Unlikely Beginnings

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Chapter Thirty Seven

As the bell rang to signal the end of their Defense Against the Dark Arts
class, Ron and Hermione closed their books more slowly than the rest of the
class. They had been the first to arrive in the classroom, but only by a few
seconds, leaving them no time to speak privately to the professor until
after class. They watched the last of the Seventh Years walk out the door,
heading to the Great Hall for lunch. Setting a large and heavy looking book
down onto his desk, Remus stepped down from the raised area his desk sat on
and came to stand in front of the two teens.

\"You wanted to talk to us, sir?\" Hermione asked, tying her bag closed after
shoving the last book inside as the teacher walked towards them. In the
brief moment they had to talk before class began, he had asked for them to
stay if it wasn\'t an inconvenience.

\"Yes,\" Lupin nodded, clasping his hands to stop from fidgeting. \"I spoke
with the Headmaster this morning; he said to continue answering students
that Harry and Draco are doing errands for him.\" The two looked at him,
slightly confused. They\'d been expecting a better answer than that, but that
was all he had for them. \"I know,\" he started, \"it\'s the same thing I told
you to do, but it\'s the best excuse there was at the time. Also, if anyone
isn\'t satisfied with your explanation, you can direct them to the
Headmaster.\"

\"Sir,\" Ron started, drawing the concerned teacher\'s eyes from Hermione to
himself. \"Do you think we should talk to Professor Dumbledore, too? I mean,\"
he paused to look at Hermione, unsure if he was blundering himself into a
pointless question, but she gave no indication for him to stop, \"we have so
little information, but even the bit we have, we haven\'t been able to talk
to anyone.\" Lupin nodded, listening to the boy, and Ron began to tick names
off on his fingers. \"Snape\'s gone, though he\'d be the last choice we\'d pick
for help; McGonagall is always so busy, and she\'s second best to telling
Dumbledore, but, frankly, I trust you more than I do her, and we\'ve already
told you; and Dumbledore is ignoring everyone!\"

Hermione caught the faintly affronted look on Lupin\'s face at Ron\'s rise in
tone and volume, and she stepped in. \"We\'re just so worried about him, sir,\"
she said to him, and the look softened on his face as his own worry showed
through. Hermione looked to Ron, who looked more upset than worried, but
knowing with him there was a fine line between them; right now he was
actually on both sides of it.

\"I\'m sorry, Hermione,\" Lupin said, shaking his head, \"but I have my
instructions. I\'ve scheduled another time to meet with the Headmaster, but
I\'m afraid I won\'t know much until then. I think he may know just about
everything that we all do, but he\'s been awfully busy with his work lately.\"
He caught an almost identical look flit over both of the student\'s faces,
and couldn\'t help but think they were hiding something. It wasn\'t hard to
think of all the reasons why the two boys in particular had chosen to make
such a journey. \"All I can do is promise to keep you informed,\" he said,
placing a reassuring hand on Hermione\'s shoulder.

Hermione looked up at him then, barely feeling the light squeeze he gave
with his hand. He smiled when she looked at him, \"Don\'t worry; I\'m sure he\'s
fine.\" She wasn\'t precisely thinking of Harry at that moment, rather,
wondering about the man standing to her side. \"If what toldtold me about him
and Draco is true, I\'m confident he won\'t let anything happen to Harry,\"
said Lupin as he withdrew his hand, replacing it with his other and twining
his fingers together again. \"If something were to occur by Draco\'s fault,
he\'ll have me to deal with.\"

They all smiled when he winked at them, though Hermione didn\'t quite hear
what he\'d said. She had followed his hand back to where he\'d placed it with
it\'s partner, wondering how it must feel when he Changed. It must have been
horrible to always force yourself to keep in check, for fear of hurting
someone, whether friend or foe, or even a more intimate partner. Ron knew
fully what the professor had been implying, and he smiled at the thought of
Draco being mauled and ripped to death by the werewolf, if he ever hurt
Harry. He hoped it wouldn\'t come to that, because, even if it was Malfoy, no
one really deserved that.

