Chapter 13
"When did I realise when I was in love with Hermione?" Ron began.
The whole room nodded impatiently, waiting for Ron to continue.
Ron looked around him. He took a deep breath. He knew that this was one of the situations in which he could take the safe route, or take a risk. He looked at Hermione, her face a mixture of confusion, anxiety, and something he couldn't decipher.
She was worth the risk.
"I don't think there was really a point at which I feel in love with her."
Everyone in the room stared incredulously at him. Hermione wondered why she felt her heart sink at these words.
"I just always have been." Ron said simply, as he stared at his lap, not wanting to meet the eye of anyone. He shifted slightly in his seat and summoned the courage to speak again.
" I remember the first time we met on the train, I thought she was insufferable." He smiled to himself. "But, she provoked something in me that no one ever had before. I was drawn to her, but couldn't understand what it was I was feeling. Why did it matter so much to me what this girl I had never met before thought of me?"
Hermione began a mantra in her head. "It's just a story. It's just a story."
Ron continued, "From the very beginning she mattered. I told myself I hated her, but she had simply got under my skin. I spent so much time talking about her, thinking about her, about how I couldn't stand her, and yet I never stopped to ask myself why it was I cared."
"And then, when I realised I'd upset her, it hurt like hell. And I felt like I needed to protect her-to stop idiots like myself doing the same thing again."
Ron stopped to take a breath.
"So we became friends. Instantly, she was one of the most important people in my life. We still bickered, but if anyone else dared to attack her, it was somehow different, and I couldn't stand it."
"I should have worked it out sooner. Everything, everyone told me I was in love with her, but I just pushed it to the back of my mind. I was so comfortable with the security of her being my best friend. I wasn't willing to risk loosing her. Because I knew that if she ever found out how I felt about her, that I'd loose her forever. I couldn't, I wouldn't risk that."
"I think I coped over the years. It killed me every time she was with someone else, but I knew that it was futile to hope for anything more. And what we had already was so damn special. I mean, we're best friends. We rely on each other- how many people can say they ever really find that, much less hold onto it like we have."
Ron looked up from his lap, suddenly acutely aware that the occupants of the room were staring at him, open mouthed. Molly, he noticed even had tears in her eyes.
He had said far, far too much. He shouldn't have allowed himself to get so carried away. He had never allowed himself to think those thoughts, much less share them with a room full of people. And Hermione. Oh god, she had heard everything. He felt his face overheat.
Courage was something all Gryffindors were supposed to possess, but Ron felt his failing him. He would deny everything. It was all supposed to be pretend, right? He'd tell her it was all part of the scheme to fool their parents. He's save her from the humiliation of telling her best friend she didn't feel the same.
And they'd remain the way they always had been. Friends. Best Friends. That was enough, he told himself. It had to be.
He just wished it didn't hurt so much.
Hermione, he noticed was staring at him in shock and confusion.
"Excuse me," Ron said, standing up and making a sharp exit, not able to make his legs move fast enough.
Hermione watched him go. She had no idea what was going on. Her head felt like it was spinning. She turned towards Molly who she realised was speaking to her.
"Few people ever find love like that." Molly sniffled, "Hang on to it, darling, and never let go."
"It's just a story...." The mantra started up in Hermione's head again.
Harry grinned at her, "Who knew Ron went so deep?" He laughed, " I got quite tearful just there!"
"Oh stop laughing!" Ginny scolded, "Or I'll tell them about when you proposed to me!"
Harry went white, "That's private, Ginny!"
"Well stop smirking if you want to keep it that way!" Ginny folded her arms, triumphant, as Harry went silent. She looked at Hermione, "I always knew Ron was a romantic anyway."
Harry bit his lip, fighting laughter. "Harry! This is your last warning!" Ginny yelled.
As everyone else was a bit distracted, what with Molly clamouring to hear the story, Hermione seized the opportunity to leave to find Ron.
