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A/N By the way, the first part of this is set in the common room, and is like Ron going over it in his mind.

What Witches Want - Part 05 - by Katherina Black

"I knew you were keeping something from me!" Hermione said, in a dangerous, low tone. Her eyes were sparking like the coals in the fireplace. "And I was so stupid. I wanted to believe that it was you. I thought that you were changing, actually growing up."

"There was nothing I could do!" Ron felt himself beginning to get heated as he defended himself. "Do you think that I actually enjoyed it!? It wasn't my fault!" His eyes were like cold fire. Hermione stood up, and it was all she could do to keep her voice steady and stay in control when she asked the next question.

"So what stopped you from telling me?" she said. It was poison. This was worse of all: Ron didn't know whether to shout, or beg, or tear his hair out, as he stood fixed to the spot. And he didn't know what to say.

"I don't know! You know me, I'm stupid, I mess up everything I do!" Ron tore at his hair desperately. "I didn't know what to do!" he finally blurted out again. "You tell me what I should have done, Hermione, because I didn't have a frigging clue!"

"You could have at least considered that maybe I didn't want somebody tuning into my thoughts like my head was some kind of radio station!" Hermione snapped. Her face was now flushed with rage, her flashing eyes flashing a danger signal.

"What was I supposed to say: 'Oh, by the way, Hermione, I can hear what you're thinking, so keep it to a minimum?' " Ron yelled back, now definitely radiating heat. He was angry at himself, and Hermione's words were sticking deep. "I wanted to tell you! But - but -"

He kicked the small table over, muttering to himself.

"I can't believe you!" Hermione yelled. "So you just stood there, and listened, and lied to me, because after all I don't matter, do I?" She was at her very worse now, at the peak of her fraught, confused and conflicting feelings, threatening to send her off into ten different directions at once, and Hermione didn't know how much longer she could take any or all of it.

"How could you be so thick?" she shouted at him. She wanted to yell the same thing at herself.

The words rang out clearly into the silence that followed. They stood, facing each other across the distance, varying degrees of red flushing through their faces. Hermione looked like she could grow claws any moment and do some serious damage, and Ron looked like he wanted to throw something.

Then, suddenly, Hermione looked at him and started to cry. They both stood stationary for a moment longer, then Ron took a step towards her. He hesitated, before taking another, then hesitated again, before reaching out and taking her into his arms. Hermione stiffened, then crumbled into him.

Several moments passed in absolute silence and Ron could almost feel the room cooling with Hermione's choking sobs. Then, so suddenly and so unexpectedly that Ron nearly fell to the ground, Hermione shoved him violently away.

"You git!" she was nearly screaming at him. "That Potions essay! You were listening to me, when you wrote that, weren't you?!" Hermione took another step forward and shoved him again. "You took advantage of me! You -"

Ron had to regain his balance as well his thought for a moment. Then:

"Hermione! It's a Potions Essay! It's a flipping Potions Essay!" he yelled. This was exactly what he needed now, he thought furiously and darkly as he watched Hermione glaring daggers at him.

"Goodnight," she said, as clearly as she could, before walking out of the room.

"Morning," Harry said, as Ron sat down next to him at the breakfast table.

"Yeah," Ron muttered. He looked at Hermione, who appeared to be reading her Daily Prophet in great detail and hadn't looked up at him yet. Then, as he watched her steadfastedly ignoring him, he frowned - something was different. He looked about him. The Great Hall was as packed and noisy as usual, but

It had gone. That blasted power had departed.

"Hi, Ron," Lavender descended into the empty seat beside him.

"Hmm," Ron said. Lavender looked from the moody, troubled Ron, to the silent Hermione, to the uncomfortable Harry. The look on her face said: "oh."

"You okay?" she asked.

"Fine," Ron replied, sounding as fine as somebody about to be cursed.

"Oh. Well, I just thought you'd like to know. I got an owl from mum this morning, and Betsey's going to be fine! The doctors are still being careful, but she's getting better already, mum says, and she's going to be okay!"

Ron managed to muster up whatever enthusisam he had left inside him as Lavender nodded happily. He knew how worried she'd been about her sister.

"Well, see you later, then," Lavender said, before standing up and returning to her seat where she proceeded to whisper something to Parvati.

Harry was looking from Ron to Hermione. "Should I not ask?" he ventured bravely. Ron said nothing. Hermione finished her pumpkin juice, folded her newspaper, and left the table without a word.

"I take it she found out, then," Harry said in a low tone.

Ron, with his head in his hands, nodded silently.

"But at least you know what she's thinking, right? Even though she's not talking to you," Harry tried to reason.

"I haven't got it anymore, Harry. The week's over." came the muffled voice.

Harry frowned. "That can't be right," he said, puzzled. "Because today's not the seventh day. It's the sixth. Unless -" He paused. "Unless you worked it out, of course," he finished, with a touch of amusement in his voice. "And proved you don't need it."

Now Ron looked up. He looked at Hermione's vacated seat, then at Harry. "There is no way that I -"

"You know what witches want," Harry said, almost laughing, almost incredulous.

