Ron watched Harry storm up to the dorimtory. He looked down at the badge that he had thrown at him before storming off. He pressed the small button that made the Potter Really Stinks appear and looked at it. That's what many people thought.Was he one of them?

Ron sat down on the couch and continued to stare at the badge. A bunch of people hated Harry for the fact that they thought he was trying to get more glory and play hero….like he does at points. Ron didn't hate him….he was just sick of Harry always getting everything that he, Ron, wanted: money, being a good Quidditch player, an only child. It wasn't that Ron didn't want his brothers and his little sister. No, he'd never think of parting with them, but at points he wanted so badly to just run away from the life he had and start a whole new one.

Ron walked over to the girls dormitory stairway and looked up it. Hermione had said once that if any boy tried to go up the stairs, the stairs would turn into a slide and they'd never get up to the girls' dorm. For once, Ron surprised himself with the fact that he actually remembered something Hermione had said to him. He didn't want to call up to her. He was scared he'd wake some of the others up. He didn't need to be teased anymore by his brothers.

Ron quickly pulled out his wand and whispered, "Cendorla!" The girls' dormitory door opened.

"Hermione!" Ron half called, half yelled up the stairs. Nobody came to the door. "Hermione!" he called a little louder. Still, nobody came. "Ahh, bloody." Where was that girl when you really needed her?

"Ron?"

Ron jumped into the air and dropped the badge. He turned and saw Hermione standing behind him, clutching a book close to her. She looked up at the dorm room and with a wave of her wand, it closed.

"What are you doing?" she asked

"Looking for you!" Ron said. He looked at her book. "What, did Madam Pince finally tell you to leave the library?"

"Just doing a little research on elf rebellion," Hermione said.

Ron shook his head. This girl was insane.

"Why were you looking for me?" she asked him. She looked down at the badge and picked it up. She stood back up and stared from the badge to Ron. "Ron…you're not seriously thinking….Malfoy's a slimey git! You've said so yourself! You can't seriously…Harry's trusted you since first year and this is how you-"

"No! If you're thinking I'm joining up with Malfoy's side, you've seriously lost it, 'Mione! I need to talk to you about Harry though. That's why I was looking for you," he said.

Hermione sat down on the couch and gesturded Ron to sit down next to her. He hesitated. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

I mean, she's a girl! She won't understand you're worries, Ron! But she's one of your best friends….she'll understand you some.

Ron sat down next to her.

"What happened?" asked Hermione.

Ron told her everything from the very beginning, right from when Harry's name was called from the goblet of fire, to at the moment Harry had stormed off to the dormitory. Hermione listened to the entire thing without inturupting him. This was what he loved so much about her. She'd listen to any worries Harry or he had. She always tried to be there.

When Ron was done talking, his voice was hoarse. Crookshanks wandered into the common room and jumped into Ron's lap. He started to stroke his back and he heard soft purrs coming from the cat.

"You and Harry have been best friends since the beginning of first year when you had met each other on the train. You showed you really cared about him when you had taken that hit in the chess game. You could've died during that game, but you didn't care. If it gave Harry a chance to save the stone, than you probably would of been willing to cross burning hot lava butt naked, right?" said Hermione.

"Well, if I were to cross hot lava butt naked, I don't think I would want either of you to be there, but I suppose that if that's what I would have to do, that's what I would do," Ron said, scratching Crookshanks behind the ear.

Hermione went on saying, "In second year, you again risked your life for him. Going down into the Chamber of Secrets with him when, and you even said so yourself, you thought at some point down there that you might never see the light of day again. Third year, remember when you had said "If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill us too"? I have to admit, I didn't quiet expect that to come from you."

"Well, it was probably what you would've said as well. It was just a spur of the moment," Ron said, blushing slightly that she had remembered he had said that. But then again, this was Hermione after all. She could remember anything.

"You're pretty protective of both me and Harry. Everytime Malfoy tries to insult Harry or make fun of him, you always stand up for him. I could never imagine Harry going anywhere without you just cracking jokes the entire way or talking constintly about Quidditch. I have to admit, I kind of miss the Quidditch talks you two have whenever you're together. It's a little bit boring without you around, Ron," said Hermione.

He knew right away that she missed him a little. It was true that he and Harry were pretty inseprable and the whole reason she had tried to become friends with them in first year was because she felt she could truly trust them. She felt the bond that was being created between Harry and himself and wanted to become a part of that. And because she did, both of them took it on themselves to take care of her.

"What's Harry been doing while I was….off on my own?" Ron said, trying to come up with the right words.

"Mopping about. I don't really think I'm enough for him to have. He needs someone he can really talk to, Ron. When will you come to you're senses and realize that Harry did not put his name in the goblet of fire? Someone else did it! Didn't you see his face when his name was called? Didn't you see the way he just sat there, shocked, appalled? Or are you as blind as I used to think you were?" asked Hermione.

"I'm just so sick of everyone saying he's so great all the time. I was one his best friends! Did they take notice of the person who took that hit in the chess game for him? Did they take notice of the person who braved huge spiders to try and help a friend out? Did they take notice of one of the two people who stood by his side when barely anyone would! Did they notice the person who was willing to risk his life for the boy-who-lived! No! Not at any time!" Ron almost shouted. He was shaking when he had stopped.

He looked at Hermione. She was looking at the ground. God, he hated it when he had those outbursts like that around her. She'd start crying or shrink back a little from him. She'd become scared.

