A/N: This is my first R/Hr story, it's a just a fluffy one-shot, but I hope you enjoy! I submitting another story quite a while ago (ADMM general) but I think it got deleted so in a way, this is my first fic. Please review!

Disclamer: Wait--I don't own them! What! And all this time I thought I did...

It was time for her to leave. Time to board the train. Almost everyone was getting on with her, except for a select few. He was one of them.

Rather surprisingly, in fact. No ever considered for one moment the possibility that Ronald Weasley, instead of Hermione Granger, might stay behind at Hogwarts, a teaching position already secured. Why not? Ron had always been gifted, always tough and prepared. Lord knows that after what they just went through…he could face anything. Even "twitchy little snot-nosed first-years", as he so kindly put it a few years ago. He could handle that job, he deserved it, and Hermione knew it.

But that didn't mean she was ready to just leave.

Hagrid was herding them onto the train as fast as he could, although with noticeably less enthusiasm. Hagrid's energy seemed to have lowered ever since Madame Maxime suffered at the hands of Lord Voldemort. He had never had the chance to admit his feelings to her.

The thought of Hagrid's pain, and the suffering he went through stiffened Hermione's resolve. She turned around and began to resist the crowd surging towards her, pushing her way through numerous faces that she knew and loved. Flying past the stations, past the dingy pubs, past weeping Professor McGonagall who was saying her last goodbye to her beloved students, past all of this Hermione ran, seized in a fit of happiness and purpose as she finally came to a conclusion: she loved him.

It had taken her seven years to figure it out. Seven years of waiting and wondering, of friendship and loyalty, of hardship and pain. Seven years to figure out one simple thing: her feelings to one of her best friends.

The summer sun was causing perspiration to pour down her brow as she sprinted up the familiar hills on the grounds she knew too well. As her feet slapped the stone steps a brief question flashed through her swirling mind: have you thought this through?

It was a rational statement. Something that would have normally stopped The Great and Reasonable Hermione Granger in her tracks, but she couldn't stop now, for there was no time left. It was to the point where it was all or nothing.

She did not reflect on the memories as she flew threw the empty, echoing halls, although she was tempted. She did not stop to answer the questioning stares thrown her way by the remaining souls within the castle. Finally, she reached the Defense Against the Dark Arts department. Panting, she burst through the door and made her way towards the small office located at the back of the room.

At first, when she entered, he seemed to not be there, and for that one moment, her heart stopped. Then she realized he was merely crouched on the floor, his back to her. He was looking for something, no doubt, he was so unorganized, something that drove her mad. His broad shoulders were nearly going through the seams of his too-small sweater; his mother never accepted how big he really was. He was her baby boy, after all.

The noise of the door slam alerted him to her presence. He turned only his head, causing his long auburn hair to fall into his eyes. She reached out and touched a lock; how many times had she asked him to cut it? As she looked at it now though, she realized she liked it that length. She loved everything about him at this moment because it made him Ron, and she loved Ron.

"Hermione! Aren't you supposed to be on the train? It left five minutes ago." How much his voice has changed! She remembered meeting him for the first time on that train; his voice was higher than hers and he had the blasted piece of dirt on his nose. His eyes had held a certain ornery sparkle then. Now his face held a look of worn determination, lines that generally showed much later in life had already begun to appear; he had obviously been through something strenuous. His confused expression brought her back to reality.

"I…didn't want to leave…that is, I think I forgot to…ask McGonagall…I'm not sure, really." His look of confusion deepened.

"Well…wasn't McGonagall outside?"

"Oh! Yes! Of course, you're right, how stupid of me…" She cursed herself, she had burst in here like a wild hypogriff and now she had nothing to say. His eyes were searching her and she wished he could see her thoughts, how much easier it would make this situation! His brow furrowed as the silence continued.

"Why are you really here, Hermione?" This was it. This was the moment. If she left it any longer she would surely do something she would regret.

"I…I came here to tell you that I…you see, I've always sort of...I don't want to leave."

"Leave? But, you sort of have too—"

"No, no: not Hogwarts. I don't want to leave you. I can't bear the thought of leaving you, Ron, and I'm pretty sure it's because…I love you. Ron, I need you. I really do, you've always been there for me, through everything, and especially recently…I've come to rely on you. I love you. I love you! I LOVE you!" she began laughing, knowing she looked like a complete maniac and not caring, it was out, she had told him! "I love you and it doesn't make any sense at all! You're unorganized, you never study, you are always breaking rules, you never listen to me, and you just over-all annoy me! How can I be in love with someone who annoys me! I've got to be crazy! I must be totally out of my mind, I bl-nmrph!"

His mouth was over hers, his scratchy chin against her smooth face, his arms were around her and his body was surrounding her, building a cocoon over her small frame. Every sane thought left her mind, everything she had ever learned mysteriously disappeared, leaving her with nothing but her feelings.

He pulled away suddenly, and said with a grin, "Only you, Hermione, could confess your love and insult me at the same time."

Well, there ya go! Review!