These Small Hours

A/N: I had too much fun writing the first installment of These Small Hours to let Ron and Hermione go that easily. I will be periodically adding oneshots to this series. I hope you enjoy them.

Time Falls Away.

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Two Weeks Later...

Hermione awoke to a tapping at her window.

She sat up in bed trying to sleepily ascertain the source of the disruption. Squinting her eyes against the darkness, she was startled to discover Ron's owl fluttering outside the window pane.

"Pigwidgeon!" Hermione exclaimed.

Crossing the cold floor hastily on bare feet, she unlatched her bedroom window. The tiny owl flurried in and buried itself in her warm bed sheets in a shivering heap after dropping a scroll of parchment on her nightstand.

"What's this?" She asked aloud, unrolling the scroll quickly.

Her eyes scanned the familiar handwriting:

I know it's late but I have to get out of the house. I need to see you.

–Ron

She had just read the final word of the letter when there was a light knocking on her door. Hermione bit her bottom lip and walked over to pull the door open.

Ron was leaning against the door frame tiredly, slouching forward, his hands in his pockets.

"Ron," Hermione said breathlessly when she saw him. "Are you alright?"

He shrugged. "I just had to get out of the house. It's too quiet."

"It is three o'clock in the morning. It ought to be quiet."

"You know what I mean," He sighed.

She did. The Weasley family was mourning the recent loss of Fred as well as the friends that had been victims of the war. Over the past two weeks, the Burrow had been unsettlingly silent even during the daylight hours.

Ron's eye caught Hermione's pajama clad body and he managed a smirk as his eyes trailed down her small form.

"Do you always sleep in that?" He asked, his exhausted voice taking on a playful tone.

Hermione looked down at the oversized maroon knitted sweater with the large "R" emblazoned across the chest that was draped over her body, reaching to middle of her bare thighs.

She flushed and smiled back at him shyly.

"Not always," She answered as she tugged on the hem of the sweater.

They observed one another in the doorway for a few moments. Hermione wrapped her arms around herself against the chill as a gust of cold night air breezed through the room and she realized that the window was still open.

Turning away from the door, she pushed the window closed.

Over her shoulder she smiled at Ron who had not moved from his position by the door.

"Do you want to… come in?" She asked tentatively.

For some reason unknown to Hermione, she was suddenly finding herself extremely nervous. Though this was not the first time she and Ron had been alone together, it was certainly the first time they had been alone together in her own bedroom.

Ron pushed off the door frame and took a few steps into the room, looking around as though he hadn't seen it before. He had of course. It was the same bedroom at Grimmauld Place that Hermione had once shared with Ginny during summer holiday … but being alone with Hermione in the middle of the night seemed to cast an unfamiliar air about the space.

A trembling lump in Hermione's bed sheets caught his eye. He quirked an eyebrow at her in question.

"Pigwidgeon," She explained. "I think he was cold."

"Er… yeah. Sorry about the hour. I can go if –"

"No!" Hermione interrupted suddenly. She took a deep breath and continued on more slowly. "No. I don't mind."

"Thanks," He gave her a relieved smile.

Ron's smiles had been few and far between in recent weeks and it pleased Hermione to no end to know that she may be the reason behind the smiles he did manage to express. She absolutely adored his carefree lopsided grin but she would settle for this slighter smile any day if it meant he was finding moments of happiness.

They moved towards one another and met halfway in the center of the room.

Hermione wrapped her small arms around Ron's waist and his strong arms went round her shoulders. She was nearly a foot shorter than him. He tilted his head and rested his cheek on the top of her head. An involuntary sigh escaped his lips.

"I missed you," Ron murmured into her hair.

She squeezed him more tightly. "I missed you too."

They had seen one another that morning. Hermione and Harry had been spending most days at the Burrow. But whenever Ron was away from her, there was a noticeable void surrounding her. She had come to realize that she only ever felt truly at ease when Ron was with her.

Ron had realized the very same thing… when he was fourteen years old.

Hermione pulled back slightly and tilted back her head to look up at him. She chewed her bottom lip in contemplation.

"What?" Ron asked, sensing that she wanted to speak.

Hermione's brow creased in thought, as though she was waging an internal debate with herself. She took a deep breath and posed the question she had been wanting to ask him for over a year.

"Do you want to stay the night?"

Her words came out in rush and she felt the heat rising in her cheeks. Part of her worried what Ron might think of her. She knew he loved her as she loved him but they had agreed not to rush anything because of everything that had happened. A proper time hadn't yet presented itself for them to kiss even. Not since their first kiss two weeks earlier, in the midst of the battle at Hogwarts.

She fixed her eyes on the floor nervously.

All was silent except for Pigwidgeon's soft cooing as he flew to perch upon the wardrobe.

Ron crooked his finger beneath her chin and raised her head until her eyes met his.

