Unlikely Beginnings

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Chapter Thirty Four

In the Great Hall, Ron and Hermione were seated at the Gryffindor table.
They were trying to eat moderately fast, since they had a Prefects meeting
that afternoon, and they couldn\'t be late. It didn\'t take long before they
were finished witeir eir meal, and they gathered their bags and got up from
the table, heading to the halls. Neither of them said anything as they
walked down the quiet corridor. They both had things on their mind, ranging
from the meeting, exams, and loose strings on robes to confusing questions
and things dealing with Harry; neither one of them wanted to talk much,
anyway.

When they reached the door leading into the Prefects\' meeting room, Ron
opened the door and pulled it open for Hermione to walk through, then
stepped into the room himself. Most of the time, the room was locked, with
only Prefects having keys to gain access, and only when meetings were
scheduled was the door unlocked. Hermione smiled at Ron as they took their
seats, waiting for the meeting to come to order. Millicent Bulstrode looked
a bit irritated (more than usual, at least) at having the entire Slytherin
portion of Prefect duties falling solely to her, since Draco had
mysteriously disappeared.

It felt a bit strange to Hermione, as she sat on one of the smaller chairs,
though it was still very comfortable. Ron sat on a sofa, at the end nearest
to her chair, which was situated right beside the other piece of furniture.
She\'d hesitated for a brief moment before sitting down, wondering where
Harry and Draco had been. There was a clear image in her mind, no matter how
much she didn\'t quite want it there, of what the boys had been doing before
Harry made it back to Gryffindor Tower, but there sure wasn\'t any evidence
left now. Hermione frowned slightly, making a mental note on her \'to do\'
list to mention to Harry, if he ever came back, that it was rather rude to
let the house elves clean up his mess, especially the crudest type of messes
that her brain insisted they\'d created.

She suppressed the urge to look under the furniture for items of clothing
that might have been left lying about, and didn\'t think she would have been
able to set foot inside the room if there were going to be weird stains on
the carpeting. No, she decided she wouldn\'t complain about the house elves
neurotic cleaning habits, no matter the mess. Looking over to Ron, she could
tell he was thinking along the same lines as Hermione had been. He inspected
the couch warily before sitting down, hoping he wasn\'t sitting on something
his best friend may have potentially shagged on. It wasn\'t as if he was
sickened by the thought of Harry\'s bodily fluids, but it was just a bit icky
to sit in a puddle of them, or even a dried up once-puddle of them; or
Malfoy\'s.

Ron glanced over to Millicent as well, and quickly looked away when she
turned her angry glare towards him. Judging by that, he really didn\'t
suppose the Slytherins had found out or heard any word about Malfoy\'s
whereabouts. They were bound to be upset, for the disorder that tended to
follow the blond\'s absences, whether it be for a few days in the infirmary,
or being called home by his parents for Merlin knew what. The loss of their
Seeker was beginning to penetrate a lot of conversations in the avid groups
of Quidditch fans, and it was obvious the Slytherins were going to be asking
questions.

The meeting was called to order as soon as all the Prefects were gathered,
sans Malfoy, of course. Hermione didn\'t think the meetings served a purpose
unless there was a certain issue to be dealt with, so the majority of items
discussed were trivial things that ended up simply being nattered on about
until a new topic was introduced. There was one current event that needed
Prefect chaperones for the Third Years on the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend. It
wasn\'t surprising when Millicent volunteered, since it was widely known that
she usually never had much anything to do on those weekends.

After they were selected, Millicent and Ernie, there was a bit of chatter
about the trip, though it was more on a personal level, so they ended the
meeting. As the majority of the group continued talking as they made their
way to the door, Hermione noticed Millicent simply shrug her shoulders when
Padma asked where Malfoy had gotten off to. Not everyone had noticed Draco
was gone, but in smaller groups where he usually made more than his share of
rude comments, it was a difference big enough to take notice of. Even though
Malfoy was technically an important person within his own house, it seemed
they didn\'t really care that he wasn\'t around, except for the fact that he
played Seeker.

Ron kept reminding her that he wasn\'t even that good, but that didn\'t matter
at the moment. They couldn\'t very well kick him off the team with a father
like Lucius Malfoy. Despite being in Azkaban, no one wanted to upset Malfoy
too much, because you never knew who\'s parents would suffer for their
children\'s indiscretions in regards to Draco. They hardly realized that they
were the only two students left in the room when the door clicked shut
softly behind the last Prefect to leave. Hermione broke the thoughtful
silence, letting a frown crease her features. \"I hope Harry\'s alright.\"

Hermione looked over to him then, and he looked worried as well, but he
patted the cushion next to him on the couch. Hermione stood from the chair
and sat down beside Ron, their arms brushing against each other before Ron
lifted his. \"I reckon he is,\" he said, resituating his arm around Hermione\'s
shoulders, behind her neck. \"I mean, this is Harry we\'re talking about; he
always makes it out alright.\"

Hermione smiled at that, even though Ron might not have been able to see it.
She\'d leaned over to rest against his side, and it felt very comfortable.
She wasn\'t so much worried about whether Harry could take care of himself,
because she knew he could. What was bothering her was what had made him
leave in the first place. Was he being careful enough in the way he
traveled? Did Voldemort find some way to draw Harry away from Hogwarts for
some devious reason? And, what she really couldn\'t figure out; why on earth
did he think Snape had all the answers to whatever questions were plaguing
his mind at the moment?

