I'll just like to explain about the previous chapter. I did think initially that maybe this was a bit too soon for Ron to open up but eventually I decided to go through with it.
In my Opinion, one of the main reasons Ron keeps everything bottled up in the books is because he has no one to talk to. He can't talk to his family and he can't talk to Harry or Hermione because they are all friends with each other.
In the case of this fanfic, Hermione is an independent party. She is not friends with Harry so there is no chance of her telling Harry anything. Ron has gotten quite attached to her and in the moment decides to spill all his secrets to her.
A/N I don't own Harry Potter, JK Rowling does.
Ron Weasley was deep in thought, unusually so for the tall lanky redhead.
It wasn't as if he hid from any of his problems but he had realised from a very young age that he had no one to talk to. His father had worked harder than any man he had seen in an effort to make ends meet. His mother had either been very busy cleaning and cooking after the seven of them or busy with Ginny and their girl stuff. That was something that had always grated him when he was younger, he had been jealous of seeing Ginny spend so much quality with their mother, something he had always craved. He had always felt a bit left out. Between shouting at the twins about their latest prank and spending time with Ginny his mother had often forgotten about him. He supposed this was a natural disadvantage, being born between the twins and the first girl in the Weasley family for several generations.
The age gap between Bill and Charlie and him was a bit too large. They were at Hogwarts long before he had grown up and the time he had spent with them was limited. He idolised both of them, especially Charlie. His love for quidditch and the Chudley Cannons was entirely due to Charlie. It had seemed a terrible waste of time spending the little time he had with them to talk about himself.
Surprisingly enough Percy had probably been the nicest of all his brothers. He had never teased him and had even come to his rescue once or twice when the twins had turned their attention towards him. But Percy was too much different for him to ever feel comfortable opening up to him. Talking to the twins was never an option unless he wanted to make himself more of a target than he already was. The twins were the bane of his life. They had almost killed him when he was five, were responsible for one of his biggest fears and he was their favourite guinea pig for testing out their latest pranks. Despite all that he couldn't admire their self-confidence, nothing fazed them. He had a feeling they could look into You-Know-Who's eye and offer to sell him nosebleed nougats.
Once he had come to Hogwarts and become best friends with Harry, he had immediately realised that out of the two of them Harry's life was far more messed up than his and he would have to be the one doing the comforting and he hadn't minded. It had felt great to be useful and appreciated by someone. It had however, been quite hard to see the amount of affection his mother had bestowed to Harry and he couldn't help the bitterness that swallowed him as he witnessed it. He had promised to himself never to let jealousy overtake him like it had during the Triwizard Tournament last year and he hoped to stick by it.
Right now however, all he could think about was a certain muggleborn witch. Hermione Granger. He had hated her for the past 4 years, well maybe hated was too strong a word, but he had certainly disliked her. She had made him feel stupid on his very first train journey to Hogwarts before pointing out that he had dirt on his nose. Every other encounter he had with her after that, she had come across as bossy, obnoxious and snotty know it all. He had gone along with everyone else in making fun of her, sometimes not even bothering to lower their voices.
And that was how it had all started. He had seen her crying after he had made fun of her. He had never felt more uncomfortable in his life. His first thought when he had seen her was, was he any better than Malfoy after all? He wanted to put it right immediately but he had no clue as to how. He had never been any good with words or girls for that matter. Simply saying sorry for the way he had acted all those didn't seem like a good enough way to apologise. He still remembered what she had said after he had stuck up for her against Malfoy. She had told him she wasn't used to anyone sticking up for her.
That had made him feel worse than he had ever felt in his life. For all his problems he had Harry, his siblings and other people he could freely talk to. The whole school did not look down at him like he was a bad smell, did not make fun of him or call him names. He couldn't even begin to imagine how she must have felt coming from a muggle background to have everyone ignore her, make fun of her and insult her and he was one of them he thought with disgust. If he could feel lonely in a family of nine then it must have been virtually torture for her to spend four years of her school life with no one to talk to and everyone thinking she was a stuck up know it all.
He had only begun spending time with her initially out of guilt and shame but as he got to know her better he had begun to enjoy spending time with her. Conversation with Hermione came very naturally to him and time flew by when it came to her. She seemed to understand him and looked as if she was enjoying their time together just as much he was. She genuinely laughed at any jokes he cracked and she herself had that dry humour which he quite liked and enjoyed. He had begun to crave her company and often found excuses to visit the library. Realisation hit him like a ton of bricks.
Bloody Hell. He had fallen for Hermione Granger, he fancied her and there was no use denying it.
The things that had annoyed him about her were suddenly endearing. Her bossy nature was definitely a turn on but at the same time she wasn't obnoxious. He knew she hated her hair but for some reason he loved her bushy brown hair. He had to mentally restrain himself from running his hand through her hair. Her chocolate brown eyes were full of innocence. He didn't even mind her rather large front teeth. The excitement and passion in her voice when she talked about books and studying was something he couldn't quite understand but he found it quite sexy.
