"The story of life is quicker than the blink of an eye, the story of love is hello, goodbye." Jimi Hendrix.
Ron dropped his backpack unceremoniously on the empty desk next to him, plopping into his seat and propping his legs up on his desk, his arms on the back of his head and his face free of worry.
"You heard about the new girl coming today?" Harry asked him, sitting next to him and taking out some unfinished homework.
Ron glanced at him. "Yeah. She's in our homeroom?"
"She should be, from what I heard."
"And who was your source, Draco?"
Harry smiled innocently. Ron rolled his eyes. "You've got to admit though, Ron, that he knows a lot about everyone."
"So?" Ron huffed. "He's a jerk."
Harry was about to protest when the teacher asked for silence in the room.
"Everyone, we have a new student with us today." Professor Lupin addressed, glancing down at a brunette standing in front of him.
"Hi, I'm Hermione. Hermione Granger."
The first thing that struck Ron was her hair. Oh god, her hair. It was bushy and brown and everywhere-pooling around her head, traveling down her shoulders, falling in front of her eyes.
The second thing that struck Ron was her name. What kind of weird name was Hermione? It was hard to say, and just a stupid name. Hermione? What?
The third thing was what Lupin said next.
"Hermione, you can sit in the empty desk next to Ron over there."
Ron's eyes widened. No way. Nobody took his empty desk.
"Excuse me, Professor Lupin, but Hermione can't sit there," Ron declared, and Hermione, who was walking down the aisle towards said desk, stopped in disbelief.
"And why can't she, Mr. Weasley?" he asked, clearly not amused.
"Because it's my desk."
"You're sitting at your own. That one is an unoccupied desk."
"It's the desk where I put my things. She can't take it."
"I'm sorry, Ron, but she is going to take it. Any more from you, and you'll be going down to the headmaster."
Ron rolled his eyes, but just slumped into his seat, not speaking anymore. Everyone knew that getting sent down to Headmaster Dumbledore wasn't such a huge threat anyways, since he was super nice and always gave you a lollipop on the way out (He could say from experience.) but since his mom had been being really annoying about his grades and stuff recently, he decided to play it low.
"Dude, Lupin's totally staring at her butt," Harry whispered into his ear, but Ron just glared angrily at her, taking his bag wordlessly as she daintily sat next to him.
(No, he was not eying her quite-nice rear.)
Hermione had only been at school with them for a day, but Ron already hated her with all his heart.
Homeroom had only been the beginning of the day. It turned out Hermione was also in his second period Spanish.
Oh, she was just so annoying! She knew the answer to everything, and what was even worse was that she was always right. By the end of the class, everybody hated her just as much as he did, and Señora Sprout had a new star student.
He then didn't see her until lunch, because she was in fucking AP everything, and he was barely passing into the next lowest level class.
But at lunch...oh, lunch. It was the most humiliating incident of his life.
Hogwarts High School's cafeteria, as all high school cafeterias, had a very complex and strict geography. The table you sat at branded you, and you would always sit at that specific table with the same people. It was just the way things worked.
So, there was the athletic jock table, the peppy cheerleader table, the nerd table, among others, and of course, Ron's table, which consisted of himself, Harry, Seamus, Dean, and Neville.
If Hermione was so intelligent, you could at least expect her to know how high school cafeterias worked. But, no, Hermione, of all the things she had to lack in, it had to be social smarts.
"Hello." Hermione sat down in the one-always-empty seat at their table (the one reserved for the few times Draco sat with them) and bit into an apple.
Neville choked on his pizza from the shock of having a girl sit at their table, and Dean and Seamus immediately shrunk back, because they were complete mushy idiots around the female gender and knew they were going to stay single all their life.
Harry spluttered on his soda, and Ron coughed loudly. "What the hell are you doing here?"
Hermione looked at him incredulously, finishing her bite before answering. "Um, what does it look like? I'm sitting with you."
