It's just a drop in the ocean,
A change in the weather,
I was praying that you and me might end up together
Ron stared up at the tall, curved ceiling of the hospital wing and sighed; the pain in the back of his throat from where Harry had shoved a bezoar down it had stopped a few hours ago but somehow he couldn't get to sleep. He sighed again and turned onto his side so he was now facing a diamond-panelled window that looked over the expansive lake; the moon cast a soft reflection on the gentle ripples and Ron felt himself being lulled into a sense of peacefulness. His mind drifted towards Hermione and he smiled to himself at what'd happened earlier that day:
"Ron!" Hermione burst into the Hospital Wing, her eyes wide with concern as she frantically searched the room
"Over here" he waved feebly, she noticed and ran to his side, dodging in-between the teachers that had convened at the foot of his bed
"Ron, thank heavens, are you okay?" he nodded; she sighed with relief and smiled at him gently "I would've come earlier but Madam Pomfrey banned all visitors until now. Harry told me what happened," her expression darkened "I can't believe someone would do that, I mean, it's so dangerous!"
"I think the idea is that it's supposed to be dangerous, that's usually what you aim for when you try to poison someone"
Hermione frowned a little "I was talking about the love potion Ronald"
"Oh" He leaned back into his pillow and closed his eyes, the Wrangleberry juice that Madam Pomfrey had give him was starting to kick in and he was feeling really tired. He felt a pressure on his hand and looked down to see Hermione cradling it between her two hands; her thumb absentmindedly circled his palm, she was staring over his head at something in the windows. The sunlight fell speckled through the clouds and for a brief moment it caught Hermione, she glowed golden and Ron watched, enthralled, as lethargy slowly sunk in, making his eyelids heavy.
He smiled, keeping the image in his mind, and fell promptly asleep.
The next morning Ron was told he could leave the Hospital Wing on the condition, Madam Pomfrey had insisted, that he returns if he feels the slightest bit nauseas "Okay" he'd nodded, closing the curtains around his bed and swiftly getting dressed; if he was quick enough he might not miss breakfast.
Now he was starting to wish he had; Harry and Hermione were being extraordinarily quiet and Lavender was staring at him from across the hall, even more intensely than she usually did. Ron hoped she wasn't inflicting any permanent damage on the spoon in her right hand.
Suddenly he heard Hermione speak next to him "Ron stop, you're making it snow" she had her hand on the end of his wand, pointing it down at the table, he glanced at it and decided to leave it there, not bothered enough to put it away.
He frowned at Hermione "Tell me how I broke up with Lavender"
She looked over at Harry "Well, she came to visit you in the hospital… and you talked. I, I don't believe it was a particularly long conversation"
Ron frowned again, he didn't remember talking "Don't get me wrong, I'm bloody thrilled to be shot of her, it's just… she seems a bit put out" All three of them turned to look at her, she was still staring at Ron, while a concerned first year glanced at the spoon she continued to hold
"Yes, um, she does doesn't she." Hermione observed, clearly amused, she faced Ron again "you say you don't remember anything from that morning, anything, at all"
He continued to frown as he stared at the stone wall, he did remember something; he was dreaming about Hermione, they were back at The Burrow and Hermione had taken one of his wizard cards from his collection.
"Hermione!" he called as he ran up the never- ending winding stairs "Hermione give it back. C'mon, please?"
"I'm here!" she laughed from inside a room, Ron followed the sound up into the attic where she sat on an old chest waving the card and smiling, Ron grinned and walked towards her, she jumped off the chest and backed towards the wall, still waving the card "come and get it". He chuckled and dove at her; she dodged out of the way, laughing. Ron got up from the pile of old Prophets where he'd landed and leapt at Hermione again, this time he caught her and they both fell to the floor, she giggled underneath him and held out the card
"Here, take it"
Ron grinned down at her and pocketed the card "thanks".
"Don't mention it" she smiled, his heart flipped and he glanced down at her pink lips, before he could think about it he leant down and kissed her. He felt Hermione gasp but she kissed him back, tangling her hands in his hair and pulling his head down to deepen the kiss, electric sparked along Ron's spine and he flicked his tongue against hers.
"Oi oi" a sudden voice sounded, Ron jerked upwards to see Fred standing in the doorway with one eyebrow raised and his arms folded "honestly you two, I know no one comes up to the attic but you could at least close the door" Hermione wriggled out from under Ron, blushing crimson and readjusting her hairclip while Ron sat back on his knees, glaring daggers at Fred. He laughed as he started walking down the stairs "mum says dinner's ready"
"Okay" Ron replied, Fred vanished and he glanced over at Hermione who was anxiously biting her lip "hey…"
"Ron," she blurted, looking up at him through her eyelashes "do you… do you like me?"
He smiled and put a hand behind his head "yeah, I've been wanting to do that for ages actually"
Hermione smiled back at him and leaned over, planting a soft kiss on his lips then she reached back for his hand and got up from the floor, gently pulling him up with her. She grinned and started to walk out of the room "come on, Fred says dinner's ready", Ron laughed quietly to himself and followed her out, trying to control his shaking hands and the butterflies throwing themselves against the sides of his stomach.
"Well there is something," Ron returned to the present and glanced over at Hermione, 'no' he thought 'there's no way she'd think of me like that'. "But it can't be," he decided to laugh it off, hoping no one had notice his brief fall into fantasy "I was completely boggled right" Hermione laughed next to him and Harry smiled
'Yeah, no way she would'.
