Disclaimer: Except for the plot, it all belongs to J.K. Rowling.
Asking her before someone else does
Harry entered the common room to find it rather empty. Ginny and Neville were in a corner, and he was apparently trying to convince her to something; Parvati and Lavender were by the window, giggling over Seamus imitations of Professor Snape. But what really caught Harry's attention was the sight of Hermione, sitting by the fireplace, taping her foot impatiently on the floor and looking furious. He thought about heading to the boy's dorm, leaving her there, but Hermione saw him entering the room, which would mean a little outburst if he chose to ignore her.
He took a deep breath and went towards her. He sat on a chair in front of her and realized that the best (but not safest) way of starting a conversation was asking her the obvious.
"What is wrong, Hermione?"
She practically glared at him. "What is wrong, Harry? I'll tell you what is wrong. Your roguish little friend Ronald asked me to stay here, to help him with his studies and I stayed, naively believing that he was actually intent to learn anything."
"Well…but what happened?" Harry asked, with an unusual soft tone.
"What happened?" Hermione shrieked, staring at him. "Are you seeing Ronald Weasley here?"
"No…"
"Exactly!" She said, standing up. "I've been waiting for almost an hour and there's absolutely no sign of your friend! Unbelievable, I could be at the library right now, I have loads of search to do and--"
"Maybe something happened…"
"It better had! Otherwise I will---"
Harry never heard what Hermione was planning, because at that moment, the portrait whole opened, giving entrance to a pale and nervous Ron Weasley. He looked around and as soon as he spotted Hermione, he almost ran to her direction.
"There you are, Ronald!" Hermione shouted, apparently unaware of Ron's weird appearance. "You better have a perfectly fine excuse for leaving me waiting for you, as if I hadn't any other thing to do, for an entire hour!"
Ron didn't answer. He still looked really nervous, even more nervous than before his first Quidditch match, but he wasn't pale anymore. In fact, he was blushing in a very fast speed, which made Harry think that he was about to have a fit at any moment.
"Well?" Hermione demanded, looking less furious, but very annoyed.
Harry noticed Ron taking a deep breath and staring at Hermione, who had an angry, but also confused look.
"Would you like to go to the ball with me?" Ron asked, quickly, but clear enough to be understood.
Harry could swear that everyone in the common room held their breaths. Seamus voice could no longer be heard, so as Lavender's and Parvati's giggles; Ginny and Neville stopped their conversation but they didn't dare to look directly at the scene.
Ron was standing there and although his expression was of complete nervousness, he continued to stare at Hermione. She, on the other hand, seemed to be totally taken aback. Harry wasn't even pretending not to watch that scene. He stared, back and forth, at his friends, waiting patiently either for Hermione's answer or Ron's faint.
And then happened. Hermione gave the most genuine smile that Harry had ever seen her give and closed the small distance between her and Ron, standing on her tiptoe and placing a kiss on his cheek.
"I would love to," she answered, smiling fondly at him.
It seemed as if Ron had taken a heavy weight of his back. He blushed harder when Hermione kissed him on the cheek and grinned widely when she answered his question. They just stood there, looking and smiling at each other. Harry noticed that the other people in the common room were smiling as well, but they were now back to their previous conversations.
Harry continued to watch his best friends, smiling inwardly.
I guess this ball will be fun, he thought. Everyone is going with the right person.
"MALFOY? YOU'RE GOING WITH MALFOY?" Neville shouted, to a very annoyed Ginny.
Well, perhaps not everyone.
A/N: Really sorry for any grammar mistakes, but English isn't my first language and I couldn't find my beta :) This story started as a H/L story, but since the part with H/L wasn't ready yet, I decided to publish just the R/Hr one. Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it :)