Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns Ron, Hermione and their love. I
love to write about it.
A/N: Many thanks to the editors at The Sugar Quill. You are all
fabulous!
The Yule Brawl
A Harry Potter Fanfiction by Moey
The Yule Ball had ended.
Hermione said goodnight to Viktor in the entrance hall. As she
turned to make her way up the marble staircase, she saw Harry and
Ron beginning their climb. She threw Ron the most contemptuous
look she could muster as she swept past him. How dare he accuse
her of fraternizing with the enemy! Who had been the one
to stick by Harry during the first task? Who had helped Harry
learn the summoning charm? It certainly hadn't been Ron. Ron
was the one always blathering about what a brilliant Quidditch
player Viktor was. He was the one debating whether he should ask
for Viktor's autograph. He was the one with the Viktor doll.
Hermione's face was now red-hot. She could feel tears
welling up in her eyes. Why was she allowing herself to get all
out of sorts over one of Ron's stupid comments? Why did she
have such a knot in the pit of her stomach?
She had had a perfectly nice time with Viktor. He was nothing but
a gentleman. He was polite and genuinely interested in everything
she had to say and he didn't give her cheeky replies like
someone she knew. Ron hadn't even noticed her when he
entered the Great Hall. He had walked right past her! Three whole
hours she spent getting ready and the one person, the one person
that should have taken some notice didn't. Wait a minute.
What was she saying? Viktor had noticed and he was her date.
Viktor had said she looked pretty. Humph! Put that in your
cauldron and boil it, Ronald Weasley!
As she came up on the entrance to Gryffindor Tower, Hermione
glanced behind her. She saw Ron rounding the corner. "Fairy
lights!" She climbed through the portrait hole, wiping her
eyes and taking deep breaths, attempting to calm herself. She
would not give him the satisfaction of seeing her upset over his
insensitive and utterly ridiculous comments.
*******************************************************************************************
Hermione swept past him up the marble staircase throwing him one
of her nastier looks. Well fine, if that's the way she
wanted to be then what did he care? She was the one dating the
potentially dangerous enemy! He and Harry resumed their ascent
when Harry was stopped by Cedric. It didn't seem that Cedric
wanted Ron around for whatever it was he was going to say, so Ron
continued on his way.
He thought Hermione was smarter than this but it was becoming
quite obvious that she had no sense whatsoever when it came to
these matters. Book smart she may be, but wise to the ways of the
Wizard? That was a definite no. You'd have to be thicker
than Crabbe and Goyle not to realize that Krum was using Hermione
to get information about the second task. Couldn't she see
that? Getting the nerve to speak to her in the Library - what a
line! Stalking her was more like it. Krum just wanted to find
someone that knew their way around, someone that could do the
research for him. A great big git like Krum wouldn't know
the first thing on how to research a topic. He'd need a pawn.
Well, if Hermione wanted to be Krum's pretty little
assistant he certainly wasn't going to keep his mouth shut
about it!
Speaking of pretty, what was she thinking making herself all
gorgeous for that big ape? How was he even supposed to recognize
her? She looked so different. When the prettiest girl at
Hogwarts entered the Great Hall on the arm of that Neanderthal
from Durmstrang, well it looked simply ridiculous! The whole
thing was giving him a stomach ache. Deep in his mental tirade,
Ron almost ran right into the portrait of the Fat Lady.
"My, someone looks even redder than usual," commented
the Fat Lady. "Did you and your girlfriend have a row?"
"She just went in and she doesn't look happy,"
added her friend Violet.
Having no idea what they were talking about Ron just stared
blankly at them. "Wha-? Fairy lights!" he finally said
and scrambled through the portrait hole.
"Clueless," said the Fat Lady.
"He'll learn soon enough!" replied Vi.
*******************************************************************************************
Upon seeing Ron, all thoughts Hermione had of maintaining her
composure fled. "You had no right, no right to say
what you did about me tonight, Ron! Fraternizing with the enemy?
That has to be the stupidest thing you've ever said and
stupid things flow out of your mouth like butterbeer at the Three
Broomsticks!"
"Well if you think I'm going to stand idly by while you're
led around on the arm of the enemy then you're crazy! Harry
is your best friend and you're setting him up to be
checkmated! Where do your loyalties lie?"
"My loyalties? I'm not the one that acted like
a total prat and wouldn't talk to him before the first task!"
She paused for a second then let loose with, "Am I mistaken?
Was it not you that asked Fleur Delacour, another
Champion, to the ball? "
" Touché, " Ron thought. His ears began to turn that
deep shade of scarlet that was only brought on by Hermione. He
quickly and completely changed the subject back to Hermione and
Krum. "To top it off, to make matters completely worse, you
go and make yourself beautiful for that git! And everyone thinks
you're the smart one! Did you forgot to look up common sense on
you last library trip? Oh yeah, I forgot you were too busy
telling Krum you'd be his date!"
The pair, still bellowing at one another did not even notice that
Harry had come in and was staring at them.
"Well, if you don't like it, you know what the solution
is, don't you?" yelled Hermione: her hair was coming
down out of its elegant bun now, and her face was screwed up in
anger.
She was very sure he still had no idea.
"Oh yeah?" Ron yelled back. "What's that?"
"Next time there's a ball, ask me before someone else
does, and not as a last resort!"
Ron mouthed soundlessly like a goldfish out of water as Hermione
turned on her heel and stormed up the girls' staircase to
bed. Ron turned to look at Harry.
"Well, " he sputtered, looking thunderstruck, "well
– that just proves –completely missed the point –"
Not to mention that it was obvious she had gone completely mad.
*******************************************************************************************
As Ron was getting himself ready for bed he accidentally knocked
the figurine of Krum from his bedside table onto the floor.
Stupid famous Quidditch star. He stomped on the figurine several
times. After hearing a snap' he gave it a swift kick;
where it landed he didn't care. That ought to teach Krum to
ask out his Hermione. Well, if she was going to go to dances with
the first bloke that asked her, then he would save them all a lot
of trouble. From now on he would just make sure that he was the
first bloke to ask her.
*******************************************************************************************
In the girls' dormitory, Hermione was drawing the curtains
on her four poster bed. Resigned to the very real possibility
that Ron would never, ever get it, she drifted off to sleep. She
was somewhere between consciousness and deep slumber when she
suddenly sat bolt upright. She had missed it during their fight
but her mind had saved it for her. Ron had called her beautiful!
Maybe there was hope for him after all. Hermione smiled and
drifted off to sleep.
