Just Friends?
Disclaimer: I don't own HP or any of these characters. That belongs to JKR, Scholastic Books, Warner Brothers, etc.

Chapter Eleven

"She's not here," Ron said. "She and Neville went to the library to study." He stared resolutely at his sister, refusing to spare a glance at the ginger cat cradled in her arms.

Ginny frowned slightly at him. "I think Crookshanks is hungry," she stated.

"Well, you just missed her and I don't know where she keeps that cat's food," Ron responded unsympathetically. "That cat can stand to lose a bit of weight anyway. Hermione feeds him too much."

That comment of his grew glares from both Ginny and that cat. "Well, I don't see how you can say anything about anyone else eating too much considering how much you consume every night," she retorted. "And if you excuse me, I think I know where Hermione keeps Crookshanks' food in her room and so I am going to feed the poor thing." She flounced off in the direction of the girl's dormitories, not giving her recalcitrant brother a second glance. The cat, however, continued to glare at Ron until he was out of sight and Ron had to suppress the urge to accuse the cat of trying to curse him. Cats couldn't do such things.

Of course, if any cat could cast a hex, that cat would be Crookshanks.

Ron didn't think that he and Crookshanks would ever be on the best of terms with each other. He swore that the cat remembered all too well the events of his third year. Lately, he fancied that Crookshanks had become colder towards him. That cat certainly had a way of putting a damper on his wooing of Hermione. Every time he tried to get a little closer to her, that cat would find some way of interfering.

It was those times that Ron wished that the cat would tolerate him like he tolerated Harry. If Harry was trying to go after Hermione, Ron thought that Crookshanks was more likely to help him, rather than hinder him. He was lucky that Harry was too dense to see what a great girl Hermione was.

Ron quickly shook his head. He didn't want to pursue that line of thought. There were times when he wondered if his best friends really had something between them. He tried to shake those thoughts by arguing to himself that the only reason why he was suspicious was because of those pervasive rumors. That was usually sufficient to calm him down. Yet, there were some times when that wasn't enough and he feared that he wasn't just paranoid – that there was some morsel of truth behind those rumors that wouldn't just go away. His best friends tended to avoid him during such times, as he would get very snippy and in general, would not be a pleasant person to be around. That only exacerbated the problem, as he would see them running off together, leaving him behind. Fortunately, he had always been able to shake those terrible thoughts and his friends would return to his side as soon as he returned to normal.

He didn't know what he would do if they ever left him behind for good.

In any case, lingering over such doubts served no purpose. What Ron wished he could do was to ask one of his friends directly whether they were in love with each other. Asking such a question of Hermione was not an option. Hermione had not liked either of her male friends prying into her love life during their fourth year and she remained unappreciative of any questions they had about her current crush. All Ron knew was that there was definitely someone at Hogwarts that she liked and by her refusal to speak, he was willing to bet that it was either Harry or himself or at least someone in Gryffindor. That was what Ron hoped for at least; he didn't know what he would do if she liked someone in Slytherin. He would probably wind up blowing a gasket and getting her and her cat very angry at him.

That left Ron with the option of confronting Harry about the Hermione question. Ron had tried to do this before but Harry was always so dense when asked about Hermione. If Ron did not know better, he would have thought that Harry had yet to notice that Hermione was a girl.

And that was simply impossible. Anyone with eyes had to realize by now that Hermione was a girl, especially with the way she had grown over the last couple of years. Of course, now that he thought of it, Harry didn't have perfect eyesight and maybe he needed his glasses adjusted. Ron remembered how Percy was always bumping into things at home, one year, before they were finally able to afford new glasses for him. Ron didn't think that the Muggles Harry lived with would ever get him anything. Perhaps there was a spell to fix Harry's glasses and then Ron could ask him about Hermione and get a real answer.

The only problem was that Ron did not know of any charms to fix Harry's glasses. He would have to ask Hermione and Hermione was currently not here. Ron didn't want to wait for an answer.

