Train Ride Home:
In a compartment on the Hogwarts train
"Anything off the cart dears?" A plump woman asked in a soft voice.
"Yeah, three cauldron cakes, and a flask of pumpkin juice," Ron asked with a giddy voice.
Harry looked up from the interesting quidditch book that he had borrowed from Ron, "I'll have a pack of Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans, and two cauldron cakes please, anything for Hermione?"
Hermione looked up from her book to answer Harry, "Um, no Harry, but thanks anyways."
The plump woman with the loaded down cart took the food that the boys ordered from the cart and tallied up the prices. After she had left Ron got up from his seat to sit beside Hermione.
"Hey Hermione, why didn't you order anything?"
"Oh Ron, I guess I'm not hungry right now."
"Well, when you do get hungry I've got a cauldron cake saved for you."
Hermione smiled, "Thanks Ron, I'm pretty sure I'll get hungry
sometime."
Hermione paused for a moment, "will you both excuse me while I go to
the bathroom?" Both Harry and Ron had a face of confusion plastered
onto their faces, "Since when did you have to ask us for permission to
go to the john?" Ron asked Hermione.
"Since I had manners, which was always Ron. It doesn't hurt to be polite," Hermione answered hotly.
"Okay, okay Hermione. If it pleases you, you have both mine and Harry's permission to go use the john," Harry and Ron both started to laugh. Hermione rolled her eyes and left the compartment.
After Hermione left the compartment Harry and Ron's laughter started to die down until all they could do was hold their stomachs and wipe the tears of laughter from their eyes, chuckling could still be heard.
"Hey Ron, why are we laughing," Harry asked still wiping his eyes.
"Don't know Harry, only that Hermione must really be pretty peeved."
"Speaking of Moine, there's been something I've been itching to ask you."
"What's that Harry?" Ron said still chuckling.
"Well, don't go all metal on me, but... here goes. Do you have a little something for Hermione? You know, like a crush?" Ron stopped laughing.
"Huh? Oh... me? Have something for Moine? Our friend of seven long years, the smart, intelligent girl who befriended us in the first year, the girl who's really blossomed throughout the years?" Harry's brow went up.
"Yeah," Ron finished off in a silent kind of voice. You know, the sort of voice a person uses whenever they don't want anyone to hear what they've got to say but their best friends?
Harry started to crack a smile, "I knew it. I knew it all along. I could tell by the way you stare at her and the way you always ask her silly questions."
"Silly questions?" Ron asked in a confused manner, "Do I really ask her silly questions Harry?"
Feeling really uncomfortable, Harry answered, "Um, no Ron, you don't ask her silly questions."
Ron's worried face settled back down to a calmer one, "Well, at least I don't sound like a complete idiot in front of her."
"You don't Ron, you don't," Harry paused to think, "So, you gonna ask her out or something?"
"Me? Oh, well... I never thought about it that way mate, maybe I could."
"Yeah! Do it, Ron. She needs a little romance in her life, something to get her away from those books. Ask her when she gets back."
Ron's eyes winded at this notion of Harry's, "WHAT? I can't do that Harry, she'll think I've gone mental or something, one of her best friends, asking her out, and right before Christmas Break too? Really Harry, how tacky can you get?"
"Since when do you care about being tacky Ron? Anyways, you're just trying to find a way not to ask her out."
"I am not Harry, I just-,"
"You just can't be a man and ask her out? Come on Ron all you have to
do is-Hermione's footsteps could be heard just outside the compartment
door, apparently she had come back quicker than they had expected.
Hermione walked in through the door to find Harry and Ron staring at
her.
Hermione's eyes lit up in confusion, "What?" She couldn't understand why they were staring at her like that. "Who died?"
"Uh, nobody Moine. You took us by surprise is all," Ron elbowed Harry in the rib cage.
"Uh, yeah, you just surprised us," both boys put on fake smiles and kept grinning at her.
"I don't know what's going on with you two, but I'm going to find out," Hermione looked away and went to her seat only to start reading again.
After twenty agonizing minutes had passed, Hermione had finally closed her book. The two boys stared at her again.
Hermione looked at the boys with a sense that something had gone awry, and she was going to figure it out, "Why do you two look as though there's something you're keeping from me?"
"Now Hermione, do you really thing we'd be the sort of friends that don't tell you things?" Harry asked, smiling with a lop-sided grin on his face. Hermione just looked at him.
"You all can tell me. Look, if it's a girl you're going to ask out, I'll go talk to her for you Harry."
"It's not me Herms, it's Ron." Ron jabbed Harry in the rib cage, thus leading Harry to doubling over. Apparently Ron had jabbed Harry in the ribs harder than he had thought.
