Confessions
***WARNING: DH SPOILERS***
Challenge Fifteen: Deathly Hallows Missing Scenes
Title: Confessions
Author: lewlinx
Wizard/Witch: Ronald Weasley / Hermione Granger
Rating/Warnings: G/PG
Genre: Romance
Word count: 759
DH Chapter: Ten: Kreacher’s Tale
Summary: Before they fell sleep, Ron and Hermione shared a conversation that changed their relationship.
Being back in this house seems like one of those really bad dreams where you know you are dreaming but can’t wake up. I’ve always thought this bloody house was haunted by the dark memories of Sirius’s family. Being in this drawing room, surrounded by darkness and incertitude, after having barely escaped torture and death, makes it that much more surreal.
As I lay here, I wonder if this is how our life will be until Harry faces You-Know-Who. How are we going to do this if we have no clue at all what we’re supposed to do? Or where we’re supposed to go? We barely escaped this time, what if we are not that lucky next time? What if something happens to Hermione?
She picked up her wand and cast, "Muffliato."
“Hermione, what’d you do that for?"
“So we won't have to whisper.”
She smiled and slid down to sit next to me. For a while we sat in silence, while she hugged her knees and looked over at the shadowy figure that was Harry. I read what little I could see of her expression.
“Ron, I need to tell you something, but please don’t laugh at me. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“I’m scared. We don’t have a clue about what to do or where to start. We were almost killed tonight. I think we’re not prepared at all to face this. I thought we were, but now I’m not so sure. This is bigger than anything we’ve faced before…”
“Hermione…”
“No Ron, listen, you know I'm right. This is crazy! We were almost killed!”
“I know, Hermione. That’s what I was going to say. I’m scared too and not only for us but for my family as well. I reckon everyone is at risk, but those closest to Harry are in even greater danger. I bet we -- you, me, my family -- are at the top of the list. But we can’t run for it now.”
“I didn’t mean that I wanted to run! He’s our friend!”
“Of course we're sticking with him. Now, why did you think I would make fun of you?”
“Dunno…I just…it sounded childish”
“Well, it is not. I bet we’re all scared. Imagine being him. He has to face You-Know-Who. He’s the main one all the Death Eaters are after…”
Hermione’s eyes filled with tears, and she bit her lower lip.
I reached over and brushed the back of my hand on her cheek. Hermione leaned her face forward, and I trailed my hand slowly down her neck and her chin, slightly brushing her lips and moved up the other side of her face. Her breathing became slow, and she kept her eyes closed.
Something had compressed inside me as she encouraged me to touch her earlier. It made me want to hold her, to protect her from whatever was waiting for us outside the walls of this dreadful house.
Now, a fear like nothing I had felt before had a hold of me, and all I could do was sketch her face in the depths of my memory. My caressing hand had connected us, and I knew if I had moved it away, something would have broken; something would have ended.
Hermione moved her cheek against my hand again. Her lips brushed my fingers, leaving a trail of soft kisses that gave me goose bumps. Lifting her chin, I found her forehead, her eyes, her cheeks and her small nose. I kept kissing her until my lips had a memory of their own, and they could describe every inch of her face without words. Slowly I lowered my face to hers, and our lips brushed for the first time. One small kiss became two, three, four; each new one lasted longer. I nibbled her lips, and a soft whimper escaped her. More kisses followed, and we kept teasing each other for a while. Our breathing became ragged and shallow, until finally our lips became one and our tongues tasted each other for the first time. I held her close.
”Don’t leave me,” she whispered against my neck, tightening the hug.
I kissed her hair and said, "I love you.”
“Oh Ron!”
“Shhh… Let's sleep now.”
“Hold my hand?”
“Always”
When I had heard her cast Muffliato earlier, I couldn’t have foreseen our night would end like this. I would have never believed that I would have her this close and our fingers intertwined just because my touch, my closeness makes her feel safe as she slept.
“Sweet dreams, my beautiful girl."
Author's Notes: According to JKR their first kiss was in the RoR, but I don’t believe it was their first. They’re teenagers, going through a lot of stressful times and there certainly is a lot of pent up energy, so why not? Why wouldn’t Ron and Hermione share their first kiss on the night they managed to escape death for the first time. Thanks also to seaislewitch for her patience and help with this.
Proof-reader: seaislewitch