Disclaimer: I am not JKR and that means I'm not writing this for profit. I am claiming no rights to the original content borrowed from the published works of "Harry Potter."

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Harry, Ginny, and Neville sat at one end of the Gryffindor table together. Ron sat at the other end of the table, and he glared with sly precision so that they knew he was angry with them. He hated Harry for being picked for the Tri-Wizard Tournament. They had been talking just two days ago about how they didn't want to be a part of it, how it is dangerous and neither of them would do very well at all. Hermione could probably manage, but not the pair of them. They'd decided on it!

That stopped being the case last night. Harry would get stuff that Ron could never hope to have, more than he already had to begin with! Ron, being the youngest son of seven children, he often gets overlooked. He was not smart like Percy, he was not important like Bill and Charlie, he was not funny and talented like Fred and George, and he wasn't the only girl like Ginny. Usually it was nice to be ignored by his mother because his shenanigans never measured up to that of the twins, but sometimes he just wanted to be special.

Harry bloody Potter, the boy who lived.

Harry bloody Potter, the youngest seeker in a century.

Harry bloody Potter, the godchild of the innocent escaped convict Sirius Black.

And now Harry bloody Potter, the Tri-Wizard Tournament participant at just fourteen years old!

How much more fame does he need? Ron grumbled and returned to his breakfast. It was only a minute longer before his anxiety overtook him. Instead of glowering at the friends he had just the day before, he turned to the entrance of the Great Hall with hope that Hermione'd show up and sit with him.

When she finally emerged through the door, Draco Malfoy and Viktor Krum were not far behind. Draco Malfoy followed as long as he could, and his eyes traced her body up and down the whole time. Ron had always thought Draco might've liked Hermione with all the pain he caused her throughout the years. It would be shameful to his family were he to fall for a Muggle-born witch, let alone one that proved better than him academically. As for Krum, his admiration had turned sour in the last few days as rumors had flown quickly that Krum had taken a liking to the Library, in the Restricted Section no less. That was where Hermione studied and he couldn't pretend that he didn't wonder if Krum wasn't about to make a move. Ron didn't like the idea of it.

The closer she got to his spot near Dean and Seamus, both awkwardly angled away from him, unsure how to respond to his sudden appearance. Her nose was in a book but when she looked up at their usual spot she'd see that they were apart. She would have to pick between the two, Harry Potter or Ronald Weasley. Where she sat determined whom she sided with in this unspoken war rooted in jealousy.

Each second that passed forced Ron to accept that if she did choose to sit with Harry, which meant he'd have to make new friends. Dean and Seamus were friendly with him, but they weren't close friends. They shared a dorm with Ron and Harry for years now so it'd be easy to become integrated in their lives. That part wouldn't be hard.

However, all of the Quidditch players were off limits. His sister would choose Harry, considering she had five other brothers that she could be close to instead of him. The twins would be fine with both people because they'd have to be, but there would inevitably be jokes that Harry is a better brother than Ron. The comparison already pained him greatly. All that left were the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. Ron would never sink so low as to befriend a Slytherin. It helped that everyone in the school hated Harry too since he didn't really deserve to be in the Tournament anyway.

Hermione breezed past Ron while he was caught up in his thoughts, and his heart sunk quickly. The hurt of having no true friends already suffocated him, his food dropped back onto the plate suddenly. Dean and Seamus gawked at him, asked if he was okay (he never stopped eating so this was a strange event indeed). When Ron didn't reply they returned to their conversation, only to glance on occasion at him.

Ron thought of Luna Lovegood. They call her Loony, but she can't be worse than anyone else, right? The stories couldn't all be true ones. Best buds, they'd become, he thought. Loony Lovegood and Wacky Weasley, and they'd be an oddball pair for the ages! Ron could see their future – married with seven of their own weirdo kids attending Hogwarts with round faces decorated with flat ginger hair and freckles. They'd have no other friends but each other! Maybe that wouldn't be the worst future he could have, though. Right?

"Good Morning, Dean, Seamus!" Hermione's voice turned the air around his head quickly. His jerked to face her; "Ron!" As if there'd been no change in her day, Hermione prepared a plate for breakfast and kept reading. Nothing was strange about this to her, almost as if she'd expected it. Ron's heart raced beneath the surface at the excitement of her having chosen him instead of Harry Potter.

To say that he had a 'fancy' for her would not have been the proper word for it; his feelings developed for Hermione painfully slow with each passing year. The feeling was everlasting and ever-present. A fence was still pitched between them and he hoped that her sitting with him had maybe opened the door to expressing more of what he felt for her.

"Oh, Ron!" Hermione gasped unexpectedly; "My parents sent me chocolates but I don't really prefer the filling. Thought you'd enjoy them, actually. You can snack on them throughout the day…" Her voice trailed off when she turned around to retrieve a box from her satchel. The box was shaped in a circle and she passed it off to him. Immediately he pulled a sweet out, addicted to them as he was, and thanked her.

"No problem, Ron." Hermione smiled, and held his gaze for a moment. Something in her eyes suggested that she felt bad for him, and he didn't need it. He would be fine one way or another. That's the thing about Weasley's is that they're always fine in the end.

But it would be a hell of a lot easier knowing Hermione chose him when she could have chose Harry Potter instead.

Author's Note:

The original version of this story was posted on November 19, 2011 (previously titled Blushing). In rewriting this story I mostly wanted to expand on the feelings that Ron during this single 'scene' and give something more whole to the readers than I did back in 2011. That original publication was only 768 where this update brings it to 1,109 words, rounding out the piece.