Hermione made to stand up after a moment, and Ron leaned over to pick up his
bag from beside his chair. \"You\'re looking better, Professor,\" Hermione
commented, still on the side track her mind had taken. Remus looked a bit
shy at her compliment, and averted his eyes to the floor as he walked behind
the students to the door. They supposed they had to be satisfied with
Lupin\'s explanation, so they should get on with their day instead of wasting
the teacher\'s lunch time.

She almost felt horrible for inducing an awkward silence as they walked out
of the classroom and into the fourth floor corridor. \"I am,\" Lupin replied,
though still not looking at her. He hated to think they saw him like that,
even though it would have happened to anyone had they tried what he had; and
accomplished it, no less. \"I was able to get through to Snape,\" he
continued, trying to draw the subject away from himself, thohow how he
thought to lighten it by mentioning Severus, he had no idea, \"at least I
hope so. Telepathy is a very strenuous thing, as I said, especially for the
inexperienced; I wasn\'t sure, but I\'d say there was a seventy percent chance
he received the message.\"

\"I can\'t believe we have to rely on Snape to look out for Harry,\" Ron said
when they made it down a ways in the hall. He turned around and faced the
other two, the sole occupants of the corridor, as everyone else had ventured
to the Great Hall or their dormitories to spend the lunch break. \"I mean, he
hates Harry, we all know that,\" Ron said, ignoring the chastising look that
Hermione sent his way, \"but is he really the only help we\'ve got?\"

Lupin chuckled briefly, glad to be in a more safe zone in the conversation,
and he felt much better to talk about something else. He wasn\'t quite sure
why it bothered him, but he hadn\'t been doing too well recently with some
things he was trying to deal with on his own time. \"I don\'t think Professor
Snape \'hates\' Harry, Ron. I\'d say it\'s more of a strong dislike, though I
can tell you there is a begrudging respect between them.\" Ron snorted at
that, and Hermione, who had came to his side, gave him a sharp elbow to the
side. He looked apologetic at the teacher before them, but he still wouldn\'t
believe that until the day pigs could fly without the aid of magic.

Lupin excused himself then, and returned to his office while Hermione and
Ron started down the hall to the stairs leading down to the main floor. She
agreed with Ron, wondering if Snape really was all they had for help that
would be useful in this situation. There had been times between Snape and
Harry that she had witnessed them being more civil to each other in the past
couple years, and she had a strange feeling about that. The urge to
investigate this for herself was there, certainly, but she couldn\'t just
drop everything at the moment. NEWTs were getting closer to beginning, and
she really needed the time to study.

Ron wouldn\'t go out by himself, so that left him there in the castle with
her. Not that it would be an unpleasant few days with Ron all to herself,
and she smiled at that thought, but it was the fact that she didn\'t know how
long it would be before Harry returned. There wasn\'t much she, or the two of
them, could do. Dumbledore, Snape, and Lupin were already on it, and Malfoy,
it seemed, was doing a great part in keeping him alive just to get him to
their ridiculous destination.

She hoped Malfoy was looking out for Harry, but she did have a feeling that
she would have to trust the blonde. If he came back with Harry, from the
clutches of the Dark Lord, then what else could she do? That would be a
turning point, and she had no idea how it would go over with anyone else.
She wasn\'t blind, or so Draco may have wanted to think when he\'d stare
across the Hall at Harry, as if he desperately wanted to speak to him, or at
least throw him over the table and have his way with him.

They\'d reached the doors to the Great Hall, and she hadn\'t realized she\'d
ignored Ron the whole way, but when she looked across to him, he looked deep
in his own thoughts, as well. Hermione sighed before she looked at her
friend, who soon would be more than that if things went well. Ron grinned
back at her and they went into the Hall, once again preparing to answer a
few questions.

@>*~

The walk back from the Great Hall to Gryffindor Tower was just as quiet as
the one going to the Hall to begin with. They\'d talked through the meal, but
it seemed they were still caught up in their own thoughts until about half
way through their supper. Hermione had smiled on, though, vaguely paying
attention to Ron and Seamus playing with their potatoes. Which, she noticed,
the Irish boy had sculpted his into a rather rude figure, looking
suspiciously like something she was sure her mother would tell her not to
look at. She blushed and looked away when she had though to herself, \'That
sure looks good.\' Telling herself that she meant the actual potatoes, the
way the gravy had been drizzled over them just so... Really. She wasn\'t some
sex crazed person like certain other members of Gryffindor House.

