Authors Note: I own nothing recognizable in this story. I don't usually do this paring but a phrase go caught in my head and wouldn't leave until I had it written down (it's been almost 2 months). I do hope you enjoy it, I'm pleased with how it came out!
Hermione forced a smile at the image in front of her and resisted the urge to smooth the skirt of her dress down again or to critique her appearance. She'd been 'getting ready' for the past hour and three quarters but had yet to stop picking at one thing or another when she stared at her image in the mirror. First had been her hair, which in honesty was always the first thing she noticed, needed some type of management. A quarter bottle of Sleekeasy had left her with perfect wavy curls that she'd done up in a romantic half updo, at least that'd been the name she'd seen in the muggle magazine she'd read before she started getting ready. The dress she wore was the third, eighth and final (tenth) she'd tried on and while she loved it, the periwinkle colour a known compliment to her complexion and the three quarter length midi skater style flattering on her slim frame, she was a bit uneasy with the hem that, while longer then most dresses she tried on, tended to 'float' when she turned too quickly. She'd done her make up with a steady hand and an open Witches Weekly by the mirror, quietly cursing when a line went wonky or a powder didn't quite blend like the witch demonstrated on the page. She had been all for using a simple charm for the task but found that it took her mind of her nerves of the upcoming date. Narrowing her eyes she raised her hand to brush away a stray hair that seemed to not want to tame itself along with the rest.
"Stop, you look amazing, 'Mione." Ginny said from the bed, a smile on the younger woman's face as she watched the brightest witch of their age in a tizzy over getting ready for a date.
"But my hair is just….."
"Is fine just the way it is. He's going to take one look at you forget how to speak." The redhead finished, rolling her eyes and standing up to stand beside her friend. "You know, it's kind of funny to watch this."
Hermione scoffed at her friend's statement and turned to her, " How on earth is this funny? My date will be here in half an hour and I'm still not even nearly ready."
"All those times you tsked at the girls and me for primping before going to Hogsmeade and here you are acting worse than any of us only it's five years later."
The brunette witch pursed her lips at the accurate observation but refused to comment on it. Of course she'd told them all they should focus on studying more, they were in school, but now, looking at the open magazine floating just off to the side of the mirror, she also realized that Ginny, or any of the other women she'd gone to school with, would have been finished getting ready an hour ago and with much less makeup wasted. She sighed at the thought but straightened her shoulders before giving one last look in the mirror and spinning around.
"I'm ready."
"Thank goodness, I don't think I could bare to watch you another second!" Hermione rolled her eyes at her friends dramatics. "He should be round in a half hour, it's a good thing you knew you'd take ages getting ready." Gin continued, looking at the wristwatch she wore and standing up. "Well, let's go show the boys."
Hermione felt her back stiffening a bit at the mention of 'the boys' but she followed her friend out of her room and down the steps of Grimmauld place. She, Ginny and Ron had all moved in with Harry when the War aftermath had settled and they had all made nice roommates for the most part but lately Ron had been stand-offish to her. Once the war had ended she'd thought that they would finally be able have a proper date, get to know one another without death and despair hanging over their heads, but he'd been too worried about being a war hero, going out and having a new witch on his arm each time for her to even think that her feelings were even the vaguest bit reciprocated. It had hurt, but she'd moved on and begun dating herself. It had been tense for a few months but they'd finally been able to find a common ground and their friendship had recovered but it was still a bit touchy.
"Who is it tonight, Hermione?" Harry asked with a smile from the couch in the sitting room, which also doubled as the Floo parlor.
"Oh honestly, you act as if I have a different man every night, Harry." She huffed at him as she sat in a chair by the fireplace, smoothing the skirt of the dress as she did so and trying not to see a thread that looked like it could begin unraveling at any time.
"Well he's not wrong." Ron mumbled from the doorway, his arms crossed as he leaned on the door jam.