Ron had calmed down from his angry outburst at Harry the other day, though
he couldn\'t say he wasn\'t still hurt over Harry keeping his so called
\'relationship\' with the Slytherin a secret. Besides shagging their best
friend, Ron hadn\'t a clue as to why Malfoy was involved in this, unless it
was an evil reason. He\'d come up with lots of those, only to have Hermione
shake her head and discard them faster than he could think up another far
fetched idea. As well as that, he was also still wondering what the hell
Harry saw in Malfoy, of all people, but there had to be something. If Ron
knew his friend, Harry wouldn\'t be with Malfoy for no reason at all.

He couldn\'t see the allure of sleeping with one\'s rival house, but it seemed
like the \'in\' thing these days. Harry was doing it, Neville was doing it,
and who knows all the others that could be. Ron didn\'t see the draw to
snarky, prats, but whatever floats their boats. At his side, Ron felt
Hermione tense, and he brought his hand to her head, stroking her hair back.
She lifted her head to look at him, worry written across her protruding
bottom lip. \"He\'ll be okay, Hermione,\" he said to her, smiling gently.

She looked back into his eyes for a moment before responding with, \"I know.\"
It didn\'t feel right for her to look away then, so she didn\'t. There was
something about the tone of Ron\'s voice, the way it rumbled as he spoke in a
low voice, reassuring her. Ron looked down at her, not knowing what to
think. The way she was looking at him really was starting to make him feel
uncomfortable and excited at the same time. Slowly, almost without realizing
it, Ron began to lift her chin up with his hand that had worked its way from
her head and around the back of her neck.

Hermione didn\'t resist at all to the gentle pull, looking into Ron\'s eyes
before closing them and letting her lips meet his, placing a chaste kiss
onto each other\'s mouths. Pulling back a moment later, Ron hoped he looked
more collected than he felt as he searched his friend\'s face for any type of
regret. Hermione opened her eyes slowly, knowing he was watching her, and
she let a smile ghost over her lips before running her tongue out between
them briefly before leaning towards him for more.

Ron accepted, naturally, and tensed for a moment when he felt Hermione\'s
tongue between his slack lips, teasing him for admittance. He opened his
mouth wider, and at the same time leaned down a bit more, pressing their
mouths tighter together. Hermione stroked her tongue over Ron\'s, luring him
into the kiss, and she held back the small moan as he deepened the kiss. It
was tentative, yet full of emotions, and they could both sense they wanted
to go further.

Hermione shifted her body, sitting up straighter, and letting Ron\'s arm fall
down her back to settle at her waist. He began to pull her towards himself,
and if he had been thinking at all at that moment, he might have said to
himself, \'Where do you expect her to go? Your lap?\' He stopped pulling, and
reached his other arm to her hip, just as she raised her hands to his
shoulders, sliding them up the sides of his neck. Then, with a final lick to
his lips, Hermione pulled back, already half sitting on the edge of the
sofa, smiling back at Ron.

Ron looked dazed, and he certainly felt like it. He could still taste
Hermione on his lips when he unconsciously licked them, staring back at
hers, damp with his own saliva. \"Was that okay?\" he asked, finding it hard
to look at her eyes, but he did, and was glad to see the warmth and
underlying concern there. He supposed he knew what it was from: Harry. He
knew she was worried, and he had to admit it didn\'t quite feel especially
right going further than a kiss right now, not when their friend could be in
mortal danger.

\"It was good,\" she smiled, lifting a hand to her lips and gently running her
finger in at the creases, making sure the slight amount of lip gloss she had
on wasn\'t smeared. \"I just don\'t feel right... going any farther, right
now.\" Ron nodded, looking down again, not focusing on anything, though if he
had been, he\'d have tried to look somewhere else, not at Hermione\'s waist,
or the curves of her breasts, which he\'d hardly realized were so beautiful.
\"No,\" she started, almost mistaking his head\'s decline as rejection, \"No. I
enjoyed the kiss, I\'m just not sure I\'d be able to continue knowing that
Harry might be in trouble.\"

Ron nodded again, unable to help himself from trailing his eyes up her body
a bit as he looked up at her. \"I understand,\" he said, smiling slightly.
\"It\'s okay. So, the kiss was good?\" He felt a bit sheepish at having so
blatantly looked at her body, but she didn\'t seem to mind, and simply smiled
at him knowingly.

\"It was very good.\" She stood from the couch, extending a hand to Ron to
help him up. He reached down to the floor beside his feet and picked up the
strap of his bag, and slung it over his shoulder as he took her hand, and
stood from the sofa.

\"I\'m glad,\" Ron said,nninnning before they started towards the door, down
the corridors. They had time, they didn\'t have to rush this, and she was
right; there were more important things to worry about. First, they had
classes to attend and Harry to worry about. Neither of them were going
anywhere, and they were definitely going to make sure this particular issue
was revisited.

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