Disclaimer: Sad to say, but I don't own anything in this story.
"Alright Harry, test me," Ron said as he handed his flash cards to Harry. The two were studying for finals next week in the Gryffindor commons, which had now become extinct and the fire was about to go out.
"Right. Let's start with… Confusing Concoction. What's it made of, and what's it do?" Harry tested Ron.
Ron squinted his eyes in thought, and rattled off his answer after a couple seconds. "Confusing Concoction… Sneezewort, Scurvy-grass, and uh… uh… Lovage?"
"That's right," Harry nodded. "What's it do?"
Ron smirked. He knew the answer. "Causes confusion in whoever drinks it."
Harry laughed. "Alright then, Ron, you got the easiest one of the bunch." Harry covered his head, but not soon enough to be saved by the pillow Ron launched at his head.
"Alright, what about Amortentia?" Harry asked.
"Uh…. the – the what?" Ron asked.
"Amortentia," Harry repeated.
"Amortentia," Hermione said, making an entrance as she walked in, "is the most powerful love potion in the world. Whoever drinks it experiences a deep infatuation with someone that they might have otherwise overlooked. It has a different aroma to everyone, and dates back to over four hundred years ago from the Egyptians."
Harry and Ron just sat there, smirking at each other. Hermione always walked into the room into the middle of a conversation and just joined in, not to mention that she knew everything about everything.
"Nevermind," Ron said, exasperated. "This is useless. I've made it all the way to seventh year and now I'm going to fail."
"Oh, come off it," Harry laughed. "You sound like Hermione."
Hermione glared at Harry and turned to Ron. "I'll help you tomorrow night if you want. The girls will all be out at a study group, so we can be alone. To study. I mean – " Hermione stuttered, not realizing that she implied. She started to play with a piece of her wavy hair nervously as Ron looked at her awkwardly, biting his lip.
"Right. Um, good. See you two tomorrow."
As soon as Hermione was out of sight, Harry smirked at him.
"Ron, what exactly is going on with you and Hermione?"
Ron stretched out his back, looking much more comfortable now that Hermione had left the room.
"What?" Ron shot back suspiciously as his eyes widened.
"Between you and Her – nevermind."
The next day Ron was thinking about what he was going to do about Hermione. Everyone knew that they liked each other, no matter how much they fought. It seemed that when they were together, all they wanted to do was banter. But when they were apart, they didn't know what to do with themselves. Harry noticed every once and a while, Hermione would help Ron with his homework even when she wanted to be reading, and that when Hermione left the room, Ron's eyes became glazed over as he looked at her. But what Harry didn't understand was why they didn't just make it official.
At breakfast, Hermione snuck away from her seat to talk to Ginny. Meanwhile, Harry was trying to hint that as long as Ron admitted the fact that he was madly in love with Hermione, that he had a thing for Ginny. However, Ron didn't hear a thing because he was concentrating solely on Hermione. Harry stopped talking about Ginny and raised his voice so Ron would pay attention to him.
"Honestly, Ron, if you like her so much, why don't you just get randy with her?"
"Shh!" Ron shrieked.
"What? It's not like she heard me," Harry replied, feeling annoyed about Ron's overdramatic response.
Ron sighed. "Alright. The fact still remains that I'm rubbish at potions and I've got to go to her room tonight, and I've got to be alone with her!"
Harry started to massage his temples. Ron's yelling was giving him a headache. "Ron, settle down, will you? You're like Dudley when he doesn't get enough sweets. Aunt Petunia's got him on this diet and – "
"Right… can we focus on me for a second?"
Harry blushed. "Sorry."
"What do I do? I hate being around her because I never know what to say, and when I do say something I sound like an absolute wanker!"
Harry shrugged. "But you also really like being around her, so tell her that. Just be confident."
"H – Hermione?" Ron stuttered, opening the partially closed door to her dormitory.
"Come in, Ron," Hermione said, looking up at him. Ron noticed that she had changed her clothes, and that she was now wearing jeans and a white t-shirt that fit her perfectly. She was wearing her brown hair down, and her curls were wildly dispersed around her beautiful face.
"I've got my cauldron all ready," she said, pulling it to the center of the room.
"Alright… crushed rose petals?" Ron asked.
"Check."
"Dove feathers?"
"Check."
"Eau de cologne?"
"Check."
"Condoms?"
"Che – pardon me, Ronald?" Hermione chuckled.
Ron smirked. Yeah, he was confident. "It was just a joke, Hermione."
Hermione shook her head. "Anyway, I'll let you stir up the ingredients. Here's some measuring cups. And make sure that everything is stirred evenly."
Ron took the spoon from her hand, and he almost shivered as he felt his hand touch some of her soft fingers. Just as Ron went to mix the ingredients together to make the potion, there was a knock on Hermione's door, and she jumped.
"I'll be right back," she said quickly, jumping up to get the door. It was Ginny.
"Hey, Hermione, do you have any tweez –" Ginny froze when she saw Ron sitting in the middle of Hermione's floor. Ginny was not oblivious to the fact that they were crazy about each other.
"I'll come back later," she giggled.
Hermione's eyes widened; she didn't want Ginny to get the wrong idea about her and Ron.
"No, Ginny you don't have to –" but as soon as she finished, Ginny was already skipping down the stairs.
"You finished?" Hermione asked Ron. Ron shrugged.
"I think so. But I might have mistaken the teaspoon for a tablespoon."
Hermione smiled. She thought it was cute that Ron could mess up something so simple as the Amortentia potion. But then again, Ron had barely ever stepped foot in the Hogwart's library. Or any other library, for that matter. Not that he was stupid, but Hermione knew Ron would much rather meet the boys for Quidditch than read an interesting book.
All of a sudden, Hermione sighed at the scent of something intensely wonderful. It was that of musk and freshly-showered boy. Now that she thought of it, when she hugged him good-bye during Christmas holiday, that was what she smelled on his sweater. It was manly, fresh and warm. Soothing. It was simply taking over her….
Ron inhaled almost too deeply, and to his surprise, it smelled the same as Hermione's perfume. It was almost too strong to take – he had to hold himself down to the floor as not to attack her in passionate ecstasy… he inhaled again and this time closed his eyes, and identified it as the scent of a rose, but sexier. Much, much sexier. It was the scent of Hermione.
…And finally, the two made eye contact, not breaking it for a second, not even to blink. Hermione felt her whole body being attracted to him, like some magnetic force that she could not break. Before she could even begin to control her body, she was drawn nearer and nearer to him. She wanted to smell the scent on him. But for that, she still needed to be much… much... closer. Ron stood up slowly, his eyes still upon her. His stomach lurched and halted about a hundred times in a span of the three seconds it took Hermione to be only a foot away from him. He gulped nervously and reached out to touch her face, only it landed somewhere else, but he couldn't control himself. He wanted this so badly. He had been wanting this for years.