A/N: This is the last chapter. Hope you enjoy, just like enjoyed the other ones right?!?!
Disclaimer: I don't own it I wish I did, I'd be really famous and cool, so please don't sue me, I'd be really sad, and then I'd look like a big fool….Gosh that wasn't very good but you get the point. Unless you want to hear that again, don't sue me!!
Chapter 3
In Which Hermione Finds that Patience is a Virtue
They were all very quiet during dinner that night. Ron and Hermione were still embarrassed that Harry had seen them flying together. Both strongly stated that it didn't matter if he saw them though, because all they did was fly around. Ron was beginning to wonder why they were making it such a big deal. It was only flying after all. It wasn't like anything else was going to happen. He shook his head to clear his thoughts away. Why was he even thinking about that? He wasn't even supposed to be entering into that chain of thought. It was only Hermione. He looked across the dinner table at her but then quickly looked away again, sighing.
When they got back to the common room, Hermione announced that she was tired and was going to bed early, even thought it was just a few minutes after seven. They said goodnight. This was Harry's chance to interrogate Ron.
"So," He started, smiling at Ron. "You two must have been pretty mad at each other to get that close." He watched as Ron's ears changed colors.
"Shut-up Harry."
"Oh I won't make fun of you anymore, I promise."
"But…" Ron prompted, knowing Harry couldn't have really meant to stop there.
"How do you know there's a but?" Harry persisted. "Ok fine, but there is no point in denying it. Your feelings are so obvious I wouldn't be surprised if she already knew."
"What!" Ron shouted, looking up at Harry. "You don't think she knows do y-" Ron stopped suddenly "You great prat! You knew I would say that didn't you?!"
"Well, I was right wasn't I?" Harry asked, giving his friend a knowing smile.
"Look I don't…" Ron's voice faded away. "Just don't say anything about it."
"I can't believe you didn't tell me!" Harry said in a cheerful voice.
"I didn't know."
"How couldn't you? You two have been doing this for two years now. Everyone can tell you two like each other. They don't understand how you can't see it. I'm sure Fred and George have made some type of bet on it by now. I suppose you'll have to owl them when you two start dating. They'll want to collect their winnings."
"Oh shut-up Harry!" Ron said quickly, blushing furiously. Then he remembered the other thing he had wanted to ask. "Everyone else knows? Well then why didn't they tell me?! I could have used that little bit of information!"
"This just proves that you two don't talk enough. Ginny is always going off about how cute you two are together." Harry told him.
Ron stared at his hands in his lap and smiled. In an attempt to change the subject, Ron said, "So, you and Ginny, you're getting pretty close now?" He looked up to find his friend with a wide grin on his face and a pink tinge on his cheeks.
"You could say that." Harry replied mysteriously.
Ron laughed. "All I have to say is, you had better be nice to her or I'll have to injure you and I wouldn't enjoy doing that. I think it might threaten our friendship a bit."
Harry kept his face straight for two whole seconds before he burst out laughing. He composed himself enough to say, "You're going to injure me? I'm sorry I have to miss seeing that."
Ron laughed too. "Hey! I could injure you if I wanted to!" Harry just laughed. "So are you saying that you'll treat her right?"
"Don't get so serious Ron. It's not like were dating or anything. You sound like we're getting married! But yes. Of course, I'll 'treat her right'. How else would I treat Gin?"
"Gin? Hmm…I'll be watching you Harry." Ron replied suspiciously. They continued to laugh and talk for a while until Harry told Ron he was going to bed.
"Don't stay up too long. You might want to take your dearest Hermione flying again tomorrow. Tell me next time so I can keep an eye on you two." Harry smirked and dodged a flying chess piece thrown by Ron.
"Good night, and remember, I'm watching you Harry!" Ron said, unable to keep the humor out of his voice. Harry left for the dormitories.
It was one o'clock. Ron knew that he was tired but he couldn't fall asleep. He didn't know when it happened. How come Hermione suddenly looked so pretty? Shouldn't she have looked pretty before? Maybe she was and he was just too much of an idiot to notice. He'd certainly noticed in the broom shed. His stomach twisted horribly. He was very happy she had said something. If she hadn't, he might have, well, he might have done something terrible like kissed her or something. That would have ruined everything.
Ron groaned and pounded on his head with his fists. He had been thinking constantly about that day for the last two hours and he just couldn't get settled enough to sleep. Something was bothering him and he couldn't stop himself from wondering what it was. He groaned, wishing he could stop thinking about her.
He had a vague idea of what he thought it could be. He was thinking, maybe, it had something to do with the fact that Hermione probably didn't like him. Harry wasn't always right about everything. Harry could be wrong about this. Hermione always fought with him, or rather, he fought with her. Why in the world would she like him? How could she like him? The more he thought about it, the worse he felt. The more depressed he felt, the more tired he became but he still couldn't fall asleep.
