Chapter 37

The next morning they had a leisurely breakfast with her parents, but let them know they were going to be spending the next day and night at Grimmauld Place getting things ready for their move, but they assured them they would be back the following day to enjoy some more of the holiday together before school started back up. Hermione had packed a bag of their things to take over and most likely leave in their new place, and by mid-morning they stepped out of the floo and into the newly re-done sitting room at their soon to be new home.

Ron was quiet for a moment.

"Are you alright?" Hermione asked. "You look a bit bewildered or something."

"It's just – well – we don't have to do anything, do we? I don't think I've been here before and not immediately run off to paint something or install something or cobble something together. We can just enjoy it now. And, when I look at it that way it just struck me that we get to live in a really lovely home. I guess I hadn't taken a moment to look at it before."

"You've worked so hard, Ron. You've done an amazing job. You should be really proud of yourself."

"Well, it's not like it's really our home or anything. Harry's just being nice and letting us live here for a while."

"RON!" she yelped in exasperation as she punched his arm.

"Ouch! What was that for? You've been spending too much time with Ginny. You aren't usually so violent and then she comes home and you're beating me up all of a sudden!"

"Oh please," she scoffed. "You won't even get a bruise and you know it. But I won't stand for your nonsense. I just won't have it. You have worked your tail off. Harry was lucky to have you. Do you have any idea how much he would have had to spend to pay someone else to do everything you did?"

"Ok don't hit me, but it really wasn't much."

"Not true!" she insisted. "And not only did he not have to pay you, but it's not like he would have trusted just anyone in here. I'm not saying you should send him a bill or anything, but you need to realize you have given him a ton so stop acting like it's nothing."

He went to respond, but the challenging way she arched her eyebrows at him and pursed her lips tightly convinced him a change of subject may be in order.

"So, I loved the idea of this Boxing Day tradition of hiding from our collective families," he said with a smile.

"Well, yeah, it is brilliant. I love our families, but there are a lot of people we are collectively related to!"

"Maybe we could make this the first inaugural Hideaway Boxing Day."

"I love that," she said softly. "Huh. Our first holiday tradition that is just our own."

He'd said it on a whim, but as he looked down at her he could see how her features softened and he could tell she was suddenly picturing years of Boxing Days together. Just the two of them. And then with their own kids. And then kicking the kids and grandkids out to have their own day again. And in that one moment the potential of their life together hit him like a tidal wave. And suddenly words weren't capable of capturing any of the emotion swirling in him. She felt his shift in breath and looked into his eyes, catching her own breath at his expression.

He reached softly for her face and held her cheek as she stared at him, both of then blinking back a myriad of emotions each fighting to bubble up to the top.

"I love you so much," he finally whispered. "And I know you know that. But sometimes it just feels like it would be impossible for you to really grasp how much..." his voice trailed off. He blinked and tried again to explain, adding, "But then, then there are moments when I think that maybe you do..."

"I do, Ron. I do. And I love you just as much. And it's intoxicating and terrifying and bewildering and yet reassuring and grounding all at the same time." She smiled as she lifted her hand to brush his fringe away. "And while we're still teenagers it all feels – feels..."

"Like a lifetime," he offered, his voice quiet and gravelly.

"Exactly," she breathed out as she stretched up on her tip toes to capture his lips. "The start of our lifetime together."

With that he let the satchel he'd been carrying on his shoulder drop to the ground as he felt his passion for her rush through him.

"Fuck, I love you," he said as he pulled her close to him tightly with his hand at her back and then kissed her solidly. She finally had to pull back to take a breath, but she didn't let her grip on his shirt go, so she ended up pulling him with her as she staggered towards a sofa in the sitting room.

"Me too," she said. "Can you apperate us to our new room?" she gasped.

"Mmmhmm," he hummed as he turned them on the spot.

They landed on their bed with an ungraceful thump, causing her nose to bash against his forehead with a loud crack.

"OW!" she cried, instantly reaching for her nose.

"Oh no, did I hurt you?" he gasped. One glance at her face with a bloody, broken nose confirmed his fear. "Oh God, I am so sorry, Hermione!"

"It's ok," she whimpered. "It's as much my fault as yours. But it hurts pretty bad, can you fix it?"

"Me? Don't you want me to get my mum or Fleur or someone more skilled with healing spells?"

"NO! Dammit, Ron, just get out your wand and fix it, please. For the millionth time, I trust you!"

"Ok, ok, right, sorry," he muttered, reaching for his wand.

"Blimey, you're worse than Harry sometimes," she tried to laugh, but the movement clearly made her wince.