(Neville choked again, and Dean slapped him on the back.)
"Um, can I ask why?" Ron asked, his voice nearly breaking from the tension in it.
"Because you're the only people whose name I know," she replied in a matter-of-fact way, as if Ron was stupid for not knowing that. "Do you have a problem with that?"
Ron snorted. "Um, yeah, I do have a problem with that."
"And what would that be?"
"Because you don't belong at this table," he said. "Don't you know how the cafeteria works?"
"It's just a cafeteria. You sit wherever you want and eat. But why? Are there rules?" Her eyes lit up in a scary way. "Tell me how it works!"
Ron sighed. "In the cafeteria, wherever you sit labels you. Like, there's a table for jocks, and a table for nerds. You always sit at the same table with your people."
Hermione's eyebrows furrowed in thought, and Ron did not think it was an adorable gesture one bit. "So you're saying that by sitting here, I've labeled myself as part of your group?"
"Essentially, yes," Harry supplemented.
Hermione shrugged. "So?"
Neville heaved for air. "But you're a girl!"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Yes, I was quite aware of that already."
Seamus glanced at her. "You're a girl in the 'Dumb Guys' group."
Hermione laughed. "Seriously? You're the 'Dumb Guys' group?"
"We're not that dumb," Ron interjected.
"No need to get so defensive, sheesh."
Ron huffed, biting into his sandwich. "I'm not getting defensive. I'm just standing up for what's right, which is you not here."
"Well, I'm sorry, Your Moody Highness," she said loudly, standing up. Everybody in the cafeteria instantly silenced and heads whirled around to look at the new girl. "I didn't know you were on your period."
The silence rang in Ron's ears as his face flushed a beet red. Meanwhile, a group of girls cheered from the back of the cafeteria, and one of them came up to welcome her to their table.
Dean sighed dejectedly. "There goes the only girl to ever sit with us." Neville took a deep shaky breath.
Harry chuckled. "She's sassy, huh?"
Ron, on the other hand, was in no joking mood. As his fists shook under the table, he swore to himself that he would definitely get back at her.
And Ron was never one to go back on his word.
Fortunately, Ron didn't see her at all after lunch. That was, until, the last two classes of the day-Gym, and History.
Gym was first, and when he saw her inside the gymnasium, he immediately recoiled like a coward, running back into the changing room saying he forgot something. Gossip traveled fast, and people were already poking fun at the innocent redhead.
Hermione, in Ron's eyes, was an evil witch. And he was going to bring her down.
"On the track! Go!" The coach blew his whistle, and a blur of colors surrounded Hermione as people whooshed past her.
Hermione smirked before starting. She may not look like it, but she was an excellent runner.
Soon enough, she was at the head of the pack, where none other that that mean boy she had made fun of earlier was. (What was his name again? Oh, yeah, Ron.)
"I didn't know that you could run," she said, glancing at him. Just like her, he wasn't even breaking a sweat. His red hair whipped around his face, and his white shirt flew around his body.
"Same to you," he grunted.
"Since I can already tell that we're the two best runners, how about we race each other? I bet I can beat you," Hermione proposed, and Ron raised an eyebrow.
"Oh really? Is that a challenge?"
"Yes, it is."
"Well, then..." He watched her, waiting for her mark.
"Go."
"I told you to stop running!" the coach yelled, shoving Ron and Hermione off the track. They were the last two remaining in the gymnasium at that point. "You'll be late for your next class!"
Ron tried to make his panting lighter so Hermione wouldn't see how beat he was. He had just run ten miles at sprinting speed. He bet he could never do that again even if he tried. Hell, he was on the track team, but he had never gone that extreme.
Meanwhile, Hermione was cramping everywhere but refused to show any pain to Ron as she walked over to the water fountain. She had never ran like that before in her entire life. It had been so...exhilarating.