As he was drifting off to sleep on the couch in the common room, he heard a voice float down the stairs. "Hi Ron." It said. Ron groaned. Then he recognized the voice and he stayed still, pretending to be asleep. It was Hermione
"I know you're not asleep so stop faking!" She said, sitting next to him on the couch.
"Hello Hermione." He opened his eyes and looked at her.
She had a big smile on her face. "What are you doing awake so late? You need your rest you know."
"I couldn't sleep."
She laughed. "Neither could I. Anything you want to talk about?"
"Uh, actually," He started, but when it came time to continue speaking, he found that his voice was gone. "You see, uh,"
"Did you want to talk about today? I was kind of uh, wondering about a couple of things." Hermione started in a would-be-calm voice. Ron nodded. "Well, uh, you saved my life today. I know we fight a lot but…but thank you, for everything. I also wanted to, to say that, oh!" Hermione exclaimed.
"What's wrong?" Ron asked quickly, wondering if again, he had done something wrong with out knowing it.
"Nothing's wrong. I'll be right back." She told him and hurried back up the stairs. Ron exhaled as if he hadn't been able to for the two minutes.
Soon she came back. She held something maroon in her hands and she was blushing. "I forgot to give you this back." She held out Ron's sweater to him.
"Keep it. I have three others just like it."
"Really?" She said in a cheerful, hopeful voice. She seemed to have wanted this forever.
"Yeah sure." He told her, laughing at her reaction. "It's just an old sweater. There really isn't anything special about it. I should ask my mom to make you one and give it to you on Christmas."
She bit her lip and looked away, smiling like she'd just found out a way to read every book in the library in one night. "That would be great. So, are we going to have another flying session soon? I'm looking forward to it."
"Really? I guess we can have another one tomorrow if you want. I don't think you really need it. You were doing great." He told her in a low voice.
"I still need to work on those landings." She replied as if she didn't want there to be any chance that she wouldn't have to do another lesson. "It was really fun anyway. I didn't think I would enjoy flying a broom as much as I did, especially after falling from one today." Ron stayed silent. "You should go to sleep. You may be too tired to take me out tomorrow." She smiled at him.
'Too tired to take her out tomorrow.' He played the sentence through his head again. 'It's not like we're going on a date.' He shuddered at the thought. Hermione was looking at him with concern. He hadn't said anything for a while.
Finally, he answered. "You're probably right. I'll walk you to your room if you want." She nodded and they walked silently up the stairs.
"Well, goodnight." Ron told her awkwardly when they reached the sixth year dormitory.
"Goodnight." She replied. He thought she sounded a little disappointed but he pushed the though, forcefully, out of his head.
'What are you thinking? Do you expect her to forget all of your faults just because of some stupid flying lesson?' His stomach lurched as he thought about how close they had been. He shook his head slightly and continued walking back to the boy's dormitory when Hermione stopped him.
"Ron."
"Hmm?" He said, turning to look back at her.
"Can I do something?" She asked, taking a small step forward.
He laughed nervously and turned to face her. "Depends on what it is." He told her, though he was pretty sure he already knew.
She smiled. "You're so cute sometimes!" She told him, giving him a big hug. She moved away a bit so she could see him better, but looking at his eyes made her lose her nerve.
"Is that what you wanted to do?" He asked her, a little dissatisfied. "Maybe I should allow you to do whatever you want more often if you are going to say I'm cute." He beamed down at her.
"Oh, that wasn't exactly what I wanted to do. Though I wanted to do that too." She told him, in a disheartened voice.
Ron took a deep breath, steeling himself against the threat of rejection. He wasn't going to lose this chance. If he had ever wondered what the best time to (A/N: Well, you'll see in a second. I can't tell you. It would ruin it. But you probably already know anyhow.)
"Then was this it?" He asked quickly, leaning down ever so slightly and kissing her lightly on the lips. He pulled back, training his eyes on the ground, letting his arms drop from her waist, and biting his lip until it was very red. Still, she didn't say anything and he was afraid that she was angry with him. Maybe he was wrong. He felt himself grow red and he suddenly didn't want to be there anymore.
"Ron,"
"Yeah?" He asked. His hands, unnoticeably to him, were twirling around nervously and he looked away from Hermione so that she wouldn't see him blush deeper still.
"Will you look at me for a second?" Her tone was still soft and he looked at her face and if possible, grew even redder. She smiled and shivers went up his spine.
"That's better. Now, I have a question." He nodded slightly and he looked as if he was going to be sick. She smiled again and she was sure that he turned pale. "Why did you do that? Truthfully." Her tone wasn't unkind but he was too nervous to notice that.
"Was I wrong to-"
"Answer my question first." She told him firmly.
"Hermione, you know you're killing me right?" He sighed. "Look, I-I guess, I thought that was what you were going to do. I mean, I was, really, uh really hoping that was it. I guess I shouldn't have done it. You see, the thing is Hermione, I-I really, really like you." He laughed bitterly. "Are you happy now?" She didn't give an answer. "Why else would I do it?"
