say farewell to the easy life ; RON

[HERMIONE GRANGER]

Hermione had been sitting up, rolling through the evening hours by reading a new book she'd purchased right before the year began. Hermione had thought to find Ron and Harry, to see what they were up to, but in a castle as large as the one she resided in, well, that would be nearly impossible. The two boys could be off anywhere in the castle, up to something that was most likely against the rules. They could also be outside, running around doing who-knows-what or playing Quidditch with friends. With the rain that was pouring down outside, though, that didn't seem like the correct option. Hermione could survive without Harry and Ron at her side constantly, but it was as if she felt more safe with them by her side. She was a strong, independent girl on her own, she could handle being on her own, but her two male best friends always brought a joke or some sort of information around to her when they were hanging out together. Hermione had her book propped open in her lap. It was a rather large book, about as big as Hogwarts; A History, the newest edition. It was instead a book about creatures, the new ones discovered, and how they had an effect on the Wizarding World. All sorts of creatures were profiled in the book, and Hermione wanted to read about them. She had a desire, a thirst, for knowledge. Hermione had been that way since her very First Year. The fireplaces had a roaring fire contained within, and it crackled with life. It kept Hermione warm while she was by the fireplace, still in her uniform clothing from the day. Hermione had not bothered to change out of it because she had been so absorbed by her reading. People passed by and said hello every so often, paused to chat, and Hermione socialized back. But she was so enveloped in her book that she mainly ignored people.

But that was not the only thing that distracted her from being social. There was something that worried Hermione. Something that truly bothered Hermione, and had been for a few weeks. Really, in all honesty, it was a few things mingled together, whirling around and taunting her to succumb and become weak, not to fight back. But Hermione was that strong, stubborn girl who was determined to no end to fight back. She had so much to lose if she succumbed, and so much to keep and gain if she fought back. Voldemort worried Hermione, more than Harry knew. With the news from the previous year that Voldemort had truly returned, and with hardly anyone believing Harry, that set a great deal of stress over Hermione, and caused her to read a lot more on the Dark Arts, dueling, spells, and the lot. She also read a lot of history, to know what others did and to some times distract her from her own pain and worry. She tried to think positively through the situation, and brave through whatever storm came her way. At times, Hermione broke. But she couldn't think about that now. She got to the Redcaps page and her mind had wandered for about half an hour, thinking about different subjects. She sighed and took a look around. No Ron, no Harry. She sat on the couch alone, and it was becoming later into the evening, so some tired students were heading to their dorm rooms. The volume level in the room had significantly decreased. Thunder boomed outside and lightning flickered, causing people to have moved away from the closed windows, to avoid the noise and shaking. Hermione remained on the couch she had originally sat on, not bothered a bit by the thunder and lightning. For Hermione, it was strangely calming.

Half an hour later, the thunder still rumbled, the lightning flashed in the sky, and the Common Room was beginning to empty. Hermione had turned to Grindylows, and was reading what it eats when she felt herself getting drowsy. It was getting late, and Hermione had been missing out on some necessary sleep. She stifled a yawn, and continued reading after pausing to stretch for a moment. There were only a few other Gryffindors in the Common Room, and although Hermione felt tired, she just could not push herself to go to bed in her dormitory room. Another thing besides Voldemort was bothering her, intertwining with that problem to cause her stress. Delores Umbridge. A huge terror squeezed into tiny pink robes. It bothered Hermione that Umbridge chose Hogwarts to take over as High Advisor for. She was taking over the school, literally, and preventing any time in class for practice of defensive spells, deeming it ridiculous that students learn it. She'd already outwardly expressed her rage, but Umbridge had stomped on Hermione's words like a huge creature to an insect. Hermione had no say, no control, and desperately wished for an answer to the problems. By the time her thoughts had gathered back to her book, Hermione noticed that everyone was gone from the Common Room, and that it was late. She summoned a blanket from her room to her, yawning. she kept the lilac purple blanket by her side, craving a nap. Perhaps Hermione could simply sleep for a half hour, read some more, and then go to bed. Hermione stood for a moment, going over to the window, standing in front of it and feeling the reflection of the stained glass every time lightning struck. Rain slid down the window, falling as it did outside. She watched it for a moment, gathering her thoughts. Life never was easy at Hogwarts for Hermione; but somehow, she never really minded that. Her, Harry and Ron had always pulled through any task directed at them and had made it out alive. But Hermione was starting to get the sinking feeling that their luck was running out, that they would slip up and something very bad would go wrong. Call it woman's intuition or whatever, but Hermione had a feeling that things were getting a lot more difficult, and would for the three best friends that had always braved everything that came in their way. Nothing was easy, and now what seemed impossible was becoming a possibility.

Hermione returned to the couch, her eyelids closing slowly. She lay down on the couch, her mind whirring, and yet, her eyes closed before she could get her blanket on. She lay down on the couch, head on a pillow, curls splaying behind her, consuming the rest of the pillow behind her. She did not snore, but Hermione fell into a dreamland state, immediately immersed in a dream. Or rather, what seemed to turn into a nightmare. It was not a premonition, as Harry had proved to have. Hermione's was a dream. Water rushed around her, up to her waist. Gray skies swarmed above her, and looking around her, Hermione saw fiery red hair. Ron. He was not a far distance from her, but more than an arms reach. He looked confused, bewildered by being in the water. She called his name, and he turned to her, but her voice echoed, even though the two were in the open. She turned, trying to find a shore, and could not find one. That was a little odd, not seeing a shore. Harry was also nowhere to be found. Suddenly, Harry burst out of the water, gasping for air, Voldemort by his side. Hermione screamed; she could not believe the sight before her. She tried to move through the water, but it felt solid, immovable around her body. Hermione reached for Ron, but it seemed like he was taking forever and a day trying to get to her. Harry was pulled under, and Hermione called out his name, but no sound came from her. She was silenced somehow. She turned to Ron, who was just about to reach her, when she was being pulled under. All she could see was a form in pink, and she immediately realized who it was. She was drowning, calling out Ron's name to save her. Outside of her dream, she was mumbling Ron's name, and that she was drowning, calling for help in nothing more than murmurs and mumbles. She was literally drowning in her problems in her sleep. She had a reason for not being able to sleep. Who said Harry was the only one with bad dreams?

[ron]

It was late, really, really late. Ron was out past curfew, but he had managed to escape Filch, Mrs. Norris and Peeves. For a few hours, Ron had been outside flying on his broomstick. Sure, a normal person would not be outside in the stormy weather, but Ron knew if he wanted to do well on the Quidditch team, he needed to be prepared for all sorts of weather. This weather was no different than the game Harry played third year. Actually, if anything, it was better weather because there were no Dementors around to make everything so much worse. So for a while, Ron flew on his broom, trying to train his eyes to still see through the rain and to not jump every time he heard thunder or saw lightning. Thank Merlin Malfoy nor any like-minded Slytherin was around because if they saw him jumping, they would have taken the mickey out on him. Ron was by no means afraid of thunder and lightning, rather, he enjoyed it. The experience differed greatly when one was on a wooden broomstick high in the air. It changed the perspective completely because suddenly, Ron did not feel so safe. But after a while, he learned to ignore the sounds and the flashes, which was just what he wanted. If Ron had to play a game in such dismal weather, he did not want to miss the Quaffle just because he heard a scary boom. It was hard to see, but luckily, the ball he had to play with was bright red, so it would be easier to see than the Bludger or the Snitch. Ron would not want to be Harry in a game like this. It would be impossible to try to see the Snitch.

Eventually, when Ron figured he learned as much as could, and felt completely frozen to the bone, he decided to safely store his broomstick back in his dormitory. By that time, it was still early, so Ron wandered around for something to do. He did not see Hermione with her book, somehow, but the common room was so crowded and he figured if she was alone, she would be at the library. Ron did not know where Harry was, but assumed with his record so far this year, he was probably in detention. Ron had a hard time remembering when Harry wasn't in detention, honestly. Not wanting to sit around by himself waiting for his friends, Ron decided to go to the library to find Hermione. He looked carefully at every table and in every row of endless books, but there was still no Hermione. He quickly left the library because Madam Pince looked at him suspiciously, probably knowing he never entered her hallowed room alone. He did not want to get banned from the library the year that would need it the most, until seventh year, of course. As he exited the library, he ran out of ideas though. Where would Hermione be? He decided just to wander around, hoping maybe he would run into Harry or Hermione in the hallways, but he had no such luck. He saw Neville, who kept bothering him with questions about an assignment, but Ron managed to throw him off and quickly leave in the opposite direction.

