Author: Vellagirl
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters.
Rating: pg, maybe pg-13

Sixteen minutes and 24 seconds. 1997 is right around the corner as I stand in the busy common room waiting for the holiday that marks the end of the year and signals to me that I have one more semester left of school.

It was Dean and Seamus's brilliant idea to have an all out New Year's Eve party in the common room. Nearly every Gryffindor 4th year and above stayed behind this holiday to attend. By the looks of it, they were all enjoying themselves. Boys and girls pranced around the room; laughing, eating and drinking punch, which had a curious after taste of Firewhiskey…maybe I'll have some more.

I grab a great crystal glass of "punch" off the table and take a large swig. The sweet and sour taste warmed my insides and clamed my nerves, but only for a moment. I set the glass back down and force my self to walk around and socialize. I spot Katie Bell standing by herself at the window in the corner of the common room. I make my way over to her so maybe I can converse with a fellow loner. As I near her and clear my voice to speak; a tall, handsome, seventh year strides over next to her side and kisses her on the cheek. Katie smiles up at him and they hold each other as they gaze out the window.

I roll my eyes in disgust and turn away angrily. "Damn couples," I mutter under my breath. It seemed like every where I looked around the room, everyone had someone. Dean and Seamus flirted endlessly with Lavender and Parvati, Neville was busy pampering a pretty fifth year girl and Harry's attention now focused solely around my sister Ginny. Ever since they started dating three months ago, they never let each other out of sight.

I plop down on to one of the huge chairs next to the fire and glance up nervously at the clock. Ten more minutes and nine seconds.

I sigh deeply and run my hands through my already ruffled hair. Ten more minutes and then I have to watch all of the couples in the common room kiss!

I snap my head up when I hear a girl's shriek of laughter. It was Ginny, who was seated happily in Harry's lap. I watch them bitterly and shake my head, but what I saw next made my heart stop. It was the petite girl with bushy hair I met six years ago. Hermione had just walked up next to my best friend and sister and joined in on the laughter. I spotted her just as she turned and faced me with her stunning smile. I force down a swallow and I can feel my skin heat up. She looks exceptionally beautiful tonight. Like most of the girls, she was dressed up for the occasion. In my opinion, she was the best looking girl in the room. Hermione had half of her hair pulled back into a French braid and the bottom half was long, flowing and curly. Her dress was white, sparkly and had only one sleeve and slopped down on one side at the bottom. I try to stop my self, but my eyes wander over her form. She is wonderfully slender and I have never seen her legs so long and creamy!

….stop it! I scold myself.

Suddenly, Hermione starts waving at me and signaling me to join them. I give her a weak smile and mustered all of my strength to get up and walk over to her. I hesitantly take another peak up at the clock and swallow hard when I see that it reads seven more minutes. I look back over to Hermione and the others as I walk. I had been planning on kissing her tonight when the clock struck midnight. It would have been the start of my new year's resolution to finally tell Hermione how I felt. As far as I knew, I was the only one who knew how I felt about her. I had mentioned it to Harry once before, but I was sure he knew already anyways. No one else knew though….of course, if Harry knew, Ginny probably did and well, if Ginny knew, then everyone knew. Oh crap! What if Hermione knew?!

"Hi Ron!" Hermione says sweetly to me with her dazzling smile plastered on her face as if mocking me.

"Hi," I respond to her, trying to act as if nothing was wrong. And it worked to, because she turned right back to Harry and Ginny and continued on chatting about something called the internet. I sigh deeply in frustration and glance up nervously at the clock. Four more minutes.

"My Resolution?" I hear Hermione say. "It would have to be to finish my editorial about S.P.E.W for the daily prophet. Rita made me a deal. I'd let her write whatever she likes as long as I get to publish a column about anything whenever I like," she finished.

"What about you mate?" Harry asks me. I give him a quick glare and then force myself to think quickly.

"Well, err…well, maybe to get more of my homework done," I lie.

"I think that's a great resolution Ron. You should have made that one in first year!" Hermione suggests and Harry and Ginny laugh.

"Funny Hermione," I say with sarcasm.

"One more minute everyone!!! Get in position!" Seamus had just made the announcement and my heart suddenly starts to beat faster. Now's my moment, my chance to utilize my Gryffindor courage and make a move.

I watch as everyone in the room gathers around the large clock hanging from the ceiling in the center of the common room and stares up at it. Harry and Ginny stand in front of me, hand in hand and smiling up at the clock. I look to my left and there's Lavender and Dean joined by Katie and the handsome seventh year boy. To my right…is Hermione. She is standing right beside me and I look over at her and smile. She returns it and she actually blushes. Maybe she does know. Maybe she wants me to kiss her. Like me, she's the only one who isn't at the party "with" someone. I just figured that she just wasn't as boy crazy as the rest of them. Beside Krum, she had never really shown any interest in the opposite sex, unlike my sister, unfortunately!

"Ten! Nine!" Everyone in the room starts counting down and the time seems to go unnaturally slow. I'm going to kiss Hermione! "Eight! Seven!" I have to do it; I'm going to do it! "Six! Five!" All I have to do is kiss her, it's a new year's tradition; and how hard can it be? "Four! Three!" Oh my God! What am I thinking? "Two! One!" I can't do it!

