The next day, at breakfast, neither Ron nor Hermione showed up. Ginny sat beside Harry and asked him, "Where's Ron?" Harry sighed. "He says he's not hungry," he replied. "Where's Hermione?" he asked this time. "She said something about being too embarrassed," Ginny replied. They both shook their heads and turned their attention back to the table. Suddenly, Harry saw something flapping from underneath his plate. He picked it up and read, his eyes nearly popping out from their sockets. "Ginny…" he whispered. "What?" she said and was immediately concerned at his expression. He passed the paper to her and she read, her face as distinguishable as Harry's. "This is not good," she muttered under her breath. Harry looked up and saw that almost everyone was reading the piece of paper. Within seconds, the Great Hall was rife with discussions. "Hermione Granger? That prefect?" "She likes her best friend?" "She's so off her league! I bet he doesn't even like her!" All around, Hermione's name was being dragged through the mud.
Parvati stood up suddenly and spoke out loudly. "Dear friends, as you can see, our Miss Hermione Granger here, is in love with her best friend, Ron!" she said proudly. "So what, Parvati! As if you have never liked someone before!" Ginny shouted above the noise. "Aah! But Ginny, unrequited love is something I have never had to deal with! Not like Hermione! What was she thinking? It's so laughable. Ron is Lavender's ex, you know! He is something now! He's a prefect, a Quidditch Keeper and he's pretty hot as well. Now, how could he ever go for someone as nerdy and geeky as Hermione Granger!" she shouted loudly. Shouts of agreement wafted in waves all around the Great Hall. "I am going to kill that Parvati!" Ginny muttered. "A mudblood is in love with a pure blood?" Malfoy shouted questioninglyfrom his table. "Well, I guess he deserves her. What with him being a blood traitor and all!" he continued triumphantly, as if trying to impress. Harry had about enough. "Shut up, Malfoy. It's not a big deal! So what if Hermione likes Ron? Have you people nothing else to do!" he yelled with vehemence in his voice. "Awww… wittle Potter-Wotter, is upset. He should be! After all, he didn't get to shag his wittle blood traitor slut," Malfoy replied, indicating Ginny. Harry saw red and picked up his wand. He didn't know what he was doing but could only feel someone dragging him away. "As much as I would love to hex Malfoy myself, we'd get into trouble. He's not worth it," Ginny said while leading him out of the Great Hall. "What just happened, Ginny?" Harry asked. "Look, I should have seen this coming! How could I have been so stupid!" Ginny screamed, as she muttered curses. "What do you mean?" Harry asked. "Last night… I overheard Parvati and her cluster of dimwits talking about Hermione's crush on Ron. They were talking about doing something big! I'm so stupid! I should have known better!" Ginny explained, cursing herself again. Harry held her shoulders. "It's not your fault, Ginny. You couldn't have predicted that this would happen. Although, I don't think, if given a chance, Professor Trewlaney would have either," he said, trying to console her. Ginny looked up. "What's the connection?" she snapped. "Nothing. Just a little joke," Harry replied. Ginny looked as if she was going to scold Harry but she started to laugh and Harry joined in. "You know, you look so beautiful when you laugh," he said without thinking. Ginny stopped laughing and looked away, shyly. "Err…" Harry said as he realized his slip. "I think we should inform Ron and Hermione about this, so that they'll be prepared," he continued. "I agree," Ginny said. With a smile, he held her hand and they set off for the common room.
Ron left the common room. He had to go on prefect rounds with Hermione before class. "Duty first," he thought to himself. He managed to catch up with Hermione. She averted her gaze from him and they spent an uncomfortable few minutes before Ron finally broke the ice. "Listen Hermione, I'm sorry for whatever I said. Look, can we go back to being friends again? Frankly, I prefer you to talk to me!" he apologized. Hermione stayed silent for a little while before replying, "I'm sorry too. I guess it's not too hard to keep up with your best friend's live." "So we're friends now?" Ron asked. "Yes, we're friends!" she said and smiled. "Great! Listen, can we grab some breakfast before we go for class? I'm starving!" he said. "Oh no!" Hermione screamed. "What! What!" Ron asked, concerned. "I left my Potions book in the dormitory!" Hermione replied, as panicked as can be. Ron groaned at the idea of skipping breakfast. It was either they went for breakfast or went back for the book. There would be no time for both. "All right! Let's go get your book! I don't see why you can't just share mine!" he said and they bickered all the way back to the common room.
