Disclaimer: I am not rich, I have never published any books, I have no children, and I am not J.K. Rowling. Do you honestly think I own any part of the Harry Potter universe?

A/N: A short little one-shot that popped up into my head earlier tonight, and forced me to write it. Whaddya know, I may have found my calling in one-shots, as they require little to no plot. Anyway…

Dedication: To all you nutjobs out there who have ever suffered from the affliction called "liking someone". Been there, done that.

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On A Bench, In A Room

By: Queen of Zan

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"Hermione?" he breathed, barely audible (to him) over the frantic beating of his heart. His eyes seemed glued open; he couldn't stop staring at her.

"Yes?" Hermione answered, just as quiet, her heart beating just as madly as his, hoping, hoping wildly…

"I—I—" he stuttered. He went pale. Why? he asked himself. Why now? " I—Hermione, I—I really—I really—I really like you Hermione," he suddenly rushed the words out of his mouth, all of them tumbling over each other, confused in his own head.

"I—I—I—well," Hermione stuttered. He could feel the color rushing back to his face, his ears turning crimson—or so it seemed to him. "I—well, I—" she paused, wordless. She blinked, mouth hanging open. "I—I like you, too, Ron," she admitted quietly.

"Huh?" Ron asked, convinced he was dreaming, but at the same time, he felt a rush of hope flood into his ears. Or maybe that was just the blood. At this point, he neither knew nor cared.

"I—" Hermione began. "I—" she halted, open mouthed, as a look entirely out of place for this type of scene, at least in Ron's mind, came onto her face and she let out a vehement, "Oh for Heaven's sake!" before wrapping her arms around the clueless redhead and kissing him something fierce.

For a moment, Ron was so surprised he was stiff with shock. However, that moment quickly passed as he realized that he was being kissed by Hermione, the object of his affection, and deepened the kiss as he slid one arm around her neck and the other around her waist.

When the kiss was finally over, they both sighed exhaling the huge breath they had both taken when they ended it, their hair a bit messier for it all. They merely looked at each other for a moment. Then, Ron cracked a smile and told Hermione, "Thanks."

She gave a sort of scoff-snort of laughter. "Well," she told him, grinning, "you were just sort of sitting there and I couldn't find any words, so I…" she laughed once more as she spread her hands and shrugged helplessly.

He smiled again, brushing his messy hair out of his eyes. "You know, I rather liked that," he commented, head cocked to one side, smiling lopsidedly at her, though some would call it roguishly.

"Really?" she asked, sounding not at all surprised. "Well, I suppose it was okay…" she pretended to sound doubtful.

"Oh, really?" said Ron, mock-offended. "Well, let's see if you can resist this it time.." he trailed off as he once more slipped his arms around her and kissed her passionately. Hermione responded at once, putting her arms on his shoulders, hands dangling limply in the air

Meanwhile…

"Pay up, Creevy," a red-haired, teenaged Ginny Weasley told a small, mousy boy . "You owe me four Galleons, I told you Hermione would kiss him first."

Colin grumbled, but dug the money out of his pockets anyway.

Just a few feet away, Harry Potter, The-Boy-Who-Won't-Friggin'-Die was telling an upset-looking Seamus Finnigan to cough up the cash, too. "You see?" Harry told him as he counted the money, "I told you Ron would say it first."

"Yeah, yeah, shut up," Seamus told him. "It's just that Hermione seems more…secure in that subject," he complained.

"Yeah," Harry agreed, "but Ron's more impulsive, and Hermione wouldn't risk telling him without knowing if he felt the same way."

Seamus sighed. "Whatever," he said, as Dean told him, howling with laughter at his friend's plight, that you should never make a bet with a guy about said guy's best mates.

Neville Longbottom was laughing quietly, looking over the scene full of Gryffindor students, and a few kids from other houses, too, that had come to see if Ron and Hermione would finally give in. They had, obviously. The Gryffindors had opened a betting pool on Ron and Hermione's "relationship" at the beginning of the school year, and now, over the Easter holidays, it was finally settled.

The Gryffindors and few other students were crowded into a room on the second floor with a wall's worth of window's view of the courtyard. A few new-and-improved Extendible Ears from the Twins Weasley took care of the hearing problem, so everyone had gathered to watch the show down in the courtyard. More students, mostly Slytherins, were gathered in the room directly below, though no one on the second floor knew that. If any Gryffindors had gotten wind that Slytherins had gathered to watch Ron and Hermione's first kiss, the blackmail would never end! (Coincidentally, a few Slytherins, minus Draco Malfoy, had a betting pool similar to the Gryffindors' going, too.)

A silent Luna Lovegood stood in the back of the small second-floor room, unnoticed by the Gryffindors collecting their bet money. She smiled a lopsided sort of smile that, coupled with the faraway look in her eyes, made her look quite insane. She laughed, saying quietly to herself, "Finally!"

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A/N: Wasn't that great? Well, tell me what you think, whether you thought it great, horrid, fantabulous, or a piece of crap. Because, hey, I like feedback. And, to tell you just how much I like feedback, I have written a haiku, just for you:

Reviewing is great
For ev'ryone involved
It is so fun

And really, if you wish to challenge the haiku, by all means, go ahead, but come on, it's haiku, it knows things!