More thoughts on Lavender: Yes, I feel bad for Lavender even though she is very severe on Hermione. This is the way I see it: She knew Hermione was a huge threat, which was why she was so upset to see her with Ron. If she hadn't been a threat, Lavender might not have cared so much. But she did care. Lavender probably thought Hermione was the most intelligent, most beautiful, kindest, cleverest witch in Gryffindor and knew she didn't stand a chance against her in the contest for Ron's heart. Since we, the readers, knew all that as well, I feel a special affinity for Lavender. 

Special thanks in advance to everyone who spotted typos. You don't know how much I appreciate that.

And sorry there wasn't an update this morning. I was busy moving all my stuff into the apartment. Plus, this chapter was killer. There was just so much stuff I had to put in. UGH!

-----

The Triumph of Hermione Granger +

by Jen Ann Bradley

-----

Early Monday morning, Madam Pomfrey released Ron and Harry from the infirmary. Their robes and books had been sent to them during the night, which spared them a trip to Gryffindor Tower before breakfast. So they went out the door, carrying their knapsacks over their shoulders and laughing over the picture of Cormac McLaggen, which Ron had finally remembered to show Harry.

"Blimey," Harry had said when he saw it. "He looks just like Dudley Dursley when he's all blown up like that. And was that Ginny who made his toenails grow that long?"

To Ron's relief, Harry seemed to have forgotten all about Draco Malfoy. The incident with Dobby and Kreacher on Saturday night remained unmentioned, and Harry did not offer any new speculations as to what the house elves might find. Ron wished that his friend would finally put the matter to rest whenever the house elves made their reports. In the meantime, it was too much to hope for that Harry had really forgotten about Malfoy. And when they ran into Hermione, who had come to the infirmary in order to escort them to breakfast, Ron realized Harry's silence on Malfoy had more to do with his wanting to avoid one of Hermione's lectures than it did with his regaining a proper sense of his priorities.

Nevertheless, Harry did seem to have a resurgence of interest in the Quidditch team. After hearing that two of his Chasers had gotten into a fight, Harry seemed healthily concerned for the team dynamic, and questioned Hermione extensively about Dean and Ginny.

On the way to the Great Hall, they ran into Luna Lovegood, who was carrying a message from Dumbledore. Her hands were full already with something resembling an onion, a toadstool and something that looked like cat litter, meaning in order to deliver Dumbledore's scroll, Luna had to thrust these strange objects into Ron's hands.

"Wha…?" he asked, chagrined to learn that they smelled. The onion felt gooey, as if it were rotting.

Without answering, Luna handed the message to Harry, which was predictably enough about his lessons.

"Tonight," Harry explained, looking grave.

Meanwhile, Ron was eager to hand back the strange objects he was holding, especially the onion, which smelled the worst. Luna reached for them without noticing how his nose twitched and how his eyes watered when he handed over the onion. Then she stood there awkwardly, shuffling from foot to foot. A year ago, Ron might have run for shelter from Loony Lovegood, but her antics no longer bothered him. He had begun to care less and less what other people thought of him for talking to certain women. Besides, he had very much appreciated her Quidditch commentary, which had not only allowed him to hear what was going on while he lay in the infirmary, but had also been enormously entertaining.

"Nice commentary last match!" he told her.

Luna smiled at him. "You're making fun of me, aren't you? Everyone says I was dreadful."

"I can't remember enjoying a commentary more!" he exclaimed. Then Ron took the onion out of Luna's hand again and held it up to the light. "What is this, by the way?"

"Oh, it's a Gurdyroot. You can keep it if you like, I've got a few of them. They're really excellent for warding off Gulping Plimpies." Then she walked away without further explanation.

Ron chuckled as he watched Luna go, until he realized that he was still holding the onion and he didn't know what a Gulping Plimpie was.

Turning to Hermione, he asked, "What are Gulping Plimpies?" Ron made sure to hold the onion at a safe distance from his nose. With dismay, he realized that his whole hand would probably stink by the time he got rid of it.

"They're nasty, oozing pustules," she answered, playfully taking his arm. "You don't ever need to worry about them." At this, Ron positively glowed. Then Hermione took Harry's arm as well, and they proceeded to the Great Hall, walking arm-in-arm with Hermione in the middle.

On the way, Ron said, "You know, she's grown on me, Luna. I know she's insane, but it's in a good —"

He trailed off when he saw Lavender waiting for him at the foot of the marble staircase. She had her hands on her hips and was glaring at him so hard that it was comical. She had her eyes scrunched up so it looked like she was squinting, and she seemed to be trying very hard to fume, with the result that she looked like she had just come back from a jog. Instantly, Hermione withdrew her arm from his. Ron was tempted to catch it and put it back under his, but knew that if he did, Lavender might skin the both of them alive.

"Hi," he greeted Lavender, not needing to guess what was coming next. For Harry's sake, Ron had managed to be awake during her visit on Sunday, but after ten minutes, he had feigned exhaustion so she would leave. Ron wished he could do the same thing today, but even Lavender wasn't foolish enough to fall for that here on the staircase.

