a/n: dedicated to alex, thanks for motivating me to finish! thanks for all the reviews and favorites! 3

Chapter 6 – Love

Setting – Post DH, The weekend Hermione and Ron get a flat together

Ron loves when Hermione played with his hair that one time in sixth year. He was so sick that he barely remembers a word she said to him. He was sure it was something about how she was sorry for being mean to him but perhaps that's what he wished she was saying. She ran her fingers through his hair and scratched his scalp.

Ron loves when Hermione shows off her intelligence. He really shouldn't be surprised anymore but she's so brilliant that it blows him away. She has so much that he doesn't have. He loves when she gets frustrated and she puts her hair up. He loves how she furrows her brows and tries to stay calm.

Ron loves how much his family loves Hermione and how much she loves them. He loves that a spoon with her face was added to the clock in their living room. She was a part of the family now and they weren't even married…yet.

Ron especially loves when Hermione shows she loves him like when she's jealous over Fleur, when she visited him during what were supposed to be Hogsmeade visits, the way she looks at him at dinner, the small traces she makes on his hand when they're in front of their friends, and then the way she hugs him. She hugs him and it's as if she's conveying that she loves him the most.

Tonight, in their room…in their bed, Ron loved Hermione. He knew that it would be tonight because she grabbed at him with the determination that spoke volumes. He kissed her in places that light didn't show and promised in whispers that he wouldn't ever let her go. She wisped her fingers over the scars on his arms from fifth year and made him shiver even though his skin felt increasingly hot. Her hips kept rising and meeting his and he knew that unless she didn't want to go all the way, he wouldn't be able to hold himself back.

Then he remembered that he didn't need to. Their whole childhood, they had spent their time fighting alongside Harry. Now that it was over, they were adults. They had more responsibilities and scars than most adults but right now was a time to rejoice in the fact that they were both alive and that they loved each other. She smiled up at him shyly and he couldn't process what to say or do because before he knew it himself she was taking off her clothes underneath him. She touched him and made him go nearly insane but even though he wanted to close his eyes and feel her fingers around him, he looked at her and imprinted the memory of her face in his mind; the sweat on her upper brow, the naked chest in front of him, pressing against his, her swollen pink lips, and her frazzled bushy hair.

"You're so beautiful."

"You're beautiful." She whispered back as she took off his shirt. She traced his freckles and kissed them lightly. Things were happening so quickly, Ron was worried she'd regret everything but as the thought entered his head, Hermione moaned his name again or kissed his shoulder. "Ron…please."

When he eventually entered her, Ron looked straight into her eyes and told her straightforwardly: "There's no one else that I love more than you." Hermione whimpered and pulled him closer to her. Ron was scared to move faster but he adored the way she felt around him, he relished in the fact that she was moaning his name and no one else's, he worshipped her skin. His fingers claimed the skin on her stomach, her breasts, the back of her neck and he pushed further into her, hoping to reach a point inside of her that only he could know.

When she came and choked his name, clenching around him and her body going limp Ron's senses were aflame and he could smell the sex, see her beautiful face, touch her sticky skin, taste her sweet lips, hear her fast breathing and he could love her.

He'd love her more than anyone and anything he'd ever know.