Author's note: This is my first fanfiction I've ever posted, and I'm slightly nervous! Reviews would be very much appreciated!
I own nothing from the Harry Potter universe.
Hermione Granger was often stubborn. If she believed she was right, she wouldn't back down until her opponent and everyone else within earshot knew she was right.
But her stubbornness was nothing when compared to that of Ronald Weasley.
Ever since she had refused to tell him what had happened in the tent after he left her and Harry alone in the woods, he had barely said anything to her. That had been three days ago.
She couldn't take it anymore.
But she didn't feel he deserved to know. Not the way he had acted then (he did desert them) and certainly not the way he was acting now.
But she loved him. She thought maybe she always had.
She wasn't quite sure.
She had certainly always had strong feelings towards him.
But he hadn't always been the nicest person.
She would be lying if she didn't admit to Ron's fear. If she said she had never considered Harry over Ron, thought that maybe Harry was better for her.
She had thought about it often, in fact. Especially in the days after Ron left, when she and Harry were alone.
And then came the ball of light.
Oh, how she hated how much she loved Ronald Weasley sometimes. She had forgiven him so easily.
Yet now he wouldn't even talk to her.
Harry had always been there for her. Always. No questions asked.
And she was there for him.
She loved Harry, too.
But it was hard to distinguish the kind of love that it was sometimes.
Hermione stiffened in her seat-something had stirred behind her. She turned around and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw a garden gnome emerge from a bush.
The war had been over for almost a month already, but she was still paranoid at times.
The gnome stared at her, his potato shaped head tilted sideways, before wandering off again. Apparently it had decided she wasn't worth worrying about.
Settling back into her seat on the bench swing in the Weasley garden, she smiled to herself as she remembered dancing with Harry. Twirling in his arms, feeling so much happier and safer than she had in days.
It could have gone that way, that night, if she hadn't walked away. If they had spoken afterword, even so much as looked at each other for longer that a few seconds, she was sure it would have gone that way.
But then she remembered all the times Ron had made her laugh, the times he had made her feel safe, fallen asleep holding her hand, how she had felt drawn to him, felt they would end up together ever since she was young.
The bloody ball of light.
And she knew she made the right choice. She had Ron, Harry had Ginny. That was how it was meant to be.
Harry was her best friend. She loved him like a best friend, a brother.
She was in love with Ron.
She got up off the swing and wandered back toward the Weasley home. Maybe she would tell Ron what had happened.