Chapter 1 - Ron

There was a stillness in the air and Ron wanted to blame the cold winter air for that, but he knew deep down, it was the tension between Hermione and him. He had returned to the hunt only a couple of a days ago. While, Hermione did forgive him, she still couldn't bring herself to talk to him really. They were so far from where their relationship used to be, and it only made him miss her more.

For the last few days, Ron watched from afar as Hermione avoided him. What drove him absolutely insane were all the interactions that she shared with Harry, he couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy. She would bring Harry cups of tea and share private conversations with him. It looked like they were in their own world. Ron tried to mask any jealousy with a friendly smile though.

When they defeated the Horcrux with the Sword of Gryffindor, Harry reassured him that there was nothing going on between Hermione and him. He knew that he should trust Harry's word, and so, he tried to push those envious thoughts aside.

Ron was preparing a cup of tea for Hermione, hoping to at least get a 'thank you' or a pleasant smile from her tonight. He took a few stolen glances over his shoulder at his bushy-haired friend. She was sitting at the table with her eyes completely focused on the book in front of her. With a shaky breath, he held the mug in his hand and slowly walked over to her. He placed the steaming cup of tea on the table and gave her a sheepish grin.

"Eh, you looked cold, so I thought this may warm you up a bit," Ron said with hopeful eyes.

Hermione looked up at him briefly, before quickly turning her attention back to her book. "I'm fine," she said defiantly.

Ron gulped nervously. Her voice was like the bitter cold. He knew that he should turn away now, but he secretly hoped that she would say something else, anything to start a conversation with him.

When the silence dragged on, Ron asked, "Read anything interesting?"

She shrugged her shoulders, not looking at him.

"Are you hungry? I could make us-"

"I'm fine," Hermione repeated.

Was that all she could say, really? He tried once more to get her to look at him. "I know you're taking the shift after Harry, I-I can take it instead. If you'd like to catch up on some-"

She slammed her book shut and abruptly stood up from her seat.

'Oh, crap,' he thought, silently kicking himself for not shutting his mouth earlier.

"I may have forgiven you, Ronald, but that doesn't mean I have to be nice in return to you," Hermione said bitterly. Her once familiar sparkling brown eyes now sparked with anger. He gulped again. "You think you can just waltz over here and hand me some tea and everything will go back to normal? Well, you're wrong!" She grabbed her wand off the table and strode past him. She grabbed her winter coat and hastily pulled it on.

It was clear to Ron that he shouldn't continue to pester her, but his feet were moving towards her before he could even process the thought. He longed for her and how it used to be between them. Standing near her, he said, "Blimey, Hermione, I'm really trying-"

His words stopped, when Harry walked through the tent flap as he shook his raven hair and snowflakes fell from it. "It's starting to snow out there," Harry commented, not knowing the tense argument that was taking place between his friends. He looked at the two of them and asked, "Everything alright here?"

Hermione put on her winter hat and wrapped a scarf around her neck. She muttered under her breath, "I'm going to get some fire wood." And with that, she disappeared under the tent flap.

When she was out of sight, Ron groaned loudly in frustration.

Harry asked, "What happened?"

"She's bloody insane, that's what happened," Ron complained. He walked over to his cot and sat down with his face in his palms. He sighed deeply. He couldn't blame her really, he didn't expect Harry or her to exactly welcome him back with open arms. It just hurt that the girl he fancied all these years had wanted nothing to do with him now.

"Just give her time…" Harry told him.

Ron looked at him with widened eyes. He scoffed at Harry. Easy for him to say. She's practically throwing herself at Harry and throwing daggers his way instead. Ron shook his head and ignored his thoughts. He frowned. "It's been three whole days! How much more time, does she need?!"

"Well, it really hurt her, when you left. She was a mess."

He knew that it hurt her. He didn't want to admit that, but he knew. All that he could do now was hope that Hermione could see just how desperately he wanted to fix everything. That she meant more to him than all of this.

"I know," Ron quietly said.

"Here, let me go to talk to her. It's still my shift anyway, I just came in to grab my scarf. It's bloody freezing out there," Harry said as he grabbed his grey scarf and wrapped it around his neck.

Ron mumbled, "I don't know, mate. She's in a awful mood. I'd leave her be."

"Why don't you catch up on some sleep? I'll let you know what she said in the morning." Harry said with a reassuring smile. Before Ron could respond, Harry walked out of the tent.

He had to admit that he was pretty knackered. He yawned as he walked over to his cot and started taking off his shoes. He picked up his wand and casted another heating charm on the tent. Then, he pulled on a second layer of socks to keep him warm through the night. He lifted his legs up on the bed and wrapped the blanket around him, before turning the lantern off at his bedside. The tent grew dark instantly with only a hint of amber lighting coming from the campfire outside.

Suddenly, he heard a very faint voice from outside. It was Harry's voice. He tried really hard to concentrate and listen to what was being said.

"Are you really still mad at him?"

There was silence.

