Hermione's POV:
Harry stayed with me for hours. I cried for most of it, and he just sat there, arm around me, whispering reassuring words into my ear. I felt safe in his arms, under the beech tree that held so many memories. I was trying to forget about the arrogant red-head. Harry's touch cleared my mind. We hadn't spoken to each other; just tears from me, and encouragement from Harry.
"Hermione, are you ok?" We both looked up at the sound of the familiar voice. Harry let go of me and stood up.
"She doesn't want to talk to you Weasley."
"Look Hermione," Ron said, completely ignoring Harry, "I didn't mean what I said. I was angry and tired. I didn't know I had said it until I heard it come out of my mouth. I know how stupid that might sound, but it's the truth. Please forgive me?" There was silence for a minute while I considered it. Should I forgive him? Did I believe what he was saying to me? Would I ever forgive him?
"I'm sorry Ron. But no, I don't forgive you. I've given you enough chances and you've messed up big time now. I don't think I can give you another chance. Someday, I might forgive you, just not right now." Ron didn't say anything back. He just turned around and walked back to the castle. Once he was out of ear-shot, I burst into tears again.
"It's ok Hermione, I'm here." I felt Harry's arm drape back around my waist as I fell to the ground. "You were very brave, standing up to him like that. Just shows you have the Gryffindor in you to stand up to your friends." I looked up to see him smiling at me. I gave him a weak smile back.
"You're my best friend Harry. I don't know what I'd do without you." I hugged him tightly and let a few tears fall onto his jumper. As I released him, I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. "I'm being silly. There's no need for me to cry over him, right?" He gave me another smile and laughed.
"That's right Hermione. No need to cry over him. He's out of our lives for now. I just don't think we'll be welcomed to the Burrow for another while." We both laughed and continued talking as if nothing had happened. After a few minutes, the laughter died away and we looked at each other.
Ron's POV:
I watched them from the Entrance Hall. They were laughing – probably at me – and looking at each other so intensely I could feel the electricity. She touched his leg and a pang of jealousy hit me. They had stopped laughing by now; infact they had stopped talking. They were just staring at each other. Next thing I know, Harry is leaning towards her.
Harry's POV:
I looked at her dark brown eyes and I knew it was the moment I had been waiting for. Five years was a long enough wait for me, and she needed to know before it was too late. I leaned slightly towards her and waited for a reaction. She closed her eyes so I leaned in closer.
"Harry," she whispered, which made me retreat back. She opened her eyes and looked at me again. "I can't Harry. I'm sorry."
"Look Hermione, it's been five years; five long years. I've been waiting for this since I met you. Please, give me one good reason why you can't! I love you, and that will never change no matter what you say!" She just looked at me, obviously speechless. And that's what made me love her even more.
Hermione's POV:
What do you say to someone who has just professed their love for you? Even worse, what do you tell your best friend when they say they love you? Nothing. That's right, nothing. You just sit there and stare into their bright green eyes and think about how you wish you had the courage to say it back to them. He was looking at me, waiting for an answer. I opened my mouth to speak, but no sound came out.
"I knew it. I'm sorry, I'll leave now." He got up and turned away from me. He started walking back towards the castle. I jumped up and ran after him. I grabbed his hand, turned him around to face me and kissed him. After a few seconds, he started kissing me back. As I backed away from him he pulled me close and wrapped his arms around me.
"You are so stupid," I said as I pulled away again and looked at him. "You don't realise how stupid you are for thinking that I didn't love you. You are stupid for not telling me you loved me after all this time. You are stupid for not kissing me when you had the chance. You are stupid for letting me think that you didn't want me and that maybe I should turn to Ron and fall in love with him!" I hit his arm on the last sentence. He started making shushing sounds and pulled me into his strong, comforting arms.
"You don't realise how lucky I am to realise that I have been in love with you for five years. You're right, I am stupid. I should have told you in first year when the feelings started, or in second year when I thought I was going to lose you, or again in third year when we were alone while rescuing Sirius, or last year. Last year should have been the year. I had plenty of opportunities, when we were in the library without Ron, when you helped me all throughout the tournament, when you were the only one that believed me when everyone was against me, and when I thought of asking you to the Yule Ball." He sighed. "I should have acted then. I shouldn't have let Viktor ask you first. I shouldn't have wasted my time trying to ask Cho, when I could have been trying to ask you. I love you Hermione Granger and I will never change my mind until you accept that. So what I want to know now is," he got down on one knee which shocked me a bit. "Hermione Granger, will you…"
"Stop there Harry! We're fifteen! What do you think you're doing? Getting down on one knee just five minutes after we profess our love for one another? Seriously?"
"Hermione, chill. I was going to ask you if you would be my girlfriend. But since you ruined the moment I'll have to do it the old fashioned way."
Harry's POV:
I stood up and grabbed her hand. I pulled her close to me and put a strand of her hair behind her ear. "Hermione, will you go out with me?"
"Yes!" She squealed with delight and threw her arms around my neck. We walked back to the castle, hand in hand. As we approached the Fat Lady on the seventh floor, Hermione turned to me. "Harry, I think we should keep this quiet. Just for a while. I don't want everyone to think I'm some sort of backstabber, you know, fighting with Ron and then start dating his best friend two hours later? I love you and all - trust me I do - but I'm just not ready to tell that to the world. I'm most certainly not ready to be hated by every single girl in Hogwarts. Just, let's take things slow from here." She let go of my hand and gave me a small kiss on the lips before saying the password and crawling through the portrait hole. I followed her through and looked around the common room. She was gathering up her books from the table beside the fire. She walked up the stairs to the girl's dormitories without looking at me. As I walked up to my dorm, I couldn't stop smiling. I only stopped when I saw Ron getting into his too-small maroon pajamas.
Ron's POV:
"Harry, look, I don't want us to fall out over this. You're my best mate, you were my very first friend and I owe you for being there when I wasn't there for you. I know you probably chose Granger because she has always been there for you when I haven't. So, do you think that we can still be mates?" I had seen him kissing Granger down by the tree. I knew I should be mad at him, but I need him to be my friend if I was ever going to survive in this place. It took him a bit to answer, because he was obviously finding the best way to accept my offer.
"I'm sorry Ron, but no. You're right; I did choose Hermione because, unlike you, she has always been there for me. We can be acquaintances, but not mates, for now at least. So, I'm going to bed now. Goodnight Ronald."
Ronald? Ronald? How dare he call me Ronald. Only Granger and my mother call me that! He is the world's biggest prat, and he is right, we will not be mates!
Hermione's POV:
As I went to sleep that night, all I could think was how lucky I was to have found love in Harry Potter. He was my best friend of five years, my boyfriend for only five minutes. But I knew that I loved him, because I got that feeling in my stomach whenever I saw him. I heard fireworks when I kissed him. My knees buckled when he touched me. That's how I knew I loved Harry Potter.
I don't think I mentioned that this is an AU. My first AU at that. Harry's parents are not dead, there was never a Voldemort because Slughorn was not stupid enough to tell him what Horcruxes were and Harry has a little sister (Tasha) so she is the only OC in this story for the time being. The rest all belong to JK Rowling. Tasha will be in the next chapter so until then :) Thanks for the reviews and story alerts. It means a lot.