By the time curfew was approaching for fifth years, Ron still had not found anyone, well, anyone worth talking to. He saw Peeves in an empty classroom writing obscene words, but luckily, Peeves was too busy trying to write a dirty poem to notice the tall redhead. Out of ideas, Ron decided to go back to the common room. He started walking toward the quickest path to Gryffindor tower, but something stopped him --- a rather large something. He had just stepped on a staircase when it decided to change. Ron was quite used to staircases doing this by now, but it became horribly annoying and wasted even more time. Why couldn't they just stay put? Luckily, after five years, Ron absolutely knew his way around the castle, except, well, he really did not recognize this hallway that the staircase led him to. It was eerily silent and the portraits were staring at him like they knew he was up to no good.

Finally, after a late night wandering, Ron managed to find something that looked familiar again, which helped him find Gryffindor Tower. The Fat Lady gave him a telling off for getting back so late, which he ignored except for a roll of his eyes. He entered the common room to find that it was seemingly empty. Ron did not wear a watch, so he had no idea what time it really was. All he wanted to do was go upstairs and fall into bed, but hearing his named turned him around. He looked around for the source until he finally he saw Hermione asleep on a couch. He grinned, imagining the very worst (or in his case, the very best), which made Ron feel very good about himself, but he realized as he listened that her voice sounded off. Worried for her, Ron sat down on the couch where he could find a bit of room and shoved Hermione slightly, "Hermione, hey, Hermione. Wake up." He shoved a bit harder, wondering if she was okay.

[HERMIONE GRANGER]

The waters was filling her lungs when Hermione seemed to be jarred out of the water by Ron. But when he spoke, he wasn't making sense in the situation they were in. His fiery hair clung to his forehead and the sides of his face, his eyes glued to hers. Ron was trying to tell Hermione to wake up, but that was something irrelevant to the fact that Hermione had nearly drowned. His voice also echoed, deeply booming around her in the distance. She furrowed her brows at him, confused by what he said. "Wake up? From what?" She questioned, but outside of her dream, she was whispering it, barely audible. Ron was suddenly blurring out of focus, and she could not see him clearly. All she could hear was his voice echoing, telling her to wake up. He was not making sense, and she could feel herself beginning to cry. Tears fell along with droplets of water from her body, and Hermione could not focus her eyesight. Was she truly dying? There was so much she had to say to everyone, that could not possibly be the end of it all. Everything around her was darkening, going finally black, and she felt like she was being shaken, and a more solid voice was coming through to her. It was obviously Ron; after five years of knowing him, Hermione had grown to know his voice in almost any room, any size of crowd. She opened her eyes to find a warmer, less horrifying sight before her.The crackling sound of the wood burning in the fire returned to her ears. The smell of the Common Room was suddenly flowing into her nose, and her book dropped off of the end of the couch onto the floor with a dull thud. Even though it was a dull noise, she jumped. Her life had nearly ended in a night terror, and Hermione was grateful to be out. The thunder rumbled, less noisily than when she had fallen asleep, but strangely it comforted her. She knew she was safely back out of her dream world, where she knew she could control a situation. Hermione no longer felt threatened.

Feeling the presence of someone beside her, Hermione looking to the couch she was on, and saw her best friend. She was so happy to see Ron on the couch, alive and well. Without hesitation and without thought, Hermione hugged him. She held on to him with all of her might. She could not lose Ron Weasley, perhaps even more than she couldn't lose Harry Potter. She would never bring herself to admit that, though, because it would mean admitting feelings for Ron, which she denied having. He was her best friend, she was supposed to feel that way about him. Wasn't she? Hermione held on to him for a moment longer and then realized he probably thought that she had gone mental for suddenly hugging him, and pulled back from it. "You woke me up. Thank you. I just, erm, had a bit of a bad dream." Hermione confessed to him as much as she allowed, for she did not want Ron fussing over her dreams and how worried she had been. That wasn't something that needed to be discussed. Hermione was allowed to have bad dreams, it didn't necessarily mean that she was always having one about them all dying by Voldemort's hand. Ron needn't worry about Hermione. She was strong enough on her own. Hermione slid her legs around where Ron was sitting so she could sit up from having laid down. Hermione would give him room.S he fixed her hair for any strays, hearing the thunder rumble, only it was becoming less threatening. The storm must have been passing by now; Hermione must have been asleep for some time. She gathered up her book and put it on the table before clearing her throat.

She wondered why Ron was with her. Why he was sitting next to her at such a late time of night, when she had barely seen him all night. Hermione looked to him finally, averting her eyes from the fireplace. "Where were you? I haven't seen you all night. You haven't been out causing trouble, have you?" Hermione questioned, practically interrogating him. But her voice was more at ease, more gentle, more worried than angry. If Ron was out doing something dangerous, Hermione at least wanted to be out there to get him out of a potentially risky situation if one ever arose. It was late at night, as well, because the moon was peeking out and it was high up in the sky, signaling it being later in the night. She didn't need Astrology Class to know that. Nobody was in the Common Room, and Hermione knew that the Prefects and Head Students would still be patrolling because they had not woken her from her slumber to tell her to move to her dormitory room. She wondered with curiosity and worried where Ron might have been, and who he might have been with. Jealousy started prodding at Hermione, who tried to ignore it. "Were you with Harry? I haven't seen him all night either." Hermione inquired further, with an underlying motive as to why she asked the question. She knew there would never be a relationship between her and Ron, because evidently Ron did not return her feelings, and she would never admit them to him. He was not interested in her, but she still wanted to know. He had always asked about Viktor Krum the year before, so it was in her judicial right to ask him.

[ron]

Ron found it hard to believe that Hermione did not always have the answers, even when asleep. He stopped pushing her since she seemed to be waking up, but just mumbled, “From a dream.” He was desperate to know what she was dreaming about, what had her so worried, but he chose not to ask. From her panicked voice when she said his name, he thought that he might not want to know. Who wanted to hear about his death, assuming Hermione dreamt about his death? Either way, it did not sound good. No, the only way Ron wanted to hear about Hermione’s dreams if she was saying his name in a much different way, a much happier way. Unless… what if she was dreaming about in him a not-so-friendly way and in the dream he was so bad that she became upset? No, that couldn’t be it. Could it? No, Ron refused to believe his dream self was that bad that Hermione would want to cry.

The thud of the dropped book made Ron jump as well as Hermione and he looked at it on the floor for something to do. He did not know what to say to make Hermione feel better. Generic phrases flashed through his mind ‘It’ll be OK,’ or ‘It’s just a dream,’ or I’m here.’ All sounded completely ridiculous, so he just remained awkwardly silent. All of a sudden, Hermione attacked him and he wondered if he should pull out of his wand to defend himself. He wondered if maybe she was still asleep and thought he was attacking her. After a moment, he realized it was just a hug. Just like in third year, he had no idea how to react. His blue eyes grew large. The hug felt nice, obviously. It meant that he did the right thing by waking her up. Ron so rarely did the right thing that he wondered if this was the standard. He would certainly try to do better in the future if the reward became a hug. He had just reached out to pat her on the back, since that sort of seemed like the right thing to do, and maybe it would extend the hug, when she pulled away. His hand dangled in mid-air, so he ran it through his hair, not sure what else to do with it.

“Oh, yeah,” Ron replied stupidly, “That’s what I figured. I’m glad you’re OK,” Even his head, that sounded stupid. It was a dream. Of course she was fine. Unfortunately, when he said it, he sounded even more ridiculous. He cleared his throat, once again, not sure what to do. At this point, he almost wished he had ignored her and gone to bed. That sounded terrible of him, but Ron really just did not know what to do with upset women. He was used to women that were happy or angry. Sad women just confused the hell out of him. He wanted to help Hermione feel better, but he did not know what to do or say to make her happy again. But as long as she wasn’t yelling at him, he guessed that was a good thing.

Oh, there starts the fighting. What? Was Hermione his babysitter or something? She had to know everywhere he was at every moment of the day? “I was looking for you,” Ron said, a bit harsher than necessary. He did not realize that Hermione meant it out of concern, not spite. She probably was upset because he was a prefect and he had to set a good example. Bugger! Ron was a prefect! If he met with anyone, he could have just said he was doing patrols. No one would think otherwise. Oh well. At least he did not run into anyone. That was definitely an excuse to remember for the future though. It was tempting to think he could walk around at any time and no one could say anything to him. Well, maybe they could. Maybe people knew when prefects were patrols. Change of plan. Save that excuse unless absolutely necessary.

For a moment, Ron had forgotten that Hermione had allegedly snapped at him, so proud he was with his new excuse. He remembered and was about to angrily retort again when she mentioned Harry. She didn’t know where Harry was? He thought maybe the two would be together, but the fact she had not seen Harry worried him momentarily. What if Malfoy did something? “No, I didn’t see him, I thought he was with you. Where do you think he is?” It never occurred to Ron that if Hermione thought she knew where he was, she would have found him.

----
Notes: Sooo sorry about all of the delays. I got internet back so I can post much quicker now!

