A/N: I'm posting these rather quickly, aren't I? I'll admit that it's
because I've had them all written out for quite some time. And I'm
extremely anxious to get through them all! Thanks to everyone who left
feedback on the last chapter. I know it wasn't my most interesting, but
like I said, that chapter was necessary.
Disclaimer: No.
***************************************
Later that evening, Harry found himself sitting around the kitchen table with Ron and Hermione. Mr. and Mrs. Granger had a charity event in London scheduled, and they'd left the teens with several takeout menus and more than enough money for dinner. As a result, the kitchen table was currently covered with pizza boxes, Chinese takeout containers, and a few different Mexican entrees. Hermione had been in a rather foul mood since they'd returned from the cinema, and she appeared to be drowning her anger in food.
In other words, she was eating more than either of the boys had ever seen her do.
She looked across the table at Ron's plate and saw the last slice of mushroom pizza, already half-eaten. "Are you going to finish that?"
Ron glanced down at his plate and then back up at Hermione. "Yes." Then he raised an eyebrow. "You don't want it anyway- this stuff will go straight to your hips."
Harry immediately knew that Ron had said the worst possible thing imaginable, but he nevertheless had to fight down the urge to snicker as Hermione looked up in shock.
Her mouth was halfway open as she sat in silence for a long moment. "I cannot believe you just called me fat to my face," she finally sputtered.
Ron looked just as shocked by her statement as she had been by his. He wrinkled up his forehead and turned to Harry. "Did I just call her fat?"
Harry, not really wanting to get involved, suddenly became quite interested in his own dinner.
Hermione's shocked look turned into a glare. "Could you talk to me like I'm actually here instead of in the third person?"
Ron turned his attention back to the girl in question and raised his own voice to match hers. "Fine! Did I just call YOU fat?"
"Yes!"
"I did not!" Ron defended immediately. "I was trying to prevent that from happening!"
"Prevent it from happening?!" Hermione looked as if she could hardly believe he was being so stupid. Harry himself could hardly believe it, actually...
"Yes!" Ron said determinedly. "Because I know how girls are. You'd just whine and whine and whine if you gained any weight. You should hear Ginny if she even gains like an ounce!"
Hermione still didn't give up the bewildered look. "You don't know anything about girls!"
Ron rolled his eyes. "If you want it then take it." He pushed the plate containing the half slice of pizza across the table.
Hermione didn't even look down before pushing it straight back at him. "I don't want it."
"You asked for it." He slid it right back.
"I don't want it," she stated with a tight glare as she slid it back to him.
Ron returned a glare of his own before pushing it again. "Just eat the damn pizza."
"No!" She shoved it toward him.
"Eat it!" The plate went flying again.
"No!" Hermione then shoved the pizza so hard that it flew off the edge of the table and landed in Ron's lap. She looked quite satisfied as she stood up and glared at him. "I'm going to take a shower, and then I'm going to bed."
Harry had been struggling not to laugh the entire time, and the moment Hermione had disappeared up the stairs leaving Ron with a befuddled expression and a lapful of pizza, he finally gave in and broke down into snickers. Ron glared at him shortly before reaching down and picking the pizza off of him.
"What is her problem?" he asked ruefully as he wiped his hands on a paper towel and attempted to clean off his jeans a little.
Harry shrugged and took a bite of fried rice out of one of the Chinese containers. "You called her fat."
Ron looked outraged. "I did not!"
Harry nodded briefly. "Yeah, you did. To a girl, that's getting called fat."
"How the hell do you know?"
Harry shrugged again. "I dunno. I just know that you called her fat."
Ron rolled his eyes. "You don't know."
Harry was about to reply again, but the telephone took to ringing at that exact moment. He glanced across the table at Ron, who was now engaged in a slice of plain cheese pizza. The phone range two more times before Hermione's annoyed voice floated down the stairs. "Are you going to answer that?"
Ron wrinkled his nose and called back bitterly, "It's not our house."
There was a very audible groan heard from upstairs before feet could be heard hurrying down the level and into the kitchen. Harry and Ron both looked up as Hermione flew through the kitchen and into the hallway. She was obviously just getting ready for her shower because she'd taken her hair down, and she was wearing a short lilac bathrobe.
Harry glanced at Ron who was still staring at the doorway through which Hermione had just disappeared. He looked quite deep in thought about something, and as if sensing Harry's gaze on him, he met his best friend's eyes blushing.
Harry raised an eyebrow. "What?"
Ron didn't say anything for a second before breaking out into a very slight grin. "Do you think she's naked under that robe?"
Harry definitely hadn't been expecting that, and he instantly burst into laughter. Ron, too, laughed, but when Hermione appeared again seconds later, Harry cursed himself for letting his eyes take a quick trip down and then up her body; he found that imagining Ron's statement was just a little too easy than he would have liked.
Hermione looked at him weirdly before rolling her eyes and self-consciously pulling her robe tighter around her, as if she could sense what the boys were thinking. Of course, by doing that, she didn't really help the situation or calm their thoughts too much at all. She looked pointedly at Harry, "It's Gia."
Harry was quite shocked. Finally shaking the image Ron had put in his head, he said, "For me?"
Hermione rolled her eyes again. "No, for me," she said bitterly. "She thought we should start over and wanted to know if I would join her for tea and milk." She turned a sharp glare in Ron's direction. "Of course, I'm sure any bugs she would have to offer me this time would probably go straight to my hips."
Harry wanted to laugh so badly that it hurt to keep a straight face. Ron made his own face at Hermione and then, as if self-satisfied, said, "Yes, they probably would."
Hermione looked ready to murder him. Instead, she turned rather abruptly to Harry. "Are you going to get the phone or what?"
Harry jumped at her sharp tone. He pushed his chair back, muttering something along the lines of, "Don't take it out on me if you're pissed at Ron."
Hermione glared after him for a brief second before rolling her eyes yet again and stomping back up the stairs. Harry shook his head, knowing she'd get over it soon enough, and went into the hallway where the phone was located.
"Hello?"
"Harry! Hi, it's Gia!" She sounded far too excited, but Harry was somehow flattered.