*****************************************
She found him outside, slumped on a bench, deep in thought.
"It's now Harry being interrogated." Hermione said, sitting down next to him. Ron started at the sound of her voice, and gave her a nervous smile.
"Really? What about?" Ron asked.
"His proposal to Ginny."
"Oh." Ron paused. Then grinned, and Hermione felt he was behaving rather more like his usual self. "Ginny told me he got a bit "emotional."
"Hermione giggled, "I guessed as much."
There was a pause.
"Hermione." Ron turned to her. "What I said in there."
"All part of the act." Hermione finished for him, in a cheery sort of voice, desperate not to convey anything other than a sense of amusement regarding the whole situation.
Ron hesitated, feeling slightly caught off guard. He looked at her, knowing what he really wanted to say, she didn't want to hear. "Yeah. Course it was. " He forced a laugh. "Just thought I'd better explain so you didn't get freaked out." He paused again. "So was I convincing?"
"Well. To everyone but me!" Hermione mimicked Ron's forced laugh.
"Who knew we were such talented actors?" Ron added jovially. "We deserve a couple of Oscars for our performances!" Ron felt like he should have "liar" branded across his forehead.
"Indeed" agreed Hermione. God, this was painful.
"Right," Ron said, mock cheerily. "Shall we rejoin the party?"
"Good idea!" Hermione stood up, and grabbed Ron's hand. It was going to be very hard to let go.
*****************************************************
They walked back into the room to find everything much as they had left it.
"Oh Ron, Hermione, we were just talking about you!" Fred offered, mischievously.
"Surprising!" Ron muttered to Hermione, so only she could hear, and she squeezed his hand.
"Yeah, we were just sharing stories about the two of you." George added.
Ron and Hermione sat down. "Why does that make me feel nervous?" Ron asked.
Everyone ignored him.
"Ok." Harry started to speak. "Ron always had a bit of a protective streak when it came to Hermione."
"A BIT!" Ginny, Fred, George, Angelina, Alicia and even Percy exclaimed in unison."
"Ok, so he had a fierce protective streak." Harry continued. "Do you lot remember what he was like with Malfoy!"
Ginny smiled knowingly.
"Malfoy had this horrible habit of calling Hermione a Mudblood," Ginny explained. "And Ron would get so incensed that....."
"He'd just attack him with whatever came to hand." Harry cut in, eager to tell the story. "There was one occasion when Ron tried to hex Malfoy with a faulty wand- only it backfired and Ron ended up belching slugs himself."
Everyone laughed, while Molly looked at her son affectionately, "Oh Ron!" She beamed.
Hermione felt her stomach do little somersaults.
Ron felt sick.
"And on several occasions, we all had to physically restrain Ron from trying to savage Malfoy!" Harry grinned at Ron.
"What was it he said, Harry?" Ginny asked. "Something about his bare hands."
"Oh yeah. He yelled, " let me at him. I don't need my wand! I'll kill him with my bare hands!"
Ron felt sure his ears had gone their trademark red. He didn't want them all to go over this. He just felt more and more ridiculous. He couldn't help the way he had behaved- the way he always behaved. It was his nature.
"Oh Ron, how could you not have realised you were mad about her?" Ginny sighed.
"Tell us more, Harry." Angelina spoke up. "You were with them the whole time, there must be loads of stuff you could tell us!"
"Which he's not going to!" Ron added hastily, his eyes beseeching Harry to shut up.
"Ron mate, we're all friends here!" Harry grinned. "And you've got her now so there's no need to embarrassed. It's sweet how devoted to her you were!"
Ron realised he was going to have to accept his fate. How would he ever convince Hermione his feelings were simply platonic after this? He was doomed.
"So I could tell you all about how Ronnekins reacted to a certain blonde Professor!" Harry laughed.
"Harry!" Ron groaned.
"Ok, so in Waltz' Professor Lockhart." Harry looked at Hermione, who shot him a "don't you dare" kind of a look.
