The R/H First Kiss Project

~ Shy, Sweet, & Innocent ~

Kiss Excerpt from:

Feather and Flame
by Paleologus


~Contributed by: Elanor Gamgee~

~~~***~~~

"What d'you suppose is eating her?" Ron asked in a whisper, leaning over the study table. Hermione had disappeared into the stacks.

"No idea," Harry said, poker-faced.

There was a sly smile on Ron's face. He dropped his whisper even lower. "Y'know, sometimes I think I'd like to follow her into the shelves. Surprise her, you know? Wonder if she'd slap me."

"Probably," Harry muttered, shrugging.

"You don't think I would, do you?" Ron seemed to Harry like a puppy wanting to play-fight.

This was becoming interesting. For some reason, Harry thought of some game Dudley used to play, where he would take two toy electric cars, and set them up so that they would smash into each other until the doors came off. Harry had always wished Dudley would let him play.

Harry put down his quill and took a moment to look thoughtful. "No, you're far too chicken," Harry said. "Definitely."

Ron looked away, then crossed his arms, then uncrossed them. "Bet I could. I bet I could."

"I dare you," Harry said.

Ron went quite red. "All right," he said, and stood up.

"For England," Harry said. He buried his face in his book as Ron walked away.

"Oh! What are you doing here?" Hermione whispered from behind two shelves of books and scrolls piled high.

"Erm... " came a voice that positively croaked. "Just wondering if you needed help finding- ermph!" A short but weighty silence. "Blimey!" came the same voice, at full volume this time and sounding very impressed.

Harry saw Madam Pince, across the way, look up from her table, a cross look flashing on her face, but she went back to her work.

"Blast!" came a sharp whisper. It was Hermione this time. "I can't believe I -- I'm a prefect-!"

Harry saw Hermione shoot out from between the rows of shelves toward the library door, as if she were suddenly taken ill.

"No running!" Madam Pince called crankily from her table. She shook her head. Hermione was gone. Ron emerged from between the shelves. He walked back to the study table in a daze and sat down across from Harry, where Hermione had been sitting.

"You'd better bring her that," Harry said.

Ron looked up, his face stuck in an absent grin. "Huh?"

"You'd better take that when you go," Harry enunciated, indicating the quill and pile of parchment sheets at Hermione's place. "Bring them back to her. She'll be missing them later."

"Riiiight!" Ron said, catching on. He gathered up the sheets and stuffed them sloppily into Hermione's bag, which he hoisted onto his shoulder. "Told you I could do it," Ron said with a wink. He left the library at a trot.

***

Kiss Excerpt from:

Honestly, Ron!
by Doctor Aicha


~Contributed by: itsme654~

~~~***~~~

Hermione smiled that smile again. And then the music changed, slowed… He dropped the hand he was holding and pulled her closer with both hands on her waist. She made a small noise, and her free hand found his shoulder, then crept round to meet her other hand at the back of his neck.

Ron tucked her into the crook of his neck, her forehead against his collar, and put both hands around her back, pulling her nearly flush with his body. Suddenly thinking that might not be a good idea, he set her back away from him for a moment, looking down into her eyes. “You seem different tonight…” he said. “No, no you don’t. I just,” he looked, unseeing, to her left, his face flushed like he’d been at Quidditch practice a little too long. He took a chance and met her eyes again, and decided that if he didn’t kiss her now, he’d go as mad as Martin Miggs.
Hermione met Ron’s eyes as he stumbled around for words and knew her plan had worked. What she didn’t know was whether Ron knew it had worked. At that moment, his eyes changed. His pupils dilated, his breathing became a little shallow… and then he leaned in, an inch closer, an inch closer, as she stood nearly on her tiptoes, and he kissed her.

She kissed him back. The sensation was like flying, only better… This she could do forever, this kissing Ron, Hermione thought. His lips were softer than she imagined they might be, and she was shocked to find that she was kissing Ron in the Great Hall and she didn’t want to stop.