There were laughs and jokes, and an over all lighter mood in the entire
Hall, and barely any questions about Harry, though there had been a bit of a
ruckus at the Slytherin table, with several Quidditch players identified by
McGonagall, telling them to sit down and behave. Ron had snickered, but
Neville looked at her worriedly. When she had finished her meal, Hermione
stood from her seat and offered a hand to Ron. \"You done?\" he asked, but
took her hand and stood himself. It was rare for him to be finished eating
before her, but she hadn\'t be solely focused on the food.

Neither of them dropped the other\'s hand when they began walking down the
aisle between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables, and walked down the
halls, up the stairs, and down some more halls before they reached the
portrait. Ron had noticed the stupid grin Seamus had given him when he and
Hermione left, but he\'d not followed what the other boy had found amusing.
He shook his head and waved, being pulled along by his best friend. Hermione
had seen it, too, and that\'s why she was trying to get them out of there,
though she probably should have simply let go of Ron\'s hand if she didn\'t
want people to gawk.

Hermione gave the new password to the Fat Lady, and she nodded, swinging the
door open to admit them inside the common room. There were a few older
students in the room, some they knew well and some they didn\'t. Ginny was
near the fire with a book, and Ron could have swore he heard her mutter,
\'about bloody time,\' when she grinned and watched them cross the room to
their usual table. A few more Sixth Years were playing chess on the floor,
and their eyes followed the two of them, as well. Hermione\'s first thought
was that the boys were looking up her skirt, but they were smiling and
nodding at Ron, who only looked confused before being plopped down on his
side of the table.

Ron frowned at her, then followed her lead and began to unload school books
from his bag. First Seamus, then the Sixth Year\'s, and various people they
passed in the halls. Did he have something stuck to his face? He felt a bit
tingly during the meal, but he\'d looked at Hermione sitting beside him (very
close to him, in fact) and she only smiled. He felt a tight spot in his
chest, and reached for his glass of water, hoping he wasn\'t going to choke
on something going down the wrong pipe. He was glad no one had brought up
their missing friend, and felt a bit more free to have fun with the other
boys.

Arranging her books on the table in front of her, along with her assignments
from class, she felt glad to have something to temporarily take her mind off
Harry\'s absence. It was a bit odd to have Ron chattering away; she\'d look up
for Harry, but only saw the other boys. They were familiar, and she was
happy Ron was feeling a bit better about it, but they weren\'t the same. She
hoped she\'d never have to get used to not having Harry around. Oh, she
didn\'t think Ron was finding new friends to replace Harry or anything, it
just was different. Now, she just tried not to hog all the table space,
leaving Ron some room to work on his own assignments.

Ron took out his transfiguration text and opened it, taking the papers he\'d
stuck in as a bookmark and laying them in front of him on the table. He
stretched his arms over his head, leaning back in the chair, feeling a bit
tired. With all the things going on recently, he knew he still couldn\'t take
time to sit back and do nothing, especially if that meant slacking off on
his homework. He didn\'t want to have to think at the moment, so he tried to
think of something that wouldn\'t be too much work, but that got him into the
swing of it. After a moment of debate, he decided to write a letter to his
parents while he still had the inclination to do anything.

He hadn\'t owled them for a while, and looking over at the side of Ginny\'s
face he could see from behind the wing of the chair, he had no idea when she
had, either. By the time he\'d got near the end of the paper he was writing
on, he\'d written to them about how his classes were going, telling him he
was keeping an eye on his sister, and how his friends were. He\'d carefully
omitted that Harry had mysteriously run off, though Ron said he was fine,
also leaving off that he only hoped so, didn\'t know so. Then, he\'d topped it
off with writing about the next match, when it was next week.

He set his quill down on the table and sat back again, looking at the clock
on the far wall. Hermione hadn\'t looked up from her work, and she\'d almost
written twice as much as he had, which, for him, was a lot for only ten
minutes. Now, if only he could do his homework that fast. \"Who do you reckon
will win the match between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw?\" he wondered aloud,
though directing his question at the girl across the table from him.

