Valentines Day was a nightmare. Hermione had been forced to put up with Lavender from start to finish.

Ron had been avoiding both girls all day, choosing to practice quidditch with the team over spending a romantic evening with Lavender.

Lavender of course blamed this on Hermione who had taken up spending all her free time in the library with no one but the books that Ron hated so much for company. Lavender had hunted her down and shouted at her, saying that Ron (who had now not been speaking to her for nearly three months) was doing it because she made him.

Hermione hadn't been that happy about being thrown out of the library. She had sworn loudly at the drapes around her bed after she put a silencing charm on it.

Other than that, life had been quite boring, no one they knew had been in the papers, Harry was still going on about Malfoy being a death eater, and the homework that was building up in the run up to the end of year exams had already began poring in.

Prefect duty had become a welcome break from everything else.

The occasional insult exchange with Malfoy was a welcome reassurance that some things will always stay the same.

Hermione stopped at the end of the second floor corridor. She had heard a noise up ahead and it wasn't anyone she could see. The classrooms were all locked on this floor, Moaning Myrtle had made sure that the water caused so much damage that the classrooms were full of damp and dangerous creatures liked the damp. Kappa's, Higglypunks….Professor Snape.

Hermione advanced on the toilets carefully. It was just as well, for as she reached out to take hold of the door it flew open.

The white blond hair of Draco Malfoy was unmistakable, especially at this close proximity.

"Mudblood Granger." he said looking at her.

"What are you doing in a girl's bathroom?" she asked him. Noticing how strained he looked.

"What has it got to do with you?" he snapped back. His blond hair falling from the sweptback style he always wore it. Hermione couldn't help but notice how much he had begun to look like his father.

"It's just that that bathroom is out of bounds. You know what with it being a girl's bathroom and home to Myrtle."

Malfoy looked back over his shoulder. Myrtle was floating above the sink Hermione knew to be the entrance of the chamber of secrets. Two and two fell in to place.

"Your dad's little side project is dead, Harry killed it…"

Malfoy looked back at Hermione; his fixed scowl fell from his face. He looked almost worried

"That Basilisk is no good to me…"

"So why are you here?" Hermione wasn't used to Malfoy like this, she almost felt sorry for him.

"I …. What has it got to do with you, filthy mud blood?" he said glaring at her.

"Draco…don't say things like that." said Myrtle, floating over to the two students talking in the doorway.

"Ok… now I'm confused, since when have you been on first name terms with Moaning Myrtle?" Hermione knew it was the wrong thing to say.

If Myrtles undignified howls didn't bring at least seven professors running she would be highly surprised.

Malfoy seamed to have the same idea and the two of them ran down the corridor a tirade of water following them.

"Did you have to set her off like that?" Malfoy rounded on the now wet Hermione.

"Oh she'll get over it…you however never answered my questions."

"I'm a prefect Granger. I can go wherever I want." he said glaring at her, even his glower seamed weak.

"Fine be like that." she said turning and stalking away.

"Granger…." he shouted after her.

She glared at the stonework as she stopped despite her better judgment; she fingered her wand just in case.

"What?" she said turning to face him.

He looked like he really wanted to tell her something, he however bit his lip instead, and he turned and stalked off in the direction of the dungeons.

"What is it with the men in this castle!" she screamed through gritted teeth.

She had got as far as the corner of the charms corridor before she ran in to anyone else.

She turned the corner and crashed in to Ron.

"I was looking for you." he said quietly as he helped her up off the floor. His hand felt warm wrapped against hers and she was just the tiniest bit disappointed when his hand slipped from her grasp when she was safely on her feet.

"You were looking for me?"

"I just ran I to Malfoy in the Hall …Hermione why are the two of you both soaking wet?" he said taking out his wand and pointing it at Hermione, her clothes began to dry instantly and she felt warmer.

"Myrtle decided to flush us out of the girl's bathroom." Hermione said as the two of them started walking back along the corridor.

"What in the name of Merlin, were you and the incredible bouncing ferret doing in the girl's bathroom together?" said Ron looking at her as if she had gone mad.

