Chapter 4: Boy Talk
"Ron, can I talk to you?" said Harry a week before the dance.
"Yeah, what is it?" Ron asked.
"But not here. Lets take a walk."
They went outside and walked their way to the lake. They were walking by the shores when Harry started talking again.
"Uhm... this is not very easy for me to say. You're my best friend... a brother. I never had a real family. But when I met you I felt I finally belonged. I felt I wasn't alone anymore. You've been my buddy for 7 years, you've faced death right by my side. You've shared your family with me. That's why I'm really grateful that it was you the first person I met on the Hogwarts Express."
"Harry... are you hitting on me?" Ron asked dead serious, though his tone indicated he was playing.
"What?! No!" Harry answered as playful as Ron, and punched him on the arm. "I just wanted you to remember what you and your family mean to me. And that you're not just a friend to me... you're my brother, and I would give my soul for you... or anyone in your family."
"Ok... are you dying or something?"
"What?! No, you moron!" Harry took a deep breath. "You wanted me to tell you who my date to the Prom is. So I want to tell you now who she is because there's no point on hiding it from you as you are going to see her that night as my date and you'll probably get mad at me for--"
"Mate, just say it! Stop rumbling!"
Harry took another deep breath.
"It's Ginny."
Silence. None of them talked. Harry was waiting for Ron's reaction. He was afraid of talking.
"Are you two dating?" finally said Ron, expressionless, not looking at Harry.
"No... I mean... no. It'll... It will be our first... date."
Ron looked somewhat angry. Harry looked afraid. Then Ron smiled, "Scared ya, didn't I?"
Harry laughed, relieved, "I hate you."
"So, after all this time, you now like Ginny. Uh... ironic."
"Ironic, how?"
"Well, she used to fancy you and you didn't even notice her, but then she decides to be done with you, that it is a lost cause, and you suddenly notice her."
"I don't know how it happened, you know... or when it happened. It's like all of the sudden she's... not your little sister... all of the sudden she's... Ginny, and I'm crazy about her." While Harry spoke, Ron couldn't help to notice that he completely understood what his friend was saying. The fact that she had been there all the time and he had never realized that... well, she was a girl. "She's great. I mean you can talk to her about anything, and she's so easy going and fun but mature all at the same time."
"I'm glad for you two, mate, but please, don't share the details of your dates, ok? I don't wanna know where babies came from."
Harry smiled. "I don't know... you think she likes me?"
"Oooohh, you did not just asked that! Are you serious?! Yes, mate! Yes, she really likes you."
Harry smiled again, but this time he also blushed.
That was the moment Ron decided to tell his friend what had happened with Hermione.
"Harry," said the red-haired, becoming more serious, this time for real. "I've got something to tell."
"What is it?" said Harry looking worried by his friend's sudden change of mood.
"Something happened about two weeks ago, and I'm not sure if I should be telling you this, but I really need to talk about it with someone."
"What is it?" Harry asked again a bit more worried.
"I... well, Hermione... we..." he took a quick breath, annoyed by the fact that it was so damn hard to say two little stupid words. "Remember that night we were fighting in the Common Room?"
"Which one? Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday..." said Harry making fun of Ron.
"Wednesday," said Ron picking Harry's sarcasm.
"Ok, what happened on Wednesday, the day you two were fighting in the Common room?"
"Uhm... we kissed."
"You kissed," repeated Harry, processing Ron's words.
"Yes.. no, actually, she kissed me."
"She kissed you... what do you mean--"
"What do you mean what I mean?! A kiss, with tongue and all!"
"She kissed you?!" said a very shocked Harry.
"Yeah!"
"What did you do?"
"Well, I couldn't do much as she tried to avoid me as much as she could."
"Oh, so that's why she was sitting away from us in class," said Harry more to himself, "So I assume you caught her."
"I did, the next day during dinner. She tried to run away from me, but I caught her."
"And??"
"And... I told her I like her a lot."
