Chapter Five
A/N: Apologies for the delay in posting this chapter. I've been procrastinating, although I DID work on it while I went camping and I've been having quite the writer's block, so I also apologize if this chapter is kind of lame. :-\ Bear with me! Also, I'm not really meaning to turn this Ron/Hermione fanfic to turn into a Harry/Ginny fanfic, it just fit and I think they are a cute couple also. :)
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"So," Ginny said, eating a chocolate frog as she spoke, "what did you and Ron do after Harry left with me yesterday?"
Ginny and Hermione were sitting at a table in the Gryffindor common room; Ginny stuffing her face – go figure, Hermione thought to herself, Ron's the same way; it must be in the genes – while Hermione took a stab at an essay for Transfiguration, due the following day.
"Nothing really," Hermione replied, not taking her eyes off the parchment. "We went to the Three Broomsticks, had a couple butterbeers and then we, er..." she hesitated, "we made our way over to Madam Puddifoot's," she finished, lowering her voice a tad at her last words. Madam Puddifoot's – if you didn't already know – is a small, cramped tea shop, filled with tacky decor. It is filled with small circular tables, in which couples (such as Ron and Hermione) sit at, enjoying each other's company, but more likely – and to put it quite frankly – snogging the hell out of each other.
"Oooo," Ginny teased, knowing fully well what activities the two were engaged in while at Madame Pudifoot's. "So, I take it you, and my brother are getting pretty serious now?"
"I guess you could say that," Hermione admitted. "Look at this gorgeous ring he gave me," said Hermione, waving her glittering hand in Ginny's face.
"Wow, Hermione!" Ginny said, admiring the ring enviously. "He sure does fancy you, that one."
Hermione blushed. "So, what about you, Ginny," Hermione began, "how did things go with you and Harry?"
Ginny sighed. "Fine. He was pretty quiet the whole time," she frowned. "Oh how I wish he felt the same way about me as I do him! But he doesn't..."
"I wouldn't be too sure about that," Hermione blurted.
Ginny's eyes widened, a surprised look consuming her face, "Whuddya mean? Is there something you know, that I don't?"
"No, of course not, Ginny!" said Hermione, defensively. "You know I would tell you if Harry told me he had feelings for you!"
"Well, then what did you mean by 'I wouldn't be too sure about that'?" Ginny inquired.
"Woman's intuition," Hermione said, bluntly.
Ginny, still not entirely convinced that Hermione wasn't hiding something, continued devouring her chocolate amphibian.
After a long pause in which Hermione continued writing – her mind set on finishing the essay as quickly as possible – Ginny broke the silence.
"So...do you really think Harry, er...fancies me?" Ginny asked shyly.
Hermione, determined to not get annoyed with Ginny for disturbing her homework time, concerning her personal love life – or lack thereof – finished her sentence and looked up at Ginny, "Yeah, I know he thinks highly of you," she said assuringly. "C'mon Gin, I see how he looks at you."
"Really?" Ginny said hopefully, her eyes sparkling.
Hermione nodded. Just then, the object of Ginny's affections glided through the portrait hole, and into the Gryffindor common room, accompanied by Hermione's attractive boyfriend, who she loved dearly.
"Why, hello ladies," Ron said, as he leaned over Hermione in the chair, pulling back her brown, busy hair to reveal her neck. He put his arms around her and began passionately kissing the skin below her ear.
A smile broke out over Hermione's face as she began softly giggling. She turned around in her chair, allowing Ron to pull her from her seat and embrace her in his arms, snogging her senseless.
Harry and Ginny looked at each other smirking, finding the sight quite amusing. As Ginny's eyes met his, Harry's heart fluttered. Merlin, she's beautiful, he thought to himself. He had a sudden urge to grab her, holding her in his arms, and gaze deeply into her eyes while confessing his unfailing love to her. Afterwards, a déjà vu of what was happening in front of them, would occur, perhaps more intense.
Coming to his senses, Harry pretended to clear his throat – quite loudly – breaking the two from their personal display of affection, "Ahem!"
"Oh yes," Ron apologized, hastily wiping his mouth off with the back of his hand, in attempt to erase the embarrassment from his lips. "Sorry mate. Got a little carried away there," he winked at Hermione. "We were wondering if you two ladies would join us on a walk on the grounds."
"We'd love to!" Hermione exclaimed, relieved at the chance to take a break from her tedious essay for McGonagall. Ginny and Hermione excused themselves to their dormitory to retrieve their coats and scarves, readying themselves for the coldness that awaited them. When they returned, Ron entwined his fingers in Hermione's and began the descent to the school grounds, Ginny and Harry trailing behind, side by side.