[HERMIONE GRANGER]

Hermione was a tiny bit stunned by his first comment. He was glad she was alright? Hermione had not actually been drowning; the statement would have been more appropriate in the case that Hermione had actually been in real danger. "Thank you for your concern, Ronald. I mean, it was only a dream, but your support is appreciated." She informed him, trying to make herself seem polite, but it really was not working in her favor. With Ron, even the most polite of her words turned into those of annoyance, and Hermione couldn't control herself. As much as she fancied Ron, it just would not work for Hermione to get away from the irritated tones she used on him. It wasn't intentional, it just so happened that at times, Hermione slipped up and got irritated with him, and conveyed it through her words instead of her eyes. Hermione wished now that she could have taken back what she said, but apologizing meant being the weaker of the two. Ron was definitely not at fault for her short temper with him, at times it was merely Hermione hoping that Ron would have reacted different;y. Her hug had not been returned; she'd awkwardly sat there, grasping on to his torso, and he did not have the decency to even return the hug. Her brown eyes gave Ron's cobalt blue eyes a look warning him not to test her; Hermione was not in the mood to be tested. Ron still went ahead and did what she mentally requested he not. The nerve of Ronald Weasley upset Hermione a lot.

Ron, being the boy that he was, just had to play at the nerve that was rising in Hermione against Ron. He had to push the wrong buttons in her mind. She could have nearly strangled Ron right then and there if it weren't for the laws against it; Hermione was so hurt by his words. She was by no means wondering where he was at all times - Hermione only asked when she was concerned or worried about something, and worried for Ron's safety. Hermione did not mean to be a nagging type, it just so happened that her words came out that way. She'd nearly been drowning (or so it had been in her dream), and now he was bothering her with his unnecessary tone? Hermione did not deserve that. It stung her with every work he uttered, and Hermione tried not to wince from his hurtful words. "Don't give me that tone, Ronald. I was concerned, I didn't know if you or Harry were in trouble. You don't know how bad it would be if I lost Harry or you." Hermione quipped in her own defense. Then, looking past the tone rather daftly, Hermione noticed that Ron had been looking for her. Her heart took a tiny, hopeful leap in the direction of Ron liking her. But, of course he didn't. That had been something that Hermione questioned, but he never told Hermione, so she grew used tot he idea that Ron never fancied her, that she was sitting at a friendship level in his mind. But, that did not prevent Hermione from inquiring hopefully. "Looking for me? Why?" She questioned curiously, hoping for all sake that there was nothing going wrong while she was not around.

Ron could not find Harry. Her heart set into panic momentarily. She grabbed Ron's lower arm, not hard, but so that he knew she was worried. She looked to the fireplace, the embers crackling the odd spark, trying to think. Then she remembered the talk that Harry had had with Hermione a few days previous about Harry doing extra school work, doing actual school work. About proving everyone wrong about being the lucky one through all of his battles, and learning his true knowledge about magic by doing the work, not relying on Hermione for a majority of it, like Ron some times did. Hermione also remembered that Harry had sworn Hermione to secrecy for what he had told her, preventing her from allowing Ron in on Harry's sudden studious behaviour. It had nearly killed Hermione to keep something from Ron, and had told Harry that as a precaution, because Hermione was sure that if Ron ever found out that Hermione kept something secret about Harry from him, then Ron would hate her forever, no questions asked, no explanation able to be given. Hermione could hardly forgive herself for having sworn secrecy against Ron, and now by looking at him, the deep pang of guilt settled after twisting and wrenching in her stomach. She felt as though she might have thrown up from the guilt she felt. it may seem silly, but Hermione loved her friends, and did not want to keep secrets from them if it would mean hurting them in the long run, or hurting her friendship with them if they found out. Such was the case with Ron. So what did she do? She eased the look of guilt that she gave through her eyes, and lied. "I think I remember him at breakfast this morning saying he was going to turn in early tonight. I think he just wanted to be alone. I asked him about it, he just said he wasn't feeling well. Nothing to worry about." Hermione was lying through her teeth and Ron would have obviously noticed it if he wasn't daft. She let go of his arm, and she hoped Ron would take her lie. It was horrible lying to Ron, but for Harry, she was forced to. She could not break the promise.

[ron]

Ron wanted to hit himself. He knew he sounded like a prat, and what was more, Hermione thought so, too. It was only a dream. That was what she said. He hated when people treated him like a simpleton, especially Hermione. No, he was not as smart as she was. He never would come close to understanding half of what she talked about. But Ron Weasley, at 15 years old, knew the difference between a dream and reality. He knew that back when he was five years old. Did she really think he was that stupid? Maybe that was why she liked older guys like Vicky. Ron never would stand a chance with her. He was too young and too stupid. He refused to let her know how much she hurt him though. She would probably dismiss his hurt as childish. Instead, he said, “Right, well, I was just trying to help,” He was angry and hurt and they both reflected in his tone, much as he tried to keep them out, “I just meant that you sounded like something was wrong and I didn’t know you were dreaming at first. I was trying to be a good friend.” That was completely false. He had known she was dreaming, but let her feel guilty. Let her feel like the bad friend.

“You didn’t think we were in trouble, Hermione,” Ron said, matching her angry tone. How could it be that one moment everything was amazing and Ron was getting hugs and everyone was happy and then all of a sudden, they were fighting again? Why did they always fight? Why did she have to always try to make him feel stupid or childish? She was not his mother, much as she tried to act like it. “You thought I was causing trouble. Admit it. You’re just afraid that Prefect Ron is going to do something to mess up your legacy. I wasn’t doing anything.” Maybe the reason Hermione treated him like a child was because sometimes, he really acted like one. He could not help it though. Hermione brought out that side of him. It sometimes seemed like the fights he got into with Ginny, but this was so much more. Here there was more to lose. Ginny would always be his sister, even if he teased her about liking Harry. Hermione could walk away without a backward’s glance at any time. Not that this ever stopped Ron from saying what he wanted to. That’s who he was. Say it first, regret it later, but don’t tell anyone you regret it.

Quick as a flash of lightning, her tone changed. How did she do that? He wanted to be mad at her, but then she asked why he was looking for her. Even Ron could tell she sounded hopeful. But why? Why did she sound hopeful? Maybe… no, Ron. He refused to let himself think that for even a second. Still, he liked that she was not fighting with him. Could they just stay on that level? Just for a few minutes? “Oh, er, I was….” What could he say that would not, in any circumstance, be taken the wrong way? What could he say so that she would not get mad at him? Don’t mention homework. Obviously if she thought he was looking for her to help him with homework, she would probably get frustrated. That was not a safe topic. He could not say anything about prefect duties because well, she would never believe him. “I was bored,” Ron finally said. He nodded. That seemed safe. If he was bored, he would look for Hermione, and he was bored, and she could not take that the wrong way because if he was bored and wanted to hang out with her, that meant they were friends. It did not mean anything more than friends, so he was safe. It was the perfect answer.

There she was, touching him again. He learned from his mistake this time. He had to react faster, but this was new. If she hugged him, he was supposed to pat her on the head or on the back. Which brought up the question, she had so much hair, did she even feel if he touched her on the head? Maybe he should just touch her on the back. Was that too… more than friends? Maybe the shoulder. Yeah, when Hermione hugged him in the future (oh, he hoped she did), he would pat her on the shoulder. Maybe if he was brave enough, he could even return the hug. Yeah, maybe one day. But focus, Weasley. Hermione was currently touching his arm and he did not know what he was supposed to do. He did not even remember why she was touching his arm. Did he do something right? What was the last thing he said? He could not even remember. All he could do was look at the spot where she was still touching him. Well, if it was safe for a friend to touch another friend of the opposite sex on the arm, obviously it would be safe for said friend to touch the same other friend of the opposite sex in the same way. He rested his hand on her lower arm, but really, it felt sort of awkward. It almost felt like they were about to do an Unbreakable Vow. But still, he was touching Hermione. And that was a start.

Finally, he brought himself out of his stupor of success and looked at Hermione, who seemed to be saying something about Harry in his dorm. Oh right. They were worried where he was. Well, if he was upstairs, that was fine then. Ron nodded, not sure how to respond, “Oh, right.” Yeah, that seemed like a safe response. In his head, all he could keep thinking about was that he touched Hermione’s arm. Gryffindors are indeed very brave.

[HERMIONE GRANGER]

There it was. Another fight. Hermione had lost count long ago of the amount of fights her and Ron had, because they seemed to be created out of nothing, and always ended either by one of them walking away, one crying (usually Hermione), or one of them saying they were sorry. Hermione was never used to their fights; one would think Hermione would be used to fighting with Ron by now, but that was not the case. Hermione hated fighting with Ron, because of the chance that one day, Ron might just up and leave Hermione and never return. He could just leave her and not take a second glance her way, and never see her again. That chance always remained in her head after a fight, and she was always glad when she saw the redhead with blue eyes the next day, even if he still was enraged with her. It meant Ron had not left Hermione. It meant he was still around, still in her life. Hermione sighed at his tone. Again, it felt like Gryffindor's sword piercing her heart a thousand times, although she would never let Ron know that. She could not let him know how much he had hurt her. Hermione just could not show her weakness to him. "I'm sorry. You were being a good friend." She stated apologetically, showing him with her eyes that she was guilty. She was too tired to argue. But then Ron brought up that Hermione only worried about herself, and Hermione had been just apologizing for her self. But there Ron went, ranting on about her insecurities and flaws, and Hermione was not about to have any of that. She suddenly woke up a lot more, and was about to unleash her fury upon Ron.

