Unlikely Beginnings

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Chapter Forty

As they left Honeydukes, they found that someone had spilled some Bertie
Bott\'s Every Flavor Beans on the steps. Ron hopped over the entirety, and
then held up his hand for Hermione to hold as she walked down them. She
smiled to herself and took his hand, stepping carefully around the beans,
and hoping she didn\'t slip and make a fool of herself. Even when she reached
the ground, Ron held her hand. \"Thank you,\" she said, and grinned at him
when he lifted her hand up to give it a kiss.

\"My pleasure,\" he replied, and they began to navigate the street back to the
Three Broomsticks. They didn\'t see the cloaked men inside, or on their way
to the tavern, and Hermione wondered again what they could have been doing.
They had two ideas, one good, and one bad, but she really didn\'t want to
have to think about it. Not now, when she was supposed to be here, *they*
were supposed to be here having fun, trying to forget about the stress of
the past week.

That wasn\'t going very well so far, and they found an empty table near the
far corner of the Three Broomsticks and sat down. They had just ordered
Butterbeers for themselves when a few other students from their House came
into the tavern, and waved at them. Dean and Seamus came over to them,
sitting down, Lavender and Parvati following. They started up a conversation
with Ron, asking if he got any Chocolate Frogs, and if he wanted to trade
cards tomorrow.

Lavender and Parvati didn\'t pay much attention to Hermione besides saying
\'hello.\' Hermione knew she wasn\'t one for much girl talk, only with Ginny,
who she hadn\'t seen all day except at breakfast. After Ron had finished
saying something, he sat back in his seat, listening to them talk, just like
he had at breakfast. Hermione wondered what he was thinking about, and the
two of them mostly stayed quiet while the others talked. They laughed at
jokes, but didn\'t really participate in the conversation unless spoken to
directly.

It was a long day at Hogsmeade, and they had spent a couple more hours in
the tavern before they went out to shop a bit more before having a snack for
lunch. They had found Neville sitting by himself when they returned to the
Three Broomsticks and they went and sat down with him. \"So, how did the
homework go?\" Hermione asked, always one for catching up on the homework
gossip, even if she was the only one who gossiped about homework in the
entire school.

\"Good, I finished earlier than I thought,\" Neville smiled, before taking a
drink from his mug. \"I was going to come down after lunch, but I made it out
before, thanks to Blaise. He\'s really been helping me this year, and even
over the summer.\"

\"That\'s great, Nev,\" Ron said distractedly, flagging down Madam Rosmerta to
order something for lunch. He didn\'t want to think about Zabini right now,
either, but he supposed the subject would change back to homework in a
second, especially with Hermione there, and she didn\'t let him down.

What Neville had said made her wonder how long he and Blaise had been seeing
each other, or how it began. Maybe she\'d ask him some time, but right now he
seemed to just want to have fun. He did look a little skittish, like he
wanted to be somewhere else, and would gladly bolt if he saw his boyfriend
across the room, but he seemed to be glad for their company, and she
listened to the boys give Madam Rosmerta their orders, and then she did,
too.

She\'d never quite thought of Neville having a boyfriend before, but she
supposed that\'s what it was. Then, she wondered if that\'s what the two
missing boys referred to each other as. Harry Potter with a boyfriend; no,
it still didn\'t sound right, or really the first thing anyone would think
about Harry. There were many other reasons to explain why he didn\'t go
farther with Cho, or even try for Hermione, or Ginny. Everyone knew Ginny
had had a crush on him, which the youngest Weasley still blushed over if
that fact was stated if Harry was in hearing range.

No one had ever thought, \'Hmm, maybe he\'s gay.\' Hermione didn\'t have much
experience talking about things like that, but she was definitely there for
Harry if he wanted to talk to her about how he was feeling. This must be new
for him, too, she thought, wondering how long Harry and Draco had been doing
things together, or to each other. She\'d never known anyone who was
completely homosexual, and she wasn\'t attracted to girls at all, but she
could support Harry with his choices.

