His long shoulder length red hair hanging in his eyes. The freckles on his tan face. The confused look in his bright blue eyes as he tries to figure out what to write.
"Ms. Granger, would you please stop gawking and get to work on your essay." Snape snarled.
I blushed hard and avoided Ron's gaze as he turned around to look at me. I looked down at my empty parchment.
I could hear Ron laugh and turn back to his parchment. I smiled inwardly at his low throaty laugh.
"Okay. Times up." Snape said as he forced everyone to put down their quills. I groaned as I realized I spent the whole time staring at Ron. "I want you all to put your parchment on my desk then you may leave."
I sighed as I wrote my name on the empty parchment. Oh well, I won't get into too much trouble if I miss one assignment. I place the parchment on Snape's desk then went back to my seat to grab my stuff.
"Come on Hermione.' Harry said walking over to me. 'It's lunch time."
I followed Harry out of the classroom avoiding Ron, who was standing beside me. 'Great. Another lunch when I'm going to have to hide my blushing.' I thought.
Ron, Harry, and I have known each other for eight years. Ever since we were first years. Now, here we are seventh years. Ron and Harry have grown the most. Ron at 6'3, his voice deeper than ever. Fred and George had sent him American clothes before school started, so he wasn't wearing ratty hand-me-downs anymore. Harry was an inch shorter then Ron. His black hair almost as long as Ron's and as unruly as ever. He's emerald eyes brighter than ever behind his glasses.
I groaned silently as I realized that they had changed more than I had. I still had brown curly hair. I still had the same hazel eyes. I was still was 5'5. Yeah, I was a little curvier but…it wasn't like it was noticeable. I was just the same Hermione I've always been; the know-it-all, the brainiac, the mud-blood.
I followed Harry into the Great Hall and sat between him and Ron at the Gryffindor table. Lunch appeared before us. I smiled as I saw both Harry and Ron grab at as many sandwiches as they could grab. I laughed when I noticed there were no more sandwiches for me.
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Ron looked to see that Hermione hadn't gotten anything to eat. Then he realised that she hadn't even had time to grab anything since he and Harry had grabbed most of it. With half a sandwich hanging from his mouth he picked up one of the sandwiches he had grabbed and placed a sandwich on her plate. She laughed when he did and broke it into pieces and began to eat.
Ron swallowed what was in his mouth and looked at her, "Sorry about that. I think Harry and I were hungrier then we thought." Harry nodded confirming what he was saying. "I think it's just N.E.W.T's getting to us."
"It's okay. I understand." She smiled finishing her sandwich.
He hadn't noticed before, but does she look sadder than usual?
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I smiled and finished the sandwich. 'Will I ever tell him my true feelings?' I thought sadly. I saw Ron give me a concerned look. I put up my happy face again and he smiled.
Harry was too busy eating to see anything.
I picked up my bag, "I'm going to go to the library."
"Wait." Ron shoved the last of his sandwiches in his mouth. "I'll come with you." He said after he swallowed.
My eyes widened, "You don't have too."
"I want to." Ron smiled. "Harry. Harry!" He shouted in Harry's ear.
"What?!" Harry said putting down his sandwich.
"I'm going to go to the library with Hermione." He said laughing.
"Okay." Harry went back to his eating.
Ron followed me to the library.
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Ron saw Hermione frown as he suggested he'd go too. She probably hadn't realised she'd frown.
Hermione sat at one of the tables, Ron sat beside her. "Hermione, what's going on?" Ron asked, his voice an octave lower.
"Nothing." Hermione said pulling out a piece of parchment not looking at him.
"Come on. You can tell me. We're best friends." Ron said.
"I'm fine Ron." Hermione said smiling looking at him.
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I keep lying to him. I wish I could just stop and tell him. You know what, that's what I'm going to do. I opened mouth to speak. Nothing came out. I didn't understand why.
I burrowed my eyebrows in confusion. I looked at Ron and tried to speak again. I tried to say hello, but nothing came out. I tried to read out loud the title of a book that was behind Ron. All that happened was my lips moved to the words. No sound coming out.
Ron looked at me with worry as my eyes filled with tears. "Hermione, what's wrong?"
I tried to yell out that I couldn't speak. Tears streamed down my face. I pulled out my quill and wrote on the parchment in big letters 'I can't speak. No sound seems to be coming out my mouth.' I handed him the note.
"Are you serious?" Ron said standing up.
I cried some more and slammed my head on the table. I felt him rub my back.
"Okay. Tell me what I should do?" Ron said in my ear. "Okay, bad choice of words. Hermione, write what I should do."
I lifted my head and wrote down;
Ron, I don't know.
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Ron watched as she handed him the parchment again. She slammed her head against the table again. Ron winced as he heard the thud.
He read what she wrote. "Hermione, I'm going to get Madam Pomfrey."
Ron saw Hermione nod slightly. He ran out of the room.
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I saw Ron run to go get Madam Pomfrey. This was so frustrating. It's not like I had a sore throat or anything. I looked up to find Ron's red face and Madam Pomfrey staring at me.
"Dear, what's wrong?" Madam Pomfrey asked me.
I gave her an evil look. Ron spoke for me, "I told you she lost her voice."
"Okay, can you try to speak for me?"
I opened my mouth a said, "I hate you." Nothing came out.
"Huh.' She pressed her fingers to my neck. 'Open your mouth."
I opened my mouth wide.
"Huh. You don't have a sore throat." She said.
I rolled my eyes, I knew that.
"I don't know why you can't speak. Until I do, you're just going to have to wait it out." She said looking at Ron. "Ron, I need you to be her voice."
"How can I do that?" Ron said a piece of his red hair falling in his eye's I sighed mentally.
"Just speak for her. It's not that hard. I'll get back to you as soon I figure out what's going on." Madam Pomfrey left the library.
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Ron looked at Hermione. The rims of her eyes red. "You okay?" He asked.
Hermione nodded and pulled the piece of parchment closer to her. She picked up her quill.
Ron are you sure you're okay being my 'voice'?
Ron read what she wrote. "Yeah, I'm fine with it. I guess it just means that were going to be closer than ever."
Hermione nodded.
"Ron!' Someone coming in the room yelled. It was Seamus Finnegan.
"Hey man." Ron said as Seamus walked over to him.
"Hey, Ron. Hermione." Hermione waved to him. "An owl came for you during the end of lunch. It left a note for you. I thought I'd bring it to you." Seamus handed Ron the note and left.
Ronald Weasley,
Madam Pomfrey informed me of Ms. Granger's situation. I've giving all of Ms. Granger's teacher's word of the situation. I've also let them know that you would be in class with her. I've informed them that you would be acting as her 'voice' until she gets her voice back. This won't be a problem since you both only have one class that is not together. In case it takes months for Ms. Granger to recover her voice you will be receiving your lessons and will need to take Astronomy during a Saturday session before you have Quidditch practise. If you have any problems take it up with me.
Albus Dumbledore,
Headmaster of Hogwarts
Hermione lifted a brown eyebrow. Ron smiled and handed her the letter.
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I read the note and handed it back to him. I just nodded.
"Are you okay with that?" Ron asked smiling.
I nodded and smiled.
"It shouldn't be that hard, right?" Ron asked raising an eyebrow.
All I could do was laugh, I had no idea what was going to happen. There was still the matter of fact that I had feelings for him.