"Hermione" Harry continued. "Is instantly smitten. And I mean SMITTEN. The kind of smitten.."
"Harry I think you've said that word enough now." Ginny interjected.
"The kind of SMITTEN," Harry repeated, loudly, "Which involves circling his lessons in hearts and sending him Valentines cards, not to mention memorising his autobiography."
Mrs Granger gave Hermione a reproachful look.
"So of course, this baffled poor Ron!" Harry explained. "Not to mention made him completely jealous."
"I was not jealous," mumbled Ron.
"Oh please!" Ginny cried.
"I wasn't!"
"Well, if you weren't jealous of Lockhart there's certainly someone else you were jealous of, now wasn't there?" Fred grinned, evilly.
Everyone turned back towards Ron. Hermione held her breath.
"Fred, you couldn't possibly be referring to a certain Bulgarian Quidditch international, could you?" George asked.
"Your powers of perception are faultless as ever, George." Fred nodded.
"Oh come on, that's enough you two," Hermione looked nervous.
"Enough? I don't think so!" Fred laughed.
"We're not nearly done yet," continued George.
"On with the story, Harry." Fred ushered.
"Well, you'll all remember that Ron initially hero- worshipped Viktor Krum." Harry paused as everyone nodded.
"Well, this was all to change when Krum took a shine to Hermione. You see, it took time for it Ron to realise that Hermione was in fact female, but once he had there was no way he was about to tolerate anyone else getting their hands on her."
Hermione felt Ron slump beside her, as if all the fight had been zapped out of him.
"Krum proceeded to take Hermione to the Yule Ball, much to Ron's displeasure. He spent all evening completely ignoring his date, Padma, I think it was." Harry looked to Ron for confirmation, who nodded, weakly.
"Ron went on to accuse Hermione of, "fraternising with the enemy." Harry raised his eyebrows, "as it was the only way he could explain his jealousy."
"Wasn't jealous!" Ron mumbled, only much, much quieter this time, and Hermione thought it sounded oddly as if he didn't believe it himself.
"You see Ron's always had a bit of a problem when it comes to Krum." Ginny explained to Mrs Granger.
"We don't speak of him at the Weasley residence, do we?" Molly questioned Ron. "Well, unless we're confirming what a "git" he is."
Ron leant over in his seat, head in his hands.
"But I never felt anything for Viktor!" Hermione exclaimed. "I just hoped his attention would make Ron notice I existed!"
"Well, it worked!" Ginny laughed, as Ron stared at Hermione, who told herself to shut up.
"Ok. So I think that's enough of drudging up the past." Hermione said quickly. "Anyone for...."
"Hermione, aren't you forgetting something?" Fred piped up.
"Nnnnnno," Hermione stammered.
"Well, we've got a lot of stories about you we think are important to share." George explained.
"How about the time Ron thought Crookshanks had savaged Scabbers?" Harry offered.
Everyone laughed.
"It really wasn't that funny at the time!" Harry grinned. "Ron blamed Hermione for it, and the fact that they weren't speaking nearly drove Hermione mad!"
"Poor thing. She was so upset, Ron, you pig!" Ginny exclaimed.
"Remember how cross Hermione got the time Ron fancied those Veelas?" George laughed. "Oh honestly Ron, I don't see anyone else behaving like an idiot!" He mimicked Hermione. "Classic jealousy!"
Hermione felt her face grow hot.
"Hermione, you really should have told him you fancied him when you got all upset because he didn't think to ask you to the ball." Ginny said, simply.
"I didn't get "all upset," Hermione spluttered, though it hurt to think about it.
"I've got a question." Mrs Granger asked. "Hermione came home one summer, only to moan about a "horrid girl named Fleur." Something had obviously upset her. Who was this Fleur character?"
All eyes turned to Hermione, who prayed that a giant hole would appear beneath her and swallow her up. Ron seemed unable to tear his eyes away from her, and a constantly surprised look had now overtaken his features.