"Hey. How are you?"
"I'm good," she answered quickly. "Look, I know you're visiting with Hermione's family or whatever, but I really had a lot of fun today. And if you want to hang out again, I'd really enjoy it." She said all of this very confidently, and Harry was strangely impressed that she was so comfortable making the offer.
Not really knowing what else to say, he shrugged. Immediately realizing that she couldn't see him, he said, "Yeah, sure. That'd be great."
He could literally hear her smile through the phone. "Great! How about tomorrow?"
Well, it was short notice, but he really had enjoyed himself as well. He'd secretly been hoping that she'd want to go out and do something else; he'd just been terrified of asking. Luckily for him, all he had to do was accept an offer. "Tomorrow's fine," he answered, trying his very best to sound casual.
Gia laughed, though he didn't know why. "Well, good. I'll come by Hermione's house after lunch, and then we can decide what to do. Is that okay?"
"Yeah, that's fine." He hoped he didn't sound too stupid; this was a rather awkward situation for him to be in, and he was trying desperately to act as normal as possible.
"Well, then I guess I'll see you then," she answered brightly.
Harry nodded, knowing that she still couldn't see him. "Yeah, tomorrow."
"Have a good night," she answered sweetly.
Harry grinned. "Yeah, you, too."
"Bye, Harry."
"Bye."
Harry hung up the receiver and stood in the hallway for a moment reflecting on the telephone conversation. Was it going to be a date? Is that what she would think it was? Is that what he wanted her to think it was? Harry shook himself of the thoughts and decided to ponder them later. He went back into the kitchen and settled himself across from Ron.
"What did Gia want?" Ron asked through a mouthful of pizza.
Harry couldn't help the blush that crept across his cheeks. He really had been spending too much time with the Weasleys. "She wanted to know if I wanted to hang out tomorrow."
Ron smirked. "Oh, she did? And what did you say?"
Harry busied himself with his food once again. As nonchalantly as possible, he said, "I told her okay."
Ron was still smirking slyly. "Well, then that's good, right?"
Harry shrugged, pretending to be noncommittal about the situation. "I guess so." Deciding to change the subject, he said, "So, what did you think of Celeste?"
Ron shrugged again but then smiled slyly. "Obviously not as much as you thought of Gia."
"What are you talking about?" Harry asked, feeling his cheeks heat up again.
Ron rolled his eyes. "Do you think I didn't see you holding her hand through the whole film?"
Fighting the blush didn't work. Harry looked down at his plate. "Why didn't you say anything before?"
"I was waiting to see if you would tell me. I see now that you weren't planning on it."
"I was," Harry said, looking back up. "I just hadn't gotten around to it yet..."
"Right," Ron said unconvincingly. Then he smiled. "Do you like her?"
Harry shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe."
"What do you mean you don't know?" Ron asked with a raised eyebrow. "How can you not know?"
Harry didn't point out that Ron still didn't know whether or not he liked Hermione. Instead, he just shrugged again. "Well, I barely know her."
"She's pretty," Ron said coaxingly.
Harry nodded. "Yeah, she is."
"And she seemed pretty cool."
Harry nodded again. "Yeah, she did."
Ron stared silently at the dark-haired boy in front of him for a moment. "So, wouldn't you put all of that together and come up with the fact that you like her?"
Harry sighed. "Okay. I guess I like her."
"In the same way you like Cho?" Ron was looking curiously across the table.
Harry pondered this for a moment. He liked Cho a lot. He had recently started thinking about Ginny Weasley a little differently than he'd been doing previously, though he certainly didn't say this to Ron. And now here was a new girl who he liked, too. Confusing? Yes. He was at least thankful that he didn't have any sort of feelings for Hermione, too- other than liking to look up her skirt and shamefully imagining what she looked like under her bathrobe, of course.
Oh, Jesus. Why didn't anyone tell him that being fifteen years old was a hell all of its own?
He finally answered Ron's question. "I don't know. I have to know more about Gia before I decide how much I like her."
Ron shrugged. "Fair enough."
"Well, what about Celeste?" Harry asked, raising his own eyebrows. "Gia told me that she likes you."
Ron blushed a little. "She's kind of annoying. She kept talking to me all through the film, and it's not like I wasn't already distracted enough by the fact that you were holding hands with Gia and the fact that Hermione kept sighing loudly and shifting positions like she was furious at the world. I don't even know what happened at the end of that movie."
Harry laughed. "Neither do I."
Ron laughed, too. "I mean, Celeste is pretty, but she's sort of ditzy. She reminds me of Lavender."
"That bad, huh?"
"Yeah," Ron said seriously. "Give her some blonde hair, and she could be called Violet Brown."
Harry snorted with laughter. "So, you don't want to see her again?"
"I dunno. Not really," Ron answered truthfully. "It wouldn't hurt my feelings if she didn't call."
"It was funny what they did to Hermione when she was younger, though, wasn't it?"
Ron laughed. "Yeah. But she probably deserved it."
Harry snickered. "Remember how she was when we first met her?"
Groaning, Ron rolled his eyes. Then he put on a high-pitched and rather accurate impression of eleven year old Hermione. "Don't you care about Gryffindor at all, do you only care about yourselves? I don't want Slytherin to win the House Cup, and you'll lose all the points I got from Professor McGonagall for knowing about Switching Spells."
Harry burst into laughter, but stopped abruptly when another voice sounded from the entrance to the kitchen. "Yeah, and you're lucky you didn't. You were both really stupid that night, and you almost got us killed."
Hermione had come back downstairs, now fresh from the shower. She was dressed in pajamas and no longer in her bathrobe (Harry couldn't work out whether this was a good thing or not), and her wet hair was piled on top of her head and secured with a silver clip. She walked to the table and sat back down.
"Well, obviously the shower calmed your moodiness," Ron said with a small smirk.
Hermione ignored him and addressed Harry. "What did Gia want?"
"Harry's going on a date with her," Ron supplied proudly.
Harry blushed and sent his friend a look of slight contempt. "It's not a date."