"C'mon," he heard Harry say as he pulled Hermione with him toward the Great Hall, leaving Ron to find his own means of escaping. He almost begged them to stay, but it was too late. They were running down the hall, glad to be free of Lavender Brown.

"Why didn't you tell me you were getting out today?" Lavender asked after Harry and Hermione had gone. "And why was she with you?"

Ron chose to ignore the second question, which he was certain Hermione had heard before stepping into the Great Hall. As to the first one, the only thing he could do was play innocent.

"I didn't know I was getting out today," he said casually, as he started down the steps. This, of course, was a lie. He had known the date of his release since Wednesday.

"Well, Madam Pomfrey shouldn't have let you out, if you ask me," said Lavender, even though Ron had not asked. "No healthy person sleeps that much."

"I can't afford to miss any more classes," he said, a little defensive as he fretted over whether Lavender might catch him in his lie.

"Humph," said Lavender, latching onto his arm when he was at the bottom of the steps.

"Aren't you going to kiss me good morning?" she asked, making it sound more like an order than a question.

"Er…good morning." Ron leaned over and kissed her quickly on the cheek. He felt her oily concealer rub off on his lips, and he wrinkled his nose. Lavender glared at him, which unfortunately for her did not motivate Ron to kiss her again. She let out a miffed "Hmm," before noticing the Gurdyroot in Ron's hand.

"Did Hermione Granger give you that?" She pointed at the Gurdyroot with disgust and held her face away from it while pinching her nose shut with her other hand.

"No," said Ron. "Luna Lovegood gave it to me."

"Oh, then I suppose it's okay," said Lavender, sounding relieved. Ron didn't see why Lavender would be less disgusted by it if Luna Lovegood had given it to him. It still smelled the same, didn't it? But he supposed Lavender would treat anything Hermione gave him as radioactive poison.

"What's it for?" she asked.

Ron was about to say, "It wards off Gulping Plimpies," but stopped when he realized this was a perfect opportunity to get rid of the onion and make Lavender lay off Hermione.

"Oh," he began, "I asked Luna to get this for me so I could give it to you." He handed it to her while wearing the biggest grin he'd ever faked. "It's a beauty charm. I thought it might come in handy."

"Oh Ron!" she cried, throwing her arms around him and pulling him down so she could kiss him on the mouth. "How sweet of you!" she exclaimed, jumping up and down like a kangaroo. Ron had no idea why he permitted her to pull him about, and had no clue why she was so excited over this rotting onion, but he was grateful that she wasn't glaring at him or questioning him about Hermione. During her last visit to the infirmary, she had been particularly abusive towards his friend, and had commented several times on the sorry state of her hair and the unsightly pimples on her nose, which Ron had yet to notice.

Ron wished that he could find the courage to tell her it was over, but he feared that such a statement would result in crying or screaming… Ron shuddered at the prospect, and decided that he could put off ditching Lavender for a little while more. It wasn't as if he had to spend time with her, because he was still planning to avoid her if he could at all help it. It didn't seem like such a sacrifice on his part, and what was more, he could have a whole extra day to plan what he would say to her.

When they reached the Great Hall, Lavender asked him suddenly, "So what's it like to wake up and see your least favorite person first thing in the morning?"

Ron panicked, instinctively preparing to deny that Lavender was his least favorite person. He had been planning a tactful break up, and this would not be the way to begin one. He could deny it truthfully, right? Lavender wasn't really his least favorite person. That had to be Snape or You-Know-Who or maybe Viktor Krum with Cormac McLaggen sneaking up from last place.

Only when Ron noticed that Lavender was nudging him flirtatiously, as if they were sharing a secret, did Ron understand that she had been talking about Hermione again.

"Who do you mean?" he asked, playing innocent.

"Hermione," she urged him expectantly. "She's been practically hanging on your every word since you woke up, and after not speaking to you all term…"

"Hermione's not so bad," said Ron with a non-committal shrug, although he knew that he ought to have said more.

"So you're friends again?" said Lavender sourly, emphasizing the word "friends."

"Yes," said Ron, now very irritated indeed. Lavender clutched his arm harder, nearly causing him to drop the onion, which she had not taken from him even though he had given it to her. He was apparently expected to carry it like a valet.

"Just checking," she said, retreating. "It's so difficult to tell with you two. You change status every three months."

This irked Ron, who felt that he and Hermione had always remained friends, whether they spoke or not. Fighting was a part of their yearly routine. "Well, we're friends again," Ron reasserted, more forcefully this time.

The image of Hermione in tears at his bedside came to mind as well as the essays she had painstakingly written for his sake. It warmed his heart to think of all the time she must have spent scribbling away on the parchment, wondering what she could do to make things right between them, never knowing that all she had to do was say a simple "hello."

For good measure, Ron added, "Hermione was really upset about the poison thing. She came in with a birthday present and I forgave her. "

"What was it?" demanded Lavender, hands on her hips again.

Ron almost told her, but then he thought of how much trouble he and Hermione would get into if any of the teachers found out that she had written practically all of his essays for the next month. "I don't remember," he mumbled, but seeing the satisfied smirk that came over Lavender's face, he clarified, "But I would have forgiven her if she hadn't brought me anything at all."

