Disclaimer: all character belong to J.K Rowling

Ronald Weasley was completely and utterly in love with Hermione Granger. He didn't know the exact moment that it had hit him, perhaps somewhere around first or second year, but for the past four years Ron had been completely aware of his feelings towards Hermione.

Over the years, he'd watched her develop from a bossy, know-it-all, frizzy haired, controlling girl into an assertive, intelligent, beautiful, controlling woman. If he'd loved her back then, he loved her even more now.

The other girls at Hogwarts were nothing compared to Hermione. She was strong, independent and knew what she wanted. They spent all their time giggling over boys and discussing make-up, clothes and other stupid girl things. Certainly none of them held the dedication and commitment Hermione had towards her studies and basically all areas of her life. Ron could always have a conversation with her, and never once did it cross the subjects of make-up, clothes or giggling.

Although several times their conversation had stumbled across the area of boys. Hermione obviously didn't have the same intentions towards Ron as he to her, as several times Hermione had confided to Ron about her romantic interests as one would a good friend or a close brother, but certainly not the subject matter to be discussed with someone who one holds amorous feelings for. Hermione may not have obsessed about boys as many of the girls did, but she had confided in Ron about one or two that took her interest.

This obviously only came as they had both matured some, and certain that no (or at least) minimal teasing would be incurred. Interestingly enough Hermione refused to talk about Krum, even when Ron brought up the matter. Ron knew the type of guy Hermione went for, the dark haired, brooding, intellectual ones. That is, not Ron. More like Harry.
Harry…
Ron thought back to a conversation he'd had with Hermione the other day. She'd told him how she was interested in someone, but wouldn't tell him who. She told him that the mystery boy was brave, well how many times had Harry come up against Voldemort? And that he was considerate. Harry had given up a lot of his own time back in fifth year to help a lot of people learn many complicated spells. She'd also mentioned that she found him incredibly sexy (needless to say Hermione had blushed at this, but far more had been discussed between the two of them on previous occaisions) and handsome. Ron didn't really know much about what made a guy sexy and handsome, but judging by the flock of third year girls that seemed to follow Harry relentlessly, Ron guessed he may have something going for him. But surely it couldn't be Harry that Hermione had her sights set on? And once Hermione wanted something, she usually worked until she got it.

Hermione defiantly had no problem with attracting her fair share of suitors, while she wasn't the type to always need a boyfriend, there had been a couple over the years with several more requests met, much to the rejected boys dismay, with a firm yet kindhearted no. It was a combination of her feisty attitude, gorgeous curls and toned body that peaked the attention of more than a few of the male students in the past couple of years. Ron had always seen the beauty within her, only now that it had appeared on the outside did others see what Ron had known al along. Ron couldn't bear to think about what it would mean if Harry and Hermione got together. Ron had never told Harry about his feelings toward Herminone, because he knew, with only good intentions, Harry would eventually tell Hermione and Ron wanted this to be something to come from him, in his own bumbling way. Ron prayed that it wasn't Harry, anyone but Harry. He couldn't bear to see her happy with someone so close to him. He hoped he was getting worked up over nothing and tried to convice himself that he'd jumped to the wrong conclusions.

Even with Ron's continued tormenting infatuation with Hermione, he'd by no means stayed away entirely from other girls. He saw himself as a bit of a late bloomer, eventually his red hair had darkened, turning from orange to auburn and he'd been regually using the poorly frequented gym at Hogwarts, giving him definition across his chest and stomach and broadening his shoulders. He'd always been tall, but rather lanky, and now his body was nothing to be ashamed of. Because of his late maturation, many of the female students of Hogwarts still didn't notice him and he wasn't considered much of a catch. But his defined body still came as a surprise to the lucky girls who took a chance. And once they found out, they didn't like to spread it around incase of competition from orher curious girls.

He hadn't had his first kiss until sixth year, after the much awaited Hogwarts Halloween party with, of all people, Lavender, perhaps the polar opposite to Hermione. From there on it had been a quick learning experience. But always with girls dramatically different from Hermione. Hermione was incredibly special to Ron and no one similar to her could come close, so to avoid complete disappointment he tended to go for girls where the conversation didn't go much past what was for dinner that night. Blonde, bubbly and boring he tended to think of them as. Well boring to talk to, the rest was quite interesting…

Afterall, he was still a male.