He knew Hermione didn\'t quite care about Quidditch, but he still felt like
asking, if only just to see her eyes go shifty before she thought of answer
that wasn\'t, \'For christsake, Ron, I don\'t care!\' He smiled when she looked
up from her Arithmancy paper; how she could do homework that involved
numbers that fast was beyond him. Very diplomatically, though, Hermione put
down her quill and folder her hands over top of her work. \"I\'m not sure.
They\'re both equal teams, what with Hufflepuff\'s new standing due to their
win over Slytherin, but I hear Ravenclaw\'s been practicing night and day.
I\'m guessing they feel threatened, and really want to play against
Gryffindor.\"

Ron stared back at her, the smile fading as she actually gave him more than
a one-sentence response on Quidditch. She smiled back at him, and knew she\'d
stumped him. They both know she didn\'t really like talking about sports, but
she knew Ron loved the game, so she\'d tried to make an educated guess. It
was hard not to notice the tired Ravenclaw players in the halls, lumbering
about in a sleep depraved stupor. Well, that, and she at least understood
what Ron was saying on the subject, which helped a great deal. Viktor had a
way of making her want to rub her temples every time he opened his mouth,
and having him talk about Quidditch incessantly didn\'t help things at all.

\"Speaking of playing Gryffindor,\" Ron picked up again, \"I hope Harry makes
it back before we have to play. Can\'t really have a proper game without our
Seeker, can we?\" He picked up his quill after he\'d said that, needing
something to twiddle with. He hadn\'t really wanted to bring up Harry, since
they\'d been having a moderately stress free day without exerting so much
energy towards worrying about him. He was nervous now, because of the game,
and because what if Harry never made it back? They\'d lose for sure. They had
a reserve Seeker, but the poor bloke hardly had a chance to play, since they
wouldn\'t pull Harry out of a game unless he was bleeding out of every
orifice he had; and even then, they\'d still probably find a way to keep him
in the game.

At the sad look that passed over Hermione\'s face, Ron changed the subject.
\"Anyway, how\'s your knitting going? Free any more enslaved house elf labor
recently?\" Hermione burst out with giggles at that, as she both knew the
only elf who really appreciated her knitting was Dobby, and he was already
free. She swore, though, if he put one more layer of socks on, he\'d leave
footprints as big as a troll\'s. Hermione had never given up trying to free
the other elves, but the knitting had become more of a hobby than a work
effort, and she came to enjoy the relaxing way it made her feel, yet knowing
she was still being productive.

\"Nope, but the knitting\'s coming along nicely, I think.\" She really was
getting pretty good at making little hats and scarves. Ron picked up a
finished hat from her knitting basket sitting on the end of the table,
smiling at him sticking his fingers through the ear holes and wiggling them
at her. Maybe, she thought, if she ever had children some day, she\'d be able
to knit them something. Merlin, she felt like she was going to become the
next Mrs. Weasley, and that made her smile even more, despite not even
having clarified what precisely she would be becoming, title or personality.
\"How are you coming along on the homework?\"

\"Eeh,\" Ron made a face, and they both laughed. He felt like he\'d gotten
somewhere on it, but he\'d just forgot he\'d wrote the letter instead of
working on his assignment. They spent the next hour or so talking about
nonsensical things, just enjoying being in one another\'s company. Homework
forgotten, and Hermione completely noticed, even if she knew Ron was
purposely not saying anyt rel related to it so she didn\'t snap back to
attention and want to do more work.

Hermione loved both her best friends and would do anything for them, but she
had to admit she was becoming enamored with Ron. There had been a noticeable
dopmeopment between them, since everyone had obviously noticed. She had to
admit they had been holding hands or touching a bit more than usual lately,
especially in the halls between classes. They wanted to take their time,
though; at least Hermione did. She had an inkling that Ron hadn\'t went past
kissing a girl or two, and it still felt a bit awkward going any farther
than what they had while Harry was still gone.