***


Kiss Excerpt from:

Not as a Last Resort
by Arabella


~Contributed by Neppi Weasley~

~~~***~~~

Hermione lay very still, knowing that she'd never actually sleep. Not like this. Not near him, like this, with her arm completely lost in shivers. It would be impossible. She snuggled deeper into him and shut her eyes, never having been so content. This made sense. This was good, and safe, and she couldn't imagine how she'd ever gone without it, though it was still impossible to believe. When Ron's head moved, she tensed slightly, fearing he might break apart from her and end it.

The next thing she felt was the startlingly soft pressure of his mouth on the top of her forehead. It lingered, then disappeared, leaving a circle of heat where his lips had fallen. His breath stirred the little wisps at her hairline and Hermione's own mouth fell open against his shirt, in shock. Goose flesh had broken out on every inch of her.

"'Night, Hermione," he said hoarsely.

He kissed me. He kissed me. He kissed me.

She couldn't bear it. Where there had been contentment just moments before, Ron had now created a powerful new emptiness. Hermione felt she might whimper out loud -- there was only one way to quell it and, perhaps because Ron had gone first, she was mostly unafraid to try. She lifted her head from his shoulder and reached up her mouth towards his cheek, to reciprocate.

Her lips touched the hollow just above his jaw and she felt his body stiffen; his fingers dug into her arm and hair. She left her mouth on his cheek for a long moment, feeling how warm his skin was, and how soft, breathing in the strangely sweet tang of him.

"Goodnight," she whispered, inches from his ear, wondering how many times they had said goodnight already. She moved her arm until her palm rested on his chest, which rose and fell rapidly, then lay down her head and breathed against his neck. Again, she felt the strange sense of holding some great power that had nothing to do with magic.

Ron's hand remained in her hair. He turned his face until his breath fell on her forehead again, and Hermione swallowed hard, unable to breathe, her mind in a fever of hope. She lifted her chin and felt it knock against his. Fear and want flooded her. Her heart hammered unmercifully and she could feel Ron's heart, too, pounding beneath her hand. They lay there together, eyes half-shut, their breath mingling on the pillow until Hermione could no longer stand it. She stretched toward him and, in the same instant, he made a move towards her.

Hermione felt their noses crush together and heard Ron panting; she pressed her ear further into the pillow so that her nose could shift past his. At the same time, Ron raised up slightly and tilted his head.

Everything clicked into place.

His mouth touched hers.

Thunder clapped in Hermione's head.

She sank into the pillow, rolling slowly onto her back as Ron kissed her, feeling the wonder of being connected like this to another person. To Ron. There was no other person. Ron, who infuriated and provoked her, was the only person in the world allowed to do this. His kiss sang into her. Daringly she parted her mouth just slightly beneath his, and felt his breath come in. His fingers clenched convulsively in her hair and, quite unexpectedly, Hermione felt the tip of his tongue touch her lower lip.

***

Kiss Excerpt from:


Really
by Voxmaille

~Contributed by: Angua9~

~~~***~~~

Quidditch. Think about Quidditch. Think about Snape playing Quidditch. Naked.

That image helped. All right. Situation over. Entirely stupid in the first place.

This was really unfair. Why did he have to be related to such a group of gits?

Shaking his head, he turned, storming through the queues of people and nearly tripped over a figure sitting on a trunk. Ron almost snapped at the figure for being so thick as to sit down directly in the path of traffic when he recognized the person sitting on the trunk. It was Hermione.

"I thought you'd gone," he said, rather awkwardly.

"They're not here yet," she said. She didn't look up at him. "I hate this."

"Don't you want to see your parents?" Ron asked.

"That's not the point." Her voice sounded smaller than usual. "The point is that all of this stuff happened," she flung her arms out to indicate how much, "and then I have to go back and pretend I don't know anything about it-pretend that this is just another summer. Sometimes I just wish I was an ordinary Muggle and never had to know anything about it." Her arms dropped back into her lap.

Ron forgot that he was completely angry with his entire family and sat down next to her on the trunk. He patted her knee in what he hoped was a comforting gesture.

"Tell you what, Granger, I'll trade you. You can have an entire loud, nosy, obnoxious family of wizards and witches, and I'll take a quiet summer with a pair of nice Muggle dentists. Sound like a deal?" Okay, he had almost forgotten he was completely angry with his entire family.