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!" The crowed erupts into applause and the next thing I see is every couple in the room move close to each other and share a kiss. I close my eyes and sigh in disappointment at my self. What an idiot! Good going Weasley.

The party continues on with out me and I look down to see that Hermione has disappeared from my side. She is now chatting away animatedly with Lavender and Ginny. I blew my chance. Oh well, there's always next year. I hang my head in shame. I can't stand to be in this room any longer what with all of the happy couples.

I make my exit from the common room, attempting to go unnoticed. I step out into the dark corridors of Hogwarts castle and wait to make sure I haven't been followed. I'm safe.

I walk for about five minutes before stepping out onto a small balcony where I can be by myself. The cold winter air stings at my skin and I wrap my jacket tighter around me. I let out a deep breath and watch the warm air mix with the cold night. Maybe it's just time to give up. Hermione doesn't seem interested and I'm too much of a coward. What was I playing at, thinking I was going to kiss her? And I must have looked like a fool, being the only one who didn't get a New Year's Eve kiss!

My thoughts are suddenly broken when I hear a timid voice behind me.

"Ron?"

I snap around quickly and come face to face with Hermione. In the moonlight she looks just like an angel in her white dress. Her cheeks are rosy from the chilly air and she has only a small shawl to keep her warm.

"Are you ok?" she asks me.

"I'm fine, just wanted to be alone. You shouldn't be out here, its freezing!" I tell her.

She blushes, "Do you want me to leave?"

That's the last thing I want!

"You can stay if you like," I say.

She smiles weakly at me and slowly steps up beside me on the balcony with her small hands tucked under the shawl for warmth. I wanted nothing more than to take her in my arms and keep the night air from touching her beautiful skin. I look away from her though and out into the darkness.

"The party was starting to get boring, I needed some quiet time as well," she explains softly.

"Yeah," is all I can say back. Real smooth, huh?

She must have found my eloquence amusing because she smiles up at me. I know my face is turning red, but I can't help it; she's so gorgeous.

She was silent and I sure didn't have anything intelligent to say. So we stood there, not talking, but I had the strange feeling that Hermione did have something to say. She kept on shifting from side to side uncomfortably and once in a while she would look up at me with an open mouth and then quickly turn away as if changing her mind.

Suddenly, a breeze swept by us and I saw Hermione shiver out of the corner of my eye. It struck me then. I have a coat on, on top of a sweater. What a prat. I take it off and hand it over to her.

"Here, put this on."

She smiles and accepts it graciously. "Thank you."

As she puts it on, I see she is holding something. It looks like a small plant tied with red ribbon.

"What's that?" I ask a bit tactlessly.

My words startle her and she quickly hides it under the coat, blushing.

"It's er…it's. Well, it's mistletoe," she says shyly and slowly pulls it out again from under the coat.

Yep, that's mistletoe, but why does she have it-ohhhh….gotta play dumb though.

"What's that for?" I ask. She laughs and steps closer to me. It's suddenly not cold anymore and my attention is only focused on her eyes that are now glittering.

"Well, I was hoping that, well, I was hoping I could get a New Year's kiss."

Her cheeks were now rosier than I had ever seen them and it wasn't just from the cold. She was smiling widely and holding up the mistletoe in between us.

She wants a New Year's kiss. She's talking about you dummy! Kiss her! My heart starts pounding fiercely as if it's trying to escape from my chest. If it wasn't so cold, I'd be sweating. Now is the time, Weasley, she couldn't have made it any easier for you!

I lick my lips nervously and step closer. I'm gonna do it. I lean down. It's taking forever; I've never felt so tall in my life! She closes her eyes waiting for me. Go Ron! Go Ron! I can do it.

Finally, I reach her height and slowly my lips meet hers. Her lips are warm and soft and suddenly every feeling of uneasiness and fright disappears as I melt into her kiss. It's short and chaste and I pull away, but only a few centimeters away from her with fear of loosing the warmth.

Her eyes open and she stares into mine. Did she have the same experience that I just had? She smiles again and this time, she kisses me. My heart explodes and I can't ignore her passion and tenderness. I make the next move and wrap my arms gently around her, holding her to me as if afraid to let her go. As I do so, her mouth opens slightly and I deepen the kiss, letting myself melt into her more. She lets out a soft moan and relaxes completely in my arms. This was more than a New Years kiss, this was, this was, well I didn't know, but whatever it was, I wanted to do it every day!

After what seemed like a couple minutes, she gently pulls away, but I still hold her. She smiles up at me. "Thank you"

No, Thank you. I think to myself.

"No problem," I respond casually.

She laughs at me.

"Do you want to go inside?" I ask.

She thinks for a moment and then answers. "Actually, I'd rather be alone."

My spirits drop and I regrettably let go of her.

"Oh, well, ok. I'll just leave then…"

I turn and start to walk away.

"I meant alone with you," she says, her voice returning to the usual brash Hermione tone.

I turn around and blush furiously; another example of my smooth abilities. "Oh."

I walk back toward her and as if in effort to regain my pride, I wrap one of my long arms around her shoulder. She doesn't resist, only smiles and stands on the balcony at my side. No words needed to be said. We were both perfectly content standing there and I certainly didn't want to disturb it. I was going to enjoy this night and worry about my real New Years resolution later.