"No?" Ron asked with a grin. "What would you call it then?"
Harry shrugged one shoulder.
Hermione looked quite disgusted. "Harry..." She shook her head, flabbergasted. "I don't think you could possibly have worse taste in dates! First Parvati, then Lavender, and now Gia Martin?! What is the matter with you?"
Harry wasn't sure how to react. Luckily, Ron decided to react for him.
"Oh, lay off, Hermione. You're the one who dated Viktor Krum."
Okay, so maybe it wasn't quite so lucky.
A thick silence surrounded them as Harry tried very hard to Disapparate from the room with no knowledge of how to do so. Ron obviously realized what he said and was looking quite sheepish. And Hermione simply stared at him for a long moment.
She didn't say a word as she stood up and walked back up the stairs. They heard her bedroom door shut, and Ron immediately put his forehead in his hands.
It was Harry who spoke first. "Well, that was stupid."
Ron raised his hands just enough to look at Harry. "Thanks," he said bitterly. "I didn't realize that."
Harry sighed, not particularly wanting to send Ron up to Hermione's room but knowing that if they didn't sort this out now that the rest of the holiday would be hell. "You should apologize."
Ron rolled his eyes at the suggestion. "I can't just apologize."
"Why not?"
"Because I've only apologized to her about something once in my entire life, and I'm not about to go making a habit of it." Ron said all of this as thought it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Harry, not quite believing he was saying this said, "Well, you should start making a habit of it. You two would probably get a lot further with each other if you weren't both so thick-headed."
Ron looked up blushing. "Shut up, Harry."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Fine. Don't apologize. But you know how she's going to be if you don't. Do you really want to spend three weeks here with her in bad mood?"
Ron scowled, knowing that Harry was right. "Oh, fine, I'll apologize." He stood up and then clarified his actions. "But only because I don't want her to be all pissy for the whole holiday."
Harry shrugged, accepting Ron's answer mainly because he didn't want to dwell on the subject any longer than necessary. Without another word, Ron trudged up the stairs and down the long hallway to Hermione's closed bedroom door. The light was on, and he carefully raised his hand to knock gently on the wood. There was no answer from inside. He knocked again and this time tried calling to her.
"Hermione, it's me."
"Go away."
Okay, so maybe that wasn't what he wanted to hear. He sighed, rolling his eyes, and tried talking to her again. "Will you just open the door?"
"No." Her answer was sharp and non-hesitant. "Leave me alone."
Drastic times called for drastic measures. Ron reached for his wand and called loudly through the door. "Fine. I'll just let myself in." He pointed the wand at the knob and clearly said, "Alohomora!" The door unlocked instantly, and Ron reached for the handle, turning it to reveal a very outraged looking Hermione.
"How dare you break into my room!"
"I didn't break in," Ron said defensively. "If you didn't want me to use that spell, then you should never have taught it to me." Perfect- blame his actions on her; that was so typical of them.
Hermione glared at him dangerously. "Get out."
"No," Ron answered immediately. "I want to talk to you."
"Well, I don't want to talk to you!" she said loudly. And for the first time, Ron noticed that her eyes were red and puffy while the rest of her face was very pale.
"Hermione, why are you crying?"
She turned away from him instantly, reaching up to rub at her eyes with the heels of her hands. "I'm not," she said coldly.
Ron might not have had the best grades in the Fifth Year, but he wasn't stupid. "Yes, you are. Now, why are you crying?"
"I don't know!" she answered a bit shrilly. "Just go away."
Ron was quiet for a long moment and almost considered following her orders. But then he remembered what Harry had said about the rest of the holiday being hell if she was in a bad mood. And, of course, there was that huge, overwhelming part of him that couldn't stand to see her in tears. "Hermione, I'm sorry." He hadn't meant to just come out and apologize like that, but he wasn't sorry afterwards- best to just get it all out there, right?
She didn't turn to look at him; she simply shook her head. Ron watched her hair, now down and curly from the water, shake from behind. "Just please leave me alone," she said quietly.
Ron sighed; he had no idea what to do. So, he did the first thing that came to his mind; he crossed the room and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. He watched as she jumped at his touch, and he felt her skin tense up underneath his hand. There was something amazingly cool about it, but he didn't dwell on this. In a quiet voice of his own, he tried again. "I really am sorry, Hermione."
At this, she turned to him, shrugging off his hand and causing him to take an unconscious step backwards away from her. "What are you sorry for, Ron?" she challenged. "You can't just come in here and apologize and have no idea what you're apologizing for."
Ron thought about this for a moment but smartly decided that taking too long would not be a good thing. "I'm sorry that I brought up that idiot." Hermione looked away, and he hurried to finish up. "But, believe me, Hermione. You're much better off without him. He didn't deserve you at all. He couldn't even say your name!"
Hermione's face softened a bit, but she didn't say anything. Ron rightly figured that he wasn't done apologizing.
Sighing softly, he said, "And I'm sorry that you think I called you fat. But I swear I didn't mean it like that." She looked at him for an explanation. "You are not fat, Hermione, and you never have been. Really, I swear. You're like the perfect size." They both blushed, but Ron tried very hard to pretend as if what he'd just said was perfectly normal. He went right on with, "It's just that sometimes I forget you're a girl."
Hermione's redness went from complimented to anger in a flat second. She turned a disbelieving glare at him, and Ron instantly winced when he realized what he'd said.
Hermione shook her head. "You really know how to make a situation better, don't you?" The sarcasm was not missed at all.
Ron immediately held up his hands in a somewhat defense. "Wait! That's not what I meant- it came out all wrong!" He took a deep breath as he chose his next words carefully. "I know you're a girl. Trust me." If she only knew... "But you're so different from all the other girls I know that sometimes I forget that you're sensitive about the same things that they are." She didn't look convinced, so he kept going. "All the other girls are so superficial and narcissistic, and you're just not. You're just..." he struggled with word choice. "You're just above that." Her expression softened for the second time. "And sometimes it's just hard to know what you'll take serious, and when you'll know that I'm just joking." He swallowed and glanced down at the floor. "And I guess I say things that come out wrong, and sometimes you just don't get them the way I meant them. But... But it's not like we can help that, you know? Because you're a girl, and I'm... a guy. And we just..." he sighed softly, "think differently is all."
