Yduensl Qwidd Eldishc Kjwodv… In Other Words, Gibberish

'Okay, today will be the day… the day I finally ask Hermione to go out with me. When I get back to the common room tonight, I'll have asked her to the next Hogsmeade weekend with me,' Ron thought to himself.

It was their sixth year, and sixteen-year-old Ron had just realized over the summer that for more than two years he had liked Hermione as… well… as more than a friend. He hated it when they were in different classes, hated the times when they were separated, hated it how she was so beautiful, hated it how when they had a row, she always managed to be right. But most of all, he hated it how he could somehow never get the guts to ask her out. Every day, he asked himself why he couldn't just do it, and every day he always answered his own question in the same way: 'I don't know.'

But today, he resolved to do it, finally. He looked at his watch. 'Damn it!' he thought. It was 9:27, and his first class—double Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall—started at 9:30. (A/N: I actually don't remember what time their classes start, although breakfast is at eight. Help, anyone?) He picked up his bag from beside his bed and ran down two very long flights of stairs, around three corners, down a corridor, and down another, shorter flight of stairs, his long, gangly legs being a great help to him. He opened the door just as the bell rang. Professor McGonagall stared sternly, with her lips pursed, at the breathless Ronald Weasley. He looked around the room and spotted Harry in the back, saving a seat for him. Slowly, he walked towards the seat, mumbling an apology to McGonagall on the way.

"Well, now that the last person of the class has shown up, we will begin."

Ron looked over at the beautiful person sitting next to him. Not Harry, but Hermione. She was diligently writing notes and occasionally looking up at the board or at McGonagall. He sighed, took out a piece of parchment and a quill, and began to write.

It was now lunch time, and Ron sighed for about the millionth time that day. He had still not managed to ask Hermione between their classes or during break. But now he promised himself that he would have no excuses during lunch not to ask her. He knew Harry probably would eat lunch with Ginny; and as much as Ron hated to admit it, he had to say that they were pretty cute together. All he'd do was ask for a word before they sat down…

Hermione suddenly came breezing into the Great Hall, coming from her Arithmancy class. Ron breathed in abruptly, looking at how much more beautiful she looked after not staring at her for an hour-long class.

"Er… Mione?" Ron asked, silently thinking that he could be saying something more like 'Mine-y.' "Er… could… could I have a word?"

"Look Ron, if it's about Harry and Ginny being together again, I'm not listening. Besides, I'm starving."

"Er… no… it's not about that… it's just… um… I was just wondering…"

Hermione, who could usually spot little things like how Harry and Cho had kissed the year before, just looked at Ron in puzzlement.

"What do you want to say, Ron? Spit it out, already!"

"Erm… Can we go outside for just a minute? It's… kinda… personal, I guess…"

Hermione looked at Ron strangely. "Uh… sure, if it pleases you."

Once outside, Ron began to speak again. "Hermione… I was just wondering if you'd… you'd… like to… er… well… eidj you dieis el eidh eois Hogsmeade aljweif?"

"Ron! What in the world are you talking about?"

Ron just couldn't bring himself to say anything. "I… uh… I…"

"You brought me out here in the cold simply to talk to me in gibberish? Oh great… I can rest assured that my friend is not mentally ill."

"Well… actually Hermione… I've been sort of… thinking about… usbeingalittlemorethanfriendswouldyouliketogotoHogsmeadewithmenexttime?"

There. He had said it… now if only Hermione's brains could possibly fathom a single word he had said.

"Okay great… that's just great Ron. Yeah sure, I'll take another advanced placement class in gibberish."

Ron groaned and smacked himself over the head. Stupid, stupid, stupid IDIOT! he fumed under his breath.

"Um… Ron? I don't think you're stupid… I didn't say that, did I? I really didn't mean anything—"

"Hermione?" Ron cut in. "Thanks and all… and… what I meant to say is…"

RING! The ten-minute warning bell shook the school.

"Great Ron… Now I get to break the rules by eating in class!"

"I'm really sorry Hermione… but really I was just kind of wondering if you'd like to… erm… come with me…" he gulped. "to Hogsmeade next time…?"

Hermione, who had begun to march off towards the castle again, spun around and asked, "What did you say? Did you just… ask me out… to Hogsmeade?"

Ron turned his famous shade of pink, stuck his hands in his cloak pockets and replied sheepishly, "I guess… I guess I did." "Finally," he muttered to himself again.

Hermione now stood with her mouth open, the cold from the air turning her cheeks an attractive shade of pink as well. "Ron… you aren't doing this just to make me happy, are you?"

Ron looked up again from examining his fingernails. "What?"

"How did you know that I've been waiting for you to ask me?"

"I did?"

"…Didn't you…? I told… well… complained to Harry, and I thought he might have told you…"

Ron smiled for the first time during this conversation. "No… not at all. I guess we're both happy now…" His smile faltered a bit. "Right?"

"How could I not be?" And forgetting their constant fighting, hunger, and pretty much everything, the two walked back to the castle, forging a path in the snow, hand in hand.