Ugh, NOW where did he go? I asked myself, standing on tip-toe in an effort to see above the crowd. I had seen him come in (it was hard to miss that fiery hair of his), but he had disappeared. And come on, how hard was it to miss that tall of a kid, with the most beautiful sapphire eyes and his cute little freckles…
Bad Hermione, bad! I chastised myself for having such thoughts about my best friend, no matter how badly I wanted him to be so much more than that. I shook my head to clear it, hopefully to think smarter. Ron. Find Ron. Well, he probably wasn't too happy about Harry kissing Ginny right in front of everyone (though, honestly, it was about time!) and was most likely sulking somewhere. Where would Ron go when he needs something to cheer him up?
Lavender. I searched the room, but found Ron's…ex? Or were they still an "item" together? Hmm…Anyhow, I found her on a sofa making cow eyes at Seamus. They looked like they were about to proceed to a dark corner… How dare she cheat on Ron!
Wait…Dark corner! I checked every one. Except for a few, ehm, "couples", I found nothing there to help me in my search. Wait, couples = kissing = Ginny and Harry = maybe some answers!
I found them at a table, quite enjoying themselves. I was happy for my friends, that they (rather, Harry) had opened their eyes to what was staring them in the face. I felt almost rude to intrude upon them, but, figuring that they had all night long, I thought that a small moment of their time wouldn't hurt.
"Harry? Ginny?" I asked, advancing upon them. They looked up at me, and it was easy to see that they had been so intensely wrapped up in each other, that they had forgot about the party. I smiled, and continued, "Have either of you two seen Ron?" Though, when I considered it, if they hadn't seen the rest of the world before I came, would they have seen him?
"Now that I think about it, Hermione," Ginny said, brows furrowed in deep concentration, "I do believe I saw him wander off down that hall over there." She pointed to where she had last seen her brother.
"Oh, thank you, Ginny, I – wait, he didn't have anyone with him, did he? I mean, I wouldn't want to interrupt if he had something…" I trailed off, not even wanting to let the thought cross my mind.
"Oh you," she laughed at me, "He's so obsessed with you, he can't see the rest of the female population!"
"Except for maybe your mum," Harry chimed in, giving Ginny a tender look. "Definitely," she snorted. "She's a bit hard to miss."
I left them laughing with each other, as I went down the hall she had indicated that she had seen Ron go down.
Why, in the name of Merlin, would he go down the hall with the library? I wondered, peering in the doorway of my favorite hideout. There was a cozy fire going, and I wondered where from, when I saw its glow reflected in shining hair just as bright as the blaze itself.
I stepped in quietly, shutting the door behind me. "Ron?" I murmured his name, as to alert him to my presence. He didn't even flinch. It was as though he had been expecting me. "Hermione," he returned, politely formal. Seeing as that was hardly ever in his fashion to speak to me with that tone, I was a bit concerned.
"Ron, is everything all right?" I asked, coming up to the side of the loveseat he was occupying. He sighed, and said, "Come here, Hermione." He slid over to the other side and made room for me to sit. I carefully perched on the edge of the cushion, awaiting his answer.
"You can make yourself comfortable, I'm not gonna bloody bite you," he said sardonically.
In a rather daring move, I curled up my legs under myself and leaned into him. He looked down at me, surprised, but put his arm around me instinctively. Had he gotten those instincts from – no, no, don't even think about it, Hermione. It'll just upset you and you will lose your nerve.
"What's gotten into you lately?" he asked me, obviously stunned at my boldness. I leaned my head against his shoulder and replied, "You said I was to make myself comfortable. I'm at ease wherever you are." With my last statement, I heard him gasp, and squeezed my eyes shut at what I had just admitted.
I was unprepared when he rested his head against my own. My, my, tonight was just chock-full of bravery. "I wanted to talk to you," he started, "and I figured that, well, sooner or later you would make it down here as an escape, if you weren't here already." He knew me only too well. I sighed and cuddled closer as he went on. "So I waited, and here you are, and I wanted to tell you something."
