Unlikely Beginnings

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Chapter Forty One


Ronftedfted in his sleep, and let a frown crease his forehead as he tried to
block out the noises he was hearing, not yet able to distinguish them from
either being a dream, or if he was waking up. Finally, he decided just to
open his eyes when the noises didn\'t go away, but rather got louder, and
voices started to sound. He saw the heavy dark fabric of his bed curtains,
which he hadn\'t recalled closing all the way. Ron usually left them half
open on the side facing towards Harry\'s bed; it\'d become a habit since the
first few times years ago when he\'d gotten tangled in the curtain when he
jolted out of bed to wake his friend from a nightmare. Squinting in the dim
light within the curtains, he sat up in bed, or tried to, at least, but
found he was being held down.

Turning his head to determine the restraining item, all he got was a bunch
of hair in his face. He pulled back and blinked his eyes slowly, realizing
that he wasn\'t alone in his bed. Suddenly, everything that happened the
night before came crashing back to him, and he really hoped he hadn\'t simply
gotten drunk with the other boys and had a very pleasant dream. Ron\'s gaze
moved lower, and he saw the blanket was down around both of their waists,
leaving him with an eye full of creamy smooth looking skin, and some very
nice breasts pressed against his side. Ron smiled down at Hermione, who had
tilted her head to look back at him. \'It wasn\'t a dream, then,\' Ron thought.

Hermione opened her mouth to say something but Ron laid his finger over her
mouth before she could voice whatever thought she\'d had, and a softly
whispered, \"shh.\" She nodded, and belatedly heard the voices coming from the
other side of the curtains, from all directions. Reaching down
instinctively, Hermione pulled the blanket back up to cover her body, just
in case one of Ron\'s roommates decided to pull back the curtains and wake
him up. They certainly would be in for a surprise, she thought. Ron sat up
fully, and dug through the jumble of clothes and bed covers at the end of
the bed to find his boxers and pajamas. He pulled them on as best he could,
though they were a bit twisted around the waist.

Ron pulled the curtain open infinitesimally and slipped through it, making
sure it was closed behind himself so that the other boys didn\'t see his
girlfriend. His girlfriend? Ron smiled at that, and happened to be star
ri
right at Seamus Finnigan. \"Morning, Ron,\" Seamus said, smiling back at Ron,
whose mind had snapped back to the present situation, but it certainly left
him with a happy feeling inside.

Making his way to the chair next to the other side of his bed, the opposite
one he\'d gotten out of, Ron picked up his bathrobe. \"When did you guys get
back?\" Ron asked, trying to seem casual as he held the robe in his hands,
ambling around to the side of his bed he\'d slipped out from.

\"\'Round five this morning, I reckon,\" the other boy answered, turning to
grab something from his trunk. Ron took that moment to stuff the robe
through the curtains to Hermione. \"Dean and I were out drinking all night,\"
Seamus grinned when he turned around, pulling a shirt over his head before
continuing. \"I was three sheets to the wind, mate; I don\'t even really
remember much.\"

Ron chuckled along with his roommate, and nodded at Dean when he came back
into the room from the lavatory. Great, Ron thought, how was he going to get
them out of here so Hermione could leave? If he was able to get them to
leave, she wouldn\'t have to walk to her own dorm wearing so obviously Ron\'s
bathrobe, not to mention them all watching her get out of his bed. Hene, ne,
though, had to hold her hands to her mouth to keep from giggling. She\'d sat
up on the bed, cross legged, and was waiting for a sign that she could leave
without walking past all of her male classmates. She wasn\'t ashamed of being
caught in Ron\'s bed, if that were to happen, bue hae had no idea what she\'d
say to them, and definitely knew she would blush.