Hermione was entirely shocked by what Ron had said. He was really pushing daggers into her, causing an emotional pain that Hermione would never admit, but always felt. Ron always belittled her, made her feel like she should be sorry for asking a small question. Hermione looked very angry now. "Ron, you know I was not implying that you were out causing trouble alone! I am not a daft girl. I was just concerned with where you were, because I had not seen you. I worried because I didn't want Slytherins ganging up on you and hurting you, or you being in trouble and not having someone to help you." Hermione informed him, the undertone of anger evident in her voice. He was turning the tables on her, making her the bad person, when really, worrying was all she had been doing. "And for your information, Ronald Weasley, I am far from worried about you tarnishing my reputation, because i've done nothing wrong. I'm not supposed to stop you from doing anything wrong. I'm just your best friend." She raised her voice a bit to accentuate her point - that she didn't have anything bad to say about Ron, and that she wasn't worried for her own sake, but more so his. Why could he just not understand her for once and halt the fighting? The look of pain was painting its way through her eyes, and she bit her lip nervously. She did not know how he would react that way to her worry, but Hermione could not help but to worry when Ron was not around for a very long time.

Hermione sighed. She had had enough for a night of fighting, and did not want to fight any longer, hoping Ron wished the same. She did not think Ron enjoyed fighting with her either; it just sort of happened and ended as it went. Hermione enjoyed the small amount of moments they shared of laughter and happiness. It reminded her that above all, they were remaining in a strong friendship, if nothing else. It at least calmed Hermione to know Ron was still around after all of the times they had yelled at each other endlessly. He stated he'd been bored and looked for her, and Hermione nodded. "I'm a little surprised, seeing as my idea of fun is usually pulling out a book to read. Not much fun for you." Hermione informed him, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, looking down at her hands for a moment. Hermione was never ashamed of her ability to enjoy reading as much as she did. She loved knowledge, she found it powerful in emergencies and bad situations. Everyone knew her love for books, and Hermione was not ashamed of it. She wasn't a girly girl, thank goodness. Hermione could not stand talking about clothing and boys all day, every day. It would bore her quickly. A lot of her girl friends didn't talk about it all day every day either, although some times they spoke of their boy problems. Hermione always spoke about Ron's fights with her, but never about how she liked Ron. Who could she tell? Obviously he would laugh if he ever caught word of Hermione liking him, because there was no way a boy like Ronald Weasley liked a girl like Hermione Granger. It just didn't happen.

He touched her arm. Ron Weasley touched her arm. All feelings of panic vanished, washing away and being replaced by a feeling of joy. It was as though a spark rand through her from the spot where he touched her arm up to her heart, causing her heart to beat a bit faster. Hermione breathed in and out slowly, trying to focus. Lying to him felt a lot worse when he was connecting to her like that, when he was making himself much more likable than before. Hermione's deep feeling of guilt twisted and knotted in her stomach, causing her to feel a whole deal worse than she originally had. Why could she not tell Ron what Harry was up to? Because she promised, and Hermione did not break promises. Hermione just wished she did not have to hurt Ron without him knowing. It vexed her, and Hermione did not know how to react. When Ron replied to her lie, it looked as though Ron had no clue whether or not she was lying. He seemed thoroughly distracted and distant, and that concerned Hermione. He was so clueless to it that she fought not to just tell him everything Harry had told her. "Everything alright, Ron?" Hermione asked him, squeezing his lower arm gently to emphasize her point and to get Ron to focus on what she asked him. Hopefully he was alright. She didn't want something wrong now that they were starting to get things right in their friendship. It had been strained enough previously.

[ron]

Hermione apologized. It was something of a miracle. Hermione apologized! Ron wished there was someone around so that he could tell everyone. Unfortunately, they still were alone in the large common room. He wanted to drop the entire fight, but she had really angered him. He was only being a good friend and she jumped down his throat. She should apologize. It was all of her fault. Well, maybe not, but that’s what Ron told himself so he didn’t feel bad. In all reality, he should apologize, too. But she only apologized for getting mad about him being a good friend. She had not apologized for treating him like a child and demanding to know where she was. He kept silent as she continued to rant, but with every word she said, he felt worse. She was worried that something happened to him? He did not know how he felt about that. He liked that she was concerned, of course. The fact that she did worry and thought that she had to worry made him nervous though. He knew You-Know-Who was back and the Slytherins would probably want to prove themselves, but Ron just kept wishing that nothing really would happen. Ron knew that he was no match against Crabbe and Goyle. Magically, he could take the both of them, but they would probably just look to beat Ron’s face in. He had no idea how to fight. As for Malfoy, Ron did not know if he could take on him. He liked to think he could, but that did not mean anything.

Ron took a deep breath. He did not want to fight with Hermione. She probably was still upset about the dream that she had. He should have been more patient. Everyone who slept in the same house as Ron, which Hermione had, knew that he was cranky when he was awoken. It was probably the same for Hermione, not that he knew. She was always up before him, even during summer hols. “Thanks for being worried, Hermione. I’m sorry that I worried you. I’m fine though.” It took a lot for him not to snap back, but what was the point of fighting? They were only fighting because she thought something happened to him. They needed to stop fighting over such stupid things. They were 15 years old, practically adults. It was time they started acting like it. “You’re more than just my best friend,” Ron said quietly. He realized what he said and his ears turned a classic Weasley red, “I mean, you’re not. Obviously we’re just best friends, but I didn’t want you making it seem like we’re not. You really are my best friend, Hermione. No one else would stay out here waiting until I got back to make sure I’m safe.” He smiled before wondering if perhaps that had not been the reason she was out there. Maybe she was just there because she wanted to read. Maybe she had another row with Lavender and Parvati. Maybe she just wanted some peace and quiet. “I mean, if that’s why you were waiting. You might not have been waiting. I don’t know.” Now he was just rambling like an idiot. He ran a hand through his hair, looking around the room, wishing he could just stop talking.

See, they could do this. Calm was good. Ron smiled at Hermione when she made a joke. He shrugged, “It’s just nice having someone to talk to sometimes, you know?” This statement was a little bit odd since the majority of time Ron and Hermione spoke they ended up fighting. It was true though. Conversation, in whatever form, and with whomever (except Slytherins) was better than silence by himself. He would rather fight every day with Hermione than never see her again, but that was too dorky to admit. This time, he would just be silent rather than say what he was thinking. It was an improvement. Usually Ron just blurted out whatever he was thinking about. Maybe, perhaps, he was growing up. Or maybe he was just sick of turning red of embarrassment. Yeah, probably the latter. He just always seemed to make a fool of himself in front of Hermione. She had that way of bringing it out of him.

Hermione squeezed his arm, which made Ron jump with surprise. He had not been expecting that. He pulled his arm away, wondering if maybe he did something wrong. Was that supposed to be like a pinch? Was he not supposed to touch her? His eyes flitted back and forth to her and then away, trying to guess if she seemed mad, but she seemed fine, maybe just a little flustered. What had she asked him? “Oh, right, yeah. Of course I’m fine. I was just… thinking. You know. Sorry.” Why did he always sound like such a spaz when he spoke with her? Just once he wanted to be calm, cool and collected. He took a deep breath to steady himself. There was no need to overreact. This was just Hermione, “It was nothing important,” He said quickly, before she could ask him what he was thinking about. He was not in any position to make up some sort of lie about what he had been thinking about. It would just sound completely fake and then she would really think something was going on. Hermione was very good about knowing when he was lying. In one way, it was a good thing because it stopped him from lying, which made him a more honest person. There were times that she asked him questions that he never knew how to respond because if he lied, she would know, and if he replied honestly, he would make a fool of himself. Why did she has to be so good at reading people?

[HERMIONE GRANGER]

Hermione sighed, partially in relief. She was glad that Ron was not in any sort of danger, whether it be with a Slytherin group or with someone more dangerous. Hermione really worried about losing him and Harry. The loss of either of them would scar her mentally and emotionally until she felt she couldn't function anymore. She could not function without Harry - other than the entire Wizarding World depending on him to defeat an enemy that half of them still did not believe had returned, Hermione valued his loyalty, wit, and leadership skills. She could not function without Ron - Ron was a rock when she was upset, humorous, and he was always loyal to Hermione and Harry, even when upset with them. Either of them out of her life was obviously a threat to her own life and sanity, because she would surely go mentally unstable without them. Hermione knew that some of the Slytherin students were beginning to pull tricks on the other Houses, bullying them more than usual and joining Umbridge in her horrid punishment sessions. Hermione knew Ron and Harry could handle themselves in a fight, they had skill and knowledge in dueling. Hermione had a vast stream of knowledge on dueling to her advantage and would step up to help them out when she felt it necessary. Call it her compassion for others, her desire to help everyone before herself. It had always been that way for Hermione - helping others with homework, helping them practice their wand work, and helping even with growing Herbology plants. It was in Hermione's nature.

