My Own Clumsy Way

By SnakeEyesHannah

The snow was falling gently on the grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, powdering the already thick coat of snow with another layer. It had been snowing constantly for almost three weeks now, to the delight of everyone residing inside the castle walls but Argus Filch, the caretaker. He would grumble and stare at the students, mutter phrases like "filthy, spoiled brats, never taking the time to bush their dirty feet off and giving me some free time" under his breath when they passed him after being out in the snow.

Inside the castle prevailed an air of cheerful chaos as the winter holidays were just around the corner. A mere two days away from the parting feast before Christmas, most students were in a bit of a frantic state as they were in the nearby village Hogsmede to get their last minute shopping done or getting their things together before returning home for the three-week holiday.

The tower of Gryffindor was, without a doubt, the most stressed one in the school as most of its residents had a tendency to put off their homework until the last minute. So between dealing with shopping, getting things together and trying to enjoy their last days at the school they were often found in quiet places as the library, hunched over parchments, quills scribbling furiously.

Ronald Weasley and Harry Potter were no exceptions to that. You might think that they would have done their homework already, being friends with Hermione Granger and all, but of course not. When you were a descendant, godson and a friend of the famous Marauders there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell homework was on the top of your 'to-do'-list. At least not in Harry Potter's mind.

And being the best friend of Harry Potter usually meant you did as he, thus; Ronald Weasley hadn't done his homework either. Not that Hermione hadn't tried to force them.

Not that Ron minded.

Since what seemed like forever, Ron had had a crush on Hermione Granger, miss goody-two-shoes, miss know-it-all, miss prefect. His best friend.

"Ron!" Hermione spluttered. They were walking from the Great Hall after dinner and Ron had just retold a rather sexist joke he had heard from the twins.

Ron himself didn't seem too faced by neither the joke nor Hermione. He actually found Hermione rather adorable when she was mad; her eyes would be blazing with passion for what she was arguing for, her hands and arms formed a life of their own as they flew everywhere and that lovely hair of hers would come out of the ponytail she kept it in nowadays, spill over her shoulders and frame her beautiful face.

Not that Ron would ever admit that.

"What?" he asked innocently, smirking as he saw her annoyed and how her anger was boiling just underneath the surface. He would tease her about thing (such as S.P.E.W) just to see her riled up.

"Oh, lighten up, love", he told her in an affectionate voice. He knew Hermione would be ticked off at that, but he didn't care, as it was the closest thing to ever saying things like that to her face without being embarrassed as hell.

He slid his arm around her shoulder and squeezed them slightly. Hermione huffed and shook his arm off, stomping ahead. Ron almost chuckled. He loved that girl!

"'Mione, dear, don't get your knickers in a twist, love, it's only a joke!" he called after her, half jogging to keep up with her. She may be little, but Merlin could she go fast!

"Ronald", Hermione growled in a low voice that scared the daylights out of most students (but that Ron only found not only sexy as hell, but also made him break out in goose bumps). "You know perfectly well, as anyone else, that those jokes are just horrible, sexist and puts women to shame!" she shrieked.

They had just entered the Gryffindor common room (after Ron muttering the password, "Frogs wart", to an highly amused Fat Lady), and everyone inside stopped dead at what they were doing to watch the pair bicker.

It was clear to everyone (save fore perhaps the two in question) that Ron and Hermione were meant to be together and that the bickering was only their, to put it in the delicate words of Seamus Finnigan, pent up sexual frustration.

There was even a pool going on, updated every Friday, to see when the two would finally give in and get together. Naturally, since it was a pool restricted for the Gryffindors, the whole school knew about it and there were even a few Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs involved. One or two teachers also had bets in (although they would deny it until their faces turned blue).

So this ongoing fight of Ron and Hermione's was something the Gryffindors had plenty reasons to follow.

"And for the love of Merlin, Ron, you know I absolutely detest being called 'dear', 'love', 'sweetest' and all those other completely ridiculous names you've been calling me!"

"Oh, stuff it, love, you know just as well as I do you're just saying that!" Ron retorted, smirking.

"I do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

Ron stuck his tongue out at Hermione instead of replying, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"And of course you think all of this is funny, huh!" Hermione demanded. Just as Ron was about to reply to that, most certainly with a snappy insult, the portrait hole slapped shut with a loud 'bang'. The two third years that had caused it looked downright petrified as all heads spun towards them. Everyone but Ron and Hermione were all but running up to the third years and choking them.

The room fell silent, save for a few scrapes of the chairs and loud breathings, before Ron shuffled his feet, jammed his hands into his pockets and looked down on the floor. The Gryffindors all knew what was coming and reluctantly went back to their own business.

"Look, 'Mione", Ron began, sounding only a little remorseful, "you know it's not my opinion and it's only a stupid joke." Hermione huffed; her arms crossed over her chest, but said nothing. "The twins are really stupid pricks to tell me something like that…-"

"You can say that again", Hermione snorted.

"-…but they really never meant anything by it. They're harmless, really." He looked at Hermione, seeing her questioningly raised eyebrow. "The jokes, not Fred and George", he grinned, seeing a small smile tug at Hermione's mouth.

"Those two are downright life threatening", Hermione said.