"It's okay Ron, you should have told me."
"No Hermione, you see-"Ron was interrupted By Hermione.
"Don't be embarrassed Ron, all I have to tell her is that you're smart-"
"No, I-"
"You're funny-"
"But Hermione-"
"You're REALLY funny-"
"You're not listening –"
"You're strong-"
"You mean that?"
"So if any girl can't-"
"You see all that?"
"see that then they must be-"
"You must be-"
"BLIND!" They both said this word in exact unison, no really listening to what each other had to say.
"Well, that was...awkward," Harry squeaked.
"Hermione, Ron's ears started to turn red, you could tell he was nervous, "I- well, you see, the thing is, the girl I want to ask out might not want to go out with me."
"Oh Ron, anyone with half a brain stem wouldn't be stupid enough to say no to you, I mean-"Hermione was interrupted by Ron.
"Wait Hermione, please listen. I've bee in love with this girl since I can't remember. She's beautiful, intelligent, cunning, witty, and she sure knows how to hit," Ron smirked at the memory of Hermione in their third year when she popped Malfoy a good one.
"Then why don't you just ask her out?"
"I'm- I'm just afraid she'll say no. I'm afraid of rejection, afraid that she might only go out with me because she doesn't want to hurt my feelings, or that she might feel obligated to do it. But mostly, I'm afraid that what we already have together is enough for her, but it just isn't for me."
Hermione's eyes became glossy and red around the rims, her nostrils started to flare. Ron raised his brow in confusion; meanwhile, Harry had been sitting behind Ron out of view, forgotten to the both of them.
"What's the matter Moine? Got something in your eye?" Ron asked.
"Um, sort of Ron. You see, I actually really have something in my heart." Ron's eyes widened in horror, "What is it Hermione?"
Hermione waited to answer, "...love." Ron looked at her in question.
"Love for you Ron, so much love in fact that it's turned into jealousy. I've always had a little girl crush on you, I always used o think of myself as Mrs. Hermione Weasley even though it seemed childish at the time," she smiled at the memory.
"But now that you seem to love someone else, this person being someone I have no clue of who they are, I guess- I guess it'll never happen," Hermione's tears were falling faster than they had before, she ran out of the silenced and shocked train compartment. Harry seemed dazed, and Ron, poor Ron, was in a state of shock. His eyes started to water, "Hermione is in love with me?"
In a compartment on the Hogwarts train
"Anything off the cart dears?" A plump woman asked in a soft voice.
"Yeah, three cauldron cakes, and a flask of pumpkin juice," Ron asked with a giddy voice.
Harry looked up from the interesting quidditch book that he had borrowed from Ron, "I'll have a pack of Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans, and two cauldron cakes please, anything for Hermione?"
Hermione looked up from her book to answer Harry, "Um, no Harry, but thanks anyways."
The plump woman with the loaded down cart took the food that the boys ordered from the cart and tallied up the prices. After she had left Ron got up from his seat to sit beside Hermione.
"Hey Hermione, why didn't you order anything?"
"Oh Ron, I guess I'm not hungry right now."
"Well, when you do get hungry I've got a cauldron cake saved for you."
Hermione smiled, "Thanks Ron, I'm pretty sure I'll get hungry
sometime."
Hermione paused for a moment, "will you both excuse me while I go to
the bathroom?" Both Harry and Ron had a face of confusion plastered
onto their faces, "Since when did you have to ask us for permission to
go to the john?" Ron asked Hermione.
"Since I had manners, which was always Ron. It doesn't hurt to be polite," Hermione answered hotly.
"Okay, okay Hermione. If it pleases you, you have both mine and Harry's permission to go use the john," Harry and Ron both started to laugh. Hermione rolled her eyes and left the compartment.
After Hermione left the compartment Harry and Ron's laughter started to die down until all they could do was hold their stomachs and wipe the tears of laughter from their eyes, chuckling could still be heard.
"Hey Ron, why are we laughing," Harry asked still wiping his eyes.
"Don't know Harry, only that Hermione must really be pretty peeved."
"Speaking of Moine, there's been something I've been itching to ask you."
"What's that Harry?" Ron said still chuckling.
"Well, don't go all metal on me, but... here goes. Do you have a little something for Hermione? You know, like a crush?" Ron stopped laughing.
"Huh? Oh... me? Have something for Moine? Our friend of seven long years, the smart, intelligent girl who befriended us in the first year, the girl who's really blossomed throughout the years?" Harry's brow went up.
"Yeah," Ron finished off in a silent kind of voice. You know, the sort of voice a person uses whenever they don't want anyone to hear what they've got to say but their best friends?
