That night, directly after dinner, Harry and Ron saw Hermione rushing somewhat nervously towards the Trophy Room.
"See? She's taking my advice after all," said Ron triumphantly.
"Looks that way- so will you make up with her now? I really can't take much more of these tense dinners." Harry fixed Ron with a determined glare. Ron sighed.
"I guess so. After all, we are her only friends," he said with a small snicker.
"I wouldn't laugh so quickly, Ron. She's our only friend, too."
________________________________________________________________________
The boys were just finishing with their homework when Neville came barreling through the door and up to his dorm with a very red face. Hermione came in a few seconds later, looking upset, but a little bit happy at the same time.
"How'd it go?" asked Harry. Hermione shrugged.
"I got rid of one problem," she said dismissively, reaching into her bag and pulling out her Ancient Runes book. Ron took it from her and lifted her chin.
"Look, Hermione, I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't really mean it. Friends again?" Hermione smiled, relieved, and Ron gave her back her book so she could furiously work on her translations.
"So, what'd you end up telling Neville?" asked Ron conversationally.
"I told him I couldn't go out with him because we were already going out," mumbled Hermione very fast, not looking up from her parchment. Ron's quill snapped in two.
"WHAT!"
"I had to!" Hermione cried.
"You HAD to? WHY did you HAVE to?" Ron's face was very nearly matching his hair.
"Ron, please, think of it from my point of view! If I told him I was going out with Harry, then I'd have fourteen girls out to kill me. They already all have crushes on him! You were a MUCH safer choice!" Ron looked at her incredulously.
"Are you TRYING to get me more angry with you? What I don't understand is why did you have to go out with either of us!"
"Neville is my friend, I couldn't just say to him, 'Sorry, I don't like you' I had to have a REASON!"
"Hermione, for a know-it-all, sometimes you can be really dumb."
"Ron, please? PLEASE? For once, do me this teeny, tiny favor?" Hermione clasped her hands and looked at him with puppy dog eyes.
"This is NOT a teeny favor. Granger, you owe me big time!" Ron did not look at all happy with the prospect of playing boyfriend, but Hermione wasn't looking as if she were expecting much a performance. She had already jumped back into her homework, and the rest of the night passed pretty uneventfully.
"Night, Harry, Night Hon." Hermione slipped up to bed quietly, leaving Ron with his nose wrinkled in distaste. Harry had been strangely quiet all night.
"Harry, wake up. Why're you so quiet?"
"Do you think fourteen girls REALLY have crushes on me?"
________________________________________________________________________
The next week passed oddly. Hermione and Ron went hand in hand to every class and every meal, being sure to call each other things like 'Hon' and 'Cupcake' and 'Sweetie' loud enough for Neville to hear. Poor Neville seemed very upset, and spent hours looking daggers at Ron, who nervously ignored him. All the Gryffindor girls "had just KNOWN that Hermione would get together with ONE of those boys sometime soon", and were "EVER so glad that she had ended up with Ron, and not Harry". The first few days were fodder for the ever running rumor mill, but by the next Friday, things weren't looking quite so bad. That is, until the scene in the common room.
Harry, Ron and Hermione were working on their Astrology charts late in the common room that night; Hermione was quite busy chiding Harry for letting Ron copy his.
"That boy has trouble enough learning without you giving him a free ride!" she said in an overprotective-mother tone.
"I have a name, you know," interjected Ron.
"Hush, Sweetie," said Hermione, brushing him off and turning back to Harry. Before she could start again, someone in front of them cleared their throat. It was (you guessed it) Neville.
"Er- hello, Neville," said Hermione, instinctively scooting closer to Ron. It was the first time she had spoken to him since she told him "the truth".
"Ron, I've been giving a lot of thought to this. If you and Hermione are really together, then you have to prove it to me. If you prove it sufficiently, then I will-" Neville sighed and rubbed his eyes, "I will let you have her, and stop trying to win her heart. But if not, then she is fair game and I will not consider her taken." Hermione was sitting, quite indignant of ever being considered "fair game", but Ron was to busy wondering what he'd have to do to prove himself. He didn't have long to wait.