Ron slowly rose from his bed and quietly tiptoed over to the entrance of the tent. He cautiously opened the flap of the tent and tried to peer outside. He could feel the cold air start pouring in. He began to shiver as the cold nipped at him, but he couldn't draw his eyes away from his two friends.

He could see Harry rubbing his hands together to try and stay warm as light flurries fell around him. Ron could hear the snow crunching beneath Hermione's feet as she walked to the campfire, carrying several sticks. She still said nothing in response to Harry, who was now standing behind her. Ron wasn't used to the uncomfortable silence between the two since they could easily talk about anything, at least he thought that was the case.

Ron nervously gulped once Harry asked, "What? You're not going to say anything?"

Hermione shrugged. "There's nothing to say."

Ron watched as Hermione crouched down in the snow. She threw some sticks into the blazing campfire as it crackled in the silence of the winter night.

Harry pleaded, "Can you please try and get along, just a little? I'm not asking for a lot here, Hermione."

Hermione stood up from the snowy ground and clapped her hands to rid of any dirt from them. She quietly said, "It's none of your business, Harry. Just leave it be."

Ron's heart was pounding. He wished he could telepathically tell Harry to just walk away before she would end up screaming at him too. Holding his breath, he continued to watch the tense conversation between his two friends.

Harry walked around the campfire, standing directly across from her now. He was just barely blocking Ron's view of everything, but he could definitely hear Harry's voice much clearer. Ron tried to remain still from inside.

Harry said, "Merlin, Hermione, you're driving him insane. I'd have thought you would be happy when he showed up here."

Suddenly, Hermione turned on her heel and quickly closed the distance between her and Harry. Ron could now see her face come into view. She looked absolutely furious. Ron rolled his eyes as he knew Hermione had lost her patience entirely.

'Here we go again,' Ron thought, feeling slightly bad for his raven haired friend.

Standing in front of Harry, she firmly said, "Happy? Harry, must I remind you what he did?" Suddenly, her voice began to rise. "He abandoned us! When things got difficult, he made his decision and left! He left! At a time, that we both needed him! During a war! So yes, forgive me, if I'm not jumping for joy! To be honest, we got along perfectly without him!"

Every word that she said sent chills down Ron's spine. He could see the disappointment across her entire face, and he began to feel awful. He could feel her pain, and he felt so guilty for being the one to cause it.

Harry tried to interrupt her. "Yeah, but-"

Hermione continued on though, her voice getting higher and higher. "I can forgive him, but I certainly can't forget what he did! A good friend would've stayed no matter what! He would've been there!" Her voice was so loud, but then suddenly the next several words were quiet, and soft. "With open arms to stop my crying. A shoulder to lean on when I was hurting. A hand to hold with no questions asked. He would've done anything to cheer me up. Silly humor to make me laugh. Dance with me to make me smile." She sighed and turned away from Harry. She walked up to the campfire and stayed quiet for a moment. Then, when she spoke, her voice was as soft as a whisper. "A good friend would've been there…"

Ron was beyond confused at this point. Were they still talking about him? Clearly not. When had he ever done those things for Hermione? This was about something else entirely. He tried to look over at Harry's face, but he could barely make out his facial expression. It almost looked like he wore the same guilty expression as him from before. But why? Ron's brows furrowed as he tried to make sense of it all. He saw Harry open his mouth a few times, as if he was going to something, but ultimately decided against it.

Clearing his throat, Harry asked, "Erm, is this still about Ron?"

Hermione looked back at him with an annoyed look and clear frown upon her face. She shook her head at him and said, "You know, you can be really thick, Harry." She began to march in the opposite direction of him, towards the dark forest.

"Hermione!" he called out to her.

Ron could hear the desperation in Harry's voice. He heard Harry curse under his breath as he kept calling out to her, but she flatly ignored him. She had walked so far out that Ron couldn't see her figure anymore. Then, he saw Harry bend down and pick up some snow off the ground. Ron curiously eyed him. What was he up to?

Harry quickly formed it into a snowball as he walked around the fire towards the direction Hermione had been walking. Suddenly, he threw the snowball as it disappeared down the hill.

Ron could hear Hermione shriek. "Harry James Potter!"

A smirk formed on Harry's face as he gave a breathy chuckle. Harry threw another one, and then another, just before Hermione's figure reappeared in Ron's view. Her hair was covered in snow as she tried shaking it from her. She was quickly darting towards Harry with a snowball in her hand, ready to take aim.

"You're dead," she told him with a glare.

Harry ran behind a tree, amused. He playfully replied, "Oh am I?"

Ron watched as she threw it hard and it met with Harry's face. Ron tried to muffle his laughs as Hermione stood there smiling proudly.

Harry wiped his face with his hand and put his glasses back in place. "Okay, okay, I see how it is," he chuckled.