"That's really not important," Hermione tried to laugh.
This time, everyone ignored Hermione.
"Well," Ginny turned to Mrs Granger, "Fleur was astonishingly beautiful, but she was part Veela, you see. So she had some kind of effect on Ron. It was her that Ron invited first to the Yule Ball, so of course Hermione took an immediate dislike to her."
Ginny paused.
"It wasn't that Ron had any real feelings for her." Ginny explained. "It's just that Veelas have a certain power over men. Hermione just didn't like any other female having any power over Ron." Ginny laughed, oblivious to how difficult and revealing this situation was for Ron and Hermione.
To Hemione's horror, she began to feel tears forming. She couldn't deal with all this. It was too painful, too real. Hermione realised with a jolt that it had been so easy for her to feign a relationship with Ron because she had been in love with him all along. She wasn't having to act any feelings for Ron, because she was already in love with him. Deeper she suspected, than any of them could possibly imagine.
She was head over heels in love with Ron Weasley, and the fact that the whole thing was just a charade hurt like hell.
"What made matters worse," Harry continued, "Was that Fleur believed Ron and I to have saved her sister from certain death, so became, affectionate, towards us after that."
"Which would explain Hermione's behaviour." Mrs Granger nodded. "Now I understand."
"No!" yelled Hermione, getting to her feet. "You don't understand. None of you could possibly even begin to comprehend what it feels like to be so in love with someone, and yet......" But Hermione didn't get any further. She looked at Ron, taking him in for a second, before bursting in into tears.
***********************************************************
Phew. That chapter took a lot of work. I'm sorry if was all a bit depressing, but I promise it won't stay like that for long! *grins.*
Oh, and I'm sorry if there are any grammar mistakes, I know there have been loads in previous chapters, and I will try and be more careful in future.
So, kindly review like crazy, and tell me what you think! Thanks so much to all of you who review by the way. It's great to hear what you think!!!!!!
Am going to go before I burst into song........toodles. xxxxxxxx
"When did I realise when I was in love with Hermione?" Ron began.
The whole room nodded impatiently, waiting for Ron to continue.
Ron looked around him. He took a deep breath. He knew that this was one of the situations in which he could take the safe route, or take a risk. He looked at Hermione, her face a mixture of confusion, anxiety, and something he couldn't decipher.
She was worth the risk.
"I don't think there was really a point at which I feel in love with her."
Everyone in the room stared incredulously at him. Hermione wondered why she felt her heart sink at these words.
"I just always have been." Ron said simply, as he stared at his lap, not wanting to meet the eye of anyone. He shifted slightly in his seat and summoned the courage to speak again.
" I remember the first time we met on the train, I thought she was insufferable." He smiled to himself. "But, she provoked something in me that no one ever had before. I was drawn to her, but couldn't understand what it was I was feeling. Why did it matter so much to me what this girl I had never met before thought of me?"
Hermione began a mantra in her head. "It's just a story. It's just a story."
Ron continued, "From the very beginning she mattered. I told myself I hated her, but she had simply got under my skin. I spent so much time talking about her, thinking about her, about how I couldn't stand her, and yet I never stopped to ask myself why it was I cared."
"And then, when I realised I'd upset her, it hurt like hell. And I felt like I needed to protect her-to stop idiots like myself doing the same thing again."
Ron stopped to take a breath.
"So we became friends. Instantly, she was one of the most important people in my life. We still bickered, but if anyone else dared to attack her, it was somehow different, and I couldn't stand it."
"I should have worked it out sooner. Everything, everyone told me I was in love with her, but I just pushed it to the back of my mind. I was so comfortable with the security of her being my best friend. I wasn't willing to risk loosing her. Because I knew that if she ever found out how I felt about her, that I'd loose her forever. I couldn't, I wouldn't risk that."
"I think I coped over the years. It killed me every time she was with someone else, but I knew that it was futile to hope for anything more. And what we had already was so damn special. I mean, we're best friends. We rely on each other- how many people can say they ever really find that, much less hold onto it like we have."