"Okay," I purred into his shoulder where I had buried my face, so he couldn't see the blush that was my price for being so audacious.
"Hermione, I don't know how exactly to say this, so I'll just say it as it comes, okay?" I nodded. "First off, I hate Krum." I laughed, for I had acknowledged this. In fact, it seemed, for a while, that he himself was the only one who didn't know. "In fact, not only do I hate him…but I'm jealous of him." I laughed again, and wondered aloud, "Why on earth would you be jealous of Viktor?" though it was probably something "macho" that a girl wouldn't understand. At least, not one that doesn't play Quidditch.
"Because…cuz…I'm jealous cuz he has you." I drew in a harsh breath. I was silent, as he continued, "He has your heart, something I've always hoped to capture for myself, just as completely as you already have mine. I know, I know, about Lavender… Since I was so jealous of him, I thought…you know, maybe you would be jealous of her.
"Well, I got tired of just snogging someone to snog someone, I never really liked it in the first place anyways. And especially with her. But I figured that since she was fixated with me, that maybe it wouldn't be that hard to pretend that I was just as crazy about her. That backfired, to say the least, cuz whenever I'd act caught up in her, you would leave…that wasn't what I wanted at all. And then, you were just…not there at all, and that, that, was what made me come to my senses and fess up to what I already knew.
"I love you, Hermione, it's as simple as that. Bloody hell, I don't know why I even bothered trying to run from it in the first place. I know you don't love me back, and I'm hoping that this won't ruin our friendship, cuz Merlin knows how much Harry and I both need you. But I just wanted to let you know, cuz I'm tired of trying to hide from it."
He finished his story, and went silent. I sat in thought for a while, then decided upon telling him my side of it.
"You think that Viktor Krum has my heart?" I asked him. I gave a derisive laugh, then carried on, "Why, that's rather impossible, I'd say! My goodness, Ron…he can't even say my name right! And besides, how could he have my heart, if someone else is already in the possession of it?"
"Who?" he inquired. "Harry? McLaggen?" He really has no clue, I realized.
"You." I said the simple answer, and wrapped my arms around his waist, bringing us closer together. I felt him exhale, as if he had been holding his breath for my answer, which he had, but I hadn't known. He had been worried about what I was going to say, I marveled silently. I tilted my head up to look at him, and he was gazing down at me, with those vivid eyes of his. These same eyes moved from where they met my own, down to my lips. It was impulsive of me, I know, to even be in this range of proximity to him. He was severely affecting my senses, making my breathing shorter and whatnot.
And he knew it. He was smirking at me, but then I leaned closer, and the same result came over him. I laughed, letting him know that I knew of my…feminine tricks, shall we say. My giddiness was swept away, however, when he closed the little distance between us and met my lips with his.
It was…indescribable! Amazingly wonderful! Utterly magnificent! He pulled me into his lap and angled his head to get closer to me. I could have stayed right there forever, until I remembered that I had to breathe. I pulled away and gasped air into my lungs, and he did the same. Once we were certain we weren't going to pass out, we started laughing. Uncontrollable giggles and deep chuckles reverberated against the walls of the room. When we calmed down, I laid my head upon his chest and listened to his rapid heartbeat. I had done that to him, I thought proudly, a smile crossing my face. I felt his arms tighten around me again, and looked up. He had a mischievous gleam in his eyes, and I looked at him calculatingly. It was only a leap off the couch and out of his arms, then about ten nice, long strides to the door. If I had a good enough lead on him, I might be able to make it out to the party before he could wreak any more havoc on my senses.
"Does your mind ever shut down?" he asked, laughing quietly. "There's no way your leaving me here. At least, not by myself." He quirked a cocky smile.
"That's just fine, Ron. I could bring Lavender down here to join you." I tried not to grin at the scowl on his face.
