I don't own Harry Potter, JK Rowling does.
The whole week after she had kissed Ron on the cheek became quite awkward. She couldn't look at Ron in the eye without blushing slightly. It was a good thing, she decided that Ron was so much more taller than her because she could avoid looking directly at him without it being obvious. Even their conversations had become a bit forced and awkward, very different from the effortless talks they usually shared. Hermione did not know if it was just her but everything seemed a bit charged when she was together with him and even he seemed unable to come up with anything funny to diffuse the tension.
Any lingering doubts she might have had about liking Ron had completely evaporated when he had ferociously defended her from Draco Malfoy yet again because in his own words he hated it when Malfoy insulted her. The look on his face and anger that seemed to radiate from him mirrored the twins reaction to Malfoy after the Quidditch game. Just the fact that she meant that much to him, even if it was just as a friend was heartening. Listening to Draco's insults was almost worth it, because the look of fury and indignation on Ron's face on her behalf more than made up for it. He was her knight in the shining armour. She did not care if Draco called her a mudblood because she knew Ron did not care about blood purity and that was all that mattered to her.
Hermione wondered if she had always been a bit smitten by Ron. Lots of people had insulted her or called her names but it had always hurt badly when it was Ron. She remembered thinking how cute the eleven year old Ron had looked with dirt on his nose the first time she had seen him. Of course as soon as he had opened his mouth the cuteness had vanished, she thought fondly.
The awkwardness had worn off after a week and things got normal between them and neither she nor Ron ever brought up that kiss again. Hermione couldn't believe she had managed to gather the courage to do that. It might have been just one small kiss but she had never shared that level of intimacy with anyone but her parents.
For the first time since she had come to Hogwarts, she now wished she had been sorted into Gryffindor. Being in different houses, her time spent with Ron was now almost exclusively limited to their prefect rounds and that wasn't nearly enough.
She made her way to the spot she and Ron had agreed to meet up at before going on their prefect rounds. Ron hadn't yet reached there which wasn't altogether surprising. He had his hands full with Quidditch practice and wasn't always in the best of moods after practice. He never talked about it but from the little gossip she had picked up he and the rest of the team still weren't playing well and things did not bode too well for Gryffindor in their match against Hufflepuff the next day especially with Harry and the twins suspended.
Ron suddenly came bursting in at that moment looking a bit too adorable, she thought. He looked like he had just taken a shower and she could faintly smell his shampoo as he came closer. Ron's face lit up with his trademark lopsided smile as he spotted her and he seemed to be in an unusually good mood considering he had just come from practice.
Hermione loved his lopsided smile because the only time she saw that smile of his was when he was with her. She liked to think that the smile was for her and only her even if it might not have been true.
"You seem to be in a good mood," she remarked as they began their rounds.
"Should I not be?" Ron asked in a teasing sort of voice.
"No…Yes, I mean that, er, well these days…," she said stumbling over her words. She didn't want to spoil his mood by bringing up Quidditch but he seemed to have deduced what she was going to say as he lost his cheerful look.
"Sorry, I know I haven't been very easy these last few days," he said as she mentally cursed herself.
"So how come you're all cheerful today," she asked desperately trying to change the topic and it worked as the smile returned to not only his face but his eyes as well.
"I got Agrippa's card," said Ron with an expression that he always had when he went on about Quidditch.
"Sorry, what?" she asked puzzled as to why he was so excited.
"The cards inside the chocolate frogs," he explained getting frustrated at her lack of understanding.
"What cards?" she said feeling stupider by the minute as she had never eaten a Chocolate frog.
"Wait….Have you never eaten a chocolate frog?" Ron asked looking astonished with his eyes wide.
"No," she replied in a small voice not looking up at Ron, who still looked shocked.
"Why the hell not," asked Ron.
"My parents are dentists," she started and on seeing Ron's puzzled expression "They are healers of sorts but for the teeth and well they always kept me away anything that had too much sugar so I don't eat chocolate all that often,"
"In that case you are missing out on some of the best things in life," said Ron trying to look serious.
"Oh, shut it," she said smacking his arm. "So what exactly are these cards," she said now eager to know what Ron was so excited about.
"You get a card of a famous witch or wizard with every chocolate frog and with Agrippa, I have got the whole set," said Ron with an element of pride in his voice.
