~*Love and Rumors*~
Doing her homework, Head Girl, Hermione Granger had fallen asleep in the Gryffindor Common Room once again. It was only the third week of her seventh year, but she was already ahead of everyone else.
She was having a very pleasant dream, in which she was walking slowly along a beach with Ron Weasley, her best friend and extremely secret crush. Not even Harry or Ginny knew that. Just as, in the dream, Ron was leaning down to kiss her, a very careful and gentle shaking awakened her.
"Hermione! Wake Up! It's half-past-three! Come on, Hermione!", Ron Weasley's slightly anxious voice softly filled her ears. She opened her eyes to find one staring into Ron's, the other hidden by a few stray hairs from her ponytail. She immediately looked away, blushing furiously. She then noticed the half-finished Charms essay at her feet.
"Not again. What time's it?", she asked groggily, unsuccessfully trying to stifle a yawn. "Of course, he'd choose to find me when I look absolutely horrid and like I've been, well, asleep," she thought.
"It's half-past-three. You should've put this stuff away long ago, and gone upstairs with everyone else. No one should be down here now," he said, breaking off nervously, looking away, and praying she was too tired to notice how red his ears were.
"Why are you?", she asked, sleepiness not dampening her curiosity.
"I wanted to sit, and think about a-a few things," he said, waving his hand distractedly. Hermione noticed he didn't meet her gaze while he spoke. "You were that something, and now you're here. Great," Ron thought, making his ears go even redder.
"If you need someone to talk to..." she let her voice trail off. "Now what?" she thought, "Either tell him, kiss him, or run like heck away. No. I'll stay. He looks so sweet and lost like that, especially his ears. Wait a sec! He's blushing too!" Hermione's heart leapt with joy as the silent room filled with passing moonlight. She shivered both with nerves and because it was cold in the common room with the usually roaring fire burned out.
"Are you okay?", Ron asked, his chocolaty brown eyes widening with concern.
"It's just a trifle bit cold in here," she answered, more shakily than she had intended, and giving another involuntary shudder. Ron's heart was beating double-time as he sat down and slipped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her just closer.
Naturally, in the same manner that she would have done her homework or brushed her hair, she lay her head on his shoulder.
"Better?", he asked, slightly amazed with the whole situation, himself, and that Hermione seemed quite pleased too. A gust of wind blew the window open, and Hermione allowed herself to be pulled even closer.
"Yes, of course. I mean...well, uh, yeah.", she stuttered breathlessly, mentally kicking herself for messing up at a moment like this. She looked up to once again find herself staring into Ron's friendly brown eyes. But this time neither looked away. Their faces were drawing closer together. Their lips were just barely touching (Hermione was already seeing fireworks) when the portrait hole opened suddenly, and a pretty redhead stepped nervously in, followed closely by Professor McGonagall. Ron and Hermione broke apart, but not before they saw. Professor McGonagall looked shocked and speechless. Ginny wore an expression that clearly stated 'What took you so long?'
"Miss Granger! Mr. Weasley! Never, in all my years at Hogwart's have I been more ASTOUNDED and DISMAYED by the actions of my students! Especially NOT by the head girl!"
"But, Professor...It, it, it wasn't wh-what you think!", Ron protested desperately.
"I will be writing to your parents. And you will BOTH receive a detention. And Miss Weasley, that goes for you too! HONESTLY...Kissing...In the Common Room...In the DEAD OF NIGHT! And another student out of bed doing who knows what!" She cast a look at each of them before heaving a sigh and disappearing out through the portrait hole. Ginny, silent and resigned, vanished into her dormitory.
Hermione raced up the stairs and collapsed onto her four-poster, immediately bursting into tears. But the memory of Ron's comforting embrace was something of a consolation, and she soon found herself drifting into a peaceful sleep.
Downstairs, Ron, stunned and appalled by the thought of his mother's reaction to this, stared aimlessly at the embers of the fire. But, he felt it'd been worth it to see that sparkle in Hermione's eyes.
* * *
Harry, Ron, and Hermione didn't say much at breakfast. But they didn't notice this as they were each wrapped up in their own thoughts. Hermione was wondering whether Ron had meant anything by what he'd done last night, and if Professor McGonagall would hold this against her in exams. Ron, still trying to decide whether the night's events had all been a dream, risked a glance at Hermione, and found she was looking at him.
