Weasley Tears

What Should Have Happened at the Yule Ball

Ron stared at his robes with disgust. No magic could help him now, he was doomed to endure endless jeers and taunts... and that would just be from Fred and George. What would other people say? Hermione would probably have the most comments for him. No, he thought shaking his head, you have to stop thinking about her, she didn't even want to go with you tonight. As he looked at himself again in the mirror he said out loud, "She's probably right. Look at me, I'm pathetic." As he tried to rip of the remainder of the lace with the severing charm he heard Harry from behind him,

"Ron, you can't make them look any better. Let's just go meet our dates and get this over with." Ron gave up his battle with his dreadful robes and rushed past Harry to the common room.

Hermione had spent hours getting ready, she had so much Sleek Potion in her hair she could hardly move it. Her parents had helped her pick out her robes and she loved them. She twirled around thinking how great it was that she actually found someone with whom she could have an intelligent conversation. It was too bad Ron couldn't see past the Quidditch and the Tournament. She stopped herself and glanced at her reflection. Why should she care what Ron thought of Viktor? She shook it off as soon as Ginny came in the room. Ginny was a Weasley, her pale skin outshone even her handmade white dress robes.

"You're so lucky Hermione; you're going with a champion. I got stuck with Neville."

"Neville's not so bad once he gets over his shyness" Hermione said. Ginny looked at her, sighed and said,

"I guess you're right, I'll try to make the best of it." Hermione gave an assuring nod and went back to sleeking down strands of hair that had escaped her previous five coats.

As Ginny watched her, she wondered over to Hermione's desk and aimlessly said, "I wonder if Ron is going to make a jealous scene tonight when he sees you with Viktor" Ginny immediately realized what she had said and she threw her hands over her mouth with a look of horror on her face.

At the word "Jealous" Hermione whipped around.

"Jealous? Why would Ron be Jealous?" Ginny's face quickly went from pale white to deep crimson as she said quickly,

"Because you're such good friends with a celebrity like Krum. I mean Viktor" Hermione studied Ginny's face for a moment, trying to grasp the real meaning of Ginny's slip-up. Maybe Ron did... "No" she shook her head again. She must stop weighing out ridiculous possibilities.

Ginny averted her eyes from Hermione's seemingly knowing gaze and raced down the stairs to the common room where she met Ron and Harry.

"Where's Hermione?" Ron asked.

"She'll be down soon" Ginny answered very nonchalantly.

"Whose she going with?" Ron questioned his sister for the thousandth time.

"Oh Ron, stop being so...so OBVIOUS!" Ginny yelled as she crashed through the portrait hole where she met Neville on the other side.

With a reproving glance at her brother she and Neville descended the stairs with Ron and Harry lagging behind.

Hermione was still in the dorms mustering up enough courage to meet Viktor and face everyone. With one more look in the mirror she made her way into the common room and out of the portrait hole where she met Krum at the front entrance.

Ron and Harry had agreed to meet Padma and Parvati at the bottom of the stairs. When the two girls finally showed up, Ron and Harry still hadn't seen Hermione.

"Where is Hermione?" Ron asked again.

No one answered him as the four of them walked into the dining hall. Harry and Parvati had to say with the champions so Ron and Padma went to go find seats. Ron was still searching the crowd for a sign of Hermione when his eyes fell upon a very pretty girl linking arms with Krum. The tips of his ears began to redden soon followed by his entire face. That was no ordinary girl. That was Hermione!

'How could she?' He thought to himself.

After all, this time he had finally had gathered up enough courage to ask her to this stupid ball and she turned him down for Krum? She soon noticed that he was staring at her and she waved but he would no sooner return her gesture than slow dance with Krum himself. He couldn't help thinking how beautiful she looked, but she had hurt his pride. Fraternizing with the enemy was what she did! It was not until Padma gave an audible sigh that Ron was drawn out of his thoughts and noticed that the dinner had begun.

