Failed Plans

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Ron and Hermione have a little talk in the middle of the night... I'm not very proud of this one.

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It was almost midnight at Hogwarts, silence echoed around its walls, all of its inhabitants have gone to their dreamlands. All, that is, but one. Ron Weasley was sitting on his favorite chair near the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room. He was finishing, or rather, starting, his Transfiguration assignment, which was due tomorrow. Harry had gone to bed way before he had even started on his first homework, which happened to be for History of Magic and was rather long and boring. He had to attend a prefect's meeting after dinner that night, which was why he was still working on his homework at that unholy hour. Hermione, of course, had gone to the prefect's meeting too, but she had made her homework last week and Ron dared not ask her for help that night. Not when he hasn't talked to her for more than a paragraph since—

"Ron," a voice behind him said, interrupting his train of thoughts.

Ron whirled around resignedly, knowing whom he was going to face.

"Ron, I need to talk to you," said Hermione, sitting on the chair opposite Ron.

Ron stared at her as she made herself comfortable, but looked away when she met his gaze.

"What is it?" Ron asked Hermione, but he was looking at his parchment.

Several minutes passed before Hermione had replied.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked, and Ron could hear a note of anger in her voice.

"What do you mean?" asked Ron, still looking at his parchment.

"You know what I mean," Hermione replied sternly.

"I don't—"

"Look at me," Hermione said impatiently, her voice starting to rise, but Ron didn't tear his gaze from his Transfiguration essay. "Why do you keep avoiding me?" Hermione continued.

"I'm not avoiding you," said Ron, taking a quick glance at Hermione, who was frowning.

"Yes you are," said Hermione, the anger in her voice rising. "You haven't talked to me for more than a sentence this week, you're not looking at me…. What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, ok!" said Ron impatiently.

"Yes there is!" said Hermione staring at Ron's head, which was turned away from her.

Hermione stared angrily at Ron for several minutes before speaking again.

"Just tell me what's wrong, Ron," said Hermione, and there was a pleading note in her voice now. "Did I do something that made you angry? Because you're being stupid. If you're angry with me, just tell me so that we can resolve. Don't sulk in the corner and av—"

"I'm not angry with you, ok?" Ron told Hermione impatiently.

"Why don't you talk to me?" Hermione asked. Ron didn't answer.

"I missed you," said Hermione, sighing deeply. Ron gripped his quill so tightly it cracked.

"I missed those times when we talked for hours into the night every after we have a prefect meeting and Harry's asleep," said Hermione. "You're the only one I can talk to about – those things I told you. We haven't… talked, for more than a month."

Ron frowned at his parchment. How could he lie to her? He swallowed, sighed deeply, and looked up at Hermione.

"I missed talking to you too, Hermione," he said. "You're the only one…too…. I—I'm sorry."

He looked into her brown eyes and he knew he couldn't keep it anymore. Hermione was looking expectantly at him.

"Promise me, Hermione, that whatever I'm going to tell you," said Ron, "it won't affect our friendship."

Hermione nodded, but her expression gave away her confusion.

"Because," said Ron, "because your friendship— you— you mean—"

"What?" Hermione prompted.

"Because if I were a Triwizard champion," said Ron, "you'd be my hostage during the second task."

Hermione stared at Ron for a few seconds, then she smiled.

"What about Harry?" she asked Ron.

"Well, he's a champion too, isn't he?"

"If you're a champion too, who will be Harry's?"

"Dunno," said Ron, grinning at Hermione. "Hagrid, maybe. Imagine bringing Hagrid to the surface of the water. Can he even float?"

"Ron!"

"I was just joking," said Ron, smiling broadly.

"See," said Hermione, "I missed this. I missed talking to you about other stuff. We've always talked about…stuff… since we were eleven. Why are you avoiding me now?"

Ron swallowed nervously. He met Hermione's gaze again.

"There's no other way to say this, Hermione," said Ron.

Hermione waited several minutes before Ron spoke again.

"I – I'm, it's—" said Ron. He squared his shoulders and swallowed nervously. He sighed deeply after a few more minutes, then swallowed nervously again. He could feel his limbs getting cold, his face going hot.

"I'm in love with you," Ron said quickly.

Ron bit his lip nervously, and looked timidly at Hermione. But she seemed in no mood to speak at all. Hermione was staring at him in shock and looked as though she lost all knowledge on how to talk.

"I know I'm being stupid," Ron continued after a while. "You're my best friend, I'm not supposed to like you like that…. But I didn't plan this, I promise I didn't."

Ron stopped talking, he looked at Hermione who was still staring at him as though she has just seen him. He bit his lip again.

"And well, when I realized I liked you," Ron plowed on, "I was really scared. Then after a while, I got used to it. Then I – I… I want you to be with me…. But you're with Viktor Krum. And every time I see you writing to him, I get angry and frustrated…. Not with you or Krum, I'm angry with myself…. I keep thinking what it would be like if I had asked you out first back in fourth year…. Then I realized I'm driving myself crazy thinking about – about all this… so I decided I should get over you. But I can't get over you if we spend too much time together…. So I planned that I should avoid you to—you know… get over you."

Ron looked apprehensively at Hermione, dreading her reaction, but at the same time, he felt like an enormous weight has been lifted from him. Hermione's eyes flickered, she was still staring at Ron. But this time, it was different kind of stare.

"Did your plan work?" Hermione asked finally.

"What?" said Ron, frowning at Hermione.

"Did you get over me?"

Ron wondered why she was asking him this question.

"No," he said after a while, gazing deeply into Hermione's light brown eyes, feeling like he's drowning in them.

Hermione smiled at him, stood up, and crossed the distance between her and Ron, then she kissed him. The kiss stopped as suddenly as it had begun. But Ron could still feel Hermione's lips on his. It was the sweetest thing he's ever tasted, including sugar quills. He stared at Hermione in shock.

"Why--?" said Ron, but Hermione cut him off.

"I'm glad your plan failed," she said, sitting beside him.

And suddenly, the meaning of her statement came to Ron. She liked him, she actually liked him. She's not with Viktor Krum. He looked sideways at her. She was looking at him, too, and she was smiling. He smiled back at her, and bravely, he took her hand and held it with his….

"Now, get on with your homework," Hermione said after a while, but her voice was light and playful.

"What?" said Ron, looking confusedly at Hermione.

"Your homework, silly," replied Hermione, pointing at Ron's blank parchment.

"Oh, yeah…."