Ron had been worrying about Hermione for weeks now. She was withdrawn socially, her skin was sallow and thin looking, and there were constantly deep purple rings under her eyes. Her hair was limp and dirty, and she always seemed like a zombie. She didn't seem to have enough energy to even bully the boys into doing their homework. That was his main concern. He tried talking to Harry about it, but he was preoccupied with taking down the dark lord, so Ron was left to ponder Hermione's worrisome behaviors alone. Finally, on a cold, rainy Sunday afternoon, he mustered the courage to talk to her. He sat on the edge of a couch facing the common room door until the painting swung open and in shuffled a pajama-clad and book-laden Hermione, looking more tired and small than ever. Ron called out to her. "Hermione!" he shouted, jumping up and walking quickly over to her.
Hermione jumped slightly at the sudden loud noise, but visibly relaxed when she saw it was Ron. Her face quirked up into a smirk as she placed the books on a nearby table and opened her arms to Ron's impending embrace. Her body folded comfortably into his arms and she pressed her face to his chest, inhaling his scent deeply and smiling. It had been a long time since she had serious contact with anyone, and the intimacy felt nice. "Ron," she responded quietly.
Ron was slightly shocked by how comfortable and normal she was acting. He lightly stroked her back before pulling away and holding her at arms length, scrutinizing her appearance. She looked thinner than usual, and her large, bunny print pajamas didn't help that fact. Her hair was pulled up into a bun, but strands fell around her face and curled curled behind her ears. Her normally bright eyes were dull and exhausted looking. Her shoulders slumped and her hands felt freezing cold on his arms. He frowned and pushed a strand of hair out of her face. "Where have you been?" he asked worriedly.
She sighed. Hermione hated when Ron acted like a parent, but she knew she owed him an explanation. "I'm sorry, Ron," she began timidly. "I've been studying."
Ron's frown deepened as he lead her to the couch and sat her down, noticing as she glanced nervously over to her books. "Hermione," he lightly chastised, "It's been nearly three weeks since you've said more than four words to me." Ron grasped her cold hands lightly. "I've been really worried about you."
Hermione's face fell even more and she looked to the ground as she felt her eyes well up. She knew she hadn't been a good friend lately. She felt terrible about it, but she knew she absolutely had to be at the top of her class. There was something there, in every tiny victory that kept her hooked on the feeling of being the best. "I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice breaking.
His face went from a frown to confusion and shock as Ron heard her voice crack. He gathered her in his arms and pressed her into his chest. "Hey, hey," he cooed softly. "There's no need for tears. What's wrong?" He ran one hand up and down along one of her arms, trying to bring warmth back into her bones.
"I j-just..." Hermione hiccupped into his shoulder. "I just h-have to be the b-best. But I'm n-not." Her voice cracked and slipped up an octave on the word not. "I-I'm a terrible friend. I c-can't even spare the t-time to talk to y-you." She was sobbing now, body wracking sobs made their testimony to her lack of sleep and pent up emotions from the past few weeks.
Ron's eyes widened as he realized Hermione hadn't been avoiding him. She'd just been so caught up in her own world she forgot about everything. It was very rare that Hermoine cried, and this made it apparent to Ron that she had forgotten about herself, too. His arms were suddenly gripping her tighter and crushing her to his chest in a desperate attempt to bring her as close to him as possible. One hand found itself in her hair, the other on the small of her back, pulling the frail girl into his lap. It was then that he began to cry as well.
Together they sat, holding each other and crying. Hermione burried her face into the space between Ron's shoulder and his neck and soaked his red t-shirt dark maroon with tears as she shook violently. Ron simply held onto the one person he had ever cared about as much as he did and let the tears silently pour down his face and into her hair.
Neither realized how much time had passed. Ron was the first to stop crying, but soon after, Hermione's sobbing deminished to whimpers and then nothing. Her body still clung to Ron's, but her arms were now wrapped loosely around his back. She couldn't muster the strength to hold herself up.
Ron gently peeled Hermione away from his shoulder and held her at an arms length to look deeply into her eyes. "'Mione. How could you think you're not the best? You're top of the class. You bullied me and Harry into the top 20. You're the best friend I've ever had. And you're sure as hell the prettiest girl I've ever seen. You're naturally the best at everything you do. You're so fearless and incredible and hardworking and strong. It amazes me. Everything you do, you do it with grace and poise and elegance. You just have this way about you that says 'I don't care what any of you nitwits think, I can do this.' It used to terrify me to the core, honestly. You always talk about wanting to be the best, but you never stop to reaize, bloody hell, you already are." Ron grazed her cheek with his knuckles, and before he could think, cupped her face in his hands and pulled her close.
Hermione didn't realize what was happening at first, but as her mouth collided with Ron's and her lips crashed on his like the ocean waves, she felt euphoria bubble up somewhere deep, threatening to spill from her every pore. For a moment she was frozen, but the next she was pulling Ron's face deeply into her own and kissing him back fervently.
Ron was halfway through chastising himself for making such a stupid decision before he realized something- Hermione was kissing him back! His mind reeled in extasy and he felt a laugh part his lips and burst between them.
Hermione was shocked at first, thinking it was something she did wrong, but soon began to laugh as well, joining Ron in his apparent glee. It felt good to laugh, she realized.
It was whole minutes before the raucous laughter died down between the two of them and Hermione sighed and leaned her head on Ron's chest.
Ron smiled and tucked more strands of hair behind her ear before leaning down and kissing her forehead. "You know something, Hermione?" He began, still lightly brushing hair behind her ear.
"What's that, Ron?" Hermione responded, closing her eyes and hearing his voice resonate in his chest.
"I think you're even more the best now." Ron concluded. "In fact, I'm pretty damn sure of it."
Hermione looked up with a spark in her eyes. "Bloody hell."