Once on the grounds, the four walked peacefully across the grass, occasionally gazing out at the mist-covered lake. Hermione smiled, thinking about how perfect life was. She glanced over at Ron, who had a cute – yet sexy, she thought to herself – lopsided grin across his freckled face.
"What are you smiling about?" Hermione asked quietly.
"Oh, nothing..." Ron whispered in response, as he wrapped his arm around Hermione's waist, pulling her closer to him for warmth. "I was just thinking about you... me...us."
"What exactly were you thinking about?" Hermione asked tentatively.
"Honestly? I was thinking about how life would have been if we didn't tell each other how we felt."
"And...?"
"And...what?"
"Well," Hermione began, "how do you think life would have been?"
"Not sure," Ron admitted.
Hermione was a tad bit annoyed with Ron's answer. Wasn't he supposed to say, 'Horrible. I'm so glad I have you in my life. I love you so much!' and then grab me and kiss me passionately to show that he means it? She frowned.
Ron, noticing this, questioned, "What?"
"Oh, nothing," Hermione said. "I just know that I would feel like my life wasn't complete or something if I didn't have you, and I just thought you felt the same way."
"Well," Ron began, and by the look on Hermione's face, he could tell he had already crossed a line that he should not have crossed, and without thinking said, "it's just, I'm sure I would eventually get over my feelings for you, move on and wouldn't care, you know?"
Hermione stopped and looked at Ron in awe. I can't believe he just said that! she thought to herself. Who does he think he is? Behind them, Ginny and Harry stopped, quite surprised also.
"Is that how you really feel, Ronald?" Hermione said, as she felt tears well up in her eyes, "because if it is, then maybe this relationship isn't going to work out. I'm sure you won't have a problem with it though, because you've made it quite clear that you can just 'get over your feelings for me and move on'!" She yelled as she slid the ring Ron had given her, off her finger and roughly handed it to him and then she turned around and began running back to the castle, tears streaming uncontrollably down her face.
Ron just watched her go as Ginny cried, "Hermione!" and took off after her, but not before looking angrily at Ron and shouting, "Jerk!"
After Ginny and Hermione disappeared into the castle, the silence between Ron and Harry became very awkward.
"Damn," Ron said after a while. "Way to go, Ron!"
Harry, not sure if he should say something, remained quiet, but then decided against it, "Sorry mate."
Ron met his best mate's gaze and asked, "What am I gonna do?"
"I don't know..." Harry said, and seeing the disappointment on Ron's face, thought quickly and said, "Well, er, Valentine's Day is coming up. You could try to make it up to her then," Harry finished brightly, quite pleased with his on-the-spot suggestion.
Ron's face lifted as he said, "You know what? That's not a bad idea. But, what do I do?"
"Do you love her?" Harry asked.
Bemused, Ron answered honestly. "More than anything," he said.
"Then I'm sure you'll think of something." And the two began walking back up to the castle; Harry, proud of how he had helped Ron deal with his dilemma, and Ron, hurt, but determined to get Hermione back, if it was the last thing he did.
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Over the next two weeks, Ron and Hermione did not talk at all, which was quite difficult considering they had majority of the same classes and they were both best friends with Harry. Harry found it difficult over that period of time, but knew that Ron was simply waiting for the opportune moment.
Hermione had quite a few girls ask her over the two weeks if she and Ron had split up. It was so grueling for her to say calmly, "Yes, it just didn't work out," since she knew deep down inside that she still loved him more than anything in the world and that their not being together was hurting her more than anything she'd ever gone through.
Meanwhile, although their separation was hurting him also, Ron kept his head high and was bent on getting his girl back; he just had to. Over the fourteen or so days, he couldn't keep his mind off of her. She vacated his thoughts every minute of the day.
One morning at breakfast, Professor Dumbledore gazed out over the four houses over his half-moon spectacles and made an announcement concerning a school event.
"Good morning! I would like to inform you that Hogwarts will be having its first, annual Valentine's Day dance. Sadly, the dance is only offered to those who are in their third year or older. You might be asking yourselves, 'What do I wear?' Attire may be whatever you so choose; dress robes are not required. This exciting occasion will take place on this Friday, starting at 8 o'clock and ending at midnight here in the Great Hall. Also, you don't have to have a date for this event, but after all it is Valentine's Day!" Dumbledore finished gaily and sat down to commence eating his sausages.
