"My Love Don't Cost a Thing"

by Emalia Jinx

A/N: Is not a song fic. Just inspired by a song. Fluffy. Horribly written. Took, what, 10 minutes?? But I had to get it out of my head! AHHHHH! Read, review, don't flame, they burn my delicate skin! Haha, j/k.

Disclaimer: Of course I own the characters! I am JK Rowling…..oh come on, I cant even say that with a straight face.



"D

amn you Malfoy!" Ron's voice was loud enough to be heard by most of the Gryffindors, but was drowned out by the rest of the noise in the Great Hall. Malfoy had done it again. Insulting Ron's family and money situation is something one should not do unless they're looking for a bloody nose. But Malfoy enjoyed getting Ron worked up, especially in front of teachers and everyone else, because what could Ron do?

Ron was fuming. His fists were clenched at his sides, his ears bright red. "Damn you Malfoy!", he whispered vehemently through clenched teeth. Instead of acting rashly though, like he normally did, Ron just turned on his heel and stormed out of the Great Hall.

"Ron! Wait!" Hermione stumbled over the bench, knocking over her cup and shaking the table. She ran out of the hall looking for him, but ran into him (literally) instead. He grabbed her shoulders to keep her from falling.

"Where's the fire?" He asked sharply.

She looked at him and let out an exasperated sigh, glancing quickly from his fiery red hair to his flaming eyes. "YOU are the fire! What did Malfoy say to you that made you storm out like that?"

He let go of her shoulder, sighed and turned away. He obviously did NOT want to talk about it.

"Ron, I saw him whispering to you. What in heaven's name did he say to-"

"Nothing, ok?" He cut her short, his deep brown eyes burning with tears. "Nothing. Just. Drop it." And he started walking towards the Gryffindor tower.

She stared at him in disbelief. He may be angry but that's no reason to take it out on me.

"No. I will NOT drop it," she jogged to catch up to him, and grabbed his elbow, spinning him to face her. "I am your girlfriend. Hell, I'm your best friend. I care about you and I will not let you not tell me. So we will stand here all night if we must until you tell me what that stupid, filthy, snot-nosed-"

"Alright! Alright! Geez, Mione, and you're always telling me to watch my mouth."

Hermione crossed her arms, with a slight look of smug satisfaction on her face. She knew he would tell her now. He glanced around the hallway they were now in, let out a deep breath and said, "All he said was that…well you know the usual insults, about our…our financial situation, (his ears turned pink at that), and uh, I was ignoring him, I really was!" he held up his right hand as if under oath, "I glanced down the table at you and Harry, and I guess Malfoy isn't aware of our current…dating situation (his ears are now a nice shade of red), and he leaned down and said…(he rolled his head around as if trying to avoid the topic, finally settling on staring at the floor)…something along the lines of…'don't even waste your time weasel, she would never want your impoverished little arse. You can give her nothing. Etc. etc. I wasn't worth you time and before lone-"

"STOP!" Hermione grabbed hold of Ron's shoulders abruptly. "Look at me." He didn't. She turned his chin so he was now looking down into her shocked face.

"Don't tell me that you listened to that creep? You know everything Malfoy says is rubbish-"

"That's just it. Everything is rubbish. Everything about me and my family is complete and utter rubbish! Our house, our car, our clothes, even my school books and wand! I have nothing to offer you, nothing to give you. I could barely afford Christmas presents for my friends, and I really wanted to give you something special for Christmas, but nothing. I'm sick of being rubbish; I'm sick of being poor. I'm just sick of it!"

Ron's face was contorted with anger and embarrassment. He looked like he could burst any minute. Hermione knew that Ron felt very strongly about his underprivileged lifestyle, and that he was very jealous of Harry's wealth, but she'd only seen him burst out about it once or twice before and never as badly as this time. She wanted to interrupt him, make him calm down, but she knew better than to stand in the way of a charging bull, so she let him ramble and cool down on his own, all the time looking at him with concern filled eyes.

"…and I just don't understand why it had to be me. I mean, why my family, why me??" He glanced at Hermione and said quietly, "Why me? Why not Harry, or Dean or Seamus or Lee or anyone? But me?" She knew he wasn't talking about the money any more.

"They have so much more to offer you Mione, more than I could ever dream of…" he trailed off. Even after 6 months of amazing romance Ron couldn't believe that he finally had the girl of his dreams, and now he couldn't give her anything. He stared down at his oversized clown feet.

Hermione walked over to him, put her arms around his neck and spoke softly.

"Do you really think I'm that shallow that I would date you for your money? Do you think I just snog with every guy that could buy me things? If that were true, I could just throw myself at Draco ( cough! like that slut Pansy), the rich bastard, but do I do any of that? No. You know why? Because I don't need money or pretty things or gifts or any tangible object ('just like you Mione to use big words-') shhh! Or anything like that to…" she spoke the next words very softly, hardly above a whisper, yet Ron heard them and hung on to them with every breath, "to love you."

She looked up at his eyes. "I love you Ron. And it doesn't, nor ever will, take money for me to love you because I love you for who you are and what you mean to me." And with that, she pulled herself up to his lips, closed her eyes and gently pressed her pink lips against his, feeling the familiar warm tingling feeling run through her body. He put his arms around her waist pulling her closer to him; he caressed her back as their kiss became deeper, more passionate (c'mon people, let them have some privacy!), pulling them into a world of their own where nothing mattered, not money, nor bushy hair, or even the growing crowd around them (you shoulda seen Draco's expression! Haha!). Nothing mattered as they were floating on their cloud engrossed with only each other…and their love.

A/N: Ok it was MUSHY! So sue me! I'm entitled to mushiness. When life gives you crap, you fight back with MUSH! That's how the game is played!