There was a long moment of silence in which Ron didn't dare look at Hermione. His cheeks were already burning bright red, and he was positive that if he looked at her that he would catch himself on fire. He just prayed silently that she would understand.
Because, deep down, he really was sorry.
Finally, after what seemed like several eternities, Hermione sighed softly, and Ron finally worked up enough courage to look in her direction. She met his eyes, and he was pleased to see her face breaking out into a soft smile. He let his own grimace, which he wasn't aware he'd been wearing, soften, and he smiled back at her.
She shook her head a little. "Why can't you always talk like that?" she asked quietly.
Ron shrugged sheepishly. "Because then people might know I was really nice," he answered jokingly.
Hermione laughed. Then she shook her head again. "I don't know why some things upset me so much, and others don't."
Ron, going with the whole joking them, shrugged indifferently. "It's the estrogen. You can't help it."
Hermione actually snorted with laughter. "And just what do you know about estrogen, Ron?"
He tried to look offended. "Hey! I have a mother and a sister, don't forget."
Hermione smirked. "Right."
"I'm an expert on women."
She rolled her eyes and repeated her earlier statement. "Right."
"Look, now," he said importantly. "Don't go miscounting my abilities or my knowledge. I happen to be the favorite of both the women in my household."
Hermione giggled. "I honestly think your mother would choose Percy, and I'm pretty sure Ginny would choose the twins."
Ron tried to look outraged. Then he grinned and shook his own head. "Nah, Mum would choose Bill, and Ginny would choose Charlie. She only likes the twins now because they give her an excuse to be bad- Charlie's the one who always brings her all kinds of cool presents from Romania."
Hermione laughed and patted him sympathetically on the arm. "Ah, well. You still have the new baby, right? Maybe you can brainwash her."
"Him," Ron corrected instantly. Then he cocked his head to the side as if in some sort of deep thought. "You know what? I don't think Mum would choose Bill after all. She'd probably choose Harry."
Hermione raised a hand to her mouth and giggled behind it. "You're probably right." Then she snickered some more before muttering, "Ginny probably would, too."
Ron looked up instantly but then rolled his eyes and joking said, "Just shut up, okay?"
Hermione giggled again and shrugged. "Sorry."
Ron grinned at her for a long moment before finally saying, "So, do you officially forgive me for being a prat?"
Hermione pursed her lips and sighed dejectedly. "This time."
Ron smiled and opened up his arms in offering. "Friends?"
She reached up and wrapped herself in the offered hug. "Friends."
The joking stopped the moment the embrace started. They were both shocked at how different it felt from all the previous hugs they'd shared. This one was on a deeper level than just friendship, and they both knew it. Hermione closed her eyes against Ron's shoulder and tried very hard to imagine that this hug was openly on that deeper level and not hidden and disguised as a peace offering.
Ron glanced down at the top of her head for a brief moment and caught a whiff of her newly shampooed and conditioned hair. It was the same lemony- coconutty smell that he'd noticed the night she'd been crying in the girls' bathroom before the Halloween Ball. He had the strangest feeling that he could smell her hair for the rest of his life and never tire of it.
He also felt like he could just hold her like this, too, and never tired of it.
This thought was terrifying and exhilarating all the same time. This was Hermione. Bossy, know-it-all Hermione. The very same Hermione who he had recently admitted to himself that he liked as a whole lot more than just a friend.
And being in this close of a proximity with her did not calm that desire that he'd been aware of for some time now. He loved to fight with her, but he would love to do so much more...
Knowing that he wasn't anywhere close to taking that next step, though, he settled for letting her rest against his shoulder. Taking a somewhat more daring of approach, he carefully let one of his hands slide down the curve her back; he could feel her spine through her pajama shirt as his fingertips glided gently lower.
She shivered.
Ron closed his eyes as she did this and felt his breath catch in his throat. There was something, really something, about being able to make Hermione Granger shiver. Letting that hand rest against the small of her lower back, he carefully raised his other hand to her hair. He fingered a damp curl, knowing that she would have it all straightened back out by tomorrow, and wrapped it around his finger. He unwound it, let it go, and felt it spring back into place.
He missed her curls.
Hermione bit down on her lower lip as she felt his fingers playing in her hair. She wanted this- she wanted this so badly that it almost hurt. She wanted him. She wanted him to tell her that it wasn't one-sided and that he felt it, too.
But she also knew that this wasn't the right time.
Things were still too new, and she didn't want to spoil it. So, she simply relaxed into his embrace, feeling content and anxious, peaceful and nervous all at the same time.
It was wonderful.
Ron felt her relaxing and bit back the sigh he was afraid would sound far too girlish. Not trusting himself to deny his urges for too much longer, he bent his head and quietly whispered into her ear. "We should probably go to bed. It's really late."
Hermione knew he was telling the truth. But, not wanting to let go just yet, she tightened her arms around his neck a bit and brought his head closer to her mouth. Whispering as close to his ear as possible, she said, "Thank you for coming up here after me."
As close to his ear as possible had turned out to be his neck, and Ron couldn't fight his own shiver as it shot down his spine. Her breath was shockingly hot on his skin, and her words were so completely genuine that he was sure he was going to die if something didn't happen soon.
Knowing that it was the right thing to do, he carefully pulled out of her embrace and took a single step backwards. "I'll see you in the morning."
Hermione smiled sadly and nodded, not sure that she wanted him to leave at all. "Okay," she said quietly.
Ron just stared at her for a long moment before nodding his own head slightly. "Goodnight." Without another word, he opened her bedroom door and left, shutting it behind him.
Hermione looked at the closed door and let out what she could only rightfully describe as a whimper. Then, knowing he couldn't hear her, she whispered, "Goodnight."
On the other side of the door, Ron had leaned against the closed door and shut his eyes.
Were things ever going to change?
