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11.

When Ron entered the common room, he found it empty apart from a very familiar bushy head sticking up from the sofa. He took a deep breath and approached his friend.

"Hi Hermione," he said tentatively.

She graced him with a quick 'hi', barely looking up from the book she was reading.

"You're back early," he said, dumbly.

"So are you," she replied, eyes trained on the book in her lap.

"Yeah, I…" he started, but stopped when he realised he didn't know what to say.

He slumped down next to her on the couch, releasing a big sigh.

"Hey, I'm sorry about earlier," he mumbled, finally getting her to look him in the eye.

"Yes?"

"I…I overreacted. I shouldn't have been so rude," he continued, struggling with the words.

In addition to lying, apologising wasn't really his forté either. Hermione sighed and put her book away, carefully marking the page she was on.

"I'm sorry too, I guess. I wasn't really nice to you. But it just frustrates me when you refuse to talk to me."

"Yeah, I know. Sorry about that."

"Apology accepted. So, what was that between you and Harry?" Hermione got straight to the point, concern evident in her voice.

Ron fell silent for a while, trying to figure out if he really wanted to tell her. Finally he decided that maybe it was good to talk to someone about it.

"I think Harry and Ginny were having the 'should we get back together' talk at the Three Broomsticks today."

"Yeah, Ginny told me they were. She was really nervous about it," Hermione replied. "Is that what caused all that tension between you and Harry?"

"Well, yeah. He told me about it before we left the castle and asked me if it was alright with me and I said that it was. But it really didn't feel that way."

"Of course it didn't. And you couldn't tell him that because he would have thought it was because you don't want him to date your sister, when really it's because you're in love with him," Hermione reasoned.

"Something like that," Ron muttered, grateful that she understood what he wasn't sure he could explain. "And yeah, I then told him that I was meeting Blaise and he seemed really weird about it."

"Yes, I've noticed that as well. He really doesn't seem too comfortable with you two seeing each other," Hermione added thoughtfully.

"Maybe he finds it disgusting," Ron said sadly.

"Don't be silly, Harry doesn't care that you're gay, you should know that by now. Maybe he just doesn't like that you're "dating" a Slytherin," Hermione said, making air quotes around the word "dating". "Or maybe he's jealous because he thinks that Blaise matters more to you than he does now."

"Oh, come on, Harry wouldn't think that. He knows that he's my best mate."

"Well, think about it. For all Harry knows, you and Blaise are dating and have feelings for each other. And you have been spending a lot of time with him lately."

"Because he's my friend," Ron explained.

"Harry doesn't know that. Seriously, Ron, you really should tell him. I think it would make things so much easier between you two," Hermione sighed.

Ron shuddered at the thought. He had been thinking about telling Harry loads of times, he almost did on one occasion, but he always chickened out in the end. The thought of Harry hating him for it was much scarier than the thought of forever having to lie to him. A rejection from Harry would break his heart.

"I know I should," he mumbled. "I just can't."

Hermione didn't say anything at this; she just reached over and squeezed his hand briefly.

People were beginning to return from Hogsmeade, and Ron decided to go up to the dorm, not really feeling like talking to anybody at the moment. He lay down on his bed with the latest issue of "All about Quidditch", but he couldn't concentrate on reading, all he could think about was Harry and Ginny and what they might be doing at the moment.

As if reading his mind, Harry entered their shared dorm room. Ron pretended to be engrossed in an article about the best way to trim your broom, following Harry's movement out of the corner of his eye as the dark haired boy sat down on his bed with a sigh. They were just sitting there, in silence, each propped up on their own bed, the occasional sigh slipping out of Harry's mouth. Eventually it was too much for Ron to bear, so he put down his magazine and turned to face his best friend.

"So, how was the date with Ginny?" he asked.

Harry blushed.

"It wasn't really a date."

"Oh," Ron said, feigning surprise. "What was it then?"

"It was…she told me she wanted to get back together," the dark haired boy mumbled.

Ron felt a dull ache in his heart.

"So, what did you answer?" he inquired, trying to keep the hurt out of his voice.

"I…" Harry began hesitantly. "I said I didn't know. That I needed to think about it. She said I could have until Christmas, but then she wanted an answer. Said she can't wait for me forever."

"So…" Ron started, treading carefully as he knew he was poking around in business that really wasn't his to poke around in. "What will you say? I mean, you are in love with her, aren't you?"

Harry visibly winced at those words.

"I really shouldn't be talking to you about this, you're her brother," he muttered.

"Yeah, but I'm also your best friend," Ron said, feeling a small flicker of hope in his chest which he really knew had no business being there.

"I don't know if I'm in love with her. I don't even know if I know what being in love is," Harry sighed. "I mean, I like her and all that…but how do you know if you like someone in that manner?"

Harry looked at Ron with a pleading look in his eyes that urged Ron to understand what he was saying.

"I guess…I think that if you're in love with someone, like really in love, you just know," Ron answered simply.

Harry sighed again.

"Is it like that with Blaise?" he asked hesitantly.

Ron nearly cursed out loud. For a moment there he had almost forgotten about that stupid little lie.

"I guess…" he said reluctantly.

Harry seemed to pick up on the fact that Ron didn't want to talk about it, and quickly changed the subject to Quidditch, commenting on the article that Ron had been pretending to read earlier. Ron looked at his friend with a sad smile.

Was anything ever going to be easy between them again?