Life As A Phoenix             By: Sirius Sidekick

Chapter 3

The night had passed peacefully. Everyone in the house slept with no interuptions. Ron woke up once and had the urge to sneak into Hermione's room, but he thought he should let her get some rest. When the sun had just begun to come up, Ron opened his eyes and stretched on his bed. Still fully clothed, he walked out of his room and across the hall. He knocked on Hermione's door. No response. So he opened it and peeked inside. No one. Just at that moment, he heard a noise downstairs in the kitchen. He decided to see. He knew it was her, no doubt.

Ron tip-toed down the stair as not to wake anyone else up. When he reached the kitchen, Hermione was at the stove, still in her night clothes, cooking breakfast. Ron dared. He went up behind her and reached around her waist. Her head spun around quickly. She saw Ron, and smiled. He smiled back.

"Hey," she said. "Get a good sleep."

"Yeah. You?"

"Sure. It was fine."

She didn't try to pull away from his arms. She liked it. Ron had grown surprisingly well over the last few years and he felt big. He was still quite skinny, but his upperbody was built up very nicely. His strong arms made her feel safe. She liked it. She liked it a lot.

"Why the hell are you cooking? This is the beginning of your life! This is a chance to rest!"

"I wanted to. After all, Remus is taking us in for a couple of months. It's the least I could do to say thank you," she said.

"Oh. I guess I get you. Well, what are your plans for today? Doing anything special?"

"No," she said. She paused for a minute and said, "Not yet anyway."

She turned around for a minute and looked at him. She had a bit of a mischevious look about her. Ron liked it. It made her look, well... sexy. Which to Ron was great. She always looked sexy. Even in a nightgown, hair bushed out, and heavy eyes, she was sexy. Because she was Hermione.

"Oh?" Ron said, grinning back at her.

She smiled and said, "Okay. Sit down and I'll get you something to eat."

"No, it's fine. I can get it myself. If you only knew how many times I've been taught by my mother how to-"

He stopped. She looked around at him. There was a piece of parchment lying on the table. He picked it up.

"What's this?"

"Oh, nothing. I just wrote a letter to Ginny about what happened, you know... last night."

Ron went red.

"Why? Why would you tell HER? She'll blab on it! And that was... that was private. I wanted it to be special..."

Hermione, surprisingly wasn't angry.

"Did you tell Harry?"

Ron went pink this time. He had forgotten he had told Harry about what had happened.

"Yes."

She smiled.

"Well then let me have my own fun! You told your best friend. I should be able to do the same!"

Ron put the letter back down on the table. He walked over to her. She was staring up at him.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled. You're right." He laughed. "You always are."

He put his arms around her yet again. She let out a little series of giggles that Ron found absolutley cute. She leaned up and kissed him on the lips. All of a sudden, someone cleared their throat.
They both swung around. Harry was in the doorway, fully dressed, staring at them with a huge grin.

"What are you smiling about?" Hermione asked him with a smile of her own.

"Nothing. You two just look so great. So natural together. It's truly 'perfect'," he said with a wink at Ron.

Hermione caught it. She looked Ron in the eyes as Harry sat at the table.

"Perfect?"

Ron blushed. He didn't want to say yes because to be truthfull, he was a bit embarrassed. Though it was a great thing to say, he wasn't sure whether she would be uncomfortable with that. He didn't know she said it was perfect also. She kissed him again, but only for a second. Then she turned around and got back to charming up a huge breakfast for Remus and themselves. Harry whistled at them. Hermione held up a frying pan, but she was laughing at him.

"Ron, could you do me a favor and send that out for me?" she said pointing at the letter.

"Sure."

He went to the table and picked up the letter. Harry had not seen it.

"Who's that for?"

"Ginny."

"Oh. Ginny."

"What?"

"Nothing," Harry said quickly.

Hermione gave him a curious look. As Ron passed by her, he said in a low voice, "Pretend you're Stan. He hates it."

"I heard that, Ron."

Ron laughed and went off to the living room. Hedwig, Pig and Remus's owl were sharing a huge cage. Pig wouldn't stop flying around, and Hedwig and Remus's owl, which was named Quill, were sleeping. That was untill Pig flew into Quill and sent him flying to the bottom of the cage. Quill looked as though he would kill Pig. So Ron took out Quill and attached the parchment to his leg and sent him off. Ron was back in a minute, and Hermione was nearly done with the breakfast. The whole table was covered. Not full. Covered. Ron said, "WOW!"

Harry looked as though he would eat everything and the plates. They heard the floorboards creaking on the steps and knew that remus was coming. They all sat down at the table. He walked into the kitchen, and blinked quite a few times. He waited a few minutes and finally said, "Sorry, but I'm really not hungry..."

Hermione actually opened her eyes as wide as the plates.

"What?!"

"Sorry, but my stomache really hurts. I'm not a morning person. I'm just not hungry."

Hermione picked up one of the fifteen rolls and threw it at him. He hesitated to say something, then thought against it and just sat down. Crookshanks came over, picked up the biscuit, and ran.

Ron got hyper. "Luckily, we are." And Harry and him started eating. Hermione got a plate herself also.

"Alright, I'll have a biscuit," Remus said, and Hermione looked at him and couldn't help herself. She laughed, and with a flick of her wand, passed the plate of biscuits down to him.