But his admission scared him more than anything else. He knew he was useless with girls. He was not like the twins who were the masters of smooth talk and could probably have any girl they wanted. The problem was Hermione herself in a way. She was no normal girl. She wasn't one of those normal giggly girls who he had often come across and she didn't seem to give a rat's arse about makeup. And that was what made her beautiful. True, physically she might not have been the prettiest girl in school but to Ron the whole package made her the most beautiful girl in school. He had never been so physically and emotionally attracted to a girl before.
He wasn't sure if she felt the same way about him and he had no clue on how he could approach her even if he could summon all his Gryffindor courage to do it. Sighing to himself, he got out of bed, where he had spent most of his time since his talk with Hermione. It was that talk that had got him thinking through all of this. And although he had felt better after that, hearing Peeves singing that awful song down the corridor brought him down a bit.
He went down to the common, wanting to slip out of there unnoticed for his prefect rounds but he caught Harry's eye and went over to him.
"Hey, feeling better?" asked Harry.
"Been Better," replied Ron with a shrug. "What exactly did Draco say?"
This was something he had thought about. It took a lot to make Fred and George angry enough to hit another person.
"He insulted your parents and then insulted mine," said Harry.
"Sorry, if I wasn't so awful none of this would've happened," he replied.
"Stop it Ron. Haven't you been always telling me, it's not always my fault? Besides it was a great excuse to smack Malfoy," said Harry grinning.
"Git," he replied giving a small life of his own. "Gotta go now for those damned prefect rounds."
Ron knew that was a lie. Hermione had requested Professor McGonagall a couple of weeks back to let them do their rounds together and Hermione being McGonagall's favourite student hadn't been refused. Since then he had looked forward to every single one of his prefect rounds.
He found Hermione patiently waiting at their pre-arranged spot looking at her watch. He realised he was late yet again.
"Sorry for being late," he said before she could say anything.
"Well Ronald, it wouldn't be you if you were on time," she said grinning a little to my surprise.
This was another thing that had surprised Ron about Hermione. Once he had gotten to know her he realised there was a small part of her that did love to break the odd rule here and there. And it was tough to explain why he loved name Ronald coming her mouth but absolutely hated it when anyone else used it, including his mother.
"You still aren't thinking about that match are you?" she asked.
"No," he replied truthfully. He couldn't tell her, that he had spent most of his time thinking about her. He idly wondered for a moment if she would freak if he told her that.
"Good," said Hermione gave him a small smile that brightened him up considerably.
They began their rounds down the corridor with Ron walking slightly behind Hermione trying to stare at her without her realising. They walked in silence for some time until he heard a familiar voice that made his blood boil.
Draco Malfoy came in view and he was alongside that annoying Pansy Parkinson. Malfoy had a black eye and his lips looked swollen. He immediately felt Hermione's small hands grip his arms sensing his anger. For a moment he forgot about the bouncing ferret as he enjoyed the feel of her skin on his.
"Well Weasley, let me personally congratulate you on your performance," said Draco bringing his attention aback to him.
"At least, I didn't buy my place in the team," retorted Ron trying to keep his cool.
"Of course not, you were born in a bin remember?" replied Malfoy as Pansy laughed.
Before he could say anything Malfoy spoke again.
"And Weasley, you might be a blood traitor but even you could do better than Granger here," said Malfoy looking at Hermione.
That sent Ron over the edge. "Malfoy, I am warning you. One more word and what Harry and my brothers did to you will pale in comparison when I'm finished with you," he said feeling angrier than he had ever done.
Malfoy must have sensed his anger because he turned to go but not before throwing another insult at Hermione.
"Well I'll leave you to your precious mudblood then," said Draco and went away before he could respond. Hermione's grip on his hand tightened but even that did little to lessen his rage.
"Why do you let him wind you up so much?" Hermione asked in a small voice. He looked at her and realised she was probably feeling a bit scared at the look on his face.
"I don't know but I hate it when he insults you," said Ron truthfully.
"I've used to his insults," she said shrugging and he wondered if she was really telling the truth or whether a part of her did indeed mind.
"That doesn't mean he should be allowed to get away it and your blood is a hell of a lot more purer than his," he replied.
By this time they had finished their rounds and were going back when Hermione stopped abruptly.
"Good Night, "she said and leaned towards him and kissed him on the cheek and went away leaving him alone in the corridor with his mouth wide open in shock. He was glad she had gone away as he was sure his face was now even redder than his hair. Ron walked back to the common room in a daze and touching the spot on his cheek where she had kissed him and wondering what it meant.
This really had been a very difficult to day to describe. It had started with him having a game of nightmarish proportions and ended with a kiss on the cheek from the girl he had admitted to himself he fancied.
I am quite pleased to have got this chapter in before I go away.
But I really need to know how everyone feels about this chapter because I am not too sure myself. I've tried to summarize all of Ron's thoughts during the year as this is the first chapter from Ron's PoV.