After lunch, Neville walked down the street with them, and then they
separated, wondering where Neville was off to now. They hadn\'t seen Blaise
around, but maybe they were supposed to meet up somewhere. Now, it was more
shopping and one more stop off at the Three Broomsticks to say hello to a
few more people, and goodbye to Madam Rosmerta, who asked how Hagrid was,
since he hadn\'t been in lately. Hermione and Ron then headed back to
Hogwarts.

@>*~

Since they\'d eaten at Hogsmeade, they went straight up to their common room.
After they were through the portrait door, Hermione made her way over to
their usual study area and sat down in her chair. Ron joined her, and leaned
back in his seat to relax. The smile she gave him was cut short by a sudden
yawn, and she was surprised at how tired she actually was, especially since
they hadn\'t done much except walk around all day. It was only mid evening,
and it was as quiet as it was at three in the morning; obviously, no one
else was back yet.

Ron felt himself start to yawn a few seconds after Hermione had, and he had
to admit he was pretty tired as well. He closed his eyes as his yawn came
out, stretching his mouth wide. Hermione was looking at him when he opened
hiss, as, and he said, \"I\'m tired. I think I\'ll turn in,\" before he stood up
from his seat and walked around the table to Hermione. He leaned down until
his lips were only a few inches from Hermione\'s before placing a chaste kiss
against her lips. \"\'Night, Hermione.\"

\"Good night, Ron,\" Hermione replied, smiling up at her friend.

Ron smiled back before straightening himself up and heading towards the
stairs to the boys\' dorms. Reaching the top of the stairs, he opened the
door to the room he shared with Harry and the other Seventh Year boys. He
didn\'t really feel up to showering before bed, as he was too tired, so he
simply stripped down to his boxers and walked over to his trunk to grab his
pajamas before heading on his way to the lavatory to brush his teeth. Once
he finished brushing his teeth and washing his face, he turned the light out
and walked back to his bed. He left the pajama shirt off, as it was warm
enough in the room with the fire going, and didn\'t think he would get cold.

It was dark in his room since he hadn\'t turned the lights on and he slipped
into bed. It took him a few seconds, but he noticed he wasn\'t alone in his
bed. The beds weren\'t very bo beo begin with since they were made for only
one occupant, although all the beds in Hogwarts had a spell on them to
lengthen in size since most students grew in height when they were away for
the summer and Dumbledore didn\'t think his students would appreciate having
their legs hanging off the end of the bed just because they\'d grown a few
inches.

Shifting up onto an elbow, Ron pulled the blanket back to see who the
intruder was. It was dark, and he really didn\'t want to see Seamus naked
right now, hoping that it wasn\'t a case of mistaken bed identity. The rest
of the boys from their year had gotten an older wizard to buy them alcohol,
and they were probably not back yet because they were too tipsy to do
anything but sit there and laugh. \"Hermione!\" he said when he saw his friend
lying there. She moved to sit up more, and he just sat there in surprise.
\"What are you doing in here?\"

It wasn\'t as if he really minded, but it was a bit different. Hermione
lowered her eyes and sniffled, causing Ron to scoot closer and wrap his arms
around her. \"I\'m sorry, Ron, but I\'m still worried about Harry. I guess Iust ust didn\'t want to be alone,\" she said. She hadn\'t started crying, but if
she continued talking about it, she might. She rubbed at one of her eyes a
bit, because she was tired, too.

Ron wasn\'t sure what to do right then, as he\'d never really had much
experience with a sniffling woman before. His own sister didn\'t really
count, mostly because Ginny was his sister and it was his duty to make her
feel better by cracking a few jokes, but he wasn\'t sure if Hermione would be
in the mood for that, right now. Plus, he was still kind of surprised to
find Hermione actually lying in his bed. Ron thought of getting into Harry\'s
bed, to be close to her, and still have her feel like she wasn\'t alone, but
he got the suspicion that would be defeating her purpose for getting into
*his* bed. He didn\'t want her to be upset, and he rubbed her arm
comfortingly. Ron sighed quietly before leaning them backwards a bit, to lay
against the pillows. \"Please don\'t cry, Hermione. I\'m sure he\'s fine, even
if he is with Malfoy.\"

