Hermione heard the door of the Hospital wing opening, and she hastily stuffed a card under her pillow. She hoped it wasn't Harry and Ron again, come to make fun of her for getting a valentine from Lockhart. She looked to the newcomer and saw it was only Ron.

"Listen," Ron said slowly. "I'm sorry about earlier…"

"That's alright," Hermione said, but in her head she was extremely surprised; she couldn't recall Ron apologizing for anything before.

"Not just about the card," Ron's cheeks turned slightly pink. "I'm sorry I made fun of you… about what happened with the Polyjuice Potion."

Hermione looked down at her hands, allowing her bushy hair to fall forward and hide her smile. "Really, it's alright."

"No," Ron shook his head and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I was being stupid."

They were both silent for a long moment, then Madam Pomfrey bustled over with a potion for Hermione. Ron mumbled something incoherent and quickly left the room, leaving Hermione feeling slightly confused.

Maybe he's not such an annoying friend after all, Hermione thought as she downed the potion.

Madam Pomfrey walked over to the doorway, where a ball of crumpled parchment lay, almost hidden by the door. "He must have dropped this on his way out," she said. "It looks like he was going to give it to you."

Hermione took the parchment from Madam Pomfrey, carefully unfurling it to find a simple card.

We miss you in class, get better soon.

Hermione stared at the card, tracing the letters with her fingers. It had been crumpled before the ink was dry, and it left little smudges of black all over. Hermione recognized Ron's handwriting, and she wondered if Harry had had a part of it at all.

She slumped back onto her pillow, trying to puzzle out the situation. Lately, she'd felt herself blush whenever Ron said something to her. She'd written her mum to ask her advice, and she'd replied with a simple 'Let it happen'. Even though she was one of the smartest witches of their year, this was one problem she couldn't find an answer to.

When she finally went to sleep, she didn't even notice that she was holding Ron's card against her chest.


Hmph. Well, I just realized that these chapters are incredibly short. Oh well, I'm having fun writing these little bits. How about you? Are you enjoying reading these little bits? This one is supposed to take place on St Valentine's Day, if you haven't caught on.