Chapter 11- What now?

Ron looked confused, before he realized, and his eyes nearly popped out of his head. His face went nearly as red as his hair, before he rose from the table, and hastily excited the hall. Luckily, Dean and Seamus were now talking to Erin, and hadn't noticed.

Harry rose from the table and followed Ron, bringing Hermione with him. She hadn't heard any of the previous conversation, but followed Harry none the less, with a puzzled expression on her face.

'Harry, what's the matter?' She asked, once they were out of the hall.

'It's nothing to worry about.' Harry assured her. 'I'll explain when we find Ron.'

They hiked the rest of the journey in silence, until finally, they were in the common room.

Ron was standing in front of the fire, his hands in his pockets, and his face still red. He turned about when Harry called his name, and if possible, blushed even more at the sight of Hermione.

'Hi.' Ron croaked, before clearing his throat.

'Will you now explain what's going on?' Hermione asked angrily. Ron looked down at his feet, so Harry took the hint.

'Well there's this thing.' Harry began. 'It's no big deal. It's just something we found out and you need to know.'

'So you brought me out of dinner.' Hermione said, crossing her arms. 'When it could have waited.'

'No, it couldn't have.' Harry said, unsurely. 'When Ron found out, he bolted from the hall. I thought it would be best to discuss it now, instead of leaving Ron time to stew on it.'

'Oh.' Hermione said.

'So here it is.' Harry said, taking in a large breath. 'You know how Ron had a girlfriend in this world?' Hermione nodded her head. 'Well, it's you. You're Ron's girlfriend.'

Hermione pulled a shocked face.

'I don't know how.' Ron cut in, finally finding his voice.

'What?' Hermione said. 'I'm not good enough for the likes of you?'

'No.' Ron said walking towards her. 'I didn't mean that. I just had no idea.'

Hermione looked down at her feet.

'It makes perfect sense, I guess.' Hermione said, thinking aloud. 'Whenever we're together, people give us evil looks. It's because they're jealous.'

'I guess.' Ron said, scratching his head. 'Do you think people have noticed that we haven't been, well, coupley?'

'They think you're going through a rough patch in you're relationship.' Harry said, and Ron and Hermione looked away from each other, embarrassed. Hermione's face was now a similar color to Ron's. 'I overheard Lavender and Parvati talking.'

'So what do we do now?' Ron asked, looking straight into Hermione's eyes. There was a moments silence.

'I guess we just act how the other Hermione and Ron would.' Hermione said, biting her lip.

'You mean, pretend we're going out?' Ron asked, not breaking eye contact.

'Yea.' Hermione said simply. 'It can't be that hard. We'll just pretend that we'd had an argument, but have made up now. We can't just pretend we've broken up, because we don't know how it will affect this world.'

'You're right.' Ron said. 'We'll just act as normal, their normal.'

Harry slipped away, leaving Ron and Hermione to discuss their new situation. He went to the boys dorm, and crept into bed to read a book. Dean and Seamus walked in about 10 minutes later, but Harry pretended to be asleep.

About an hour later, Ron trooped into the boys dorm. Dean and Seamus were fast asleep, but Harry was still reading.

'So you sorted things out with Hermione?' Harry asked casually.

'Yea.' Ron said cheerfully, as he crept into bed. 'We've decided that we're going to go with the rumors, and pretend we had an argument, and made up. We're going to be coupley in public from tomorrow onwards.'

'Sounds like a plan.' Harry said, as he put down his book. 'So you're ok with it?'

'Yea.' Ron said, nodding his head. 'We're mature enough to handle this, and everyone already thinks we're a couple. All we have to do is hold hands a bit. We have a whole plan sorted out.'

'Well I'm glad you're ok with it.' Harry said, lying down. 'Good night.'