Between Us - Dramione/Blinny

Ch. 47

Hermione shoved her hands in her coat pockets as she kept glancing warily over at Ron out of the corner of her eye. She wasn't quite sure what she expected to happen, but as they walked through the snow she tried to ignore the alarms in the back of her mind. After all, it was just Ron, and she knew he wouldn't do anything serious. But still the nagging thoughts remained.

"Merlin, it's been a while since we've been here," Ron said as he looked around with a small smile. "I've always loved the snow here."

They paused as they reached the clearing and looked around. For Hermione, the snow-covered forest simply reminded her of the Forest of Dean during the winter. Memories came flooding back of her time spent out in the cold with Harry as they kept each other company while making sure they were never caught by Snatchers.

She shifted uncomfortably and looked down at the snow, sighing. Ron was completely oblivious to this as he looked out at the Shrieking Shack and smiled wistfully.

"Remember that night," He started, looking back at her. "In our third year?"

"The night we confronted Sirius?" She looked up and held his gaze for a moment before shifting her eyes away to look at the old, abandoned shack. "How could I forget?"

"Yeah." Ron sighed and leaned against a fencepost. "You were very brave that night. You didn't even flinch when Sirius showed up."

She smiled slightly and shook her head. "I suppose it was the adrenaline getting to me. That and I wasn't going to abandon you and Harry."

"Which we greatly appreciate," Ron laughed. "If you had abandoned us, I'm sure Harry and I wouldn't have made it that night."

"I'm sure you would've made it out. You two are smarter than you give yourselves credit for," Hermione said.

"We are nowhere near your level though, and you know that."

She shook her head again and looked around, reminiscing on everything. The old shack in the distance would creak and groan in the wind every now and then, but other than that the clearing was silent.

"That and..." Ron started, breaking the silence. "I still feel like I need to make things up to you for that year."

"Why?" She asked curiously. "I forgave you for the whole Scabbers and Crookshanks issue."

"I know, but still." He straightened up slightly. "I was a right prat to you that year over something silly. I'm sorry that I let things get bad between us."

She shrugged and avoided his eyes as she took a few steps away to look out at the trees. "Things happen. It's not like that was the first time or the last time you had a problem with me."

"No, but that doesn't excuse what happened."

"I thought you said Harry was going to be here?"

She looked over at him curiously and he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "He's coming."

Ron pushed himself off the fencepost and took a hand out of his pocket to rub the back of his neck as he walked past Hermione. She noticed the small piece of paper that he had received from Harry fall out onto the snow from his pocket and after bending down to pick it up, she froze.

"Ron..."

"Hermione, I know I've been an awful person to you," He started, not noticing what she was doing. "I have so many things I need to make up for, and I just want the chance to start over again."

She turned the paper over in the hopes that something would appear, but the entire piece of paper was blank on both sides.