Secret of Their Own

by SnakeEyes Hannah

"Hermione?" Harry asked, voice sounding concerned.

Hermione lifted her head, tearing her eyes off the lines in the book she was reading to fix her friend with a questioning glance. "Mhm?"

"What are you wearing?" he asked, staring at her chest, looking rather surprised and slightly confused. Hermione saw Ron's head snap up from his homework to stare first at Harry then her, his eyes also stopping at her chest, although his expression was different from Harry's. Where Harry looked surprised, Ron looked half-afraid.

"What I always wear?" Hermione replied, glancing down on herself, trying to see if her clothes had somehow transformed into something else. Seeing nothing out of order, she frowned and looked up at the boys again. "Yeah, what I wear. Why?"

Her eyes shifted from Harry to Ron, her gaze locked with Ron's. His blue eyes seemed to want to tell her something, something important that Harry couldn't hear. She tried to understand it, tried to figure out what Ron's half-pained expression could mean. She shook her head, signalling she didn't understand.

"You always wear that, 'Mione?" Harry asked, pointing to her chest again.

Hermione spluttered, dog-marked the top of the page she was at in her book and shut it, placing it beside her on the sofa. "Yes, I always dress like this!" she spat. What was he getting at? She had breasts, had then for quite a while, thank-you very much. And it wasn't like Harry hadn't seen her dressed like this before.

Ron coughed, rather un-discreetly, and tried to seem inconspicuous as he did a motion across his neck. He looked pointedly at Hermione's own neck and she raised a hand to run it down her neck, her hand coming across nothing out of the ordinary, nothing but her necklace. She froze, her hand on the chain of her necklace. Ron made a pained face and nodded slightly at Hermione's realisation-widened eyes.

"Since when do you wear necklaces?" Harry asked, having missed the exchange. "And necklaces like that especially?" he continued.

Ron looked affronted and Hermione had to bite down a smile. "I think it looks nice!" he told Harry through half-gritted teeth, staring at his best friend through slightly narrowed eyes.

Harry held up his hands in a sign of surrender. "Sorry, I think it's lovely too, I just didn't think Hermione would ever wear something like that," he shrugged.

This time Hermione was one to look affronted. "Oh? And why's that, Harry? Why can every other girl in the school wear things like this and I can't?"

Harry grimaced, realising he was in for it. "No, no, I didn't mean-"

"Of course not, but you said it," Hermione interrupted him and unceremoniously shoved the pendant down the neckline of her shirt, hiding it from view like she normally did.

Harry gave her a once-over and noted the blush on Hermione's face. He turned to look at Ron as Hermione was pointedly looking away from both the boys, but found that the redhead was looking away equally pointedly, a blush on his cheeks as well. With matching red ear tips. It started to click in Harry's mind and he fought the urge to grin sadistically.

"So, Hermione, who gave you that then?" he asked, genuinely interested, although he thought he had a slight clue.

Hermione flushed even deeper red, almost matching Ron's, her eyes darting back and forth over Harry and Ron. She scratched her temple and tugged her hair behind her ear, trying to buy time to come up with a semi-realistic answer.

Ron coughed, bringing Hermione's and Harry's attention to himself. "Didn't you see Hermione get that for her birthday just after we got here? From her mum and dad…" he trailed off, glancing at Hermione.

The bushy-haired girl stared in wonderment at her redheaded friend. She could've smacked herself - that excuse! She was half-annoyed she hadn't come up with it herself. She quickly rearranged her face and nodded vigorously when Harry looked at her with a raised eyebrow, obviously not really believing Ron.

"Uh-huh, yep. They gave it to me then," she said.

Harry shook his head, brow furrowed, "But why would be you be embarrassed by that?" he asked.

Hermione paused, twirling a lock of hair. "Well- um…" She smiled weakly. "You see- um... Mum's not really- um… the best to- um… pick out presents for me. Yeah, and-…" she trailed off, looking at Ron. She felt her confidence growing by the half-amused, half-encouraging look in his eyes. "And- and I just felt a bit uncomfortable wearing the necklace since it's not, as you put it, really me." She smiled, feeling better and better about lying. "I love it, of course, and I know it'd break their hearts if I didn't wear it, so I do. But I don't wear it so other people see it," she finished.

A silence fell over the trio.

Finally, after scrutinizing Hermione, Harry gave a small shrug and a light nod, going back to his homework. Hermione let out a breath she hadn't been aware of holding and her eyes locked with Ron's.

"Very nice," he mouthed at her, eyes dancing.

"Thank-you," she mouthed back, smiling. "I appreciate your help."

Ron's smile widened, eyes twinkling more, and waved his hand, as if to tell her it was no big deal. He glanced over at Harry, to find his friend reading up on the potion they had for homework, and made a motion to her necklace. "You wear it all the time?"

Hermione nodded, smiling. "I like it."

If possible, Ron's smile widened further and he seemed rather pleased with himself. He gave her a cheeky smile and a wink before going back to his own Potions-homework. Hermione estimated both her friends had a good inch or two left before they were done.

She opened her book, coming to where she'd been interrupted, but found that she really couldn't focus on the words. She just kept thinking about the pendant around her neck. Not realising it, her hand strayed to where the pendant came to rest under her shirt, an inch or so under her chest. Her thumb ran over it, tracing the round edge and the heart in the middle. She smiled, remembering how and when she'd really gotten it.

"Ron?" Hermione asked, frowning as she picked up the silver chain from the floor. It had fallen to the floor when he'd gotten up from the armchair, most likely slipped out from his pocket as he rose.