But now she was fucking tired, and decided that a race was probably not the best thing to have with Ron. Yes, she was a good runner, but even so, Ron was better, and luckily, the coach had stopped them before she had fallen too behind. Otherwise, she was sure Ron would never let her hear the end of her loss.
Hermione scooped her puffy hair out of the way as she leaned down to lap up the water like a thirsty dog. Behind her, Ron looked away, making sure he wouldn't get caught up in her quite-nice rear again.
As Hermione stood up, she sighed in content, moving away so Ron could drink. Ron, as the perverted teenager he was, couldn't help but notice how her white shirt stuck to her curvy body perfectly.
Shooing the thoughts out of his head, Ron bent down to drink the water. He would not think about Hermione like that. Nope, he hated her guts.
When Ron leaned down to drink water, the same exact thing happened to Hermione. She was a growing girl, she couldn't help it; overactive hormones told her that Ron looked quite nice in a sweaty shirt...but, no, she would not like Ron. Ron was a bastard, and she would treat him as such.
(Even if he was the better runner and looked hot when he was all sweaty and flipped his wet bangs out of his eyes. Even still.)
It was the last class of the day, and Ron couldn't wait for school to let out. Honestly, this day had dragged on too long for his taste.
"Apartheid in South Africa was a very serious issue," Professor Binns droned on, and Ron felt his eyelids drooping.
"I will be assigning you a partner for this course. I find that work produced in the class is better when there are two of you working together."
At this, everybody woke up. Partners? That could be either the best or the worst word that could come out of a teacher's mouth.
The professor began reading off a list in a monotone voice.
"Fay Dunbar and Blaise Zabini...Padma Patil and Justin Finch-Fletchley...Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger."
Ron froze. No. No, it couldn't be, he must have heard wrong. Out of a class of thirty people, he couldn't have been paired with her. No way.
"Don't tell me I'm stuck with you," he spat as she came over to sit next to him.
"What makes you think that I want to be stuck with you?" she retorted, and a couple other boys chuckled, patting her on the back and congratulating her on her display at lunch.
"One more word against me and I'll..." Ron threatened. He wasn't sure what he would do, or what he could do, for that matter, but he had to stop her from always having the upper hand on him.
"Or what? You'll PMS on me?" Hermione said, and more people laughed. Ron's face burned as his hands shook. How dare she! This had to be bullying. (Or at least he thought it was, he never paid attention in the awareness assemblies.)
Luckily, the bell rang at that moment. Ron was the first one out the door.
Ron and Hermione had known each other for all of two months, and they...were actually kind of getting along.
Even after being paired up in History, they continued to loathe each other, landing them in all sorts of places-more public humiliation for Ron, embarrassment for Hermione when he beat her in a race, and even a detention once. (But that was totally not their fault, since Harry was the one who started the whole food fight thing, but whatever.)
But, after they got to know each other a little, they kind of realized the other wasn't so bad. Sure, Ron was a complete ass half the time, but Hermione came to deal with it, and actually kind of like his jerky attitude. And, yeah, Hermione was a know-it-all, well, all the time, but Ron sort of didn't hate it as much as he used to, and her bushy hair actually smelled pretty good. (No, he didn't sniff her!)
"I'm handing back your quizzes now." Professor Binns dropped a paper on Ron's desk, and the grade in bright red jumped out at him. D. Did you pay attention at class?
Ron groaned, grabbing the paper and stuffing it into his binder. Hermione had already seen it though.
"A D? Gosh Ron, you're stupider than I thought," she said, making sure to flash her A+ at him before neatly locking it into her binder.
"Shut up," he grumbled. "I just suck at History, okay? I'll admit it-I hate this class."
Hermione laughed. (Ron loved making her laugh, but you didn't hear him say that.) "Wow, the almighty Weasley has finally admitted his defeat!"
"Don't let it go to your head, Hermione," Ron retorted.
The teacher then interjected. "That was only a small quiz, and won't amount to much on your final grade."
Ron sighed. His mother wouldn't bitch about it then.