Back in the Gryffindor common room during morning break before classes started, everyone was talking about the dance; girls especially. Ron wanted to catch Hermione and talk to her about his feelings and ask her to the dance, but he didn't get the chance, for she glided straight up to the girls' dormitory and didn't come back down until classes began. Unfortunately, Ron had to set aside his confrontation with Hermione until after his morning classes.
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Leaving the dungeon after Double Potions – in which he had to cope with the fact that Hermione was refusing to so much as look at him, and if she accidentally did make eye contact, she quickly looked away – Ron headed up to the common room to put his supplies away before lunch. He ran up the stairs two at a time, to the boys' dormitory, where he threw his things on his bed and quickly went back downstairs. He had to catch Hermione before she went to lunch!
As he was halfway down the stairs, he saw that Hermione was just entering the common room. This is it, he thought to himself. Surprisingly, there were no other people in the common room, which seemed to make it easier. He took a deep breath and continued down the stairs, more slowly. Although Hermione was ignoring him, he knew that she sensed his presence.
"Hermione!" Ron called out, as Hermione began making her way up to the girls' dormitory, after striding across the common room to the staircase. (A/N – I've always imagined that there are two different staircases – one for each dormitory – rather than one that had both dormitories at the top.)
Hermione didn't stop, pretending she didn't hear him and continued ascending the stairs.
"Hermione, wait!" Ron shouted again.
This time, Hermione halted on the stairs, and slowly turned around. Her heart was pounding inside of her chest as she stared at Ron.
"Can we talk?"
Hermione didn't answer, but simply nodded. She stood still, not moving, rooted to her spot.
"Well, uh..." Ron said. "I just wanted to apologize for what I said. It didn't come out the way I was hoping, although it was a stupid thing to say in the first place," he paused, noticing that Hermione was not convinced.
"I love you, Hermione, with all my heart," he said as he began slowly walking toward her. "I want you to know that it kills me that we're not together. I miss your smile; I miss your laugh; I miss your hugs and kisses; I miss your delicate fingers entwined in mine..." He stopped at the foot of the stairs and looked up. "I miss you."
Ron saw that tears were beginning to slowly glide down her cheeks. Not sure if she forgave him, or if she was still upset with him, he continued. "I also wanted to know if you would accompany me to the Valentine's Day dance on Friday evening. It would mean so much to me."
Hermione smiled and bounded down the stairs, throwing herself onto Ron, her legs wrapped around his back, her arms around his neck. He held her and she gazed lovingly down into his eyes, as he leaned forward to kiss her. She welcomed his lips to her own and allowed herself to drown in him. She paused and said, "I forgive you, Ron. And I would be honored to go to the dance with you."
"Good," said Ron, kissing Hermione gently on her moist lips. "Let's get out of here," he said as he carried Hermione through the Gryffindor common room and out the portrait hole, snogging her exhaustively all the way. Once out of the portrait hole, they heard a "tsk tsk" from the Fat Lady but completely ignored her.
Luckily, there was no one in the corridors – for it was lunch time – otherwise, they would have seen Hermione on Ron, kissing him senseless. Their snogging was so intense; Hermione was vigorously running her hands through the hair on the back of his head and occasionally, placing her arms on his cheeks and holding his head in her hands as they kissed.
Once up to the seventh floor, Ron carefully let Hermione down and she began pacing, as a door appeared and they quickly went inside. Ron stopped and looked around the room, for it was much different than it had ever been. It was a bedroom; there were a couple chairs and various other pieces of furniture, but what surprised him the most was that there was a very large, elegant bed that took up majority of the room. Ron gulped, and hoped that Hermione wasn't thinking of getting that intimate. He considered the thought of them "doing it", but knew it wasn't time for that. One day, perhaps, he thought to himself.
Hermione grabbed both his hands and walked backwards towards the bed, sitting on the edge. She rested her hand on his cheek and leaned in to kiss him. His worried thoughts quickly evaporated as their lips met, and he reached out and pulled Hermione closer to him as they kissed.
His emotions running wild, he slowly lowered Hermione to the bed and continued to kiss her, his body pressed into hers and occasionally going past her lips with his, and down to her v-neck shirt. His hands were running wildly all over her body. She was breathing heavily and he knew she was thinking the same thing.
Ron, who was on all fours above her, stuttered quietly, "D-do you want t-t-o?"
"Oh, Ron," Hermione cried, as she placed her hand on his freckled cheek. He kissed her. "Do you?" Ron was taken aback and didn't know what to say.
"Honestly?" Hermione nodded. "Yes," he admitted. "I love you, Hermione."
"As do I," Hermione said, "and that's why I think I can wait."
Ron nodded in understanding and smiled, as they began passionately snogging, not stopping once throughout the whole lunch period.