ten times ron confesses his love to hermione, only not really
harry potter, ron/hermione, varying ratings but mostly pg-13 ish, i don't own anything.

1. The heat and anger works its way up Ron's shirt collar and she just glares at him, tells him he's being insufferable again. He snaps and then just leaves and feels her ignore all of this in her own, incredibly aggravating way. Harry follows him and Ron says things that Harry then ignores, knowing better than to take sides. It isn't the first time and it won't be the last.

2. She enters the Common Room, huffy already, ranting about some absolutely essential book that she simply couldn't locate in the library (not thanks to Miss Pince's effort or lack thereof, she adds).

"Just as well," she says then, "I suppose you need help with your essays."

"No need, Hermione," he says, kicking Harry under the desk before he can say anything in protest, "we're already done."

She smiles and it's worth it, just that one time, and he and Harry work on their essays all night because of it.

3. "Well, well – that just proves – completely missed the point -", only he says it to Harry, and she's already gone, stomped upstairs in her gown and sleek hair, and he admits (kind of, in his heart) that she won that round. He's really good at hiding his real feelings but the side effects of them, jealousy, anger, frustration(, arousal, sometimes, hey, it just happens), those are more difficult for him to keep a lid on and that's his flaw. One of his many.

4. It's one of those situations, again. Harry's going to go get himself killed and he wants to do it alone and they won't let him. So they argue about who goes with Harry and end up both going, and face danger, and Hermione gets wounded, her leg's bleeding, "Just a small cut," she keeps saying. In reality it's quite deep so he wraps it up and holds it, as they shiver as it's quite cold and he doesn't have to hold onto her leg but he does anyway. She moves and he says, "Don't move."

5. She kisses him. She kisses him. He always imagined he'd finally work up the courage to kiss her instead of vice versa, but here she is, kissing him like he's always wanted to kiss her and he's almost too shocked to do anything. She pulls away, frowning.

"Ron.." and the tone of her voice is unexpected, hesitant, vulnerable, demanding. If he's reading her right, that is. His track record on this is not famously good, after all.

"Sorry," he says and kisses her, awkwardly but eagerly, almost roughly, like he's always wanted to but never really had the chance.

6. She wants him to do the dishes. As Muggles do, so he can teach Arthur how to. Ron thinks it's the stupidest idea ever, but he does it anyway. When Harry floos over and laughs at the sight, Ron throws a teaspoon at him and sulks.

Hermione sits down with Harry at the kitchen table and giggles a bit. "He bought fairies instead of Fairy, so the washing didn't start too great."

7. He practises it in front of the mirror. I love you. I love you. I love you. He'll end up stuttering a bit so better just add that in so it won't mess up the rest of what he'll say. Okay. Maybe add her name in there, as well. Hermione, I, uhh, I, l-love, um, you. Real fucking romantic. He mutters it, announces it, then loudly, nearly yelling it, just as Seamus enters the bathroom.

"Ron, you bloody narcissist."

"Shove off," Ron mutters back and decides he needs more practise. Better not rush in. Three difficult words – why don't they teach anything of use in this school?

8. He made her cry once. He doesn't remember why, how, but he remembers he didn't like it at all, the tight knot in his chest as tears rolled down her face before she angrily wiped them away. When he tried to apologise, she said nothing, and then.

"Do you hate me, Ron?"

"No," he says, exclaims almost.

"When what is it?"

And he says nothing. It's everything but hate. Everything but.

9. At Grimmauld's Place, she gave him plenty of openings but he always missed the window by being awkward or just caught unaware by what she was saying,what she wanted him to say. Once when they were dusting a set of old books in the house's library (he was losing patience as she kept wanting to read every third book they began dusting), out of the blue she asked:

"How long have your parents been married?"

"Since before Bill was born, I guess." He shrugged. Didn't know, didn't really care.

"Oh." And he could feel her eyes on him, just looking, and when he caught her looking, she didn't turn away, just faced him and that made him awkward, scared. He blushed and continued dusting.

10. Story of his life. Born insignificant, grow up to be average, participate in killing the most evil wizard ever, become famous, and yet, still can't tell the girl he loves that he loves her. But it's on his to-do list, which he scribbled on parchment one time. It said,

Buy Nimbus 4000 X
Brag to Harry that you bought Nimbus 4000 X
Buy eggs
Hex Harry for not buying eggs
Finish paperwork or persuade Hermione to do it for you
Find wedding gift for Neville (URGENT!!)
Tell Hermione you love her

She finds the list behind a stack of quills on his desk, reads it through, smiles.

Weren't that the cutest? I went through my copies of GoF and OotP for this fic and it was lovely. I do love my R/Hr. So much. It was nice to rediscover that love despite having drifted far far away from the HP fandom itself.

ETA: I have to point out that #7 is largely inspired by something that happened in one Green Wing episode.