"Ron, if you two are REALLY together, then you have to kiss her, right here, in front of everybody!" The common room went silent. Ron gulped, and his expression was quite unreadable. Hermione closed her eyes very tight and exhaled loudly. She opened her eyes and Ron was glaring at her, but he put his hand on the back of her hand, drew her in, and kissed her, right on the lips, open mouthed.
Time stopped. Everyone was staring, in shock, at the first two people to kiss in their year. Harry's jaw dropped and Neville let out a dry sob, running up to the dorms. Only then did the two teenagers draw back from each other. They stared into each other's eyes, saying nothing, moving never. Hermione was the first to speak.
"You kissed me," she said.
"Um, yeah," answered Ron.
"That was my first kiss," she said.
"Um, yeah," agreed Ron.
"My first kiss was wasted on you!" she cried.
"Um, ye- what?! Wasted? I was the one with the wasted kiss! I was only doing this for you!"
"I CAN'T believe with just did that," said Hermione, wiping her sleeve across her mouth. Ron wrinkled his nose and both turned to Harry, who was laughing so hard no noise was coming out.
"WHAT is so funny?" they said in unison.
"Oh, nothing, nothing at all. It's not everyday that you get to watch your two best friends make out," he said flippantly, being attacked by nearby couch cushions. "UNCLE! UNCLE! I give up...I take it back!"
"That is that last time we do that," said Ron firmly, sitting back down to his homework.
"Agreed," answered Hermione, settling down with her Runes. Just then, Lavender Brown raced over and spoke to Hermione in an undertone.
"Uh, Hermione, did you and Ron just, er, break up?" she asked worriedly. Hermione put on her best sad face and nodded slowly. Lavender gasped.
"Oh! This is terrible! Professor Trenlawry said I would have something good for a short time, then it would be taken from me. I should have KNOWN!" She fled upstairs with her left hand dramatically across her forehead, leaving a mystified Dream Team behind.
So it wasn't your run-of-the-mill type of snippet. Forgive me. Actually don't, cause I'm not offering any apologies. Think about it. We're at Hogwarts. Have you ever read anything run-of-the-mill about that school? I didn't yesterday, haven't today, I doubt I ever will. And Amen to that.
"See? She's taking my advice after all," said Ron triumphantly.
"Looks that way- so will you make up with her now? I really can't take much more of these tense dinners." Harry fixed Ron with a determined glare. Ron sighed.
"I guess so. After all, we are her only friends," he said with a small snicker.
"I wouldn't laugh so quickly, Ron. She's our only friend, too."
________________________________________________________________________
The boys were just finishing with their homework when Neville came barreling through the door and up to his dorm with a very red face. Hermione came in a few seconds later, looking upset, but a little bit happy at the same time.
"How'd it go?" asked Harry. Hermione shrugged.
"I got rid of one problem," she said dismissively, reaching into her bag and pulling out her Ancient Runes book. Ron took it from her and lifted her chin.
"Look, Hermione, I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't really mean it. Friends again?" Hermione smiled, relieved, and Ron gave her back her book so she could furiously work on her translations.
"So, what'd you end up telling Neville?" asked Ron conversationally.
"I told him I couldn't go out with him because we were already going out," mumbled Hermione very fast, not looking up from her parchment. Ron's quill snapped in two.
"WHAT!"
"I had to!" Hermione cried.
"You HAD to? WHY did you HAVE to?" Ron's face was very nearly matching his hair.
"Ron, please, think of it from my point of view! If I told him I was going out with Harry, then I'd have fourteen girls out to kill me. They already all have crushes on him! You were a MUCH safer choice!" Ron looked at her incredulously.
"Are you TRYING to get me more angry with you? What I don't understand is why did you have to go out with either of us!"
"Neville is my friend, I couldn't just say to him, 'Sorry, I don't like you' I had to have a REASON!"
"Hermione, for a know-it-all, sometimes you can be really dumb."
"Ron, please? PLEASE? For once, do me this teeny, tiny favor?" Hermione clasped her hands and looked at him with puppy dog eyes.
"This is NOT a teeny favor. Granger, you owe me big time!" Ron did not look at all happy with the prospect of playing boyfriend, but Hermione wasn't looking as if she were expecting much a performance. She had already jumped back into her homework, and the rest of the night passed pretty uneventfully.