***************************************************************
Ah, ha! And so the story evolves and the title takes precedent! I know many of you are probably throwing various shoes at your computer screen, but please just trust that things all happen for a reason.
Please leave feedback!!!
Disclaimer: No.
***************************************
Later that evening, Harry found himself sitting around the kitchen table with Ron and Hermione. Mr. and Mrs. Granger had a charity event in London scheduled, and they'd left the teens with several takeout menus and more than enough money for dinner. As a result, the kitchen table was currently covered with pizza boxes, Chinese takeout containers, and a few different Mexican entrees. Hermione had been in a rather foul mood since they'd returned from the cinema, and she appeared to be drowning her anger in food.
In other words, she was eating more than either of the boys had ever seen her do.
She looked across the table at Ron's plate and saw the last slice of mushroom pizza, already half-eaten. "Are you going to finish that?"
Ron glanced down at his plate and then back up at Hermione. "Yes." Then he raised an eyebrow. "You don't want it anyway- this stuff will go straight to your hips."
Harry immediately knew that Ron had said the worst possible thing imaginable, but he nevertheless had to fight down the urge to snicker as Hermione looked up in shock.
Her mouth was halfway open as she sat in silence for a long moment. "I cannot believe you just called me fat to my face," she finally sputtered.
Ron looked just as shocked by her statement as she had been by his. He wrinkled up his forehead and turned to Harry. "Did I just call her fat?"
Harry, not really wanting to get involved, suddenly became quite interested in his own dinner.
Hermione's shocked look turned into a glare. "Could you talk to me like I'm actually here instead of in the third person?"
Ron turned his attention back to the girl in question and raised his own voice to match hers. "Fine! Did I just call YOU fat?"
"Yes!"
"I did not!" Ron defended immediately. "I was trying to prevent that from happening!"
"Prevent it from happening?!" Hermione looked as if she could hardly believe he was being so stupid. Harry himself could hardly believe it, actually...
"Yes!" Ron said determinedly. "Because I know how girls are. You'd just whine and whine and whine if you gained any weight. You should hear Ginny if she even gains like an ounce!"
Hermione still didn't give up the bewildered look. "You don't know anything about girls!"
Ron rolled his eyes. "If you want it then take it." He pushed the plate containing the half slice of pizza across the table.
Hermione didn't even look down before pushing it straight back at him. "I don't want it."
"You asked for it." He slid it right back.
"I don't want it," she stated with a tight glare as she slid it back to him.
Ron returned a glare of his own before pushing it again. "Just eat the damn pizza."
"No!" She shoved it toward him.
"Eat it!" The plate went flying again.
"No!" Hermione then shoved the pizza so hard that it flew off the edge of the table and landed in Ron's lap. She looked quite satisfied as she stood up and glared at him. "I'm going to take a shower, and then I'm going to bed."
Harry had been struggling not to laugh the entire time, and the moment Hermione had disappeared up the stairs leaving Ron with a befuddled expression and a lapful of pizza, he finally gave in and broke down into snickers. Ron glared at him shortly before reaching down and picking the pizza off of him.
"What is her problem?" he asked ruefully as he wiped his hands on a paper towel and attempted to clean off his jeans a little.
Harry shrugged and took a bite of fried rice out of one of the Chinese containers. "You called her fat."
Ron looked outraged. "I did not!"
Harry nodded briefly. "Yeah, you did. To a girl, that's getting called fat."
"How the hell do you know?"
Harry shrugged again. "I dunno. I just know that you called her fat."
Ron rolled his eyes. "You don't know."
Harry was about to reply again, but the telephone took to ringing at that exact moment. He glanced across the table at Ron, who was now engaged in a slice of plain cheese pizza. The phone range two more times before Hermione's annoyed voice floated down the stairs. "Are you going to answer that?"
Ron wrinkled his nose and called back bitterly, "It's not our house."
There was a very audible groan heard from upstairs before feet could be heard hurrying down the level and into the kitchen. Harry and Ron both looked up as Hermione flew through the kitchen and into the hallway. She was obviously just getting ready for her shower because she'd taken her hair down, and she was wearing a short lilac bathrobe.
Harry glanced at Ron who was still staring at the doorway through which Hermione had just disappeared. He looked quite deep in thought about something, and as if sensing Harry's gaze on him, he met his best friend's eyes blushing.
Harry raised an eyebrow. "What?"
Ron didn't say anything for a second before breaking out into a very slight grin. "Do you think she's naked under that robe?"
Harry definitely hadn't been expecting that, and he instantly burst into laughter. Ron, too, laughed, but when Hermione appeared again seconds later, Harry cursed himself for letting his eyes take a quick trip down and then up her body; he found that imagining Ron's statement was just a little too easy than he would have liked.
Hermione looked at him weirdly before rolling her eyes and self-consciously pulling her robe tighter around her, as if she could sense what the boys were thinking. Of course, by doing that, she didn't really help the situation or calm their thoughts too much at all. She looked pointedly at Harry, "It's Gia."
Harry was quite shocked. Finally shaking the image Ron had put in his head, he said, "For me?"
Hermione rolled her eyes again. "No, for me," she said bitterly. "She thought we should start over and wanted to know if I would join her for tea and milk." She turned a sharp glare in Ron's direction. "Of course, I'm sure any bugs she would have to offer me this time would probably go straight to my hips."
Harry wanted to laugh so badly that it hurt to keep a straight face. Ron made his own face at Hermione and then, as if self-satisfied, said, "Yes, they probably would."
Hermione looked ready to murder him. Instead, she turned rather abruptly to Harry. "Are you going to get the phone or what?"
Harry jumped at her sharp tone. He pushed his chair back, muttering something along the lines of, "Don't take it out on me if you're pissed at Ron."
Hermione glared after him for a brief second before rolling her eyes yet again and stomping back up the stairs. Harry shook his head, knowing she'd get over it soon enough, and went into the hallway where the phone was located.
"Hello?"
"Harry! Hi, it's Gia!" She sounded far too excited, but Harry was somehow flattered.
"Hey. How are you?"