She smiled, still looking at the cement floor. "All right. You go with my parents and pretend you're me. I'll go with yours and pretend I'm you. No one will ever catch on. After all, we're practically as identical as Gred and Forge. Except for the gender difference, the tremendous height gap, the hair colour, and practically anything else you could think of. Certainly the brain power." He laughed, putting his arm around her shoulder in a reassuring, friendly squeeze. Hermione finally met his eyes, grinning.

"Worth a shot, though, eh?" She shrugged, with that mischievous and perfect smile. Where did that observation come from? Had he gone mad? This was really not happening. And then of course that blasted something noticed how very close their faces were.

He swallowed.

And it-he-whatever was noticing that they hadn't broken eye contact at all, even though neither of them was speaking anymore. And that they weren't smiling now and that he was starting to lean closer and that her head was tilting and that he couldn't believe that he-no, that something-had ever felt threatened (threatened? He'd felt threatened? What was this, the day of random epiphanies?) by stupid Viktor Krum because he was sure Krum had never gotten the opportunity to do this or he hoped not but he wasn't thinking about that because his other arm was reaching for Hermione's waist and he was about to-

"Say PIGWIDGEON!"

There was a bright flash. Ron's head snapped up. Behind him stood the rest of the Weasleys. Bill was grinning; Charlie was flashing a thumbs up. Even Percy appeared to be suppressing a smirk. Fred was holding a camera and saying

"That'll be a nice action shot, don't you think, George? I think it would go nicely with the Gryffindor décor when we get back to school."

"Have it framed, Fred. It can hang next to the Fat Lady." Ron stood up, ears bright red, bent on cold-blooded fratricide, right there in the station. Hermione buried her face in her hands.

"I'm done," he heard her mutter. "A scarlet woman forever. I cannot believe this." Ron, or rather, that something, hoped she only was talking about the fact that they had just been interrupted by eight people and one small impertinent owl, all of whom were very interested in what was going on and that she wasn't talking about the actual (or what was to have been the very near future) goings on.

***

Kiss Excerpt from:

The Other Kiss
by BBennett

~Contributed by: Zsenya~


~~~***~~~

Hermione smiled happily. "That sounds like a lot of fun." She took a tentative step closer. "I suppose I’d better go find my parents." Still holding Ron’s arm, now for balance, she stood on tiptoe, and as she had done to Harry, pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. She caught Fred and George out of the corner of her eye, who were each wearing an identical, wide grin, and knew Ron would surely be in for it once they reached the Burrow. "Bye, Ron. Have a safe trip home."

Ron blushed furiously, but he returned her smile. "You too. Bye, Hermione."

Not daring a look toward Ron’s family, Hermione turned and fled, as quickly as one possibly could while pushing a trolley laden with a heavy trunk and a sleeping cat.

***

Kiss Excerpt from:

Waking Ron
by Poppy P

~Contributed by: Zsenya~

~~~***~~~

"Oh Ron!" she began breathlessly, "Please wake up! Oh please wake up! Harry’s in trouble and we’ve got to contact Dumbledore." Although Hermione spoke close to Ron’s ear, he didn’t stir at all. Hermione’s voice reached a high, desperate pitch as she tried again. "Please Ron, wake up. I wish I could do the enervate charm, but we won’t cover that until fourth year. I’ve read all about it of course, but I can’t do it yet. Ron, wake up!" At her last words, she tapped him gently on the right side of his face. Ron simply continued to lie there, still as death. Hermione thought desperately of Harry, alone in that last chamber, facing Snape in a final confrontation over the Sorcerer’s Stone. She knew she had to wake Ron up and get help to Harry as soon as possible. She covered her face with both hands in a gesture of hopelessness, and then she was struck with an idea! Slowly, cautiously, she uncovered her fac! e and looked surreptitiously around her. None of the chess pieces were paying her any attention, busy amongst themselves.

She looked back at Ron’s still figure. Would it work? Well, she thought, it worked for Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. Hermione almost laughed out loud at the thought of Ron having anything in common with Sleeping Beauty. "Desperate times call for desperate measures," Hermione muttered to herself as she leaned over Ron, caught him by the shoulders and planted a firm kiss on his warm pink mouth.