Ron realized that the 'perfect moment' had come. Tolerating Lavender no longer seemed like such a high priority. She was obnoxious, and what was more, he hadn't liked the way Lavender's lip had curled up when she'd asked if Hermione had brought him the onion. Nor had he appreciated the way Lavender had questioned him about Hermione while Hermione was still within earshot. In fact, he didn't like Lavender abusing Hermione, period… They were alone in the corridor. He could end it, right here, right now. Ron nearly did it, when —

Lavender said, "Oh Ron, you're such a sweet, forgiving person. I only wish I could be more like you."

Ron almost growled from frustration. She had ruined the moment, and he couldn't ditch her now. Pulling away from Lavender in a rush, he strode toward the entrance to the Great Hall, intending to join Harry and Hermione immediately. Unfortunately, he hadn't gone two steps when he was intercepted by Parvati, on her way to greet him and Lavender.

After being forced into a five-minute conversation, Ron had no choice but to follow them to their table and sit down.

-----

The week passed by in much the same fashion as it began, with Lavender constantly catching Ron in Hermione's presence. She had stopped asking why Ron was with "her," but now Lavender would usually join the conversation by grabbing Ron's hand or taking him by the arm and standing beside him, pretending to immerse herself in whatever was interesting to her boyfriend.

Hermione, to her credit, did nothing. Rather than sink to Lavender's level by staking her claim on Ron, Hermione always carefully extracted herself from whatever conversation she and Ron had been having to make a graceful exit. At first Ron thought she was happier to go than to remain, but by Friday he could tell that Hermione was getting tired of staying out of the way, especially on the last occasion Lavender interrupted them, when Harry had been telling them about his latest session with Dumbledore.

"I wonder if we really should go after Voldemort," Harry joked as they stood together outside the Great Hall before lunch. "If the Dark Arts job is only cursed while he's around then we should definitely keep him around for another year."

"Yeah," agreed Ron. "Before the year is out, we could all be waving good bye to Snape."

Hermione giggled. "If Snape hears you saying that, you'll be waving good bye, all right." Then she grew serious and said, "I wonder why Dumbledore—"

"Hey Ron!"

Ron felt Lavender latch onto his arm like a leech. He noticed that she hadn't said "Won-Won," which meant that she was trying to insinuate herself into his tight circle of friends, who never called him anything but "Ron." This in itself was more irritating than any nickname she could have given him. He felt so annoyed that he didn't bother saying hello to her before motioning to Hermione to continue. "So Hermione, you were saying?"

Hermione rolled her eyes at him, which meant, "You can't honestly expect me to talk about it now? "

"Don't roll your eyes at my boyfriend," snapped Lavender.

Hermione's face flashed red with anger, and she opened her mouth to let loose what Ron knew would be an utterly scathing retort. He did nothing to stop it.

Harry, on the other hand, placed a soothing hand on Hermione's shoulder and turned on Lavender, obviously very offended that anyone would speak that way to Hermione. "Do you mind, Lavender?" said Harry, not un-politely. "We were talking."

"Anything you can say to Ron, you can say to me," she insisted, quietly. However, she seemed not so much defiant as hurt. "Right, Ron?"

Ron sighed, feeling very guilty that he had ever given Lavender the impression that she was privy to everything he discussed with Harry and Hermione. It wasn't her fault that she didn't know that the things he talked about with Harry and Hermione were so private that he wouldn't have told most of his own siblings. It seemed unfair to tell her to bugger off.

"Maybe you could find me later, how about that?" he offered.

Lavender considered this for a while, finally saying, "Okay." She left them reluctantly, casting them all suspicious looks.

Once she gone, Ron found that Hermione had become grave and was suddenly disinterested in the conversation. She was eyeing Lavender's retreating figure with a curious loathing that Ron had never seen in her face before. Ron nudged her, "You can roll your eyes at me whenever you want," he said. "I don't mind."

This produced a half-hearted smile, but she didn't reply.

"Why don't you ditch her if you're tired of it?" asked Harry for the umpteenth time, equally as irritated as Hermione.

"It's not that easy."

Harry shrugged and mumbled something under his breath that sounded like, "Seems pretty easy to me."

"Harry," Hermione intervened suddenly in a much more cheerful tone, which Ron sensed was forced. "We should get to the Hall. If we don't go in soon, we'll miss lunch."

Ron followed his friends into the Great Hall past Lavender's table to their own section. He sat down beside Hermione, ignoring the shocked glances he was sure that everyone at Lavender's table were giving him. He was certain Hermione had noticed them, for she sat very rigidly and seemed testy all throughout the meal, although she did her best to hide it. Only when Lavender and Parvati stood up to leave did she relax.

"Maybe you should go meet Lavender like you said you would," she said, voice and expression completely unreadable.

Getting up in the middle of his meal was not what Ron considered an ideal moment to see Lavender. There was no ideal moment to see Lavender. Instead, he swallowed the piece of pie he was chewing, as it had lost all flavor at the mention of his girlfriend. He didn't know why Hermione would want him to go see Lavender anyway. Ron decided it must be some sort of test that girls gave, and in order to pass it, he must under no circumstances go see Lavender.

