Title: True Love's First Kiss

Rating: PG-13

Pairing: RW/HP

Spoilers: PS/SS, CoS, PoA, GoF, OotP

Summary: AU 6th year. Draught of Sleeping Beauty: Causes a victim to be put under its curse of eternal sleep until awoken by true love's first kiss. So, who is Harry Potter's true love?

A/N: Okay, here's the next chapter—where Hermione does what she usually does and figures out the problem, Ron gets depressed because of what she explains to him, and then someone draws on their Gryffindor courage and does what he'd never thought he'd do in a million years.

A/N #2: I apologize for any mistakes I make in telling 'Sleeping Beauty'—this is how I was told the tale.

A/N #3: Well, I finally got this up! It's been a pain these last few weeks, with quizzes, tests, and more quizzes! But, here you guys go!

Chapter Four: The Fairy Tale of Sleeping Beauty

(Last time…)

Before Ginny could retort, Hermione gasped.

"I found it! I found it!" she repeated excitedly.

"What?" Ron said, putting an end to his mental conversation and turning to face his Muggle-born friend.

"I've found the potion that's affecting Harry!" she answered, her brown eyes lighting up.

"Well, what is it?" Ron demanded, his eyes widening.

"It's an old potion, hardly used anymore… but it matches Harry's symptoms…" Hermione began rambling.

"Hermione, stop rambling! Tell. Me. What. The. Potion. Is. Now!" the impatient red-haired boy growled, not wanting to hear about how rare this potion was.

"It's called the Draught of Sleeping Beauty," the bushy-haired girl answered, ignoring her friend's impatient tone. "It's a unusual potion and is very potent, but isn't fatal or lethal."

"Well, let's go tell Madam Pomfrey so that she can cure Harry!" Ron suggested, leaping out of his seat.

Hermione let out an impatient huff. "Ron, it's not that simple!"

"How can it not be?" Ron asked, irritated. "You've found the potion in that book; we just need Madam Pomfrey to look at it and Harry will wake up!"

"Because there is no antidote!" Hermione snapped.

"What? But… it's in the book… and you said it wasn't fatal… so, it has to have an antidote…" Ron was confused and slowly sat back down next to his bookworm friend.

The studious girl let out a heavy sigh. "Ron, in order for you to understand this potion, I'll have to tell you a story."

Ron lifted his eyebrows bewilderedly.

Hermione cleared her throat. "Once upon a time, there was this kingdom ruled by a king and queen, who were both fair and just. They longed to have a child, and finally, they had one—a daughter. Everyone—including the peasants and even the fairies—in the kingdom was invited to share in their joy the day she was born. The baby girl was given many, many gifts.

"Unfortunately, the king and queen had forgotten about the evil witch that wanted to rule over everything and make the people miserable. Well, she found out about the new princess's birth and showed up at the kingdom's gathering. She placed a curse on the girl, saying that on her eighteenth birthday, she would prick her finger on an old fashioned cloth-making machine and would die.

"Fortunately, three magical sisters were able to lesson the curse and turn it into eternal sleep, where the princess would awake by a kiss from her true love. The king and queen, though, didn't want to risk their daughter's life like that, so they let her be raised by the three sisters in the forest until she turned eighteen. Also, all of the cloth-making machines were destroyed to further prevent the curse from coming true. The princess was told who she was on her eighteenth birthday and returned to the castle to become who she really was—which included her marrying the prince from another kingdom. But before she left her life in the forest, the girl met a boy in the forest and fell in love with him.

"But one of the cloth-making machines wasn't destroyed and was set up in the princess's chambers by the evil witch. The princess was told all her life not to touch one of those things, but she decided to satisfy her curiosity and pricked her finger on the needle. She immediately fell into an enchanted sleep.

"The three sisters, to make sure that nothing else bad could happen, put the rest of the princess's kingdom into an enchanted sleep that would only be broken when the princess woke up. Then, they set out to find the princess's true love—which just happened to be her betrothed and being held captive by the evil witch. They freed him, told him that the girl he had met in the forest happened to be the princess he was engaged to and needing him to kiss her to wake her up, and gave him a sword and shield to fight the witch, who had now taken up residence to guard entrance to the princess's castle as a dragon."

Ron's eyes widened even more, if that were even possible.

Hermione continued. "Well, the prince got to the castle, fought the dragon, killed it, and kissed the princess awake. The rest of the kingdom woke up, and everyone lived happily ever after."

"Hermione, this is a nice story, but what does that have to do with this potion you found?" Ron asked.

"Well, this potion was made by a witch who had heard this story. She thought that it was romantic to be awoken by a kiss from your true love, and made this unaffected by anything else used to reverse the effects," Hermione answered.

"You mean some mental witch decided to make this crazy potion and make it antidote and magic proof?" the youngest Weasley male asked incredulously.

"Yes," Hermione sighed.

Ron began piecing it together. "Bloody hell! You mean to tell me that we have to figure out who Harry's in love with and have them kiss him to wake him up?"

"Yes," his Muggle-born friend repeated. "Otherwise Harry will stay asleep forever."

"Oh, this will be easy," Ron scoffed. "Who knows who Harry's bloody in love with!"

88888

The next day Hermione and Ron went to the hospital wing and told Madam Pomfrey of their discovery. (Correction: it was Hermione who told the stern healer, and it was her discovery. Ron was still shocked by the news he was given the previous night.) The school nurse immediately informed Professor Dumbledore of the news. But other than that, there was still nothing she or the headmaster could do.

