Harry Potter – Matchmaker
Chapter One (1/4)
Author - Becka
Rating - PG
Keywords – Ron/Hermione, Hermione POV/Ron POV, Third year
Category – Angst/Romance
Spoilers – Book One, Movie Two
Archive – Anywhere, just tell me where it's going.
Disclaimer – They're not mine :-( They belong to the great J.K Rowling. If they were mine Ron and Hermione would date, then leave Hogwarts, get married and have two little kids...Maybe now is the time where I should go and get a real life :-p
Author's Notes - This is based in their third year, so you may have to get used to some changes happening that didn't happen in the book, but I'm sure you can manage :-)
*****
Hermione
I sat in my usual chair in the Gryffindor common room. It was getting late, and every now and then someone would close their books and wander upstairs. Mid-year exams were coming up, and everybody was studying. A book called 101 Potions To Bewitch Your Friends And Enemies was sitting on my lap. I was flicking through it, but wasn't really concentrating on it. I knew all the potions in it, and I had other things on my mind.
Sitting in the two seats opposite me were Harry and Ron. They were both studying out of Transfiguration books. I looked up at them for a moment, as long as I could without someone thinking I was staring. I saw their differences and their similarities – both physically and mentally. They were both good-looking, but in two different ways, and they were both gifted, again in different ways. Harry looked darkly handsome with his messy brown hair and looked young with his glasses. Ron was good-looking in a humorous way. In a way which made you want to sit and talk with him for hours, knowing that he could bring a smile to your face. Neither of them were book-smart, but were smart in their own individual ways – Harry being brave and quick thinking, Ron always being loyal, and going to any length for his friends. I admired both of them, but the problem I was facing was if I fancied either of them.
I've always had a crush on Harry, even before I met him. He was after all, the boy who defeated the Dark Lord. Then I met the real Harry Potter. He wasn't as fabulous at all types of magic as they said he was in all the books I had read, but he wasn't any less great. In the books they made out as if he was a young Dumbledore, excellent at all types of magic from a young age. I was impressed, and couldn't wait to meet him. He was definitely different to what I expected. He wasn't stuck up, and didn't have the faintest idea about the simplest of charms, but he was brave and loyal to his friends.
I remember the time on the train when I first met Harry and Ron. After that I was surprised they came to rescue me from the troll. I knew then that they were good people. No, they were more than that. Fabulous people.
I was even more surprised to see Ron there with Harry. I had acted just like Malfoy towards him, and yet he still came to help rescue me. Now I get along with him well. Even though he isn't as noticed as Harry his, or as rich, he still helps him, knowing that even though he won't get much of the recognition he can still make a difference. I look up to him now.
I really like them both, but lately I've had this feeling as if I want more than friendship with one of them, though I don't know which one the feeling is for. They never seem to be separated when I'm around, so I don't know which one it is meant for.
I look up at them again. Harry is rubbing the bridge of his nose and Ron his frowning at his book with hatred. If looks could kill, the book would be nothing but a pile of ash on the floor.
"Do you two need some help?" I ask them. They both glance up at me.
"Nothing could ever help me learn this lot in time for exams." Ron said, yawning.
"I could give it a go."
"Thanks, maybe you could help me tomorrow. Right now I need to sleep."
"Me too." Harry said, closing his book and getting up, "'Night."
"Goodnight" I said as they headed towards the boy's dormitory.
"'Night." Ron said, his voice trailing behind him as he climbed the stairs.
*****
I lay awake in my bed, staring at the ceiling. Hopefully I would be left alone with Ron tomorrow when I was helping him. I wonder what people would say if the feeling was for him, and he felt it back. Malfoy would have a field day. If it wasn't and it was for Harry, I think people would be half expecting it already, so wouldn't be that surprised. I am yet to figure out why a girl can't be friends with a boy without people thinking they like each other. I guess by liking one of them I'm just proving them right, but that wasn't my initial intention.
I turn onto my side and close my eyes. Whatever was going to happen would just have to wait till tomorrow.
