I am so sorry that it's taken so long to update but between not having the Internet and having writer's block it's been difficult. But now I've finally written a new chapter. So without any further adieu…I give you chapter 10.

Chapter 10: The First Time

Hermione sat at the counter of Honeydukes fiddling with her necklace. It had been a month since the whole fiasco with Tabitha. Hermione and Ron were having a lot of fun. Their relationship was closer than ever but Hermione still couldn't help but have a small problem with one tiny aspect of it.

"So what you're saying is that you and Ron haven't had sex at all yet?" Ginny asked abruptly. She was standing and looking at the display of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.

"Ginny!" Hermione yelped.

"Well, you asked me for advice," Ginny said, choosing a package and sitting down across from Hermione at the counter. "I'm trying to help."

"But he's your brother!" Hermione exclaimed. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked you. This is too weird. Forget I even brought it up."

"No," Ginny said persistently. "Now come on. As long as we don't think about the fact that it's my brother we're talking about, we'll be fine."

"Alright," Hermione sighed. "Well, everything else is great. We're having fun and I love him so much. But I feel like we've been together long enough now to have gotten to a place where we should have…well, you know…'consummated' our relationship by now. But we haven't. And it's not like we just met. I've known him half my life. Usually I'd wait longer than this to have sex with a boyfriend. But me and Ron have known each other for so long that we're already in that comfortable, familiar place."

"Well, have you told him you're ready to take the next step?" Ginny asked.

"No!" Hermione said. "What am I supposed to say? 'Hey, Ron. I want to have sex and I think we're ready for that. Shag me now!'?"

Ginny laughed as she popped one of Fred and George's edible Dark Marks into her mouth. "Well, I don't think you should do it in those exact words…but you should talk to him about it. Although, I think those exact words might just do the trick."

Hermione smiled. "I guess you're right. We have a date tonight. I'll do it then. How hard can it be?"

Hermione glanced at the clock. Ron was supposed to have been at Harry's apartment ten minutes ago to pick her up for their date. She twisted her hands together anxiously.

"What's the matter, Hermione?" Harry asked not looking up from his pawn, which was being mutilated by one of Ginny's knights. He and Ginny were playing chess on the coffee table. Ginny apparently inherited the Weasleys' Good-At-Chess gene because Harry was loosing miserably. "Why are you so jittery? Ron's usually late, isn't he?"

"It's nothing…" Hermione said. "Just that I'm…"

"Horny?" Ginny suggested as she directed her bishop away from Harry's approaching pawn.

Harry looked up and smiled from Ginny to Hermione and back again. "Oh, are you two going to finally do it tonight?" he asked suggestively wagging his eyebrows.

"Shut up!" Hermione said, her face turning pink. "I'm going to kill you, Ginny."

Ginny and Harry both laughed. There was a knock on the door as it opened slowly. Ron stuck his head in the room. "Hey, sorry I'm late."

Hermione jumped up quickly. "Bye," she muttered, absentmindedly to Ginny and Harry.

"Have fun!" Harry called after her in a sing-song voice.

When they reached the restaurant, Hermione tried to act normal. In her head she went over what she was going to say repeatedly and how she was going to say it. But nothing ended up sounding right. It just wasn't easy to come right out and discuss sex…at least not for Hermione. Sure, she could logically discuss it in a technical and medical way and explain reproductive organs. She could easily give details about where everything is and where everything goes. But talking about the actual act of sex was just difficult for her.

Hermione couldn't help but scold herself. She felt silly for being so nervous about discussing sex with her boyfriend. She was a mature, reasonable adult. It wasn't like she was a virgin. She'd had boyfriends before Ron. But this wasn't a guy that she met in some random shop and dated for a while. It was Ron. They'd practically been together since they were twelve years old. She really wanted her first time with him to be really special. Talking about it kind of sucked all the romance right out of it and she definitely wanted it to be romantic.

Hermione watched Ron eat as they sat in a circular booth at the semi-fancy restaurant that she'd picked out. Everything he did seemed to turn her on at that moment. The way he sipped his wine was making her bite her lip. The way he slowly bit into his bread was making butterflies twirl around in her stomach. The way licked the spaghetti sauce off his lips was making her have to push her legs together because of the yearning ache that was forming between them.

"What's the matter?" he asked abruptly, looking up from his food.

Hermione shook her head slightly without taking her eyes off of him. "Uh…nothing," she replied with a smile.

"Oh," he said, still staring at her. "You looked kind of weird."