He flashed a smile at Hermione and picked up his spoon. "What would I want to go see Lavender for?" he asked. "I'd miss dessert." Ron couldn't understand why Hermione was frowning at him as he dug into his custard.

-----

On Sunday of the next week, Ron was writing his DADA essay. Hermione and Harry were sitting with him, even though they had already finished their essays. Harry was perusing his potions book and Hermione was looking daggers at him while he did it. Even though he was supposed to be working, Ron found it amusing to watch his friends during the ensuing battle over the Half-Blood Prince. He especially liked it when Hermione's forehead creased as she started in on another lecture. It was also very cute how she held her quill, waving it around in order to stress her point. He charmed his quill to write in a straight line so he could continue watching as he wrote. Thus, it was not until he was nearly done that he looked down to discover that almost every single word on the page was misspelled. He gasped.

"How d'you spell 'belligerent'?" he asked, denying what had happened. Ron shook his quill, hoping that by this action he could cure its defect. "It can't be B — U — M —"

Hermione instantly abandoned her debate with Harry and pulled his essay to where she could read it. "No, it isn't," she confirmed. Then, with a giggle she pointed to the word "orgy." Ron blushed, not knowing how that had gotten there.

"And 'augury' doesn't begin O –R – G either," she laughed. "What kind of quill are you using?"

"It's one of Fred and George's Spell-Check ones…but I think the charm must be wearing off…"

"Yes, it must, because we were asked how we'd deal with dementors, not 'Dugbogs,' and I don't remember you changing your name to 'Roonil Wazlib' either."

Ron pictured Snape reading a completely illegible essay about orgies and Dugbogs and then ripping it up while screaming, "Four hundred points from Gryffindor for lewdness and a pathetic lack of effort! " His only saving grace was that Snape would think the essay had been written by Roonil Wazlib.

Even worse than Death by Snape, however, was the thought of writing out the entire essay a second time. "Don't say I'll have to write the whole thing out again!"

"It's okay, we can fix it," said Hermione, setting down her own work without hesitation and pulling Ron's essay toward her. She took out her wand and pointed it at his name. Ron watched as the letters shifted and rearranged themselves until the paper was newly christened "Ronald Weasley."

Ron let out a sigh of relief, knowing Hermione had just saved him four hours of toil. He meant to express his gratitude with a simple "thanks," but what slipped out instead was:

"I love you, Hermione."

He blinked a little and sat back, rubbing his eyes, wondering how that had come out and whether he should have said it at all. Really, he had only meant, "thank you." It had even sounded like a thank you. It was a casual slip and nothing more, but what did it matter if he'd said it? It was true, wasn't it? Ron was too tired to give it any more thought. He buried his face in his hands and closed his weary eyes.

"Don't let Lavender hear you saying that," said Hermione. Ron removed his hands from his eyes so he could see her. He wasn't certain, but she looked as if she had been blushing.

"I won't," he said reflexively, but then hastily amended his plan. "Or maybe I will…then she'll ditch me…." Ron pictured Lavender jumping on him after class next morning and tried to map out a plan to avoid her. He was getting tired of running from her, of making excuses for forgetting to meet her, of making his friends lie for him as to his whereabouts. It had to end, and Ron couldn't help but smile as he pictured Lavender walking in on him and Hermione snogging in a corner. He remembered how Ginny had handled the situation, and imagined himself heroically shielding Hermione as he shouted, It's no one's business but mine who I snog!

"Why don't you ditch her if you want to finish it?" asked Harry, momentarily setting down his book.

Ron was also getting tired of this question. "You haven't ever chucked anyone, have you? You and Cho just —"

"Sort of fell apart, yeah," said Harry gruffly before returning to his book.

"Wish that would happen with me and Lavender," said Ron as he admired Hermione's face in the candlelight. She was tapping each of his misspelled words with her wand, completely oblivious to the fact that he was watching her.

"But the more I want to finish it," he continued, "the tighter she holds on. It's like going out with the giant squid."

Suddenly, Hermione's wand stopped, and Ron knew she was listening and pretending not to. Could she see him staring at her? Did he want her to see him staring?

Her head lifted slightly and their eyes met so briefly that Ron might have thought he had imagined it if not for the blush that crept over her cheeks when she went back to correcting his paper. The same thing happened a couple of times. Hermione would look up to see if Ron was still watching her, and inevitably he was. Whether or not it was embarrassing for her to catch him, Ron couldn't bear not to look at her. Her hair was tucked untidily behind her ears, and hung down over her shoulders, concealing almost all her delicate features from view, but he could see her brow, furrowed in concentration, and the almost imperceptible flutter of her eyelashes whenever she blinked. He watched her rub her eyes with her hand, admiring every simple gesture. It seemed impossible that she hadn't noticed he was still staring, but she never once looked up.

Yet as he stared, Hermione seemed to drag out the correction process so that it took a whole twenty minutes for her to finish corrections that should only have taken five.

"There," she said, quietly, handing back his essay at last. Ron saw that she was flushed when he thanked her.

"Can I borrow your quill for the conclusion?" he asked.

Hermione handed it over without a word and buried her face in her book to hide the smile that Ron could see if he lifted himself up and peered over the binding. Finally, Hermione noticed that he was still looking at her and giggled.

