A/N: After watching one of the worst football games I've ever seen, I feel I must write some good old-fashioned fluff to cheer myself up. Enjoy!
Chapter 1
"C'mon, mate, wake up!" Harry exclaimed, throwing open the curtains that hung around my 4-poster. I groaned as bright sunlight shone in my eyes and burrowed my face into my pillow.
"Ron, come on, we'll be late for breakfast."
I sighed and slowly got out of bed. As Harry sighed and looked pointedly at his watch, I got dressed and tried desperately to flatten my hair.
"Mate, I've tried," Harry advised. "It doesn't work."
After making one last attempt to tame it, I followed him down the stairs to the common room, where Hermione and Ginny were waiting, looking very impatient.
"I thought you'd never wake up," Hermione said sternly. "I know it's Saturday, but it's nearly 11!"
"Exactly, no classes, no reason to wake up early," I replied, grinning. "Even if we miss breakfast, we could always go down to the kitchens and nick some food from Dobby. He'd trip over himself to see Harry again."
"Oh, honestly," Hermione said angrily, elbowing her way past Harry and me toward the portrait hole. Ginny just gave me a knowing look instead of her usual glare and followed Hermione. I glanced at Harry, presumably to laugh at how off girls could be sometimes, but I was shocked to see a sort of dreamy look on his face as my baby sister left the room.
"Harry!" I said suddenly, hoping to jerk him out of his stupor. He jumped slightly and turned to look at me.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" he asked, his voice shaking slightly. "Let's go down to breakfast."
People could be so weird sometimes.
When Harry and I reached the Great Hall, Ginny and Hermione had already started eating. I sat down beside Hermione and eagerly piled scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast on my plate. As I dug in, I caught Hermione throwing a disgusted look my way, but chose to ignore it. If she had a problem, too bad.
"So, Gin, what are you planning on doing today?" Harry asked, helping himself to the food as well, although not as quickly as I had.
"Hermione and I were actually thinking about going to Hogsmeade, there's a trip planned for today," Ginny answered.
"Oh, that sounds like…fun," Harry said, looking at me. I couldn't be bothered to reply, as I still had a pile of scrambled eggs and 3 pieces of bacon to finish off. Hey, I was brought up with 5 other brothers and a sister: if you didn't eat fast, you didn't eat.
"Oh, for heaven's sake, Ron, could you please show a bit more courtesy towards the people that actually have to watch you scarf down your food like that?" Hermione said irritatedly as I wiped my mouth with a napkin.
"Sorry, 'Mione," I answered, knowing that this name would always get her. Sure enough, a hint of a smile flitted across her face before she tried to pretend it didn't affect her.
"Ron, I still don't understand why you can't be bothered to say my full name," she said, staring intently at her plate, which had remained untouched.
"Oh, I just thought 'Mione was…prettier," I hardly had the words out of my mouth before I realized how stupid they sounded.
"So Hermione is an ugly name, is that what you're telling me?" she said angrily.
"No, I didn't exactly…but I mean, it is rather long and it always makes me think of Hermy, and…."
"It's fine, Ron, I mean, I've had to deal with Malfoy, this can't be much worse, can it? Ginny, I don't think I'll be going to Hogsmeade today, I have a lot of work to do."
"But, Hermione—"
"No, I really mustn't. You have fun, though."
With that, she nearly jumped out of her chair and left the Great Hall in the blink of an eye.
I knew I was going to get it.
"Ron, you just had to ruin it, didn't you?" Ginny said angrily. Harry gulped and busied himself with his food, trying to stay out of it. I didn't blame him. Ginny was scary when she was mad, kind of like Hermione, now that I thought of it.
"Ruin what?" I asked.
"Her good mood! I mean, you're enough of a prat to ruin someone's life, and she was having such a good day, and you know the type of influence you've got on her—"
"Wait," I interrupted. "What kind of influence do I have on her, exactly?"
Ginny blushed. Being a Weasley, I could decipher the coloring of her pale cheeks and knew that she should not have said what she said.
"Nothing, Ron, it's just that, you know, you're friends, and…" she trailed off helplessly. I had her.
"Ginny, we both know you're lying," I said. "Just tell me the truth. I swear, I won't tell a soul."
"No, I—I can't," she said weakly.
Harry sighed loudly, and Ginny and I jumped.
"Ron, Hermione's in love with you, she has been since fourth year. That's why she's so upset with you about telling her that her name is ugly."
Ginny looked downright stunned, and I couldn't have looked any better.
"I—she—we—love?" I stuttered, unable to form coherent sentences.
"Harry James Potter," Ginny said quietly. "I cannot believe that you just betrayed your best friend's trust like that."
"Ginny, face it," Harry said, turning toward her as I watched them in bewildered silence. "All these secrets are just hurting everyone. He has to know. You know he does."
She sighed in defeat and lay her head down on the table. Meanwhile, I was gaping wordlessly at them like a fish out of water.
"Would someone please explain what is going on to the confused wizard in the first row?"
"Oh, right," Harry said, taking his gaze off my sister and looking at me. "Well, Hermione likes you. As more than a friend. As a matter of fact, mate, I'd say she loves you. And you, being that big, cute, prat that you are, have absolutely refused to see that, because no one is stupid enough to have actually just not noticed it. Oh, and you like her, too."
"What?" I said hotly, feeling the stares of Harry and Ginny boring into my skull, as well as a hot red blush creeping over my cheeks. "I do not, we're best friends and—"
"We didn't tell you who you were friends with," Ginny said gently. "We're telling you that however bloody stupid you may try to be, you can't deny that sometimes, when you look at her, your breath catches in your throat. And sometimes, when she smiles at you, you feel like no matter what's going on—you're failing a class or you had the worst Quidditch game of your life—everything will be OK. You'd do anything to make her happy, but at the same time, you love to get her angry because of the look in her eye and the way her face flushes. You can tease her and think it's perfectly all right, but if someone else, even Harry, occasionally, tries it, they'll be sorry they did. You, Ronald Arthur Weasley, are in love."
As I stared at her, unable to believe that she had just put into words what I had denied for 6 years, everything fell into place, and I knew what I had to do.
As I walked away from the table I could still hear Harry.
"Ginny…I think I'm in love with you."
A/N: Don't know, I'll probably have a second chapter. If anyone even wants to read this.