When she spoke, her voice shook slightly, "Harry did. I did. You're brothers were so proud of you when you had earned Gryffindor 50 points for playing that chess game. I've never seen Fred or George looking so proud of you for as long as I've known them. The same goes for Percy. Ginny doesn't care weither or not you did something brave. She loves you just the same as her big brother. What about what happened last week? When Malfoy's spell had hit me and my teeth started to enlarge? Both of you stood up for me. Second year. When Malfoy called me a Mudblood? You took hurling slugs for me." Ron noticed she was crying slightly. "Harry looks up to you at points because you did all that stuff for both of us. You look after us like a big brother would and he misses that. Please…go talk to him, Ron!"

Ron pulled out a tissue from his pocket and offered it to Hermione. She took it gratefully.

"I'll talk to him after the first task is over with, 'Mione. I just…need to think it over."

Crookshanks rubbed his head against Ron's hand and he started to stroke the cat again. He was so needy. Hermione must spoil him.

"Will you talk to him?" Hermione asked.

"Maybe. I don't know."

"Please?"

Ron looked at Hermione's pleading face. She had learned it from Ginny. He hated that face.

"Okay, okay! Fine! I'll talk to him…but after the first task! I need to think this over first on how I'm actually going to be able to talk to him. He's not that easy to convince at points," said Ron.

"Don't I know it," Hermione muttered.

After a few moments of silence, both ackward and, in Hermione's case, sad, which was only broken by Crookshanks' purring from Ron's scratching him behind the ear, Hermione finally blew her nose one last time.

"So…you will talk to Harry eventually?" she asked him.

"I promise."

"Don't make promises, Ron. Make it your duty to do this. I don't think I could stand another moment of Harry complaining about how he can't stand you not being around him again!" she said.

She called Crookshanks and he jumped out of Ron's lap and fallowed Hermione up the dormitory stairs. She looked back at Ron.

"Aren't you going to go back to bed, Ron?" she asked.

"Nah. I'm not tired. I need to think a little anyway," he said.

"You want some company?"

Ron looked back at Hermione, a little surprised. This was the first time she had ever offered to stay with him when he was alone. He could tell she was scared of him at points. He'd have those random mean outbursts towards her and she'd shrink back slightly, frightened.

The last time she had stayed with him when he was alone was in second year. He had snuck into the hospital wing a few times to see her while she was in her little catgirl form. The way she looked didn't scare him in the least bit. He had five older brothers, four of which who could get into trouble within a snap of the finger, and he had seen a lot of misshaping going on. In fact, he felt she was kind of lonely, seeing how Harry and Ron could only come to see her once or twice a day, for homework and just to talk to her.

"Only if you really want to. I'm not pushing you," Ron said and turned to the fire. He heard the door open, then shut. Hermione was tired. He understood. Ron buried his face in his hands and rubbed his eyes. He was tired.

The reason he had woken up was because he had that stupid dream about how the twins had locked him up in the attic with the ghoul when he was four and had terrified him to death. He didn't like the fact that Harry's bed was empty. It worried him some, so he had gone down to see if he was in the common room and low and behold…

Ron ruffled his already messy hair some and looked down at the floor. Not a very intresting floor, but it still gave you something to look at. He looked at his too-short pant legs. They used to be Percy's pajamas and they didn't quiet fit him anymore. He had only gotten them last year and he had already grown out of them.

He jumped slightly at the feel of having someone put something around him. He looked. It was a blanket. A blue blanket, but still a blanket. Hermione sat down next to him on the couch. She had changed into her nightgown.

"You looked a little cold. Afterall, those pajamas are a little small for you," she said.

"You didn't have to come down and stay with me, you know," Ron told her.

"Oh, I don't mind. Everyone needs someone, right?"

"I guess so, yeah."

Hermione smiled slightly and rested her head on Ron's shoulder. It was actually his arm, concidering how short she was compared to him, but he didn't mind. Ron hesitated, then put his arm around Hermione, pulling her closer to him. She looked down at his hand, but kind of just shrugged it off as if it was nothing and relaxed in his grasp. Ron covered her up some. She looked cold.

Hermione laid her head down in Ron's lap and sighed a little.

"Last time we were this close was in second year, remember? After I had woken up? You had to carry me to the dormitory so I would be able to take a shower and change!" Hermione said, laughing slightly.

"Yeah, I remember that. You were so weak and could barely speak," Ron said, smiling a little. It was hard to forget that.

He had carried her on his back up to the common room and, probably because she was with him, he was able to take her up to the dormitory stairs and had her sit down on the bed. She was so weak and her legs buckled something awful. He felt sorry for her so he stayed for about an hour or so helping her learn to walk again. He had lost count of how many times she had callopsed while trying to walk. She had cried from the pain, but Ron just wouldn't let her give up and eventually, she was able to walk for herself.

Down in the Great Hall, she had just come running towards him and Harry, crying "You solved it! You solved it!" She just didn't have the energy to do that when she had woken up. She had hugged him so tightly, he thought he would burst. After she had let go of him, she whispered to him, "Thank you for helping me back in the dormitory."

Ron looked back down at Hermione. She had fallen asleep. He smiled to himself and covered her up more. If he didn't have Harry by his side, he was sure glad that Hermione was. He wouldn't know what to do next if it hadn't been this know-it-all, bossy, bushy haired girl.

"Night Hermione," he whispered.

"Night Ron," she whispered sleepily back.

He would talk to Harry after the first task. By that time, he'd be ready. By that time, he'd know what to say. He'd probably have to sit next to Hermione to make sure she didn't start screaming out in fear or faint while Harry was out taking his turn. Ron laughed to himself. That's their Hermione after all.

Ron took her hand and held it in his big hand. He'd have Hermione for support with him the whole way. She always did. Well…not always, but when it came to Harry, yes. She always did and he loved her for that.

FIN