Hermione was in a state of shock. One minute she had been arguing with Ron and then next he'd appeared in front of her so fast it was as if he'd apparated there. Now he was kissing her, and while the logical side of her wanted to step back and ask a million questions, the other not-so-logical side of her wanted to stay exactly where she was at. So she did.
After several more seconds, which felt like hours, Ron and Hermione broke apart, staring at each other with wide eyes. Ron's face flushed a deep red and there was a flash of horror in his eyes. Hermione could feel tears starting to build up in her eyes but she pushed them down. Ron obviously regretted kissing her and she wasn't going to let on how much she had loved it.
"I-I'm s-sorry, I didn't mean t-to…" Ron stuttered over his words. How could he have been so stupid? Hermione would probably never talk to him again. He would've been better off keeping his feelings to himself. He opened his mouth to apologize again, when Hermione looked at him with a sad smile.
"It's okay, Ron. I understand, you were just trying to make me stop talking, right? Well, we'd better get back to the party." Hermione moved past him, blinking rapidly to keep her tears from falling. She had just reached for the doorknob when a large hand wrapped around her arm, stopping her. Against her better judgement, she turned her head to look behind her.
"I'm sorry, Hermione," Ron said again. He watched a single tear trail down her cheek, his heart hurting at the thought that he'd made her cry.
"I told you, it's okay Ron. The kiss didn't mean anything, it was—"
"It did, though," Ron interrupted her.
"What?" Hermione's voice came out much softer than she'd intended.
Ron took a deep breath, knowing that this was his chance to find out if Hermione could ever consider him as more than a friend, "The kiss. It did mean something, it meant...everything," Ron's voice was so quiet, Hermione thought she might have heard him wrong.
"What are you saying, Ron?" Hermione held her breath and waited. With one sentence, he had the power to shatter her heart into little pieces.
"I-I'm saying t-that...I'm in love with you," Ron used every ounce of strength he had to say those words. He hung his head, waiting for the crushing rejection that he knew was coming.
"I'm in love with you, too, Ron," Hermione whispered.
"It's alright, Hermione, I know you don't feel the same—What?" Ron's head snapped up, sure he hadn't heard her right.
Hermione gave him a radiant smile that froze him to the spot, "I said, I'm in love with you, too."
Ron just stared at her, his mouth slightly open and shock evident in his eyes. After a few more seconds, Hermione rolled her eyes and walked up to him, "You know, it's going to be very difficult trying to hold your hand and carry you around everywhere if you stay frozen like that." Ron still didn't move, so Hermione tried one more thing, "Alright, I guess I'll go find Seamus, then."
She turned to leave and Ron finally snapped out of his daze, grabbing Hermione and crushing her in a hug, "I'd rather stay here." Hermione smiled into his shoulder and hugged him back.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
"Ginny, do you think we should go check on them?" Harry shot a nervous look up the dormitory stairs. They'd seen Ron follow Hermione and Seamus up, watched as Seamus came back down alone only minutes later, and listened to the faint shouts that came from above. They couldn't make out what Ron and Hermione had been yelling about, but they did know that it had stopped rather abruptly and neither had made an appearance since.
"No, I'm all set," Ginny continued munching on the food that was on her plate, completely unconcerned.
"You're not the least bit worried that they might be killing each other?"
"Please, Harry, we both know who would win that duel. Besides, I have other brothers." Harry snorted and stole some food from Ginny's plate, receiving a swift smack on the back of his hand.
Looking up, Harry saw Ron and Hermione reenter the room, their faces not reflecting the fact that they had been arguing only a few minutes before. Harry nudged Ginny and nodded at the two of them. She watched them intently, her eyes moving from one to the other. She had to admit they were doing a good job of hiding whatever they were feeling, which was no small feat for her brother considering he was a Weasley, and everyone knew they weren't the type to hide their emotions. Thinking it best to wait until they were alone to talk to Ron and Hermione, Harry and Ginny played along, acting like they hadn't noticed anything. The party ended a short time later with people slowly drifting off to bed, leaving just Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny in the common room.