"I'm good," she answered quickly. "Look, I know you're visiting with Hermione's family or whatever, but I really had a lot of fun today. And if you want to hang out again, I'd really enjoy it." She said all of this very confidently, and Harry was strangely impressed that she was so comfortable making the offer.
Not really knowing what else to say, he shrugged. Immediately realizing that she couldn't see him, he said, "Yeah, sure. That'd be great."
He could literally hear her smile through the phone. "Great! How about tomorrow?"
Well, it was short notice, but he really had enjoyed himself as well. He'd secretly been hoping that she'd want to go out and do something else; he'd just been terrified of asking. Luckily for him, all he had to do was accept an offer. "Tomorrow's fine," he answered, trying his very best to sound casual.
Gia laughed, though he didn't know why. "Well, good. I'll come by Hermione's house after lunch, and then we can decide what to do. Is that okay?"
"Yeah, that's fine." He hoped he didn't sound too stupid; this was a rather awkward situation for him to be in, and he was trying desperately to act as normal as possible.
"Well, then I guess I'll see you then," she answered brightly.
Harry nodded, knowing that she still couldn't see him. "Yeah, tomorrow."
"Have a good night," she answered sweetly.
Harry grinned. "Yeah, you, too."
"Bye, Harry."
"Bye."
Harry hung up the receiver and stood in the hallway for a moment reflecting on the telephone conversation. Was it going to be a date? Is that what she would think it was? Is that what he wanted her to think it was? Harry shook himself of the thoughts and decided to ponder them later. He went back into the kitchen and settled himself across from Ron.
"What did Gia want?" Ron asked through a mouthful of pizza.
Harry couldn't help the blush that crept across his cheeks. He really had been spending too much time with the Weasleys. "She wanted to know if I wanted to hang out tomorrow."
Ron smirked. "Oh, she did? And what did you say?"
Harry busied himself with his food once again. As nonchalantly as possible, he said, "I told her okay."
Ron was still smirking slyly. "Well, then that's good, right?"
Harry shrugged, pretending to be noncommittal about the situation. "I guess so." Deciding to change the subject, he said, "So, what did you think of Celeste?"
Ron shrugged again but then smiled slyly. "Obviously not as much as you thought of Gia."
"What are you talking about?" Harry asked, feeling his cheeks heat up again.
Ron rolled his eyes. "Do you think I didn't see you holding her hand through the whole film?"
Fighting the blush didn't work. Harry looked down at his plate. "Why didn't you say anything before?"
"I was waiting to see if you would tell me. I see now that you weren't planning on it."
"I was," Harry said, looking back up. "I just hadn't gotten around to it yet..."
"Right," Ron said unconvincingly. Then he smiled. "Do you like her?"
Harry shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe."
"What do you mean you don't know?" Ron asked with a raised eyebrow. "How can you not know?"
Harry didn't point out that Ron still didn't know whether or not he liked Hermione. Instead, he just shrugged again. "Well, I barely know her."
"She's pretty," Ron said coaxingly.
Harry nodded. "Yeah, she is."
"And she seemed pretty cool."
Harry nodded again. "Yeah, she did."
Ron stared silently at the dark-haired boy in front of him for a moment. "So, wouldn't you put all of that together and come up with the fact that you like her?"
Harry sighed. "Okay. I guess I like her."
"In the same way you like Cho?" Ron was looking curiously across the table.
Harry pondered this for a moment. He liked Cho a lot. He had recently started thinking about Ginny Weasley a little differently than he'd been doing previously, though he certainly didn't say this to Ron. And now here was a new girl who he liked, too. Confusing? Yes. He was at least thankful that he didn't have any sort of feelings for Hermione, too- other than liking to look up her skirt and shamefully imagining what she looked like under her bathrobe, of course.
Oh, Jesus. Why didn't anyone tell him that being fifteen years old was a hell all of its own?
He finally answered Ron's question. "I don't know. I have to know more about Gia before I decide how much I like her."
Ron shrugged. "Fair enough."
"Well, what about Celeste?" Harry asked, raising his own eyebrows. "Gia told me that she likes you."
Ron blushed a little. "She's kind of annoying. She kept talking to me all through the film, and it's not like I wasn't already distracted enough by the fact that you were holding hands with Gia and the fact that Hermione kept sighing loudly and shifting positions like she was furious at the world. I don't even know what happened at the end of that movie."
Harry laughed. "Neither do I."
Ron laughed, too. "I mean, Celeste is pretty, but she's sort of ditzy. She reminds me of Lavender."
"That bad, huh?"
"Yeah," Ron said seriously. "Give her some blonde hair, and she could be called Violet Brown."
Harry snorted with laughter. "So, you don't want to see her again?"
"I dunno. Not really," Ron answered truthfully. "It wouldn't hurt my feelings if she didn't call."
"It was funny what they did to Hermione when she was younger, though, wasn't it?"
Ron laughed. "Yeah. But she probably deserved it."
Harry snickered. "Remember how she was when we first met her?"
Groaning, Ron rolled his eyes. Then he put on a high-pitched and rather accurate impression of eleven year old Hermione. "Don't you care about Gryffindor at all, do you only care about yourselves? I don't want Slytherin to win the House Cup, and you'll lose all the points I got from Professor McGonagall for knowing about Switching Spells."
Harry burst into laughter, but stopped abruptly when another voice sounded from the entrance to the kitchen. "Yeah, and you're lucky you didn't. You were both really stupid that night, and you almost got us killed."
Hermione had come back downstairs, now fresh from the shower. She was dressed in pajamas and no longer in her bathrobe (Harry couldn't work out whether this was a good thing or not), and her wet hair was piled on top of her head and secured with a silver clip. She walked to the table and sat back down.
"Well, obviously the shower calmed your moodiness," Ron said with a small smirk.
Hermione ignored him and addressed Harry. "What did Gia want?"
"Harry's going on a date with her," Ron supplied proudly.
Harry blushed and sent his friend a look of slight contempt. "It's not a date."
"No?" Ron asked with a grin. "What would you call it then?"
Harry shrugged one shoulder.
