FIC--Reunion

[ficsbydeenas]

Title: Reunion
Rating: PG
Pairing: Ron and Hermione
Words: 1664
Summary: When Hermione returns from Australia, Ron needs to know where things stand.
Warning: You'll need a toothbrush. Think cotton candy...
Author Note: Ron kept bugging me about this for the last few days. He kept telling me what to write and I really tried to ignore him. However, his persistance and promise of sexual favors won me over and here it is...




Ron was bored.

Hermione was in Australia trying to put back her parents' memories and bring them home. Harry was at the ministry ironing out details for the Aurors or something with Kingsley Shacklebolt only three weeks after defeating Voldemort. Ginny was taking a nap and probably waiting for Harry to get back; they'd got disgustingly close lately and it only served to make his mood worse. His mother was visiting Andromeda Tonks and helping her sort through things that belonged to her husband. His father was at work, trying to help reorganize things. Bill was busy at Gringotts trying to clean up the mess that Harry, Hermione and himself had made with the dragon. Charlie was never much for staying with the family and had gone back to Romania while Percy was also at the ministry with Harry and his father. Ron had no idea what George was doing and from his moods of late, Ron didn't really care; gone was the George of four weeks ago and in his place was someone no one in the family recognized.

But it was the lack of Hermione's company that was bothering him the most. The two of them never got a chance to talk about the kiss she'd planted on him in that corridor of Hogwarts. He wanted to know if she felt the same way about him that he did about her. He hadn't heard one word from her and was beginning to think that he had imagined the whole thing—kissing her, Harry telling him he felt nothing for her, kissing her, the look in her eye when he'd done something she didn't expect, kissing her. He let out a huff of breath and ran a hand through his hair and left the house out the back door.

His strides led him to the broom shed and he opened the door, removing his broom from the mess of things that were placed helter skelter inside. Without bothering to shut the door, he mounted his broom and kicked off, leaving the Earth and his worries behind.

After flying for an hour or so, he saw the speck of someone walking up the path to The Burrow. The bushy brown hair told him who it was and he felt his heart beat faster and faster inside his chest.

Hermione.

He touched down along side her, dropped his broom and scooped her up in his arms, holding her close.

“I missed you!” he said into her hair and he closed his eyes, taking in the feel of her in his arms and his heart soared knowing that she was there.

She pulled away from him and looked so sad. Tears were streaming down her face.

“Wha—what happened, Hermione?” he asked softly, brushing back the hair from her eyes.

Hermione reached up and took his hand from her face and held onto it, leading him toward the house. They walked in silence into the back garden, where she jumped up onto the garden wall and indicated for him to join her.

Ron jumped up with ease and put an arm around her and she willingly settled against him.

“They're so angry, Ron.” Her confident air was gone and she looked defeated. “After I reversed the charm, I explained what went on and why they were in Australia. Mother was livid and shouted at me. My dad couldn't calm her down and she even started throwing things at me. I ran out of there until I found a park and cried under a tree.” She sniffed as she cried into his shoulder. After taking a deep breath, she continued, “I went back, eventually, and tried again to explain what I did and why I did it. Dad seemed to be okay and he told me that he loved me and understood why I did it. But Mum...Mum isn't talking to me yet. I stayed with them while they decided what to do and then today, they told me that they're staying there. I've lost them, Ron, and it's all my fault.”

She flung herself into his arms and wailed loudly as he held her, not knowing what to say or what to do for her. All the reading he'd done about charming witches did nothing to prepare him for a sobbing Hermione who'd just felt as if she'd lost her parents. No amount of compliments would heal her wounds, no small gesture of affection would soothe her troubled heart. The only thing he could do was hold her, and that's all she needed right then. His questions would have to wait.

Two hours later, the two of them were still sitting on the garden wall. Hermione had told him every detail of the things she had done with her parents over the past ten days and Ron was polite enough not to interrupt. When she was through, she turned to him and smiled the first smile of the day.

“Thank you,” she said softly, just above a whisper.

“No problem,” he answered back. Silence surrounded them for the first time in hours and for some reason, it felt right. With a hard swallow, Ron said what had been on his mind for weeks,  “When you kissed me. You know, at Hogwarts...what, er, did you mean anything by it?”

Hermione blushed. “I...yes, well, I wanted to talk to you about that.” Hermione never stammered. She always knew exactly what she had to say and was always composed.

“Oh.” Ron's heart sank. “The house-elves...that's—it's okay. I know how much you wanted me to finally understand. It's fine. I just...yeah.” He let out a breath he felt like he'd been holding for hours and he dropped his head to look at the browning grass.

“Ron, the whole thing that day was just overwhelming. I was so amazed at your courage and how you handled yourself down there. It was wonderful.” At her words, he looked up and still was confused about what she was trying to say. “You mean so much to me, Ron, and I just couldn't help myself.”

“I see,” he said, down hearted. “Well, then, I guess I have my answer.”

“To what question, Ron? I don't know what you want me to say.”

He took a deep breath and jumped down to stand in front of her.

“I want to know if there's any chance that you can feel something for me besides friendship. I want to know if that kiss was thanking me for finally understanding about house-elves or if it was because you wanted to kiss me for kissing's sake. I want to know if there's a chance for me.”
Ron was never one for putting things into words, but the war had made him more confident, more sure of what he wanted out of life, and if was the way to get Hermione in his life the way he wanted, then so be it.

He looked up at her again, and her mouth was open and tears were brimming in her eyes. She never looked more beautiful.

“Of course it meant something! I've wanted to do that for ages and what you said just made me want to do it even more. It only added to why I—I care so much.” She put her hand under his chin and lifted his face to look at hers. “I can't stand to have you not knowing how I feel. I've been trying to hide it for ages and I don't want to anymore. I want to be with you, Ron.”

His heart soared again at her words and he wished he could replay this moment over and over again just to hold onto it and make sure it was real.

“When you left--”

“I'm sorry...so sorry about that. I'll never leave you again, Hermione,” he tried to reassure her.

“I know. But let me finish. When you left, I was a mess. I couldn't sleep and I was worried about you the entire time. I was of absolutely no use to Harry and felt even worse when I broke his wand.” She stopped and ran her fingers over his face, as if she were trying to tactilely remember what he looked like. “You came back and I--”

“You hit me. You hit me and called me an 'arse,'” he teased.

“But I was the biggest arse for not telling you how wonderful I think you are, how safe you make me feel and how I never want to--”

Ron stopped her words with his mouth. He kissed her the way he'd been longing to kiss her for years. His lips moved across hers gently, yet urgently, until he felt her kiss him back. Feeling emboldened by this, Ron slid his tongue along her lower lip and as she gasped, he slipped it inside her mouth to chase her tongue. When he finally caught it, he was whooping and hollering inside his head. He grabbed her around the waist and lifted her off the garden wall and swung around with her legs firmly wrapped around his hips.

This was his world. Her and him, together like this, was the best place to be.

“It's about time, you big git!”

Ron unceremoniously dropped Hermione onto the grass and turned to where the voice came from. There, in the window of Charlie's old room, which was now Harry's, was Ginny, wearing a broad grin on her face, and Harry, whistling with two fingers in his mouth. They both looked extremely pleased with themselves.

“Ginevra, I don't even WANT to know what you're doing up there in his room! But get the bloody hell out of there!” Ron sprinted toward the door with Hermione on his heels. Little did wither of them know was that once he got inside the house, Ron fully intended to Apparate with Hermione to his own room and continue with what they started.