His eyebrows were raised in shock… behind the depth of blue eyes, excitement and concern were visible.

"Are you sure?" He asked earnestly scanning her features in disbelief.

Hermione nodded. "Don't you want to?"

Nervous laughter chuckled lightly as Ron spoke. "Er… yeah. I do."

"Me too," Hermione said with a timid smile.

She ducked her head against his chest and held him closely.

"Hermione?" Ron pushed her back gently by her shoulders so he could speak to her. "We don't have to… er… you know. I mean, we can just sleep… together."

Involuntarily, her eyes widened with mortification.

"You mean you don't want to – "

"Of course, I do!" Ron interjected quickly. "I really do. I just don't want you to think we have to…"

He trailed off and a cumbersome silence befell them. Their eyes met again and they both suddenly burst into tension-melting laughter at the anxious blushes they both plainly wore.

"I don't know why this is so difficult," Hermione wondered.

Ron grinned, the carefree lopsided grin that even after seven years made Hermione's insides begin to flutter, the grin that she had been waiting weeks to see again, and stated, "Because, it's you and me."

This was one of the moments that Hermione would etch into her memory for all eternity as one of the reasons she adored Ron as much as she did. His uncomplicated wisdom that was only ever revealed at the rare, perfect moments in life was a quality that was uniquely and wholly Ron's.

"Because it's us," Hermione sighed in agreement, with a trace of a smirk upon her face.

"Us," Ron repeated, his blue eyes gleaming. He had never enjoyed the sound of a word so much before. "I love you, Hermione."

"I love you too."

Ron raised his hand to stroke Hermione's cheek gently. His thumb ran across her full lips and he dipped his head, her anticipatory breath gusted against his neck. She moved her mouth closer to his. The moment hung in space for seconds or possibly hours… years, even.

But it was Ron who finally pressed his lips to hers, flesh against burning flesh at last.

The kiss was slow, tentative and thrilling all at once.

Soft, gentle, just the feeling of his lips on hers. A kiss on her upper lip and her lower. She opened her mouth to him. And there they were.

Kissing.

Like they should have done so many years before.

Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck and Ron's heartbeat began to race. He clutched her petite body to his.

Her nails grazed against his scalp as she ran her fingers through his ginger locks, he groaned into her mouth. They tasted one another. This time there was not a war waging around them… this time they could enjoy every second.

But as their kisses gave way to sighs to hands clasping at one another's eager bodies, so many years of desire were being released that there was no going back now. No slowing down.

A sigh escaped Hermione's throat and her head fell back. Ron kissed her neck, sending goose bumps across her body.

"Oh, Ron."

The sound of his name falling from her lips at that moment made Ron's insides turn over in a way he had never experienced before. He gripped Hermione as though his life depended on it and kissed her back more ardently.

Her fingers played at his waist and inching up his shirt, she felt the blazing warmth of his skin. She could not refrain from smiling against his mouth when her hands explored his toned abdomen.

She pulled up on the fabric. Ron broke their kiss for only the time it took to tear his shirt over his head, and took the beautiful witch in his arms again.

He caressed her neck and the silky skin of her collarbone and shoulder that was exposed despite the overlarge sweater Hermione wore.

Reaching up on her toes, Hermione kissed his neck, his jaw and his ear. He shivered at the contact, every part of his body reacting to her touch.

He took her face in his hands and brought his mouth down upon hers again. Kissing her hungrily as the passion mounted.

Hermione could not get close enough to him. She pressed her body so close against his that she could not tell where she stopped and he began. And it didn't matter. She knew… she wanted him.

She lifted her mouth from his to speak. "The door," She gasped before continuing their kiss.

Ron was so engrossed in love and lust that he could not begin to decipher her cryptic words.

"Hmmm?" He asked against her lips.

"The door, Ron," She managed to whisper. "Close the door."

Ron's insides did a somersault. He swallowed heavily and rushed over, slamming the door shut with his foot. In seconds, he was sweeping Hermione up in his arms and leading her to the bed where he lay her down gently.

He sat on the edge of the bed and bent down to kiss her. His hand tousling her hair lightly, then making it's way down her soft cheek, over her shoulder and ever so gently, bordering on her small, firm breasts.

Hermione covered his wandering hand with her own in silent encouragement. She nibbled his lower lip tenderly.

Ron's hand paused only a second before continuing down her body, taut stomach, toned thighs… until he reached the hem of the sweater… the very sweater he had loaned her one chilly Christmas morning two years earlier.

He hesitated. Everything he had ever dreamed of was at his fingertips and he was terrified. Elated, but terrified.

Their eyes met. Hermione smiled at him.

She sat up and crawled onto her knees. Kissing him deeply, she held his gaze as she slowly guided his hands beneath the woolen sweater as he pulled it over her head with trembling hands.

As the sight of Hermione in nothing but light blue panties came into view, Ron dropped the sweater to the floor.