Hermione looked quite disgusted. "Harry..." She shook her head, flabbergasted. "I don't think you could possibly have worse taste in dates! First Parvati, then Lavender, and now Gia Martin?! What is the matter with you?"
Harry wasn't sure how to react. Luckily, Ron decided to react for him.
"Oh, lay off, Hermione. You're the one who dated Viktor Krum."
Okay, so maybe it wasn't quite so lucky.
A thick silence surrounded them as Harry tried very hard to Disapparate from the room with no knowledge of how to do so. Ron obviously realized what he said and was looking quite sheepish. And Hermione simply stared at him for a long moment.
She didn't say a word as she stood up and walked back up the stairs. They heard her bedroom door shut, and Ron immediately put his forehead in his hands.
It was Harry who spoke first. "Well, that was stupid."
Ron raised his hands just enough to look at Harry. "Thanks," he said bitterly. "I didn't realize that."
Harry sighed, not particularly wanting to send Ron up to Hermione's room but knowing that if they didn't sort this out now that the rest of the holiday would be hell. "You should apologize."
Ron rolled his eyes at the suggestion. "I can't just apologize."
"Why not?"
"Because I've only apologized to her about something once in my entire life, and I'm not about to go making a habit of it." Ron said all of this as thought it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Harry, not quite believing he was saying this said, "Well, you should start making a habit of it. You two would probably get a lot further with each other if you weren't both so thick-headed."
Ron looked up blushing. "Shut up, Harry."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Fine. Don't apologize. But you know how she's going to be if you don't. Do you really want to spend three weeks here with her in bad mood?"
Ron scowled, knowing that Harry was right. "Oh, fine, I'll apologize." He stood up and then clarified his actions. "But only because I don't want her to be all pissy for the whole holiday."
Harry shrugged, accepting Ron's answer mainly because he didn't want to dwell on the subject any longer than necessary. Without another word, Ron trudged up the stairs and down the long hallway to Hermione's closed bedroom door. The light was on, and he carefully raised his hand to knock gently on the wood. There was no answer from inside. He knocked again and this time tried calling to her.
"Hermione, it's me."
"Go away."
Okay, so maybe that wasn't what he wanted to hear. He sighed, rolling his eyes, and tried talking to her again. "Will you just open the door?"
"No." Her answer was sharp and non-hesitant. "Leave me alone."
Drastic times called for drastic measures. Ron reached for his wand and called loudly through the door. "Fine. I'll just let myself in." He pointed the wand at the knob and clearly said, "Alohomora!" The door unlocked instantly, and Ron reached for the handle, turning it to reveal a very outraged looking Hermione.
"How dare you break into my room!"
"I didn't break in," Ron said defensively. "If you didn't want me to use that spell, then you should never have taught it to me." Perfect- blame his actions on her; that was so typical of them.
Hermione glared at him dangerously. "Get out."
"No," Ron answered immediately. "I want to talk to you."
"Well, I don't want to talk to you!" she said loudly. And for the first time, Ron noticed that her eyes were red and puffy while the rest of her face was very pale.
"Hermione, why are you crying?"
She turned away from him instantly, reaching up to rub at her eyes with the heels of her hands. "I'm not," she said coldly.
Ron might not have had the best grades in the Fifth Year, but he wasn't stupid. "Yes, you are. Now, why are you crying?"
"I don't know!" she answered a bit shrilly. "Just go away."
Ron was quiet for a long moment and almost considered following her orders. But then he remembered what Harry had said about the rest of the holiday being hell if she was in a bad mood. And, of course, there was that huge, overwhelming part of him that couldn't stand to see her in tears. "Hermione, I'm sorry." He hadn't meant to just come out and apologize like that, but he wasn't sorry afterwards- best to just get it all out there, right?
She didn't turn to look at him; she simply shook her head. Ron watched her hair, now down and curly from the water, shake from behind. "Just please leave me alone," she said quietly.
Ron sighed; he had no idea what to do. So, he did the first thing that came to his mind; he crossed the room and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. He watched as she jumped at his touch, and he felt her skin tense up underneath his hand. There was something amazingly cool about it, but he didn't dwell on this. In a quiet voice of his own, he tried again. "I really am sorry, Hermione."
At this, she turned to him, shrugging off his hand and causing him to take an unconscious step backwards away from her. "What are you sorry for, Ron?" she challenged. "You can't just come in here and apologize and have no idea what you're apologizing for."
Ron thought about this for a moment but smartly decided that taking too long would not be a good thing. "I'm sorry that I brought up that idiot." Hermione looked away, and he hurried to finish up. "But, believe me, Hermione. You're much better off without him. He didn't deserve you at all. He couldn't even say your name!"
Hermione's face softened a bit, but she didn't say anything. Ron rightly figured that he wasn't done apologizing.
Sighing softly, he said, "And I'm sorry that you think I called you fat. But I swear I didn't mean it like that." She looked at him for an explanation. "You are not fat, Hermione, and you never have been. Really, I swear. You're like the perfect size." They both blushed, but Ron tried very hard to pretend as if what he'd just said was perfectly normal. He went right on with, "It's just that sometimes I forget you're a girl."
Hermione's redness went from complimented to anger in a flat second. She turned a disbelieving glare at him, and Ron instantly winced when he realized what he'd said.
Hermione shook her head. "You really know how to make a situation better, don't you?" The sarcasm was not missed at all.
Ron immediately held up his hands in a somewhat defense. "Wait! That's not what I meant- it came out all wrong!" He took a deep breath as he chose his next words carefully. "I know you're a girl. Trust me." If she only knew... "But you're so different from all the other girls I know that sometimes I forget that you're sensitive about the same things that they are." She didn't look convinced, so he kept going. "All the other girls are so superficial and narcissistic, and you're just not. You're just..." he struggled with word choice. "You're just above that." Her expression softened for the second time. "And sometimes it's just hard to know what you'll take serious, and when you'll know that I'm just joking." He swallowed and glanced down at the floor. "And I guess I say things that come out wrong, and sometimes you just don't get them the way I meant them. But... But it's not like we can help that, you know? Because you're a girl, and I'm... a guy. And we just..." he sighed softly, "think differently is all."
