Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters used in this story. I just borrowed them and manipulated them to act in my fluffy little plot.

A/N: Ok guys, I just thought I'd mention that from now on, some of the characters get a little OOC (OOC for those of you who are new to fanfiction.) Especially Hermione but the way I see it, she acts a little irresponsible when she's happy. Well not irresponsible…but different to the Hermione we know from the books. Ah well you'll work it out as you go along. She's just having a good day when she does things that are out of character for her.

Another little note! I can't believe I forgot this!

A little shout out to my BETAspeller:

Darkflower2113

Thanks a bunch Sede, if it weren't for you, I'd have a million little mistakes popping up everywhere! Long live the BETAspella's!!!

Chapter 2 -- The Truth Hurts

"Scrub that cauldron properly Weasley. Surely you wouldn't like to come back to do it again?" Snape's oily voice cut through the darkness in the dungeon.

Ron had to strain his eyes to see what he was doing. Not that he wanted to see it. Snape had pulled out his dirtiest cauldrons and had Ron scrubbing them until they were clean again. Though Ron doubted that anything the Potions Master owned had ever been clean. His hair certainly hadn't. Ron wrinkled his nose as the Professor stooped low to observe his work.

"Very well. You may leave. See that you pay attention in my class in the future Weasley as I have plenty more where those came from." Snape said, an evil smirk in place.

Ron gave the Potions Master a sarcastic smile and high tailed it out of the dungeon before he could be called back. Once outside he allowed himself a shudder.

"Greasy Git." He muttered to himself, as he walked back towards the Gryffindor Common Room.

He had been scrubbing cauldrons since dinner. He'd arrived fifteen minutes early for his detention because he simply couldn't sit at the dinner table while Hermione and Ginny laughed amongst themselves. It was unbearable. For some reason he had the sneaking suspicion that they were talking about him but when he listened in for a second he found that they were only discussing the Weird Sisters new song that had been playing on the radio when Hermione had visited The Burrow early in the summer.

He'd wondered at that precise moment if she had fancied him then. Probably he'd thought with a sinking feeling. Why did Hermione have to fancy him? Why not Harry? Ron didn't know how to deal with girls. Hell, he could hardly handle Ginny and she was his sister.

As soon as Snape had spotted him he'd hauled him in the door and put him to work. Ron made a mental note never to be early to detention again. An hour and a half later he was on his way back to the Common Room. Finally.

"You survived then?" Harry's voice called out as he entered the Portrait Hole. Ron smiled crookedly and dragged his feet over to where Harry and Hermione were sitting in front of the fire and sat in an arm chair on his own. Hermione smiled at him and smiled wider as her gaze rested on his face.

Ron warmed suddenly, realising that she was staring.

"Ron, you have dirt on your nose," she said, pointing to a spot on her own nose. "Right there…did you know?" she said and laughed softly.

Ron scrubbed at his nose furiously until he was sure it was off and glared briefly at Hermione before sighing.

"Hey guys listen. I was a little short with you today. I'm sorry. Just got a lot—"

"On your mind? We know. I know what that's like. Don't worry about it." Harry said smiling genuinely.

Ron turned to Hermione to find that she was still smiling.

"It's perfectly fine, everyone has a bad day here and there." she said, picking up a discarded book that had been lying in her lap.

A few minutes passed without anyone saying anything. Until…

"Phew…what in Merlin's name is that smell? My god Ron, it's you! What did Snape do to you?" Harry asked, pinching his nose dramatically.

"Well then. Leave it to Harry to point out the obvious." Ron said standing up and walking towards the dorms for a shower.

"I don't smell anything." Hermione said, sniffing the air delicately. "Oh wait. Now I do." She said wrinkling her nose as the smell made itself apparent to her and she poked her tongue out at Ron.

"Well I know that I can always trust you two to tell me the truth." Ron said, advancing on Hermione.

"No! You get away from me. You don't even smell that bad after Quidditch. Go away Ron, please!" she cried, though she was laughing so much that she had dropped her book. Ron stooped down and seized it between his forefinger and thumb.

"Say that I don't stink and you'll get it back." He said, holding it above his head just out of her reach.

Hermione jumped up and down, trying to get the book but to no avail. She grinned wickedly and Ron shrunk back, aware that that look was never a good thing.

Crunch!

"Oww! Dammit Hermione! That bloody hurt." Ron whined as he nursed his recently trod on foot.

"I may be shorter than you but that doesn't mean I can't triumph over you." Hermione said, catching the book deftly as Ron let go of it.

"Evil, evil woman." Ron muttered as he frowned at her.

"Awww, can't poor ickle Ronnikins handle the pain?" she cooed, pinching him on the cheek.

Ron felt his ears heat suddenly but fought the blush on his face down, thinking that this was only Hermione that was teasing him; there was no reason at all to even think of last night's conversation that he had heard.

When he thought about it, Hermione was an extremely good actress. Take away his knowledge of the previous night and he never would have guessed that she harboured any feelings for him what so ever.

"Again, evil, evil woman. Night Harry, Night Ginny." Ron said, calling out to his sister who was sitting a little ways away with a friend and silently praising himself for handling the situation so well at the same time. Ginny looked up confused for a moment then smiled and waved goodnight to him.

"Oh so I'm not worth a good night then?" Hermione asked, her hands on her hips, tucking a loose strand of hair back behind her ear.

"Not in the least." Ron said, making his way to the stairs. Once there he turned around and made eye contact with Hermione and poked out his tongue. He grinned when she did the same, laughing afterward.

