Once upon a heated interrogation.

Hermione stared at him for a while before laughing. "Can you believe that that's exactly what Neville just asked me?" Ron nodded blankly. He had no idea how this conversation was going to end.

"So...um.is that a yes or a no?" he asked hesitantly.

Hermione flashed him a smile. "Of course it's a yes, considering no guy in his right mind would want to go with me, go with me. I mean I'm uglier that a rhino's backside. I might as well go with a friend."

Ron didn't know what to think. Yes! She said yes. No! She thought he was asking her as a friend. With a rather confused expression on his face, Ron muttered an inaudible 'Goodnight' before walking up the stairs.

"Hey wait!" Hermione's voice called after him. "I thought you said you were gonna go stag after Padma."

Ron blushed a deep red as he turned around.

"I had a change of plans and decided to ask the girl who thinks she's uglier than a rhino's butt," he called back.

Hermione laughed again. She quickly picked up her supplies before running up to join the redhead in the stare case.

"And why would that be?' she asked, humouring him.

Before Ron had any idea what was coming out of his mouth, he had answered rather pointedly that it was because she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Upon realizing what he'd said, Ron blushed an ever deeper red and ran up the stairs at a speed that would have guaranteed him a place at the Olympics. It wasn't really that he had no idea what was coming out of his mouth, it was just that he could never seem to control it.

~*~TIME MANIPULATOR PROJECTOR~*~

There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. It was Monday morning, and that meant classes. Strangely enough, Malfoy's snake like attitude and the urge to tell Snape where to shove it was the least of Ron's worries. As he slowly ate his small breakfast, something that was strange in itself, his mind couldn't help but wander to the look on Hermione's face when he had said those horrific words. It was almost as if she was . happy. Shocked, yes. But not 'I'm gonna strangle the imbecile who did this' shocked. Not even 'I'm about to faint' shock. It was more of a 'I'm so happy!' shock. The redhead had only ever seen her like that once, and that was when she made prefect. Of course, he was probably just imagining it. Knowing you, Weasley, he thought to himself, high hopes as always. How long is it gonna take for them to fall into the centre of the Earth this time?

Before he knew it, he was running to the Potions classroom with Harry, late as usual.

"Twenty points from Gryffindor and a detention for the both of you,"

Snape's greasy voice was almost an awakening, if only for a minute. The two looked around for seats only to find that the only spare ones were next to Millicent Bulstrode. Hermione had decided to sit with Lavender and Parvati, a.k.a 'The Ditzy Chicks'.

He didn't talk to Hermione until lunch. It was as if he couldn't even if he wanted to. She was walking to classes with Lavender and Parvarti and when she didn't share their classes she walked with Lisa Turpin, the Ravenclaw prefect. It was unsettling in a way, to see how an itzy bitzy li'l sentence could make such a drastic change in a friendship.

~*~TIME MANIPULATOR PROJECTOR~*~

As each hour passed, it was getting more and more frustrating for Ron until he became so frustrated he literally grabbed Hermione after Transfiguration and pinned her to the wall. Well, he did it extremely gently but that was beside the point.

"Hermione, something is bugging you so spit it out!" he exclaimed. Her face was burning and his started to too, after realizing the rather intimate position they were in. Jumping back a bit, he stuck his hands in his pocket and looked at her questioningly.

She looked rather uncomfortable. "Well, umm.. Better yet. Why don't you explain your comment last night?"

The million galleon question. Ron KNEW she was going to ask this, absolutely knew it. His face slowly began to turn a bright red as he muttered and stuttered and tried to find the right words.

Hermione just shook her head and smiled.

"Using your own words against you," she said. "Spit it out!"

Ron's freckles were now starting to camouflage against his red face, add the hair to that and it cause the overall effect of an extremely large carrot. After much thought, he decided that there was really only one way to go. He just had to file in the disclaimers first.

"There's really only one way of explaining it," he replied uncomfortably. "And that's well, erm. Just promise me you won't blast me into oblivion for this okay?"