Hermione snuggled into Ron\'s hug, placing her own arms around her friend\'s
waist. She didn\'t realize she had placed one of her arms close to his hip
since she was hugging him sideways. Ron swallowed nervously. He\'d been
attracted to Hermione since their Fourth Year and he suddenly felt a bit
strange with her in his arms. Sure, they\'d kissed but this was different,
and it made him feel jittery. His damn teenage hormones were beginning to
take a liking to having a girl in his arms even if they were only hugging,
sitting innocently in his bed, talking about their best friend, for that
matter. \"I\'m not crying, I\'m just...I hope he really is okay. This could
turn out very, very badly, Ron.\"

\"I know, Hermione, but he\'ll be fine. I\'m sure of it,\" Ron replied, hugging
Hermione tighter to him. \'If Malfoy doesn\'t betray him first,\' he thought.
He was brought out of his thoughts when Hermione sat up, and he suddenly
became aware of them both being in a half naked state. He tried to push
those thoughts out of his head, because, after all, she was upset, and he
turned to look at her better. She seemed to be giving him an odd look, and
he asked, \"Alright there, Hermione?\"

Hermione smiled, leaning forward. \"I am now,\" she said before she leaned the
rest of the way toward and and placed her lips on his own. Ron paused a
moment before relenting to the kiss, opening his mouth when he felt her
tongue probing his mouth. He pulled her closer to his body until they were
chest to chest, in the back of his mind he noticed that her breasts were
pushed up against his chest and he decided he liked that feeling. He moaned
softly into her mouth when he felt her hand trail down his chest, rubbing
over a nipple as it slid. The past week seemed like it was leading up to
this moment and he wasn\'t sure if he was happy or a bit scared that this
seemed to be leading to something more than just light petting and snogging.

Ron opened his eyes when he felt Hermione pull away from him. \"Hermione?\" he
asked, frowning slightly, wondering if he might have rushed into this
whatever it was between them, even though it was Hermione who had initiated
the kiss.

\"Don\'t worry, Ron. I\'ll be right back,\" Hermione said reassuringly as she
walked to the door and disappeared out of the room. Ron leaned back,
berating himself for pushing himself onto her. She was probably just
pretending to be nice to him and made an excuse to leave, gone to lock
herself in the girls\' dorms, away from big bad Ron. He sighed into his
pillow as he turned onto his side. \'Stop putting yourself down,\' he thought,
\'she likes you, just be patient and don\'t rush into anything.\'

Ron closed his eyes and waited, but he must have dozed off, because it must
have been at least ten minutes later before Hermione returned, making her
way over to Ron\'s bed again. \"Ron?\" she called out softly, moving a little
closer to the bed when she didn\'t get a response from her friend. \"Ron?\" she
tried again, but still no answer. Thinking he had probably gone to sleep,
she settled herself down onto the bed and reached over to gently shake his
shoulder. \"Ron, wake up.\"

Ron had felt the dip in his bed, and he almost couldn\'t decide whether to
pretend to be asleep, or not. If she had come back, like he was doubting,
would she want to continue where they left off? His mind was made up for him
when he felt her lean over him and place a kiss onto his cheek before lying
down next to him. There wasn\'t a large amount of room, but he didn\'t want
her falling off the bed, so he scooted over some, which in turn let her know
he was awake. \"I\'m awake,\" he stated, since he couldn\'t keep the ruse up
now, especially since he had just moved voluntarily.

Hermione kissed him once more on the cheek before settling herself down for
the night. She had pulled the blanket up to cover herself, and tucked the
edge under her arm. Ron stayed in the position he had been, on his side,
when she had settled herself into his bed and he saw that she had changed
into night clothes, and he couldn\'t help but notice she didn\'t pull the
blanket up all the way over her chest. He swallowed heavily when he realized
what exactly she was wearing. It was a light blue, almost sheer nightgown.
He couldn\'t tell if it was long or short since she had slipped under the
covers before he had seen, but he was definitely able to see the way it
cupped her breasts. \'And what nice breasts they are, too,\' he thought,
before shaking his head of the thought. It wouldn\'t do to let her know how
much he liked her night attire since he was almost flush against her
backside. It was really the only way they could share the bed without one of
them falling over.