He had to admit, he and Hermione had ceased arguing quite a lot since their fourth and fifth years. It was like they had both realised that there was no point over the summer. At least Hermione had when she had greeted him with a flying hug and he had spun her around, like a couple in love. He hadn't even thought anything of that greeting when it had happened but now…well now was a completely different matter.

Now things were totally relaxed. They were so comfortable together now. He supposed it was because they had indeed grown up and were past the 'boys/girls are icky' stage. They now acted more like friends than they ever had. (Maybe she was just making the effort because she fancied him? He didn't know.) Although Ron now loved that Hermione wasn't breathing down his neck about homework, he knew that deep down, he missed their frequent fights. When they had first gotten back to school Ron had felt as though something were missing. Upon seeing Malfoy, he knew it wasn't that. Not until he started slacking off on his homework did he realise that he missed Hermione's constant nagging. He asked her about it, curious and she had shrugged and simply said:

"I've decided that if you don't want to study, I can't do a thing about it. I wish I had realised that a year or two ago though, I could have saved myself a lot of time."

He did miss their bickering but he also liked things just the way they were. Although he couldn't help but wonder if they had only improved because Hermione now thought of him as more than a friend. They had found themselves a new past time: Picking out each other's faults and teasing one another about them. For instance, Ron would whisper 'Bookworm' out of the corner his mouth when they were silent in the library or Hermione would float a piece of parchment over to him with a crude drawing of a person with red hair and freckles with 'Obnoxious Git' written in large letters and arrows pointing to the grinning picture of himself. Sometimes the picking would get out of hand but not often. They knew when to stop. The best part was trying to out do one another but that didn't happen often.

Ron showered; making sure the smell of rotten piranhas was far-gone. Once he was satisfied he dressed in his pyjamas that he noticed were already too short for him in the leg. Would he ever stop growing? He was dangerously close to Bill's height now. He remembered as a kid that he never wanted to be taller than Bill. He was almost a giant. Ron grinned, thinking how he had categorized his brother as a giant and he was now close friends with one. He doubted that Bill would come up to Hagrid's belt buckle.

Ron climbed into his bed and drew the hangings around him and fell into a peaceful sleep. Deciding from then on that he really hadn't heard anything out of the ordinary a night ago, that Hermione was his best friend, nothing more and certainly nothing less and that she thought of him the same way. Even if she claimed she didn't. As far as she was knew, he was none the wiser. Thinking about how he could use it to his advantage, he decided to keep it under wraps for the time being. He smiled slightly at this and his dreams were soon filled with thoughts of bushy haired bookworms…* no matter how much he denied his thoughts and feelings for her.

***

Ron and Harry sat on the Common Room couch, waiting patiently for Hermione (Harry was waiting patiently…Ron however…not so patiently.) who had run up to her dorm to fetch something. She came down fifteen minutes later. Ron, not looking up, complained.

Keep calm. Just Hermione, just your friend.

"What took you so damn long, I was going to come looking for you myself but I thought that—what did you do to your hair?" He asked her, completely shocked at the Hermione that stood in front of him.

 "What?" she said, reaching up to feel it quickly, looking slightly alarmed, once she felt that it was alright she rolled her eyes. "Lavender and Parvati attacked me as soon as I got in the door. They tied it back Ron, it's no shorter, not a different colour, no chemicals in it. Nothing. I refused." She said, smiling brightly.

"That's our Hermione, fighting peer pressure." Harry said, laughing and nodding at Hermione's hair. "Looks nice." He said and made for the Portrait Hole.

Ron who had been gaping at the dramatic change broke out of his reverie to comment himself once he noticed that she seemed to be awaiting his approval.

"It's…er…different. Nice of course, just...different." He said, waiting for her to yell.

Instead she just rolled her eyes again and grabbed him by the arm pulling him to the Portrait Hole and grabbing her school bag on the way. Ron flinched slightly at her touch but Hermione didn't seem to notice although she did hold onto his arm longer than she normally would have.

"Quick before they resurface with Madam Maxime's Hair-raising Hair Spray or something."

"You mean…that woman…?"

"Yes, she has her own beauty line and of course who owns everything in it? Lavender and Parvati." Hermione said, smiling though she was trying to sound annoyed with her dorm mates.

"Hey Hermione…" Ron said, struck by sudden curiosity, trying to ignore the tingling in his arm where she had touched it. "Do you talk with Lavender and Parvati much?"

"About what exactly?" she asked, narrowing her eyes slightly as they walked through the halls together. Harry seemed to have gone ahead with out them. Some friend he is. Ron thought wryly.

"Oh you know…this…that…boys?" Ron asked, getting straight to the point.

"B-Boys? Well I suppose so…at least they talk, I listen—"

Liar. You do your fair bit of talking too.

"--Did you know that Seamus can do amazing things with his tongue?" Hermione asked, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

"No I did not and I think that I would have been rather happy not knowing." Ron said, shaking himself of the image of Seamus' tongue and the fact that Hermione had flat out just lied to him without so much as batting an eyelid.

"I had to know, you have to know. Never let it be said that I don't share things." Hermione said as they joined their class at the edge of the woods.

***

A/N: * What a visual! Lmao. Bushy haired bookworms. Is it bad that I can picture what bushy haired worms would look like? Woah…

I've decided not to comment on each review this time around, though I'll just say one thing this time:

The more people say 'Hurry up and write more now." And things of the like, the less I will update cos that really annoys me.

Nesserz.