Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. You know that. Right? Right.
Dedication: Dedicated to everyone who remembers an awkward first kiss.
Author's Note: Ron and Hermione's point of view, but told in third person. This is their first kiss. One more chapter left (their 2nd kiss). Review, review, review. You know you want to.
Replies: Thanks to athenakitty, tigerlily98, and Hi Im Crazy for reviewing.
Chapter Two: First Kiss
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FIRST KISSIt was March and Ron was in the common room doing some Transfiguration homework. He was doing his very best to do it well and do it without Hermione's help. He really wanted to prove to her that he could do something right. He wanted to prove that he was special. While happy for him when he made the Quiditch team last year (and true she had given him a kiss on the cheek he'd never forget as long as he lived), she wasn't the kind of girl to be impressed with sports. She wanted something more. He knew he couldn't dazzle her with gifts, but he suspected that she wasn't the sort to be taken in by presents either. She was smart, therefore she'd want a guy who was smart too.
Hermione sat on the other side of the common room, working on her homework with Harry while she talked to Ginny. Passersby and other people in the common room probably figured that Ron and Hermione had gotten in a fight again and that's why they were separated. But the truth was, Hermione was worried. "Harry, he hasn't asked me for help all week. Not even potions. I'm worried."
"I thought you'd be relieved. Aren't you always going on about how he never does his own work and how we won't learn if we don't do it ourselves?"
"But don't I always give him the notes anyway?" she asked.
"Yeah."
"Well, I'm going to go see if he needs any help," she said, shutting her book.
"Herms, you've been over there 3 times tonight. And you keep glancing up at him. Why don't you let him work in peace?" suggested Harry. "Don't fault Ron for trying to improve his study habits."
"Speaking of which, you could improve on your own study habits, Harry," Hermione said disapprovingly over her shoulder as she approached Ron.
Ron was chewing on the end of his quill and thumbing through his transfiguration book and his notes. The problem was he couldn't read his own handwriting in some places. He heard footsteps and glanced up and saw Hermione. Had she noticed that he kept looking at her every ten minutes? He hoped not.
"Hi, Ron," she said, trying to sound casual.
"Hey, Herms."
"Do you need some help?" she asked.
"Oh, no, I'm fine."
"Oh." She sounded disappointed.
"Look," he said brightly, "Remember that Transfiguration quiz we got back today?"
"Yeah."
"I passed. And with good marks too, not just average."
"That's wonderful!" she said, trying to sound happy. But her heart wasn't in it. "So I guess you don't need me." She started to turn away.
He grabbed her wrist. "Herms, you're my best friend. I'm always gonna need you. You don't know how many hours I spent studying for that quiz. You taught me how to do that. I still need you. I was just…I thought…"
"You thought what?"
"You'd like me better if I were smarter," mumbled Ron.
"What? Smarter? Like you better? You're my best friend, Ron." Friend, the word stung.
"Yeah. Friend." Friend, it stung like a bee.
"And I don't like you because you're smart. I get sick of smartness. You're my friend because you make me laugh and you're there for me." Again, that word stung. She turned away again. "I guess I'll go back over there and finish my work then."
He wouldn't let go of her wrist. "Do you even care that I tried to get these good grades for you? Do you care at all?"
"Yes, I care. You're developing good study habits. Unlike Harry, who's just sitting there and letting his mind go to rot. You don't need me. I should go help him."
"Hermione, I…"
"What?" she asked.
"I care about you." Something about the way he said "care" made it sound like so much more.
Hermione just stood there. She understood what he was saying, the magnitude of what he was saying. Ron had never been very good with words or expressing his feelings.
Ron still clutched her wrist as she stood in front him and he was still sitting in the chair. He yanked her arm and pulled her down next to him so she fell kind of half on him and half on the chair and he immediately put his other arm tightly around her to keep her from falling as she started to slip. Their faces were less than 6 inches apart and he froze.
He didn't know what to do.
Neither did she.
So they sat for a minute like that. The way Hermione had fallen she wasn't sitting very comfortably and Ron's grip on her wrist and her back were way too tight.
Ron looks like a deer caught in somebody's headlights the way he's frozen, thought Hermione, though she imagined she probably didn't look much better.
Ron stared at Hermione. Even with her eyes wide like she's terrified of me or something, she still looks beautiful, he thought. Ron leaned over to give her a kiss. Well, he shut his eyes (out of nervousness) and he missed. He ended up getting the side of her nose with a wet smack and she got his chin. Realizing his mistake he backed off. One more try…they both aimed for each other's mouth this time but there wasn't even any lip contact; they bumped noses instead.
By now it was just awkward, they disentangled themselves, both blushing.
Several people in the common room (including Ginny and Harry) witnessed what happened. There were some laughs, some looks of pity, and even a couple looks that clearly said I-can't-believe-those-idiots-couldn't-figure-out-how-to-kiss-each-other.
"Er, I…er, got…transfiguration," stuttered Ron, burying his head in his book (which was upside-down).
Hermione nodded and said something about studying for potions and rushed back to the other side of the common room, wiping her nose.
This wasn't exactly what either of them had imagined their first kiss to be.
Hermione knew it was naïve, but she'd imagined Ron saying something utterly romantic, taking her in his arms, and kissing her soundly on the mouth for at least a minute or so.
Ron had imagined himself saying some romantic, sweeping her off her feet, and kissing her like there was no tomorrow.
Neither of them had been warned that you were supposed to tilt your head so you didn't bump noses. There was no divine force to guide their heads so that their mouths met dead-on rather than missing. Things had gone miserably. Absolutely miserably.