Worrying was also in Hermione's nature. Both Ron and Harry knew that well, because Hermione was constantly reminding them to do what was right, to avoid trouble, to keep within the rules. Hermione simply wanted them to avoid punishment or danger, because again, Hermione wanted to keep them around. So it was thereby understandable that when she had not seen Ron for a day, she might go into a state of being constantly concerned about them until she saw them or heard from them. "Don't be sorry. You know how I always worry. I mean, if you're missing for a day, it's not like you've fallen prey to Death Eaters." She trailed off at the end of her sentence, looking at the fireplace instead of Ron. Hermione did not think of saying it aloud, but when she had, bad images popped up in her mind. The firelight danced in her eyes, and Hermione breathed deeply for a moment. She had not meant to darken the conversation, but it was inevitable; eventually one of them would have brought up something dark - like the Ministry hiding the fact that Voldemort had returned, that they thought Umbridge had alterior motivations to being at Hogwarts, and that certain people were part of the Dark Side. Hermione heard what Ron said next and her heart took a leap toward the possibility that Ron might like her more than just a best friend. He turned a very bright shade of red, and Hermione averted her gaze back to him, raising an eyebrow curiously, giving him a look of question. Then, as soon as Hermione's hopes began to soar, Ron shattered them. He shoved her so fast back into the friend zone that Hermione almost felt as though she'd been physically pushed. Her heart began to ache in a dull manner, but Hermione kept her composure. She did not let him know that she had been stung by his words. Hermione now knew that Ron had no romantic feelings toward her, or he made quite the effort to make it seem that way. She was placed in the friendship zone to stay.

"Well, I had to make sure you were safe. After what happened last year, some times I worry that someone might leave for somewhere and never come back. We don't know who is good and who is not. Anyone could come up and do anything, especially now with You-Know-Who striking fear and gaining strength." Hermione said truthfully, confessing one of her worst fears to Ron without meaning to. Not that Ron was going to be struck directly by Voldemort. One of his followers would probably be the one to hurt Ron, but it still would cause great emotional pain to Hermione. She would throw herself into the fight to save him or anyone else she truly cared for. Knowing now that he was safe and alive, well, it calmed Hermione. It was a sudden relief for her to have seen Ron, as it was to see all of her friends around every day. Hermione was not necessarily paranoid that her friends were always in danger, but the thought crossed her mind if she had not seen or heard from them in a while and they were still not in by nightfall. "Yes, it is good just to talk to someone. Especially at this time of night. You find out a lot about a person at this time of night in a conversation." Hermione agreed. She thanked the heavens it was Saturday tomorrow, though, because she would have been asleep a lot earlier if it was a school night. Hermione liked to be well rested to endure all of her classes without falling asleep. "But if this was a school night, i'd suggest we both be in bed. I'd die if I fell asleep during class." Hermione said, looking worried about it, completely serious. Ron would probably laugh at her for her dedication to her education and grades.

Ron pulled away from Hermione, and she thought she had done something wrong. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you!" Hermione apologized quickly, her words coming out shakily. They had just been speaking comfortably around each other. Now it seemed awkward. Did she hurt him when she squeezed his arm? She had only softly put pressure on his arm. Perhaps he had injured his arm in Quidditch earlier and it was tender. Hermione had no clue what she had done wrong, but Ron had pulled away from her. "Thinking about what? Is everything alright with you?" Hermione became concerned again before she could bite her tongue. Her curls fell over into the sides of her face, and so she swept them back easily with slender fingers. Hermione was beginning to worry about Ron and how he was acting.

[ron]

Ron felt the mood change as she mentioned Death Eaters. He did not know what to say. Suddenly, he felt very ashamed for making her worry. She was right. She did it too much, but that did not mean he had to make it worse for her. She looked at the fireplace, but Ron had the strongest urge to grab her chin and make her look at him. He almost did, but he figured that she would not want to be manhandled like that. Instead, he kept looking at her. His blue eyes were wide and he could not identify his emotions. Was he scared? Did he really think that Death Eaters could get him in the castle? Was he worried for himself? Was he worried for his friends? He did not know how he felt, but he knew that he wanted to make Hermione feel better. He had to say something. “I’m sorry,” Ron said as sincerely as he could, “I didn’t know you thought about things like that. I don’t think like that, so I guess I figure no one else does either.” He wanted to make a joke. He hated conversations being this serious. It made him nervous. But he could not think of a single joke, and even if he did, he knew it would be inappropriate for how Hermione was feeling. He would have to just get through this conversation. It was bound to come up eventually anyway. With them so involved in fighting the Dark Arts, it was important to support each other and to do absolutely anything for each other.

“I don’t think like that because I couldn’t imagine losing you, or Harry,” God, Ron sounded like such a prat. Thank Godric his brothers were not around to hear him. They’d take the mickey out on him for weeks, “Besides, you’re Hermione Granger. You’re the most brilliant girl to ever enter Hogwarts ever probably. I know you can take care of yourself. And Harry always manages to find a way out of his problems. I guess I can understand why you’d be worried about me because I’m not as good as you guys,” He felt his shoulders slumped. He hated talking seriously. He hated admitting fears. He was a boy, and a Gryffindor at that! He was supposed to be fearless! Anything less and he should be resorted into Hufflepuff, “I’m trying though. It’s not easy with that toad Umbridge teaching us. How am I supposed to learn anything with her?” Well, Ron tried being serious, but he could just not do it for too long. He grinned at Hermione, relieved to not be talking seriously anymore, “But if it’ll make you feel better, I’ll stick to you like gum in your hair. I won’t leave you for a moment. You’ll know where I am every second and you’ll get sick of me fast.” He grinned wider at the thought of following Hermione everywhere. To her boring classes, to the library, to her dorm…. Bad idea, Weasley. Don’t think like that.

Aw, man. There Hermione went off talking about serious stuff again. He knew this would happen. He had started talking serious and now it would continue like that. He would have to talk about his feelings and his worries and his insecurities. This was the reason Ron was always joking: to avoid discussions like this, “I’ll always come back,” Ron said, his ears a bright red. That was probably the cheesiest thing he had ever said in his life. He knew there was no way to make it true, but he figured Hermione needed to hear a couple lies at this point to make herself feel better. When she said that you could find out a lot about people at that time of night, Ron jumped for the conversation piece like a drowning victim reaching for a floatation device. He could not handle much more of these serious conversations, “What have you found out about me then, eh?” He hoped nothing. Maybe he had been too honest with his feelings. What if she said that she realized that he liked her and that she obviously did not return the feelings and he would look like a right prat? He hoped she would make a joke about it, something she did not do often, so his chances did not look so good. Ron grinned when she suggested that they would need sleep if it were a school night, “I think I’d die laughing if you fell asleep in class. Although then we’d both be in trouble because my notes will never look like yours, especially in History of Magic.”

He knew she would ask. Ron tried to think of something quick that he could say he was thinking about. Quidditch? No, he obviously would not be thinking about Quidditch when they were discussing such serious things. He could say he was thinking about what it’d be like to lose either of his friends, but then that would depress her, and it would depress him. Quick! He cast his thoughts around, trying to think of something, anything to tell her, “Oh, you know,” He stalled, looking around the common room for some sort of guidance. She seemed worried. He had to say something to calm her down, “Like I said, it’s nothing.” More stalling. He had to think of something. Brilliant! “I was just thinking about O.W.L.’s. They’ll be brutal, if what everyone is saying is true. Just thinking… how important it is to study.” That sounded like absolutely nothing Ron would think, much less say, but with any luck, Hermione would become excited and talk very fast about how she’s preparing. Sometimes it was easy to let Hermione take control of the conversation, requiring him to do nothing more than just nod occasionally. But with their depressing conversations, she probably would not do what he wanted.

[HERMIONE GRANGER]

Hermione looked back to Ron when he apologized. Why was he sorry? He did not need to apologize to her, it was not his fault. He admitted that he did not worry about that sort of thing, or think about it. "You don't think that after the return of You-Know-Who, that you'd be at least a little bit worried about him sending one of his followers or someone to attack us because we are Harry's closest friends?" The genuine concern washed through every word, threatening a fit of worry through Hermione's mind. She had to keep her mind off of worrying about Harry and Voldemort and Ron for one night and just relax, but for now, it looked as though that was not happening. She was already worked up about what the two had spoken about before, and she was not calmed after speaking out again about it. Her fingers trembled as she rested them on her upper legs, trying to seem as calm as she could be, even though that was not very calm at all. Showing further weakness was not a possibility at the moment. "I don't think many people other than myself think about it, Ron. I mean, it's not like i've had any other family besides my parents. You and Harry are the closest people I have to me, and without you, I don't think I could be the same person." Hermione explained in a rather coy, shy manner. Hermione was not the type of person to go sentimental and talk about her family, but she knew she could trust Ron.