They got around to the subject of tomorrow, and Hermione admitted that she
really did have to finish the paper she had been working on. Reluctantly,
but good naturedly, Ron agreed to stop talking and work on his own homework
as well. By the time Hermione was done, Ron had almost fallen asleep in his
text book, as it had gotten late in the night. The common room was almost
empty, except for Ron and Hermione, and a few first years huddled together
with what Hermione suspected was a game. Stretching her arms up above her
head, Hermione accidentally pushed her chair backward, scraping it over the
floor slightly, though enough to bring Ron of of his blank stare at the
book he hadn\'t been reading for the past five minutes.

Ron looked across the table to see a thin expanse of skin that Hermione\'s
shirt had revealed as she stretched. He didn\'t realize he was staring until
the grey curtain of Hermione\'s shirt dropped back down to cover her stomach.
She smiled in bemusement at Ron\'s faint blush, but was glad he didn\'t avert
his eyes when she looked into them, smiling. Standing from her seat, she
walked around the table to his side. Hermione lifted a hand and brushed her
fingers through Ron\'s hair as she leant down to give him a light kiss on the
cheek. Straightening herself up, she smiled down at him before turning, and
only taking one step before she felt his hand close around her wrist, gently
pulling her back.

She turned, and almost tripped over Ron\'s foot as he\'d pulled his chair back
from the table, leaving enough room for her to not quite so gracefully fall
into his lap. Ron looked a bit sheepish, but she raised an eyebrow, still
smiling at him, and his tentative but brave arms closing around her waist.
He rested his cheek against her shoulder, stealing a sniff of her faint
perfume before tilting his head up and kissing the side of her mouth gently.
She turned her head, smiling in the minute distance between their lips, as
Ron hadn\'t moved away, and Hermione pressed her lips against his.

They hadn\'t gone past a few chaste kisses, like in the morning on the cheek
still, and there hadn\'t been a time for them to be alone except for after
the Prefect\'s meeting the other day. Opening her mouth under his, she let
him slide his tongue slowly into her mouth, giving little flicks with her
own to the tentative intruder. He grew bolder and deepened the kiss, and
Hermione lifted a hand to his head, cupping it in her palm as she kissed him
back with the same amount of passion he was giving. This was a different
kind of kiss, mostly because of her new seat in the boy\'s lap, but she
wasn\'t a total prude as to slink away from Ron when she fancied him more
than a little bit, and knew for a fact he felt the same way, especially if
their heated kisses meant anything.

It started out sweet and slow, not going past a few licks and nips of each
other\'s mouth before they turned it into something a little more aggressive.
Hermione felt her body be pulled closer to Ron\'s, and she tried not to smile
and break the kiss when she felt his erection pushing against her through
their clothes. She tightened her cheeks, gently rubbing against the swelling
member, and pulled back when his lips froze. He\'d barely realized he was so
turned on, but now he had to wonder what she meant by that. Ron wasn\'t sure
how far she wanted to go, but she sure wasn\'t pushing him away, or telling
him to slow down.

\"I have to get some sleep,\" Hermione said before she closed the small gap
and kissed his stunned lips, which he closed after her lips left. She stood
from his lap and he followed her face with his eyes, though they trailed up
her body before they reached their destination. He stared up at her, lips
still wet with both of their saliva, and he managed to smile.

Hermione winked at him and smiled back before she grabbed her bag, having
already packed her books up in it before Ron even pulled himself out of his
textbook induced daze. Turning, she headed towards the huddle of First
Year\'s that had been watching them curiously, and began clapping at them in
a threatening way. Or, however someone could view clapping as threatening;
scared bunny rabbits, or something, Ron thought, though that\'s what their
expressions matched at the moment, he reflected.

Ron started to grin as she herded the boys to the dorms, and the watched her
walk up the stairs herself to the girl\'s rooms, with only a small look over
her shoulder at him. He felt a bit uncomfortable now, not because of the
situation, but because he\'d never had a hard on sitting in the middle of the
bloody common room before. Just because there wasn\'t anyone else there,
didn\'t make it seem less weird.

He tried shifting in his seat to lesson the pressure on his erection, but to
no avail. He sighed, defeat heaved out on that breath as he got up from the
chair and mais wis way to the boy\'s dorms, leaving his books right where
they were. He had a feeling he\'d need to take care of a certain problem
before he could go to sleep himself that night.

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