"However, the exam we'll be having next week will. Make sure to study all of your material carefully," he added, glancing pointedly at Ron before dismissing them as the bell rang.
"Shit, I have to study," Ron mumbled, cramming his books into his backpack.
Hermione raised an eyebrow. "You, study? Those two words don't belong in the same sentence."
Ron glared at her. "Very funny, Granger." He pushed past her, and just as he was about to leave, Hermione grabbed his wrist.
"Wait, Ron!" Ron forced himself to ignore the excited sparks running up and down his arm as her cold fingers grasped his arm.
"If you really want a good grade..." Hermione bit her lip slightly, a gesture Ron knew very well. "I could tutor you, if you want."
Ron's mind reeled back. Tutor me? Hermione would tutor him?
"But tutoring is for...stupids!" Ron said.
"No offense, Ron, but you're not the sharpest tool in the shed," Hermione pointed out. "Come on, it's not that bad. You don't have to tell anyone. I'll just help you study, and you'll get a better grade. That's all there is to it."
After thinking it over for a moment, Ron nodded in consent. Seriously, how bad could it be? She was his somewhat-friend, and she was smart, so he could totally benefit from this. What could go wrong?
(Only everything.)
Their first tutoring session together was at Ron's house.
After Ron finally managed to get his mom away from Hermione (You couldn't blame her though, she was just excited that her son had finally found someone.) and away from his annoying as hell brothers, he brought her up to his room, where they sat in an awkward silence for a while before Hermione cleared her throat.
"Okay, well, I guess we should start with this..."
And, all in all, it wasn't that bad. Ron finally understood what apartheid was, after years of hearing the term and not understanding it.
"I think I have to go now," Hermione finally said, and against his will, Ron felt sad seeing her go.
"Oh. Well, I'll see you tomorrow then. Your house?"
"Yeah." Hermione stood up, and then added, "We haven't discussed your payment, have we?"
Ron choked on his spit. "My what? I have to pay for this?!"
Hermione looked at him incredulously. "Of course. Who ever said this was free?"
"But-but," Ron spluttered. "You're my friend! Why would you do that?"
"I never said you'd pay me in money!" Hermione snapped. "I just want something from you."
"What?" Ron asked, in defeat. This was going to be bad.
"You're friends with Draco, right?"
Ron narrowed his eyebrows. "Maybe. Why?"
Hermione blushed a cute pink, and Ron for some reason, loved the look. "Well, I...I kind of like him, if you know what I mean."
Freeze. Back up. Slow down. Repeat.
"I kind of like Draco Malfoy."
Hermione's words rang in Ron's ears, and for some reason, they just wouldn't stop.
"Oh," Ron managed. She liked Draco Malfoy? Of all people, him?
"Why? Is it that bad?" she retorted. "He's handsome, and smart, and funny..."
Ron rolled his eyes. They couldn't be talking about the same guy, but whatever. He had this weird headache coming on and just wanted her out. "Okay, okay, I get it. What do you want?"
"I just wanted you to tell me some of the stuff he likes...so I could get closer to him," Hermione explained. "So tell me."
Lies flew out of Ron's mouth before he could stop himself. "He loves eating nuts! They're his favorite food."
Hermione beamed. "Thanks, Ron!" Then, after a hasty good bye, she left his room, shutting the door behind her.
After he saw her car leave the driveway and disappear down the road, he flopped on his bed and screamed, throwing a pillow onto the air and it landing on his face.
Why the hell was he so...angry? Ron had no clue, so he just popped an aspirin and went to bed.
For some reason, Ron didn't like Hermione speaking of Draco in admiration. And, something told him that he wouldn't have liked it any more if she was talking about any other guy.
Frowning, Ron turned off the light. Don't tell me...I like her?
He was already too late then.
The next day, Ron was completely on edge. After his revelation last night, he couldn't stop thinking of her. It was like that chick flick crap; every thought, every breath, every moment was of her.