Hermione blushed at Ron's comment, the blush creeping in on her cheeks and then vanishing just as quickly. She could not believe Ron had spoken that way about her, especially in that sort of conversation. "Erm, thank you Ronald. But surely i'm not the brightest witch ever to attend Hogwarts, there are loads of brilliant girls that are here. I appreciate the compliment, but I think more people are just as good as I am." Hermione dismissed the fact that she could quite possibly be one of the brightest witches of her age. She knew that she was not the smartest, but was high up there with a lot of others. Ron began to deny himself as anyone really special. Hermione knew Ron was not the most confident of the bunch, but he was most certainly not the weakest and least useful. "Do not try and pass yourself as not being good. You are brilliant, Ron Weasley." Hermione assured him, looking at him directly, making eye contact between her chocolate brown eyes and his cobalt blue ones. It was not often that she looked him in the eyes directly with a purpose. She meant what she said and wanted Ron to know that. He mentioned Umbridge, and Hermione raised an eyebrow. "That daft lady has no teaching ability and does not know what is right for the education for students in this school." Hermione scoffed angrily. Hermione was not pleased with Umbridge's teaching methods and her values. She did not believe the same things as Umbridge so it was no surprise that the two butted heads all the time.

"You could always come to me for help to learn spells. I've mastered many of them and it's always good to have someone to practice with." Hermione offered, shrugging her shoulders. For once she was offering to help gladly instead of nearly being begged to help do Ron and Harry's homework. She knew Umbridge was not going to be practicing the spells any time soon with the students, so Hermione was offering to help wherever she could. She had her own plans for starting the practices in wider groups, but she would call a meeting for it once she worked out the kinks of the plan beforehand. Then, Ron made a very good little concept for her to laugh lightly at. Ron's humor always cheered Hermione up. She laughed lightly at his concept of sticking to her like gum in her hair. Ron was the one of the three best friends to always have a joke to quip a bad situation with, to cheer up Hermione and Harry when it seemed that all odds were against them. So it came as no surprise that Ron had a joke to make Hermione smile. "Well, we've been best friends for around five years and haven't been sick of each other, so i'm guessing that you sticking like gum would not be that bad." Hermione assumed, but her assumption came with no reassurance. Hermione had no idea if Ron would be annoying to her if he was always around, or would be someone that would bring her great joy all the time. It all depended on how their year was going at the time. If he was around right then, Hermione had a feeling that she and Ron would get along famously, instead of bickering and trying to tear each other's head off.

Ron said he would always come back to her. It eased Hermione's conscience to know that Ron would always be around, no matter what. Hermione would always come back to him and she was relaxed knowing that he would do the same in return. A smile crossed her face at the words he spoke, and she looked down for a moment. "You don't know how much I feel calm from hearing that. You and Harry matter a lot to me." Hermione said to Ron. She smiled, looking at her lap, and then back up at Ron. He had just asked her what she had found out about him. Hermione did not know what to say. She held her tongue for a moment, meticulously choosing the right words so she didn't lead Ron to believe they were more than friends in her eyes. Ron had already made it blatantly clear that they were simply best friends. "Well, you unnecessarily apologize a lot. But you're good at reassuring people that things are better than they may seem. You're very positive and you cheer people up very quickly. You're also very intelligent." explained Hermione slowly, explaining each trait seperately. She smiled at the end to show how genuinely she'd made it sound. Complimenting Ron was not actually as difficult as she had originally thought. It may even turn into a good conversation.

Hermione was positive that she would never forgive herself for falling asleep during a class. Hermione based her personality on the fact that she was intelligent and valued her education above anything else (other than family and friends, of course). Hermione would absolutely be furious with herself and would plead with the Professor of the class to forgive her idiocy for falling asleep in class. "Well, Ron, if you took your own notes, perhaps they might be as good as mine, if not better." Hermione reminded Ron. She always believed Ron had the potential to be great, but he was holding back to remain in the title as secondhand man to Harry. Ron could be a very great wizard if he put his mind and time into it, but he relied more on his flying and wizard chess skills to make himself a decent name. Hermione still helped him with any work he needed done and made sure it was edited thoroughly to avoid mistakes. Ron made a comment about his thoughts being averted by schoolwork. That was bizarre, for Ron to be thinking about homework at a moment like the present. Hermione did not question it though, instead beginning to talk about school. "It is simply absurd how much work has to be done for exams. But i'm studying all that I can, doing all the readings we are assigned. I mean, taking all of the classes offered except that wretched Divination means a lot of studying. Umbridge is not the greatest advisor, either. I mean, honestly, how can she expect us to learn when we aren't even practicing the defensive spells with our wands?" Hermione was not purposely ranting, but that was how it came to be when Umbridge was brought up as a topic. She despised Umbridge, and people were realizing that. Hermione did not care though, she was welcoming the opportunity to admit it.

[ron]

Ron shook his head, “No, I don’t think that way. I can’t think that way. I know it’s stupid but I have to keep thinking that we’re all gonna make it because I can’t lose you, or Harry, or my family. Thinking that I could possibly lose any of you, it makes me not want to fight and just give up. But I can’t, you know? I can’t think that way…so I don’t.” He knew he had to say something comforting to Hermione because he could tell that was concerned about this. The last thing he wanted was for her to start crying. He did not know how to comfort her. Maybe, if he ever remembered, sometime when they were not fighting or upset, maybe he would ask her how to properly calm down a girl. Lately, Ron felt like that would never happen though. Either they were fighting or they were having depressing conversations. Being fifteen obviously meant much more drama than being fourteen. He just did not know how to make Hermione feel better because everything she said was absolutely true. He wished he could tell her not to worry. He wished he could tell her not to be afraid, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t lie to her anymore. They both knew that it was a lie, so what was the point? “We need someone to worry about it so that we don’t get too confident. But we can’t let those worries get us down.” That kind of sounded like something his mother would say or that Professor Lupin would say. Maybe that meant he said the right thing.

“You don’t have to be modest around me, Hermione. We all know you’re the brightest person ever. You could probably teach everyone here if you wanted to,” Ron shrugged. He was not embarrassed to compliment Hermione in this way, because, well, everyone knew how intelligent she was. People who did not know her knew that. He didn’t understand why she was blushing. That was like saying Harry was good at surviving. Or that Seamus was good at blowing things up. Or that Luna was good at being really, really weird. Or that Fred and George were good at causing havoc. Or Percy was good at being at an absolute prat. All of them were almost champions at what they did. Hermione was included in that list. Sure, Ron could never place himself in any championship. Maybe best at Wizard’s Chess. Oho. That was a skill he could really take to the bank. But Ron accepted that about himself… most times. Some people were extraordinary at things. Others were just ordinary. He managed a weak smile when she tried proving otherwise, “Well if the smartest witch things I am, then I must be. It changed nothing. Ron still felt like he was sub-par. At his very worst moments, he even thought that Harry and Hermione would be better without him. They wouldn’t have to slow down for Ron to catch up to whatever situation was going on. He would never admit that to Hermione. For one, it’d be embarrassing to admit that he thought that. Second, he was too afraid that she would agree and say that they did not him. Ron shrugged when she started insulting Umbridge. He was mostly amused for it was extremely rare for Hermione to talk badly about a professor. Normally, she saved that for Trelawney, “Like I said, you could teach the students here better than she could.”

Once again, Ron shrugged when Hermione offered to help Ron with spells. He did not know why, but it just felt wrong. It was fine when she and Ron helped Harry with the Triwizard Tournament, but anything else would be weird. “Maybe,” he said vaguely. Ron doubted he had the time though with classes, homework, Quidditch practices and prefect meetings, and, of course, helping Harry save the world. That did not leave time for much else. Personally, he just hated practicing with Hermione. She caught onto every spell quickly and he just looked like a dunce, sitting there, not being able to do it. It hurt his pride too much. He smiled when she laughed at his joke though. Continuing the joke, he shrugged and grinned, “I dunno, gum can get pretty annoying. You want it out of your hair because it’s just sticky, and it sticks out, but it just won’t go away. It’s always there. Every single minute. You’d never have privacy again.” At least the part about sticking out was true. No one who saw Ron with his tall stature and bright red hair would ever say he could blend into a crowd. Sometimes he wished he could though.