"And what did she say?"
At this point, Harry was acting as his Aunt Petunia as she watched her afternoon soap-operas.
"She said she likes me a lot too."
"Oh, Merlin! Finally! You two were starting to get on my nerves... wait. What happened? 'Cause you're still not talking to each other."
"We kisses, and..." he sighed, "it was the most amazing kiss ever, Harry. I mean, I've kissed girls... but she... it was different. It was... amazing!"
Harry smiled, "You do know you don't like her, right?"
"What?!"
"You're in love with her, mate." Ron smiled shyly. "And she loves you too," finished Harry.
"No, she doesn't."
"Yeah, she does. Ginny told me you're all she talks about. 'Ron did this, Ron did that. Ron didn't do this, he didn't do that'" said Harry imitating Hermione's voice, "All the bloody time."
It was Ron now who smiled and blushed at that thought.
"I don't think she..." he said, then continuing with the story of what happened that night. "Anyway, Snape caught us."
"Oh, no."
"Yeah, and he took us to Dumbledor's office. Luckily Dumbledor's a reasonable man."
"And what happened then?"
"She... She told Dumbledor it wouldn't happen again... I mean talking about a mood killer!"
"You're kidding, right?"
"What? No! I know what you're gonna say. She only said that to get us out of detention with Snape, but... she could've said something like... I don't know, Sorry Professor, it was wrong of us to perform such an act in a hallway... or something," he said mimicking Hermione's voice.
"Oh, for Merlin's Sake!! Ron!! What the bloody hell are you talking about??!! She said she likes you!!! and you get mad at her for that stupid thing??!"
Ron was shocked by Harry's sudden outburst. He was supposed to be on his side!! "Bu-- Hey! It's not just me, you know? She's mad at me too for only Merlin knows why!"
"She's probably mad at you because you're not talking to her. Just... she's probably at the common room or the library studying for the NEWTs. Go, and for Merlin's Sake, mate, talk to her!! Make up with her... or, you know, out... what ever," said Harry, with a mischievous smile.
Ok, maybe Harry was right. Maybe he had overreacted. He couldn't let this opportunity go. He wanted Hermione, he wanted her so bad. I have to start acting like a man! I'm 18 now! I'm not a boy anymore, and the last thing Hermione wants is a stupid, immature boy!
Ron did as Harry said. He looked for Hermione in the library first, and she was there. He sat on a table behind her and pretended to be reading a random book. He watched her read, write some notes on a parchment and then sigh. She would drop the quill every once in a while and sigh harder, and whisper 'stupid!', 'ass!' or 'moron!'.
What could he say? Hey, Hermione, so, I like you and you like me, how about we go to a dark corner and make out? Ron hit his head against the table. Real smooth... No!... Can we talk? Ok, that's a good starting. I don't really understand what happened that night, but I meant everything I said, I really do like you a lot. Ok, good... and then what? Do I wait to see what she says? Or maybe I could apologies for being such an ass... yeah, girls like that.
When Ron finally took the courage to talk to Hermione, she looked at her watch, gather all her things from the table and left the library. Ron followed her, thinking he could catch her up on a hallway as if they had bumped into each other. But then, the git showed up; Dewey MacDillon, Head Boy and Hermione's Ravenclaw date. He started talking to her. He took her heavy bag full of parchments, books and quills, acting like such a gentlemen. Idiot! She can do it herself! She won't fall for that...
Ron was actually surprised that she had given all the heavy stuff to the git.
He followed them as they walked all through Hogwarts towards Gryffindor's common room, talking about things Ron couldn't hear to. They finally stopped in front of the Fat Lady and they carried on talking, Ron already annoyed by Dewey's yapping and Hermione's short laughs. Ron would bet his life that the Git was not THAT funny. But all of the sudden, Dewey leaned on Hermione and kissed her.
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Author's Note II: You know what to do. Go to that little button on your left bottom, push it and beg me to update soon!!!