Here's another update! Enjoy!
Chapter 30
They held hands as they walked down the stairs, while Daisy flew by them to greet Ron. Harry kissed her hand right as they made the last step before letting go. They found Ron crouched down betting Daisy who had rolled over to expose her stomach. "I think you're finally growing on her, Ron."
Ron looked up and gave a laugh. "Yeah, she'll let anyone scratch her belly."
"How was your day with Luna?" Hermione asked as she headed to the den, while Harry trailed behind her.
"It was great." Ron took the hint and followed them into the den. He sat in the arm chair as he watched them sit on the couch. He noticed Harry sat close, but not too close to Hermione. "We hung out in Diagon Alley all day, visited the twins, had lunch…it was fun hanging out with her and stuff."
"That's great, Ron," Harry said genuinely. "I'm glad you two are hitting it off."
Embarrassed, Ron shrugged. "Yeah, I like her." He cleared his throat and shifted in his seat. "Sooo…you wanted to talk to me about something?"
Harry shared a quick look at Hermione. "Yeah. We wanted to…er…well, the thing is…" He looked over at Ron who was leaning eagerly in his chair waiting. "Hell…this is a lot harder than I thought it was going to be."
Ron watched in slight amusement as Harry wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans and Hermione bite her lower lip. "Let me make it easy for you," Ron said. "I know."
Harry and Hermione both froze. "Know what?" Harry said quickly.
Ron waved his hand back and forth. "About you two." Ron watched both their jaws drop. "I saw you kissing her this morning…in the kitchen."
For awhile both of them were silent, neither of them were prepared for the blow that Ron surprised them with. "Ron I…" He blew out a breath. "I'm sorry…I…we were going to tell you, I…I'm sorry you had to find out that way."
"I figured this was what you wanted to talk about, that's why I didn't jump to any conclusions or anything." Ron's two best friends continued to stare at him. "Well? That is what you wanted to talk to me about, right?"
Hermione shook her head out of her daze. "Of course…of course it was. Sorry Ron, all day I've been preparing on what to say to you and I…you kind of threw this curve ball at us."
Ron shrugged. "You two seemed to be having a difficult time spitting it out, just thought I'd speed things up. So how'd it happen? When?"
"Well," Harry started looking at Hermione. "Kind of started while you were sleeping."
Ron lifted a brow. "Right away?"
"No, no not right away," Harry said shaking his head. "It kind of snuck up on us I guess you could say. After the battle…you were sleeping. Hermione and I were hurting, we didn't know if you were ever going to wake up. You and Hermione are my family Ron and at that time she was all I had. I guess you could say the whole experience brought us closer."
"It wasn't till the end of the summer when things changed," Hermione continued as Ron listened on.
"The night we all went out to celebrate Hermione's bookstore," Harry said. "Things got a little out of hand." Harry leaned forward on resting his elbows on his legs. "Mags made her wear this dress, Ron that…Hey!"
Hermione had just smacked him in the arm. "Harry, I don't think my dress is irrelevant."
Harry snorted. "Uh…yeah it is, it was one of the reasons why I finally snapped."
"What did it look like?" Ron found himself asking.
Harry groaned softly. "Ah man…you should have seen it. It was a red dress that cut this way…oh and she had a long slit that traveled up her leg and…"
Hermione smacked him again. "Harry!"
"Ow…jeez all right." Harry glared at Hermione as he rubbed his arm then turned back to Ron. "Just know it was sexy."
Ron had to fight back a snicker. "So what happened?"
"It was late when we got home," Hermione said. "And we were a little drunk."
"Hermione here started to bake a cake."
"A cake?" Ron asked.
"I was drunk, just seemed like the thing to do at the time."
This time Ron couldn't hold back the snicker. "You're a very odd drunk, Hermione."
Harry smiled as he felt himself relax more. Ron didn't seem mad, he just wanted to know what happened. "We ended up having a food fight. Cake batter, flour, icing…everywhere. It got a little out of hand and…well…I kissed her."