Ron’s ears turned a bright red when Hermione said that the thought of him returning calmed her. He wished that she would have said his name, only his name, when talking about who mattered to her. Oh, obviously Ron mattered to her, just like Harry, but putting the two together made it obvious that they were both stuck on the sinking friend ship. At least Ron knew, or figured, that Harry probably would not win Hermione. Ron was not sure if that was supposed to comfort him or not. He wanted to tell her that she meant a lot to him, too, but he figured he said enough stupid girly things for the night, for his whole life even. He settled with half-smiling. The silence grew as he waited to hear what she had learned about him. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to know or if he just wanted to cover his ears and loudly shout ‘La la la la la’ to avoid hearing the truth. When she said that he apologized too much, his ears turned red again, just moments after returning to their original colour. “Sorry,” he apologized. He then realized what he said and shook his head. Apparently Hermione knew what she was talking about. Ron’s whole face turned red the more she talked. No one, ever, had spoken like that to him. It made him all the more sure that he was head-over-heels for this girl who clearly thought of him as a friend. “Thanks, Hermione,” he said to the wall, too embarrassed to look at her. Did she really think all of things about him? He wanted to say something more impressive, but he could think of nothing to convey how much he appreciated everything she said. He wanted to tell her all of the things he thought about her, but knew it would never come out as nice and that he would just absolutely embarrass himself if he tried.

Hermione really thought Ron’s notes would ever be as good as hers? He laughed at the thought, “If that were true, I’d take my own notes instead of trying to let you give me yours. You hear better than I do. Plus, your handwriting is better. Half of the time, I can’t read what I wrote because I’m trying to keep up with what the professors are saying. But they keep talking and talking and talking. They never slow down.” He shook his head, “I don’t know how you keep up. Sometimes I wonder if you traded that Time Turner in for something to slow down time so you could write down every word the professor says.” It was true. How did she manage to get it all down perfectly? He would never understand. He just knew that it was a lucky day he saved her from a troll after insulting her and making her lock herself in a loo or else he would be held back year after year. As Hermione rambled on about Umbridge, Ron discovered the secret. If he wanted to divert her attention from something, just mention Umbridge and she would go right off. The secret was better than house elves and homework combined. As he tuned her out, just nodding occasionally, he wondered how she went so long into rants without breathing. Seriously, she never seemed to take a breath. Did she train to do that so she could rant longer? Did it come from ranting so much? Did she have huge lungs? Realizing that Hermione stopped talking and he was expected to comment, he quickly said, “Oh yeah. It’s awful. But what can we do except wait until the magic of Hogwarts gets rid of her after a year just like everyone else?”

[HERMIONE GRANGER]

Hermione was at a total loss. She thought that she and Ron would be on the same level of worry about losing each other, or Harry, at least. But evidently, it was turning out that Hermione was the one worrying; Ron was pushing the thought aside until it ended up happening, until he truly needed to face the issue. "Oh, well, I suppose everyone has their own way of thinking about it. Or, not thinking about it. Not everybody is like me." Hermione spoke rather plainly, as though she were talking about treacle tarts and not death. She had not realized that Ron felt that way about losing the people closest to him. Hermione had always thought that in the back of Ron's mind, maybe he kept thinking about the loss of Hermione or Harry. Turns out, that was not the case. "I guess i'm the only one who worries like I do. Not that i'm all that surprised by that fact." Hermione said, laughing lightly, trying to keep the conversation light. Ron looked like he was tensing up, not at ease with their conversation. She had caused him to be concerned, or at least weird, with the situation and conversation. Time to change the subject. Before she could, Ron said something that nearly shocked her off the couch. It sounded so uncharacteristic of Ron. She looked at him, raising an eyebrow at him momentarily. Was he alright? Had he bumped his head while out on search for her? It was something truly comforting for Hermione to hear, and she sighed, nodding. "You're right." Hermione admitted quietly, and smiled politely. With all that they had discussed, she was not back to her usual self, but she was getting better.

The slight blush Hermione had donned before had returned. He had complimented Hermione in the best way possible; he had made a compliment about her intelligence. Hermione often received a compliment about her work, but from Ron, it was different. It was a compliment beyond what any other person could have given her. Ron usually bickered with her, so hearing something good come from him about her made Hermione smile. "Well, erm, thank you Ron. I try my best." Hermione thanked him, once the blush had cleared from her cheeks. Ron made a pass at agreeing with Hermione about how good he was, and yet Hermione was nowhere near convinced by what he said. She raised an eyebrow elegantly, questioning him with her eyes. She did not believe him and she wanted him to know that. "If you say so." Hermione agreed warily, unsure of what Ron was thinking. That was the thing about Ron - half the time, Hermione had no idea what he was thinking. His personality fluctuated around her so often that Hermione became confused by him a lot. Hermione had to guess how Ron was feeling, and right then, she guessed that he was not feeling like the best person in the world. If only Hermione could convince Ron that he was a good person. That would only happen if she spoke her true feelings about him, and she just could not do that. She could not tell Ron her feelings, he would laugh in her face, and she would never live it down. Either that or he would ignore her for the rest of eternity, and only speak through Harry, who would not be impressed to have to do that. It was better to just let things be.

Hermione laughed again about his gum in her hair concept of him following her around all the time. "I don't think i'd get annoyed. You would get annoyed of my constant time spent in the Library, my studying, and all of the time turning to get to all of my classes. You would get bored of me so easily within a day or two, you'd be running away." Hermione said, the laugh evident through what she said. He was cheering her up so easily. If only they could laugh more often instead of argue; they would have much better experiences with each other if they could simply halt their fights. That seemed to be nearly impossible with the two. Ron and Hermione simply got annoyed with each other and the fighting would ensue. Ron apologized for apologizing so much, and Hermione genuinely laughed. She stifled it as he shook his head. Ron thanked Hermione, and she smiled in return. "Well, it's all true. I can't lie to you about who you are. You're brilliant, Ron." After the last sentence, Hermione blushed again. Why was she blushing so consistently? Ron was there, and they were getting alone. That was why. She'd fancied him for the longest time, and although she could never say it, she was beginning to show it. She was actually starting to be surprised that Ron had not figured out her liking him by now. Harry had already mentioned it to her, and so had Ginny. But they both agreed with her (even though she did not agree with them directly); Ron should have figured it out by now. She was not going to flash a sign at him saying she liked him. Hermione was just not the type of girl to say she liked somebody first.

"The trick is to pay attention at all times and only write the important facts. I always rewrite each lesson on my free period to make sure my notes are legible and correct and neat." Hermione confessed to him. She always went back and time and sat in her dormitory room, rewriting all the notes that she would be writing in a class at the very same time. It helped to keep her notes tidy and as a resource for her essays and assignments. She kept all her notes from previous years as well in a booklet her mother gave her for her twelfth birthday, and although some had began to tatter, she'd used magic to preserve them and kept them hidden for her own use only. It seemed some of the time that books did not suffice for her work, and so she went back to old notes and used them. Ron asked what they could do until the end of the year with Umbridge around. Umbridge was a sore subject for Hermione. She absolutely despised the old bat, and was not afraid to make that known. "I want her stay to be miserable here. As miserable as she is making us. I've already got some plans on my own to prank her a couple of times. I know I don't believe often in doing that, but the other day she took 20 points from Gryffindor for an owl delivering mail to me flying too close to her head. She blamed it on me, that .. old batty woman! I can not stand her, Ron! She just expects us to sit back on not be on the defensive about not using any sort of magic in her classroom. I'd like to set her straight with a few spells." Hermione was furious, speaking quickly. She absolutely hated Umbridge and would do anything to get rid of the lady. The two had already had a couple of bad run ins, as Hermione previously mentioned. "Sorry about my outburst. She just drives me mad some times." Hermione apologized, hoping Ron was not scared off by her now.