Despite having said almost the exact thing about his brothers a million times before, Ron felt his anger flare up again. His brothers weren't here to defend themselves against her. "They are not! They amuse you just as much as they do us others so just stop it, 'Mione! You're not at all that perfect yourself!"

"Like I didn't know I'm not perfect!" Hermione snapped, glaring. "Why don't you tell me something I didn't know!"

The expression in Ron's eyes changed so rapidly Hermione couldn't see them all before he uncrossed his arms and looked Hermione square in the eye. His blue eyes were hard, almost scaring the brown-haired witch.

"I love you."

The silence following the confession was deafening. No-one, not even Ron, had expected this to come out of the redhead's mouth. But it had and it was the truth.

Hermione's eyes widened in shock and a small gasp escaped her before a hand flew up to cover her mouth. She blinked rapidly, taking a step backwards, as if trying to figure out if Ron was telling the truth or not.

Ron closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He hadn't really expected to hear Hermione to fling into his arms, smother him with kisses and proclaim her undying love for him just because he told her how he felt, but he did expect a little more than a strangled gasp and a shocked stare.

"Ron-…"

He held up his hand to silence her. "Don't bother, 'Mione", he said tiredly. "I know you don't feel the same, so it's no use saying something you won't mean, and I'm sorry I said this at such a lousy time, but I couldn't keep it in anymore." Once again he held up his hand as Hermione tried to speak again. "Just… Don't."

With that, Ron walked over to the portrait hole; the Gryffindor's all clearing a path for him, some looking at him with disbelieving eyes, some with encouraging smiles. He didn't see them, though; all he could see was Hermione's shocked face etched onto his eyes. It had told him all he had needed to know about her feelings toward him.

He was actually so caught up in his own thoughts and his own hurt at the prospect of never hearing Hermione say she loved him back, he didn't hear footsteps behind him. Nor did he hear Hermione call out his name. He only spun around when he felt her hand on his shoulder.

"What?" he snapped. Then he saw the tears rolling down her cheeks and his heart burst. He gathered her in his arms, soothingly patted her hair while mumbling nonsense words in her ear.

"Ron…"

He pulled back, still holding her. "Yes?"

"Don't you ever walk out on me when we're fighting", Hermione smiled through her tears. She reached up and ran a hand through Ron's hair with an affectionate smile on her face when she noticed the confused look on Ron. "It's only polite to hear what the other person has to say about the statement too, you know…"

"Hermione-…"

"Ron, I'm asking you to shut up and hear me out."

Ron obeyed and took a step back. He just couldn't handle holding her in his arms while she told him she didn't love him. He just couldn't. He knew her hand in his hair didn't mean anything; she was only trying to dampen the ache.

Hermione looked a little put out when he took that step backwards, but she didn't do anything to stop him. "Ron, since first year, when you and Harry saved me from that troll, I knew we'd be friends. It may have taken a while, but were still friends at the end of the year. And we still are. But every summer", she smiled, "every summer I've been afraid you'd come back and not be my friend anymore. Or that you've found someone else you like better than me."

Ron blinked at her in confusion, why was she telling him this? What did this have to do with anything? "'Mione, that's crazy, I would never meet someone I'd like more than you!"

"Just listen", she pleaded. He nodded and she took a deep breath. "So every September for the past six years I've been worried that you'd have found someone. That you'd have found a girl. But every year you came back and you hadn't." She paused, smiling slightly. "It always made me so happy. And imagine what you did to me just now… When you said you loved me. You. Loved me."

She sounded so surprised and so… Disbelieving, Ron took her smaller hands into his and looked into her eyes with a sad smile. "I've always loved you, 'Mione. Always." He looked downwards for a second, a faint blush appearing on his cheeks. "Even if I have been to thick to realise it."

Tears started falling from Hermione's bright eyes again, but she smiled and squeezed Ron's hands. "I know that now", she whispered, her head bowed to the floor. "And I'm trying to say, in my own clumsy and completely embarrassing way, that…" She looked up. "I love you too."

Ron blinked. He couldn't have just heard those words come out of Hermione's mouth. He had misheard them. She had just told him that… She loved him. Hermione loved him. Him! Ronald Weasley!

Ron swallowed before smiling widely, almost crushing Hermione as he took her into his arms. He couldn't believe his luck. He had the smartest, sweetest, most caring and most gorgeous witch loving him.

He twirled her around, loving the sound of her laughter, before slowly replacing her feet firmly back on her ground. Feeling his heart pound madly in his chest, Ron tipped his head forward. Hermione stood on her toes and met him halfway.

It's true what they say when two soul mates kiss, fireworks does go off, the whole world does fade into nothingness and nothing exists but that person you're kissing. No matter it be a short kiss or a long, passionate one, the sparks and the chemistry would still be there.

And for Ron and Hermione, sparks and chemistry was underestimating what they had.

Cheers went up as the two crawled back into the Gryffindor common room, holding hands. Even if you didn't see the subtle gestures, you would be able to tell by the smiles on both faces.

Needless to say, Ron and Hermione were now involved, to the joy of everyone. So what if they continued to bicker, so what if they still argued fiercely, that's just relationships, isn't it?

Author's note: Dedicated to you, Katrin, for being the lovely person you are and for being the obsessed Harry Potter-freak that got me writing. I owe you so much!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters involved in this story. It all belongs to JK Rowling and Warner Bros.