"Meet me after Herbology. Before lunch," she mouthed, ignoring the few puzzled stares coming her way. Ron gulped and nodded. At this, Hermione stood up to leave for her first class, Arithmancy. Harry nearly jumped when she said, "Bye guys. See you later!"
His mind had been somewhere else. Or rather on someone else. Ginny Weasley to be exact. Harry snapped himself back to full consciousness and turned to Ron.
"Ready to go?", he asked.
"Sure," Ron said distractedly. The pair began the long walk to their Divination classroom. Harry realized Ron's brain was about three million miles away when he forgot to turn up a staircase to the room. When they were seated, and Harry had noticed the twinkle in Ron's dark eyes, he was curious.
"What's up with you?", Harry inquired.
"The world is a beautiful place Harry!", Ron said dreamily.
"Okay. Now we've established that. Why is it, eh, beautiful?", Harry asked, his curiosity melting to confusion.
"Well, it all has lots to do with Hermione...", Ron began to spill the story of the previous night's events. When he reached the part about sitting down by Hermione, the start of class silenced him. Harry forced a smile, and bit back any bitterly teasing remarks he could think of.
* * *
Hermione was fine until the start of Herbology. When she saw a tall red haired boy walk in, she got nervous. Even more so when he smiled at her. Harry looked extremely annoyed as they began to take their usual seats, but Ron suddenly moved to sit next to Hermione. The class, which was a review about mandrakes, seemed to last forever. Hermione almost jumped out of her seat when they were finally dismissed. The trio walked out as usual, but near the lake, Harry ran to catch up with Lavender Brown, Dean Thomas, and Seamus Finnigan.
Ron and Hermione strolled over to a shady spot under a large tree. Hermione sat down and peered around as Ron, whose ears had gone quite red again, followed suit. They both began to speak simultaneously.
"Ron, I need to..."
"Hermione, I..."
They broke off laughing. Ron gestured toward her. "Ladies first!", he said.
"Ron, about what happened last night. Well, I need to know if, well, um, uh," Hermione, for the first time in her life, fumbled for words. She stopped and looked up into Ron's eyes, nervously and gently chewing on her lower lip. She began to speak again, but Ron put a finger to her lips to quiet her. He took a deep breath.
"Hermione, will you go out with me? I mean, I-I love you," he said, still looking into her glittering eyes. She looked astonished.
"I love you too. I th-think I-I always have," she said, slowly and carefully. She allowed him to pull her into a tight embrace. This time they really kissed, a true passionate kiss. Hermione felt weak, happy, breathless, luck and a swirl of other emotions at the same time. When they broke apart, Ron jumped to his feet, and offered his hand to help Hermione up. Not for the first time since they'd met, she noticed how much shorter than him she was. He collected all of their things, and they started back for the castle, hand-in-hand.
They arrived in the Great Hall five minutes later. They were greeted by whispers, giggling, and quite a few unpleasant stares. Draco Malfoy immediately sidled up to the pair.
"So, Granger, Weasley, is it true?", he drawled disbelievingly.
"Is what true?", Hermione asked, puzzled. The entire room fell silent listening.
"The story about you two in your common room last night," he said, a malicious edge to his voice.
Hermione's jaw dropped as a Gryffindor second year stood up and shouted, "That's not what I heard! I heard they got detention for a month for kissing!" The room was instantly abuzz with chatter and people clarifying their stories about what Ron and Hermione had been doing in the common room the night before.
Close to tears, Hermione screamed, "How could you Ginny?!", and ran out of the room. Ron sat helplessly down at the table; his head buried in his hands. Harry, angry as he was with them, couldn't help feeling sorry for his friends.
Ron looked at his little sister and said, his voice quavering, "Why'd you do it Ginny? Why?" To her, it wouldn't have been worse if he'd screamed it. She ran from the room, thankful that Professor Trelawney had canceled class due to a need to consult the orb.
* * *
A/N: How was it? There's more, but I'll only post it if ya'll want me to. No flames, please! Oh, yes, and I have to give credit to my bestest friend, Elizabeth Rouseau, who listened to this story at 3:00 A.M, and helped me with ideas.
Disclaimer: If I owned the characters, would I be writing fanfic? I think not, so I obviously don't own any of them. They are the property of the amazing J.K. Rowling.