"Where are they!" Harry said as people began to file into the common room. Soon, they would have no time to warn them. "I don't know. Hermione's not in the dorm!" Ginny replied. "Ahah!" they heard Parvati exclaim. "Ronald Weasley, do we have a treat for you!" she said as she pulled Ron away from Hermione, both of whom had just entered the common room. Before either Harry or Ginny could warn them, Parvati pushed a piece of paper into his hands. Ron read it and his face became very red. "Wha… what!" he sputtered. Hermione was immediately concerned. She wrenched the paper from Ron's hands and she gasped as she saw an entry from her diary. She could feel everyone's eyes on her as she read through her entry. 'This cannot be happening to me!' she thought to herself. "So you see Ron, it was Hermione all along! She was the one who separated you from Lavendar so that she could have you for herself! She's so selfish to have separated you from your love! Now we know why she's always buried in books, probably looking for ways to break couples apart. All you couples here, let me warn you. This Hermione Granger here is a home-wrecker!" Parvati said for effect. "Who knows how many couple's true love she has shattered! But we know that Ron is not stupid. It's so obvious that the feeling's not mutual. She's just pining away from something that can never be hers!" Parvati was on a roll now. Hermione started to cry as she got crushed under the weight of the allegations. She was too embarrassed to say anything. She wanted to run away but everyone had surrounded her now. Tears flowed freely and she sobbed softly as Parvati berated her with untrue accusations.
Ron never heard anything that Parvati said. All he could think about was how much Hermione loved him. 'She loves me?' he thought to himself. 'Why didn't she ever say anything?' he continued. 'Then I could have told her how much I love her as well.' He shook his head and heard Parvati saying something about unrequited love.
"Oi! What're you going on about! Whoever said that the feeling's not mutual!" Ron shouted at Parvati, obviously not able to take Hermione being humiliated anymore. "You people should really get your facts right!" he continued. He walked over to the crying and utterly embarrassed Hermione, who had managed to glance up in surprise. He grabbed her waist possessively. "Hermione is MY girlfriend! So watch where you're putting that mouth of yours," he exclaimed. With that, he hugged Hermione around the waist and pulled her closer to him, her eyes wide with surprise. He dipped down a bit and kissed her right there, in the Gryffindor common room. Seamus and Dean gave a loud whoop as the couple kissed. Regretfully, Ron forced himself to pull apart from Hermione's lips. Grabbing her hand, they made their way out, leaving a very very stunned common room behind.
"Stop Ron, just stop!" Hermione said as Ron led her away. He stopped and they stood in front of a huge and beautiful window. "Listen, I know you were just trying to be a good friend to help me out in there and they are right, actually. I'm just pining away for someone who can never be mine," Hermione said, a bit shocked at her audacity. "Do you love me, Hermione," Ron asked quietly. He stared intently at Hermione and she fidgeted as she struggled to answer him. "Ye… Yes, but you are not under any compulsion, Ron. I mean…" she said but was interrupted by Ron. "Then how can you even think that I said all that I did just because I'm your best friend? Hasn't it ever occurred to you that I said what I did because… because… I love you too," he finished quickly, his ears turning red again. Hermione was speechless. "Ron…. Oh Ron," she gaped. "I… I think you're just saying that so that I won't be embarrassed but really," she started but was interrupted by Ron again as he pulled her closer and kissed her again. "I love you, Hermione!" he said as if in confirmation. Again Hermione stared in surprise before her eyes started watering and a sob escaped her lips. She flung herself onto Ron's chest and sobbed while he stroked her hair and made sweet cooing sounds to pacify her. "I know I've been a total ass but I want to ask you, Hermione. Will you… be my girlfriend?" he asked shyly as she continued sobbing. She pulled back and said, "Of course, Ron!" With a grin that could have won him another four Quidditch matches, he pulled her close again and they hugged and talked for hours until the sun had set from the huge window, apparently forgetting about the Potions book and the classes they had for the day.
A/N: How was the chapter? I hope it was quite satisfactory. Yeah, I know. No true story, just plain fluff but I think that the Hermione/Ron pairing is just so sweet:D If they are not together in Book 7, I'm gonna scream! The Harry/Ginny thing was quite unexpected but I expect that she is a good choice for Harry. Smart, beautiful and fiery. More than the Chosen One can handle. Ok, I'm spouting nonsense now. Please Read and Review k… thanks a lot:) The next chapter will be the last. I have a surprise coming up, ermm… ok I don't know if it will be a surprise for you guys but it should explain why Lavendar chose to go out with Ron. Anyway, R&R! Thx!