"So you two have been together that long?"
"No," Harry said softly shaking his head. "That's just when it started. Hermione pulled away eventually, it wasn't right what we were doing. You were in the hospital, Ron."
Ron shook his head. "But…"
"No, let us finish, okay?" Hermione asked and then took a deep breath before continuing. "It was pretty awkward between us for a long time, we even had a row and I went away to my parents for awhile."
"Longest week of my life," Harry muttered. "Finally broke down and begged her to come back. I was a complete ass."
Hermione smiled softly. "I came back and we were okay. The months passed and slowly but surely we were back to being just friends."
"The next thing we knew it was November and I had my first game…opening day."
"It was the day you woke up, Ron," Hermione said looking at him. "After the game I went to see you and I could get nothing out of you, I was so frustrated. A little bit of my hope was dying inside and I didn't think you were ever going to wake up."
"I came home to find her crying," Harry said before Ron could talk. He needed to hear all of it. "I was comforting her…just like any best friend would do. Comforting turned into something more and…next thing I knew we were kissing."
Ron watched Hermione blush and look at her lap and then looked over at Harry who was waiting for him to say something. "What happened? Did you two have sex?"
Hermione's head shot up and Harry shook his head. "No, no we didn't have sex, but…"
Ron watched them look at each other. "But what?"
Harry sighed. "It was leading to that, but….we got interrupted."
Ron looked at Hermione. "By the twins," she finished for him.
It all came clear and he leaned slowly back in his chair. "To tell you I was awake." They both nodded as they looked at him with a sense of anxiousness. "Bad timing on my part huh?"
"What?" Hermione gasped. "No, Ron don't say that! We were thrilled when we found out you were awake. We rushed to the hospital right away."
"You waking up made us both very happy," Harry assured him. "More confusing maybe…but we were relieved that we would be a trio again."
Ron nodded his head then suddenly sat up. "You walked in on us kissing."
Harry winced. "Er…yeah, sorry…not my best moment."
"I wondered why you acted so weird." Ron took a moment to collect his thoughts. "So…have you two been together since then?"
"N-no of course not," Hermione said urgently. "We…I pulled away from Harry, I didn't think it was fair to you until I figured out what I wanted."
"We didn't get together until last night, mate," Harry said but then winced. "Well, except that time in the stairwell at the hospital."
"Harry," Hermione muttered. "Did you have to bring that up?"
"He deserves to know…besides it might have been the last time I ever kissed you, I wanted to make it a good one."
"Okay, so back up," Ron said letting out a laugh. "You had one last steamy kiss with her in the stairwell, then backed off until she found out who she wanted to be with."
"Basically, but honestly Ron I was pretty convinced that you weren't right for her so I began to feel less and less guilty about my feelings for her." He gave his friend a shrug. "Especially when Luna came into the picture."
"Yeah," Ron said with a smile. "I guess I don't blame you."
"So," Hermione looked at him uneasily. "Are you okay with this?"
Ron was silent as he watched Harry unconsciously reach for Hermione's hand and couldn't help but smile.
"Ron," Harry said and waited for Ron to look in his eyes. "I love her."
Ron blew out a breath and shook his head. "Yeah, I know you do. Honestly, I guess I'm not surprised you knew her and understood her more than anyone. You two always had this way of communicating without talking…it drove me bloody insane."
"Is that your way of saying you're okay with this?" Harry asked.
Ron smiled. "Of course I'm okay with it. Bloody hell, my two best friends are in love each other, how can I not be okay with it?
Hermione laughed. "Oh Ron." She jumped up and threw herself at him in a big hug. "I love you so much."
Ron grunted as when she fell in his lap. "Easy Hermione," Ron said as he patted her back. "Er…I love you, too."
Hermione sniffed as she leaned back. "Sorry…I'm going to get emotional."
