Written By PBMAXCA
There was a clunk and a splash as her cell phone fell overboard. Hermione could only muster a laugh in reaction to the event. After six full hours on the lake rowing in what seemed to be big circles around and around the shoreline, she was starting to think that she was losing her mind. That feeling had crept into her head that morning when Ron had bounded into her room, jumped on the edge of her bed and yelled to her that she was running late and they needed to leave.
She'd found out a few minutes later on the way to the bathroom that the sun hadn't even risen yet. It has sparked a whole discussion on time zones since she'd flown in from London to where his brother was working in Romania. They had the run of the cabin which was great, but Ron didn▓t seem to understand that even in the short distance from home to there, a time zone change had occurred.
She heard a chuckle from behind her then a slightly sweaty palm paused on her bare shoulder. "Was that--?"
Zipping up the watertight bag again, knowing that she didn't want to lose anything else, she shoved it down in the canoe again, making sure to secure it to the frame of the boat so that they wouldn't lose it if they tipped over. "Yes," She kept her eyes on the distant shore, mentally unaware that she'd started to look for familiar faces as if the middle of nowhere Romania was going to be crawling with people she knew. "That was my cell phone."
His voice was strained as he spoke, "I told you that you shouldn▓t bring Muggle things with you."
"Yes sweetie," she said with a sarcastic tone, "I know you told me to leave it at the cabin, but that's the difference between you and I. You follow the rules." She waved her hand in his direction, turning in the canoe to fully face him. "I don't."
"Hermione."
"Ron."
"You totally follow the rules. I▓m normally the one that doesn▓t follow them."
Her eyes widened, "Don't try to bluff me Ron. You know I play a better game of wizard▓s chess than you do."
"I've been playing the best game of chess for years." Sarcasm again met his words.
"What convincing the world that you aren▓t really a red head?" she said with a smile.
Without warning tension settled between them. It took him forever before he finally opened his mouth, "Nope."
"What then?" she asked, "I've known you for years and--"
His mouth moved quickly this time. "I'm in love with you."
"Oh--" she said looking down towards the water watching the spot where her phone had disappeared. She wished she had it. She wanted to call someone to come and rescue her. "--That."
"Oh that?" he asked leaning towards her to wave a hand in front of her face and gain her attention. "I just came out and told you that I'm in love with you and that's all you can say?"
"What do you want me to say?" she looked up at him, tears in her eyes. She didn't have an issue with him being in love with her. She really didn't have an issue with anyone being in love with her.
"You know what?" he said, "Never mind."
"Ron."
He shook his head and reached for the oar, pushing them through the water as soon as the paddle was facing the right direction.
"Clearly it's made you uncomfortable."
"No," she said and tried to grab at the oar.
Ron pulled the paddle out of her way. "Stop or you're going to tip us."
"You stop," she said and reached again, "Or you're going to ruin our friendship."
She lunged with her body weight for the paddle and the next thing she knew they were both in the water, floating in their life preservers.
"Great," Ron said, "Just great."
"We need to talk," she said and reached a hand out to pull on his life preserver so they were floating closer together.
"I have nothing to say to you," he said stretching an arm out to steady the now upside down canoe.
"Well I have something to say to you."
He bopped up and down in the water and watched her.
"I'm not upset that you're in love with me." She quickly continued her speech. "I've known that you were for about ten years now."
"You have?"
"Like I said," she laughed a little, "You're not that good at bluffing."
"I'm not."
"Honey," she said moving closer to him, "It doesn't take a genius to see how obviously in love with me you are." She tapped him on his shoulder, ⌠That whole issue with the Yule Ball at Hogwarts pretty much took the wool from anyone▓s eyes on that subject.■
He laughed, "I▓m sure my date will never forgive me."
"You're not that bad to look at," she said, "I▓m sure Padma Patil will get over the fact that the one and only school dance that she attended was ruined because you▓d asked the wrong girl."
Ron▓s face turned pink. ⌠I wasn▓t that bad was I?■
She nodded. "You didn▓t dance."
"It was because I couldn▓t stop trying to figure out how to kill Viktor Krum. That guy--"
Hermione closed her eyes. ⌠We all know how much you hate him.■
⌠Only because I was in love with you,■ he said, ⌠Actually he▓s probably a great guy if I had chosen to notice.■
⌠But you didn▓t,■ she said.
⌠No.■ Ron nodded his head thoughtfully. ⌠I didn▓t.■
Silence fell between them. Only the sound of water lapping up against the overturned canoe could be heard.
⌠So what do we do now?■
"First we get this boat back upright so we can get back in it and get back to the cabin.■ Hermione said in her most professor-like voice. Sometimes Ron still couldn▓t believe that she was a teacher▓s assistant at Hogwart▓s. He▓d known from the beginning that she liked books, but he didn▓t think anyone was crazy enough to stay at Hogwart▓s longer than they had to. ⌠I'm thinking good showers, a bottle of wine and some more talking is in order," she said.
"More talking?"
"Yeah," she said, "I want to hear about what you▓ve been doing these last few months."
"Last few months?" he asked shocked with her comment.
She shook her head at him and clicked her tongue. "Like I didn't notice you've been spending an awful lot of time in Hogsmeade."
"I can▓t help it if my brother▓s new shop there is somewhere I like to spend time," he said with a shy nod then smiled. "I really am bad at bluffing."
"We can work on it," she said, "I've been pretending to like Viktor Krum since the Yule Ball so that I didn▓t get my heart broken."
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