Author's Note: This is my first Harry Potter fic. I told myself I'd never ever write HP fic, but I lied to myself (I also told myself I'd never READ Harry Potter but that's a different story). I saw the movie again today (::cough:: third time, thh hi Bethie) and I decided to write this.. I practically jumped out of my seat and probably scared both Beth and April when I got the idea for this... anyway.. enjoy ^_^
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disclaimer: i don't own harry potter. although i wish i did.. i wish i could write good like that. JK rowling rules ^_^
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this fic is deditated to my lovely wifey (lol) Beth, because I got her all hooked on Harry Potter, and she needs to read fic besides Draco/Hermione and slash ::laughs::
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Perfectbr
by Ani Ledgerbrbrbr

pI sit in the window in my dormitory room, staring out at the clouds in the dark sky. Everyone else is asleep in their beds, but I can't stop thinking. About my past few years at Hogwarts, about everything that's happened to my friends and me, and about him...

pI've been fighting these feelings since the end of our first year. I started liking him then... and now, four years later, I still have those feelings. Except they're more than how I felt when we were eleven, obviously.

pNow I'm sixteen... I'll be seventeen soon. In two years, I'll be done with my schooling and be able to get a job. Everyone is sure I'll get a job with the Ministry of Magic, just like everyone is sure I'll be made a Prefect next year, and Head Girl the following year. I'm supposed to be perfect. Everyone has such high expectations of me, and I know I can live up to those expectations, but...

pRight now all I want is to let a certain someone know how I feel about him. How I've felt ever since...
p--

pI watched Harry turn and run through the door, away from the broken Wizard's Chess board. I hoped he'd be okay. I told him I knew he was a good wizard, and believed it, but I couldn't help but be worried about my friend.

pI turned to Ron, laying in a heap on the ground. I knew Harry would be okay, but I had to figure out how to get Ron out of there. It sure wasn't easy getting down here, and I was sure it won't be any easier finding a way out.

pI knelt down next to him. He's obviously wasn't dead, since he was breathing. But he was hurt. I bit my lip and my eyes filled with tears, which surprised me. Why was I crying over Ron? He's just Ron... but he looks bad. Really bad...

p"Ron?" I said quietly, breaking my own scary silence. After the "game" was over, it got so deathly quiet... too quiet. All I could hear was the sound of my heart pounding in my ears and Ron's quiet breathing. "Ron, wake up," I said, a little bit louder. I took his hand. His eyelids opened a little. "Come on, Ron, wake up." I squeezed his hand, and he opened his eyes and looked up at me.

p"Hi," he said, looking confused.

p"Are you okay?" I asked, wiping a tear from my cheek before he saw I was crying.

p"Yeah. Are you? You're crying."

p"No I'm not," I said, embarassed. "And I'm fine... I was scared that you weren't, though." I bit my lip and stared at him for a second before looking away. Something really... weird just happened, and I don't know what it was. I let go of his hand. "Can you stand up?"

p"I think so," he said, reaching for my hand to help him up. I stared down at him stupidly for a minute, before realizing he needed help.

pWhat are you thinking, Hermione? I thought. Something about Ron was... weird, different. Maybe because he actually needed my help for once. But should I help him? He was pretty mean to me before... back before Halloween. Then he and Harry saved me from that troll... but then I saved them from being expelled...

pMy mind was racing. We didn't have to be *even* or anything, Ron and Harry are my friends, and now Ron needed my help. I reached down and helped Ron up. "You sure you're okay, Hermione? You seem a little out of it. You get hit in the head or something?"

p"Yeah, probably," I said, covering myself up. I rubbed my head for effect. Ron gave me a weird look for a second, and then let go of my hand and looked away from me. If I didn't know better, I'd think he was blushing.

p"How do we get out of here?" he asked, looking around.

p"I have no idea," I replied, glancing at him. "Obviously we can't go backwards... we'd have to climb back up through the Devil's Snare, and back through Fluffy's trapdoor..."

p"And those flying keys," Ron added. "I don't know if we could get back through there without Harry."

