A/N: A good chunk of fluff to leave you with until the next update which is in the works as you read.

To love. May it touch each and every one of you as it touches these characters.



Chapter 6

~Ron~

"Ron, what are you doing?" Maggie asked me, coming to sit on my shoulder and peak over it at my end-of-term potions project.

"A paper for potions. Why?"

"Because I think you need to stop. You hurt right here." she said, touching my forehead. I'd had a bad headache most of the evening.

"How did you know that?" I asked her as she stepped off of my shoulder. Maggie was such a great little creature. She was insightful yet innocent, and sensitive whenever I needed it. It was actually like having my mother around. I really miss my mother during the school year and Maggie's presence was a welcomed relief.

"I can feel it." she said simply, picking up my quill and dancing around with it.

"Does it hurt you? To feel other's pain, I mean." I asked, closing my book and accepting that I could do no more that night.

"No. I can just feel it. You have a patch of red hurt right there. I can see it with my head." she said, trying to put her feelings into words with her limited vocabulary.

"So, you see a picture of the pain in your head?" I asked, trying to understand her.

"Yes. Like a picture. I can see feelings too." she said, looking up at me and smiling. I felt uneasy.

"You can see feelings? What color are my feelings?" I asked, not knowing if I really wanted to know.

"Well, yours change a lot. You have really big bright feelings and then really light, dull feelings." she said, sticking her toe into a drop of wet ink and making a little swirl on my parchment.

"Well, can you give me an example?" I asked. Her explanations soothed me and my headache was beginning to ebb away.

"What's an example?" she asked, looking at me as if I had two heads. I laughed.

"An example is like a lesson. You are teaching me about healing and such, and you tell me about a feeling that I had. You see?" I asked, leaning back in big, plush common room chair.

"I think so. Well, when you are with Harry you go all emerald. You're very fond of him, but then you go a really bright lime when Ginny is around, but she can make you a nasty, dark red color too, when you're mad at her. And then there's Hermione. Oh, you go the most beautiful blue color when she's around. I like her, because you get all blue when she's there. You sometimes go a bit purple too, when she's there. When your ears turn pink, that's when I see you in purple. Oh, and then she can turn you a bit pinky-reddish if you're mad at her, but the blue is still there. It's always blue, no matter what." she looked dreamily over at the fire where Hermione was sitting with her three million books and twelve-thousand feet of parchment. The sight made me smile.

"There you go again. Brilliant blue, every time." Maggie smiled at him.

"So, between you and me, what color does Hermione turn when she's around me?" Ron whispered.

"Oh, she's always a wonderful blue color too, but just when you are there. Sometimes she comes to visit me in the hospital wing and she's never blue there. But her blue is even more pretty than yours. It's deep and thick." I smiled a bit to myself. *So, Hermione was blue around me too?*

I couldn't quite let myself draw conclusions, so I tested my theory, "Maggie, does Ginny turn blue when Harry is around?"

"Oh yes, she turns very blue, and he's blue when she's around too."

"WHAT?!" I nearly shot out of my chair. Harry liked my sister? In that *way*?

"I'm sorry!" Maggie said, quill dropping to the table and lip quivering.

"No Maggie, it isn't your fault. I was just surprised, that's all." I said trying to keep her whimpering at bay.

I stacked my books and shoved them into my rucksack. Snape could be forgotten for the rest of the night. Now I needed a bit of a study break...and so did the frizzy hair over by the fire. I walked up behind her very quietly and was going to scare her when her voice cut through the air.

"If you think I don't know you're there you're kidding yourself Ron Weasley." I deflated and accepted defeat. Though I couldn't help but notice there was a hint of amusement in her voice.

"Well fine, don't let me have any fun. Just go on your merry way and kill all of the fun. Just murder it." I said, and flopped dramatically on the couch purposely close to her. She finally looked from her book over to me. My breath became sort of short at the sight. She was snuggled in a sweater, her hair down and terribly frizzy after a long day of classes, and fire light danced on her face, shining off of her pretty eyes. Before that point, I'd been able to convince myself that I didn't feel differently around her now that we were older. I'd been able to dismiss any quick heart beat and any falter in my step caused by her. But right at that moment, I couldn't lie to myself anymore. Because at that very moment I realized that she had passed childhood by...and it showed. Blimey, did it ever show. She wasn't a girl, or a playmate, or simply a companion anymore. She was a woman. And she had begun to make me feel things that I still wasn't *completely* ready to admit. But the urge to lean over and smell her soft, bushy hair was so undeniable even *I* couldn't continue to ignore it.

"Was there something that you wanted Ron?" she asked, knocking me out of my reverie and back into reality.

