Disclaimer: ** Please note: This is a story using characters from the Harry Potter universe, which is owned by J.K Rowling. I do not claim ownership over the characters or anything remotely Harry Potter. I am just writing a plot for fun - and because Draco is hot af.

Chapter 1 – After the War

Hermione's POV.

Hermione woke up to a soft snoring and a red head of hair sharing her pillow. Her initial thought was that her best friend, Ginny Weasley, did not usually snore. They had spent countless summers sharing the youngest Weasley's bedroom and the only time Hermione had remembered Ginny snoring had been the summer she was sick with the flu, and as a result, had not been able to breathe through her nose. As well as the snoring, she had never shared a bed with Hermione when they bunked together at the Burrow. Ginny had always slept in her own bed, with Hermione sleeping on the trundle on the floor.

Confused, Hermione sat up and peeked over, realizing it was in fact Ronald Weasley lying beside her. Ron's left arm and leg were hanging awkwardly over the side of Ginny's single bed, and his mouth hung open with a little drool dribbling out.

This finally jogged Hermione's memory, and she recounted what had happened last night. She and Ginny had been lying in their respective beds, chatting, when Ron had softly knocked on the door and let himself in. He had told Ginny, with a disapproving grunt, that Harry had wanted to speak to her about something upstairs then muttered something about "my little sister" under his breath. He then had asked Hermione if he could speak to her about something important.

The kiss. Yes, they had shared a kiss during the war 3 months ago. For Hermione, it had felt like their friendship had been on a knife's point for years, and at some stage, a decision regarding the path of their relationship would eventually have to be made. However, she felt that the decision had been forced too early, with the fear of death hanging over them, when they finally had shared a kiss before they faced Voldemort.

But after the years of flirting, the fighting and the jealousy she had endured when Ron had dated Lavender Brown, Hermione had surprisingly found the kiss awkward, and ultimately, anticlimactic. She hadn't spoken to anyone about the fact, and this made her cringe, it had felt as though she were kissing a brother.

And now Ron had come to talk to her about it.

"I, err, wanted to talk to you about that night. You know? When we, err, when we kissed," he stumbled through awkwardly. Before this moment, Ron had made no romantic attempts with Hermione. In fact, he had hardly spoken to her all summer with all the tragedy that occurred during the war.

Hermione had blushed when he had brought this up. "Okay," she said slowly, "what was it you wanted to talk about?" She knew playing dumb wasn't going to get her far in this conversation.

"Well, I know Harry was going to speak to Ginny about where they stood now everything was safe." Aha, so this had been Harry's idea and Ron had decided to follow suite. "And I thought, you know, since we kissed, maybe we should do the same."

Hermione looked at Ron, and quickly assessed the situation as it was. He was putting himself out there, and the last thing she wanted to do was hurt his feelings, or put more space in between what had already been a very distant summer between them.

"I think that maybe we should wait a little longer to talk about this. Things are different now, and harder, and perhaps this isn't the time for more massive change," she replied diplomatically.

A shock to Hermione, this seemed to appease Ron, and instead of saying anything, he nodded then lay down on Ginny's bed, holding his arms open for Hermione to join him. Not wanting to reject him twice in one night, she climbed up into his arms, closed her eyes and lay there thinking.

This is what friendship feels like, she thought to herself, right before she drifted off, subconsciously snaking her way out of Ron's sleeping arms.

The next morning at breakfast, Ginny was staring Hermione down from the moment Mrs. Weasley put eggs on her plate, until Hermione hurriedly got up at the end of the meal to place her used dish in the sink. From her observations, there was something different about Ginny and Harry. They seemed to be moving almost magnetically around each other, and they both grinned stupidly every time they caught each other's eyes. She and Ron on the other hand, were both acting as if nothing had been said last night at all. Hermione had snuck out of Ginny's room before Ron had woken up, and they hadn't spoken since.

Ginny looked as though she was just about to grab Hermione's arm when George came down the stairs, looking lost and sad.

There had been a lot of change since the end of the war, and the loss had seemingly placed a different toll on everyone in the Burrow. Harry, at first, had felt guilt for all the lives taken during the siege at Hogwarts. For weeks, he had refused to look anyone at the Burrow in the eye and often spent time alone in Ron's room. It wasn't until Mr. Weasley had slipped 3 pages of the Daily Prophet under the door for Harry to read, which contained hundreds of letters written by witches and wizards all over London thanking Harry and his friends for defending their loved ones, and ultimately making the world a safer place, that Harry began to slip back into his usual demeanor.