"Well, I'm going to bed. Night," Ron quickly made his way to the stairs, but was stopped when Ginny jumped up, grabbing the back of his sweater, and pulling him back. She pushed him down onto the couch next to Hermione and crossed her arms.
"Bloody hell, what was that for?!" Ron glared at her.
"We want to know what happened earlier."
"What are you talking about?" Ron looked genuinely confused.
"We heard you and Hermione arguing earlier and then it just stopped. Then you both come back down acting like nothing happened."
"Why do you think something happened at all?" Ron was looking everywhere except at her.
"Because you're my brother and I know you. I also know Hermione and she's being awfully quiet." Ginny looked at Hermione, who was blushing, and her thoughts raced as she connected the dots, "Wait, did you two…" Ginny's voice trailed off as she saw Ron turning a very bright shade of red and Hermione looked down at her feet, biting her lip to keep from smiling.
Shrieking with excitement, Ginny wrapped Hermione in a hug and then threw her arms around Ron. Harry was sitting back watching the scene unfold before him, rather confused as to what was happening, although he was highly amused with Ron's attempts to unlock Ginny's arms from around his neck. "Gin, would you mind telling me what's going on?"
"Oh, Harry, don't be so thick! They finally got together!" Ginny gestured between a very pink Ron and Hermione and Harry's jaw dropped. Snapping his mouth shut, Harry grinned broadly and stood to clap Ron on the shoulder and congratulate them. Ginny made them repeat what had happened earlier, which caused Hermione to blush and Ron to stutter. They all then proceeded to try and catch their dragons, which were still flying around the common room. After fifteen minutes their arms were sore so they took a break and watched the little dragons flit around.
Ginny's gaze landed on Harry's dragon, making her remember the question she had wanted to ask him earlier, "Harry?"
"Yeah?"
"Why did you choose the name Droxal?" Ginny's curiosity increased when she saw Harry blush and Hermione stopped trying to catch Hathor to watch Harry with an amused smirk on her face.
"Oh, um, Droxal is just an ingredient you use to make Timoris," Harry turned and busied himself with cleaning up some of the decorations.
"What's Timoris?" Ginny thought it sounded vaguely familiar, but she couldn't place where she'd heard it before.
"It's a potion that Snape had us make a few weeks ago."
Ginny was beginning to get slightly irritated, why couldn't Harry just come out and tell her about this potion? What was the big deal about it? "Well, what does it do?"
"Nothing interesting, it just shows you what you dread the most."
Ginny sent a confused look towards Hermione, "Isn't that just a boggart?"
"In a way, yes, but only the person who makes the potion can see the thing they dread. It's rather interesting, especially since the potion becomes a color that's connected with what you'll see," Hermione grinned as she looked from Ginny to Harry. Ginny thought back to when Harry chose Droxal's name. Hermione had told him to think of something happy, but if the potion made you see something that you dread, why would Harry choose that memory?
"That sounds awful, why would that make you happy?" Harry didn't meet her eyes, choosing to look down at his feet instead.
Ginny huffed, throwing up her hands in frustration, "Fine, don't tell me then!" She started to walk away, a little upset that Harry wasn't telling her anything.
"Ginny, wait," Ginny stopped and stood with her back to him, waiting for him to speak. She was glad to see that Hermione and Ron had left the room at some point, leaving them alone.
"I saw you."
Ginny still wasn't looking at him, but she was sure she wasn't going to like how this conversation was going, "I was the thing you dreaded most?"
"No, of course not! I saw you sitting with Dean." Turning to look at him, Ginny wrinkled her brow in confusion, but Harry continued speaking, "He asked you to go to the Yule Ball with him and then you kissed."
"Well, why didn't you want to tell me that!"
"I was embarrassed, because of how stupid I was."
Biting her lip to keep from smiling, Ginny made him finish his story, "And why was this such a happy memory for you?"