"I wasn't in the bathroom with him Ron; I caught him sneaking out of there…"

"What was Malfoy doing in the girl's bathroom?"

"That's what I wanted to know." Hermione said.

"So you thought that you would confront him yourself? That's a stupid thing to do isn't it?" Ron said stopping at the top of the grand staircase.

"Not really, have you seen him lately? He doesn't look like he could handle a duel." Hermione jumped the trick step and Ron followed her, they made their way up the ancient runes corridor.

"Still you and Malfoy alone together…"

"What do you care?" Hermione said quietly she had noticed the way that Ron had said the last sentence.

"I care because it's you, and I don't trust Malfoy I mean what if he tried it on with you," Ron said indignantly.

"Ron, I'm muggle born, like Malfoy would even think it!"

"Hermione…" Ron cut himself off.

"That is the stupidest thing that I ever heard you say…really do you honestly think that Malfoy would find me attractive?"

"Well he's a fool if he doesn't." Ron said suddenly.

They both stopped and looked at each other. Hermione couldn't take it anymore.

"Ron you have to stop this, you can't keep messing with my head like this…"

"Like what?"

"Don't play stupid with me…you know exactly what." she glared at him something that was becoming increasingly harder to do with every second.

Hermione needed to get out of the situation, she tried to think of ways to get away from him but her mind would not co-operate. Confrontations with Ron were nothing new, but this sort of confrontation was, the petty squabbles that they had at the age of twelve, wavered in comparison to the full-scale fall out that could happen between two of age wizards.

This wasn't the little boy that Hermione had known; this was a seventeen in two days, man, and tall handsome, capable of controlling every thought that crossed her mind. The blue eyes that haunted her constantly because she knew they would never belong to her, Ron would never be hers and she was stupid to think it.

She turned to walk away but Ron put out an arm to stop her. She looked down at the maroon wool; again, he was dictating her thoughts, her actions.

"Hermione I think we should be honest with each other." he said quietly moving her so she faced him.

She stared at his chest; she didn't want to look at his face she didn't want to see the look of disgust etched on them.

"Hermione, I know why were really not talking, I'm sorry if I hurt you with Lavender, but like you said it was my choice." he said quietly.

Hermione didn't want to hear it; she didn't need to hear him tell her how stupid she was for loving him the way she did. She didn't want to hear him tell her that he had thought it through and that they should just be friends, she couldn't just be friends. The raging burning hurt wouldn't let her.

It was all or nothing.

"Hermione your not even listening to me are you?" Ron had moved his hand from her side and placed it on her chin he lifted her face so he could see her.

"No." she aid honestly.

"I said, I know, you know, I know about that venom." he said quietly, even in the dim light from the torches in the brackets Hermione had seen the blush that crept to his cheeks.

"That was as clear as mud." she said

"Hermione I fancy you ok….that's why the stupid love potion affects didn't bloody work….it doesn't take a know it all like you to work that out!"

Hermione didn't know what to say, she stared at him in disbelief. Had he just said what she thought he did? It wasn't just her mind twisting things to make it sound the ways she wanted it to was it?

"Hermione say something will you? You're freaking me out…" Ron looked at her his face was full of the confusion that Hermione was felling. "Hermione seriously if you want you can slap me …just please do something, you look like you've been petrified, it's not something I want reminding of."

Hermione shook her head, the strange fog that had been clouding her brain seamed to lift.

"Ron…I… I don't want to slap you…you're not the only one the venom had no affect on remember?"

Ron blushed so hard Hermione could have sworn that he burst a blood vestal.

"No… I noticed I was... well I dunno, I was going to say something then, but you know, well… I didn't want you to think that it was the stupid plant making me say things." he mumbled under his breath.

The two of them looked at each other for a while, even now that the secret that the two of them had been hiding for so long was out in the open the awkwardness was increased tenfold. Hermione was trying to struggle with the overpowering emotion that was swelling through her, Ron wanted her but she still couldn't have him, he had Lavender.

Hermione removed Ron's hand from her chin. She held it in front of her face for some time, weighing up her options. Ron was watching her quietly.