Ron looked up from his lap, suddenly acutely aware that the occupants of the room were staring at him, open mouthed. Molly, he noticed even had tears in her eyes.
He had said far, far too much. He shouldn't have allowed himself to get so carried away. He had never allowed himself to think those thoughts, much less share them with a room full of people. And Hermione. Oh god, she had heard everything. He felt his face overheat.
Courage was something all Gryffindors were supposed to possess, but Ron felt his failing him. He would deny everything. It was all supposed to be pretend, right? He'd tell her it was all part of the scheme to fool their parents. He's save her from the humiliation of telling her best friend she didn't feel the same.
And they'd remain the way they always had been. Friends. Best Friends. That was enough, he told himself. It had to be.
He just wished it didn't hurt so much.
Hermione, he noticed was staring at him in shock and confusion.
"Excuse me," Ron said, standing up and making a sharp exit, not able to make his legs move fast enough.
Hermione watched him go. She had no idea what was going on. Her head felt like it was spinning. She turned towards Molly who she realised was speaking to her.
"Few people ever find love like that." Molly sniffled, "Hang on to it, darling, and never let go."
"It's just a story...." The mantra started up in Hermione's head again.
Harry grinned at her, "Who knew Ron went so deep?" He laughed, " I got quite tearful just there!"
"Oh stop laughing!" Ginny scolded, "Or I'll tell them about when you proposed to me!"
Harry went white, "That's private, Ginny!"
"Well stop smirking if you want to keep it that way!" Ginny folded her arms, triumphant, as Harry went silent. She looked at Hermione, "I always knew Ron was a romantic anyway."
Harry bit his lip, fighting laughter. "Harry! This is your last warning!" Ginny yelled.
As everyone else was a bit distracted, what with Molly clamouring to hear the story, Hermione seized the opportunity to leave to find Ron.
*****************************************
She found him outside, slumped on a bench, deep in thought.
"It's now Harry being interrogated." Hermione said, sitting down next to him. Ron started at the sound of her voice, and gave her a nervous smile.
"Really? What about?" Ron asked.
"His proposal to Ginny."
"Oh." Ron paused. Then grinned, and Hermione felt he was behaving rather more like his usual self. "Ginny told me he got a bit "emotional."
"Hermione giggled, "I guessed as much."
There was a pause.
"Hermione." Ron turned to her. "What I said in there."
"All part of the act." Hermione finished for him, in a cheery sort of voice, desperate not to convey anything other than a sense of amusement regarding the whole situation.
Ron hesitated, feeling slightly caught off guard. He looked at her, knowing what he really wanted to say, she didn't want to hear. "Yeah. Course it was. " He forced a laugh. "Just thought I'd better explain so you didn't get freaked out." He paused again. "So was I convincing?"
"Well. To everyone but me!" Hermione mimicked Ron's forced laugh.
"Who knew we were such talented actors?" Ron added jovially. "We deserve a couple of Oscars for our performances!" Ron felt like he should have "liar" branded across his forehead.
"Indeed" agreed Hermione. God, this was painful.
"Right," Ron said, mock cheerily. "Shall we rejoin the party?"
"Good idea!" Hermione stood up, and grabbed Ron's hand. It was going to be very hard to let go.
*****************************************************
They walked back into the room to find everything much as they had left it.
"Oh Ron, Hermione, we were just talking about you!" Fred offered, mischievously.
"Surprising!" Ron muttered to Hermione, so only she could hear, and she squeezed his hand.
"Yeah, we were just sharing stories about the two of you." George added.
Ron and Hermione sat down. "Why does that make me feel nervous?" Ron asked.
Everyone ignored him.
"Ok." Harry started to speak. "Ron always had a bit of a protective streak when it came to Hermione."
"A BIT!" Ginny, Fred, George, Angelina, Alicia and even Percy exclaimed in unison."