"Do your work!" she hissed, but Ron could tell she was still trying to stifle that smile.

However, he did have to complete the essay, so he bent over it in order to begin the conclusion paragraph. He glanced up a few times to see whether Hermione was now watching him, but if she was, she was far more discreet than he had been. Her nose was buried in her book every time.

It was with great difficulty that Ron returned to his work, and even then it took ten minutes for him to produce a single sentence. Once he began, however, he found inspiration and was able to nearly finish it. He was just about to sit back and stretch when —

Crack.

Ron was so surprised that he spilled his ink all over the essay.

"Kreacher!" cried Harry.

Furious, Ron whirled around to face the culprit. He was tempted to strangle the elf for ruining his work, S.P.E.W. be damned.

"Master said he wanted regular reports on what the Malfoy boy is doing, so Kreacher has come to give —"

Crack.

As if matters weren't bad enough, Dobby Apparated into the room.

Hermione was gaping at Harry as if he had a second head. "What is this? What's going on Harry?"

Ron examined the ruins of his essay and wondered whether he might be able to escape Snape's wrath by leaping head first from the astronomy tower. However, he suspected that even if he did, Snape would still find a way to penalize Gryffindor House. Five hundred points from Gryffindor, twenty for each class missed by the late Mr. Weasley, who hadn't the sense to wait to rid the world of his pestilential presence before beginning the term!

Meanwhile, Harry was interrogating Dobby. From the periphery of the conversation, Ron discerned that Harry had achieved some sort of epiphany concerning Malfoy's activities.

"The Room of Requirement!" Harry exclaimed, smacking himself on the forehead with his book. Ron stared at Harry, unable to muster the same enthusiasm for his discovery. He exchanged a sympathetic look with Hermione, whom he could tell was exasperated as well.

"That's where he's been sneaking off to! That's where he's doing…whatever he's doing! And I bet that's why he's been disappearing off the map — come to think of it, I've never seen the Room of Requirement on there!"

"Maybe the Marauders never knew the room was there," said Ron, making a half-hearted attempt to care about Malfoy. Dobby's report indicated that Malfoy was definitely up to something, but it was difficult to think about it when his paper lay soaking in black ink. Besides, Ron hadn't ever thought that Malfoy posed a real threat. He wasn't clever enough to concoct a truly diabolical scheme; and he was too young and cowardly to participate in one concocted by others.

Eventually, Hermione came to his aid again. But there were no flirtatious exchanges this time. She siphoned off the ink with her wand in the most efficient manner possible while continuing to speak with Harry. She handed it back to him without a word. Ron looked down at his essay to see that it was as good as new except for the final paragraph, which was still smudged with black ink that rendered it illegible. He scowled.

Soon after, Hermione departed for the girls' dormitories. It was obvious from the way the discussion had gone that Hermione didn't think Malfoy was important. As Ron examined the ruined section of his paper, cursing all house elves, Ron had to agree with her.

-----

Ron found it odd that Hermione had signed up for extra Apparition lessons in Hogsmeade when she could already Apparate perfectly. However, he was glad of her company and didn't even tease her about being a goody-goody when she joined him. Most of the sixth-year class was going anyway, since most everyone had jumped at the opportunity to escape the castle. The weather had been unusually good this spring, and today was no exception.

It was a brilliant spring morning, with not a cloud in sight. Best of all, Lavender would not be joining them since she would not be of age in time to take the Apparition test. He had a whole two hours alone with Hermione, free of interruptions!

The two hours started out well. Ron managed to Apparate, even though he did not arrive at the specified destination. Hermione had complimented him excessively on his improvement, which had pleased him to no end. But after Hermione executed a perfect Apparition, Twycross had taken her aside and talked to her for the rest of the practice session. Afterwards Twycross took the sixth years for drinks at the Three Broomsticks, and had placed Hermione beside him at his table. Ron had endured sitting at the opposite end from Hermione while Twycross petted her and puffed her ego up so that Ron was strongly reminded of a giant balloon. Ron could barely get in a word edgewise for all Twycross' exclamations of, "Brilliant! Never seen a faster learner!"

Not only did Ron feel lonely afterwards, but he also felt inadequate. If he couldn't grasp the concept of Apparition, he didn't know what he could do. His thoughts snowballed into a mess of negative thoughts, and by the end of the lesson Ron had convinced himself that he was stupid and inept in comparison to every member of the sixth-year class. Even Neville Longbottom had found something to excel in - he had top marks in Herbology. Meanwhile, Ron felt mediocre, unexceptional and unworthy. Hoping to escape the tension of Twycross' table, Ron sauntered up to the bar and ordered another pint of butterbeer from Madam Rosmerta. When he looked back, he saw Hermione's eyes upon him. She looked concerned, he thought. Ron raised his glass to her and tried to look cheery. He even told Madam Rosmerta a joke, but unfortunately Rosmerta did not think it was amusing. However, when he got back to the table and had to listen to Twycross' obsequious rambling, Ron wished he had stayed up at the bar. Madam Rosmerta's scowls would be infinitely preferable to this slow torture.

