initiate a kiss between them) because he gasped into her mouth. But when she started moving her lips against his, he began to match her rhythm.

It was Heaven. Pure Heaven. Hermione was completely lost and instead thinking she just let her senses take over. She tangled her hands in his hair, which elicited a groan from him. It made her feel powerful and emboldened her to slowly slide her tongue against his teeth and gently prod them open. Ron put his hands intimately on her hips, making her feel very feminine, something she didn't feel often.

Much as she didn't want to, Hermione felt like she should end the kiss before things got out of control, and by the way she was feeling, that was bound to happen. She slid her hand up to his chest and lightly pushed him off of her. His eyes were glazed over and she knew her's had to be too.

"That was..." he said.

"Yeah," she agreed, not really knowing what she was agreeing to, but knowing she agreed all the same.

"What were we fighting about again?"

"Err...something about..." She couldn't believe how she wasn't able to express a single coherent thought. Ron's abilities both frightened and excited her.

Suddenly the compartment door burst open and Ginny came storming out.

"Ginny wait!" Harry yelled after her, but she had already disappeared. Hermione tried to clear her head because she felt like she always needed one with an upset Harry.

"What happened?" she asked, going to him and placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Did she hit you?"

Hermione glared at Ron, but he was still looking at Harry, oblivious. His blatant insensitivity never ceased to infuriate her.

"Worse," Harry said, looking dejected. "She told me she hated me." He walked back into the compartment with his head low. Ron and Hermione would be there for him.

But first, they shared a secret look, and Hermione knew they would be able to work everything out. They still had a bumpy road ahead of them, with plenty of trials. However, their kiss had stripped away all of their defenses, letting them finally be able to move on.

And no matter what happened, Hermione knew that she would always have her boys.