Hermione narrowed her eyes at the comment but chose to ignore it in any other way. He'd been making those kind of remarks lately, whenever she was getting ready or waiting for someone to pick her up. It always annoyed her but the next day he was back to being himself.
"It's Macky from the office." She answered with a smile to Harry, whose face had turned pink from Ron's comment.
"Isn't he the bloke that took his mother to a Ministry ball when he first got hired?"
They all ignored Ron's question and he eventually huffed but walked into the room to sit in the chair opposite of Hermione, slouching into his seat and folding his arms across his chest once more.
"What do you have all over your face?" The redhead asked suddenly, standing up and crossing over to her, a hand to her chin moving her head this way and that before she batted it away. "Your freckles are gone, why'd you do that?"
"Honestly, Ronald, I don't have to explain myself to you!"
"Sweet Merlin, mate, why the bloody hell did you say that?"
"You arse! What is bloody wrong with you? Hermione looks amazing and you go and say something like that?"
"She's never worn anything on her face before, I was just asking!"
Hermione glared at him as the other two continued to berate him as he tried to explain himself and couldn't help the sigh of relief when the fire turned green and Macky stepped out of the flames, causing an instant and awkward hush to fall over the room as he brushed himself off.
"Oh, Hermione, you look absolutely lovely." the oblivious man said with a smile, producing a bouquet of red roses from his pocket as he smiled and nodded around the room before looking back to her. "My mum said you'd like these, I hope I wasn't too forward in bringing red roses but she was quite insistent."
Hermione hid her wince while moving her hair behind her shoulder and ignored the snort of amusement Ron issued before reaching out for them, withdrawing quickly when his hands lingered over hers for a bit too long.
"Thank you, that's very sweet of you. I'll go put them in water." she said before turning and moving to the kitchen, knowing full well she could have conjured a vase on the spot but needing to get away from both the redhead and coworker in the room.
In simple truth she'd only agreed to the date after being unable to say no to the almost painfully shy man when he'd asked her and she'd regretted it since. She'd worn more makeup today than she had in the past year and had a strong feeling it was simply because she needed a 'game face' to get through the date. She had put the flowers (the last of her list of favorites) in water and made her way back to the parlor when she heard Harry and Ron walking across the hall to the stairs.
"Well it's not as if I meant it to sound like that." Ron was saying to Harry, neither of them seeing her as they stopped at the bottom of the steps.
"Well you sounded like a bloody arse. She already looked nervous and then you go and say that and she…."
"I know what happened, but I was just…..I don't know." there was a pause and she could almost see Ron rubbing the back of his neck. "She's never gotten made up before like that."
Hermione heard a sigh and thought it was harry but she couldn't be sure.
"Well maybe she's serious about this bloke more than the others."
"But she covered her face all up. She's not like the other witches that need to do their face with all that gunk up. It's Hermione and….and …..she covered her freckles up."
Hermione furrowed her brows at his sudden fascination on the sprinkle of marking on her nose and cheeks.
"You need to let to go, mate. You're already on thin ice with her for acting like a royal prat the past few years, don't muck up what could be a good thing for her."
"I'm trying. It's not as though I thought she'd wait for me but I just...I don't like her going with other men. I thought she realized I was serious about her but she's been flaunting these men around me and it's driving me mad. I asked her out to lunch a few days ago and she told me she'd think about it but she just says yes to every other man who asks and it's not….."
"Hermione, have you found a vase?" Ginny called from the parlor, stopping the overheard conversation and causing hermione snap out of the almost voyer like transe.
"Yes, coming." She called, her cheeks heating as she walked past the two men standing at the base of the stairs and walking back to her date, who was wringing his hands and nervously glancing around the room.
"Oh, thought you'd run off." Macky, she supposed she should call him his given name of Gene, said with a sigh of relief, his hands going to his pockets and his eyes going to her chest.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, I was just….admiring the flowers. Shall we go?" she said with forced smile and a pink in her cheeks that hadn't had time to go away.