Hermione's stomach felt like there was a Peppermint Humbug inside it. She had met Viktor in the entrance hall and, very gentlemanly like, had linked his arm with hers and escorted her into the dining hall. She couldn't help thinking that Ron would never think to make such a gesture. As she entered the dining hall she first saw Harry.

"Hi Harry!" She said in a much higher voice that was not hers.

Harry did a double take, blinked several times and then did a half-smile accompanied by a wave. Hermione felt triumphant and soon found herself looking for Ron. Suddenly, she felt eyes burning into her back, she turned slowly expecting Professor Moody to be there. Instead she met Ron's gaze from across the room. He looked different, somehow, he was obviously angry but he seemed sad or hurt as well. She had to do something; they couldn't just stand there staring at each other. She smiled and waved but quickly turned away when Ron didn't return the gesture. Blinking back tears, Hermione forced another smile to Viktor and followed him to the head table to sit with the other champions.

During dinner, Hermione pretended to be deeply interested in what Viktor had to say about his homeland of Bulgaria. She wanted to keep the conversation going so she wouldn't be tempted to glance at Ron, even though she knew he was still staring at her.

"So, what do you do for fun in Bulgaria?" She asked Krum for the third time.

He did not seem to notice the repetition of questions; he simply answered her again- never taking his eyes off her face. Hermione nodded as if she was interested, but really all she wanted to do was scream. Why was Ron so upset? Could Ginny be right? Was he jealous? Is it possible that for all these years Ron had felt the same way about her? Hermione's face turned red at this thought. What was she thinking? She had never admitted her feelings for Ron to herself before. What was going on? She was brought out of her daze by Viktor's voice,

"Herm-o-ninny, ve hav to do dancing now, da champions go first".

He stood up and held out his hand for hers, she took it- but with a glance at Ron as she did.

He was not looking at her. His face was turned towards the floor...still red, she could tell because his ears were. Hermione turned her attention back on Viktor as they started to dance with the other champions.

Ron couldn't eat any of his dinner. How could she do this to him?

"To me?" he thought to himself, I mean... to all of us.

Krum is competing against Harry...Harry our best friend. And she is here eating and dancing with him, letting him touch her waist where the fabric of her dress hugs her in the right places. He froze for a second, what was he doing? This is Hermione, he shouldn't be thinking about her like that!

He focused his attention back on Hermione who was now deeply interested in everything Krum had to say. She didn't divert her attention from his for one second. He couldn't take it any longer. He shifted his gaze to the floor and thought about what was happening.

Yes, what was happening to him? Why was he so worked up over Hermione going to a dance with Viktor Krum- international Quidditch star? He heard Padma give another sigh beside him as she tapped her fingers to the music, but he didn't care. There was no way he was going to dance with her, not in these robes and not in front of Hermione. But, why should that matter? She didn't even seem to notice that he was here. After she waved to him, she didn't give him another glance or try to talk to him.

Can it be that I'm jealous? He thought to himself. I mean, I asked Fleur to this stupid thing and if I had gone with her- I would be doing the same thing as Hermione. It's because I want to be the one here with her, he thought again. He shook his head once more; he couldn't believe he was admitting these things to himself.

Now the question was- what to do about it?

After the first dance Viktor went to get drinks for the two of them. But Hermione couldn't take it anymore. She had to get out of there, just for a second. She was too polite to just leave Viktor there and go up to her room and cry...even though that's what she desperately wanted to do.

So when Viktor went to get the drinks, Hermione made her way to the toilets. She needed to gather herself and her thoughts before she could go back in and pretend in front of everyone that she was having a marvelous time with the famed Viktor Krum.

She casually made her way to the door, stopping periodically to make small talk with people she knew. She didn't want to look like she was bolting, like she was losing her nerve. As she got closer to the doors, she made sure no one was watching as she slipped out. Then she ran like hell to the girl's toilets.

As she stepped inside, she sadly laughed to herself and said out loud, "How is it that I always end up here when Ronald Weasley makes me cry?"

And that's precisely what she did for the next few minutes, making sure none of her make-up smudged.

