It had been a few days since that incident.

So far, Hermione Granger believed it to be the best moment of her life. Until, of course, as always, she got in her head. It was funny how she considered herself to be wise but when it came to emotions, rationality seemed as far away as Antarctica was from Diagon Alley.

It all started with the whole apology Ron made to her for the whole Lavender ordeal. He came up to her and said, "I need to talk to you, Hermione, in private." And so she said, "Fine". In the course of the past several weeks, Ron had had a near-death experience, broken it off with Lavender and had done other subsequent things. It finally seemed to Hermione that the worst was over.

Things finally seemed to be looking up.

So she was genuinely curious when Ron said he wanted to speak with her in private.

Ron took her to a secluded stairway and now she was really curious about what were to happen. Really very curious, she was. This place was a hotspot for the very sexually and/or romantically frustrated couples of Hogwarts. He wouldn't—

No. Ron was quite the reserved person, in her opinion. He'd never initiate anything. It was, to be fair, Lavender who started to inadvertently crush her lips on Ron's insistently and ferociously like a hyena and then shove her preposterous toun—

"No, I mustn't think like that!" Hermione chided herself, mentally, of course.

Ron was looking rather fit at that moment (to her he always looked fit) after having played that Quidditch game. But after having played that game, his muscles looked rather well-defined and his red hair looked ferocious. With his blue eyes and vermillion hair, Ron looked like the bearer of both fire and ice. And scarily, sometimes, he was like that, wasn't he?

Sometimes he'd have this fiery passion and this fiery anger and this hardened impulse. Other times, he'd be as cold as an iceberg. Unwelcoming, distant and everything in between. Mostly, Ron maintained a balance between fire and ice.

Then at that time she chided herself for ogling her best friend. Best friends didn't 'check each other out', now, did they?

She did , though, and she didn't care.

But then Lavender-

She snapped herself back and realized that Ron had been looking at her weirdly.

"What are ya thinking?" he asked?

Oh well, having an internal monologue for a minute made it obvious to Ron that she was thinking.

"Oh nothing, just about that Potions, uh, essay."

"Okay, I have been paying attention to Potions class now and I'm a hundred per cent sure there was no essay." Ron said in disbelief.

"Oh, sorry, I meant Arithmancy."

"Oh well, then", said Ron, "I wouldn't know, I haven't taken Arithmancy."

"Why'd you bring me here, Ron?" Hermione asked, nervously.

"Yeah, uh," Ron started, "look I'm not the best at this kind of stuff…"

Oh yes, finally. Hermione thought internally.

"I just wanted to say…"

Yes, yes, yes, I'd love to be your girlfriend, you moron. Now out with it.

"I'm sorry"

"I'd love to!"

"What?" Ron twisted his head, quizzically.

"Uh, uh, I meant, I'd uh, love to know, why you were, uh, sorry, yeah"

"Yeah, right", Ron frowned uncertainly. He shook his head then. "Yeah, where were we?"

"You said you were sorry"

"Yeah, that. Look Hermione, I'm sorry for being too cold towards you. I should have known better. I don't even know why I did that thing with Lavender. Maybe I wanted something easy, maybe I wanted experience, maybe I wanted to get back at you for Krum, I don't know. Regardless, it was extremely stupid and I take any and all responsibilities for causing you hurt and pain. I never want us to be like that, you know? We're friends, right? Friends shouldn't do that. I'm really sorry for being such a horrible git towards you. I had no right to act the way I did, you know?" he spluttered out.

"Ron, I get all of that, but what exactly do you mean by 'wanting experience'?" Hermione inquired while air quoting the latter part of the sentence.

"God, do I have to explain that?" he said, with a pained expression.

"Look, Ron, I don't want to make you do anything you'd be uncomfortable with but I want to pu my heart to rest about everything, you know?"

"Yeah, of course. Just promise you won't be mad at me."

"I'll certainly try." She said while gritting her teeth.

"Yeah, so, I see Ginny, you know, doing stuff with Dean and then I get kind of brotherly. I take it too many notches up and now I seem like a possessive git and she then says that I am bitter because I haven't kissed anyone and then, uh, um, yeah, that."

"Ronald Weasley, I know you from head to toe and you did not share the whole story with me. What happened after then"

"Merlin. Okay. So then Gin talks about, how all of you have had experience and everything and I get curious because like, I am aware of Harry and Cho and everything, so then I get curious about you and I ask her, that, you know, like, what experience did you got. Then she says, uh, you had, yeah, um, snogged Krum andthatpissedmerightthefuckoff." He painfully breathed out.

"What did she do, again?"

"I will not be repeating what I said. This is putting me through enough, as is."

"Why did you not tell me? I would've told you it meant nothing!"

"I didn't want to seem possessive and I didn't want to do anything, I was too upset and disappointed, you know?"

"When was this?"

"A bit after you asked me to Slughorn's dance."

"Ah, that clears it up."

"Sure does."

"May I ask Ron, why did that piss you the flub off?"

"Damn, you and your replacements for curse words. I don't know. Or I don't want to say, you know? I have a feeling it might change things."

"You know, change isn't always that bad."

"I really cannot tell you that, Hermione, I really can't. I don't want to feel any more pain now."

"What pain? How do you know what I respond with is going to give you pain?"

"I've heard enough from my fellow Gryffindor blokes about what happens when someone you've been friends with hears this kind of shit!"

"Are you also aware that every girl is not the same?"

"God, you really want to know, don't you?"

"Look, I just want to end all sorts of hostility and unsaid words and all that."

"Really? You really and truly need to know this?"

"Okay, I'm getting mad now Ron, we haven't got like all the time in the world and all that and I just wish you'd for once say what you want instead of tiptoeing and expecting me to know and I know it's double standards since I also do it Ron but seriously I won't just please stop being such a—"

"IWANTEDYOUTOBEMYFIRSTKISSANDIWANTEDMETOBEYOURFIRSTKISS!" he breathed out rather loudly.

He then ran off very quickly.