He ignored her and concentrated on his wand movements as he healed her broken nose and then summoned a damp flannel to clean the blood. He was holding her gently behind the neck and softly wiping the blood and tears from her cheek.

"Better?" he asked in a whisper.

"Much," she sniffed. "Thank you."

He leaned his forehead against hers and then planted a gentle, chaste kiss on her cheek.

"Bit of a mood killer, huh?" she giggled.

He chuckled, and bent to kiss her forehead again.

"Maybe we could just lounge in bed and maybe kip a bit?" she suggested.

"Something I am always open to," he grinned.

They spooned up together on their new bed, Ron running his fingers through her messy locks. They lay in the quiet for a long time, but neither dozed.

"Feels like stealing time from the world, doesn't it?" Hermione whispered.

"Hmm?"

"For so long we were running or working or hunting or healing, but now we get to just be. And the problems of the world are still out there. It's just – for a few minutes they aren't our problems to hold."

"Hmm," he agreed. "Like hiding out under the invisibility cloak or something."

"Yeah – well – this is slightly roomier and more comfortable. I can't believe all three of us used to be able to fit under that thing with room to spare," she giggled.

"That didn't last long, did it?"

"No, most assuredly not."

"You had to fall for the freakishly tall one."

"You're not a freak."

"Yeah – well, I don't actually think I've stopped growing taller yet."

"Well, I hate to break it to you, but I'm pretty sure I have."

"You don't say," he smirked.

"Although, maybe my hair will just get bushier and bigger as I age, so then I could be as tall as you, but you would just be embarrassed to be seen with me," she teased.

"Hermione," he said in a serious tone, "you have no idea, do you?"

"Uh? No idea of what?"

She felt his body rumble with a low laugh before he spoke. "Well, let's just say your unforgettable hair is one of the first things that clued me into the fact that I no longer thought of you only as a friend."

"What is that supposed to mean?" she asked, craning her neck around to try to see his face, but managing to move a mass of her curls straight into his nose instead.

He laughed again and blew a quick puff of air out of his mouth to move the curls. "Well, for the longest time my – uh – inappropriate dreams all involved snogging someone with massive curly, bushy hair. It took me a while to realize it was you, but each night it was some variation of that. I was whipped early, my dear."

"Seriously? Your earliest sexual fantasies were this?" she shook her hair in his face laughing.

"Well, maybe something more like this," he laughed as he rolled her over and covered her in slobbering, wet kisses while running his hands through her curls as she laughed.

"Oh my," she giggled. "I guess I am glad it took us a while to finally talk to each other then. I am not sure I think I would have found that approach quite as arousing as you did at that age."

"Right," he laughed. "What about you, then? What were your first naughty dreams of me? Was I reading you chapters from History of Magic texts?"

"No," she said as she playfully swotted him. "No, I was having – uh – much more respectable – and certainly more alluring – dreams of snogging a handsome, though temporarily faceless, ginger bloke in the library who may have had pale skin and delicious freckles who tasted a bit like chocolate frogs.'

"Delicious freckles?" he scoffed. "Were you licking me like an ice lolly or something?"

"Oh please," she laughed, a blush creeping up her neck. "I was thirteen. There was assuredly no licking going on. But, then I would wake up and chastise myself about the whole thing. Once I even tried to convince myself I was just dreaming about you because I spent so much time with you. So then I tried to picture kissing a faceless boy with messy raven hair and green eyes."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," she said shaking her head in disgust. "I made such an awful noise of disgust that Pavarti thought I was about to be sick and summoned a basin for me to throw up in."

"That is not true," he protested.

"Ahh, if only it weren't. But, I am ashamed to say, it totally is. I had to pretend to feel terrible afterwards and didn't even go to the library that night. You can ask Pavarti."

"Well, if you were sick enough to skip the library then the thought of snogging Harry must have been pretty bad."

"Well don't you get nauseas at the thought of snogging him?"

"Yeah, well, I do. But I am guessing for different reasons. I don't snog any of my siblings."

"Me either, you prat," she said with a glint in her eye. "See, same reason, same response."

Then she pinched him on his bum to emphasize her point, which only made him do the same. Pretty soon, they were rough housing on the bed and laughing hysterically, causing the bed to rattle against the wall.

"Now look, Kreacher is going to think we are up to all kinds of licentious behavior in here with that racket, and all we're doing is laughing at how short I am."

"Good Godric, witch, you need to remember who you're with sometimes and not use those giant words if you want me to know what you are talking about."

She turned in his arms so she was facing him, and then traced her finger down his nose like a vixen.

"Licentious, Mister Weasley," she explained, drawing out her words slowly, "means immoral or shameless or immodest – even lustful." She whispered the last word against his ear, letting her tongue slightly graze his skin.

