AN:This take place during Year 6, after Ron and Lavender had broken up, Hermione and Ron were friends again and Harry and Ginny were a couple.
I do not own any of the characters or relationships. They belong to J.K. Rowling. Isn't she lucky?
The Rose Bench
Ginny and, especially, Harry had been watching Ron and Hermione dance around their true feelings for ages. Harry knew that Ron had a crush on her by second year, when Hermione was petrified. And Hermione - well although he thought she probably felt the same way for much of their time at school, she never really showed a hint of it until the issue of taking dates to the Yule ball came up when they were 14 years old. The memory of Hermione telling Ron to "pluck up the courage" to ask her first thing next time and "not as a last resort" came to mind and he instantly wished he had thought to give his best mate the push back then.
Then he thought of an idea. He and Ginny were sitting together in the Griffindor common room, so he spoke up.
"Ginny?"
"Yes, Harry?"
"I am tired of seeing Ron and Hermione in denial. I want to give them a little push."
"Brilliant! I agree. But how?"
"Hmmm... Oh! What about the clearing?"
"That's perfect. But it means we will lose our secret spot."
"Don't you worry about that. I have other spots in mind thanks to the Marauder's Map." Harry winked at Ginny.
"So we lead them there, knowing that they know what the clearing is?"
"Yeah - and the implication is obvious. But if we lead them there ourselves, neither of them will think it was the idea of the other."
A couple days past. Saturday came around and the four of them, on the insistence of Harry and Ginny, decided to take a long walk around the black lake. Harry and Ginny were holding hands, despite the quick glare Ron gave Harry. On one side of the lake, there was a clearing where there were benches spread out in secluded areas. Ginny and Harry knew this - they had spent much of their free warmer evenings there along with many other couples at school.
After walking for a bit as a group, hand in hand with Ginny, Harry gave her a knowing look and a side glance to his two best friends. Ginny smiled in understanding. "Harry and I are going to walk ahead a bit okay?" Said Ginny. But she ran ahead dragging Harry behind her before the others could answer.
Hermione smiled at the couple shaking her head. She glanced quickly at Ron who had a bit of a stern look on his face. "What are you so upset about?"
"My best mate and my baby sister have clearly just run off to snog."
"Ronald, they have been dating for a while already. Surely you are over this by now? And Ginny is not a baby, she is 15 for goodness sake!"
"Yeah, well your 16 and you haven't snogged anyone!"
"Ronald, how would you know whom I have or haven't snogged?"
Their conversation stopped though, because they had come to the clearing. Hermione had heard about it but had never been here - No one had asked her here and she certainly wasn't going to come see it on her own. And Hermione realized that she was here with Ronald Weasley - the one person she would have wanted to be here with most.
Behind a branch with a large, wavy leaf Hermione saw in the corner of her eye Harry and Ginny snogging away, just like Ron had predicted. Suddenly she was nervous. Ron had clearly known where they were headed. Had he been here with Lavender? She got a sinking feeling in her stomach. If he had shared this spot with her, she certainly didn't want this place to be where they had their first kiss. Their first kiss - something she had dreamed about for three years.
Ron spoke up, "I can't believe my best mate brought her here! And with me in tow." Hermione laughed at him.
"Have you ever been here before?" Hermione asked quietly after a moment, secretly hoping that he hadn't heard her question.
"No. But George and Fred told Harry and me about it before the Yule ball. And Lavender begged me all the time but it never felt right."
"Why not? You certainly seemed... infatuated by her." She sounded a bit stung by the idea that Ron ever paid any attention to Lavender at all.
"Well...I... I've been told that there is a charm on the area that increases the likelihood of your marrying the person you bring here." Ron clearly looked uncomfortable with this admission. Hermione looked at him. As he said this he scratched the back of his neck, a nervous habit of his that she had noticed a couple years back. She thought about his confession and thought with joy - he didn't want to increase his chances of marrying her? That thought alone brought a smile back to her face.
Ron thought about what he had just told Hermione. He hadn't even shared the truth with Harry, telling him only that such a secluded spot would have made him too nervous. He had never meant for the thing for Lavender to go on for so long. It was really a ploy, and he thought now a really stupid act, to make someone jealous. That someone happened to be standing next to him. He had noticed the change in her voice when she asked why he never brought his ex-girlfriend here. And then, after his truthful answer, she had smiled. Ron loved her smile. Ron loved everything about Hermione. Her hair, the way she smelled like ink and parchment and roses. And especially, more than he liked to admit, that she was so smart. Her intelligence was a huge turn on.