Ron gathered his things and went up to his dormitory as quickly as he could and Harry, giving Hermione a look that said I've got to go followed him.
Hermione sat with Ginny downstairs trying to figure out where things had gone so wrong while she pretended to work on her homework again.
"Come on, Herms. You aren't going to be able to concentrate on that stuff now. Pack it up and we'll go to your dormitory and talk. Parvati and Lavender shouldn't be there; I think Neville's helping them with Herbology in the library."
Hermione just nodded and followed her upstairs.
They plopped down on Hermione's bed. "Okay, now explain what happened."
"I'm not sure. One minute we were talking about McGonagall's Transfiguration homework, then into him not needing me, then he said cared about me. I kinda froze. He pulled me down into his chair and put his arm around me."
"Okay, I saw that. It wasn't well done. Ron has no dating experience, if you can't tell."
"He doesn't want to date me," Hermione said, blushing, realizing that if things had gone differently tonight him might have wanted to.
"Are you kidding? Do you know how many times I've caught him doodling your name all over the place and shooting looks at you from across the room when he thinks nobody's watching him?" She snorted. "He's crazy about you. He's just rather lacking as far as kissing experience."
"Well, so am I," admitted Hermione.
"I could tell. First off, he just yanked you down into the seat. Not smooth. Besides that, you weren't arranged very well, half on his lap and half on the chair."
"I was sliding off."
"Which is why he put his arm around you. He could feel you slipping and wanted to keep you up there tight."
"Too tight."
"So things started off already awkward and my guess is, realizing how close to you he was, he panicked."
"Seemed like it. So did I."
"I noticed the pause. He closed his eyes didn't he?"
"Yeah."
"Which is why he missed your mouth. If he were experienced at kissing, he would have found it with his eyes shut the first time. Your noses bumped because you both kept your heads straight. You've got to tilt them toward opposite directions so there's no bumping."
"I see. And the actual kissing part?" If we ever get there, she added silently.
"That's easy. It's just…natural," Ginny tried to explain.
"Natural?"
"If you start kissing, your mouth'll figure out what to do. I promise. The only problem is that you need a more relaxed environment and better positioning. Less awkward than sitting like that in the common room."
Ron and Harry were in the sixth year boys' dormitory and Ron paced up and down. "How could I have been so stupid? Now I've got no chance with her. I tried to rush things and I messed up, like I always mess up!"
"You didn't blow it. We can still recover the situation. Let's go over what went wrong. You caught her completely unawares for one thing."
"Cho caught you too," he shot back. "Let's face it, my first kiss was even worse than yours and your girl cried on you." He threw his shoe at the wall angrily. "I probably ruined things with Hermione forever. She won't want to date me, let alone be my friend ever again. I've ruined things forever. Now I've got nobody. Hermione was perfect. Hermione is perfect. I don't know what I'm going to do. She hates me. She definitely hates me. What am I going to do? I—"
"Hey, Ron?"
"What?" Ron asked angrily.
Harry punched his friend in the jaw and Ron went sprawling backwards onto his bed.
"Ow! What was that for?"
"To knock some sense into you and get you to stop feeling sorry for yourself."
"Well, it worked. You're right. I can't give up because of one bad kiss. I've got to do something to show her I care. Something really romantic." He was staring out the window. "I've got an idea. Will you help me?" he asked, a gleam in his eye.
"Sure, mate. As long as you're not giving up on Hermione."
"Trust me, I'm not." He told him his plan. "Think it will work?"
"Yeah."
"But what does she wear?"
"Hermione? I can't imagine anything less than flannel armor."
"Good. I don't want things to be awkward and to mess this up twice in a row." It was time to put their plan in gear. When everything was finally ready, Ron asked awkwardly, "You got anymore advice? For…the kiss itself?"
"You mean like on how to actually kiss her?"
"Yeah," he said even more awkwardly.
Harry thought about it for a minute. "Find her mouth this time and it'll be okay."
"That's it?"
"That's it. I mean, what else did you want? How to move your mouth or how hard to press down on her lips?"
"I don't know." He was feeling decidedly embarrassed. That's pretty much what he had in mind when he asked the question, but now it sounded so much more stupid than it had in his head.
"Just be comfortable. Find her lips and how your mouths are supposed to move will be as natural as anything. Kissing is kind of a trial and error process."
"Where'd you learn so much like this? Who you've been kissing?" He eyed him suspiciously. "If you say my baby sister's name, I swear—"
Harry laughed.
"It's not funny. You were sitting rather close tonight in the common room."
"I'm like the seventh Weasley boy, Ron."
"Yeah…?"
"And that would make Ginny my sister too. Think about that. Trust me, nothing going on between Ginny and me. I was thinking of somebody else."
"Cho?"
He hesitated, "Well, yeah. That wasn't a bad kiss except that her face was all wet."
"Is there something you aren't telling me?"
"Remember when me and Ginny 'accidentally' got separated from you and Hermione on the last Hogsmeade weekend?"
Ron's eyes narrowed.
"Give me a break, we were trying to give you two some time alone, but you didn't take the hint. We ran into Luna. Spent the day with her. She's really something, you know that?" He laughed silently to himself, shaking his head before continuing, "Anyway, Ginny was spying on you and Luna and I decided to wait outside to make it harder for you guys to realize Gin was spying on you, anyway…Luna kissed me. We'd been having a great time talking and laughing, and then it just kinda happened."
"Women just fall all over you, don't they?" he asked sourly.
"What can I say? It must be the glasses. You've got to get going if this plan is ever going to get off the ground."
"Right."
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