A/N: Another fic resulting from a challenge. The challenge was that I had to write a 114-word ficlet about an icon I have of Ron and Hermione with the subtitle "Lost Without You". I have expanded it for this site since it was so unbearably short. It's not a novel or anything, but I think the length is good.Enjoy and please review :)
Ron cocked his head to the side as he watched Hermione scribble out corrections on his Potions homework. All of the red marks made him grimace internally. He shook his head. "You're like a dictionary, Hermione."
She looked up, grinning. Being called something so delightedly smart by Ron had made her day. She wanted to return the favor. "Thank you, Ron. You're like a... giant teddy bear," she supplied, thinking of the large teddy bear propped up on the edge of her bed.
It was quite like Ron, in a way. It had ginger fur and a somewhat playful smile stitched onto its mouth.
That wasn't too bad a comparison coming from her, he decided. He wouldn't mind being someone, or in this case, something, that Hermione enjoyed hugging and whispering her problems to. It'd be rather lovely, he imagined. Unless she named him something like "Pookie", in which case, he would prefer she didn't address him directly (or at all, really).
He wanted to top it, for some reason that was unclear to him. Perhaps, he mentally told himself, it was because over the years he had developed an incessant need to be one up on her. Or, another little voice whispered in his ear, it was because there was a comparison dancing in the back of his mind that was so utterly perfect that it could not be passed up.
It would take a bit of confidence to pull it off, he reasoned. He was not exactly one to be outright about any, err, fluffy feelings, particularly when it came to Hermione. But things were getting harsh in the magical world and he honestly had no idea about who was going to live and who was going to die. Another quiet moment spent correcting homework may never come again. Whether or not Hermione realized it, this moment may become a life-changer, or at least special in some minute way.
With these thoughts swirling in his head, he decided to make his comparison.
"You're like... a compass."
Her quill stopped moving and she looked up at him, confused. "What?"
"Well..." He blushed slightly before plunging ahead. "I'd be lost without you."
He was certain he'd never seen her light up like that before.