"Just hold onto my arm." He smiled at her, holding his arm out. "Mum said the first date is the most important so I hope you enjoy the restaurant."
Hermione raised a brow at the second mention of his mother kept her smile up before following him into the flames, too worried about sending a quick glance back at Ginny who was biting her lip to keep from laughing, to hear where he called out. It wasn't until she was properly dusted off that she looked around to see where they were.
"Oh, are we going to Diagon Alley, then?" she asked, looking around the Leaky Cauldron while thinking of several restaurants she enjoyed there and looking forward to a good meal despite the strange company.
She looked over to him as she asked and saw a look of confusion before a smile spread across his face. "Oh you are the jokster, aren't you?" He asked as he took off his cloak and hung it on a hook. "Mother and I talked about it and we both decided that a place that both of us are familiar with would be best. Tonights special is haggis, neeps and tatties, my favorite."
Hermione suppressed a groan as he pulled out a seat for her but sat just the same, hoping the night would go quickly and they'd both be assured a repeat performance wouldn't be needed.
Hermione walked through the Floo an hour and a half later and sighed in relief as she kicked off her shoes and made her way to the kitchen, the thoughts of Molly's lasagna flashing through her mind. She had just heated a slice and was putting it between to slices of olive oil bread when she heard someone come into the kitchen.
"Hermione." Ron said in surprise, looking between her face and the plate in her hand. "Thought you went out for dinner."
"Yes, well….he ordered me haggis." she said with a shrug before moving to sit at the small table.
"But you hate haggis."
Hermione nodded her head, her mouth full of a bite of food, and tried not to watch him too closely as he made his own lasagna sandwich, though his was twice the size of hers. She resisted the urge to blush as his earlier talk with Harry entered her mind and focused on her food when he sat across from her. They sat in silence broken only by chewing for a few minutes.
"I didn't mean it to sound the way it did when I asked about your make up earlier." He said quietly before taking another bite of his sandwich, which was almost gone while Hermione had still had over half of hers.
"Then what way did you mean it?" she asked after she'd chewed her bite and put her sandwich down, looking over at him with genuine curiosity.
"It's just….you've never gotten that done up before for a bloke." at that she rolled her eyes and he hurried to continue. "Not saying you didn't look nice, 'Mione. You looked bloody gorgeous. But you always do. I guess i was just surprised is all, I like the way you look better without all that stuff other witches use."
Hermione looked down at her plate and ran her fingers over a chip around the edge of it when he finished, not knowing what to say at the sudden statement.
"We're supposed to be together by now." he added after another minute of silence.
"Well you have a funny way of letting me know that." she answered hotly, pushing her sandwich away and leaning forward, a glare on her face at his statement. "Tell me, Ron, was I supposed to sit around watching and waiting for you to go through every available witch? Wait until you decided that you'd had your fill of bachelorhood and were ready to settle down? Sorry, but I didn't quite receive that message." She all but hissed at him.
"That's not….I didn't mean….. Bloody hell, Hermione, I love you. Don't act as if you don't know! I've known you were the once for me since we were in third year." She watched as his ears turned pink and his face turned it's usual red when he got a bit worked up.
"You shagged your way through half of wizarding London, Ron. How on earth was I supposed to find your love for me in that?" she demanded, her hand slapping down on the table.
"I didn't shag my way through anything, Hermione! You know me better than that."
"I know our history, Ronald. You expect me to wait around for you while you go and have your fun, you've done it since we were at Hogwarts. It's like you think I'm only here for when you need me! You've been horrible to me before every date I've gone one but you expect me to sit back and smile like a daft fool while you parade witch after witch in front of me."
"It wasn't like that!"
"Says you!"
Hermione stopped herself from continuing and sat back in her chair to get her breathing back under control. If he would have said any of this a year or two ago she knew she would have gone a bit giddy but hearing it all tonight, after his prat like behavior earlier and now, she could only fight the urge to start a scathing argument.