Harry started to crack a smile, "I knew it. I knew it all along. I could tell by the way you stare at her and the way you always ask her silly questions."
"Silly questions?" Ron asked in a confused manner, "Do I really ask her silly questions Harry?"
Feeling really uncomfortable, Harry answered, "Um, no Ron, you don't ask her silly questions."
Ron's worried face settled back down to a calmer one, "Well, at least I don't sound like a complete idiot in front of her."
"You don't Ron, you don't," Harry paused to think, "So, you gonna ask her out or something?"
"Me? Oh, well... I never thought about it that way mate, maybe I could."
"Yeah! Do it, Ron. She needs a little romance in her life, something to get her away from those books. Ask her when she gets back."
Ron's eyes winded at this notion of Harry's, "WHAT? I can't do that Harry, she'll think I've gone mental or something, one of her best friends, asking her out, and right before Christmas Break too? Really Harry, how tacky can you get?"
"Since when do you care about being tacky Ron? Anyways, you're just trying to find a way not to ask her out."
"I am not Harry, I just-,"
"You just can't be a man and ask her out? Come on Ron all you have to
do is-Hermione's footsteps could be heard just outside the compartment
door, apparently she had come back quicker than they had expected.
Hermione walked in through the door to find Harry and Ron staring at
her.
Hermione's eyes lit up in confusion, "What?" She couldn't understand why they were staring at her like that. "Who died?"
"Uh, nobody Moine. You took us by surprise is all," Ron elbowed Harry in the rib cage.
"Uh, yeah, you just surprised us," both boys put on fake smiles and kept grinning at her.
"I don't know what's going on with you two, but I'm going to find out," Hermione looked away and went to her seat only to start reading again.
After twenty agonizing minutes had passed, Hermione had finally closed her book. The two boys stared at her again.
Hermione looked at the boys with a sense that something had gone awry, and she was going to figure it out, "Why do you two look as though there's something you're keeping from me?"
"Now Hermione, do you really thing we'd be the sort of friends that don't tell you things?" Harry asked, smiling with a lop-sided grin on his face. Hermione just looked at him.
"You all can tell me. Look, if it's a girl you're going to ask out, I'll go talk to her for you Harry."
"It's not me Herms, it's Ron." Ron jabbed Harry in the rib cage, thus leading Harry to doubling over. Apparently Ron had jabbed Harry in the ribs harder than he had thought.
"It's okay Ron, you should have told me."
"No Hermione, you see-"Ron was interrupted By Hermione.
"Don't be embarrassed Ron, all I have to tell her is that you're smart-"
"No, I-"
"You're funny-"
"But Hermione-"
"You're REALLY funny-"
"You're not listening –"
"You're strong-"
"You mean that?"
"So if any girl can't-"
"You see all that?"
"see that then they must be-"
"You must be-"
"BLIND!" They both said this word in exact unison, no really listening to what each other had to say.
"Well, that was...awkward," Harry squeaked.
"Hermione, Ron's ears started to turn red, you could tell he was nervous, "I- well, you see, the thing is, the girl I want to ask out might not want to go out with me."
"Oh Ron, anyone with half a brain stem wouldn't be stupid enough to say no to you, I mean-"Hermione was interrupted by Ron.
"Wait Hermione, please listen. I've bee in love with this girl since I can't remember. She's beautiful, intelligent, cunning, witty, and she sure knows how to hit," Ron smirked at the memory of Hermione in their third year when she popped Malfoy a good one.
"Then why don't you just ask her out?"
"I'm- I'm just afraid she'll say no. I'm afraid of rejection, afraid that she might only go out with me because she doesn't want to hurt my feelings, or that she might feel obligated to do it. But mostly, I'm afraid that what we already have together is enough for her, but it just isn't for me."
Hermione's eyes became glossy and red around the rims, her nostrils started to flare. Ron raised his brow in confusion; meanwhile, Harry had been sitting behind Ron out of view, forgotten to the both of them.
"What's the matter Moine? Got something in your eye?" Ron asked.
"Um, sort of Ron. You see, I actually really have something in my heart." Ron's eyes widened in horror, "What is it Hermione?"
Hermione waited to answer, "...love." Ron looked at her in question.
"Love for you Ron, so much love in fact that it's turned into jealousy. I've always had a little girl crush on you, I always used o think of myself as Mrs. Hermione Weasley even though it seemed childish at the time," she smiled at the memory.
"But now that you seem to love someone else, this person being someone I have no clue of who they are, I guess- I guess it'll never happen," Hermione's tears were falling faster than they had before, she ran out of the silenced and shocked train compartment. Harry seemed dazed, and Ron, poor Ron, was in a state of shock. His eyes started to water, "Hermione is in love with me?"