"Sorry," she apologized. She opened her mouth to say something else but immediately closed it again. Ron went back to his food.

Then she got an idea. The only way she knew she could spontaneously hint that she was ready to go further was to flirt with him a little more provocatively than usual. She took a deep breath and, checking to make sure the tablecloth reached the floor, scooted around in the booth seat so that she was sitting right next to Ron. He looked up at her questioningly.

"I just wanted to sit next to you," she explained. Ron nodded and took another bite of spaghetti.

Hermione then threw all her cautions to the wind and placed her hand on Ron's knee. He made no reaction to the contact so she brought her hand to his thigh. This got a little more of a response. She then began rubbing Ron's leg slowly with her left hand as she twirled her own spaghetti with her fork absentmindedly as if nothing sexual was going on behind the tablecloth. Hermione grinned broadly when she saw Ron's eyes grow extremely wide, his fork still in his mouth. She knew she was blushing because this wasn't the sort of thing she usually did, but she didn't care.

Ron slowly extracted the utensil from his mouth and stared at her. She began rubbing her hand further up Ron's thigh, all the while getting closer and closer to his groin. She kept her grin from spreading wider as she felt his muscles tighten. Ron cleared his throat.

Hermione smirked at him as she slid her hand upward and placed it on his crotch. Ron gripped the white tablecloth as he tried to remain neutral so no one would start looking over at them. He looked at her inquisitively as she made long strokes with her fingers.

Ron leaned down in his chair so he was slouching somewhat. When he did this Hermione's felt him harden under her touch and she smiled. Ron's eyes were dark as he stared at the table, determined not to cause any attention to be brought upon them.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked suddenly. His voice was rough and husky. It seemed that he had gotten the message.

Hermione nodded. She retracted her hand from Ron they left the restaurant quickly. Hermione noticed that Ron's grip on her waist was a little tighter than usual as they hurried down the street to Ron's apartment. When they reached his building, Ron practically dragged Hermione by the hand up the stairs.

When they arrived at Ron's apartment he went to open the door but it was locked. Hermione waited patiently as he searched his pockets for his key.

"I must have forgotten it," he explained when he didn't bring the key out of any of his pockets.

"Can you just use your wand?" she asked anxiously.

"No," he answered. "They use security spells. Maybe Ritchie's home."

Ritchie was Ron's roommate, who often brought female companions home with him. It was likely for him to have locked the door. That way Ron wouldn't walk in on anything he really didn't want to see.

Ron knocked on the door with his knuckles. They heard someone moving around, a girl giggling, and then the door cracked open as far as the chain lock would allow it. Ritchie poked his nose through the door.

"Hey, Ron!" he whispered. "What's up?"

"Let me in," Ron said.

"Oh, sorry," Ritchie said, looking over his shoulder into the apartment. "Can you come back later? I've got my date with me."

"Well, can you take her to your room?" Ron asked desperately. "I've got Hermione with me."

"Oh, what's up Hermione?"

"Hi, Ritchie," Hermione answered quietly.

"So, are you going to let us in?" Ron asked.

"You know I would," Ritchie replied, running his hand through his spiky blond hair and pulling his lip ring into his mouth with his teeth. He looked back for a moment then turned to them again. "But this girl is kind of freaky, so we're trying something in the kitchen. She's not that freaky though, so I think if other people are here it'll get her outta the mood. So, could you go somewhere else?"

Ron sighed in frustration. "Sure, I guess."

"Thanks," Ritchie said quickly. "I owe you." With that he shut the door with a snap.

He took Hermione's hand and led her back down the stairs. "Can we go to your place?" he asked.

She nodded.

When they finally got to Hermione's apartment Ron was squeezing her hand so tight that she thought he was going to break her fingers. They climbed the stairs to her apartment and entered it.

They stood in the living room awkwardly for a moment. Hermione took a deep breath and boldly stepped nearer to him. He pulled her close to him and kissed her softly. Hermione kissed him back and pressed her body against him as hard as she could. Ron began to harden again and she pushed harder when she felt his penis pressing against her lower abdomen.

She pulled him to her bedroom and pushed him onto her bed. He lay flat on his back and Hermione straddled him. She leaned down and kissed him while she rocked her hips back and forth to cause friction between them. Ron slipped his hands up the back of her shirt. She sat up again and pulled her shirt off. Ron just scanned her body. He sat up so they were face-to-face while she was still on top of him.