"But I don't want Lavender," he complained. "I want you." And with that, he brought my face down to his and we kissed again. Well, it started out as kissing, anyway. He shifted, so that my head was resting against the arm of the loveseat, and he was leaning over me, pressing his mouth deeper onto mine. I wasn't used to this, and I had no idea of what to do. He relented for a moment for me to catch a breath, and then he was back on me, wholly filling my every sense. I ran my fingers through his hair and gave a deep moan from the back of my throat, firmly sealing my lips to his. Wow, that's something way not-Hermione. I forgot about the party, I forgot that we were even at Hogwarts. We could be in the presence of You-Know-Who, and yet I still wouldn't have noticed. Or probably even cared. All there was in my world was Ron, and I liked it like that.
"Hermione," he whispered fervently, kissing my face, making his way down to my neck. He was creating these feelings inside of me, things I hadn't analyzed, and had no wish to. Not right now, anyways. They felt…good, and I never wanted him to stop. I just shut down all my mental processes, focusing all my attention on him. He came back up to my lips from my collarbone, and started kissing me senseless again. I kissed him back, and he seemed to like that, for he traced the outline of my lips with his tongue, wanting go further.
And I just about let him. But I was Hermione Granger, and I was getting snogged for my first time by my best friend, whom I wasn't even dating. I pulled back a bit and looked up at him. His eyes were majorly dilated, so that there was only a shimmering rim of blue on the outsides of deep abysses of black. "Ron," I huffed, struggling for breath, placing my hands on his chest.
"Hermione," he answered, leaning down to claim my lips again. But I stopped him, and he didn't appear to be too happy about that.
"N-no, Ron. Just don't," I said, trying to regain some composure.
"Why not?" he demanded.
I looked at him, then explained, "This is my first time. I have no idea what to do, and I don't know anything about it. And it's you, my best friend. We aren't even a…a thing, an item, a pair, you know? I don't want to be that girl. The one who…"
"Yeah, I understand," he said. I glanced up at him, and I dazedly realized that, yes, he did understand what I was saying. He let me sit up, but never released me from the encasement of his arms. I tried to smooth down my hair some, even grabbed for my emergency ponytail holder around my wrist.
"Hold on," he said, plucking the elastic band from my fingers. "Turn around," he commanded, and I did. I felt his fingers comb through my hair, and then put it up nicely. When he was done, I tightened it up a small bit, then turned back around to face him.
He was smiling at me, and I smiled back. I leaned in and covered his mouth with my own. "I love you," I murmured against his lips. It was his turn to gasp and break away. I gazed into his eyes, and said, "It's true. I love you, Ron Weasley." I watched as the shock at my admission slowly faded, replaced with a brilliancy of emotion. I grinned crookedly, unsure of my territory here.
"And I love you, Hermione Granger," he replied softly, gently touching my lips with his. "I love you now, and I always will." He pulled back, and we beamed at each other for a while, before hugging each other and laughing. He got up, pulled me to my feet, and picked me up around my waist and spun me in circles. I laughed with happiness, then he set me down, still grinning from ear to ear. He leaned his forehead against mine, though he had to bend way down, as I was so much shorter than he, all the while keeping me in the circle of his arms. I closed my eyes, just savoring the contact, when he spoke.
"You are my everything," he sighed, "and I'd like to keep it that way forever. But I think, before I propose to you, I should probably ask you out first."
"Maybe that would be a good idea," I chuckled, opening my eyes. He smiled down at me, and continued, "So in that case, Hermione, would you please, please, please, go out with me?" He made puppy-dog eyes, and I could not resist, even if I wanted to.
"Of course!" I said exuberantly. It was somewhat hard to kiss each other after that, since we were both smiling so hard.
After a while, we made our way back down the hallway, hand in hand. It wasn't long before we made it to the party, where everyone was silent and watching us. I was a bit nervous, and then I heard someone cheer, "Ron's finally got it right!" Someone else said, "It's about time!" Others started cheering as well, and there was a lot of applause. I started blushing out of control, but Ron just soaked up the attention, positively glowing.
The only one who didn't seem to wish us well was, of course, Lavender Brown. She was glaring at me as if I had taken away some sort of prize from her. In my eyes, Ron indeed was a prize. One I hoped never to relinquish to anyone.