"Because it was the same day that we started going out. Seeing that made me so miserable that when I came up to see if you were okay after you fell during class and I saw you talking to him, it made me so mad that I blurted out how I felt about you. If I hadn't made the potion I might not have had the courage to tell you, so I'm grateful to it in a way."
Harry barely had time to glance up before Ginny had hurled herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck, "That might be the sweetest thing you've ever said to me! I have one more question, though."
"Yeah?" Harry looked at her with apprehension.
"Hermione said the potion turned a color that was connected to what you would see. What color did your potion turn?"
Harry grinned, "Red."
"Because you were mad?" Harry shook his head and grabbed a lock of Ginny's hair, holding it up in front of her face. As understanding dawned on her, she hopped up on her toes and gave Harry a kiss.
"Remind me to thank Snape the next time I see him."
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
"You knew, didn't you?" Ron whispered in Hermione's ear. When they saw Ginny becoming frustrated, they had left the room, but hidden around the corner of the staircase long enough to hear the reason behind Harry's choice of name for his dragon. After hearing that one detail, Hermione and Ron climbed the stairs to the first landing to let them be alone.
"That he'd chosen the name Droxal because of her?" Ron nodded.
"I figured it out earlier when Harry was thinking of memories and came up with that. It didn't make sense that such a horrible potion could make him happy, but then I remembered that he told Ginny how he felt the same day. I realized the only way that potion could be a happy memory was if it had led to something good."
"If you knew all of that, why'd you want to listen to him talk, then?" Ron wrinkled his brow.
"I was curious to hear what he saw. Now I know why it was happy for him."
"What did you see?" Ron asked abruptly.
Hermione froze, "What?"
"What did you see? When you made the potion?"
"Oh, um, I-I saw…" Hermione bit her lip, too embarrassed to continue, but seeing the expectant expression in Ron's eyes, she let out a huff and gathered her courage, "It was about you."
"What about me?"
"I saw you going with another girl. I don't know who, but she was extremely pretty and I knew I couldn't compete. That I'd lost my chance." Hermione whispered the last part, remembering how the tears had welled up in her eyes when she'd pulled away from the potion. Slowly, she peeked up at Ron's face, which was frowning with confusion.
"How could you think that I'd date anybody else? Or that you couldn't compete? Bloody hell, Hermione, I've been in love with you since third year! You're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen, that's one of the reasons I had such a hard time telling you how I felt about you. There is no competition." Ron was quite proud of himself for stringing more than one coherent sentence together about Hermione, especially since he'd been speaking directly to her.
She, on the other hand, was staring up at him with her mouth slightly open, apparently shocked by his speech. Pulling herself together, Hermione quickly stood on tip-toe and pulled Ron's head down to her height and kissed him soundly on the lips. When she pulled back, Ron's face had turned pink but he was smiling from ear to ear.
"My turn," Hermione said. "What did you see in the potion?"
Ron's gaze shifted down to his feet, knowing he should have realized that Hermione would want to know what he'd seen after she told him when he asked. He knew there was no way out of this so he took a deep breath and said it as quickly as possible.
"Isawyouwithanotherguyandyousaidhematteredmoreandhecouldgiveyouthekindoflifeyouwanted."
Hermione's eyebrows had gone up and both surprise and confusion were battling for dominance in her eyes, "I'm sorry, what?"
"You heard me," Ron mumbled.
"Unfortunately, I didn't. You spoke so fast you could have been casting a hex on me and I wouldn't have known. Would you mind repeating it?"
Speaking much slower but still at a rather fast clip, Ron tried again, "I saw you with another guy and you said he mattered more and he could give you the kind of life you wanted."
Hermione had gone very quiet and Ron feared that she would look at him and change her mind, realizing that she could do better than him. After a moment, Hermione tilted her head back to look up at him, "Ron, nothing and no one matters more to me than you do. The kind of life I want is one where I'm happy, where I'm loved and in love with someone, and I've only ever seen that happening with you."