"Hmm," he mumbled as he moved his lips to hers. "Licentious, huh? Could be my new favorite word."

"New word for a new year?" she suggested.

"1999 is going to be a good year," he assured her as he stroked her arm.

"We've come a long way, Weasley," she said as she moved his hand up to her lips to kiss it. "I am counting on 1999 being the beginning of our happily ever after."

"Nah," he scoffed.

"What?" she said, affronted.

"Our happily ever after started the day we met on the Hogwarts Express all those years ago. We have had more than our share of rough chapters during our rough start, but I guaran-damn-tee you that this story has a happily-ever after ending."

"How are you so sure?" she asked earnestly.

"Because I love you. And I am finally in a place where I know you love me just as much. And no matter what crazy trolls or acromantulas or messed up teenage hormones or psychopathic dark wizards you throw at us, that will never change. And it doesn't hurt that you're pretty damn gorgeous and brilliant to boot," he added as he leaned down to kiss her.

She kissed him softly and then pulled back to gaze at those blue eyes she adored.

"I used to be scared of loving you so much," she admitted.

"And now?"

"Hmm," she said. "Brace yourself. I'm going to go all swotty for a moment."

He snickered. "Something new and different, huh?"

"Shut it, you," she teased. "At least I am growing and can now recognize it and give you fair warning. Anyway, back to my point. Did you know that in Latin, cor means heart? Basically, you can't have courage without love. And, really, that's what saved us both when we almost gave into the fear and terror and lost sight of each other at different times over the past few years. But, our love for each other allowed us to come back to each other every time no matter what we risked to ourselves. Knowing that your heart is out there loving me, well, it gives me courage. Your love makes me brave. And, maybe mine makes you brave."

"You're brilliant, you know?"

"Don't tease," she said. "I was making a point."

"I wasn't teasing," he said in a dead serious tone. "You are brilliant, and everyone knows it. But, I fell in love with your heart and your passion and your commitment and dedication and kindness. Your brilliance is just a bonus. But, yeah, I think you're right. Love is at the heart of courage. And I would say this pair of brave Gryffindors is bloody courageous. I love you, Hermione."

"I love you, Ron."

She grinned as he kissed her deeply, and she hummed in appreciation as she felt his hands begin to roam over her. She flung her leg over his was soon straddling him.

"Hmm, on top, huh?" he mumbled between kisses.

"Uh huh," she moaned. "Easier on my nose," she smirked.

"Oi!" he protested as he rolled her onto her back. "Easier on my nose, huh? You'll pay for that one."

"Really?" she said doubtfully.

"Oh yeah," he said.

Twenty minutes later Hermione was writhing in that limbo between agony and ecstasy, "Oh, God, please, Ron. I can't take this any longer."

"Told you I'd make you pay," he scoffed. Then he kissed her once more before entering her and finally giving her the release she sought.

They both moaned at the sensation, and he was quickly thrusting into her.

"Harder," she commanded.

"Don't want to hurt you," he grimaced.

"Trust me, it's what I want...what I need. Harder," she pleaded.

"Fuck," he swore as he began pounding into her as he never had before.

She came first, but he quickly followed. They lay there panting, still gripping each other tightly as they regained their breath. Finally she allowed her head to lull back onto the pillow and moved her hand to brush the sweaty fringe out of his eyes.

"That. Was. Amazing," she finally said, tracing her finger across his face in a failing attempt to touch all of his freckles.

He didn't say anything for a moment, but then a wicked grin game across his face. "Amazing, huh? Damn. I was going for licentious."

With that they both collapsed in laughter, spooning up together again and falling asleep.

-FIN Book 1-

(A/N: Thank you so much for sticking with the story! I have to confess that I had initially thought it would be 100+ chapters, but as I wrote it, I realized that the story arch of Hermione and Ron that I really wanted to tell was better told in three parts over three different time periods. I have started on the second book, and I have an outline of the third. But, I make no promises of when I will get those posted. I am thinking of playing around with a series of short stories that aren't set in either the UFM or ATHOC universes. So, don't be surprised if you see some small stories popping up. And, finally, I have been playing around with stories and characters of my own unrelated to any fanfiction. I may try to publish and share those eventually, but not yet.

Thank you soooo much to all of you who take the time to review and message me. I can't tell you what a difference those comments make. I know I am the worst at replying to any of the comments, but please know that I really do cherish and appreciate them, and they are absolutely so motivating.

So I'll say farewell for the time being, and I hope to see you when I publish the later parts of the trilogy when I am finally able to get them from my head to the screen. Thanks again for all of the encouragement...carrytheotter)