It was around 2:30 am and Harry was on lookout outside of the tent. Ron and Hermione were inside of the tent. It was about a week after Ron had returned and Hermione was still quite mad at him for leaving her. The inside of the tent was consumed in silence, Ron was finding it unbearable. For a couple of hours now he had tried making conversation with Hermione but she just ignored him and kept to her book, which truly upset Ron because he wanted nothing more than for Hermione to forgive him.
"Her-" Ron began another attempt to communicate with Hermione but was interrupted by his best friend Harry entering the tent. He looked quite disheveled with red eyes and darkened skin under them.
"Alright Hermione it's your turn to be on lookout now," Harry went straight to his bunk and laid down falling asleep instantly. Meanwhile Hermione shut her book and put it under her arm as she exited the tent leaving Harry and Ron alone.
Ron was far from tired and was running out of things to do in the tent. He was really only interesting it talking to Hermione but unfortunately she was not allowing him to do so. Ron figured he would give it one last try. He stood up from the chair he was previously sitting; he grabbed his green fleece and pulled it over his head. Ron thought best to also grab blankets incase Hermione was cold. After grabbing that last thing he exited the tent.
He ran his hand through his ginger locks and looked around for Hermione. She wasn't to his right but then as he looked to his left he saw her sitting by a tree with her knees up and a book in her hands. He began to walk towards her and tried his best to be quiet so he wouldn't disturb her reading. "She's always reading," Ron thought. It was one of the things that Ron loved most about her; how much she read, and her intelligence. If you ever had a question, there was always one person who Ron knew had the answer: Hermione.
Ron remembered from when they were at Hogwarts and she would be sitting so innocently in the common room curled up on the same chair reading a book. It was a new book almost every day. Another thing Ron liked about Hermione reading was that it gave him an opportunity to look at her. Not in a creepy way, but he just liked to look at her, all of her. Ron had never seen a more brilliant girl, and he truly loved her but her didn't think he would ever have the confidence to tell her himself. Ron thought that Hermione would find it silly and stupid that Ron was in love with her and he would just end up embarrassing himself so he has avoided it all these years.
Anyway, as Ron approached Hermione he peered over her shoulder and was about to give her an innocent surprise but he noticed something that hurt him deeply. Hermione was crying. Ron was not quite sure what to do, he had never really been in this situation before.
"Oh… Mione' what's wrong? Did you see something? Is your book upsetting? Did you have a nightmare? Was it… me?" Ron was so flustered he really didn't mean to ask so many questions at once, but the truth was that he was genuinely concerned about Hermione.
Hermione sniffled and rubbed the tears from her eyes, "Oh, um nothing Ronald, it's fine."
"No Hermione, no it's not, something has upset you," He sat down beside her very closely but he refrained from putting his arm around her. He figured he would lose it if he did, because after all Hermione was still mad at him, at least he thought.
"It's just- I'm so- I'm frustrated I guess." Hermione said sniffling once again, but her tears seem to have calmed down.
"Why's that?"
"It's silly," Hermione said and hid her face in her book.
"Mione'," Ron reached his hands over to the book in front of Hermione's face and gently pulled the book away and set it beside him. He positioned himself so that he was now facing sideways to face Hermione properly. "Please tell me, I'm sure it can't be that silly."
"It's just hard for me to say," Hermione said with a shiver.
"Here," Ron said and pulled the blanket he had brought from behind him. He sat back in his first position beside Hermione and held the blanket in his right hand and put his arm around Hermione covering her with the blanket. He held her close to try and warm her up, Ron looked down at her with a sincere smile, Hermione returned with her own smile. "Anyway, back to why you are frustrated," he gave a small laugh.
Hermione couldn't help but giggle at his persistence. "I don't really know how to say it Ronald."
"Well how about I give you a deal. I'll tell you something that's hard for me to say, and you'll tell me why you are frustrated?" He asked a bit shakily, looking down at her under his arm.
"Um, alright," Hermione sounded a bit unsure.
"Alright well, um..." Ron was now unbelievably nervous, he was about to tell Hermione that he was in love with her. He was feeling quite hot all of a sudden and he could feel his face going the famous Weasley shade of red.
A giggle escaped Hermione, "I can see this is quite hard for you to say,"
"You have no idea,"
"Just have confidence, Weasley and tell me," She said with a smile as she looked up at him.
"Confidence, Weasley" Ron thought. "Alright, well Hermione I like you, a lot,"
"I like you too Ronald," Hermione said sincerely.
"No, I mean I really like you. In fact, I'm… in love with you," His face must have been as red as a tomato by this point. There was a slight pause and Ron began to panic thinking that he had embarrassed himself and that Hermione thought the idea of him loving her was completely ridiculous. "Buggar, I shouldn't have said anything, I'm sorry Hermione," Ron got up to leave but Hermione pulled him back down beside her, with his arm remaining around her.
"Ron, please don't be sorry," Hermione pleaded.
"And why shouldn't I be sorry, I just embarrassed myself and made you uncomfortable." Ron moaned and rested his head in his hand. Hermione reached over with her small hand and gently placed it on Ron's and brought it away from his face. Hermione's face was now significantly closer to Ron's than it was moments ago. It was silent around the two of them all they could hear was each other's quiet breathing. Their eyes were locked and Ron leaned closer to her and Hermione followed. All of a sudden their lips were pressed together in a sweet and gentle first kiss.
They broke apart and Hermione let out a sigh, "You shouldn't be sorry because what was making me so frustrated is that I love you too." Ron couldn't believe the words that came out of Hermione's mouth he had never been this happy before. "I was frustrated because I felt like I needed to be mad at you but inside it was killing me because I truly like you a lot."
"Hermione, you just made me the happiest bloke in the world bloody world!" Ron leaned over and kissed her temple innocently. Hermione then snuggled up into the crook of his neck.
The two sat like this for some time, they were both unsure of how long they stayed like that, Ron figured it was probably an hour.
Hermione yawned "Ronald can I ask you something?"
"Sure, love"
"How long have you, you know, been in love with me?"
"Well I suppose it was since third year but it finally came to me in sixth year,"
Hermione yawned again, "That was my guess," They both gave a small laugh.
"Hermione, you should probably go to sleep, I can keep lookout for tonight while you go sleep." Ron got up and Hermione followed him. He grabbed the blanket and Hermione's book and he followed her into the tent. Ron was expecting Hermione to go and lie down in her bed but she went a different way and lay down in Ron's bunk.
"Er Hermione you do know this is my bunk right?" Ron questioned her as he placed the book and blanket on the table.
Hermione got up from the bed a little, "Oh sorry, is that not ok?"
"No no, it's perfectly ok; I just wasn't expecting you to do that." Ron chuckled a little and Hermione lay back down.
Ron walked over to Hermione and sat on the edge of the bed and pulled the blanket up around her. He began to stroke her back to help her go to sleep. It didn't take long for Hermione to drift off.
Just before she did she mumbled a small fraise, "G'night Ron, I love you." Ron managed to make it out through Hermione's sleepy talk.
He smiled to himself happily, "I love you too Mione'." He was so happy with himself that he now has the confidence to tell her that, and he will do so every day. He leaned over and gave her a lingering kiss on the cheek. He got up from the bed and made his way to the tent's exit. He looked back and looked at Hermione one more time. Ron simply smiled and walked away. He loved Hermione and she loved him, that's all he needed. He felt much more confident to continue their horcrux journey as the golden trio.