Er-My-Knee
"Hermione gave an almost inaudible sniff. She had been exceptionally quiet all day. Having hurtled, white-faced, up to Harry outside the hospital wing and demanded to know what had happened, she had taken almost no part in Harry and Ginny's obsessive discussion about how Ron had been poisoned, but merely stood beside them, clench-jawed and frightened-looking, until at last they had been allowed in to see him." –Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 19- Elf Tails, page 375
When we gained entrance into the hospital wing I rushed to Ron's bedside to find him asleep and looking pale and sickly. Though surrounded by people: Harry, Ron's siblings, Madam Pomfrey, and a few other residents of the hospital wing, I felt alone with Ron. I hadn't been alone with him for months because of Lavender. My eyes filled with tears of anger and regret at the thought of it. Here we were on the verge of a war, and I hadn't spoken to one of my best friends for months because she got to him first. If Ron had died while we were fighting… I don't think I would have ever been able to forgive myself.
My anger was not merely self-directed, I was angry at him too. How could he have been so blind? I guess I should have known. I've been his friend for six years, I should have taken into account how thick he is, how long it takes for things to reach him. Subtly asking him to Slughorn's Christmas party with no clear intentions probably wasn't the best idea. Ron obviously never understood that is was a date.
To be honest, he probably would not have understood had I knocked him over the head with a Beater's bat and waved a banner in his face that said "Hermione loves you!". In fact, forget about him knowing that I like him. Most likely, he's still unaware that he likes me! Which he does. I think… I'm fairly sure…
I wrenched my thoughts away from Ron and turned my attention to the ongoing conversation about ways and means.
"But you said Slughorn had been planning to give that bottle to Dumbledore for Christmas," Ginny reminded Harry. "So the poisoner could just as easily have been after Dumbledore."
I opened my mouth for the first time in several hours, "Then the poisoner didn't know Slughorn very well. Anyone who knew Slughorn would have known there was a good chance he's keep something that tasty for himself."
"Er-my-knee," Ron croaked unexpectedly from his hospital bed.
After Ron's continued snoring ascertained that he was in fact still asleep, I smiled to myself. Yes… Subconsciously, at least, he knows.