Erised Senoimreh II: Ron POV
Ron sat down in Potions and looked around for Hermione. He couldn't help it. Harry smirked at him. "What are you smiling at, Potter?" Ron said, lightly punching Harry on the shoulder.
Thanks to Harry, he had discovered his feelings for Hermione. Less than two weeks ago, he and Hermione had argued over something. He couldn't remember what. Something pointless. Harry, who was always in the middle of their spats, had pulled him aside. He had laid it all out on the table and convinced Ron that he fancied Hermione. Ron had denied it ten times over at first, but finally admitted it with much embarrassment. He wanted to kill Harry, though, when he had laughed as Ron apologized to Hermione over their argument.
"Er, sorry Hermione. For...what I said."
Hermione had looked up from her parchment and raised her eyebrows. "Apology accepted, then." And then she continued working.
Normally Ron would have been mad that she hadn't apologized too. But because of recent developments he had just been happy she forgave him.
Since then, however, Ron had put everything he could into appearing that he didn't like Hermione. But then, according to Harry, he wasn't very good at it.
When Snape sauntered into the classroom, Ron's stomach dropped. Hermione was never late for a class. What if something had happened to her?
Right before Ron started to panic, Hermione dashed into the room and sat beside Harry. Ron suddenly wished he had sat next to the empty seat. He hadn't thought about it when he came in.
"Nice of you to join us, Miss Granger. Your excuse would only further delay the class so I will just proceed with the deduction of 10 points from Gryffindor."
Ron glared at Snape. He never missed a chance to help Slytherin win the House Cup. Sure, he would probably use her tardiness as fuel to tease her later, but Snape shouldn't be allowed to use it against her.
Later, Snape began to read pairs to make the potion for the day. He knew better than to hope he would be paired with any Gryffindors. "Granger and Malfoy." Ron drew in a sharp breath after he heard that. Malfoy. Of course. Malfoy would get Hermione as a partner. When he realized he was glaring at the back of Malfoy's head, he looked away. That was a bit too transparent. He really had to work on that.
When Ron was paired with Crabbe, he was at least happy that he got to stay where he was right behind Hermione and Malfoy. He could keep his eye on the little ferret. When Hermione walked up, Ron heard Malfoy make some rude comment but he couldn't tell what he had said. If he had, then the Slytherin would surely be dead by now.
When Ron realized that nothing was happening between his favorite girl and his least favorite guy, he focused on his own potion. Since he was paired with the class idiot [tied for the award with Malfoy's other goon, Goyle], Ron had to do all of the work. He didn't care so long as Crabbe didn't try to say anything.
The next time Ron glanced up, he wasn't quite so satisfied as the last time. Hermione was, no she couldn't be. But yes, she was. She was smiling. How could she be smiling at that, that, that moron! He called her terrible names! Ron didn't consider that he had called Hermione several names in his time. He heard Malfoy hiss in his oh-so-annoying voice, "What are you smiling at, Granger?" Ron felt his whole body burning with rage. He was wondering the same thing.
As he saw Hermione's smile fade, he noticed her body moving. He quickly looked down at the potion ingredients and tried to look busy. All his annoyance still raced through his veins. He was relieved when Hermione faced her own potion again. He didn't need her lecturing him when it should be the other way around.
At the end of the class, Ron went straight out the door. He didn't want to have to talk to Hermione. If he did, he'd probably chicken out of accusing her. He didn't like her to be angry at him and yet she always was.
He stopped around the corner to wait for Harry. Maybe he would understand. After all, Harry hated Malfoy as much as Ron did, didn't he? Even though Harry didn't like Hermione, he would at least care because she's a friend, right? Ron didn't know the difference when it came to Hermione because he couldn't discern when exactly he had fallen for her as more than a friend.
He had just decided he'd ask Harry's opinion on the situation when suddenly he was pushed backward with such a force that he had to grip the wall hard to keep from falling. He looked down to see Hermione trying to remain balanced in front of him.
She felt around on the ground and grabbed her knapsack as if she was in a rush. She wouldn't look him in the eye. "Sorry Ron. I wasn't looking where I was going." Before he could think about a response, though, she was halfway down the corridor.
Ron sighed. If she hadn't just done that, he wouldn't feel his ears burning so much and he wouldn't be bothered with thoughts like, She sure looks good when she's flustered. God, why did she have to be so clumsy?
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All day Ron had tried to think up a way to subtly bring up the Potions incident that was poisoning his every thought. But whenever he thought of something to say he repeated it in his mind and told himself that she would get mad. But he had to mention it.
After dinner that night, Ron was digging through his Defense textbook for information to put in an essay that he had conveniently forgotten was due.
He turned several pages without seeing them. He gathered his courage to bring up the issue he knew would not be easy to discuss. Taking a deep breath, he started, "Hermione?"
Hermione's eyebrows raised slightly, then she sighed. "I'm not helping you finish your essay, Ron."
