Title: From the beginning
Pairing: Ron/Hermione
Time line: Future Fic
Rating: K+
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, they are entirely the propriety of J.K. Rowling.
I'm been shipping this pair ever since the first book, maybe back then it wasn't as strongly a love relationship as it developed to be, but I loved them nonetheless. I had never tried to write with this couple before, until this morning this story popped into my head and I couldn't resist writing it. Enjoy!

Night had fallen across the long expansion of green land and the moon above shone brightly, illuminating a small, impossibly twisted cottage that could only have sprung from mad imagination. Animated voices filled the night air, coming from inside the house. It was Sunday night, and the ever expanding Weasley family had gathered, as custom, at The Burrow around the dinner table to share a meal. Cutlery clung to each other as the laughter filled the cozy ambience of the room.

Two young children, with dark red hair and bright smiles watched as their parents passed along the bowls of food and laughed with the remaining family. Their father was tall and shared their hair colour; a lopsided grin seemed to always be playing in his lips. His blue eyes, quite different from theirs, would often turn in their direction presumably to make sure they were eating their share of food on the plate. He would then genuinely smile at them and avert his eyes back to the conversations around; however, his eyes would often fall upon their mother. They noticed, not for the first time, that his sky colored eyes would not weaver from her face whenever she spoke. Their mother was currently talking and they watched as her lips moved and produced the harmonious voice that so many times had lulled them to sleep. Her brown eyes, so alike theirs, were bright with excitement and the long curls in her hair, completely in disarray, seemed to bounce with just as much excitement as she moved her head to express a rather pressing point in her conversation.

They watched in silence for a little longer, their food forgotten in the plates, until the girl, named after her mother's favorite flower, vibrated with curiosity about the couple in front of her.

"Mom?" She asked softly in the melodic voice of a girl that was still in her last years of infancy.

At the sound of her daughter's voice she abruptly stopped talking with the other occupants of the room and returned her undivided attention to the small, shy face that was a small copy of her own. "Yes, dear?"

"How did you meet dad?" The little girl asked abruptly, as if that question had been bubbling inside her head, like a hot cauldron of potion that had finally spilled over too much curiosity. For a while, she had felt that it perhaps was a rather intimate question to be asking her mother and she had played in her head all the possible scenarios for it. Still, curiosity had won against her imagination and it had finally come bursting out of her mouth. There was silence around the table, and she felt her small cheeks flush under the weight of what seemed to be a million pair of eyes directly on her.

Her mother chuckled softly and she felt her brother relax beside her. However, even after her mother's reaction she still felt the weight of curiosity battling against the immense self consciousness inside of her.

"Well, we met in school, at Hogwarts." Her mother said softly, and to the little girl's amusement, her father had started to chuckle as well.

It was then that a voice sounded from across the table, not far away from where they were seated.

"Hermione, if you're going to tell that story, tell it from the beginning." The girl heard her uncle say as he composed the round glasses in his nose with an amused smile playing in his lips.

Rose's previous embarrassment was long forgotten and she now felt excited; there was delight in the air as the other people present nodded their heads just as eager to know the tale of how her parents met. She felt that there was a much more fantastic story behind her mother's simple statement, for if there was anything she had learned in her 7 years of existence, it was that when it came to her father and mother, nothing was ever simple.

"Go on." Said her father with an even brighter grin.

"Oh, very well." Hermione sighed, shifted in the chair and placed her arms neatly folded on the top of the table to look directly to her daughter.

In spite of the fact that Rose knew everyone else would be able to hear that story, she felt like her mother was telling her innermost secret just to her.

"The first time I saw your father, and your uncle Harry for that matter, was actually at the train that would take us to Hogwarts. It was our first year there and I didn't know anyone, nor was I completely aware of how the wizarding world worked, apart from what I had read in the books. So, in order to make acquaintances, I was helping a first year student, just like me, finding the frog he had lost in the train." She paused for a moment and from the corner of her eye she saw her husband and best friend nod their heads. When her daughter didn't say anything, but stared at her with enormous curiosity, she went on.

"I entered one of the cabins and there they were, two young boys, one with dark hair and other with red hair doing magic. I challenged your father to give his best shot at the transfiguration charm he was attempting to do to his rat." A pause. "I reckon I was being truly conceited and rude." She quietly said to herself.