Alarmed at herself, Hermione sat back and watched as Ron’s eyes blinked rapidly, several times. Tentatively he put a hand up to his injured temple and rubbed gingerly as a long, low moan escaped him.

"Hermione?" He hesitated, then, catching the wide-eyed, startled look on her face, he attempted to sit up, but faltered. Hermione reached out a shaking hand and pulled him to a sitting position. She let go of his hand quickly as though it stung her. Ron took no notice.

"Where’s Harry? Did he stop Snape? What’s going on?" He fired off his questions in such a quick succession that Hermione had to clear her head before she answered.

"Er…." she shook her head, "He’s in that last chamber, he went by himself, and he told me to come back for you and get to Dumbledore as quickly as possible." Hermione’s words grew faster with urgency.

"So what are we lying around for? Let’s go!"

***

Kiss Excerpt from:

Whaddya Do That For?
by Mistral

~Contributed by: Neppi Weasley~

~~~***~~~

“What was all that about?” he said, turning to Hermione, ready to laugh it off as usual. But then he saw that she had tears in her eyes.

“Hermione! What’s wrong? I...I don’t really make you miserable, do I? I mean, how could I do that?”

Hermione sank down onto a seat, keeping her face turned away from him.

“By teasing me, and picking at me, and never letting up,” she said.

“But, Hermione, I would never want to make you miserable. I say those things because...because...” Ron just couldn’t say it. He sat down next to her and put his head in his hands.

“Because why, Ron?” Hermione said, turning suddenly towards him. “Why would one of my best friends enjoy making me feel like I’m crabby, and naggy, and stupid, and ugly?”

She looked like she wanted to take that back as soon as she said it, but then she bit her lip and stared at him, waiting for an answer.

Ron didn’t have one. “I don’t make you feel that way, do I?” he said.

Hermione just nodded, not taking her eyes off him.

“But...but Harry teases you, too, and it doesn’t make you feel this way.”

“It’s different when you do it, Ron. I...it just is.”

“It is? But...” Ron trailed off. He thought about what she said, trying not to put the most positive spin on it. This is Hermione, he thought. She could have anyone - she could have Viktor Krum, for crying out loud. She wouldn’t want...he risked another look at her. She was still staring at him, but her eyes were filled with tears again.

“I don’t want you to be unhappy, Hermione,” he said, trying to feel his way through this. “I’ll do anything to make it up to you.”

“Anything?” she said. There. At least he’d made her smile.

“Yeah, anything except spend even more time studying in the library - I had enough of that last year with the O.W.L.s.”

Hermione gave a slightly watery giggle. She looked up into his face, with a look in her eyes that made Ron catch his breath. Then she reached up and softly brushed aside a lock of his hair that had fallen onto his face when he looked down at her. Ron couldn’t help it. He didn’t want to make her more unhappy, but he just couldn’t help it. He leaned down and kissed her.

He had expected her to pull back, but instead she leaned into him, putting her arms around his neck. Her mouth came open under his, and his last thought, before he gave himself up to the kiss, was that if it had been Viktor Krum who taught her to kiss like this, he was just going to have to kill the bastard.

***

Kiss Excerpt from:

Better Than Butterbeer
by Doctor Aicha

~Contributed by: Ara Kane~

~~~***~~~

Ron looked around. This was Hermione's room, without doubt. One wall was filled with tidy bookcases, and another held a very large bed. Ron didn't allow his gaze to fall on her bed. That was… too much to think about. His… friend's bed.

Then he noticed something very, very curious.

Hermione had a Cannons poster on her wall.

He spun around to face her. "When did you become a Cannonth fan, Hermione?" he asked, his pain forgotten, his lisp unnoticed.

She chewed on her lower lip, and she didn't meet his eyes. "Well, you know. You l-, er, you and Harry love them, and it reminds me of, er… you two."

Ron smiled. Hermione never had been a good liar. He took a step toward her. "Hermione," he said, forcing her to look up. "Why do you have a Cannonth poster on your wall?"

She didn't answer, and she didn't appear to have heard a word he'd said. Merlin's wand, she was cute when she was embarrassed. Maybe she had that poster because of…. because of him.

Ron couldn't say why he did it, later. Maybe it was the novocaine affecting his brain. He took another step closer to her, breathed, "Hermione," and sort of bumped into her lips with his.