Ron
I held the parchment against my Transfiguration book so Harry couldn't see what I was writing. It was hard to make it look like I was studying while I was writing. I had decided the best solution to my problem was to send a letter to Bill. He had been the one who always had the girlfriends. Charlie was too caught up in dragons, and Percy was to boring for any girl but Penelope Clearwater to be interested in. And I couldn't tell Harry. Ever. He'd just love knowing that I fancied Hermione. He'd find it hilarious that broke-red haired- Ron Weasley fancied intelligent-pretty- Hermione Granger. I can see his reaction now; see him rolling on the floor with laughter.
I wish I was like him sometimes. He's so famous and rich that Hermione would be bound to notice me if I was him. It's so obvious that she likes him. Ever since the start when on the train she was making gooey eyes at him while she just pretended I wasn't there, unless she was looking down on me. I have to admit that she's not like that to me any more, but she still admires Harry as much as she used to.
I glance up at her. She's so engrossed in her book that it's like she's in her own little world. She didn't even notice when George let off one of his Filbuster Fireworks. Sometimes I wish I could be like that, just so I could concentrate on actually studying. But with her across from me not even that would work. The firelight is flickering across her face, giving it an eerie glow, but it's beautiful. I wish I could tell her how I feel.
I wish a lot of things, but as they say be careful what you wish for. If I became Harry she'd start liking someone else. If I became rich she'd think I'd was stuck-up and if I told her how I feel she would end up laughing in my face. No matter what happens it would always end badly.
I used to be happy and cheerful, but lately I've always been down. People think it's because of the exams but I know the truth. It's from the depression of unrequited love (well, at least that's what Lucy the Love Struck Witch always says in Ginny's romance books).
I turn back to my letter. I don't know what to write. Whatever I think of sounds too silly, or serious. I decide to make it really informal, and write:
Bill,
Could you send me some of those tips you used to get the girls when you went to school? There's someone I want to impress...
Ron
I was proud of it. It'd give him a smile with little Ron wanting to impress a girl, and it doesn't give away any more than it had to. Perfect. I folded it and slipped it between the pages of my book. I'd send it tomorrow morning.
I couldn't study tonight. Whatever I tried to remember was just slipping away. I frowned at the book, for being so complicated. And by the looks of things, Harry was having the same amount of trouble I was.
"Do you two need some help?" Hermione asked us, looking up from her book.
"Nothing could ever help me learn this lot in time for exams." I replied as I stifled a yawn.
"I could give it a go."
"Thanks, maybe you could help me tomorrow. Right now I need to sleep."
"Me too." Harry said, closing his book and getting up, "'Night."
"Goodnight"
"'Night." I called to her as she disappeared from my view.
*****
"Do you like her?" Harry asked me as I climbed into bed.
"Who?"
"Hermione."
"Of course I like her. She's one of my best friends."
I convince myself that's what he actually meant before I started blushing. My cheeks have a habit of doing that in the most inconvenient times.
"I don't mean like that. Do you fancy her? I saw you looking at her."
"Oh wow, stop the press I looked at her."
"You know you can deny it all you like, but your face tells me something different."
I can feel the heat off my cheeks. I curse my DNA for making me go red as often as I do.
"So what if I do?"
"I just wanted to know the truth. And to tell you that I saw her look at you as well."
"Yeah, but looking at your friend isn't really an uncommon thing to do. She looks at you too, you know...It's probably you she likes."
"It is not."
"It is."
"This is crazy. We're fighting over who Hermione likes, when neither of us know the truth. For all we know she likes Malfoy."
"Gross! Do you really think she'd ever sink that low?"
"Course not. It's just an example."
"Good."
"We better get some sleep, huh? More studying to be done tomorrow."
"Yeah...Um...Harry?"
"Yeah?"
"Are you coming to the library with Hermione and me tomorrow?"
"No. I had a...Quidditch training come up."
"Thanks."
"No problem."
"Goodnight."
"'Night."
*****
End Of Chapter
*****
A/N That was mostly an introductory chapter, there'll be more actual interaction between Ron and Hermione in the coming chapters.
Please review, so I know what works and what doesn't, so I can make the next chapter even better! (I'm guessing that if you got this far that you liked it...)