Hermione couldn't help laughing at that. It was just so Ron, in a good way to get excited over something as insignificant as chocolate cards. It did not take much to make him happy or excited, even with half the school still singing that awful, awful song whenever he walked by.
"Hey," complained Ron as she continued to laugh. "I've been collecting those since I was nine."
"Sorry," she said as she stopped laughing.
"Next Hogsmeade visit, I am making you eat a chocolate frog," said Ron. "Blimey, to think you've never had a chocolate frog," he added shaking his head.
Hermione nodded. She knew the next Hogsmeade visit was planned to coincide with Valentine's Day and wondered if he knew that as well. If he knew it then maybe that would mean…No she could not afford to get her hopes up. Ron might be her knight in the shining armour but he most certainly was not the romantic type.
"Good luck for tomorrow," she said as they finally finished their rounds and were heading back to their dorms.
"I'll need it," replied Ron with a chuckle but the laugh this time did not meet his eyes.
The next morning, she made her way to the before the start of the Quidditch game. There was a sharp contrast in the atmosphere between the game against Slytherin and this one. The Gryffindors did not look excited or nervous as they did the last time but looked very weary and she almost senses a feeling of resignation amongst them.
She spotted Ron at the Gryffindor table, surrounded by Fred and George. Whatever they were saying to him clearly wasn't working and Ron was looking more and more agitated by the minute. Harry was sitting beside him and shot him a few sympathetic glances.
She made her way to the stands as the game was about to begin and found a place for herself. She realises Harry was right next to her but he was too busy squinting in the direction of the teams to pay any attention to her.
The game was only a couple of minutes and the Hufflepuff chasers had already scored twice past Ron who had missed both of them. Things were not getting better for Gryffindor as the Hufflepuff's continued to dominate. The Slytherins who had turned out in large numbers began to sing another chorus of Weasley is our king and Ron's form went from bad to worse as his confidence dipped even lower.
Hermione began to wonder if Ron was actually rubbish as he had said. She felt guilty for thinking on those lines but Ron was having a nightmare.
"Is he actually good?" she asked Harry who looked startled to see her for a second.
"Of course he is," said Harry almost angrily.
"He is not saving anything though," she pointed out.
"He keeps on convincing himself he is rubbish and that bloody song does not help," said Harry sighing a little. "I almost wish he'd resign, I don't like to see him all depressed."
Hermione nodded, realising what Harry meant as both of them turned their attention back to the game. Ginny Weasley had just caught the snitch for Gryffindor to end the game but it wasn't enough to save them from defeat.
Ron had come down from the air and made his way to the changing rooms and Harry got up to follow him. Hermione stayed back but she felt a lurch in her stomach when she glimpsed Ron's defeated and sad face walking off amidst another loud chorus from the Slytherins.
Hermione knew the only way Ron was going to get over this was to play well. Resigning would mean him thinking he was rubbish which wasn't true if what Harry said was anything to go by. She felt useless, because she did not know how to help him when he needed her.
She waited patiently for Ron to appear and when he finally did he looked much better than he did not look any better than he had right after the game.
"Are you all right?" she asked anxiously.
'Yeah, at least I wasn't the worst player," said Ron making a pitiful attempt at a joke.
"You know if you don't keep on thinking you're rubbish then..." she started before being interrupted by Ron.
"Save it Hermione, I've heard that before. I am really not in the mood for talking right now," said Ron a bit angrily before stalking off.
Hermione felt a bit hurt by his behavior and after all she was only trying to help but realised that she might've been a bit tactless in bringing it up so soon. And the next Quidditch game wasn't until after Christmas so there was no real hurry. But she was determined to do something, even if it meant putting the body-binding curse on him and making him listen.
I can only say sorry for the huge delay in the writing of this chapter and I have no real excuses either unfortunately.
I just lost a bit of interest on returning from my holidays and try as I might I could not muster up any interest in writing a new chapter. I've written this chapter in a matter of few hours so hope it's not too bad but it has revived my level of interest in this fic and it definitely won't take another month to update it again.
I do have exams in December so while I cannot update this once a week, I'll try my hardest to update this atleast once a fortnight. Reviews welcome and once again sorry for the delay.