"I didn't shag any of those women, you know. Might of snogged them but I didn't do what the papers wrote up. I was just...I don't know. I got caught up in it all. We'd just defeated that bloody snake of a man and could do as we please. I wasn't thinking clearly for a bit there and let it go to my head but I realized… I don't know, I guess I just realized I had you…"
Hermione felt her heart soften a touch and closed her eyes to gather strength. While they'd gone round and round more times than she could count, he'd never explained himself in any type of way other than a simple 'well what do you want from me?'. She sat back in her seat and looked at him, truly looked at him, for the first time in almost three years. His hair was a bit shorter than it had been and sleep had it sticking out in every way, his eyes were the same blue they'd always been but she noticed they seemed almost tired, and not from lack of a good night's sleep, his freckles were more pronounced and had seemed to double but he wore them well.
"What are you expecting me to say, Ron?" she asked after she finished her quick once over.
"I'm not really sure." They stared at each other and both started slightly when the clock in the hall chimed nine times before he continued. "I just want you to give me a chance. You act like I'm some horrible man who's done terrible things to you on purpose and I know I was a shitty friend at times but I never wanted to hurt you. I do love you and I see how you could not believe me, I just want a chance to show you."
Hermione bit her lip and looked down at her unfinished sandwich on the table between them before looking back up at him. He seemed sincere and she didn't know how to handle that, it was completely new territory.
"I don't know, Ron. I'm still not sure what you're expecting me to say right now. This is the most we've spoken in years and you expect me to ignore…."
"I'm not expecting you to do anything but give me a chance, Hermione." He interrupted quickly as he leaned forward. "I can't change anything about the past, but I want us to at least be open about the future."
Once again she found herself looking at the redhead across from her. She'd never heard him speak like this in all of their friendship and she was almost at a loss for words.
"Please, Hermione. I've been thinking since you left on your date and I can't keep doing this. I know, I know, you had to do the same with me for ages but I'm dense sometimes, Hermione, everyone knows that."
"Ron, where is all of this coming from?"
She watched as he sighed and looked down at the table, rubbing his neck as he turned a shade of red.
"You covered up your freckles, Hermione." was the only answer.
Her brow furrowed again at the mention and ran her fingers along the bridge of her nose gently.
"What on earth does that have to do with anything?" she asked, truly confused by the subject.
"He gave you roses and you hate them. I could handle that because every bloody man who's come around for you has done it and it doesn't bother you. He orders for you even though you're almost scarily independent. He looked at your chest the moment he finished dusting himself off and I do that myself so I couldn't fault him." at that Hermione rolled her eyes but folded her arms across her chest. "He was like every arse that you've had pick you up….but you come down looking far too good for him and you covered up something that makes you...you. Changed something for a guy who talks about him mum more than his job while AT work and you didn't even have to do it. You're gorgeous and then you go and do something like that. That was all I could take. You shouldn't change yourself for anyone and you did it, I don't want to see the woman I've known for years and years….the woman I've loved for years as well change because a bloke didn't like something. I know we're going to have a row every Thursday because I don't fold the tea towels so they fit in the drawer properly, you forget to eat when you have a case at work that you can't crack and your hair is almost scary when you wake up but it's all you. And those freckles. They're the first thing I look at when I see you. I can't stand by and see you changing."
Hermione sat at the table taking his words in and turned to look at the wall, hoping to stop the watering eyes she found herself with. A loss for words was an understatement for the usually outspoken witch and so she simply turned her head slightly to look down at the table, feeling a tear slip down her cheek that she hastily tried to wipe away.
"Oh, Herms' please don't cry." he almost whispered before getting up and rounding the table.
She batted his hands away as he kneeled in front of her and swiped a thumb across her cheek but he only grabbed her hands in a gentle grasp with the other.
"Why are you doing this to me?" she all but sobbed, closing her eyes when he continued to wipe away tears and refused to break the light hold he had on her wrists. "I've waited for years for you to even acknowledge that I'm more then one of the blokes and just when I finally get done waiting you out you go and do this."