pHe sighed, making a face. For a moment, I wanted to hug him... he looks kind of cute when he makes that half-skeptical-smirking face. He caught me staring at him, and I looked at the floor again and tried to concentrate on not blushing.

pHe's just Ron.

p"Do you think someone will find us?" I asked, starting to feel nervous.

p"I don't know." He paused. "I wonder if Harry's okay." He looked a little worried about his best friend, and I tried to feel hopeful.

p"I'm sure he's fine. I told him before he left that he's a good wizard... he'll be able to get past whatever Snape has ready for him. He'll be able to stop him." I smiled sadly, not fully believing myself.

pRon looked around again. "I don't know," he said again, looking for a way out. There was a door on either side of the chess room, but both were blocked.

pI looked over the mess the chess board had left. I couldn't believe how well Ron had commanded us in the game... he had won it for us, and Harry had been able to get past. I couldn't believe that he'd risk his life just for this...

p--

pI blink, and sigh. I can't help feeling this way, can I? I've had a crush on Ron for so long (I hate that word, crush... it bothers me) that I feel like I can't stop liking him... I wonder...

pShould I tell him how I feel? What if he thinks I'm insane? What if he thinks I'm pathetic? Does he already know? Does anyone?

pWhat if he doesn't believe me?

pOr worse, what if he does believe me? And what if he feels the same way?

p--

p"Ron, why did you stay on the knight piece?" I suddenly asked. The question had been bothering me for a few minutes.

p"I... uh... I guess I was too scared to jump off," he replied, looking embarassed.

p"Well, it was very brave of you."

p"Thanks." He still looked embarassed, but he smiled and put his hands in his pockets, looking fairly proud of himself.

p"I think... someone has to find us eventually," I said a moment later, yawning. I wondered what time it was, it had to be getting late. "I mean... someone will notice the three of us are missing, and... do you think?"

p"Probably. If the professors already know about this down here... and McGonagall knows that we know about the stone..."

p"That's right, we told her we thought someone was going to steal it, and..."

pWe both sighed, and I walked to the wall and sat down against it. "I'm tired," I admitted, and Ron came and sat down next to me.

p"So am I," he said.

pHe had a bruise on the side of his head, probably from falling off of the chess piece. He had cuts and scrapes, too. I wondered if I was as cut up as he and Harry had been, but I wasn't as worried about that as I was about Ron.

p"Are you okay? You look terrible," I said, reaching over to touch the bruise gently. "Does it hurt?"

p"A little," he said, wincing, and I was pretty sure it hurt more than a little. "What about you? Are you hurt?"

p"I'm fine." And I meant it. I wasn't hurt, I didn't think I was anyhow. I stared at my feet, at my tights that were now ripped, at my skirt... I probably looked like a mess, but I didn't care. I leaned against Ron, happy that I had someone to just sit with. Just sitting with him was making me feel so much better.

pYou like him, don't you, Hermione. That little voice in my head was getting annoying.

pBut it wasn't a lie. I remembered last year, when I was still going to Muggle school, when I liked the boy who sat in front of me in class... whenever he turned around to ask to borrow a pencil or a sheet of paper, I'd feel all fluttery inside.

pThat was how Ron was making me feel right now, and everytime he talked to me. He'd been so mean to me at the beginning of the year, but now... things were different. I wasn't sure how or when things changed, but they did.

pMy mind plagued me with thoughts, until finally I was so exhausted that I fell asleep, my head on Ron's shoulder. I didn't know it, but he was asleep too, his hand covering mine.

p--

pI stand up and walk from the windowsill to my bed. I climb into the warm sheets (they were warmed by the house elves, I'm sure. I wonder how Dobby and Winky and the rest are, if they're really as happy as everyone insists they are) and try to sleep. I can't stop thinking about Ron.

pTomorrow I'll see him, and tomorrow I'll have to hide what I'm feeling again, just like today and yesterday and everyday. I hate that.

pThat annoying little voice tells me to just tell him how I feel.

pMaybe I will.

p--
pto be continued..