Ron saw Harry start to dash towards her, scooping up snow in mid-run. Hermione quickly tried to dodge him. Then, Ron heard it. Was she actually giggling? He hadn't heard her laugh in so long that it was almost shocking to hear. Jealousy started forming within him as he watched his two friends chase each other around the fire. Big smiles across both of their faces. And again, then that once familiar spark in Hermione's brown eyes.

Harry threw another snowball in her direction, but she ducked and it landed in the snow.

"Someone has bad aim," Hermione taunted him.

Harry threw another one and it landed in her face.

"Harry!"

"Now we're even," he laughed.

"We'll see about that," she replied as she brushed off any remaining snow on her.

Ron shifted his eyes away from his two friends playing around like they were children again. He looked down at his feet. He had no reason to be jealous, right? Harry told him that they were just friends. That she was like his sister. "She's like my sister. I love her like a sister and I reckon she feels the same way about me." The words replayed back in Ron's mind as he heard the growing laughter between the two outside. The sound of someone slipping on the snowy ground drew him out of his thoughts.

Ron directed his attention back to his friends. He saw Harry laying in the snow as he flipped over onto his back, trying to get up. Hermione stood over him with a rather larger snowball tucked under her arm and smirked at him.

"Oh, the tables have turned," she laughed lightly. She held the big snowball over him, threatening to drop it.

"Hermione…" Harry said in a warning tone.

Before he could say another word, she dropped the large ball of snow onto him as it covered his entire chest and stomach. Harry dropped his head back in to the snow as if in defeat. He waved his hands up at her, surrendering.

"Okay, you win, you win. No more," he told her with a grin.

"That's what I like to hear," she smiled.

'Thank god that's over,' Ron thought with a roll of his eyes. He didn't know how much more of that he could bear to watch.

Hermione extended a hand down to help him up. As he grabbed hold of it, he quickly pulled her down to the ground with him. Hermione then found herself on her back in the snow as Harry flung some snow in her direction.

"Harry!"

He tried to get up, but before he could even scramble to get away, Hermione jumped on top of him. They got into a short tussle, rolling around in the snow before she was finally sitting on top of him, holding him down with all of her weight. She secured his arms above his head and looked down at him, smiling proudly again. Harry looked up at her, sighing in defeat.

Ron could only hear their rapid breathing that was making tiny clouds in the cold air. He eyed the two as they stayed in their positions, not moving an inch. They were just staring into each other's eyes. It was like they were communicating in absolute silence.

'What the bloody hell is going on?' Ron thought.

Suddenly, Hermione let go of his arms, but remained on top of him. Harry slowly sat up, his eyes still not leaving hers. Their faces were now very close, and their breathing had slowed down. In that moment, Ron wished desperately that he was dreaming. That this wasn't real. It was supposed to be Hermione and him. Not her and Harry. He shut his eyes tightly and then reopened them, only to see Hermione raise her hand to slowly wipe away a bit of snow in Harry's hair. Ron grimaced at the sight, unfortunately, everything was all too real. There was an invisible spark between the two and it was as clear as anything that his two best friends fancied each other, as much as he wanted to deny it - it was inevitable.

Hermione looked as though she was starting to lean in a little, but Harry quickly turned his head away and looked down at the ground.

Surprisingly, jealousy didn't stir within Ron at that very moment. Instead, he was confused more than anything. Why did Harry turn away? Even Ron could tell that she clearly wanted to kiss him.

"Erm, it's getting cold," Harry awkwardly said.

'What an idiot…' Ron frowned. Obviously, Harry was ignoring all the signs.

Hermione abruptly moved off of him and stood up. She avoided looking at him as she wiped snow off of her pants. With a disappointed sigh, she began to walk away away from the campfire site.

Harry scrambled to his feet and asked, "Where are you going?"

"Off to get more firewood," Hermione said in an annoyed tone.

Harry offered, "I-I can help."

She glanced over her shoulder at him and said, "It's fine." Soon her figure disappeared into the darkness of the woods.

Once she was gone, Harry walked around the campfire and plopped down in front of it, staring into the flames. He looked absolutely torn.

Ron backed away from the opening of the tent. He still couldn't believe what he had witnessed. He sensed his friend was in distress. And as much as he wanted to ignore everything that he saw, he needed answers. Ron walked over to the other side of the tent and grabbed his boots. He put them on and pulled on his winter coat before walking through the tent flap. He was met with the cold air as he zipped up his jacket. It was weird stepping out onto the snowy covered ground where he had just witnessed his two friends sharing a moment.

"Ron, you still awake?"

Harry was looking over at him. There was confusion in his green eyes.

Ron walked towards Harry and sat down next to him. He couldn't bring himself to look at raven-haired friend yet, and so he gazed into the flickering flames of the camp fire and remained silent.

Finally, Ron spoke, "Why'd you lie?"

Author's Note: Hi everyone! Thanks for reading the first part, hope you enjoyed it. So, this will be my first multi-chapter story, but short. It was originally going to be a one shot, but I felt very intrigued to write the remaining parts from Harry and Hermione's PoV. I'll be updating asap. :)