She liked him. A lot. Simple, right? Nope, because he also infuriated her to no end, constantly arguing against everything she said. And so naturally she had to fight back, to show she wasn't afraid to stand up for what she believes in. The Gryffindor lion in her roared, and so did her temper. But her anger did nothing to deteriorate the love for him she felt deep in her heart. Her heart ached for him, the one person who could make her laugh the most, smile the widest, and cry the hardest. His red hair, his easy temper, his intelligent side, his offhand funny comments, his shimmering eyes, they all made her fall for him even more. They were as much a part of him as say, his hand-me-down robes, or his left arm.
And despite many unsuccessful attempts, she realized she couldn't rid herself of the burden these feelings left her with-that was impossible. And it was impossible because she hadn't simply liked him for his looks, or his brains, no, she, Hermione Jean Granger, cautious not to fall over on anything, had tumbled head over heels for Ron, and she hadn't even seen the sign of danger on the cliff as she fell. And she was, she realized, starting to like the feeling of the adrenaline as she went. It was..exhilarating and frightening, and everything and nothing like she expected it. See? Simple is definitely not the way to describe how she felt. If all her thoughts were to be categorized into a single word, it might perhaps be 'love', or 'complicated'. No, there was only one real word that would fit..'confused'. She was confused, about everything. Why she loved him..why he didn't love her back..why she was only just realizing this now..where was she supposed to go from here?
Hermione confused, was indeed, a strange sight to behold, even more so for Ron and Harry, who had never seen her that way. Which, then made them confused, and all their other schoolmates confused...until it was a messy tangible ball of confusion. Now even the thought of this being simple was laughable. Laughable just like the chance of someone like him ever loving someone like her. And that was just the way it was. At least how Hermione saw it.
He loved her. That much was clear now, and he had always sort of known, but he dismissed it, and looked the other way, because he wasn't ready to see the gray line between them, and how it melded and meshed and clashed and shaped to fit how they both felt.
His emotional range was tiny, even been comparable to that of a teaspoon. By whom? Hermione of course. And that was when he truly saw her, truly saw the feelings he had for her, and wondered how he ever could have been so blind. Simple. He couldn't-wouldn't- admit to the truth and so then put on the mindset that it therefore wasn't the truth, and should be ignored. Probably the worst thing he could have done, honestly. It only made it harder for him to realize it, made for more fights between them, and made him a lot less happy than he would've been with her.
Imagine if he had realized, accepted, sooner. Then he would have been a prince to her, treating her in every aspect as though she was royalty. Ron sighed, head down, eyes closed, her face permanently placed behind his eyes every time he blinked. Why did love have to be so painful? Couldn't he just man up and tell her he loved her, and always had, even though he never knew it until now? Yes, he could just picture it now, 'Hermione, I love you, always have, though I just found out..would you like to accompany me to Hogsmeade this weekend?'
Hermione would slap him, and then it would ruin their friendship, Harry would yell at him, and then comfort Hermione. The two would probably be a couple, then. The mere thought made his skin crawl and his jaw clench. It would be the Yule Ball all over again. Except, you know, this time, he would know why he was so angry and jealous the whole time. So, he resolved, she could never know how he felt about her, it would ruin everything. And he couldn't bear that.
-❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤? ﾟﾒﾕ? ﾟﾒﾕ? ﾟﾒﾕ? ﾟﾒﾕ?-
Harry rolled his eyes. Those two would never learn. Ever. He had honestly given up. The two both obviously held "secret" affection for the other, that much was clear. At least, to everyone else except the other. After countless attempts to get the two together, he was down to his last plan. Hey, planning a set-up for his two best friends while worrying about Voldemort and his whole army was definitely a stressful mix! Not to mention the fact, he had yet to confront his own conflicted feelings about a certain female Weasley.
This was a simple plan-get the two in a broom cupboard, and have them stay there until they snogged. Perfect plan, except he would need to recruit others for backup. Neville and Luna had already agreed, so he needed to ask one more...Ginny. He had been avoiding this...
"Where do you s'pose Harry went?" Ron asked Hermione, bewildered. He had been behind them just a mine ago, and now..he was nowhere in sight.
Hermione shrugged, she too didn't know. "He didn't say anything before he left, did he?"
Ron shook his head, and was about to add that he thought not, but suddenly yelling echoed from farther up the hall. It was Harry's voice, and...Neville's?
Turning to sprint, the two made their way until they saw Harry and Neville in a screaming match, both red-faced and angry. A truly unusual sight. "Harry, you can have Ginny! Luna is mine!"
Harry sputtered and retorted, "never! I want Luna and Ginny!"
Ron and Hermione stood there gaping, as Harry had never given any indication of liking Luna, and Neville was thought to be far too shy to confess his obvious feelings for Luna, same as Harry's for Ginny. So what in the name of Merlin was going on here?
"Bloody hell! What is going on here? And why are you arguing about Luna and my little sister?" Ron yelled, recovering from his shock and quickly raging.
"Harry? Neville? What on earth has gotten into you two?" Hermione asked disbelievingly.
From behind two pillars jumped out Luna Lovegood and Ginny Weasley, both screaming, "NOW!"
Apparently on some cue, Harry and Neville each grabbed Ron and Hermione's shirts and shoved them into a waiting broom cupboard. There was hardly any room, and once the door was immediately slammed by Ginny, the lighting was very dim. Hexes and charms were placed by the four outside, and Hermione knew she couldn't remember all placed in order to remove them.
So, it looked like they were stuck in a broom cupboard together. Her and Ron. Oh Merlin, why? It seemed as though Merlin didn't have the answer, but Harry did.
"Well, Ron, Hermione, we have tried many subtle approaches for this, but you are both comically oblivious...you clearly both have feelings for each other, so until you admit it or show it, you two are trapped in there together." They could hear the smirk in Harry's voice as he said this, and a heavy blush built upon their cheeks. The glanced at each other, then simultaneously glanced away.
Harry sighed, this still might take a while..
Harry, Ginny, Luna and Neville all walked away and decided to give the hopefully-couple-to-be some time alone.
"So..erm, do you think they are gone?" Ron asked after a minute or two of tensed silence. They had sat down, and were both very aware of the close quarters, as their legs touched, and arms kept brushing.
"Probably..." Hermione sighed, and looked down, anything but looking into those eyes, or she might lose all control and kiss him...
Ron shifted, closer to her. Her breath caught in her throat. What was he doing?
"Look, erm, 'Mione, there's something I've been meaning to tell you..." He trailed off and scratched his head uncomfortably, until she nudged him, and said, "go on, you can tell me anything, you know.."
"I wells the truth is, I mean to say..well if you know, I wouldn't really mind if we well..sorta.." He never finished his sentence. Hermione came at him. She had made the mistake of looking into those blue eyes of his, and saw the longing she felt mirrored. There was no more hiding it, so, she leapt into his arms, and pulled his lips on hers, arms tightening around his neck.
Ron gave a start of surprise, then gave in to the kiss, the very one he had longed for. It tasted better than either could ever imagine.
When four sets of eyes peered in through a crack of a certain broom cupboard in a certain castle, all pulled away, shocked, cancelled the enchantments, and shut the door to give those brooms some privacy. They clearly needed the whole afternoon to themselves undisturbed.
Fin.