[ron]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 400px; height: 600px; background-image: url(http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll206/otoavs/Ron/LongRon.jpg); -moz-border-radius: 250px; border-radius:100px 100px 100px 100px; border: 3px solid #ffffff;] she’d laugh, poor Weasley Ron thought for just a moment that maybe it was worth sounding like a prat if only he could see Hermione’s completely shocked look, and then, as icing on the cake, for her to say that he was right. They were the most two perfect words ever, especially when they came from Hermione’s lips about him. It was like angels sung gloriously around him. Nah, Ron was not particularly religious, so that analogy did not work. It was like hundreds of house elves appeared at his side brandishing all of his favourite foods. There was meat loaf and roast beef and ham and treacle tart. His stomach grumbled at the very idea of perfection. It had been hours since he had last eaten. If it were not so late and if Hermione would not glare at him witheringly, he would suggest that they take a stroll to the Kitchens to get some food. Ron knew better than to even suggest it though because she would prattle on about the rights of house elves and they needed their sleep or something of that nature. He would not let him ruin that his good mood though. The cocky grin did not diminish in the slightest from his face. He crossed his arms feeling very smug, although if he knew how closely his stance mimicked Draco’s, the smirk would be wiped off his face quite quickly. Since he was clueless, he said, “I like hearing that. You should really say it more often. Especially when we’re in public. Just imagine what would happen if you did.” Ron liked to think utter chaos would break loose, but more realistically, nothing would probably happen. If there was perhaps anything in the world that Ron loved more than being right and really good food, it might be Hermione blushing. This was for several reasons. One, Hermione did not blush often. Normally only when prats like Lockhart were about. Two, it meant that Ron was not the only person that blushed. Sometimes he felt like it. It was a curse of the gingers. They blushed an awful lot. Unfortunately for Ron, he blushed on his ears, which was both weird and unattractive. Three, she looked cute blushing. That was the super secret reason that no one would ever know though. Knowing that he cause her to blush made it all the better. It was like a light went off in his head. If he talked about how smart Hermione was, she would blush and be all pleased. Why did she need to hear how smart she was? Obviously she already knew that. But if that was what Ron needed to do to not fight with Hermione, he would compliment her intelligence constantly. He continued, “Hermione, you could try your very worst and you’d still put us all to shame. You’re just naturally brilliant. It must be because of your family, your teeth healer parents must be smart. What are they called? Duntists?” Ron had a very hard time with muggle terms, since he very rarely used them. He thought they were useless. Why call someone a Duntist which had nothing to do with teeth, when ‘Teeth Healer’ was so much more specific? There would be doubt in no one’s mind about what that term meant. Really, what were muggles thinking? Still, Ron did not know that complimenting too much often led to dire results, such as disbelief in compliments and annoyance in overuse. He did not know that an innocent bloke could even overcompliment. Ron never understood too much of a good thing. “I would never run away from you,” Ron said seriously, before cracking a smile with his ears bright red. He needed to stop sounding so girly. He was going to scare her. If he kept making jokes, he would be fine. Acting as if he had not said something stupid, Ron grinned before shrugging, “And hey, if I stick permanently to you like, I’d at least know about your brilliant schemes that you don’t allow minions like Harry and I to know. I think you get some twisted pleasure from having some great idea that will save the day, and the running off to the library before you explain what’s going on. It’d be nice to know what’s going on in that head of yours.” He leaned over and tapped her temple very lightly three times. Realizing how close he was to her face, he leaned back to his original position and laughed nervously, with his tone a few notes too high. She thought he was brilliant. He could not get that thought out of his head. No one ever thought he was brilliant. Hermione was the smart one. Bill and Percy were smart. Ron just fell by the wayside. He barely scraped by and that was only with lots of help from Hermione. Was she right? If he applied himself, would he really be someone smart? The idea was tempting, but Ron knew the next homework assignment would be put off until the very last minute, just like the rest of them. Normally, Ron would take the mickey out on Hermione. She spent free periods copying notes? That was so dorky. He smiled just the tiniest bit, trying to hold in his laugh. He hoped that he looked very interested in what she had to say. Ron probably was failing horribly though. It was nice of Hermione to tell him her very insane note taking methods, but he would never do it. Even so, he said, “I’ll try to work on that though.” And try he would, for probably about five minutes when Harry started a game of Hangman during History of Magic to try to keep themselves awake. As Hermione burst into a completely uncharacteristic rant, he could only stare in wonder. When she finished, Ron could not help it, he howled with laughter. He had been holding it in for too long. He tried to calm his laughter as quickly as possible, because he figured he was offending Hermione, but still! Shaking his head with disbelief, Ron asked, “You have ideas for pranks? I’ve got to hear these. Fred and George giving you tips so you keep them out of detention? Do your pranks involve us secretly practicing spells in her class?” He was not at all scared. Hermione’s anger was never anything new to him. It was when she cried that he was clueless and scared. there can be only one mikey! of caution 2.0

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[HERMIONE GRANGER]

Hermione heard Ron's stomach growling. She would not allow him to go down to the Kitchens, that was an absolute rubbish time to bother the poor House Elves who did so much but were credited so little. but, it gave her an idea. She had been to Honeydukes the other day, because her mother had sent her a note saying she had not had time to bake anything, so Hermione took a trip to Honeydukes and bought some sweets to tide her over when she really felt like a snack. Hermione hardly ever ate sweets unless it was between meals and she was overly hungry, or unless she was sharing them. And what better time to share them than right now? "Accio sweets." Hermione muttered after picking up her wand and pointing it at the girl's dormitory door. She thought of her box, which she kept in her suitcase under her bed. It floated out a moment late, a golden box with blue lining, a the lid gleaming in the light of the torches in the Common Room. She set it down between them and opened the lid to reveal the sweets. "You sound hungry, have some." Hermione informed Ron, pushing the box lightly in Ron's direction. She did not want him to be suffering from hunger while staying up with Hermione. She knew he liked sweets, too. The amount Ron ate at a meal often baffled Hermione, who did not think anyone could eat that much everyday and not gain weight. But, Ron was proof that made her disbelieve what she had presumed before. Ron seemed to enjoy the fact that Hermione had called him 'right'. He looked as though he had just won the award for the most intelligent Quidditch player on Gryffindor team. "Well, Ronald, i'm sure nobody would be too surprised that I said that about you, especially if I said it in public." Hermione laughed. Nobody would think differently of them because of them agreeing on something or complimenting one another. Would they?

Hermione had told Ron so many times that her parents were dentists. She was always telling Mr. Weasley about what her parents did and any new technology they used. Of course, poor Mr. Weasley did not understand a lot of the terminology Hermione used for the instruments her parents used. Hermione had endlessly reminded Ron how her parents' profession was correctly named, yet he always got it wrong. She had to let go a light laugh at the mention of the 'Duntists'. "I know, i'm intelligent. I read a lot of books." Hermione said, the blush once again returning to her face, running across both cheeks before disappearing. Why was she blushing so much? She wished she could make them go away, so she would not be having blushing fits in front of Ron. Hermione's main hope was that Ron was too distracted by conversation to notice. "The 'teeth healers' are called Dentists, Ronald. Dentists. But they have smarts of a different sort." Hermione informed Ron. She loved having Muggle parents in a Wizarding World. Her parents were always so proud when Hermione got home and shared her knowledge with them, and the always intriguing stories of what happened in the year away at school. Her parents always warned her of the dangers she faced at school, even though they did not truly know what went on at school. Hermione had to leave a few details out to make her parents not worry so much.

Hermione noticed Ron's ears turn red when he genuinely said he would never run from her. "You would honestly sit through a day of all the classes offered at Hogwarts, albeit Divination, and then go to the Library with me after to study and do work?" Hermione asked incredulously, unsure of whether he was honest about it. When he spoke further on the matter, Hermione knew he was kidding. he had seemed so serious that he'd stay around her, and yet he was now joking about it. Hermione's perceptions of Ron's emotions was throwing her into whiplash again and again. It was changing so often that Hermione would like it if it just stopped for a moment and if he could make his feelings for her a bit more obvious. It would be a relief if Hermione did not have to figure out Ron at every moment because he changed so often. He explained how much easier it would be for him if he could find out what was going on in her head. Ron tapped Hermione's forehead three times, and Hermione noticed how close he was. How great he smelled. How blue his eyes really were. It was difficult for her to breathe, and she fought from trembling in her spot. How did he not know by now that she fancied him so much? How did Ron not clue in to the fact that Hermione practically.. loved him? It was so obvious to Hermione. Perhaps Ron was ignoring it. Her worst fear with Ron (other than losing him) was if he ever found out she fancied him and laughed at her, walked away from her never to see her again. But she lightened the mood with her reply. "I don't think you'd like to know the amount that goes through my head each day, it would give you a headache. All of those school subject, plus helping Harry, plus everything else. It gets overwhelming." Hermione offered, denying him any access into her mind.

Hermione was pleased with Ron saying that he would try what her methods for success were. "Well that's good. But I am always still here to help. It doesn't mean you're bad if I help you." Hermione offered, trying to keep his spirits up, because she knew previously that had felt like second best next to Harry. She was not knew to Ron's feeling like he was under par next to the rest of their friends, and Hermione did not want him thinking that way. Hermione then ranted about Umbridge, causing some sort of amusement for him. In fact, he was laughing rather loudly at her, and she furrowed her brows. She had been so serious, and he was making fun of her for it. She crossed her arms, less than pleased. "Ronald, I am absolutely serious. I have plans to make her life here miserable, or to possibly get rid of her. And no, Fred and George are not part of my plans, I am working alone for right now. I have an idea that will change the way Umbridge sees the students, that will change our lives and a lot of other people's. You're laughing at me, and yet, i'm the one doing something to change what everyone hates. Do you not think I am capable of doing that? The insanely brilliant girl can not even pull off a simple prank or plan without anybody else's help? Am I really that helpless?" Just like that, Hermione had gone back to being angry with him. It was like a light switch in her Muggle home, and her anger had just turned on, throwing itself out at Ron. She was angry now because Ron did not believe in her. She could not believe his nerve.