It had been generally agreed upon that the Yule Ball in his fourth year was when Ron Weasley finally realized that his feelings for Hermione Granger Unfortunately, he continued to make an ass of himself for the next three years before the two finally stopped dancing around their feelings for each other. Then, when they were nineteen, living together, and sorting through old things that Hermione said simply had to be stored away (or trashed completely in the case of Ron's comic books), they found Ron's old Krum doll. And oddly enough, it was missing an arm.
Ginny, who'd been sorting through that box, held the disfigured toy up for the whole room to see. "Hey Ron, isn't this that Viktor Krum doll you got at the World Cup? Look, it's broken."
Ron stiffened and looked at what was once a prize possession of his with wide eyes because, of course, he knew why the blasted thing was broken.
Unfortunately for him, Harry did too. Unlike the two Weasleys, who'd stopped their sorting every five minutes to comment or bicker about the junk they'd found, Harry opted to finish quickly without such interruptions. It seemed his respite from making fun of Ron had ended, however. "You know, that's funny, because I found a little arm under my bed not long after the Yule Ball…"
"Shut up, Harry!" Ron said sharply. Harry rolled his eyes and returned to reading the paper.
Ginny wasn't letting him off that easily though. "Wait, Ron, did you do this?" she asked, brandishing the mutilated toy. He merely blushed violently, which was answer enough for everyone in the room.
"You tore apart your Krum doll?" Hermione asked incredulously.
"It wasn't a doll, it was a figurine," he mumbled in reply.
"But you loved that thing."
"Apparently not so much after the Yule Ball," Harry supplied from his seat at the kitchen counter. Ron and Hermione, from where they stood in the living room of the flat, could only see the young man's messy black hair peeking out from behind The Quibbler, but they knew he was smirking at them.
Hermione still looked shocked. "Were you really that jealous, Ron?"
His ears and neck looked like he had bad sunburn at this point, inflamed as they were from his embarrassment. "I guess. I mean, I didn't really know why at the time, I was just really pissed off."
Ginny snorted. "How romantic."
"I was fourteen, what do you want from me?"
"Well I think it's kind of sweet, in a very twisted way…" Hermione said, an amused look on her face.
"Really?" Harry commented, "Cause I thought it was kind of deranged."
She ignored their friend and continued, "Ron, you must know that I never cared for Viktor like that."
"Well I know that now. But then… man, back then I just wanted to kill the guy."
The room was oddly quiet for a moment until Ginny, ever the helpful sister, said sweetly, "You did realize that it wasn't a voodoo doll, right?"
After Harry and Ginny had left, Ron and Hermione continued the discussion. "I guess I was a bit ridiculous back then," Ron admitted. "But I just couldn't stand the thought of you with him."
"You want to know something?" she said quietly.
"What?"
"Every time I was with him, whenever he complimented me, or when I danced with him, I always imagined that it was you."