On their way back to Hogwarts, Ron was testy, although he honestly tried not to be. They spoke very little until they were inside the corridor, heading toward the Great Hall. Then Hermione, as if sensing his mood and the reason for it, calmly said, "I wish Twycross wouldn't go on about me like that. It makes me uncomfortable."

"Yeah," said Ron, still grumpy. "It's like he's in love with you or something."

Hermione halted immediately and stared at him. "Are you jealous of Twycross?" she asked, but she seemed more amused than angry.

Ron began to sputter like a boiling teakettle. "No!" he was about to say (or maybe "Yes!"),when suddenly he saw Lavender hurtling towards him out of the corner of his eye. He didn't think she had seen him yet. There was still time to escape! Without a moment's hesitation, Ron bolted behind a doorway to hide himself, leaving Hermione standing out in the corridor.

Lavender's footsteps pattered dangerously close and stopped.

"Have you seen Ron?" he heard her ask Hermione.

Hermione was tapping her foot impatiently on the floor. "No," she said. "Nowhere."

"Good," snapped Lavender, rather cruelly. Then Ron heard her turn on her heel and walk the other way.

Hermione called to him when she judged it to be safe. "She's gone. You can come out now."

"Thanks," said Ron, brushing the cobwebs off his robes. The doorway he had chosen for a hiding place was apparently not much used. "I owe you one."

Hermione scoffed at this well-meant remark. "Why don't you just ditch her instead of hiding from her all the time?" she exclaimed, allowing the first signs of irritation he had heard from her since the poison incident to creep into her voice. Then she let out a little gasp and instantly covered her mouth with her hand, possibly because she hadn't meant to make such a suggestion. Either that or she had just stifled a burp, Ron didn't know.

At any rate, Ron wondered how she could have refrained from saying it sooner. Harry said it all the time, after all. And apart from Hermione and Apparition, ditching Lavender was all Ron thought about. He was sure she must have thought about him ditching Lavender a million times. With a sigh, they started again towards the Great Hall and as they began to walk, Ron tried to explain.

"I've been avoiding her for so long that we're not really going out anymore," said Ron, proudly. After all, avoiding Lavender successfully was a real accomplishment. "I'm just waiting for her to realize it."

Hermione shook her head. "She won't realize it until you tell her definitively that you don't want her," she replied in her schoolmarm voice. "She'll always keep some semblance of hope," she said.

"How do you know?" Ron shot back. "Lavender can see I'm not interested in her anymore. Even she can't be that dense!"

"A woman always hopes," sniffed Hermione, sounding suddenly as if she were close to tears. "It's in our nature."

Shocked at this sudden turn of her mood, Ron stopped her by taking hold of her arm. "Hermione…"

But she jerked away from him and walked off, wiping at her face. Ron feared the beginning of another feud of silence, but when he sat down beside her in the Great Hall, Hermione didn't mention the incident. They began eating their food and talking about Potions as if nothing had ever happened. Only when Harry arrived did they mention the Apparition lesson and the horrible time Ron had had in the Three Broomsticks.

-----

When Ron had successfully avoided Lavender for a whole week, he decided there was no need to officially break up with her. As far as he was concerned, it was over, and Lavender ought to have figured it out by now, no matter what Hermione said about women or their nature or any of that nonsense. Lavender should consider herself lucky that she hadn't been forced to hear the whole list of reasons why Ron couldn't go out with her any longer. And Ron counted himself lucky that he wouldn't have to give any reasons. He'd heard of a seventh-year prefect who had sent his ex-girlfriend, upon her request, an entire scroll listing his reasons for ditching her. The girl had snuck into the prefects' bathroom and lain in wait for him. Then she hexed his nose off and stuck it in a flower pot where he didn't find it until the day of graduation.

As such, Ron thought it would be best to avoid Lavender Brown until she got the picture. At any rate, avoiding her was getting easier and easier every day, so she must have had some idea of what was happening.

In the meantime, Ron had more important things to worry about. The Apparition test was coming up in another day, and he still couldn't remember the three D's even though he had watched Hermione practicing all the time. Not an hour went by when she didn't turn around in her little pirouette, waving her wand around and chanting, "Destination...Disinclination...Defenestration..." Or maybe it was, "Demonstration...Deliberation...Disapparition..." Ron was certain he would fail, but nevertheless, he hoped the examiners would be lenient. He would like not to be shamed in front of Hermione.

As it turned out, he was not shamed in front of Hermione. He Apparated almost perfectly, but failed the test literally by a hair. According to the examiner, part of his eyebrow had not made the journey with him.

Hermione passed of course, but Ron was happy to note that her elation was muted when she learned how closely he had missed achieving the same thing.

"That's unfair," she had actually argued with the examiner. "He has red hair! You can barely see his eyebrows anyway because they're so pale. Look again, he's not missing anything!"

"Yeah," Ron had joined in. "Losing part of an eyebrow isn't such a big deal anyway. If you were smart, you'd think about losing part of yours too." He was of course referencing the examiner's unibrow, which did not win him any points. In fact, Ron thought he saw the examiner cross off points, which was extremely unfair. Ron failed again.