They weren\'t really a public couple, and only a few people had seen them
kiss, or sit close enough for rumors to start. Hermione didn\'t want them to
think she did this for all the boys, just jumped in bed with them after a
couple kisses. To be honest, it would seem like it was too soon for them to
have gone as far as they did, but Hermione knew, deep down, that it had been
the right thing to do. After all, it was Ron; she smiled. \"Ron, you seen
Hermione lately?\" Dean asked when he walked into the room. It\'d gotten
brighter in the room, due to the rising sun shining through the window, and
Hermione watched the boy\'s faint shadow through the curtain. \"Lavender said
she wasn\'t in their room last night, or this morning; wonder where she is.\"

When Ron heard himself addressed, he was about to say, \'what?\' but the
question that followed made him pause. Before he could recover and give Dean
an answer, or make a stuttering fool out of himself by trying, Neville beat
him to it. \"She\'s probably a-at the library,\" he said loudly, ing ing their
attention. \"She told me she wanted to get started on working on her Defense
Against the Dark Arts essay. You know Hermione,\" he said, giving a weak
grin, \"she likes to get an early start on her studies.\"

\"Maybe,\" Seamus agreed, tying the last bow on his shoe before standing up.
\"Well, I\'m heading down for breakfast. I didn\'t get much to eat last night.\"

\"Yeah, you were too busy snogging Dennis in the corner last night,\" Dean
said, laughing, and stood up beside his friend. Seamus rolled his eyes and
they both made their way towards the door, still chatting. Ron knew that
neither of them really would care where Hermione was, only if she was in
danger, but she wasn\'t. The two boys had more important things to talk
about, like their love lives. Seamus and Dennis Creevey had been dating on
and off for over a month now, and was it really Seamus\' fault that every
once and a while he liked to have a good snog with his lover?

Dean kept laughing, following Seamus out the door, still taking the piss out
of the other boy. Ron, however, would prefer to keep his love life to
himself, shaking his head when he heard Seamus defend himself with, \'you\'re
just jealous I get some on a regular basis and you don\'t.\' Ron was about to
say something to Hermione as he bent down to grab another pair of underwear
when he realized that Neville was still in the room. He stood up and smiled
nervously at the other boy. \"Aren\'t you going to get something to eat, too?\"
Ron asked hopefully, shifting from one foot to the other.

Neville smiled at him, then ducked his head. \"I... um. I know Hermione\'s
here,\" he said quietly, not wanting to alarm either of them, Ron or
Hermione. Hermione heard what Neville said, though, and she smiled to
herself, as she wrapped the front of the robe around herself. It was too big
for her, but she didn\'t care, only pulled the extra material up and smelled
it, reminding her of the boy she\'d just spent a great night with.

\"Oh,\" Ron squeakedshinshing for once his voice wouldn\'t sound like someone
had kicked him in the bollocks. This might be the time to stand up for his
girlfriend, but before he could say anything, Neville got there first,
again.

\"Don\'t worry, Ron, I won\'t say anything,\" Neville replied, smiling before he
grabbed his bag from the end of his bed and walked towards the door,
shutting it after himself. Ron sighed out a breath of relief when the door
clicked shut. He knew Neville wouldn\'t say anything to anyone else,
especially since he was seeing someone that not all the other Gryffindors
would approve of. Ron still thought it was weird, for Neville of all people,
to be dating a Slytherin, but as he became more familiar with Blaise, and
Ron would even go as far as to say \'getting to know\' him. He had to admit
that maybe he had been wrong about all Slytherins being evil prats, though
it was a far cry for him to think Malfoy was anything more than that, and a
dirty ferret, to boot. Not even Malfoy could ruin his day today, though, and
he went over to his bed and pulled back the curtains.

\"They\'re all gone,\" he said to the messy haired girl sitting on his bed.
Hermione looked up to see his face, and they both smiled, seemingly all they
could do at the moment. She unfolded her legs and stuck one over the edge to
touch the floor, and stood up from the bed, taking Ron\'s proffered hand for
support. They walked like that to the door of the Seventh Year boys\' dorm,
and Ron opened it to look out. He stuck his head into the hall, and made
sure no one was lurking outside. The coast was clear, so he opened the door
all the way, letting Hermione pass through. She stepped past him, and then
turned, standing up on her toes to reach him, and gave Ron a quick kiss to
the lips. Hermione leaned back and smiled again before she started down the
hallway, headed for the girls\' dorm. Ron grinned after her, and turned to
start getting ready for the day, very glad of the fact it didn\'t seem she
regretted what they\'d done the night before.

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