Ron so badly wanted to believe what she was saying to him, nothing had ever filled him with such warmth and joy before. But, there was still this nagging thought in the back of his mind, "I can't buy you nice things. We'd probably have to live in a hut like Hagrid's."
"I don't care if we live in a little cottage in a meadow somewhere or if we end up living in a hut on the property of the Burrow. As long as we were together, none of that would matter."
A broad grin spread across Ron's face as he wrapped his arms around Hermione, lifting her up and holding her against him as he kissed her. "You know," Ron started when they broke apart, "I think I rather like holding you."
Hermione nodded seriously and said, "I think I rather like being held by you," before leaning in to kiss him again.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
"Are you guys ready to go?" Ginny held Harry's hand and looked over her shoulder to see Ron and Hermione gathering their bags.
"Yep, let's go," Hermione grabbed Ron's hand and followed along behind Harry and Ginny, winding down the long hallways on their way to breakfast.
"Ron?" Hermione spoke hesitantly.
"Yeah?"
"I don't really fancy having everyone stare at us when we go into the hall."
"Why, you embarrassed to be seen with me?" Ron teased, but stopped and spoke with a worried voice when he saw the nervous look in Hermione's eyes, "You aren't, are you?"
"Of course not! I just don't like being the center of attention and I know that everyone is going to be staring and whispering. It's not so much that that bothers me as it is that I don't want people to be butting into our business."
"Just ignore them. We'll be fine as long as we're together, right?" Hermione's eyes softened and she felt her nerves melting away as Ron referenced what she'd told him the night before. Nodding her head, Hermione braced herself for what was to come as she and Ron stepped into the Great Hall.
The reaction was immediate. Hundreds of heads swiveled in their direction, taking note of their joined hands and turning to whisper with their table. Ron pulled Hermione with him and they found seats sitting opposite of Harry and Ginny. Hermione looked over to see a rather smug expression on Ron's face as he started pulling food towards him.
"What are you grinning at?" Hermione questioned.
"The looks on the guys' faces who saw us and realized you were mine and they lost out," Ron grinned happily and Hermione blushed.
"So," Seamus spoke as he took a seat next to Harry, "Safe to say that you two are now together?" He pointed his fork at Ron and Hermione, who both nodded warily.
"Right, then." Seamus stood and stepped up onto the bench he'd been sitting on, speaking in a loud voice, "Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen! Show of hands, who has been waiting years for Mr. Ronald Weasley and Miss Hermione Granger to stop being so thick and admit their feelings for each other?" Instantly, hundreds of hands shot into the air amidst grins and laughter. "Yes, well then it is my distinct pleasure to tell you that they have, indeed, finally gotten together, and if I do say so myself, it's about time." Nimbly hopping down from the bench and retaking his seat, Seamus continued spooning eggs onto his plate, acting like nothing had just happened. The Great Hall, however, had broken into thunderous applause, the laughter and cheering rivaling that of a Gryffindor quidditch match.
Harry and Ginny had been waiting with great anticipation for the 'announcement' since Seamus had joined them for breakfast. They thought it was only fair that Ron and Hermione share the fate they'd been given when they had first started going out. Ron's face was burning and Hermione had gone rather pink, but she burst into laughter seconds later, wiping tears from her eyes and earning a baffled look from Ron.
"I thought you said you didn't want all that attention?"
Pulling herself together, Hermione smiled, "I don't, but I rather liked Seamus' speech. In a weird way it kind of broke the tension," Hermione leaned over and kissed Ron's cheek, making him turn red all over again. "Thanks, Seamus." Hermione smiled at her friend, who swallowed the mouthful of bacon he'd been chewing.
"Anytime. You know, I'm thinking I should turn this into a business of sorts." This statement brought on a lengthy conversation of all the ways Seamus could turn his couple announcements into a business, resulting in hysterical laughter from the group of friends, who left for their morning classes with much more excitement than usual.
