Title: Between the Lines

Author: LaurelSolo

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters associated with the Harry Potter series.

Summary: Set before (and eventually through) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Ron and Hermione find themselves alone for a month before Harry arrives at Number 12, Grimmauld Place. My take on what happens before Harry arrives and the consequences that Harry takes no notice of.

Author's Notes: Again, thank you to my wonderful beta-readers: Ruth, Freelancer and JennaMae! You guys completely rock! Thanks for all the positive reviews! I also want to thank Deanna for being a great best friend and putting up with all my dancing and singing that has been going on the past week!

Dedicated to my crush. with hopes.

~*~

Ron Weasley shut the door to his room and looked around. He was going to be very lonely in this big room all by himself. He figured the only reason he had gotten his own bedroom for now was that eventually Harry would be staying with him. But until he arrived it was going to be a lonely couple of weeks.

Even though it had been a very late night for him, Ron's brain was still buzzing from all that had happened. The adrenaline rush that had hit him full force when his mother had woken him up was still with him and he wasn't sure that he wanted it to leave. Even though he had been thinking all night, he didn't want to stop.

Ron looked to the tattered beds that were sitting in the middle of the room and then out the window where the sun would soon be shining. His body protested his mind's alertness, but he knew that if he tried to go to sleep all he would do is lie there and wish he were doing something productive.

A glance around the room told him that he had a lot of work to do, and the thought of something other than sitting in bed with his thoughts encouraged him, so he started heaving one of the beds to one wall.

As he worked and panted, he thought about what had happened before the Death Eater attack-his new and now seemingly very blatant emotions and Hermione.

Hermione. She had looked at him tonight like she had never looked at him before. He wasn't sure, but he thought he saw pride and something else in her eyes. Something indescribable that thrilled him and fueled him.

He wasn't going to mope around anymore. He was sick of being treated like a child, so he might as well not act like one. He had come to some pretty tough conclusions after Ginny had come in-conclusions about himself that he wasn't real happy about.

The first conclusion was that he liked Hermione. A lot. And that was something that he knew he had been hiding for a while, though only from himself. He loved everything about her-from the way her hair was always a stringy, poofy mess behind her, to the way she spouted facts like an encyclopedia gone mad, from the way she always stood up for him and Harry, to the way she had screamed at him for not asking her to the ball. He was gone and apparently he was the last to know. Looking back on the year, he realized that Harry had probably figured it out as well as (and this made him quite nervous) Hermione. But at least he had finally figured it out!

The second conclusion was that something needed to be done about his feelings. that led to his final conclusion.

He needed to grow up. He wasn't a child anymore, and he wasn't going to act like one anymore. He could be angry and frustrated and sad, but he was going to go beyond throwing temper tantrums in his room. The world as he knew it had changed and the war that was upon it wasn't going to need a child-it was going to need an adult. He was fifteen now-only three years from being able to make his own decisions and live his own life. There wasn't room any longer for a selfish, headstrong, short-tempered boy anymore. He realized that quickly when he realized that that was how Percy was acting-and he was no Percy. He was better than that. He was going to stick with the side that he knew was right, not the side that someone else told him was right. He was going to make his own decisions and stick with them-not let someone else dictate what should be done for him. He was going to grow up and he was going to do it now.

He stopped for a moment and realized that he had just about put everything where he wanted it. The room was still dusty and dingy, but at least the furniture was in decent spots now. He ran fingers through his hair and sat down on his bed-suddenly exhausted. He looked at his watch and saw that it was nearly 5 a.m. He went to reach for his trunk, but realized that he didn't have it. His Dad would get it from the Burrow tomorrow morning-there hadn't been time to pack a trunk.

So he slid between the sheets with a feeling of pride. He was going to wait for Hermione. He wasn't going to rush her out of a relationship with Victor. that was what the old Ron would have done. Instead he was going to be patient and wait for things to fall into place.

As he closed his eyes, he felt himself falling into peaceful sleep- where the wonderful dreams he had about Hermione would never be remembered.

~*~

Ron woke to the sound of a profound pounding. He opened his eyes to see that light was streaming into his bedroom window and that someone was trying to break down his door. He crossed the room from the new location his bed was in and found Fred pounding on the door.

"Afternoon ickle Ronniekins!" he sang happily.

"Afternoon?" Ron croaked.

"Yup, about four in the afternoon to be exact. Mum told me to come get you up so you'd sleep tonight."

Ron yawned and followed Fred downstairs. He noticed that even in the daytime, the house seemed gloomy and spooky. You didn't want to speak above a whisper because there was no telling what you would awaken. They passed through a hallway that Ron didn't recall seeing the night before. It looked like a bunch of house-elves' heads on the wall. It royally creeped him out.