Ginny, who had always been tough, had done quite the opposite, and had put on a brave face for weeks before finally breaking down and admitting she was fearful nothing would ever be the same as it was before the war. One night, shortly after her upsetting outburst, Mrs. Weasley had snapped at Ginny to set the table before dinner – 'you'd think I was the maid around here! You kids need to start pulling your weight around here, by Merlin' – and Ginny had smiled the first time since the end of the war.

Ron, who had been devastated by the loss of Fred, had withdrawn himself from the trio, and spent most of his free time flying on his broomstick around their home town, although no one really knew where he was going and when he'd be back. Hermione saw him sometimes talk shortly to Harry, but he had made no attempt to talk to her, apart from "can you pass the ketchup?" and "is the shower free?"

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had put on a brave face for the teens, but Hermione was sure there was more grief and mourning going on behind closed doors, especially from Mrs. Weasley. Although Hermione had not seen Mrs. Weasley cry for weeks, her eyes were so often red and puffy, she was sure Molly was putting on a very brave face for the sake of the household.

George, however, had been the worst, and the most heartbreaking. He had withdrawn himself completely from the family, never cracking jokes and walking around almost, Hermione had often thought, like a half man who had once been whole. He, like everyone else, had been trying to go about a normal day for the last month or so, in an effort to transition back into the routine of ordinary life. But he did so silently and sadly, and nothing the family did seemed to help bring him back to them.

George sat down at the kitchen table, and Harry and Ron immediately tried to include him in a Quidditch conversation in the hopes of eliciting a response from him. Ginny took this as a cue to drag Hermione off for a secret chat, and nudged her head towards the back door.

Resigning to Ginny, Hermione made her way out the back of the Burrow and walked to the very end of the garden path before spinning around to face her best friend.

"What? Spit it out already." Hermione knew she shouldn't be taking her frustration out on Ginny, but then again, she made it all too easy when Hermione wasn't used to the gossip and girl chats the way of the rest of the Gryffindor girls were.

"Well I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours," Ginny joked, a small smirk on her freckled face. "Spill it. What happened with my brother last night?"

"He wanted to talk about when we kissed, I told him we should wait until everything blows over,"
Hermione shrugged, "No big deal Gin."
"Hermione, you know nothing is going to 'blow over' right? This is how things are now," she sounded sad, "I mean, sure, things won't always be so... fresh. But this is what it is."

Hermione sighed, then looked at her best friend. She wasn't sure if she could tell her that kissing Ron hadn't felt right. Hermione was sure that everyone from Ron's parents to Harry and Ginny were banking on them eventually becoming a couple – it almost felt like a betrothal. But she had to get it off her chest, the guilt had been eating her since last night.
"I have to tell you something Gin," she bit her lip, then went on. "Please don't hate me. I know he's your family but I'd also like to think I'm your family and this is killing me." Ginny waited patiently in silence, so Hermione just continued.

"I can't date Ron. Yes, I love him. But I also love you and I love Harry. I'm not in love with Ron and I can't force it and I didn't feel sparks when we kissed Gin. And I want to feel fireworks and I want to feel blown away. It just didn't feel right. It felt like... well… friendship," she admitted.

For a second, Ginny looked confused, then her face transitioned to an emotion Hermione couldn't quite identify. Oh god, she thought anxiously, she's angry at me.

"So… You pretty much felt how I'd feel kissing Neville Longbottom?" A grin appeared on Ginny's face as she cracked the joke, but the undertone of understanding in her voice relaxed Hermione at once.

Hermione laughed at the joke, and she knew she wouldn't have to explain herself anymore to Ginny. This was one of Hermione's favorite things about her best friend – she was very intuitive, and she often just 'got' things without much explanation.

Hermione then sobered and looked at her friend. "How on earth do I tell him?"

"Be honest. Tell him you'll always love him and be his best friend, but the fireworks just weren't there."

"Hmm. Maybe," Hermione replied, looking at her friend with doubt.

"Speaking of fireworks. Oh my gosh Hermione! Harry and I are finally back together!"

And from there, Ginny gushed in great detail about all the moments from the night before, exactly what Harry had said, and described the kiss they shared in such detail that Hermione felt herself blush. She nodded and 'ooh'd' and 'ah'd' at all the appropriate times, and asked all the right questions, that Ginny did not even notice that her captive audience was actually a million miles away, thinking about the best way to break Ronald Weasley's heart.

Authors note: Hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Please please review and let me know what you think, how you're finding the characters, how I can improve etc. I have the next chapter (Draco's POV) ready to go ... but I'd love some feedback before I post it :)