Ron wished she had looked at him. Just because he loved to be able to see her eyes. God, he sounded so pathetic, even to himself. And he was annoyed with her now anyway. He had to put his crush on Hermione aside. Although he hadn't been asking for help on his homework, he dismissed it as though he had. "Yeah, I didn't expect so. So, I noticed you were enjoying being paired up with Malfoy this morning during Potions." Ron held his breath, waiting for her to scream at him.
Her head quickly shot up from her work and she regarded Ron with a wide-eyed expression. "What?! What are you talking about?"
Great, she was denying it. "I saw you smiling at him!"
At first, Hermione actually didn't get mad. Ron was mildly surprised. "Oh that, I wasn't smiling at him. I was just remem..." Oh no, here it comes, Ron thought as Hermione's eyes narrowed. Ron saw Harry grab his things and walk away and didn't blame him. He would have done the same thing. "Wait. What made you even think I would be smiling at Malfoy?"
Why wouldn't she just admit it? Ron just wanted to know why it happened. Then he could move on. Why did she have to make it so difficult? His temper flared more and more as he thought more about it. "My vision! I saw it with my own two eyes!" he screamed.
The two of them got so deep into the argument that they were shouting insults at each other that were in no way related to Potions or Malfoy.
Ron was now at the point of no return. He wasn't thinking about anything he was shouting at Hermione. "You're always doing this!" He screamed.
Hermione's face was red with anger. "Doing what?!"
If Ron had stopped and thought about what he was about to say, he would have killed himself first. But since he didn't, "Flirting with rich guys! First it's Vicky, now it's Malfoy! Next you'll be going after Harry! Maybe you didn't notice, but he's loaded too!"
The words finally registered in Ron's mind as they finished escaping his mouth. He definitely hadn't meant to say that. He had come so close to actually saying he was jealous of those guys. You IDIOT! he screamed at himself. He expected Hermione to either put the pieces together and be horrified knowing about his crush, or for her to turn it around on him and criticize his previous obsession with Fleur Delacour.
But, apparently, she was actually beyond rational. "That is NOT TRUE! I can't believe you would say that to me!" Me neither! he thought spitefully. "No wait! I CAN! I HATE YOU, RONALD WEASLEY!"
Ron looked at her in horror. She whirled around and ran out of the common room. He stared at the common room entrance for a while until eventually he collapsed onto the couch. He stared at the bricks on the fireplace and remained in a trance, Hermione's words echoing in his head. She hated him. Nothing about her tone had been kidding. And once she had time to think about it, she would know that he liked her. Then she would hate him even more. He could have dealt with the fact that Hermione wasn't interested in him. He would have forced himself to move on. But now he had ruined their friendship. That he couldn't deal with.
He had to make things right. He gritted his teeth and stood. Then he realized, he had no idea what to do. He had to do more than apologize. And how was he supposed to find her? It was past curfew by now. Hermione shouldn't be wandering the corridors, she could get caught. If she got detention, it would be his fault. Then she would have another reason to hate him.
Ron tried to think of a way to find her. He may have thought of something eventually, but then he glanced down and the problem had already been solved for him. How far gone had he been? Harry had left him the Invisibility Cloak and Marauder's Map while he had most likely been staring straight ahead.
Ron put on the cloak and activated the map and on he went. He walked through several corridors and finally got to the stairs and found there was no way to get where Hermione currently was. How did she get there? He decided on a random path and wandered around trying to find her.
Ron walked down a hallway and noticed that Hermione was now actually headed his way. She must be heading back to the common room. He put the map away. As he walked on, he heard a small sob and suddenly realized, Hermione must be going faster than he assumed! Before he could say anything to stop her, she rounded the corner hard and he was pushed back against the wall with a feeling of deja vu. Hadn't this happened before?
When he saw Hermione staring to his right with a scared expression, he remembered, feeling stupid, that he had the cloak on. He pulled it off and Hermione looked instead at him with that same scared manner.
Upon looking more closely, Ron saw that Hermione had a constant flow of tears down her face. It made him feel horrible. How could he have done this to her? She would never forgive him. But he had to try. He reached his hand out cautiously, "Are you all right?"
She took his hand--and he instantly felt jolts going down his arm--and she said with a cracked voice, "I'm f-fine." Well, she certainly didn't look fine. She stood before him but he didn't drop her hand and she didn't drop his.
"Please don't cry. I didn't mean anything I said back in the common room. I just--"
"No. Don't. You don't have to apologize."
Was this girl crazy? "Yes I do! I not only falsely accused you, but I accused you of flirting. With Malfoy! I didn't really--"
"You didn't?" She seemed doubtful. How was it that she knew exactly what he was going to say? That didn't seem fair as he never knew what she was going to say.
"W-well, I--" Dang. How could she do this to him? Make him admit, well, everything. That's how it was going to end up tonight. He could feel it. If she already hated him, there was no use hiding it really. "I'm sorry, Hermione. I just get so tired of being poor and being overlooked. I just overreacted again because, well, I thought Malfoy could be getting something else that I could never have." There. He had said it. But it wasn't over. She would ask him...
"And what's that?"