They entered the kitchen to a chorus of "Good Afternoon!" and Mrs. Weasley bustled him to a spot at the table next to Hermione. She looked as if she had just woken up as well. Her eyes were red and puffy and her hair was quite limp.

"Morning Hermione," he said softly.

"Actually, it's afternoon. Remember?" she said grinning at him. There was more life to her eyes when she talked to him. She looked beautiful.

"Ah yes," he said, "I'm all out of sorts."

Ginny smiled at him from across the table, "We all are. I suspect we'll all have trouble sleeping tonight."

Mrs. Weasley began to ladle soup into everyone's bowls that had been placed in front of them and then began to give announcements.

"We'll be doing a lot of housecleaning while we're here;" she began, "This house has been abandoned for a while, so Sirius will need all the help he can get. We're going to make this place shine before school starts. The Order deserves to have a clean and tidy place to hold meetings."

"The Order?" Ron asked.

Hermione nodded, "Yes, the Order of the Phoenix-apparently it's some sort of group that Dumbledore's heading up."

Mrs. Weasley nodded, "Yes, and speaking of Dumbledore-he's coming today to talk to you two about Harry. Apparently he thinks that you two might try to send him information," at this she gave them both pointed looks, "and he doesn't want anything important intercepted."

"Well it's not like we know anything anyway," George grumbled under his breath.

"And that's the way it's going to stay!" Mrs. Weasley practically shrieked, "You lot are all far too young to know the things that go on concerning the upcoming war. No need to frighten you about things you can't control."

Ron sighed and decided that any other questions he asked were most likely going to be refused by his mother. He decided that eating his lunch peacefully was the better option. The table was quiet as everyone sat pondering their own thoughts and quietly ate their soup. Ron was having trouble keeping his eyes off of Hermione and he was having even more trouble hiding the fact that he was staring at her. She finally gave him a questioning look but he just shrugged his shoulders. Unfortunately for both of them, George seemed to notice their little exchange.

"Trouble in paradise?" he asked.

Ron and Hermione both blushed and Ron decided that maiming his brother was looking quite nice right now.

"What?" Hermione asked, "What did you say?"

George grinned and took a large bite of the bread, "Fred? I believe our friend Hermione here has lost her hearing temporarily. Could you please repeat the question for her sake?"

Fred grinned and repeated the question. being careful to over- enunciate every word, "TROUBLE-IN-PARADISE?"

Hermione looked at him in complete and utter shock. Her face turned from pink to crimson faster than Harry could catch a snitch. Her eyes flashed with anger and she opened and closed her mouth several times without a sound coming out. And before she could say anything, she jumped up from her chair and ran out of the kitchen.

Ron looked to both of them- his temper rising. They looked quite please of themselves, but when they saw the look on Ron's face, the pleased look disappeared and was replaced with a somewhat nonchalant look.

"Having problems with your girl?" Fred asked smugly.

"Yes Ronniekins, did we hit a sore subject?" George added.

Ron looked at them. He was trying to decide if it was really going to be worth it to even talk to them about this. He looked from one identical brother to the other, and then ran out of the room to go find Hermione.

As he ran out, he heard cackles of laughter coming from behind him followed by Ginny shouting, "Shut up you two!"

Ron ran through the hall, turned up the stairs and then took the flight of stairs two at a time. He turned into the hallway that connected all the rooms and then raced in front of Hermione and Ginny's room. He stopped and remembered what he had thought about the night before and decided to give himself a moment before he went in to.he took a deep breath of air and exhaled it. talk to her.

He looked down at his hands and realized he was shaking. He knew what they were about to talk about in there and it scared him. He wasn't sure if he was ready for her to reject him. He wasn't sure if he was ready to lay his feelings on the line only to have her tell him she was involved with Victor and he was going to have to wait. He didn't even have Harry to talk to about it, and even if he did he wasn't sure if he would. He took another deep breath and then knocked on the door.

Silence rang in his ears and he held his breath as he waited for an answer. It seemed like she was taking her time deciding whether or not she wanted to say anything and after what seemed like an eternity he heard a quiet, timid voice. "Who is it?"

"It's me," his voice seemed unnaturally high.

He was answered by more of the unnerving silence. After waiting for moment upon anxious moment he finally asked, "Hermione, can I come in?"

He heard a sound that could have possibly been a yes or a no, but he decided to translate it as a yes and turned the handle of the door.

The door creaked open and he stepped into the room. The drapes on the window had been thrown open and both girls' beds were rumpled and unmade. The light from the afternoon sun cast a glow on the room. Hermione was sitting on what Ron was presuming was her bed, her face facing the window. The sun illuminated each strand of her brown hair and created almost a halo effect on her head. Her hands were in her lap and her shoulders were tense with something that Ron could only describe as what seemed like nervousness because he felt the same way. He walked slowly towards her and he finally reached a point where he could see her profile. Her face was pale in comparison to the vibrant colors the light was creating in her hair.