"Fuck."
"I was doing good, Ron, I was letting myself get out more, I wasn't just the bookworm. I was going out and talking to men. They all thought I was with you, it took years for even the Owlery runner to say more than three words to me! You were running out with any witch that slipped her number into your palm and there I was, sat in the cafeteria at lunch alone because they didn't want to upset Auror Weasley. And now I go and get myself out into real world and you have a fit and I'm supposed to stop it all."
"I've made a right mess of this." She heard him whisper as his hand stilled.
"You just don't get to decide that I need to catch up with you and your new found feelings for me."
"They're not new found feelings, Hermione. Please, just give me the time you give the tossers that ask you out. I don't even want an answer right now just please…...promise me that you'll think about it."
She bit her lip and opened her eyes to look at him. She thought over the words he'd said and sighed.
"Just because I'll think about it doesn't mean I'll agree to do anything, Ronald. I'll still go on dates as I want, with whom I want and you'll have to stop being so rude the me...and whomever I date." she said slowly, wanting to make sure not the say the wrong thing or seem to be weakening….which she was. She watched as his mouth tightened at the mention of her continuing to date but he still nodded in agreement. "And you….you don't have to change your dating habits either. If we decide to go on a proper date it will be as if we've just met and are getting to know each other…."
"But I don't want to order you haggis or give you flowers you'll only throw out when you get home. I know you, Hermione, and you know me."
"I don't know if we know each other that well." Hermione broke in, thinking about his current un-Ron like behaviour. "Maybe that's been part of the problem."
Ron looked at her for a long second then nodded in agreement, letting go of her hands to walk back around the table and sit across from her again. She tried not to look startled at his easy agreeance and pulled her plate close to her again, picking up her almost forgotten sandwich to take a bite.
"My name is Ron Weasley." He started, his mouth pulled up at the side when she looked at him in confusion. "I work at the Ministry of Magic with my friend Harry. I've seen you around the hallways and figured…."
"Ron, what are you doing?" She asked after finishing her bite and putting the sandwich back down on the plate.
"I'd like to ask you to have dinner with me, get to know each other. We haven't been able to talk at work and I'm just wondering that if you're free Saturday, tomorrow that is, you'd let me take you out."
Hermione felt her brow furrow and tilted her head slightly to the side in question.
"Ron….?"
"I'm just a bloke wanting to get to know a woman I don't know that well."
Hermione let out a small 'oh' when it finally clicked what he was on about and let a small smile slip before she straightened in her chair to answer him.
"Thank you, I'll have to think about it but I'll let you know by the morning." she responded with a nod to him before she pushed her chair out and stood to go up to her room. "You can have the rest." she added pushing her plate towards him as she walked around the table towards him.
She was just walking past him when he reached out and grabbed her wrist.
"Thank you, Hermione. You won't regret it." he said softly, his other hand already moving to bring her plate in front of him.
Hermione bit her lip again before nodding and walking to her room. She would say yes, they both knew it and it was the only reason she hadn't corrected him when he had assumed it. After charming her makeup away and slipping from her dress to an old quidditch jumper and shorts and made herself comfortable in bed, folding her hands onto her stomach and looking up to the ceiling as she thought over the conversation she and Ron had just had and wondered if she'd given in too easily. She knew straight away that while tomorrow may be a pleasant time, it would be hard for them, or at least her, to be able to forgive and forget so easily. Would she….or even should she be able to move past everything? She was still thinking the question over as she drifted off to sleep.
Waking up the next morning Hermione stopped her routine of light yoga stretches when she saw a vase of pink Dahlias on her bedside table, a note sitting next to them. She bent to smell her favorite flower before plucking the note up and opening to read it. "I thought of you' was all it said in Ron's sketchy hand writing. She blushed at the note and knew without a doubt she would be having a proper date with the redhead tonight, if only to give him a chance. It would only be proper, after all.