Hermione did something that distinctly sounded like a giggle but she quickly stopped when she realized what she was doing and she composed herself. She cleared her throat and said, "Thanks."
"Thanks?" He asked, a little confused.
"I uh," She sucked up all her strength and mumbled quickly, "Iwashopingyouddothat." "What?" He asked, his forehead wrinkled in an undeniably cute expression.
"I said, I…I said, I was hoping you'd do that."
Ron looked at her with an expressionless face. He didn't know how to react to that. Should he kiss her or just stand there or smile or say something? He tried to think of the most romantic thing that he could come up with but all that came out was, "Really?"
She cleared her throat nervously again and said with as much dignity as she could, "Yes. I've, I've been hoping that would happen since, erm, fourth year." She said, 'fourth year' in a whisper as if she were afraid that someone would hear her. Ron couldn't help but sigh with relief.
"So you er, like me too?" he asked, feeling that he must sound absurd and ridiculously childish.
Hermione placed her hand on his cheek and smiled brightly before standing as tall as she could and kissing him. Though not extremely long, this one lasted for more time than the one Ron had initiated. She broke away reluctantly.
"Does that answer your question?"
"Er, yes I think so but you know I might need reminding once and a while." He tried desperately to keep a straight face but it was hard when Hermione was rolling her eyes at him.
"I'll try to remember to do that for you Ron." She laughed at the expression that had come over his face, one of happiness but a different kind than Hermione had ever seen. All she knew was that whatever was making him smile in that way, was definitely worth keeping around.
They were silent until Ron said absentmindedly. "So Harry wasn't lying."
"What are you talking about now Ron?" She asked, hoping that they hadn't been talking about her behind her back.
"Oh, well, I sort of told Harry that I uh, you know, liked you." He swallowed. "Anyway," He rushed on, seeing Hermione turning red, "he said that everyone had known that we liked each other for two years. It isn't a big deal. Never mind."
She smiled and, wrapping her arms tight around his neck, kissed him on the cheek.
"It's true you know. I bet everyone did know before us. I wish they had let us into the big secret a bit sooner."
"That's what I said! Like it would have been so hard to just tell us what was going on or at least give us hints because it hurts to think of what I've been missing for the past two years. If I could have known you would have let me do that two years ago…" He laughed in an embarrassed tone. "I mean, you know. I err, there's no point in wasting all my time fighting with you if I could have just gone out and kissed you instead."
She smiled. "I hate to say it but you're actually right this time Ron."
"Oh very funny. I know how much you hate to be wrong."
"Goodnight Ron."
"Before I say goodnight Mione, could I kiss you again?" He groaned as he blushed yet again. "You'd think I'd stop doing that after I'd kissed you but no. I have to keep turning a color close to a strawberry!"
"Don't worry, it's cute. I like it. I don't think you'd be Ron if you didn't blush sometimes!"
"Oh and uh, I just wanted to um, you know kiss you again because it's hard to believe this is happening and if I'm going to wake up soon I might as well enjoy myself while I'm asleep right?"
Hermione shook her head and laughed. "You are so odd sometimes Ron but yes, why would I turn that down?"
"I don't know and truthfully, as long as you don't turn it down, I don't care why." He cupped his hands on either side of Hermione's face and lifted up her chin, kissing her again.
He pulled away, sighing slightly and said, "Well, we do have classes tomorrow so I'd better go unless I want you beating up on me about my schoolwork again. Goodnight Mione." He said, having a hard time keeping his voice to a whisper and his smile to a small grin. It was threatening to become a bright beaming, rather dopey looking smile, soon. He left for his dormitory very reluctantly; suddenly wishing he never had to go to sleep.
When he got into his bed that night, he was scared out of his skin by Harry, who was sitting on his bed waiting for him. He decided that he needed to ask Ron about his late return.
"What took you so long eh?" He asked.
"Nothing special." Ron lied quickly. Harry wasn't stupid and he knew that Ron's huge grin meant something. What were best friends for if they couldn't tell when you are lying?
"Sure…" Harry replied thickly. "You're a sly one you are." Harry said, hitting his friend playfully on the arm.
"You can make fun of me just as long as I get to tease you about Gin. You're pretty sly yourself. Want to tell me about all those talks you have with her lately?"
"No comment. 'Night Ron." He said, getting back into his four-poster.
"Just remember what I said before!" All Ron got for an answer were Neville's snores. "Fine don't answer me…I'm watching you Harry Potter." Ron fell asleep quickly, a wicked grin on his face and the image of his love floating through his mind.
A/N: Hey, hey!! Thanks for reading it! Now do you see that little box thing down there…right there at the bottom of the page? That long thin gray button…right, now is the time to click on that!! Yep…it will only take about two seconds and I know you have two seconds to spare so please, please, please review!! Thanks!! Oh, tell me if I should write anything else to go along with this….and if you have any other comments, feel free to e-mail me! Dadkap@msn.com! Bye now!! *whimpers* please no flames, I'm scared of those things!!!