*

"But you see, sir, it's impossible, because I -" Ron stopped. It seemed to him too ironic that, just when he was meant to know exactly what witches wanted, Hermione had started hating him.

Opposite Ron, behind his desk, Dumbledore was smiling half seriously.

"Since our chat at the beginning of this week, I've been talking to Madam Pince," Dumbledore stated. "And she informs me that the library has not has a good dusting out for a while."

"Sorry?" Ron said, looking extremely puzzled.

"Well, you see, with all those books, and rather a lot of dust, our library tends to end up with a combination of excess magic and dust settling everywhere. My theory is that some of it was absorbed into the bean just before you ate it."

"Dust?" Ron said. Dumbledore nodded. Ron thought this through, and gawked. All this had been because of some dust?

"Why me?" he said, finally. "I mean, I'm not the only one who eats sweets in the library."

"I don't have the answer to that, I'm afraid," Dumbledore said. "One might put it down as one of the great complex mysteries of life. Along with the female brain, naturally," he added, eyes twinkling behind his spectacles.

*

"Ron? Can I have a word with you?" Ron turned to see Lavender standing before him.

"About what?" he said. Lavender turned her head, looking around the busy corridor, where students loitered and talked (it was Saturday).

"Not now - later. Can you meet me in the charms classroom, at six? I can talk to you then," Ron must have looked a bit uncertain, because Lavender added quickly, "Please. I need to talk to you about something," she said, almost desperately.

"Is it about your sister? Betsey?" Ron was concerned now.

"I'll tell you later," Lavender said, and turned away.

*

It was a long day. Ron and Hermione managed to quietly avoid each other for most of the morning, something which Ron was not very happy about. He kept remembering how she had scolded him, last year, when he and Harry had had that fight - "How can you expect to make up if you're not talking to each other?" and for some reason kept mumbling this little mantra to himself under his breath.

By lunchtime, Ron had made up his mind. He would say something, anything to her. Ron even got as far as the library, where he knew Hermione would be; but as he watched the familiar figure bent over the table, lost in a book, any words he'd had prepared escaped him completely, so he left.

When six o clock came, he found himself outside the Charms classroom where Lavender had asked to meet him. She was already there, sitting within.

"Oh! Ron, thanks for coming," was all Lavender had time to say, before somebody else came through the door. Two other people, in fact: Eloise Midgen, and Hermione.

Hermione was carrying a load of books, which she had to quickly rearrange her hold on when she saw Ron standing in front of her, a look of surprise and alarm on her face which must had mirrored his completely.

"Before you ask, it was us who set it up," Lavender said, indicating herself, Eloise, and Parvati, who had just appeared.

"Now, we're going to lock you two up until you've sorted out your differences. It's the only way you'll start talking to each other again," Eloise said.

"And don't even try any spells to break your way out of here," Parvati added. With that, the three of them stepped out of the classroom, shut the door and locked it with a key, then magic.

And they were left standing there.

In the silence, Ron and Hermione looked at each other awkwardly. "I suppose we ought to be a bit flattered," Hermione said, looking anything but flattered. "But, honestly, I never thought Eloise would - I mean, she told me she needed help with her homework."

"Yeah," Ron muttered. Hermione looked troubled as they stood in silence for a few moments longer.

"Ron, how did we get like this?" she burst out suddenly. She put the books down on a nearby table, Ron suspected so that she could hide her face for a second. "I hate fighting with you, you know that, don't you? I've had more than enough of it to last me for the rest of my life. But I can't help it when...I just..."

"I know," Ron said, quietly. The awkwardness between them grew with the silence. Ron couldn't seem to quite find the right words to say. "Hermione - I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry for hurting you, and I'm sorry for being such an idiot, I'm sorry for pushing you about Krum, I'm sorry about everything..."

Hermione looked suprised. He took a deep breath, getting up the courage to study her face. "Over the past few days, you've forced me to do a lot of thinking," he said slowly, then looked at Hermione with an almost scared expression on his face, watching closely to see how she would react.

"I forced you to?" Hermione said, in a sort of now-let-me-get-this-right tone of voice.

"Well," Ron gave out a low chuckle. "You see, there's this Hermione in my head who's always there telling me to do the right thing, a bit like a conscience, only bossier..."

Hermione had to smile as she looked at the floor - "Honestly, Ron," - Then she grew serious again. So did Ron. In the moment of uncharacteristic seriousness, it had suddenly dawned on him what all this could have cost him, and in that moment, he felt worse than he ever had before.

"Hermione, please forgive me," he said, and Hermione detected a note of desperation in his voice. "I need you to help me stop being such an idiot."

Ron thought he saw a rather strange expression pass through her eyes for a moment. Then she smiled, somewhat absently, and nodded.

"So...I'm forgiven?"

"Looks like it, you great, stupid git," Hermione smiled as Ron, full of relief, hugged her back.

"Good, because it's nearly dinner time and I swear that Parvati, Lavender and Eloise have been listening at the keyhole since we began."

*

A/N But the saga has not ended! Next part, you R/H people should watch this space. It'll probably be the last part, too.