"Ok, so he had a fierce protective streak." Harry continued. "Do you lot remember what he was like with Malfoy!"
Ginny smiled knowingly.
"Malfoy had this horrible habit of calling Hermione a Mudblood," Ginny explained. "And Ron would get so incensed that....."
"He'd just attack him with whatever came to hand." Harry cut in, eager to tell the story. "There was one occasion when Ron tried to hex Malfoy with a faulty wand- only it backfired and Ron ended up belching slugs himself."
Everyone laughed, while Molly looked at her son affectionately, "Oh Ron!" She beamed.
Hermione felt her stomach do little somersaults.
Ron felt sick.
"And on several occasions, we all had to physically restrain Ron from trying to savage Malfoy!" Harry grinned at Ron.
"What was it he said, Harry?" Ginny asked. "Something about his bare hands."
"Oh yeah. He yelled, " let me at him. I don't need my wand! I'll kill him with my bare hands!"
Ron felt sure his ears had gone their trademark red. He didn't want them all to go over this. He just felt more and more ridiculous. He couldn't help the way he had behaved- the way he always behaved. It was his nature.
"Oh Ron, how could you not have realised you were mad about her?" Ginny sighed.
"Tell us more, Harry." Angelina spoke up. "You were with them the whole time, there must be loads of stuff you could tell us!"
"Which he's not going to!" Ron added hastily, his eyes beseeching Harry to shut up.
"Ron mate, we're all friends here!" Harry grinned. "And you've got her now so there's no need to embarrassed. It's sweet how devoted to her you were!"
Ron realised he was going to have to accept his fate. How would he ever convince Hermione his feelings were simply platonic after this? He was doomed.
"So I could tell you all about how Ronnekins reacted to a certain blonde Professor!" Harry laughed.
"Harry!" Ron groaned.
"Ok, so in Waltz' Professor Lockhart." Harry looked at Hermione, who shot him a "don't you dare" kind of a look.
"Hermione" Harry continued. "Is instantly smitten. And I mean SMITTEN. The kind of smitten.."
"Harry I think you've said that word enough now." Ginny interjected.
"The kind of SMITTEN," Harry repeated, loudly, "Which involves circling his lessons in hearts and sending him Valentines cards, not to mention memorising his autobiography."
Mrs Granger gave Hermione a reproachful look.
"So of course, this baffled poor Ron!" Harry explained. "Not to mention made him completely jealous."
"I was not jealous," mumbled Ron.
"Oh please!" Ginny cried.
"I wasn't!"
"Well, if you weren't jealous of Lockhart there's certainly someone else you were jealous of, now wasn't there?" Fred grinned, evilly.
Everyone turned back towards Ron. Hermione held her breath.
"Fred, you couldn't possibly be referring to a certain Bulgarian Quidditch international, could you?" George asked.
"Your powers of perception are faultless as ever, George." Fred nodded.
"Oh come on, that's enough you two," Hermione looked nervous.
"Enough? I don't think so!" Fred laughed.
"We're not nearly done yet," continued George.
"On with the story, Harry." Fred ushered.
"Well, you'll all remember that Ron initially hero- worshipped Viktor Krum." Harry paused as everyone nodded.
"Well, this was all to change when Krum took a shine to Hermione. You see, it took time for it Ron to realise that Hermione was in fact female, but once he had there was no way he was about to tolerate anyone else getting their hands on her."
Hermione felt Ron slump beside her, as if all the fight had been zapped out of him.
"Krum proceeded to take Hermione to the Yule Ball, much to Ron's displeasure. He spent all evening completely ignoring his date, Padma, I think it was." Harry looked to Ron for confirmation, who nodded, weakly.
"Ron went on to accuse Hermione of, "fraternising with the enemy." Harry raised his eyebrows, "as it was the only way he could explain his jealousy."
"Wasn't jealous!" Ron mumbled, only much, much quieter this time, and Hermione thought it sounded oddly as if he didn't believe it himself.