"Night, Harry, Night Hon." Hermione slipped up to bed quietly, leaving Ron with his nose wrinkled in distaste. Harry had been strangely quiet all night.
"Harry, wake up. Why're you so quiet?"
"Do you think fourteen girls REALLY have crushes on me?"
________________________________________________________________________
The next week passed oddly. Hermione and Ron went hand in hand to every class and every meal, being sure to call each other things like 'Hon' and 'Cupcake' and 'Sweetie' loud enough for Neville to hear. Poor Neville seemed very upset, and spent hours looking daggers at Ron, who nervously ignored him. All the Gryffindor girls "had just KNOWN that Hermione would get together with ONE of those boys sometime soon", and were "EVER so glad that she had ended up with Ron, and not Harry". The first few days were fodder for the ever running rumor mill, but by the next Friday, things weren't looking quite so bad. That is, until the scene in the common room.
Harry, Ron and Hermione were working on their Astrology charts late in the common room that night; Hermione was quite busy chiding Harry for letting Ron copy his.
"That boy has trouble enough learning without you giving him a free ride!" she said in an overprotective-mother tone.
"I have a name, you know," interjected Ron.
"Hush, Sweetie," said Hermione, brushing him off and turning back to Harry. Before she could start again, someone in front of them cleared their throat. It was (you guessed it) Neville.
"Er- hello, Neville," said Hermione, instinctively scooting closer to Ron. It was the first time she had spoken to him since she told him "the truth".
"Ron, I've been giving a lot of thought to this. If you and Hermione are really together, then you have to prove it to me. If you prove it sufficiently, then I will-" Neville sighed and rubbed his eyes, "I will let you have her, and stop trying to win her heart. But if not, then she is fair game and I will not consider her taken." Hermione was sitting, quite indignant of ever being considered "fair game", but Ron was to busy wondering what he'd have to do to prove himself. He didn't have long to wait.
"Ron, if you two are REALLY together, then you have to kiss her, right here, in front of everybody!" The common room went silent. Ron gulped, and his expression was quite unreadable. Hermione closed her eyes very tight and exhaled loudly. She opened her eyes and Ron was glaring at her, but he put his hand on the back of her hand, drew her in, and kissed her, right on the lips, open mouthed.
Time stopped. Everyone was staring, in shock, at the first two people to kiss in their year. Harry's jaw dropped and Neville let out a dry sob, running up to the dorms. Only then did the two teenagers draw back from each other. They stared into each other's eyes, saying nothing, moving never. Hermione was the first to speak.
"You kissed me," she said.
"Um, yeah," answered Ron.
"That was my first kiss," she said.
"Um, yeah," agreed Ron.
"My first kiss was wasted on you!" she cried.
"Um, ye- what?! Wasted? I was the one with the wasted kiss! I was only doing this for you!"
"I CAN'T believe with just did that," said Hermione, wiping her sleeve across her mouth. Ron wrinkled his nose and both turned to Harry, who was laughing so hard no noise was coming out.
"WHAT is so funny?" they said in unison.
"Oh, nothing, nothing at all. It's not everyday that you get to watch your two best friends make out," he said flippantly, being attacked by nearby couch cushions. "UNCLE! UNCLE! I give up...I take it back!"
"That is that last time we do that," said Ron firmly, sitting back down to his homework.
"Agreed," answered Hermione, settling down with her Runes. Just then, Lavender Brown raced over and spoke to Hermione in an undertone.
"Uh, Hermione, did you and Ron just, er, break up?" she asked worriedly. Hermione put on her best sad face and nodded slowly. Lavender gasped.
"Oh! This is terrible! Professor Trenlawry said I would have something good for a short time, then it would be taken from me. I should have KNOWN!" She fled upstairs with her left hand dramatically across her forehead, leaving a mystified Dream Team behind.
So it wasn't your run-of-the-mill type of snippet. Forgive me. Actually don't, cause I'm not offering any apologies. Think about it. We're at Hogwarts. Have you ever read anything run-of-the-mill about that school? I didn't yesterday, haven't today, I doubt I ever will. And Amen to that.