A/N: Sorry if the last part of this story seems a bit rushed, that's only because it is.
Ron managed to avoid Hermione the rest of the day, which happened to be quite uneventful. After the Quidditch match, the Gryffindors were all to be found in the common room, celebrating their win with butterbeer and sweets that someone had swiped. As Ron stood by a table piled with food, Ginny and Hermione joined him at the table.
"Good game, Gin!" Ron told his sister.
"Thanks, Ron. And you! You made some great plays today!" Ron smiled appreciatively.
Hermione spoke up, looking at Ginny. "Yeah, great job, Ginny. That was a great game you played." Ginny smiled.
"Hey, Hermione," Ron said casually.
Hermione turned to stare at Ron. "So now you want to talk to me? Well, now that you are, do you mind thinking over what you're going to say to me thoroughly? Wouldn't want something to pop out so that you have to take it back later." Her tone was perfectly calm, and her gaze remained casual.
"Hermione..." He lowered his voice, in hopes that Hermione might do the same. "I'm sorry...I didn't mean to hurt you--" Ron stopped at the stern and hurt look that he received from Hermione.
"Ron, it's not that I'm upset and heartbroken that I love you and you don't love me." Her face turned scarlet, but she continued. "Mostly because you couldn't keep your stupid urges to yourself which made me look like a fool. I'm not the one who kissed you when you were asleep, all right? And foolish me, I actually thought you were being sincere." She said this last part mostly to herself and scoffed loudly.
Ron looked at the ground. "Look, I'm really sorry and everything, but I didn't make you look foolish. At least, I don't think you look foolish."
"You really don't get it, do you Ron?" She whipped around and ran up the girls' dormitory staircase. Ginny stared at Ron, her mouth hanging open slightly. Ron sighed hopelessly.
"I really don't. I don't get it." He plopped down in a large armchair. Ginny followed him to the chair and sat lightly on one of the arms.
"Well, it seems simple enough to me, and I don't even know what happened. You did and said something you shouldn't have."
"No, I get that part. What I don't understand is what I should do." He let his head drop in his hands. "I don't even know what I'm feeling anymore."
"Well, from what I understand from last night, you kissed Hermione. Then you told each other that you loved each other. But you lied to her."
"I didn't lie to her!" Ron's head shot up as he spat these words out.
"So you do love her?"
A long silence followed Ginny's inquisition. "I don't know," Ron finally said.
Ginny rolled her eyes. "You do know, Ronald. You're just not saying it. Because there's something on your mind."
Ron sat for a while, pondering this. "I need to sleep on it, I think," he got up numbly.
"Maybe that's a good idea."
Ron stood up and walked towards the boys' dormitory staircase, fighting his way through the sea of Gryffindors pulling at his arms and shirt, trying to get him to stay, to talk to them about the day's match. But he made it to the staircase, and as he did, he paused. And then, as if it had been his plan all along, he made his way over to the girls' staircase. Before stepping on the first stair, he remembered from his 5th year the stairs turning into a stone slide as he tried to climb up them. So, instead, he called.
"HERMIONE!" He listened to his voice carry to the top of the stairs. "COME DOWN, WILL YOU?"
And then, after a pause, he heard a distant, "No!"
"Come on, Hermione! Just come down! If you don't, I'll just apparate up there anyway!"
There was a pause, and then," YOU CAN'T APPARATE ON SCHOOL GROUNDS!"
Ron chuckled. "I know, I know!! Ok, will you please just come down!?! I.... I love you!" He had meant for this to be carefully spoken and meaningful, which made it a difficult thing to yell. There was the longest pause yet, and Ron feared Hermione had left. But then he saw Hermione's feet, and then as she descended the staircase, came to stand in front of Ron.
"If you think for one second--"
"Wait, wait, wait...not here, can we talk about this somewhere else?"