They made fun of the examiner's unibrow during dinner. "He's just jealous of how fine yours are," said Hermione, running her finger over the eyebrow in question. Ron felt his face burn where she had touched him, and found that her simple act cheered him up immensely. He grinned throughout the rest of dinner.

-----

By the time they returned to the common room, the discussion had turned to Slughorn and the Felix Felicis, which Harry had decided to take in order to procure one of the Potions professor's memories for Dumbledore. The professor had not been forthcoming thus far, and outside help was required.

"It's a great feeling when you take it," said Ron, thinking of the Quidditch match against Slytherin back in the fall. "Like you can't do anything wrong."

"What are you talking about? You've never taken any!" Hermione poked him.

"Yeah, but I thought I had, didn't I? Same difference really..." As Ron reminisced, he wondered why Harry hadn't taken the potion before. If it had been his, he would have taken it long ago. Maybe then he would have thought of a way to ditch Lavender and ask Hermione to be his girlfriend.

"Well, here goes," said Harry a while later, as he pulled out the bottle from a roll of socks.

"What does it feel like?" said Hermione, curious.

Harry pondered her question for a moment before he responded exactly as Ron knew he would. "Excellent," he said. "Really excellent. Right...I'm going down to Hagrid's."

"What?" Ron cried.

He met Hermione's eyes and shared yet another look with her that meant, "Harry is insane."

"No, Harry —" exclaimed Hermione. "You've got to go and see Slughorn, remember?"

"No, I'm going to Hagrid's, I've got a good feeling about going to Hagrid's."

"You've got a good feeling about burying a giant spider?" said Ron, who was secretly very happy that the monstrous arachnid was dead and who had rejoiced to receive Hagrid's tear-stained note.

"Yeah, I feel like it's the place to be tonight, you know what I mean?"

"No," said Ron at the same time as Hermione. But Harry was determined to go. He reached for his cloak and threw it over his shoulders.

"Trust me," he said. "I know what I'm doing...or at least Felix does."

Still confused, both Ron and Hermione followed Harry out the door of the dormitory, watching as he slipped the Invisibility Cloak over his head. Ron intended to follow him only so far as the exit. He had no intention of looking at spiders, and he certainly wasn't about to pay his respects to one.

But they lost track of Harry when they ran out the door and found Lavender Brown on the stairwell, ostensibly on her way to see Ron.

He hadn't seen her in almost a week, which made the meeting a complete shock. Ron had no idea what to say to her. As far as he was concerned, they were no longer dating...but she hadn't figured it out as he'd hoped. Hermione had been right. And now...well, how did one go about telling a not-girlfriend that she was not his girlfriend?

"What were you doing up there with her?" she shrieked.

"I, uh —" Ron recalled his original plan of declaring his love for Hermione in the open, but it seemed too dramatic at present. Nor could he muster the courage to step in front of Hermione and tell Lavender it was none of her business what he did. She seemed so hurt that Ron feared for his nose.

In the end, Hermione answered for him. "We were just talking to Harry!" she said, very angry indeed. "We are allowed to do that, aren't we?"

"I don't see Harry anywhere," Lavender shot back.

"Well that's what we were doing," said Hermione with finality. "If you don't believe it, that's your problem."

"Won-Won?" called Lavender, like she was calling her pet.

When Ron glanced at Hermione to see whether or not she was going to rescue him again, he found her inspecting her nails, determined not to interfere further.

"I, uh, lo—" he tried again to act in accordance with his plan, but it seemed too cruel. Lavender really did look like her heart was breaking, and Ron could see Hermione still staring at her nails from the corner of his eye. He knew she was paying rapt attention despite her outward indifference, but this was not the time for such an important statement. "See, Lavender," he said, "Hermione and I are friends again, so you can't expect us not to be seen together. But it's not as if we were snogging —" although, I would snog her if I thought she'd let me, he added mentally.

"You liar!" screamed Lavender. "You told me she was a bossy-know-it-all, who never knew when to keep her mouth shut. You said you hated her!"

Ron felt like he was choking. He bitterly regretting all the nasty things he'd said about Hermione before Christmas, and glancing back and forth from Lavender to Hermione he prepared to fling himself at Hermione's knees to deny it all. For her part, Hermione gave no indication that she understood anything Lavender had just said, but Ron knew she had heard it all.

"I don't want you to see her ever again!" Lavender demanded.

Ron wheeled on her, redder than fire and so furious that Lavender recoiled in fear. Ron guessed that she knew what was going to happen next as she began to sputter and cough, like a cat choking on a hairball. However, she couldn't take her words back no matter how hard she wheezed. She had played her final card, and she had lost.

"Hermione's my best friend," he declared. "We were fighting before, but now we're not, so —" he trailed off as he thought of what to say next. A thousand possibilities leapt to mind. He could tell her that she was too pushy and asked too much of people, or that she was clingy and whiny. In the end, he couldn't make himself say any of it. However, Ron was confident, serious and firm when he said, "So I'm not going to stop talking to her just cause you want me to."

Lavender fumed at the ears and then turned her wrath on Hermione, understanding that she had lost her influence over Ron forever. "YOU!" she cried. "You boyfriend-stealing hussy! You did didn't even want him until he was mine!"