He continued to stare at her breasts, almost squeaking when he noticed he
could make out her nipple through the sheer material. Before he could say or
do anything, he heard Hermione say, \"Ron? Lie down, it\'s cold.\" He hastily
did as she wished, feeling cheeky enough to want to suggest that it must
indeed be cold, if the evidence of her breasts was enough to go by. He
wasn\'t sure how she would have reacted to that, and he was enjoying being
with her. He wasn\'t going to let seventeen years of his lewd older brothers
ruin tnighnight for him. Hell, the whole day had been great.

Ron laid there for a few minutes, unmoving, feeling himself blush at the
situation they were in. He had never really slept in the same bed with a
girl before and wasn\'t sure what he should do. He sighed softly and caught
the fragrance of Hermione\'s hair. He inhaled deeply, enjoying the flowery
scent coming from her. It was not only nice and girly, but also seemed to
fit Hermione\'s personality.

He moved a bit, trying to get himself comfortable without falling over the
edge of the bed, or knocking Hermione out either, and wound up placing his
hand on top of her hip. She didn\'t seem to mind, as she didn\'t move at all,
so he left it there. Although, he wasn\'t sure what he should do now, since
he didn\'t want her thinking that he was trying anything with her, but before
he could change his mind and get up to go to another bed, he heard a soft
\'hmm\' come from her. Feeling a bit encouraged, he began to slowly stroke her
hip with his thumb; nothing overtly sexual about it, just enjoying the feel
of someone else next to him. Even though the material of her nightie seemed
to be made of a sheer fabric, he was only a little surprised to find that it
felt like silk under his hand. Without really thinking about it, he began to
move his entire hand along her hip, enjoying the feel of her body and the
silkiness of the material under his hand.

Hermione sighed softly as she felt Ron move his hand more and more along her
hip, and little did she know, she was pushing back against him ever so
slightly. Wanting to feel his hands over more of her body, but not sure of
how to ask him, she turned over so that she was on her back. It made Ron
scoot over a bit so she had room to move without any accidents. She smiled
up at Ron as he continued to rub her leg. He\'d paused, but the smile she
gave him made him feel okay about what was going on, and his hand slowly
drifted to rub her thigh. She raised her arm up and hooked it around his
neck, pulling Ron down to her so she could kiss him. He let himself be
guided and kissed her back, feeling her tongue lick lightly along his lips
until he opened them enough for it to slip inside completely.

Ron moaned again at the intrusion and pushed his own tongue into her warm
mouth to reciprocate the gesture. Neither of them quite realized where Ron\'s
hand was going, but the sensations resulting from it caused their kiss to
deepen, and become hungry. Ron\'s hand continued to trail down the top of
Hermione\'s thigh, and he really wasn\'t paying attention to where his hand
was so close to, he just knew he wanted to feel more of her skin and hadn\'t
noticed that she had also parted her thighs a bit. He felt a bit bold, so he
moved his hand under the nightie. He was planning on just rubbing his hand
lightly along her covered sex, and nearly gasped in shocked surprise when he
discovered that she wasn\'t wearing any knickers.

Ron pulled back to look into Hermione\'s eyes, leaving his hand where it was,
not sure if he would be able to sleep if he couldn\'t go farther. He wasn\'t
going to be a prick about this, but it was hard to think with something
other than that in this kind of situation. \"Are you sure?\" he asked, hoping
that she knew what he meant so he wouldn\'t have to go into detail. He wasn\'t
even sure if he wanted to do it, and he felt a little bad about her being
more experienced with this than he was, but if he had to pick someone to do
this with for the first time, it would definitely be Hermione.

\"I\'m sure,\" she whispered, pulling Ron back down to her to resume their
kissing. Ron wasn\'t so sure, and his kiss relayed that to the girl beneath
him, but Hermione wanted him to enjoy this as much as she would. She thrust
her tongue forward, and teasing it against Ron\'s tongue, against his lips,
and pulling back ever so slowly, coaxing him to deepen the kiss into her own
mouth. She was rewarded when he did, but a moment later, she began to pull
away, shifting upwards into a sitting position. Ron frowned at her, his hand
still in between her thighs as he really hoped he hadn\'t done something this
time to warrant her pulling away, but before he could voice his worries,
Hermione began to move.