She then turned to the red haired man by her side and spoke directly to him. "Perhaps it was my way of compensating for being, you know, Muggle born. I thought I would only be worth in the wizard world if I became an exceptional witch and I often used my intelligence to diminish others." Her voice was soft as she spoke and there were undertones of regret and apologies.

Ron placed his right hand tenderly in her cheek and moved slightly forward to place a kiss on her forehead. "I know that now." He spoke softly with his lips still close to her skin. "And I also know that you are indeed an exceptional witch."

She smiled and gave him a meaningful look. They exchanged thoughts and feelings without even voicing them; it was what they often did. A simple look could convey an immensity of the feelings that sometimes were not able to be expressed exclusively with words.

She then turned towards the girl once more, and with new vigor and a glint in her eyes she gave her one of her own grins. "Of course it didn't went as expected, nothing happened!" Her soft laughter mingled with the others that had erupted around the table and at the same time, Ron's ears became flaming red under his equally flaming hair. "I then started babbling about how amazing I thought I was. So full of myself."

She laughed at herself and attempted to hide the blush of embarrassment that had crept up her cheeks with a hand. There were more laughs because everyone knew how the young Hermione Granger had been.

"And after I had stopped being completely astonished to meet Harry Potter himself, I left them to their own business."

"So, you didn't become friends right away?" Rose exclaimed, her eyes wide open with perplexity. After all, the lovely fairytale she had build in her head for her parents' first encounter was far from being realistic. Disappointment must have been written all over her face because her father spoke next directly to her.

"Oh no," Ron said among good humored laughter. "That would take a while to happen."

"Yes. A while, a few choice words and a deadly situation." She said pointedly at him. Her face was fatally serious but her eyes shone with laughter, betraying her attempt to be crossed with him just as she had been long ago.

"What happened?" There was alarm in the soft girly voice as well as an immensurable desire to have a peek at her parents' adventurous world. She had overheard some stories before in that same house. The tales were numerous and most of them were told with quiet voices, longing stares and quite a few tears. However, she sensed that the majority of them were still untold, and this seemed to belong to that lot, for everyone around was eagerly expecting the next line of the story as if they had never been aware to ask the same very question of how they had met. Or at least never had heard the full, unmodified version of it.

"Your father, he…"

But she didn't have time to finish her sentence when she was interrupted by him.

"I was a complete idiot back then. In short: I was awful to your mother." Ron said looking directly into his daughter's small brown eyes as if looking into his wife's very own eyes back then and remembering how filled with sadness and loneliness they had been every time he had been horrible to her.

"What did he do, mom?" Asked the small voice of their son.

At that Ron seemed to have shrunk in his seat, but allowed Hermione to address the question in whatever manner she thought would be best.

"He just said some very unpleasant comments that hurt me very deeply." All eyes now seemed to be trained upon the couple, all waiting to know more.

"What comments, mom?"

"Rose, I think you are asking for too much. You just have to understand that I always came across very harsh and bossy towards your father and he became annoyed with it."

Regardless of her speech, her daughter did not seem satisfied with that piece of information and the questions would keep arriving until complete satisfaction with the answers. Hermione shook her head in defeat, knowing that they had more similarities between them than she would like to admit, and Rose had carried her stubborn personality in double added to the one of her father.

It was then that he decided to intervene once more, also aware of the impending roll of questions that were soon to be bursting out of his daughter's mouth. He decided to spare his wife of the burden of relieving those memories alone and abruptly resumed the story.

"I told Harry that your mother was a nightmare, and it was no wonder no one could stand her. I know," He held a hand towards the children before they could have the time to verbalize their indignation. "It is a horrible thing to say, but your mother drove me mental! This does not forgive my behaviour, but I've had had enough. What I had not realized was that she was right behind me hearing every single harsh word I said."

Sudden loud gasps resounded all over the table as the others heard for the first time how really troubled the beginning of their friendship had been. However, none of them, not even their best friend, uttered a word of disapproval. They all knew that those waters had long been over under the bridge and other memories, happier ones, had been made in the meantime.