He gulped.

"Hermione… you… you're-." There were no words, at least, none that he was aware of that could even begin to describe how stunning she was and how it made him feel.

She smiled shyly and pulled his hands around her to feel their bare skin against one another, warm and exhilarating.

"You're beautiful," He was finally able to say, his hands roaming over the smooth skin that covered her gorgeous body.

His lips grazed the hollow of her throat, then gradually traveled down her chest. He covered the tip of one of her perfect breasts with his mouth.

Hermione moaned and joined their lips again. She sheepishly allowed her fingers to tease the button of his jeans.

Ron's hand swept across her panties and over her thigh.

She unhooked the buttons on Ron's pants and together they pushed them to the floor. Ron stepped out of the jeans and finally joined Hermione as they both lowered onto the mattress.

Holding one another tightly, Hermione could feel Ron's eager arousal through his boxer shorts. Curiosity urged her on as she lightly wrapped her hand around his length through the fabric.

Ron released an unrestrained groan.

Hermione's heart seemed to skip a beat when their eyes met, both shining with lust and adulation.

In a frenzy of kisses and caresses the two remaining garments were discarded hastily. Ron hovered above her, his heart ready to burst, as he gazed upon Hermione's beaming face, her curly locks splayed out upon the pillow.

She looked up at him beneath hooded eyes and chewed her bottom lip.

He was poised between her legs, as they teetered on the edge of an uncertain excitement, where neither of them had ventured previously.

Ron bent his head and took her mouth in a searing, soul-stirring kiss.

His arousal pressed against her hot center.

Hermione placed her hands on Ron's hips and helped to guide him to her. Amid murmured "I love you's" and languid kisses, Ron eased himself into her.

His breath hitched in his throat. He was inside of her. Warmth overtaking his body in a rush of intense pleasure.

He gradually yet firmly urged himself forward until he felt her barrier. Hermione's shaking hands tightened around his waist.

Opening his eyes, he saw her flinching in anticipation of the pain, her eyes squeezed shut.

"Open your eyes, Hermione," He coaxed her, kissing her cheeks.

She lifted her lids slowly and looked up at him.

"Do you –"

"Yes," She said assuredly.

"You're sure?"

Hermione nodded and relaxed into Ron's kiss as he covered her mouth with his.

"I love you, Hermione…"

He pressed into her, feeling pressure followed by the tearing of skin as Hermione emitted a sharp intake of breath. She tightened around his length.

He remained still, searching her features for encouragement or pain and met her gaze again.

She smiled lovingly.

"I love you, Ron."

Hermione ran her hands over his chest and raised her hips slightly to feel him more firmly inside of her. The reality of their two bodies conjoined as one, stimulated every one of her senses.

He pushed the rest of the way into her, warmth enveloping him. A sensation unlike one he had ever dreamt of became overwhelming.

Little by little, Ron began moving within her. Her wetness giving away her own intense arousal.

The only clear thought in Ron's mind was his all consuming love for this woman. Their bodies molded together with such flawlessness that there was no doubt in his mind that this was it for him. This was where he was meant to be.

With Hermione. For always.

Hermione raked her fingers down Ron's back as she moved against his soft strokes.

Ron withdrew himself almost entirely before driving back into her.

Then again.

And again.

Hermione met him, thrust for thrust. Her hips rising and falling in perfect harmony with his.

Their tempo increased. Panting, they matched their partner's every move.

Ron paid passionate attention to Hermione's exposed skin. Her neck, her shoulders, her breasts… he kissed them all in turn. Her eyes, her nose, her cheeks. He made love to her with his entire being.

They drove against one another with fervor… a fiery burning of desire began to spread through both their bodies.

"Oh God, Ron!" She gasped with shaking breath, her body trembling with impending climax.

Ron thrust in and out of her vigorously. Yearning building up inside of him, urging him on, moving faster and faster.

His chest heaving, sweat beading on his brow, his mind swirling with nothing but intense pleasure, Ron verged on his release.

He pushed himself onward until he thought he would surely explode when Hermione pled with him.

"Ron, please," She panted. "I'm close."

No more encouragement was necessary.

One more solitary thrust into her depths and their bodies shook as they both exploded in a crescendo of physical love and earth shattering rapture.

Ron spilled himself into her and together they rode the waves of pleasure, the aftershocks of their exhausting physical convergence.

Together they collapsed back onto the bed in ecstatic dizziness, catching their breath.

Ron rolled over to face Hermione and brushed the sweaty strands of hair from her brow and kissed her forehead.

"You're incredible," He whispered hoarsely as he pulled the blanket over their huddled bodies.

Hermione cupped his face with her hand and kissed him deeply, caressing his cheek with her fingers.

"And you're amazing," She answered with a coy smile. "I'm glad you stayed."

Ron laughed lightly and drew her against him.

"I'm not going anywhere."