"Boggled" Hermione repeated and returned to her Daily Prophet, Ron's thoughts wandered back to his dream and he tried to swallow the sudden lump that had caught in his throat.
The rest of the day was spent in silence between the three of them, Harry kept shooting Hermione knowing looks which she not very successfully attempted to ignore, while Ron repeatedly told himself that they didn't mean anything. Several times Lavender would show up where they were, accidentally-on-purpose bumping into Ron or just sitting in the Common Room gazing at him. It'd been a straight hour that she'd been doing this before he got fed up and decided to continue Slughorn's Potions essay in the dorm room; Hermione, Harry and Ginny were all deep in conversation and didn't notice him leave.
Ron threw the potions book and parchment on the floor and collapsed onto his bed, throwing an arm over his eyes he sighed, his head filled with the image of him and Hermione in the attic. He sat up and shook his head, trying to get rid of the picture; 'its no use thinking about it, she couldn't like me', and reached down for his parchment and book, hoping he might get some work done when suddenly Harry opened the door and walked in, he was grinning and laughing to himself "alright Ron?"
"Mm hmm" he replied distractedly, his quill scratching loudly on the parchment. He heard the sound of footsteps approaching and looked up to see Harry standing at the end of his bed
"What's up?"
"Nothing" Ron shrugged, Harry raised his eyebrows in disbelief; Ron sighed and looked down at his quill to hide his embarrassment "its Hermione, I get this weird feeling in my stomach whenever I'm around her and I know its stupid because she doesn't like me like that" he looked up to see Harry walk over to sit on his bed, he was looking suspiciously uncomfortable
"Why don't you just ask her?"
"I just… can't"
Harry sighed and pulled off his tie "I know the feeling"
They both sat in an awkward silence for brief moment "Hey Harry, do you mind if I use the invisibility cloak tonight? It's nothing special; I just want to check something"
Harry frowned and shrugged "okay, you know where it's kept"
Ron smiled "thanks mate".
The dorm room was silent, apart from the odd snore from either Seamus or Neville, Ron pulled back the duvet and gingerly stepped onto the floorboards, hoping they won't creak and give him away. The room stayed quiet and he tiptoed over to the chest at the foot of Harry's bed, pulling out the cloak and swiftly covering himself with it he crept out down to the Common Room; where the fire lay extinguished in the hearth, leaving the room in darkness, Ron considered using Lumos but decided it would be better not to give himself away.
He'd just have to wing it.
Keeping that thought in mind, he opened the portrait entrance and slipped out into the corridor.
Ron was certain it'd been at least an hour since he'd left the dorm room and he still hadn't found the room he was looking for, his legs were aching, he was feeling really tired and was just about to turn around and go back when he walked smack bang into a wall. He staggered backwards and rubbed furiously at his forehead, glancing up at the culprit; iron bars twisted and weaved like vines as a huge pair of ancient wooden doors emerged from the wall. Ron grinned; he'd found it, the Room of Requirement. The doors clanged loudly and he froze, anxiously awaiting the sound of hurried footsteps that would announce the arrival of the teachers. The corridor was silent and Ron let out a sigh of relief, then he pushed open the doors and strode into the room.
He stared in awe; before him were objects piled high to the ceiling; chairs, books, trunks, brooms all lay scattered, he ran past a column of tables into a crossroads of picture frames then hurried left and stopped dead in his tracks; there it was.
The Mirror of Erised.
He walked cautiously towards it, Harry had told him during their second year that Dumbledore had gotten rid of it, for fear of what more damage it could do after Voldemort and Quirrel had tried to use it to get the Philospher's Stone, but earlier on that summer Ron had caught a glimpse of it in the window through Borgin and Burke's when Fred and George had sent him down Knockturn Alley to get some disgustingly scented candles from someone. He'd had a hunch it would end up in Hogwarts, and it seems he was right.
Ron stood a foot in front of the mirror and slowly pulled off the invisibility cloak, watching himself magically appear from the feet upwards, the cloak slipped out of his hands and fell with a muffled thump onto the floor, his heart lurched as he stared as his reflection for here in the glass stood Hermione with her arm wrapped around Ron's waist smiling blissfully. He looked down and noticed a little girl and boy standing next to her, both with bright ginger hair and freckles, Ron throat tightened and he fought back the tears that stung his eyes. He shook his head and snatched up the cloak, throwing it over himself; he sprinted hastily through the crossroads of picture frames, past the column of chairs and out into the corridor. Ron turned around to see the giant double doors slowly sink back into the wall and shook his head 'I'd better get back to the dorms before someone notices I'm missing', he span around and darted down the corridor.
"Well?" Harry looked at Ron who was biting hungrily into his fifth sausage
"What?" Ron looked up
"What did you do last night?"
"Nothing important" Ron shrugged and continued eating his sausage, Harry sighed and glanced over at the entrance to the Great Hall; Hermione walked in and smiled in the direction of their table
"Hey Ron" he nodded pointedly in her direction, Ron looked up and for a slight moment his eyes met hers, she blushed and looked down at the ground. He looked at her and thought of the two children in the mirror last night; he grinned as his gut filled with butterflies and helped himself to another sausage.