"Er-my-nee."
Hermione looked hesitantly at Ron, who was lying in the hospital bed before her, unconscious. After hearing that Ron had been poisoned, she had gone tearing off to the hospital wing. She had been near hysteria when Harry had retold the tale of what had happened earlier that morning. And now, here they all were, standing around Ron's bed apprehensively. And he had said her name. Not his mother, his father, or even his girlfriend's name. Ron had mumbled her name.
What did that mean?
Ron continued muttering incomprehensibly under his breath before he started to snore.
That night, Hermione's thoughts found their way back to Ron. She knew that she felt something other than friendship for Ron. The hard part was figuring out just what that something was. She thought about all the years that she had been Ron's friend. A very distinct memory came back to her as she envisioned a very large club knocking out an equally large troll. She smiled at that, for that was how she, Ron, and Harry had all become friends in the first place. Then she thought about Ron in the hospital, alone. She was going to go see him. She had to.
No. The sensible part of her brain told her. It's against the rules to be out of bed after hours, and you're a prefect!
To hell with the rules!
She got out of bed, pulled on her robe, and, still inwardly scolding herself, strode into the common room. She was halfway to the portrait hole when she stopped, thinking about something. She wheeled around, and marched instead towards the staircase to the boy's dormitory. She walked up the stairs, opened the door, and silently entered.
She crept toward Harry's bed, while the snores of the other sleeping boys could be heard. She glanced at Ron's empty bed, and then at Harry's sleeping form. Suddenly, she tripped over something on the floor. Fortunately, one of the boys let out an enormous, grunting snore at the same moment as Hermione hit the floor. She got back up, and made her way to Harry's trunk, silently cursing herself. She rummaged through the contents until she found what she was looking for. The Invisibility Cloak in hand, she walked again into the common room, and, after making sure that the cloak was covering every inch of her, went through the portrait hole.
She was extremely jumpy on her way to the hospital wing. Every time she heard a noise, she would jump and hide behind the nearest suit of armor. She nearly had a heart attack when Mrs. Norris came out of nowhere. When she finally did make it to the hospital wing, she crept inside and gently shut the door. She tiptoed to Ron's bedside, and conjured a chair with her wand, which had been in the pocket of her robe. She sat down and looked at Ron, who was asleep.
Good. That will make this easier, knowing that he can't hear me.
"Ron?" she said, so quietly, she could barely hear herself.
"Ron?" she repeated, a little louder this time. She thought that she heard a sound coming from Madame Pomfrey's office, but realised that it was just the wind blowing through the trees outside. Just to be safe, Hermione cast a silencing charm on the room.
"Ron? It's me," Ron didn't react at all.
"I needed to see you. I stole the Cloak from Harry's room and came here." It had started to rain.
"Please wake up, Ron. I need you to wake up." Tears began to form in Hermione's eyes at the very thought of Ron never waking up again. The thought of her never being able to see those amazingly blue eyes she loved so much. Or that goofy, lopsided grin that made her heart melt into mush.
Her vision blurred, Hermione continued,
"You need to wake up Ron, because I love y-," a clap of thunder outside mad Hermione jump so badly, she knocked the chair she was sitting in backwards. She landed on the floor with a FLUMP!
"Well, that was quite graceful," came a voice from above her.
"Ron?!?" Hermione scrambled to her feet, only to trip over the hem of the invisibility cloak and fall to the ground again.
"You should have been a ballerina, Hermione," Ron continued. Hermione felt her anger start to rise. Anger at Ron's sarcasm, anger at the stupid chair for falling over, and, most of all, angry at herself.
"I didn't mean to fall over, if that's what you're on about," she snapped. She looked straight at Ron and saw that he was grinning.
Damn him and that smile, Hermione thought as she felt her anger melt away.
It gets me every time.
"Ron!" She ran at him and nearly knocked him out of the bed as she tackled him.
"Woah! What!?-,"
"Ron, you scared me so badly! When I heard that you were in the Hospital wing, I was insane!" Hermione cried, her voice slightly muffled, as her face was buried in his neck as she hugged him. When she was done, she rolled off of him and lied next to him on the bed.
"Did you mean it?" Ron asked quietly, glancing quickly at her out of the corner of his eye.
"What?" Hermione replied.
"What you said before you fell of the chair." Hermione's heart skipped a beat. Had he really heard her say that?
"But- you were asleep!"
"I'll have you know that I am a very accomplished actor and was awake the whole time," he turned his face and grinned again.
"So," he continued, "Did you mean it? Do you really l-love me?" he stumbled over the word as though it were a rock you don't see on a path. A long silence followed these words before Hermione answered him.
"Yes." Another silence. "I've loved you since, well, since forever. I've loved you through everything. I even loved you when you an Harry weren't speaking to me about the Firebolt. I love you so much, it actually hurts. Of course, I understand if you don't feel the same w-," Hermione was cut off by Ron's lips pressing urgently against hers.
Fireworks exploded inside of Hermione's head. Ronald Weasley was kissing her. It was all she could do not to faint right there. All of their years of pent-up passion was finally released into that one single kiss. Hermione had never been kissed like this before. She had been kissed before, but those were shy, chaste, embarrassing even. Rut Ron was certainly not shy. Why, as soon as their lips had touched, he had become fierce, crushing Hermione to himself so hard, it nearly hurt.
Finally breaking the kiss, Ron whispered into her ear,
"Now what would give you the idea that I didn't feel the same way?" He chuckled softly. The sound made Hermione's knees feel weak.
"Silly"
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