So seeing as the Common Room was currently empty, Ron decided to try once again to find out how Harry really felt about Hermione but from a different angle this time. "Mind if I ask you a question, Harry?" he said.

Harry faced him with a sigh. "If this is about whether I like Hermione again . . ." he began.

"I know, I know. You're just friends. I just wanted to make sure you don't mind what Hermione's saying."

"Er – what is Hermione saying?"

"Oh the usual. That she doesn't like you like that, that you're just friends, nothing more." Ron had his answer as soon as those words left his mouth. It was only for a moment but he saw a glint of sadness in Harry's eyes. There were some who would say that he was dense; there were some who would say that he had no clue what others were feeling. However, Ron had known Harry for six years now and he had learned to look for the clues that told how Harry was feeling – and right now, his best friend was feeling disappointed and sad.

"That's only the truth," Harry quickly replied.

Ron ignored that response as he had his answer and walked over to the nearest chair to sit down. Knowing that Harry liked Hermione too wasn't the relief that he thought it would be. A minute before, he would have said that knowing would be better than endlessly wondering how Harry felt about their other best friend. He knew better now. He didn't want to compete with Harry for anything, not only because they were such good friends, but because he was sure to lose as well.

And when he thought about it, he had already lost. To his mind, Hermione all too obviously liked Harry. Harry was the one she was always asking after in her letters. Harry was the one she was always worrying about, though Ron often got in trouble along with Harry. Harry was the one who made her eyes light up when she saw him. Ron was only a mere friend to her.

"Is anything the matter?" Ron heard Harry ask him.

He countered with a question of his own. "So when are you going to tell her?"

"Tell who what?"

"Tell Hermione that you like her," Ron said brusquely.

"How many times do I have to say that I don't like her—"

"Like that, yes I've heard it before. And it's not true. You do like her. If you didn't, you wouldn't care what she was saying about all the rumors."

"And I don't care – well, I don't care all that much. I mean, it's her life and I wish—"

"That she would say she likes you first to save you the heartache?" Ron glared at his best friend. "You know, it's bad enough knowing that the girl I like, likes someone else. It's bad enough to know that she likes my best friend. But to know that my best friend is a prat who's too scared to say anything to her – that's worst of all."

"Hermione and I are just friends," Harry said through clenched teeth.

"Don't be daft. You're not fooling anyone with that act, least of all me. You would very much like to snog Hermione senseless, wouldn't you?" Harry opened his mouth to deny that accusation but Ron waved him quiet. "If it was anyone else, I wouldn't give up like this," Ron said quietly. "But as you're my best friend and she's my best friend too . . . well, you better make each other happy. And if you make her cry, you'll answer to me. It's only right I look after her, considering she has no brother to do that for her."

Silence reigned between them for several moments. Then Harry meekly asked, "You don't mind?"

"Of course not," Ron lied. "But I'm not the one I think you should be talking to right now."

"Yeah well, I'm sure that Hermione—"

"And I'm positive she does. And besides, you're a Gryffindor. You're supposed to be brave. You've faced worse things than telling Hermione how you feel."

Harry looked as if he wanted to argue the point but then thought the better of it. "I think I'll see how Hermione is doing in the library," he said, waiting to see Ron's reaction.

"Good luck," Ron told him and with that, Harry headed off towards the library. Once Harry had left, Ron rubbed away at the tears that had filled his eyes. It wasn't the end of the world. Just because Hermione liked Harry right now didn't mean that she would like him always. He might have a chance eventually and even if he didn't, he would find someone else to love.

Ron could convince his mind of the truth of those words but he couldn't quite convince his heart.



Author's note: It has been a long time since I last updated this fic, hasn't it? Anyway, I would say that I plan to finish this fic sooner rather than later except that it's already quite late so I'll just say instead that I do intend to finish this fic, especially seeing as how close I am to the end. In any case, I would love to know what you thought, good or bad, so please leave a review.