They had known each other for so long. She was so damn pretty. He had never noticed until the Yule Ball. Her dress was amazing. No, he thought, she was amazing. She was always amazing.
"Do you want to sit down?" He asked suddenly. Hermione had been lost in her own thoughts. She wondered why he felt that way about Lavender. Not that she was complaining. She knew what happened in the hospital wing but wasn't convinced that his calling her name wasn't an accident. But she was so happy to know that this space was Ron/Lavender free. In her head that was enough to give her the courage to kiss him, but when it came to Ron, she had a hard time following her head.
"Yeah. Sure." Hermione made sure to lead him away from view of Harry and Ginny, knowing that it would not make for a quiet reaction if he saw them.
They found a bench behind a rose bush. These roses were magical because they didn't have any thorns, their shapes were always perfect, and their smell never faded, even after being picked.
"So, have you ever snogged anyone?" Ron asked with an air of worry in his voice. He regretted the question almost as soon as he said it. "I don't see how that is any of your business!" Hermione replied, surprised not by the question but buy her own defensiveness. She thought she was ready for the question, she would have expected no less from Ron. He had a tendency to be a bit nosy sometimes. "I am your best friend Hermione. Maybe I want to make sure if there was a bloke, that he treated you right." She was surprised buy his answer, and yet he looked sincere. "Yes. Victor Krum kissed me in the garden during the Yule ball." She admitted to him.
"Well. I ... uh." Ron stammered. He was surprised she had told him and he was even more surprised that he was really jealous. "Did he break your heart? I will curse him if he broke your heart." He said forcefully and with clear dislike for his former favorite Quiddich star.
"No Ron! To be honest... I was the one who told him I just wanted to be
friends."
"Oh. Well." He said in a much calmer voice. He scratched the back of his neck again. "That's good then."
Suddenly, Ron was feeling very brave. He had to tell her how he felt. Perhaps there were lots of charms set upon this place. "Hermione?"
"Yes, Ron?"
"Do you know why I didn't want to bring her here?"
It was like he had read her thoughts! "No, Ron. I don't know why."
"Because I didn't fancy her that way." He picked a rose off of the bush and fiddling with it, he looked at her straight in the eye. Yes, this was the moment to reveal to her that he was in love with his best friend.
"I truly fancy someone else."
Hermione was confused. Ron was telling her about his feelings for another girl. She wanted to believe that he was talking about her. But she was afraid. If she revealed her true feelings for him and she was wrong in thinking he felt the same way, she would be crushed.
She took a deep breath. "Who?" She asked with hesitation. She didn't know if she really wanted to find out the answer.
Ron placed the rose into her hands, and held them in his own, leaned into her, allowing his cheek to brush gently against her own, and whispered,, "Hermione Jean Granger, I am head over heels in love with you." Before she could say anything, he kissed her, full and deep, allowing himself to taste her lips. Hermione didn't hesitate to kiss him back. The rose fell to the ground. She felt his arm around her waste and she put her arms around his neck, allowing her fingers to play with and tug gently on his flaming red hair. This was the best moment of Hermione's young life.
They stayed like that for a long time. Though they wouldn't say it till later, they had both dreamed of being kissed like that by the other, so in that moment neither one of them wanted to let go. Reality blew their fantasies out of the water.
Harry and Ginny had seen their friends walk over to the rose bench, as it was commonly known. Harry had a good feeling about what was going to happened between the friends he had known fancied each other for the longest time. So he and Ginny walked back toward the castle. They wanted to give them privacy. As they walked hand in had, Harry and Ginny smiled knowing that their plan had worked. They fully expected to see their best friends walking hand in hand from that day onward.
When Ron and Hermione finally pulled away from each other, they realized that Harry and Ginny were gone, so they decided to leave the clearing themselves. As they stood up to leave, Ron took Hermiones hand and linked her arm in his as he lifted her had to kiss it. "I won't ever let you go Hermione Granger. I will love you forever." Hermione smiled and kissed him and said, "I wouldn't want it any other way."