He rubbed her back lightly, causing goose bumps to rise all over her. He brought his hands over her shoulders to her breasts. He massaged them slowly through the delicate fabric of her bra, making Hermione close her eyes and shiver. She was glad she didn't feel awkward. She didn't have that strange nervousness she usually had when she slept with someone new for the first time. She felt comfortable and uninhibited.

She took the edges of Ron's shirt and pulled it off. She let her hands travel from his broad shoulders to his chest and down to his tight stomach. Ron leaned in and kissed her neck from her earlobe down to her collarbone.

Suddenly, there was a noise in the living room. They both stopped moving and turned toward the door.

"What was that?" Hermione whispered. She climbed off Ron and pulled her shirt back on. She tiptoed to the living room with a shirtless Ron behind her.

"Hermione!" a voice called from the fireplace.

"Oh no!" Hermione whispered, recognizing the voice. "That's my mother!"

"What?"

"My mum!" she shrieked quietly. "I got her fireplace hooked up to the Floo network so I wouldn't have to get a phone. And now I'm just realizing why Ginny said that was a mistake."

"Well, tell her you're busy," Ron suggested anxiously.

"I can't," Hermione answered, still peering through the doorway toward the living room. "She'll just keep bugging me."

"Well, should we just give up on this?" Ron asked somewhat sadly. "We keep getting interrupted. Someone out there doesn't want this to happen."

"No," Hermione replied determinedly. She thought for a moment. "I've got an idea. Wait here."

She crept into the living room and peeked around the corner so she could see into the fireplace. She turned back to Ron. "She's gone now, but she'll be back in a couple minutes. Grab your shirt and come on."

When Ron had put his shirt back on Hermione grabbed his hand and pulled him to the door. They had just stepped into the hall when they heard another, "Hermione!" drift from the living room. Hermione snapped the door closed.

---

Hermione took the keys to the candy shop and opened the door. She and Ron entered.

"What are we doing?" Ron questioned, flicking on the lights.

Hermione didn't reply. She took Ron's hand again and led him behind the counter. She pulled her wand from her pocket and conjured a large comfortable looking blanket, which she folded and placed on the floor.

"Here?" Ron asked surprised.

"Why not?" she asked, going back to the door and locking it securely. She flipped the light back off.

"But what about the not fooling around in the workplace rule?" he asked with raised eyebrows.

"These aren't business hours," she replied.

They lay down on the quilt and began kissing again. She broke the kiss for a moment so they could both remove their shirts. Ron reached behind her and expertly snapped the clasp of her bra. She felt his hands go to the button of her pants and unfasten it. He took the waist of Hermione's pants and pulled them off so that she was lying on the blanket in nothing but her underwear.

She sat up a little so she could undo Ron's pants. When they were off he threw them on top of their other clothes and Hermione stared at his boxers. His erection was visible through them and she smiled.

"This is the first time we're going to see each other completely naked," Ron stated.

Hermione hesitated but then decided there was no harm in telling Ron now. "That's not entirely true," she said. "I've seen you naked before."

"What?" he exclaimed. "When?"

"That day that I went to the bathroom and thought Ginny was in the shower and it turned out to be you," she answered.

"But you said you didn't see anything," he said.

"I lied," she grinned. "But I liked what I saw."

He smiled. It took only a few seconds for the rest of their clothing to be removed.

Hermione was on her back looking up at Ron, who was hovering above her. He stared back at her.

"I love you," she said.

"I love you too," he replied. "Ready?" he asked. She nodded. He hesitated. "We don't have to do this now, if you don't want to. We can wait if you're not sure."

"I'm sure," she answered. "I don't want to wait."

"Thank God," Ron said playfully. He gradually pushed himself inside Hermione.

Hermione closed her eyes. Ron was inside of her. A thousand different feelings coursed through her at once. Never in her life had she ever felt this close to someone. It was the most amazing feeling she'd ever experienced. Every time Ron pumped into her and every time she met his thrusts she felt more and more in love with him.

At that moment she realized then loved everything about him. She loved the way he smelled, the way he moved, the way he talked, the way he made love to her, the way he kissed her, the way he pulled gently at her hair in the throws of passion. She was in love with him and she loved that too.

When they were done, Hermione lay on Ron's chest with her fingers laced through his. She glanced over at the calendar that hung on the wall of the candy shop. It was May thirteenth. She said the month and number over and over in her head. She never wanted to forget it. She turned over on her side and fell asleep with Ron's arms around her.

I know this isn't great and it's super fluffy but there you go. Please review!