It was the worst thing ever, and Ron hated it. Seriously, who wanted to be thinking of Hermione Granger all day long? Just his luck to fall for the weird people, as always.
Ron immediately regretted his words to Hermione as she sat down next to Draco in homeroom.
"Draco, I heard you liked eating nuts!"
That's when the screaming started.
Ron's palm slid down the side of his face as he discreetly bent down to pick up an imaginary pencil, so he could avoid what was happening above him. How could he have lied to her like that? He knew that Draco was severely allergic to tree nuts; he knew it, but he still lied.
Mr. Lupin finally ushered Draco to the nurse, shooting Hermione a dirty look as he did. Ron resurfaced, and saw Hermione staring him right in the eye.
He shivered. Her eyes were usually like warm, gooey chocolate. However now, they were cold and hard and uninviting.
Ron watched her blink tears away as she stood up and ran to the bathroom as fast as she could.
Hermione tried to sob as quietly as she could in the small stall in the first floor girl's bathroom.
That heartless, cruel, mean, insensitive jerk! Hermione listed off as many degrading adjectives as she could about Ron as tears streamed down her face. He lied to her! He told her Draco liked nuts, but no, he was allergic to him!
It couldn't have been a mistake. Hermione knew he had lied, just by the way he had looked at her. He probably thought it was funny to watch her make a fool out of herself in front of him. Draco probably hated her now, and it was all thanks to him.
Hermione sniffled. What had she done to deserve this from him? All she had done was try to help him-did he think she was taking pity on him or something?
Hermione had never hated Ronald Weasley as much as she did now.
Ron beat his head on his desk repeatedly. What. Have. I. Done?
Hermione had left early from school, probably trying to avoid him. Before, he might have been laughing at her situation, but this time, he had feelings for her and it hurt him to see her so hurt.
Hermione might try to get back at me. The thought dimly struck Ron, but he shook it away. He knew that if Hermione was this sad, she wouldn't be getting mad at him. She was more emotional than she let on.
Somehow, the thought of her avoiding him was even worse than her taking revenge.
Hermione sat on the window seat in the comfort of her bedroom, away from the scarring eyes of Draco and the horrible Ron.
She curled up into a ball and stared outside. Why, Ron? Why did you do it?
The next day, Hermione was back. (Draco was still out.) However, it wasn't the Hermione Ron knew; it was a dead hollow.
The Hermione that returned to school was quiet, never raising her hand and getting simple questions wrong. This Hermione was always sad and frowning.
Ron simply watched from afar, watched her slipping into misery because of his mistake. He was too much of a coward to help her anyways.
So he just watched her become more depressed day after day, and more distant from him.
Ron sighed for the tenth time in five minutes, putting down his barely bitten into sandwich.
"Ron, what's up?" Harry asked. The others stopped their frantic devouring to listen in.
"I don't...it's Hermione," Ron blurted. It felt good to finally get that off his chest.
Harry smirked. "I knew you liked her!"
Ron looked away. "Shut up."
"So, what's wrong?"
"Well, you know the whole incident with Draco? That was my fault." And thus Ron explained the course of events leading up to this strange, disconnected Hermione.
"Ron, man up, get her forgiveness, and confess. Seriously, this is degrading," Dean remarked, looking down at the frightened redhead.
"But she's going to be so mad, and-"
"Oh, put a sock in it." The four boys kicked him out of their table and the cafeteria, and Ron was left in the hallway alone.
"Some friends they are." But a small smile graced his face anyway as he jogged down to the History classroom where she ate nowadays.
It was time. He would be brave.
Hermione glumly picked up her apple, biting into it. The memory of when she first ate lunch with Ron crossed her mind, and she bitterly smiled as she squished the fruit in her hand.
Stupid Ron. Stupid, stupid, stupid Ron. He would never come back for her, would he?
(She silently contemplates what cutting herself with the knife in her lunchbox would feel like, before shaking the thought away. She wasn't depressed!)