"Uh...um...no, not really. I just needed a break and you looked like you did too."

*Good save mate* I patted myself on the back. She looked skeptically at me and the right side of her mouth went up in such a way that my stomach dropped out from under me.

"Well, I don't know. I really should keep working." she said, fingering the pages of her Arithmancy text reluctantly.

"Yes, I guess being only a month ahead in your homework could really hurt you." I tried to muster up something would qualify as an impressive smile. It must have worked cause she playfully hit my stomach.

"Ron, must you always pester me so?" She asked, nonchalantly closing her book and turning to me, bringing her legs up and wrapping her arms around them. Her toes wriggled in between the cushions and I nearly giggled.

"Yes, yes I must." I said and she smiled, rolling her eyes. We continued to talk and laugh quietly and then all of the sudden it was two hours later and the last straggling studier had gone to bed. We were alone in the common room oblivious to the world around us. She was so lovely to talk to, and I was so...gone. We talked about lots of things that we'd never talked about before. Her family, my older brothers Bill and Charlie. By the time I got through the first Bill and Charlie story I was flailing wildly with my arms and she was laughing so hard that she held her stomach and tears flowed down her face. I decided then and there that I needed to make her laugh like that as much as possible.

"Ron, you're family has always fascinated me. Was it difficult to live with all of those people?" she asked, curling herself up into a ball and scooting closer to me.

"No, not as much as I make it out to be. It's nice to have other kids around for play and then when you get older, you don't have to ask your parents any awkward questions. You know? I guess Ginny had to ask about all the girl stuff from mom, but us brothers did plenty of explaining to her too." I felt myself rambling and quickly closed my mouth.

"And girls talk to their friends about that kind of stuff where boys don't. Like you wouldn't go up to Harry and ask him to teach you how to shave your chin, but girls will ask other girls stuff like that. Ginny has asked me lots of stuff about life and all that. But I would guess having siblings would still be easier. I used to always wish I had a little brother or sister to grow up with. Now I don't know, I'll probably end up marrying into a big family anyway..." she trailed off and turned red. Wait...I like her, and I have a big family. Things were beginning to go my way.

"Yeah, I'll probably end up with some only child. You know, opposites attract." I murmured, leaning in to catch her eye. She looked up at me and we stayed that way for quite a while, just enjoying the look in each other's eyes.

"It's late, we should get some sleep." she said, stretching. I couldn't help but admire the curve of her, her arms extended above her head, her back arched and....I was wondering into the land of 'stuff I won't admit to myself' again.

"It was nice talking to you Ron. I feel like this has been a bit more of the real you than I get to see sometimes."

She smiled shyly and looked at her hands.

"Well, I know I'm a bit of a prat sometimes, but it's just because I know that you pay attention when I act silly. You reprimand me and it's kind of fun." I shrugged and became a bit bashful.

"I don't think fighting with you is *fun*." she said, screwing up her face.

"Well, I guess it's not as much *fun* as it is.....I can't think of a proper word for it. When you get that lightening in your eyes and the way all of your hair stands on end. It's just such a....lovely sight after a hard day. You always fight with everything you've got. And when you're fighting with me, I'm the only thing you're thinking about. It's exciting sometimes." I reached up and flicked a piece of hair out of her face.

"Well, we aren't fighting now, and...you're still the only thing I'm thinking about." my heart was racing.

The fire was dimming and I had this overwhelming feeling to take some course of action. I had to do SOMEthing. I started to lean in, trying to get as close as possible to those sparkling eyes. I began to close in on her lips and she cleared her throat. Damn.

"I have a....a...um...something important....uuum...oh, an Arithmancy test tomorrow and I need my....my...ahh..." she stuttered, her cheeks flushed deeply and I reveled in the fact that I was the one who caused such a reaction.

"Rest?" I provided.

She licked her lips. Oh my, Ron Weasley...watch yourself.

"Rest...yes. I need to rest." she stared at me for a long moment and then she swung her legs over the side of the couch and stood up. I watched her gather her things and something occurred to me. I'd known Hermione for six years, nearly seven, and I'd been overlooking her. The way she moved, the color of her hair, and the way my name sounded when she said it.

"Ron?" I spiraling back to reality. I stood up.

"I need to get some rest too." I stretched. She smiled slightly and started to walk toward the girl's dormitory staircase when I noticed that she'd left a book behind.

"Hermione, your book." I picked it up and walked over to place it on top of the stack.

She turned around and accepted the book. Then she juggled them in one arm and reached up to touch my cheek.

As I walked up to my dorm, the warmth from her hand lingered on my cheek until I closed my eyes to a dreamful sleep.



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