Ron knew exactly what to do about it- run away. That was him, he didn't like admitting his feelings and he certainly did not want to admit them to Hermione. Once Padma had situated herself with the Beaubaxton boys, he ran for it. He didn't care if people saw him leave or what stupid stories they would make up to explain his disappearance. All he knew was that he wanted to get out of there as fast as he could and go hide in his dorm. He didn't even check the hallways to see if there were teachers or prefects to avoid. He just ran as fast as he could...until he reached a puddle of water outside the girl's bathroom where he slipped and fell hard on his behind.

As Hermione was wiping the last of her tears from her eyes she heard a loud THUD coming from the hallway outside the bathroom. It sounded like someone had fallen, but just in case it was Peeves playing a cruel joke on her she got some towels and held them over her head as she opened the door.

But it was not Peeves. It was an even crueler joke Fate was playing on her. Ronald Weasley was on the ground looking up at her with a confused expression on his face.

She remembered the towels and hastily threw them back into the bathroom.

"What are you doing Ron? Come to have a laugh at me about going to the ball with Viktor?"

She had called Krum by his first name; Ron lost his cool...again.

"Viktor? What do you call him--Vicky when the two of you are alone?"

She deserved to be embarrassed. He hurt her in the worst way.

"No, Viktor is his name Ronald. Or did you forget that even though YOU were the one DESPERATE to get his autograph?"

"Yeah well you...you shouldn't be going to a ball with someone Harry has to compete against. He could be using you Hermione!"

"And why would you care if some guy was using me Ron? To you I'm just some person who does your homework when you are too lazy to do it yourself!"

"That's not how I think of you Hermione" Ron said in a small voice.

He didn't want to hurt her, not like that.

"Oh Yeah well..." she stopped, understanding what he had said. "What?" she asked.

"Hermione. I would never use you just for homework or anything for that matter. You deserve more than that"

What was he doing, admitting these things to her? Well, he had gotten himself started; all there was to do now was finish it- even if it meant embarrassment that would last the rest of his life.

"I don't want to see Krum hurting you" he continued taking a deep breath and saying very fast, "I guess the real reason I'm angry is that you are here with him and not with me" he immediately looked to the floor again.

Hermione was taken aback by this. What did this mean? Did he really feel this way about her? Could she finally stop hiding her feelings for him? Her silence made his face grow redder and redder. Just before he was about to back away from embarrassment she spoke,

"Ron." His eyes lit up and looked into hers. "I...I only wish you had asked me sooner...because...because... I did very much want to be here with you tonight" she found herself again "if only you wouldn't always leave things until the last minute and have enough confidence in yourself to get what you want then you could..."

She was stopped by his lips on hers. She realized in the back of her head that he was partially doing this to shut her up, but she didn't care. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. Hoping it would never end.

'Good, she shut up,' he thought to himself.

But that's not why he kissed her. He was just so happy that she felt the same way about him, and the fact that she was kissing him back was pure heaven. He put his hands around her waist and lightly rubbed her back. He could feel her hands gliding through his hair- it was enough to give him goose bumps.

"Finally" the two heard a voice saying from behind them.

Hermione broke apart and peered around Ron to see who was there, while Ron kept his face towards the bathroom door.

Harry stood there with a grin on his face while Hermione questioned him, "What do you mean, 'finally'?"

"Oh nothing" he said strolling on "it's just that I didn't think it would take the two of you this long to figure out that your bickering was really a cover-up for something else."

"Well thanks for helping us Harry" Ron shouted as he whipped around to face his friend "you really could have made things so much easier with your 'wisdom' ".

"Anytime...lover boy" Harry shouted as he ran as fast as he could to the dorms. Ron normally would have run after him, but tonight he was in a moment that he never wanted to forget. As he looked back into Hermione's eyes, he studied her face and said,

"Has anyone ever told you how beautiful you really are? Both inside and out?"

Hermione blinked back tears again. But this time, tears caused by Ronald Weasley were ones of joy.

"No, no one has ever told me that until now. Thank you Ronald Weasley" she smiled and kissed him again.