In Dreams

Chapter 11

"You know you can't hide in here forever."

Ron, hesitating, pulled his gaze from the hospital wing ceiling and turned it toward the speaker. "My head still hurts," he grumbled.

Hermione smiling, annoyingly Ron thought, made her way across the room and sat down on Ron's bed. "Your head looks alright to me."

Ron opened his mouth to protest but closed it a few seconds later. He really had no idea what to say to her after he had embarrassed himself in front of practically the entire school. Maybe he could talk Madame Promfrey into letting him spend the rest of the semester in here. Then he dismissed the thought as being utterly ridiculous. It was time to face the music. "Look, Hermione, about what I said out there on the quidditch field..."

Hermione was looking at him so expectantly that Ron's lie died right on his lips. He could tell her that this was all the result of a bad dream he had had or that he loved her as just a friend. For a long time he had thought thats all he had been.

"Look, Hermione," Ron began again, this time his voice was gentle and sincere. "We've been friends for a couple of years now after a rough start I'd say. I thought you were this know-it-all showoff. The truth is, your just very, very clever and I let that stand in the way of our friendship because I was jealous."

Hermione opened her mouth to protest that this was all water under the bridge. "Ron..."

"Please, Hermione, let me finish," said Ron. Before he knew it himself, he had taken her hand into his. A part of him was shocked and yet another part of him felt that this was right. He couldn't let embarrassment stand in the way of something that was truly important to him. "Luckily, you became as much of a best friend to me as Harry is. Then when Vicktor Krum came into the picture," Ron's free hand clinched involuntarily, "I was very angry with you. I didn't know why I was, but I was. I was always protective of you, then even more so, and rationalized it away. I told myself that it was because he was competing against Harry, that he was our enemy."

Hermione, who had been looking down at Ron's hand in her own, looked up. Their eyes met. Her heart was beating a fast. For a long time she knew she had loved Ron. She had thought maybe, someday, he would realize that he loved her too and yet somehow she had thought it would never come. But the time was now. "I was flattered..." her voice faltered, "I never cared about Victor the way..." She became tongue-tied and knew not what to say. She could feel tears pricking her eyes but knew not they were tears of joy or sadness.

Ron leaned forward, his voice dipping even lower, barely a whisper. "I'm so sorry, Hermione. I'm so sorry, I didn't realize or notice. But since that first day on the train when you walked into Harry's and my compartment, you've never been far from my thoughts. I love you, Hermione Granger. I always have, but..."

Ron was silenced as a tear, slipped out of her eye and trickled silently down her cheek. Ron's heart ached to see her so. How long must she have loved him never knowing if he would ever return her affection! He leaned in closer, wanting to comfort her, knowing, yet not knowing, what to do. She met him half way as his lips pressed against hers in a moment of sweetness that had long been delayed.

The moment was shattered by the sound of the hospital wing door being opened. Hermione and Ron quickly broke the kiss apart and yet he still clung to her hand. For her part, Hermione was just as unwilling to let go.

They looked over as the smiling faces of Harry and Ginny, still dressed in their quidditch uniforms, walked toward them. "Fred and George just left back to their joke shop but they sent their best wishes for a speedy recovery. You okay?" asked Harry when the two had reached Ron's beside.

"Yeah just fine, mate," said Ron. It was then that Harry realized that Ron was grinning at him. Stupidly grinning at him in fact. Both he and Ginny, feeling suddenly very awkward as they looked down to see Ron's hand holding Hermione's. She was blushing, trying not to look at them and trying to keep off the smile that kept playing with the corners of her mouth.



Ginny couldn't stop the smile that grew on her face. It made her heart light to finally see her brother and her friend both happy.

"Well," said Harry trying to break the awkward moment. He felt weird. His heart was glad that his two friends had finally admitted how they felt about each other. And yet at the same moment he also felt sad. It was like he was an intruder and outsider. Not that his friends would see him that way. I mean it wasn't like he was losing them, but still...

Harry felt a gentle hand on his arm, helping him out of the situation. "Harry, you said you promised me you'd help me out with a little extra quidditch practice to get ready for our match with Ravenclaw," said Ginny smiling at him.

Harry looked at Ginny and for a moment wondered when it was that he had stopped thinking of her as his best friend's little sister. She was his friend too and he was grateful for her help out of this situation, as he had been for her help so many times in the past. "Yes, thanks for reminding me, Ginny," said Harry smiling. "We'll just catch up with you two later."

Ron and Hermione nodded and mumbled their good-byes. They watched Ginny and Harry leave.

"They'd make a cute couple," said Hermione with a lighthearted laugh.

Ron almost rolled his eyes, "What? Are you going to play match maker now?"

"No," said Hermione still laughing. "But would you rather have Ginny dating Dean?"

"Of course not," protested Ron. "Dean's okay but he's not good enough for Ginny."

Ron shrugged. "Okay I don't like the idea of any guy dating my little sister, but if it has to be, if there had to be a guy, well, Harry's my mate and...and he's as good as they come."

"Yeah he is," agreed Hermione smiling.

An awkward silence settled between the two. It lasted for a good few minutes before Ron cleared his throat and said, "Well what to we do now."

"Same as we always do I guess," said Hermione with a slight shrug.

But before they could talk more Madame Pomfrey came bustling in. "Miss Granger, you're going to have to leave now. Mr. Weasley took a serious blow to the head and he needs his rest."

"Okay," said Hermione. As soon as Madame Pomfrey turned her back for a second, Hermione slipped her hands around Ron's neck. He put his arms around her waist and pulled her into a tight hug. She kissed him on the cheek and whispered in his ear, "I love you Ronald Weasley." She quickly released him and hurried out of the wing before Madame Pomfrey turned around.

Ron watched her go and still stared in that direction for a good while after that before he laid his head down on the pillow. He hadn't felt this happy since he had turned his quidditch team's losing streak around last year. He slowly closed his eyes. He hadn't realized how exhausted was. When sleep finally over took him, he worried briefly that he'd wake up to find this had all been a dream. But if it were, it would be his best dream ever.