"Er…go get emotional with Harry," Ron said as he gently pushed her off his lap. "Women's tears scare me."
Hermione just nodded as she walked over to Harry who happily pulled her in his lap. Ron watched in amazement as Harry coaxed her as he kissed her gently over and over again. Seeing them together made everything seem so clear. "Merlin, why the bloody hell did we not see this?"
Harry and Hermione looked up. "Huh?"
"The two of you…you guys are perfect for each other…I mean, why didn't anybody see it?"
Harry gave him a hopeless shrug. "I don't know. I was the idiot who had the perfect girl right in front of me all along and looked the other way."
"We're meant for each other, Harry," Hermione said placing her head on her shoulder. "Doesn't matter how long it took us to get here, all that matters is that we got here."
Harry kissed her softly. "Well said." He then reached down and pinched her butt. "Now get up, gotta go finish the laundry."
Hermione rolled her eyes as she slid off. "Sooo romantic."
Ron chuckled as he watched Harry walk away with a grin. As Harry went back and forth to finish his laundry, Ron went on more about his day with Luna. By the time Harry got back with his last and final trip they were laughing about the earlier days at Hogwarts.
An hour had passed and Harry plopped down next to Hermione placing an arm around her. "Well, I'm all packed." Harry pulled her close. "We leaving in the morning?"
"That's the plan. We can head out after breakfast."
"Are we apparating or taking the bike?"
Hermione shook her head. "I am not riding that bike in the middle of winter, I will freeze to death."
"The bike can fly," Harry said bluntly. "I'm pretty sure it's equipped with a simple warming charm."
Hermione's shoulders dropped. "Oh. Well, I guess we can use the bike if you want to."
"Your dad would probably be disappointed if I didn't," Harry chuckled. "He's been dying to ride it again."
"Oh Merlin," Hermione groaned shaking her head. "He's going to severely hurt himself."
"Speaking of Hermione's parents," Ron said lifting his brows. "Do they know about you two?"
"Er…no," Harry said wincing a little. "We'll tell them when we get there."
"You know we're going to have to sleep in separate rooms," Hermione said with a hint of a smile. "Especially when they find out we're together."
"Hmmm, maybe I'll sneak in during in the middle of the night," Harry said bobbing his eyebrows.
Hermione snorted. "I have no doubt you will."
The sound of someone knocking on the doorbell cut off their laughter. "I wonder who that is?" Ron asked.
"I dunno, I'll go see," Harry said getting up and walking over to the door. He opened it and was shocked to see Ginny standing there and was even more shocked when he saw Draco standing right behind her. "Uh…hey guys."
"Hi Harry," Ginny said with a smile. "Is Ron here? We need to talk to him."
Harry grinned. "Ohhh, I see. Well, Ron's…"
"Not here?" Draco finished and then snapped his fingers. "Oh drat, guess we're going to have to come back later."
Draco turned to leave but Ginny reached behind her and yanked him forward without turning around. "Don't even think about it."
Harry snickered as Draco muttered something unpleasant under his breath. "Actually, what I was going to say is Ron's just inside. He's in the den with Hermione." Harry backed away from the door. "Come on in."
"Thanks," Ginny said as she walked inside dragging a reluctant Draco with her.
Harry walked ahead to the den and Ron and Hermione looked up. "Hey who was at the door?" Ron asked as Harry walked quickly over to Hermione. Ron looked up and saw her sister come into view, but his eyes hardened when Draco Malfoy followed right behind her. "What's he doing here?"
Harry propped his legs up on the couch and stretched his arm around Hermione, who being the smart woman she was, put two and two together to figure out Draco was Ginny's mystery guy. Hermione looked up at Harry in shock. "No way," she whispered.
Harry grinned. "Yes way," he chuckled and looked back between a very confused and angry Ron to a nervous and anxious looking Ginny and Draco. "This is going to be good."