He cleared his throat and she turned towards him, bowing her head and leaving her eyes on the floor near his feet, "They're a bunch of gits. They don't know what they're talking about."

Hermione nodded, "Yes. I'm sorry I ran out like that. Tell your mother I'm sorry, but I don't know if I'll be hungry the rest of tonight."

"Hermione." he started.

"Ron. you don't have to say anything," she said.

"No, I just want you to know that I understand."

"You understand what?" Hermione's eyes popped from their current position on the floor and rose to meet his.

"I know that you and Victor are together and. well I just know," for some reason the top of Hermione's head seemed much more interesting than her eyes.

Hermione looked at him curiously, "What? Ron, what are you talking
about?"

Ron sighed and realized that he was going to have to tell her about
the letter that he saw, "I read that letter that Victor sent you."

Hermione's expression changed dramatically from curiosity to confusion to crazed instantly, "You. what?!?"

Ron paled at her tone. Maybe the truth wasn't the best route. "The other day when I was trying to find Ginny to tell her dinner was ready, I went into her room and I saw it lying on the floor."

"And so you automatically thought that it was all right for you to read?" Hermione's voice shook with anger as she stood up to face him.

Ron felt his temper flaring up. He had been trying to be nice by telling her the truth but unfortunately it was blowing up in his face. She should be more understanding than this! "Well you shouldn't leave things like that lying around!"

"Oh don't you even start that Ronald Weasley! I wasn't expecting for someone to come in and read it-least of all you!"

"Well maybe you wanted me to read it!" his voice was getting louder and louder.

"What?" she shrieked.

"Maybe you just want me to be jealous!"

"Oh right Ron, I'm just dying for you to pay me attention and to rip something up because Victor Krum writes me letters!"

"Well you never know!"

"Ron, what you did was an invasion of privacy! You never should have been looking through my things! I could just throw something at you right now!!" Her voice had reached its breaking point now and her face was purple with anger. She was loosing her nerve.

Ron was about to bellow something back at her, but stopped just in time. He took a deep breath and hoped Hermione would calm down with him. Unfortunately she was still shooting daggers in his direction. "I was just trying to tell the truth and be good, but you had to go and shoot me down for being a gentleman." He hoped that hadn't come out as sarcastic as it sounded.

Hermione's whole body began to shake with fury and the only word she managed to get out was, "Gentleman?!?" She turned on her heel, went to her trunk and flung it open. She began to tear into the contents of the poor trunk and her things hurled through the air. She presumably found whatever she was looking for and shoved it in Ron's face.

"Well you want to hear what I wrote back?" She shouted.

"Now why would I want to hear anything about you and Vicky?" his voice was no longer cool and steady, instead there was something accusing, something cruel in it.

"'Dear Victor," she began, her brown eyes flashing with anger, "I'm sorry that I couldn't visit you in Bulgaria.'"

Ron smiled sarcastically, "Oh yes, instead I have to spend all my time with the person I like the least- Ron "Wanker" Weasley."

"Would you let me finish?" she asked glaring at him, "'I know that you want our relationship to progress beyond friendship, but I'm afraid that I can't let that happen.'"

Ron had stopped making rude gestures and was now listening-though he pretended not to.

Hermione had stopped shouting and her voice was now level and jittery. She was shaking from head to toe and Ron thought he might have seen tears in her eyes. She continued, "'You see, I have feelings for someone else and if I was in a relationship with you, then I would be lying to you and to myself that I was over him. He might not even feel the same way, but for some reason I can't give up the hope that there might be something there." Hermione's voice was almost a whisper now, "Your friend, Hermione Granger.'"

Ron wasn't even pretending not to look at her anymore. Instead his eyes were fixed on her and he was studying her intently. He opened and closed his mouth a few times and finally managed a few words, "There's someone else?"

Hermione looked at her feet and nodded, "Yes, there's always been that person. Ever since I first met him on the train to Hogwarts."

Ron took a step towards her so they were only a foot apart from each other. He grinned impishly, "So you've got the hots for Harry then?"

Hermione looked up at him. His face was alight with a smile and his eyes sparkled with mirth, "What? Are you crazy? Harry's like a brother! It's you Ron, for heaven's sake-"

But she didn't finish her sentence, Ron had rolled his eyes and had pulled her towards him and (using all the Gryffindor courage he could) had kissed her square on the lips.

Ron's first coherent thought as he kissed Hermione was to wonder how he had ever gone with out this sort of contact. This raw, passionate, and brilliant contact. He shut his eyes tightly and reveled in the feeling of Hermione's lips under his own. It was slow, tentative, and full of inexperience, but there was something amazing in it. She had gone completely slack in his arms and he held her to him tightly. Nothing could ever compare to this.

When they finally parted, Ron held her tight in his arms. Never wanting to let her go.