Over time, Ron and Hermione started piling together what Harry had told them in recent years about his feelings regarding his friends but weren't able to come up with anything. The only times that Harry had any sort of intense feelings were last year with Cho Chang and the year before when he panicked about Ron being the "thing he would miss most."

"This is bloody impossible!" the red-haired prefect exclaimed one day. "Harry's only fancied one person and he's been over her for months!" He then gave an exasperated sigh. "He'll never wake up now!"

"Don't give up so easily, Ron," Hermione said placatingly. "I'm sure we're overlooking someone."

88888

Of course, Hermione had already figured out who Harry was in love with. It was so easy to see. Harry had been so hurt in fourth year when Ron and he weren't speaking; Ron was the person he'd had to save in the Second Task… There were even more little incidences that made it obvious. Ron's feelings weren't unrequited.

The job would be to convince oblivious sixteen year old that Harry returned his feelings. The biggest reason he wouldn't believe her was because he did not think that anyone saw past the red hair that marked him as a Weasley.

Ron doesn't think that anyone sees him as an individual—that they see him as "Arthur and Molly's son" or "Fred and George's younger brother" or even "Harry Potter's best friend." He doesn't see that Harry doesn't love a person because of their identity, but because of what's inside them, Hermione mused. I don't know how I'm going get through his thick head, though.

Maybe her best bet would be to give Ron a few hints and let him figure things out for himself.

88888

Weeks went by. The second Quidditch game of season came and went: Slytherin versus Hufflepuff. The green and silver clad team pulverized the yellow and black team—230 to 0. Malfoy was even more unbearable than usual—not that Ron and Hermione cared or paid attention all that much.

Soon enough, first term had ended and it was the Christmas holidays. Only Ron and Ginny were staying at Hogwarts out of all the Gryffindors, since their parents were doing something for the Order of the Phoenix—which, of course, Ron and Ginny weren't allowed to know the details. (Also, Ron refused to leave Harry alone in the hospital wing over Christmas—even if said boy was in an enchanted sleep.)

Before she left to go onto the Hogwarts Express with the other students, Hermione told Ron, "Don't give up on Harry; he'll wake up soon."

"How do you know?" the red haired sixteen year old asked incredulously. "Wait! You know who he's in love with, don't you?" The sixth Weasley child pointed his finger accursedly at his female best friend of six years.

"Oh, you'll figure it out," the studious girl said in a mysterious tone. And with that, she hugged her clueless friend and boarded the scarlet train.

I'll never understand girls—never! Ron shook his head.

He then went back to the castle to, predictably, the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey was nowhere to be seen, so the red-haired boy immediately went to Harry's (a.k.a. the boy he fancied) bedside. There was no change. Harry was still peacefully asleep, unaware of what had been going on with Ron's life in the past couple or so months.

"Mate, I think Hermione's gone off the deep end," he told the unconscious Boy Who Lived. "She thinks that we're close to finding out who the bloody hell you're in love with." He snorted. "Must be a girl thing."

The sixth year prefect unconsciously grabbed Harry's hand and started stroking the top of it. "I wish you could give me a sign." Ron then shook his head. "On the other hand, I don't think I want to know who you fell in love with. This person's probably like bloody Chang." His voice sounded bitter.

"What did she have that I don't?" Ron asked himself.

You have lots of qualities, Ronnie.

Oh no. The voice was back.

I thought you were gone for good.

Nope. I'm in your mind.

Ron groaned. Why me?

Ginny's voice ignored him, as usual. Like I said before, you have a lot of good things about you.

Like what? Ron asked, rolling his eyes.

You're brave, you're a great Keeper, and you've risked your life for Harry time and time again… There are lots of things, Ronnie.

The sixteen-year-old wizard shook his head. I've lost it. They might as well ship me off to St. Mungo's.

"What am I going to do?" he asked himself out loud.

Kiss him, Ginny's voice answered.

WHAT? Ron shouted in his head.

His little sister's voice was unfazed. You heard me, kiss him.

I can't, he argued. Harry doesn't feel that way about me.

You don't know for sure. What have you got left to lose?

Everything, Ron answered as though it were obvious.

Actually you don't—except for knowing he doesn't share your feelings. If you kiss him and he doesn't wake up, he'll never know about it, the voice reasoned logically.

Now you sound like Hermione, Ron commented.

I'll take that as a compliment. Now, are you or aren't you?

Will you go away if I do?

The red-haired prefect thought he heard the voice sigh. Yes, I will.

Fine, I'll do it.

And with that, Ron stopped the mental conversation. He looked at Harry and bit his lip.

Come on, Weasley, you're not in Gryffindor for nothing!

Ron took a deep breath, leaned down over Harry's sleeping form, closed his eyes, and slowly touched his lips to his best mate's.

It was the best two-second kiss of his life. (Granted, it was the only kiss he'd had in his life.) Harry's lips were soft and perfect and warm.

But that kiss couldn't last forever; Ron immediately pulled away, his eyes shooting open and his hand flying to his tingling lips.

The sixth Weasley child looked back at the unconscious form of Harry. He was still asleep. Ron's heart broke.

I'm not the one he loves, he said to himself.

But before he could get up and flee, something amazing happened: Harry stirred. His hands began twitching and there was movement under his eyelids. Finally, those famous green eyes of the Boy Who Lived opened.

Ron was frozen to the spot.

Harry blinked a couple of times, looked around at his surroundings, finally focusing on the person next to him.

"Ron?" he asked. "What's going on?"

A/N: Once again, apologies for the cliffhanger. And also apologies if anyone's OOC—that's the way they're going to be characterized for this story. If you don't like it that way, just don't read this and don't flame me! See you later!

-Princess