Ronald Weasley was the youngest of six very attractive boys. Though his own experience with girls was embarrassingly limited he had learned a lot about the opposite sex through his brothers' various romantic exploits. Once he developed the interest in girls that came along with puberty he should have been able to get a date with almost any girl he wanted, if only Hermione Granger hadn't been in his life.
She was one of his best friends, but she always managed to get in the way, always spoiling his and Harry's fun. The real problem though was just her being there, when she was around Ron lost all intrest in other girls, because he was unbelievably in love with her. He knew he loved Hermione since their second year when he had a fleeting desire to kiss her. Slowly over the years the desire became stronger to the point where he didn't think he could be alone with her for fear he would be overcome. If he had approached his brothers with his problem they would have told him to just do it, which he knew already, but much to his chagrin he couldn't. They wouldn't understand. One minute he'd be talking to her as his best friend, someone he could tell anything to, then she'd lick her lips or toss her hair just the right way and his brain would spin out of control his stomach would knot and he'd lose all of his well earned knowledge of what to do or say around a female.
One night in their sixth year Harry Ron and Hermione were up late working on a potions essay. There was nothing out of the ordinary about that day, Ron and Hermione had bickered at dinner as usual, Quiditch practice was fun, Harry played a great game of wizards chess against Fred, and now they were copying Hermione's essay. Harry yawned loudly. "It must be later than I thought, the fire's already dying."
"This was one of the longest essays Professor Snape's ever assigned us." Hermione commented looking up from her arithmancy book.
"I'm finished copying, if you two don't mind I'm going to head up to bed." Harry said as he rolled up his parchment.
"Go on mate, I'm almost done here too." Ron responded.
"Good night Harry." Hermione said.
Harry Started toward the stairs, "Alright you two, behave yourselves and I'll see you in the morning." He said smiling at his friends before ascending to the sixth year dormitory.
"Sorry to keep you up so long, I'll be done in just a few minutes." Ron said.
Hermione folded her book in her lap and considered him for a moment. "It's alright, I got a chance to catch up on my reading. It's much nicer to do it here with you two than alone in the library."
Ron looked up at her and smiled. He tried to speak, but her face in the dim fire light was breath taking. He cleared his throat, "You make me nervous." he blurted.
"Excuse me?" She looked at him quizzically. "Does anyone else have this effect on you?"
"No. Just you." He answered simply.
"Is there something I've done? Something I shouldn't do?" She sounded slightly worried.
"You're the only girl who's ever made me nervous."
Hermione scoffed. "You're telling me Madame Rosmerta never made you nervous? Or your dear Fleur? You just babble like an idiot for the fun of it?"
"Yeah, well this is different." The jitters he felt were rising, telling to run away before he made himself into a total fool. He closed his eyes and focused on his breath chasing away his fears. Ron rose and walked over to the arm chair where Hermione sat. He slowly knelt down in front of her, taking her hands into his own. "Compared to the way you make me feel, Fleur might as well be a skrewt." He watched the gears turn in her head as she processed what he said. A smile slowly grew across her face. Ron's expression matched hers. "Now that is something I'll never get tired of seeing."
Several minutes passed with the two of them smiling almost stupidly at one another, both of them apparently speechless. "When did this happen?" Hermione finally spoke.
Ron's grin became cocky as he answered. "When did what happen?"
"Everything. When did you start feeling like this? Why didn't you tell me sooner? If you were just too scared, then why now? What--" Ron put a stop to the line of questioning by covering her mouth with his. She gladly melted into his kiss. Once they parted Hermione gave him a stern look, still wanting answers, but Ron could see the smile playing at the corners of her lips. Ron sighed before he answered. "I don't exactly know when I started to feel this way about you, but I have for some time now. Why didn't I tell you?" He paused a moment to phrase his answer. He couldn't jut blurt things out now, no matter how honest they were. "I couldn't. I mean, yeah, I guess i was scarred but I did try to tell you, it was always just bad timing or it came out wrong."
"Why tonight then? Where did this courage come from?"
"They didn't make me a Gryfindor just because everyone else in my family was you know. I always had the courage, only a matter of showing it at the right time." He beamed at her forcing her smile came back on her face. "You could light up a room with that smile." In response Hermione leaned in and kissed him. Hours were lost with that kiss. The only coherent thoughts Ron had were of how much he loved this woman and how he had to show her that everyday. And that he could die a happy man.