...that question. He blinked a few times and gained his courage. "You." He felt his heart stop. It must have stopped. She was just staring at him. Why did he like her so much? She was probably standing there thinking up a clever way to reject him and he was meditating on how beautiful she was even when she had been crying. Ron may have run from her rejection if she hadn't still held his hand. Why had she not dropped it yet?
Suddenly Ron realized Hermione was not staring into his eyes any longer. She was, no, but yes. Was she looking at his lips? She began to lean forward and Ron prayed that he wasn't misreading her actions. He already looked like a fool. He dropped her hand as he reached up to guide her face to his.
Ron felt the world drop away as his lips met hers. He had wondered what this would feel like. Even when he was eleven, and thought Hermione was a snob who talked too much, he had still wanted to know what kissing a girl would be like. Of course, at that age he hadn't known what love was and definitely didn't have these feelings for Hermione. But now, he felt as if a thousand pins and needles were in his skin, yet it was the best feeling he'd ever experienced. When he felt Hermione's arms link around his neck, he enjoyed the extra warmth that it gave him.
Though he didn't want to, Ron finally pulled back as Hermione did the same. Hermione looked distant. Had he done something wrong? He heard her mutter something under her breath. "What was that?" he wondered.
Hermione took her arms away from Ron's neck and Ron felt an unnatural coldness where her arms used to be. He stepped back a bit so that he wouldn't be able to give in so easily to his urge to kiss her again. "I--er--" she started.
"What is it?" he asked, feeling embarrassed. He knew he must have done something wrong now. "Is something wrong?"
"No! No, Ron." She laughed softly and smiled at him. God, she was so cute. "I just remembered the dream that I've been trying to remember all day."
Oh, good. So it wasn't him. "Oh. So--" But Ron didn't get to ask his question. Hermione kept talking.
"It was the only reason I smiled at all during Potions." What was this, an explanation? She didn't have to explain, but Ron couldn't tell her so. She wasn't showing signs of stopping. "Yes, I remember now. I was trying my best to ignore Malfoy and then I thought of you--" Me? I was the reason she smiled? Ron's ears burned in embarrassment. "--and that must have reminded me of my dream."
He was in her dream? No, that's not what she meant. Ron's head was spinning. "What kind of dream are we talking about here?"
She smiled in the way that was so Hermione and said, "A wonderful dream. It was the whole reason I was late this morning to Potions. I was dreaming of you, Ron."
Ron felt his jaw drop. Hermione, dreaming about him? He didn't think she even liked him as more than a friend before tonight. "Me?" he forced himself to ask. "Are you sure it wasn't..."
Ron was distracted from the end of his question as Hermione linked her arms around his neck once more and shook her head back and forth. With a smile, she said, "No, it wasn't Viktor."
Ron's heart swelled with happiness. She knew what he was hinting at, and she wasn't mad. Then, as if to prove her words, she kissed him again. The prickling feeling that accompanied kissing her returned to him.
When Hermione pulled back, Ron suddenly wanted to ask her a million questions. He had higher spirits now that he knew she really did like him. "I don't understand. I didn't even think you--"
"Neither did I," she interrupted. She was too smart! Constantly knowing what he was going to say. For once he wanted to predict her actions. "You remember the Mirror of Erised. Right?"
"Yeah, of course." Crazy Hermione. Crazy, beautiful Hermione. Why was she mentioning that old thing at a time like this? Was it designed on this day twelve hundred years ago or something? Ron remembered what he had seen in it in his first year. He had exceeded all his other brothers in it. But that couldn't be what he wanted anymore. It would probably be something different.
"Well I accidentally stumbled into the room where it is now and, well, I saw you." Ron's eyebrows shot up in amazement. "And me. Like this."
"Like what?" Ron asked.
"Together," she stated simply.
Hermione's voice echoed in his head as it had done before. This thought brought back his last memory of her. I HATE YOU, RONALD WEASLEY! But now she was standing with her arms around him and looking into his eyes. Yet, Ron didn't want to think it was for sure until he heard it from Hermione. "But, but you said you hated me."
"Oh, Ron. You know I could never hate you. Really hate you. Don't you?"
The swarming butterflies in his stomach calmed down at her words. "I guess I do now." This was the best night of his life. He never thought he would be able to tell Hermione how he felt, but then, when it came time to confess, he really didn't have to say that much. He reached down for Harry's Invisibility Cloak and Hermione removed her arms from him once again. The cold atmosphere was brought back to his mind when she did this, so he took her hand. As he was wrapping the cloak around himself and Hermione, he had a thought. "The only thing. What are we gonna tell Harry?"
~*~
A/N: I realize things still moved pretty fast in my rewrites but I don't have time to fix all of the errors. I have a Harry/Ginny story and a few other R/Hr ones that I want to finish in the next two weeks before Order of the Phoenix hits stores!! Please leave comments in your reviews, but I already know the story's a bit fast-paced. If something else strikes you as odd, let me know. And yes, I realize Ron was a bit too obsessed with Hermione. But I don't know guys that well and for this story he had to be quite taken with her! Thanks a bunch!
I will write the 3rd and last installment if I get at least 15 reviews total!!