It was a good morning. They all sat around eating, (except Remus,) and talking. They talked about school, and their plans for the summer, and told an occassional secret. After they had finally finished and Remus cleared the table, an Owl flew through the kitchen window. It was for Lupin. He unwravled the piece of parchment from its leg and it took off, just missing Ron's head. Lupin read through the letter.

"I don't believe this," he said.

"What?" Ron asked.

He tossed the letter to the other end of the table, and all three gathered round to read it.

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Dear Remus,

Recent events involving the Daily Prophet, have made me decide to have a meeting for The Order. As soon as you recieve this letter, meet me and the rest of the team at Hogwarts to discuss what we plan to do. Certain people are not helping us. Such as Lucious and Cornelius. The situation with Harry is unbelievable. Talking about him like an object. It's only a matter of time before they get to Ron and Hermione too. Please, be quick.


Sincerely,
Albus Dumbledore

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"So on the first day of us being with you, you have to leave?" Hermione asked very angry.

"Yes, I'm sorry. But this is business. I shouldn't be too long. Remember, feel free to take a look around the area. There are some good spots around here to go. I'll be back."

And with a *POOF*, he was gone.

The three of them stared at each other for a moment.

Harry was the first to break the silence. "Well, I think I'll get my firebolt and take a quick ride around. You know, see what's around here."
 
Harry took off up the stairs. And within a minute, he was out the door, flying down the street. Ron was a little shocked, but thoughts began to arise in his mind. He was alone with Hermione. She aparently got the same thoughts, because the expression on her face was mischevious. Just like before. Ron loved it. And she loved the quiet, calm, sexy look that he had on his face right now.

"So, what shall we do?" he asked.

"I don't really know. There's lots to do. We could stay here. Or maybe take a walk around."

"A walk sounds good," he said and gave her that glance she longed for.

She grinned and they went up to change. She went in her room. Within a few minutes, she had fixed her hair, put on new clothes, and woke her eyes up. She walked across the hall and went in Rons room. She walked in and to her surprise, Ron was in his boxers.

She began to giggle a bit.

"It's not funny!" he said. Though he didn't tell her to leave.

As she was laughing, she suddenly stopped. She had never really seen Ron in just his boxers before. She liked what she saw. From the years of playing quidditch, and apparently working out, Ron was built. His upperbody had muscles all over. He noticed she was staring at him and laughed. He pulled his clothes on and fixed up his hair.

"Come on," he said smiling.

She didn't speak. She was staring at his chest as though you could see it through his shirt.

"So what? I work out? No big deal."

"I know but... wow, Ron."

"Thank you."

He smiled as they walked out the door. He put his arm around her as they walked and she did the same. They walked for a good twenty minutes mostly silent, until they found a shady spot under a tree. It was right in front of a pond. Agreeing without even saying a word, they walked over, and sat under the huge shady tree. The grass was soft and the water gave off a cool sort of breeze. Ron sat directly next to the tree and Hermione leaned up against him. He hesitated for a minute and then spoke.

"Hermione, I want to say something. And I'm not as worried to admit I'm scared to say it as much as I am to actually say it right now."

"What is it? You can tell me anything. You know you can." said Hermione, sounding a bit worried.

"It's very difficult to say. I'm worried what you'll say. I'm worried what will happen if I do."

"Is it something good?"

"For me it is. Because I want to finally say what I've wanted to for a long time now."

"Then just say it Ron!"

"I... I can't."

"Say it!"

"No."

She got angry. "Say it now, please!"

"Forget it."

"Ron!"

"Fine! I love you! I have loved you before I even knew it. The way you talk. The way you act. The way you smile when I look into your eyes. I love all of it! Every time my lips touch yours, I feel like I'm in heaven! It's bliss for me, Hermione, and I love it. I love... you."

There was silence. Ron put his head down.

"This is why I didn't want to say anything," he said. "I knew you wouldn't-"

But he couldn't finish. She had lifted his chin up and was kissing him. She was kissing him with all she had. All her heart, all her soul, all her love was going into this kiss. When she was done, she pulled back.

"I love you too, Ron Weasley."

There was silence again. But this time it was different. A tear dropped from his eye, down his cheek, and onto the grass. And that tear was joined by another from her. They kissed again. And continued kissing. They didn't want to stop.

She thought, "I'm kissing Ron Weasley. My Ron Weasley."

While he thought, "I'm kissing Hermione Granger. My Hermione."

When their lips finally parted, they stared again. Then Ron broke the silence.

"So... what do we do now?"

"Be with each other. And be happy about it."

Ron smiled. "Sounds fair. You don't have to worry about me ever not doing that. Now that you know... I'll always be there for you. Always."

She smiled too. "So that means you're my Phoenix."

"Yeah. Yeah I guess so."

They sat again in silence. The clouds parted, and the sun began to shine through more brightly.

"So, I guess we should head back. You know, before it gets too hot."

She smiled. "Yes. I guess so."

As they turned around, they could see Harry in the distance, making loops on his firebolt while onlookers beneith him were pointing and talking to each other.

"Looks like he's happy," Ron said squinting trying to see.

"He's not the only one."

He looked at Hermione and smiled. He put her arms around his neck, bent down, and put his arms under legs. He picked her up.

She was laughing wildly. "What are you doing?"

He carried her all the way back to the house. He would never feel jealous of Harry again. What he had in his arms was worth more than Harry could ever have...