Maybe, he thinks, he enjoys listening to her speak.
Of course he pretends to be annoyed by it, and he never puts it to practice, and what would Harry think if he did, but he enjoys listening to her speak. He is not sure as to whether it is the tone he likes or the meaning; but he knows that it just means that she cares. She lectures him because she wants him to be better - right?
At her prompting he sits up straighter in his chair and glances down at his book. He reads the same sentence five times and decides that he doesn't want to learn about the properties of Flystalk Cap. He looks at her from across the table, and a confused look comes across his face. Hermione is so interested in her book, he sees, that she can't even see him staring at her. How could she be interested, he wonders. He knows that she is probably smarter than him. In fact, he isn't the smartest in his family - that title goes to his dad - but he's smart enough to know why he feels a plummeting feeling in his stomach whenever he looks at her.
Do her lectures mean that she loves him? Or is it her attempt to have him live up to her standards? Ron isn't sure, but he wants to.
A sinking feeling enters his stomach, and he recognizes it as a feeling he often knows:
Inadequacy.