"Hermione?" Hermione nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard the voice that she never thought she'd hear calling to her again.
"Ron?" she weakly asked, but she already knew it was him by the time he had walked over to her and scooped her into a big bear hug.
She stood stiffly and awkwardly in his arms, while he leaned his forehead down to meet her shoulder. "I've been a real idiot. Please forgive me."
Hermione pushed him away after a moment, disgusted with herself for melting so easily in his arms. She hated him. Right?
"Ron, I don't need your sympathy," she spat, her former malice returning. "The last person I need right now is you."
Ron's eyes met the floor. He thought as much. This was what he was scared of-rejection.
She continued on. Voicing her feelings made her feel better somehow, to see she had power over someone else, even if that person was the one that was supposed to be her best friend. "You lied to me, Ron. I helped you, and what did you give me in return? A lie. All I wanted was some information, but you just humiliated me in front of everybody. I know Draco hates me now, and I'll never have a chance with him."
Truth be told, it didn't hurt Hermione as much as she thought when Draco glanced at her with accusing eyes. What really hit her was how Ron didn't talk to her anymore, and the fact that he hurt her like he did.
Why would he do it? She thought that they were friends.
(Maybe the reason Ron hurt her more than Draco was because she had feelings for the idiot. But she didn't want to admit it to herself just yet, because she knew that it would just hurt her even more.)
"Hermione, please," Ron started. "I don't know why I did it-"
Hermione screamed, cutting him off. He took a step back as she seemed to ignite.
"Why, Ron, why? You were my best friend! I trusted you," she said, tears streaming down her blotchy face. "Even then, I would have forgiven you. Why have you taken so long to come to me? Is it because you've always hated me? I understand completely, I'll-"
"Hermione, I'm serious, I don't know why I did it, but I think it was because I was jealous-"
That caught Hermione's ear. Jealous? Ron was jealous? Of what?
"Jealous of Draco because you liked him when I liked you!" It was finally in the open. Ron panted harder than he did after a good run, looking her dead in the eye.
"I like you, Hermione. And I know you hate me, but I need you to know-"
He was silenced when her lips smothered his. She quickly broke away, but she was grinning and he was grinning and it was completely and totally worth it.
"Why didn't you just tell me earlier?" Hermione asked, leaning her head on his chest as they sat in the empty History classroom. Afternoon sunlight streamed through the windows and covered them in warmth.
Ron stroked her hair. "Well, you were ranting so much that I didn't even have a chance-"
"I wasn't ranting!"
"Sheesh, no need to overreact."
"I am not overreacting!"
"I've missed you, Hermy." he kissed her forehead, and Hermione smiled against her will, but then forced herself to frown.
"Never call me that again."
"Hermy, I love you-"
"Ron-"
"Hermy, Hermy, Hermy, Hermy-"
"Ron, I swear-"
"Hermy-"
"Ron!"
At the beginning of the year, Ron would have never guessed that he would have fallen in love with the one girl he hated the most. And Hermione never would have thought that in her new school, she'd fall for a pigheaded redhead.
But, high school happens, and love is always unpredictable, and honestly, at that point, Ron and Hermione didn't really care anymore.
"Draco's an ass though, isn't he?"
"We've got some work to do, Ron."
(The next day, Draco's homeroom seat was mysteriously covered with glue.)
A/N: I swear I didn't intend it to come out this long, but inspiration comes when it does, right?
Done for:
Amazing Writer Competition (Detour Set A)
Modern!AU Competition
Trelawny's Divination Competition
Diagon Alley Fic Crawl-Rosa Lee Teabag (Write OTP goodness!)
Endless Possibilities Challenge-AU
Girl Scouts Cookie Competition-Thin Mints
Greenhouses Competition (Lavender)
6 Senses Competition (Depressed)
Fantastic Beasts Challenge (Glumbumble)
OTP Boot Campt Challenge-Prompt #13 (Hatred)