Ron watched in surprised pleasure as Hermione reached down to the hem of her
gown, and starting pulling it upwards, and over her head to remove it
completely. Ron had looked away instinctively, after all, this was his best
friend. His best friend that he was falling in love with, if not already
there. Shyly, Ron looked over Hermione\'s nude body, the lower half still
mostly under the blankets, but he could see her breasts, and they were so
beautiful to him. \"You\'re beautiful,\" he whispered, and smiled at how she
started fidgeting under his intense g and and he leaned forward to kiss her
lips gently.She smiled back at him when their lips parted, and she felt
herself relax more now that she knew what he thought of her body. She would
have liked to pride herself on being self confident, but when it came to
things like this, physical attributes, it was a lot different than just
being clever. Ron shifted and settled himself between her legs, placing soft
kisses along her jaw before moving to her neck. Hermione wrapped her arms
around Ron\'s back and pulled him down further until he was flush against her
chest.

He moaned at feeling her naked breasts pressing against him, swearing he
could feel her nipples hard against his chest. Ron moved his head back to
look into her eyes, and slowly closed the space to capture her mouth in a
slow kiss, and they\'d lost count of how many times they\'d kissed tonight,
but once again, she parted her lips, accepting his tongue into her mouth,
moaning into him as she felt him grind his erection into her thigh. Hermione
couldn\'t help but push against it; she was getting a little restless. She
loved the attention he was lavishing on her, all along her neck and
shoulders, but she really wanted more, and hoped that he did, too.

She unclasped her hands from around his back, and moved one down between
them, searching until they came into contact with the waist band of his
pajama bottoms. When she felt the top of them, she slipped her first two
fingers underneath the elastic, and shuffled them down as much as she could
without either of them moving, and the fact that he had about six inches
over her in the height department. She was only able to get them down just
past his behind before she couldn\'t reach anymore, and didn\'t want to wait.

Ron hadn\'t noticed what she had been doing until he felt his trousers being
pushed down, and then he lifted himself up so he could look down at her face
better, and down between their bodies, too. He searched her eyes for any
sign that this had gone too far, but she only smiled and nodded, with the
most heart warming look in her eyes he\'d ever seen. Merlin, he\'d really
fallen hard for this one.

In a way that wouldn\'t jostle the bed around too much, Ron sat up briefly
and placed his hands at his waist, slowly pushing the last of his clothing
off of his legs, and dropping them behind him on the bed. Now, he was just
as nude as Hermione was, and he hoped to the gods he\'d interpreted her
actions correctly. \"Okay?\" he asked, still unsure.

\"Perfect,\" she answered, lying back down and spreading her legs apart. Ron
looked a little nervous, but moved to lie back on top of Hermione. She
sighed in pleasure as she felt his own naked body pressed against hers. It
had been a little over a year since the last time she had been intimate with
a boy, but the fact that it was Ron made it worth it. She did feel a little
regret at having given her virginity to Viktor, considering they hadn\'t even
stayed together longer then a week after they had sex, but there was nothing
she could do to change that, so she vowed to put it completely out of her
mind. Besides, she had Ron with her now, and hopefully she would for a very
long time; if he\'d have her.

Ron trailed kisses along Hermione\'s neck, pausing to suck lightly at the
juncture where her neck slipped down to meet her shoulder. Hermione moaned
in pleasure, arching up slightly against him as she ran her hands over his
back, which oddly made her consider paying more attention to Quidditch. If
it gave him muscles like that even on his back, it certainly wasn\'t as bad
as she previously thought. Hermione almost froze when she felt Ron\'s
erection slide along the side of her thigh, leaving behind a trail of precum
in its wake.