"You see Ron's always had a bit of a problem when it comes to Krum." Ginny explained to Mrs Granger.
"We don't speak of him at the Weasley residence, do we?" Molly questioned Ron. "Well, unless we're confirming what a "git" he is."
Ron leant over in his seat, head in his hands.
"But I never felt anything for Viktor!" Hermione exclaimed. "I just hoped his attention would make Ron notice I existed!"
"Well, it worked!" Ginny laughed, as Ron stared at Hermione, who told herself to shut up.
"Ok. So I think that's enough of drudging up the past." Hermione said quickly. "Anyone for...."
"Hermione, aren't you forgetting something?" Fred piped up.
"Nnnnnno," Hermione stammered.
"Well, we've got a lot of stories about you we think are important to share." George explained.
"How about the time Ron thought Crookshanks had savaged Scabbers?" Harry offered.
Everyone laughed.
"It really wasn't that funny at the time!" Harry grinned. "Ron blamed Hermione for it, and the fact that they weren't speaking nearly drove Hermione mad!"
"Poor thing. She was so upset, Ron, you pig!" Ginny exclaimed.
"Remember how cross Hermione got the time Ron fancied those Veelas?" George laughed. "Oh honestly Ron, I don't see anyone else behaving like an idiot!" He mimicked Hermione. "Classic jealousy!"
Hermione felt her face grow hot.
"Hermione, you really should have told him you fancied him when you got all upset because he didn't think to ask you to the ball." Ginny said, simply.
"I didn't get "all upset," Hermione spluttered, though it hurt to think about it.
"I've got a question." Mrs Granger asked. "Hermione came home one summer, only to moan about a "horrid girl named Fleur." Something had obviously upset her. Who was this Fleur character?"
All eyes turned to Hermione, who prayed that a giant hole would appear beneath her and swallow her up. Ron seemed unable to tear his eyes away from her, and a constantly surprised look had now overtaken his features.
"That's really not important," Hermione tried to laugh.
This time, everyone ignored Hermione.
"Well," Ginny turned to Mrs Granger, "Fleur was astonishingly beautiful, but she was part Veela, you see. So she had some kind of effect on Ron. It was her that Ron invited first to the Yule Ball, so of course Hermione took an immediate dislike to her."
Ginny paused.
"It wasn't that Ron had any real feelings for her." Ginny explained. "It's just that Veelas have a certain power over men. Hermione just didn't like any other female having any power over Ron." Ginny laughed, oblivious to how difficult and revealing this situation was for Ron and Hermione.
To Hemione's horror, she began to feel tears forming. She couldn't deal with all this. It was too painful, too real. Hermione realised with a jolt that it had been so easy for her to feign a relationship with Ron because she had been in love with him all along. She wasn't having to act any feelings for Ron, because she was already in love with him. Deeper she suspected, than any of them could possibly imagine.
She was head over heels in love with Ron Weasley, and the fact that the whole thing was just a charade hurt like hell.
"What made matters worse," Harry continued, "Was that Fleur believed Ron and I to have saved her sister from certain death, so became, affectionate, towards us after that."
"Which would explain Hermione's behaviour." Mrs Granger nodded. "Now I understand."
"No!" yelled Hermione, getting to her feet. "You don't understand. None of you could possibly even begin to comprehend what it feels like to be so in love with someone, and yet......" But Hermione didn't get any further. She looked at Ron, taking him in for a second, before bursting in into tears.
***********************************************************
Phew. That chapter took a lot of work. I'm sorry if was all a bit depressing, but I promise it won't stay like that for long! *grins.*
Oh, and I'm sorry if there are any grammar mistakes, I know there have been loads in previous chapters, and I will try and be more careful in future.
So, kindly review like crazy, and tell me what you think! Thanks so much to all of you who review by the way. It's great to hear what you think!!!!!!
Am going to go before I burst into song........toodles. xxxxxxxx