Hermione lowered her head and remembered how much those words had affected her. It certainly had not been the first time she had heard rude comments about her, but somehow hearing him, a boy she barely knew, saying those words had wounded more than any other comment. The truth was that she wanted to be friends with him and Harry, she wanted to have someone to talk and laugh like they seemed to always be doing. She did not understand why back then, but for her making friends in the wizarding world was just as difficult as it was in her very own Muggle one.

"What then?" Came Rose's voice again.

"I went to cry in the girls' bathroom completely unaware that a troll had been released in the castle. After a while I realized that I was trapped in the bathroom with a troll inside. It was then that your father came to my rescue."

Their little faces were shaped with both amazement and shock, their eyes were wide and they listened intently to the amazing story their mother was telling. It seemed surreal, but not any less true when it came to the people in question.

"Did dad save you?" It was the squeal of the girl that was so eager to know how much more of a hero her father was. She then realized that her mental fairytale was not far from the truth. Her father indeed had rescued her mother, just like knights did with princesses in the stories she used to read to her before bed.

"Yes he did, he fought the troll and saved me." Hermione said looking directly at her husband that now beamed with pride. She looked at him lovingly and her hand brushed the ginger hair from his forehead in a tender gesture before she spoke again. "He was very brave."

"Your uncle Harry was there to help as well." He said with a grin as if in confidence to his children, feeling like his few seconds of fame were being outstretched.

"And then you became friends with mom, right dad?" Hugo asked.

"We sure became inseparable after that incident, and then gradually became best friends. But she still drives me mental nowadays." He ended with a barely strained chuckle.

He felt the slap of her hand in his upper arm and heard her exasperated "Ron!".

He then leaned forward and enveloped her in his arms, bringing her closer to his body in hopes to soften the annoyance and furrowed brow that had appeared in her face, which he knew were only fake for there was the tiniest smile wanting to erupt in her lips.

"But it is all good." His lips closed in her cheek in a kiss as he said it.

The rest of the family laughed with them, now much more enlightened of how they had become such close friends and a lot more appreciative of the changes that had occurred around them in the years that had passed. The kids nodded happily to their parents, now fully satisfied, and soon their voices dissolved in the conversations that had started once more.

Later that night, as Ron placed the dishes in the sink to be washed, he noticed that the backdoor to the yard was open and from his place in the kitchen he could see the silhouette of his wife outside staring into the night sky.

He approached her and enveloped his strong arms around her waist, a gesture she was so found of, and even though she was startled at first, she rapidly allowed her body to relax in his embrace and sink further into his warmth.

She sighed and closed her eyes, finally relieved for a quiet moment alone with him.

"Are you tired?" He asked as his lips descended on her cheek, placing soft kisses in her skin, and went on to her neck and the portion of shoulder exposed. His breath was warm in her cool skin and she shivered inspire of herself, more of pleasure than anything else.

"Just a little." She answered in a whisper afraid to break the tender moment between them. She then let her head fall into his shoulder and closed her eyes to enjoy the attention he was bestowing upon her. "Now everyone knows how we really became friends." Her voice was not sad, but still not entirely happy. It had a note of yearning as if she had wanted to keep those memories, especially the least good ones, only between the ones that had shared them in the first place.

"If I could, I would take back what I said in a heartbeat, Hermione!" Ron whispered firmly into her ear.

"I know, love." She said while turning in his embrace to face him. "But if you think about it, if you hadn't said it I wouldn't have felt bad and then been saved by you later on, and we wouldn't become close and eventually best friends. In retrospective it was not so bad at all."

He nodded at the argument of his wife but there still seemed to be some doubts clouding his mind. "Still, I will spend the rest of my life apologizing for it." He murmured just between them.

"It is alright, you have more than made it up to me." She whispered and her lips approached his own and closed the gap between them. At first he smiled in gratitude into the kiss, but soon, as their lips moved along with one another, everything else was forgotten and only they mattered in that moment. His arms tightened around her, hers came around his neck and their bodies became impossibly close at their own accord.

Their friendship had not start in the best possible way, but everyday of their lives was a testimony to how much a single moment in time can alter an entire future. It might not be their happiest moment, but it sure is one of the moments they cherish the most, for if it hadn't been for that, Ron thought, they wouldn't be now embraced under the bright moon, loving each other as passionately as in the day that they had first discovered there was more than friendship between them.