"You can call me an idiot if you want." he said quietly.

"You're not an idiot." she said quietly letting go of his hand. It fell to his side limply. He stared at her.

"It's not made anything easier has it?" it was statement rather than a question. Hermione shook her head.

"Can I ask you something?" she said looking him in the eye.

"Anything!" he said trying to smile although his eyes gave him away. He was as confused as she was.

She could see it in his eyes, he knew what he had to do for them to be together, and he knew that the choices were now his. There was no way for Hermione to do anything more.

"Can I have my best friend back?" she asked him quietly.

Ron pulled her in to a bone-breaking hug, Hermione melted in to his grip. She needed him in her life, she couldn't just throw his friendship away, there was no way that she could live without him, and he was everything to her. She breathed in Ron , that burrow scent that followed the Weasley's around met her nostrils, the dirt from quidditch that smelt like the dew outside, the smell of old parchment and ink and of sausages. Hermione griped on to him as if her life depended on it. Maybe it did, Ron was her lifeline, with out him she was nothing, had the last few months not proven that.

Ron's face was buried in to her neck; she could feel his breath on her skin.

She knew right then that the two of them could never be just friends, they would always be more than that, she needed him, she loved him and he would never know how much. They would always be in that awkward place forever. She buried her head in to Ron's neck to suppress the sob that had tried to escape; she had missed Ron so much. It was as if every inch of her needed to show him that.

Ron's hand found its way to her still wet hair and pulled it to one side away from his face. She felt the stubble of his cheek on her neck; it made her pull away from him slightly. She hadn't been expecting it.

"Sorry." he whispered in to her ear. A shiver ran up her spine. She twisted her head so she could look at him. His head rested on her shoulder, she was breathing in the air that escaped from him. She had never been this close to him, this close his eyes were bluer, his freckles browner and the urge to cross that line even more difficult to fight off.

Nevertheless, she had to fight it off; they couldn't do anything about it …

Ron moved slightly, his hand was still tangled in her hair, his other hand in the middle of her back. Suddenly he put pressure on the hand placed on her back and she moved closer to him. Her nose grazed his. She caught a glimpse of hope in his eyes before he closed them and placed his lips gently against hers.

Hermione hadn't been expecting it, but she welcomed the warmth, kissing him back gently. Crossing that line that meant nothing would be the same again.

On feeling Hermione kiss him, back Ron had pulled her closer, deepening the kiss. Hermione had never felt anything like this before, she was blissfully happy, she felt like nothing could harm her as long as Ron was here kissing her showing her how much she really meant to him. However, she knew that she shouldn't be doing this, it was wrong….this was Ron, and Ron was with…

"Lavender…." Hermione said pulling away from Ron. She breathed deeply trying to regain her composure, but it was difficult, she wanted more, she wanted Ron, and she needed to feel that rush that she had just partaken in.

She looked at him. He looked dejected. He thought that she didn't want him.

That was as far from the truth as it was humanly possible.

"Ron…Lavender, you have a girlfriend…this is wrong."

Ron looked down at his hands.

"It didn't feel wrong." he said quietly.

"But it is…"

Ron looked up and straight in her eye.

"Then I need to get rid of Lavender then don't I." he moved towards her scooping her hands in his own. "Hermione…" he started but she cut him off.

"Save it for when your single and we're aloud to be together." she said quietly.

"But..." Hermione shook her head, Ron grabbed her and pulled her close to him, he went to kiss her again but he met Hermione's hand instead.

"Not until you act like a man and get rid of Lavender." she said pushing him away against every instinct that had ever been in her possession.

She turned and walked towards the stairs, Ron didn't follow.

As she sunk in to the four-poster bed she couldn't hide the smile that was on her face, Ron had kissed her, and he had meant it. Boy had he meant it, she had never felt like that before, Ron had been in possession of everything, her thoughts her body her actions.

Everything that she had known were his but was too weak to tell him.

If it was lust, she could live with it.

Lust and Ronald Weasley … it was definitely something she could get used to.

before you ask it's not the end...we all know that if it was i would have robbed myself the fun of the eventual bust up with lav lav