"Yeah?"

Hermione shifted her eyes from the pendant in her hand to look at her friend. "What's this?" she asked, letting the pendant slip from her palm, her fingers entwined with the chain. She noticed how his eyes widened as the pendant dangled from her fingers.

He blushed and looked down for a second, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's-it's a necklace," he said.

"Yes, I know that," Hermione said, rolling her eyes. "But who's it for?" She shook her head, changing her mind. "Or from?"

"'Scuse me?"

"This," Hermione elaborated, pointing to the still swinging necklace, "who's it from? Or for?"

Blinking, Ron swallowing. "I don-don't know what you're talking about," he stuttered.

"Ron, it fell out of your pocket!"

Ron let out a heavy sigh through his nose and ran a hand through his hair, dropping his bag to the floor. He stood silent a while, seemingly mustering the courage to say something. Finally, blushing beet red, he mumbled something fast and in a low voice.

"Sorry, didn't catch that."

"S'for you," Ron mumbled again, although this time louder and clearer. He was still blushing madly and he refused to look at Hermione, shuffling his feet.

"Beg your pardon?" Hermione asked, shocked. She hadn't seen this coming. She wondered if she'd misheard him.

"It's for you," Ron repeated, this time lifting his head to look at Hermione. "The necklace is from me to you." Hermione blinked and stared dumbly at the redhead. Ron seemed to take this the wrong way and stepped forward to snatch the necklace out of her hand. "Well, if you don't want it, then I'm sure Gin wouldn't mind-"

"No!" Hermione protested, stepping back, holding the necklace out of reach. "I mean- No, I want it," she added, blushing. "It's pretty."

Ron let his arm drop to his side and shuffled his feet again, looking down, a sure sign he was nervous. "I'm glad," he mumbled. "That you like it, I mean," he added hastily. "And that you want it because you deserve something pretty since you are so pretty-" He stopped, biting his tongue, realising he'd babbled a bit too much.

Hermione gaped at him, really wondering if this was Ron or someone impersonating him. She tried to get her mouth to function, but no sound would cross her lips. She took the pendant in her hand and looked at it properly for the first time.

It shone brightly, the silver reflecting the sun outside. The pendant was round, but had a heart in the middle with little, beautifully carved flowers tracing it on the inside. She thought she could make out the letter "R" in the heart, made by seemingly randomly placed roses.

"It's really beautiful," she whispered.

She could hear Ron swallow in front of her. "You're really beautiful," he replied.

Hermione let out a small sigh, a smile spreading on her lips. "Really? You think I'm beautiful?" she blurted out, inwardly cursing the hopeful tone her voice had taken. She sounded like a little girl wanting compliments.

"Yeah, always have."

Hermione willed herself to look up into Ron's eyes, half wanting to find amusement and mischief in his eyes, saying that she may be pretty but she was still one of the boys, Ron's best friend. But half of her wanted to see that he meant it, that the tone of his voice wasn't her imagination.

She smiled shakily as she locked eyes with Ron. She could have whooped out of joy when she found nothing but seriousness and genuine adoration in their blue depth. She didn't know how she did it, her mind was in a haze, but she heard herself saying, "Thank-you, that's very sweet of you."

"I'm honest," Ron said, sounding hurt as if she didn't believe him.

"I know," Hermione whispered, laying her hand on his arm to sooth him. "Really, thank-you." She smiled. "But I have one question."

Ron nodded.

"Why did you give me this?"

"Because-," he seemed to fight an internal battle, "because it was your birthday last week and I forgot to give you this then," he finished. His eyes were closed off and Hermione knew that that wasn't what he had planned to say. But somehow she knew, deep down, what he really meant to say. It warmed her heart.

"Well, thanks for the late birthday present then I guess," she smiled and held the necklace up for him. "Help me put it on?"

Ron nodded, a slightly forced smile on his face as he accepted her necklace. Hermione turned around and held up her hair. She could feel his hands tremble slightly as he clasped it, his fingertips lingering on her skin just a little too long. Hermione felt a shiver go up her spine and her eyes fluttered shut for a brief second.

But just then a crash was heard just outside the common room, which had been thankfully enough empty, and the two stepped apart quickly, Hermione releasing her hair and dropping the necklace down her shirt.

She saw how Ron moved quickly to pick up his bag from the floor and towards the stairs to the boys' dormitories. She put on a smile for Harry, Seamus and Dean as the practically fell through the portrait hole, laughing madly, Ginny close behind, smiling amusedly. The boys, howling with laughter, straightened themselves up and headed towards the stairs. Ginny shook her head at the boys and came up to Hermione, explaining to her all about the little incident with the Giant Squid and Malfoy down at the lake just now.

Somehow it had felt right, Hermione mused, that no-one but herself and Ron knew about the necklace. Like it was their own little secret. A secret that Hermione kept on her everyday, as a reminder of the day that Ron almost, almost, told her he liked her.

She glanced at Ron, seeing the identical smile she was wearing on his face too, knowing he was thinking about the day too. They both knew how the other felt about them, there was no question about it, they'd been dancing around each other like this for the last couple months now, both unwilling to make the actual first move.

When the time was right - when there weren't so much to worry about, when there wasn't any Voldemort to worry about, when they were all free from war - they'd act on their feelings. Maybe. Possibly sooner, depending on their patience.

Hermione smiled, yeah, it'd be sooner than the end of the war. But just not now.

Author's note: The plotbunny attacked. loll Dedicated to Katrin and Gracie for being awesome.

Disclaimer: Characters belong to JK Rowling, the butchering of said characters belongs to me.