Chapter Ten

Ron quickly strung his curtains around his four-poster. He sat silently, wondering who had wandered into the boys' dorm. He sat quietly, listening intently.

"Ron?" came a soft voice. Ron ripped back his curtains.

"Hermionie," he said with surprise, "You're not supposed to be in here!" She looked at him, and didn't say anything right away.

"I don't care." She said, her arms crossed. She didn't look angry, but Ron knew there was something up. She sat down next to him on the bed.

"Where's Harry?" Ron blurted. Hermionie shot him a look. "Sorry."

"I came up here to talk to you." She said defiantly. "So, forget about Harry for a second."

"Alright." Ron made himself comfortable.

"First of all, I wanted to apologize." She said. She sounded like she'd planned this all out in her head.

"Okay." Ron said, "What for?"

"For the way me and Harry have been ignoring you." She said, watching her robes.

"Huh? You've been ignoring me? I hadn't noticed." Ron said rolling his eyes.

"Hey!" She said, playing along, "At least I had the decency to apologize! Harry was being a stubborn ass." Ron gaped at her, his mouth open.

"Hermionie!"

"What?" She said innocently, "I can't curse every once in a while?"

"No!" Ron said, "That's not the Hermionie I know."

"Yea well, that Hermionie has changed. I'm way more laid back than I was before." She answered, with a mischievous smile.

"Yea." He said, "I know." He shoved her playfully.

"Yup." She sighed. "Well."

Ron looked at her, and saw something in her brown eyes. He didn't know what it was, but it was new, that's for sure. Ron spread his arms, cocked his head to the side, and smiled,

"We okay?" She smiled and fell into his arms. They sat there and hugged, when suddenly, the dorm door flew open for a second time.