There was a long moment of silence in which Ron didn't dare look at Hermione. His cheeks were already burning bright red, and he was positive that if he looked at her that he would catch himself on fire. He just prayed silently that she would understand.
Because, deep down, he really was sorry.
Finally, after what seemed like several eternities, Hermione sighed softly, and Ron finally worked up enough courage to look in her direction. She met his eyes, and he was pleased to see her face breaking out into a soft smile. He let his own grimace, which he wasn't aware he'd been wearing, soften, and he smiled back at her.
She shook her head a little. "Why can't you always talk like that?" she asked quietly.
Ron shrugged sheepishly. "Because then people might know I was really nice," he answered jokingly.
Hermione laughed. Then she shook her head again. "I don't know why some things upset me so much, and others don't."
Ron, going with the whole joking them, shrugged indifferently. "It's the estrogen. You can't help it."
Hermione actually snorted with laughter. "And just what do you know about estrogen, Ron?"
He tried to look offended. "Hey! I have a mother and a sister, don't forget."
Hermione smirked. "Right."
"I'm an expert on women."
She rolled her eyes and repeated her earlier statement. "Right."
"Look, now," he said importantly. "Don't go miscounting my abilities or my knowledge. I happen to be the favorite of both the women in my household."
Hermione giggled. "I honestly think your mother would choose Percy, and I'm pretty sure Ginny would choose the twins."
Ron tried to look outraged. Then he grinned and shook his own head. "Nah, Mum would choose Bill, and Ginny would choose Charlie. She only likes the twins now because they give her an excuse to be bad- Charlie's the one who always brings her all kinds of cool presents from Romania."
Hermione laughed and patted him sympathetically on the arm. "Ah, well. You still have the new baby, right? Maybe you can brainwash her."
"Him," Ron corrected instantly. Then he cocked his head to the side as if in some sort of deep thought. "You know what? I don't think Mum would choose Bill after all. She'd probably choose Harry."
Hermione raised a hand to her mouth and giggled behind it. "You're probably right." Then she snickered some more before muttering, "Ginny probably would, too."
Ron looked up instantly but then rolled his eyes and joking said, "Just shut up, okay?"
Hermione giggled again and shrugged. "Sorry."
Ron grinned at her for a long moment before finally saying, "So, do you officially forgive me for being a prat?"
Hermione pursed her lips and sighed dejectedly. "This time."
Ron smiled and opened up his arms in offering. "Friends?"
She reached up and wrapped herself in the offered hug. "Friends."
The joking stopped the moment the embrace started. They were both shocked at how different it felt from all the previous hugs they'd shared. This one was on a deeper level than just friendship, and they both knew it. Hermione closed her eyes against Ron's shoulder and tried very hard to imagine that this hug was openly on that deeper level and not hidden and disguised as a peace offering.
Ron glanced down at the top of her head for a brief moment and caught a whiff of her newly shampooed and conditioned hair. It was the same lemony- coconutty smell that he'd noticed the night she'd been crying in the girls' bathroom before the Halloween Ball. He had the strangest feeling that he could smell her hair for the rest of his life and never tire of it.
He also felt like he could just hold her like this, too, and never tired of it.
This thought was terrifying and exhilarating all the same time. This was Hermione. Bossy, know-it-all Hermione. The very same Hermione who he had recently admitted to himself that he liked as a whole lot more than just a friend.
And being in this close of a proximity with her did not calm that desire that he'd been aware of for some time now. He loved to fight with her, but he would love to do so much more...
Knowing that he wasn't anywhere close to taking that next step, though, he settled for letting her rest against his shoulder. Taking a somewhat more daring of approach, he carefully let one of his hands slide down the curve her back; he could feel her spine through her pajama shirt as his fingertips glided gently lower.
She shivered.
Ron closed his eyes as she did this and felt his breath catch in his throat. There was something, really something, about being able to make Hermione Granger shiver. Letting that hand rest against the small of her lower back, he carefully raised his other hand to her hair. He fingered a damp curl, knowing that she would have it all straightened back out by tomorrow, and wrapped it around his finger. He unwound it, let it go, and felt it spring back into place.
He missed her curls.
Hermione bit down on her lower lip as she felt his fingers playing in her hair. She wanted this- she wanted this so badly that it almost hurt. She wanted him. She wanted him to tell her that it wasn't one-sided and that he felt it, too.
But she also knew that this wasn't the right time.
Things were still too new, and she didn't want to spoil it. So, she simply relaxed into his embrace, feeling content and anxious, peaceful and nervous all at the same time.
It was wonderful.
Ron felt her relaxing and bit back the sigh he was afraid would sound far too girlish. Not trusting himself to deny his urges for too much longer, he bent his head and quietly whispered into her ear. "We should probably go to bed. It's really late."
Hermione knew he was telling the truth. But, not wanting to let go just yet, she tightened her arms around his neck a bit and brought his head closer to her mouth. Whispering as close to his ear as possible, she said, "Thank you for coming up here after me."
As close to his ear as possible had turned out to be his neck, and Ron couldn't fight his own shiver as it shot down his spine. Her breath was shockingly hot on his skin, and her words were so completely genuine that he was sure he was going to die if something didn't happen soon.
Knowing that it was the right thing to do, he carefully pulled out of her embrace and took a single step backwards. "I'll see you in the morning."
Hermione smiled sadly and nodded, not sure that she wanted him to leave at all. "Okay," she said quietly.
Ron just stared at her for a long moment before nodding his own head slightly. "Goodnight." Without another word, he opened her bedroom door and left, shutting it behind him.
Hermione looked at the closed door and let out what she could only rightfully describe as a whimper. Then, knowing he couldn't hear her, she whispered, "Goodnight."
On the other side of the door, Ron had leaned against the closed door and shut his eyes.
Were things ever going to change?
***************************************************************
Ah, ha! And so the story evolves and the title takes precedent! I know many of you are probably throwing various shoes at your computer screen, but please just trust that things all happen for a reason.
Please leave feedback!!!
