Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any related characters.
A/N: Thank you to my dear friends, adenei and accio-broom, for requesting this follow-up to a previous drabble, "One Way or Another". Enjoy!
One Way or Another Part 2: What Happens Now?
"Then, I'm going to come back, and we will finish this conversation."
Hermione replays Ron's parting words over and over in her head, and she almost drives herself barmy over it. She nestles herself in a quiet corner of the first floor corridor, watching as a flurry of students travel past her on their way to their first class of the day.
Admittedly, she ran scared from the corridor where they had their confrontation the night before and she hadn't seen Ron since. She tells herself that she won't go searching for him until she comes up with a plan of what to say.
She's too wrapped up in her thoughts to notice Ron making a beeline towards her through the crowded hall. When she looks up and meets his blazing eyes, she averts her gaze just as fast, pivoting around to walk in the other direction.
At the last second, Ron grabs her by the elbow. "Oh, no you don't."
With an internal groan, Hermione follows his path towards an empty classroom until he nudges her inside, careful to make sure no one's watching them.
The door to the room slams shut behind them, echoing into a dreary silence.
Ron speaks first. "You didn't wait for me last night."
"I didn't think—"
"You didn't think what? That I was just going to leave and not come back and that would be the end of whatever this is?"
His arms are crossed and his jaw is set, clear anger contorted onto his face. The tips of his ears burn red in a way that is just so obviously Ron which might have made her smile if the situation weren't so serious.
"And what is this, Ron?" Hermione makes an exaggerated gesture to indicate the large space between their bodies.
A long, frustrated growl leaves Ron's lips, and he threads a forceful hand through his ginger hair. "You are absolutely mental. You know that, right? I had the entire walk to the common room and back last night to come up with the words I wanted to say to you. When I finally came up with those words, you weren't there to hear them. You just disappeared out of bloody nowhere, leaving me to track you down. It's like you're avoiding me."
Hermione takes a step forward. "I am not avoiding you, I just—"
"I broke up with Lavender."
She stops in her tracks. "Oh."
Ron scoffs. "That's all you have to say? Oh?"
"Well, what do you want me to say?"
He throws his hands up into the air before leaning against the door behind him. "Anything but oh."
She places her hands on her hips, taking on her fighting stance. She doesn't set out to start a feud with Ron, it just...happens. "Well, how am I supposed to know that?"
"I would've thought it was obvious...where I was going last night."
"You were rather vague."
"Yeah, we have a habit of doing that, don't we? Saying a lot without saying what we really mean."
Hermione harrumphs, but doesn't disagree. Their persistent bickering was — and always is — a way for the two of them to break through their emotional defenses. Hermione is so used to her verbal back-and-forth with Ron, who always pushes her back and defends himself, that it's often difficult to remember why they are even arguing in the first place.
Up until now. Now she realizes everything that is at stake here, and the thought makes her more nervous than she would be if she were standing in front of a Dementor.
"You asked me why we fight all the time."
Ron's words break up the verbal dialogue in Hermione's head. Softly, she whispers, "I'm still wondering."
The way he is looking at her is so intense, and annoying, and distracting, and Merlin, help her, she can't stop staring back. "It's because we care."
"Really?" Although she internally acknowledges the truth in his statement, Hermione manages to blurt out the first word that comes to mind, which happens to convey the exact opposite.
Ron laughs, almost out of disbelief, and shrugs. "Blimey, Hermione. I wouldn't still be standing here if I didn't."
In that moment, it's clear to Hermione that no matter how much their petty quarrels infuriate her, it's their way of communicating. They've fought over topics that seem so insignificant now, making her smile from the ridiculousness of it all.
Ron is the person who knows her best, yet also manages to aggravate her more than anyone else in the world. And she is okay with that because it's Ron. And she's Hermione.
With a shaky breath, she asks the question she desperately wants an answer to. "So what happens now?"
"What do you want to happen now?"
She bites the inside of her cheek. "Don't do that."
"Don't do what?" Ron taunts. "Ask you a simple question?"
Hermione stomps her foot out of exasperation. "It's not a simple question, and you know it!"
Ron bends over with laughter, only infuriating Hermione even more.
"May I ask what's so funny?"
"It's just — we're doing it again. Fighting. I reckon we could go on until our faces turn blue."
With a shrill tone, Hermione exclaims, "Will you just kiss me already?"
Ron's laughter seizes, and all of sudden he is moving towards her fast. On instinct, Hermione darts out of his path, only to be pulled back as he grabs hold of her robes.
"If you'd stop bloody moving for a second I could!"
The flurry of thoughts flying through her mind get caught up in the distraction of him standing so close. Hermione releases an audible gasp as their chests collide, and she can feel their short, ragged breaths mixing together.
"This is new," Ron mutters with that dry humor she's so familiar with.
"Oh, shut up," Hermione replies before closing the gap between their lips.
Although Hermione always imagined her first kiss with Ron to be awkward due to their years of friendship, she's surprised that it's not at all. In fact, their lips move together with ease, almost as if they'd been practicing for years.
She doesn't believe for a second that snogging Ron will change the way they communicate their differences but it will surely be a lot more fun now to resolve those conflicts.