Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue... so forth and on with the fic! It's a continuation of 'Out of the Woods'!! Hope you like!

Chapter 2: What's Wrong with Ron?

Hermione woke the next morning, happier than she'd been in quite a while. The monotony of everyday would no longer plague her school life- she had Harry to look forward to.

She rose, showered, and dressed in a pair of jeans, and a tank top, her 'muggle' clothes. Since it was a weekend, she, Harry, and Ron would spend the morning and part of the afternoon out by the lake doing homework together.

"I hate my hair," she sighed, trying to squash down her frizzy hair. Finally she mumbled, "Flatterious silik," and her hair smoothed out. She smiled in triumph, and left the bathroom.

Downstairs in the common room, Harry and Ron sat, discussing their home work from Snape, "The 100 best uses of a Draught Potion."

"A good one would be, 'To use on you,'" Harry sighed, shaking his head.

They looked up as she entered. Ron stood immediately, picking up his backpack.

"What took you so long, 'mione? I'm starved," he complained. "Let's go."

For a second, Hermione froze, and wondered if she had dreamed the entire episode last night. The table was completely cleared off, her books and parchment put into her now-closed book bag. Her face fell, and she felt foolish for smoothing out her hair, when it had apparently only been a dream...

But Harry was smiling at her, the same smile that he had had after he had kissed her the night before. And she knew, yes, she knew that it had happened, and she smiled largely, very grateful that she hadn't just dreamed such a wonderful thing.

She walked over to her bag, and picked it up. That's when she heard Harry barely whisper, "I hope you don't mind, but I cleaned it up earlier, before I woke Ron up."

"It's no problem, thank you," she whispered in reply, smiling.

"Let's GO!" Ron said angrily, standing at the portrait hole. "Please?"

"Alright, alright!" Hermione said, laughing. "Let's go, then, and get poor, starving little Ronnie some food."

Ron huffed and walked out, not waiting up for the two of them, who walked at a slower pace behind him. Harry immediately took her hand in his own, and gave her a small, but welcomed peck on the cheek. They exited the portrait hole, and walked quietly toward the Great Hall, blushing as people around them began to whisper, and not very quietly either. But Harry tried to block out the whispers by making small conversation with Hermione.

"I love your hair today."

"Thank you," Hermione smiled. "The frizz was driving me crazy."

"I need to get some of that gel, my hair makes me insane," Harry said in reply, absent-mindedly patting at his messy hair.

"Actually, I used a spell, but I wouldn't want you to change a thing, I like your hair. It's very kinky, it makes you look very sweet," Hermione flushed.

There, she'd finally said it. It had been on her mind since their First year, when they'd met on the train. In fact, if she hadn't felt like he'd have rejected her, she might've told him so a lot sooner.

They walked into the Great Hall, feeling as though all eyes were on them. They sat across the table from Ron, who was scarfing food like there was no tomorrow. Quietly, they began to eat, taking glances at each other as they did so.

But it didn't take long for their day to turn sour. Malfoy sauntered over, his head stuck up.

"Potty boy, Mud-Blood, I've heard some pretty interesting things from Pansy..." he started, a sickening smile on his face.

"She finally got that pug-face fixed?" Hermione hissed. "And now you can kiss her without throwing up?"

"Actually," he continued, ignoring her nasty comments, "I hear you two are the ones being kissy-kissy."

At this he made a retching noise, and Ron's head snapped up, to look at Harry and Hermione.

"Go shove it, Malfoy," Harry glared, trying to bore holes into him with his eyes.

"Oh, I'm sure you and Granger here will be doing plenty of that together from now on," Draco cackled banshee-like before walking away.

"What an asshole, " Hermione sighed, looking back down at her food.

"You-you two... you're dating?" Ron asked in disbelief.

"Uhm, well... yes," Harry stuttered. "We thought you'd noticed already..."

"How long has this been going on?" Ron was becoming increasingly angry for some reason, his voice rising.

"It just... well, last night, we kind of... well it was an accident at first..." Hermione struggled to put it into words.

"And were you going to think about telling ME?" Ron almost yelled. "I mean, did it even begin to occur to you that I MIGHT WANT TO KNOW?"

"Ron, calm down," Harry said as calm as possible, considering that everyone in the Great Hall, teachers included, were staring in their direction. "I told you, we thought you knew."

"Yes, why are you over-reacting this way?" Hermione asked, perplexed.

"Nothing, never mind," Ron glowered angrily. "I'm going back to the dorm room, I don't feel like studying now."

He picked up his bag, the food disappearing off of the plate where he sat. Then he walked quickly from the Great Hall.

Harry and Hermione sat in silence, wondering what could be wrong with their best friend. They finished eating, and then walked out to the lake, deciding to leave Ron alone and let him come around in his own time, and hoping that it would be sooner than later.

Okay, I had a suggestion to keep the story going, so I thought I'd try another Chapter... If it doesn't get good response, I might just delete it, and leave it as just one chapter... Review, lemme know!!! Read my other stories too!!! Oh, and Tennyo's too!!! She'd be very appreciative, as much as ME!!!