Then Lavender spun towards Ron. She yanked a ring from her index finger. "And YOU!" she roared. "We are finished! And take this!" Lavender hurled the ring at him, which barely missed his head, ricocheting off the banister instead. "You didn't give it to me, but I just wanted to throw something at you. You were too cheap to buy me anything anyway, and you're rubbish as a boyfriend!" Then she started using expletives that made Ron ashamed to have ever kissed her mouth.

When she skulked off, Ron turned to Hermione, a free man for the first time in months. He regarded her sheepishly, hoping she wouldn't be angry with him about the things he had said to Lavender. Now that he was free to act as he pleased, Ron knew exactly what he wanted to do.

She didn't seem to be angry. In fact, Hermione was neither smiling nor frowning, although Ron could see the shimmer of tears behind her eyes. His heart skipped a beat. She wiped at her eyes. "Oh Ron, I'm so sorry," she said. "You can go after her, if you like."

"I'd rather not," he said, kicking idly at the steps with his toe. He shoved his hands in his pockets and tried not to wonder what Hermione was thinking. Was she angry that he'd told Lavender he hated her, or was she pondering the truth of what Lavender had said, thinking maybe that Ron Weasley was rubbish as a boyfriend. "She's rubbish as a girlfriend," he added.

He couldn't quite meet Hermione's eyes, but when he glanced up he saw that Hermione was clutching the wall and had turned quite pale. She seemed quite nervous, more so than she'd been before taking the O.W.L.S.

"It's true, you know," she said, choking on her own words. Suddenly she let go of the wall, and came quite near.

"What is?" he gulped, looking down at her.

"That I…fancy you," she whispered.

Ron felt the wind knocked out of him, but he wasn't sure he'd heard correctly. "Wha…wha…what?" he stammered.

Hermione immediately backed away from him, mumbling something under her breath. She began wringing her hands, and seemed to be on the verge of tears.

"I mean, that is that…well, it's not just because of Lavender, I'll have you know!" she sputtered, making absolutely no sense. "It was before, and then…you and her…and I'm sorry Ron! I shouldn't have said anything and I'm going to bed now so just forget about this and…"

She started going up the stairs, when suddenly Ron figured out exactly what she had said, and realized that she meant it. He caught her by the hand and spun her around gently.

"I never really fancied Lavender," he told her, quickly. "I only went out with her because I was so angry with you for kissing Krum."

Hermione's head shot up as she stared at him, aghast. "How —?" she asked. Then her face scrunched up into her usual, bossy way. "Ronald Weasley, that is the stupidest thing...!"

Ron grinned so wide it hurt his face, but he couldn't stop. He remembered how he had lain on his bed that summer, staring hopelessly up at the ceiling and dreaming of something he thought would never happen. That boy was gone forever. Ronald Weasley had his dream within arm's reach tonight, and he knew exactly how to seize it.

"Come here," he said, taking Hermione by the hand and pulling her toward the boys' dormitories.

"Why?" she asked, suspicious.

Ron didn't answer as he led her back through the door and into the stairwell and finally towards a dark alcove behind a flight of stairs. It would be away from Lavender and Dean and Ginny and anyone else who had eyes. But Ron couldn't wait until they reached their destination, and before they had quite gotten there, he whirled around and kissed Hermione full on the lips, each of his hands gently framing her face.

"Mmm!" she squealed in shock, for she hadn't had the time to realize what he was doing even as he was doing it. Maybe her eyes were open, but Ron couldn't see because his were so tightly shut. Then Ron felt her arms go up behind his neck, and she was clutching him toward her, pulling him closer and closer until he forgot how to breathe and didn't care if he ever learned again. Her lips were softer than he'd imagined in his best daydreams, and her hair smelled like honey.

It was the most wonderful kiss he'd ever had in his life.

Whew! I felt like this chapter took forever to write. I think I'm going to have to revise it a bit later, but I realize that you're all waiting for an update.

To a few of my readers:

spuffyfan22: I can't believe you reviewed every single chapter. You're so loyal! Also, I love your pen name. I like spuffy too. I was disappointed by the Season 7 ending, and yet...it was very bittersweet. Dramatically, I don't think the end of Buffy and Spike could have been more poignant.

princessdza: Sure, I don't mind if you add me to your C2 community. And what story of yours would you like me to read?

Love That Elf: You have me intrigued. Why do you keep calling yourself my "humble reader?" :)

Mia: Good catch, thanks! I changed it. You know, I was also trying to figure out whether or not Lavender was in Ron's potions class. I didn't think so, but I couldn't remember.

Satu Simpson: Oooh, you can never have too many R/Hr fics. I noticed that when I converted from D/Hr to R/Hr (mostly). I couldn't find many stories at all, whereas the D/Hr writers have been incredibly prolific over the years. What's your fic about?

brainychic96: Well, if there's no fluff in Book 7, I suppose we can supply it ourselves. Again. Grrr.

eckles & Vatel: Well, I don't think I can do Hermione's POV, although it was easier to get inside her head in this chapter. And as for going past Book 6, I was thinking of maybe writing up to Bill and Fleur's wedding, if that counts.

SweetAfton (who reviewed from the Checkmated forums): Thanks also for catching that error in Chapter 1. Always appreciated.