Chapter Ten: Ron and Hermione

Throughout the three years of Harry, Ron and Hermione's friendship so far, they got even closer. Even though the Floo connection between Hermione's house and Potter Manor was active, Hermione still stayed overnight at the Manor. When she did go home, Harry and Ron would get to stay overnight at her house. The three of them were inseparable, so they were allowed to share her room as she was allowed to stay in Harry's room at the Manor. The only difference was that at Potter Manor Hermione slept in Ron's bed with him; this was because for some reason, she felt closer to Ron than Harry.

Another example of their growing friendship was when Hermione had her eighth birthday. Ron used the money he had refunded to him after the debacle of Ginny's present, to buy Hermione a present. He bought her a book called Hogwarts, A History. She loved his present immensely. With all the things she had been told about Hogwarts by James, Lily, Sirius, Remus and the Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall and Flitwick, she was desperate to learn even more about the place. After the party was over she asked Ron if he would read it with her and he agreed, so they ended up staying up late into the night to read until after two nights' reading, Harry kicked them both out of his room so he could get some sleep, and so Ron and Hermione got their own room to share so they could read late into the night.

Hermione also went to Harry and Ron's Karate grading's to give them a bit of moral support. Ron especially appreciated having her there as she was his best friend. Whereas Harry had become his brother in all but blood.

However, what Hermione did not know was that Ron's feelings for her were changing as he had developed a crush on her. Ron knew he loved her as a friend but he could not help watching her when she was not looking. He also hated it when she left the room even for a minute. This was all noticed by the adults and Ron even confided in Sirius that whenever Hermione walked into a room and smiled at him, his heart beat a little bit quicker. So Sirius told him he had a crush and that it was perfectly normal and would pass.

Meanwhile, Hermione's feelings for Ron were changing too, the only difference was that she confided in her mother and Lily and they told her the same thing as Sirius had told Ron.

A few days after Harry, Ron and Hermione got their wands, James and Lily celebrated their twelfth wedding anniversary. They had a huge party where amongst the guests were Sirius, Remus, the Weasleys, the Grangers, the Tonkses, and Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall and Flitwick. The kids also got into the spirit of things too by dressing up and having a dance or two. Ginny asked Harry if he would dance with her but he said no because he would never forgive Ginny for hurting Ron two years ago, so she cried and went to tell her mother. Instead Harry danced with his mother, then Tonks and her mother, Dorea and Hermione and her mother.

Ron, on the other hand, danced exclusively with Hermione, much to the amusement of Fred and George. He had not spoken to his sister for two years, so he was never going to dance with her. In fact, the only person who would dance with Ginny was Percy.

When the party was over, people went to the suites or rooms assigned to them, including the Grangers. Richard and Helen had no problem with Hermione sharing with Ron, so they went to their suite to go to sleep.

When Ron and Hermione got back to the room they shared, they took it in turns to use the en suite bathroom to get ready for bed. Ron noticed that Hermione was feeling down.

'What's wrong, Mia?' he asked using one of the two nicknames that only he was able to use because he was the one who thought of them.

'Nothing, it's silly,' replied Hermione.

'Please tell me, you're my best friend in the whole world and I don't like it when you're sad,' said Ron.

'Okay, Ron, I'll tell you,' she began, 'as I watched James and Lily dance and kiss each other and look so happy, I was wondering if I will ever know their happiness. I mean I'm nearly eleven and I know I've got my whole life ahead of me, but someday I want what they have and share, though I doubt I will ever have someone who'll love me the way James loves Lily …'

As Ron listened to her he was thinking the same thing in regards to himself. He wondered if he would have someone who would love him the same way Lily loves James, so he said, 'I know how you feel, 'Mione, because I want the same, I want a nice girl who will love me like Lily loves James, and I too doubt that it will happen …'

Hermione then pulled him into a hug and he hugged her back tightly. As he held her, Ron had an idea.

'Hermione, how about this, if neither of us are married by the time we're twenty-five, we marry each other?'

Hermione smiled at his idea, the almost childishness of it and almost seriousness of it too, as if being married to her best friend would not be the worst thing in the world, so she said, 'Are you offering to be my stand-by, Ron?'

'Yeah,' he replied, 'would you be my stand-by, then?'

Hermione smiled and said, 'All right, Ron, if neither of us has gotten married by the time we're twenty-five, we marry each other, okay?'

Ron smiled and said, 'Okay,' before giving her a kiss on the cheek.

Hermione blushed and kissed him on the cheek too.

Ron chuckled and said, 'So you could say we're frien-gaged?'

Hermione giggled and said, 'Frien-gaged?'

'Yeah, we're friends who are engaged, right?' he replied.

'All right, we're frien-gaged, happy frien-gagement, Ron,' she replied with another giggle.

'Happy frien-gagement, Hermione,' said Ron.

They then went to bed and fell asleep hugging each other.

A few days later Ron told Sirius about his and Hermione's frien-gagement and Sirius could not help laughing at the word Ron and Hermione had co-invented and said, 'Are you going to give her a ring?'

Ron said, 'I want to but I don't have one to give her …'

'Don't worry about that …' said Sirius.

Hermione told Lily and her mother about her and Ron's frien-gagement, and both women thought it was really sweet.

'Do you think he'll give her a ring, Helen?' asked Lily with a giggle.

'Well, he should do the thing properly,' said Helen, giggling too.

Ron surprised Hermione by giving her a specially made frien-gagement ring on her eleventh birthday. The ring was silver with a small sapphire on it and Hermione loved it and promised that she would never take it off as she put it on her left ring finger, and hugged him tightly.

Harry thought the whole thing was odd but he could not help feeling that something was right. His two best friends were inseparable to begin with and he didn't like being without them, so he told them they could stay in his room again and they accepted.

Throughout the last three years the three of them were closer than any three friends could be, they learned together, they helped each other when one of them needed it, they stuck together like glue, and James, Lily, Sirius and Remus could not be any happier. As for Richard and Helen Granger, seeing their daughter with friends and so happy was enough for them. As for the vast majority of the Weasleys, seeing Ron happy as he spent time with his friends was enough too, despite the twins' jokes about Ron and Hermione's friendship. Only Mrs Weasley, Percy and Ginny had their reservations about Ron's choices. Though for Percy it was jealousy and for Ginny it was resentment of her brother who was friends with the Harry Potter, and the fact that she did not like Hermione any more than she liked Ron. Whereas Mrs Weasley hoped that Harry would not be a bad influence on her youngest son, although she had no problem with Hermione at all.