He was kissing his best friend. His best girl friend. Or rather, his best female friend. No matter. She was kissing him back. Kissing her was like drinking pumpkin juice after a long summer Quidditch practice. Ron wondered what it would be like if he could feel with more than half his lips. He wasn't even sure whether the numb half his face was even kissing her.

Hermione made a noise then. It wasn't a pleased noise, and Ron let her go, abruptly. She was wiping something off of her face.

Oh my God. I've drooled on her. He was mortified, and his ears had skipped red and gone straight to burgundy. I kissed her and I drooled on her.

***

Kiss Excerpt from:

Hermione's Fourth Year
by Elanor Gamgee

~ Contributed by Stella ~

~~~***~~

Ron wheeled the trolley over out of the way, and stopped. Hermione scanned the crowded parking lot, pretending not to notice the odd tension between Ron and herself.

"What did you do that for?" Ron finally blurted out.

"What?" said Hermione, though she suspected she knew what he meant.

"You kissed Harry on the cheek. You never do girly stuff like that!"

Hermione sighed. "Because he's just been through an awful time, and he's about to go through more awful times, and I care about him, Ron! Now please don't start this again. I'm worried enough about Harry as it is. I don't need this too."

Ron was silent for a moment. When he spoke again, his voice was more tentative. "Hermione? Did you kiss Viktor goodbye too?"

"WHAT?" Hermione practically shouted, turning pink. "That's none of your business, Ron!" Somewhere in the back of her mind, she noted that at least Ron hadn't called him "Vicky".

To her utter surprise, Ron merely nodded unhappily. "You're right. It's none of my business," he said quietly, looking away from her.

Hermione stared at him for a moment, expecting this to turn into an argument, but Ron continued to look away. There was a sad droop in his posture, and Hermione wondered if something could finally be happening.

Hermione looked away, not sure what to think, and saw her father at the far end of the parking lot. She waved to get his attention and shouted that she was coming, then turned to say goodbye to Ron.

Ron took a deep breath and seemed to be mustering up his courage. Could this be...? thought Hermione.

"Well," he said, "I hope that you'll still come stay at the Burrow this summer, even if you do go to--even if you do go somewhere else too." Hermione gave him an incredulous look, and Ron turned pink and stared at his feet. "I mean, Harry's going to come for a least a few weeks..." he muttered, "so you might as well come too."

Graceless as this invitation was, Hermione knew what it had cost him to extend it. She couldn't keep from smiling. Knowing that Ron was willing to put aside his jealousy made Hermione's heart sing, though she wondered if he would ever realize that he had nothing, and no one, to be jealous about. Maybe it was time she helped him see that.

"Of course I'll come," said Hermione, and she could feel the heat rising in her face. She took a step closer to him, not believing what she was about to say. "You know, Ron," she said quietly, "just because I was the thing that Viktor would miss the most, wellâ¤|that doesn't mean he's the thing I would miss the most."

Ron looked up at her, as if unsure he had heard her correctly. Hermione gave him a nervous smile, and then, before she could think twice about it, darted forward and pulled him into a hug. Ron stiffened for a moment, then his arms went around her and he was hugging her back.

Hermione turned her head, intending to kiss him on the cheek as she had Harry. But Ron had apparently had the same idea, and before she knew what was happening, her lips met his. It was only for a moment, but Hermione felt a sudden electricity run through her entire body.

Both of them jumped back quickly, startled by this accidental contact. Hermione put her hand to her mouth. Ron was staring at her, his eyes completely round. She stared back for a moment, then the sound of a car horn brought her back to her senses.

"I...I have to go," she said breathlessly. Ron just nodded, looking stunned. Hermione gathered up Crookshanks' basket and began pushing her trolley toward her parents' car.

Halfway there, she turned to look back at Ron. He was still standing in the same place looking dazed, but with a slow smile spreading across his face. Hermione laughed out loud at his silly expression, sure that it mirrored her own. "Send me an owl!" she called to him, waving. He waved back, then Hermione turned and continued pushing her trolley to her parents' car, wondering how she was ever going to make small talk with her parents now, and unable to stop smiling.

***

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