Smirking to herself, she moved her right hand from Ron\'s back and brought it
down to his stomach. She smoothed her hands over his belly, and soon went
lower, searching for his cock. Ron tried to hold back the excited shudder it
sent through him when Hermione\'s hand bumped into his cock, and he hoped he
didn\'t embarrass himself when he let out a moan when she wrapped her hand
around his length. He\'d stopped kissing his way down her chest, still a bit
tentative about touching her, and he was really hoping to get his mouth on
her nipples, but now he had other things on his mind. He leaned his head
down, resting it beside her neck as he savored the pleasure he was receiving
as she stroked her hand over his cock. \"I\'m going to come if you keep doing
that,\" he mumbled against her neck.

\"Sorry,\" she whispered, and he could tell she was smiling as she removed her
hand and placed it once again on to his, now, sweaty back.

\"S\'okay,\" Ron lifted his head to look down into her eyes, which looked just
as they had before. \"I just don\'t want to come yet.\" Hermione nodded her
understanding and pulled Ron\'s face towards hers once more, thinking that
kissing him was soon going to become an addiction. A few moments passed and
Ron moved his right hand from behind Hermione\'s head to trail down her body.
He stopped his hand\'s exploration when it came in contact with her sex.
Hermione continued kissing Ron as he moved his fingers into her. Ron wanted
to pull back and comment on how wet she was for him, but he figured that
might sound a bit cliqued, so he opted not to.

Hermione gasped into Ron\'s mouth as she felt his fingers enter her. Ron
thrust two of his fingers a bit, enjoying the warm feel of Hermione around
him. He would have kept it up a bit longer, but Hermione grabbed his arm,
halting his movement. \"I want you,\" she whispered up at him.

Ron shuddered at the huskiness of her voice, full of want, and maybe she
wouldn\'t think he\'d sound stupid if he\'d said everything that was going
through his mind at the time. Removing his fingers from within her, he
raised himself up some and looked down at Hermione. \"Are you sure you\'re
sure?\"

\"Yes,\" she replied, smiling up at him, amused. He was so sweet, despite the
temper tantrums she knew waited for a perfect time to jump out and make him
act like an idiot; he was her idiot now, though. With a nod, Ron swallowed,
and reached down to steady his cock, lining it up to her body. He breathed
in before pushing forward, and Hermione moaned in pleasure as she felt him
enter her body. It felt wonderful to have her friend, boyfriend?, inside of
her. Ron shivered and had to pause to keep himself from coming at the f
of
of her warm wetness surrounding him.

After a moment, Ron leaned back down on top of Hermione and began to thrust
slowly at first, before picking up speed. Hermione hooked her hands over on
to Ron\'s shoulders as his thrusting became faster and faster. She began
panting, and rocking her hips back against him, and pushed her head back
against the pillows when he made a particularly hard thrust, making her
insides quiver. She knew he was being gentle, not wanting to hurt her, but
she didn\'t say anything, letting him become comfortable with this. Next time
would be better, and she smiled at the pleasure running through her body as
well as the fact that there would definitely be a next time.

Ron was quickly approaching his orgasm, and he had wanted to last as long as
possible, to make this last as long as possible. He had no idea if he was
doing this well enough, but judging by the sounds his lover was making, he
had a pretty good idea of how he was doing. It was his first time, and he
had to admit it wasn\'t going to be absolutely perfect. Looking down at
Hermione, so beautiful lying there beneath him, panting and moaning as he
thrust hard one last time before he felt his orgasm ripped from his body.

He laid there on top of Hermione, though mindful not to squash her. It was
hard to forget, when her breasts were heaving against his chest while they
both regained their breath. Hermione hugged Ron to her, shuddering from a
few after shocks herself, and feeling wonderfully sated. Ron moved from off
Hermione and laid down on his side, facing her when he felt her shift a bit
under him. They smiled shyly at each other, having shared something with
each other that was both exhilarating and exciting. Ron leaned over to give
Hermione one last kiss before his breathing began to even out, and he
drifted off to sleep. Hermione smiled at Ron before sitting up to close the
curtains around his bed, just in case the others came back before she woke
up. She was too tired to move right now, so she snuggled into Ron\'s warmth
and fell asleep next to him.

@>*~