Disclaimer: None of the people, places, or things surrounding Hogwarts and the wizarding world are my creation; they belong the wonderful Ms. Jo Rowling.
A/N: Thank you SO much to all the wonderful reviewers. Your opinions mean the world to me, and whenever I read a positive one, it makes me write that much faster! And now, to all my reviewers:
DCoD: Thank you so much...cuteness is what I consider my specialty.
Jesus.Lives: I don't think that we necessarily saw everthing that happened with Harry in the picture. I put the scene with the three of them together in there specifically because in the book it says "Harry watched his two friends closely over the next few days," and I consider Ch. 1 to be from one of those days. We didn't see what happened then, did we? But I still understand what you're saying--I'll keep that in mind.
KrAzYLiKeAFoX: Thank you SO so much for your detailed review. I especially love when the reviews are longer and have more of the reviewer's perspective in them. I'm honored that you consider my work to be talented. Thank you so much. And I do believe that in their own minds (because we didn't see if it really happened in HBP), Ron and Hermione both considered the party a date. Makes for fluff, ya?
M-M-X-M-X: I LOVE when Ron and Hermione have their cute and awkward staring/blushing contests! It's my favorite part of fandom (and now cannon!).
Broken Rain: I'm glad that my story made you "aww," and laugh. That's what I'm here for. :)
Phillyactress: I can't wait to WRITE the canary thing. Cackles evily. :D
FadedRose: It is truly wonderful to know that you appreciate the way I make them communicate. Dialogue is my absolutle favorite thing to write, which is why there's either loads of talking, or a lot of first person thoughts.
RonMione4eva: Did I update soon enough? Lol, probably not, huh? I try and go as fast as I can...thank you so much for your review. It helped keep me in a writing mood!
Mrs. H Potter: I heart your name! It reminds me of James Bond for some strange reason. :D Anywhoo, thank you gobs and bunches for your review!
legolascrazy17: I saved you for last because you are by far the most loyal reader/reviewer I've ever had. Your words (and they are exciting and bubbly!) kept me working on this every day this week, when I normally would have put it off until the weekend. I'm super glad that I made your first week as a sophomore a bit more happy--I know what it's like. I'm a senior this year (almost done!), and we've already had tests and projects assigned. I look forward to reading your review with each new story or chapter I post. Thank you so much, truly. ;)
WHEW, now that that's over...on with the story!
Chapter 2: Hurt and Confusion
Hermione giggled as she got of bed and dressed for the day. Smiling happily to herself, she went through her morning routine as usual, but with an extra spring in her step that was not usually there.
"Um, Hermione?" Parvati asked cautiously, observing her roommate. Hermione turned to her. "Why are you—I mean, did something good happen?"
Hermione only smiled wider. It wasn't often that she was the one flitting about the room, giggling and blushing. That sort of nonsense—though it didn't seem like nonsense when it was Ron—was reserved for Lavender Brown. "It's just a good day," she said with a happy shrug. She turned on her heel before Parvati could ask any more questions, making her way down to the Common Room.
It was still fairly early; there were no Gryffindors in the Common Room. Hermione went over to the fluffy chair in front of the fireplace, which had roared to life when she'd stepped into the room. She plopped down, staring absently into the flames, seeing not the fire, but the color that reminded her of Ron's hair.
There it was again. Every little thing seemed to remind her of Ron these days. Ever since they'd said straight out that going to Slughorn's party was a date. Hermione sighed happily. She still couldn't fully wrap her mind around it. It all simply seemed unreal; that after six years of bickering and teasing, she and Ron were finally getting somewhere. It had only taken a countless number of hints for him to understand.
Speaking of Ron… Hermione glanced back toward the stairs. Ron and Harry had Quidditch practice today. They should have started making their way down ages ago.
As if on cue, she suddenly heard voices drifting down the staircase. In moments, Harry's head appeared, followed closely by Ron's. Hermione couldn't stop the light spreading of pink across her cheeks, and felt her heart speed up at the sight of Ron. They walked over to her.
"G'morning, Hermione," Harry said, and she nodded in response.
"Hello, Hermione!" Ron exclaimed, then instantly blushed. Harry rolled his eyes heavenward, but Hermione merely grinned back. She was just as excited to see him.
"Good morning, Ron. Ready for practice?"
That seemed to be a mistake, for Ron's face went from lobster-red to milky-white. "Oh, Ron, you'll be brilliant. You always are," she said.
Ron brightened, straightened, and puffed out his chest a bit. "Yeah, yeah, you're right," he said proudly, and Harry snorted.
"Besides, it's just a practice, right? Time to get better still," she added as the three walked together out of the Common Room and down to the Great Hall for breakfast.
Not that he needs to improve, she added silently, blushing even darker.
Wait, she said I was brilliant? Now I need to get better? Ron thought, studying Hermione out of the corner of his eye. Ruddy confusing, girls are.
"And then she told me I was always brilliant! How 'bout that, Harry?" Ron persisted, not having realized that he'd kept up a steady stream of Hermione-oriented conversation the entire walk from the changing rooms to the Gryffindor Tower. Harry didn't press the matter, however, mostly because he figured that Ron talking about Hermione was an improvement over Ron moaning about how horrible his Keeping skills were.
Ron knew that Harry was barely restraining himself from putting an end to the Hermione spiel. He saw it in his friend's eyes whenever he broached the subject. But it was like word vomit—once it started, he couldn't help himself.
She's just so—so bloody brilliant, she is, he thought, wishing that he could tell Hermione how brilliant she was. But it was too much of a risk right now. He and Hermione were finally moving past all the rubbish of the last few years and he didn't want anything to mess this up.
They had just turned the corner when they found themselves the unassuming witnesses to an intense snogging session. Though his eyes widened at the unfamiliar scene before him, Ron was about to hurry past when he caught a lock of red hair smashed somewhere in the middle of the embrace. GINNY!
"Oi!" he yelled angrily. Ginny and Dean popped apart. Ginny merely looked peeved; Dean at least had the decency to appear embarrassed. He was vaguely aware of Dean saying something to Ginny and Ginny snapping back, but he was too focused on the fact that his SISTER had been part of this twosome.
"…It is none of your business who I go out with or what I do with them, Ron—"
WHAT was this now? "Yeah it is!" he retorted. "D'you think I want people saying my sister's a—" His eyes widened as he realized what he'd just been about to say. He didn't want to be thinking about Ginny like that…but still. He narrowed his eyes at Dean, silently warning him.
The fight continued and soon Ron was becoming confused as to why he was so angry. Ginny could very obviously take care of herself, and Dean was in his year, so he could keep a close eye on him. At least she's got someone to snog in the corridors.
THAT was it, he suddenly knew. I'm—why, I'm jealous. Not that he'd ever admit that, of course. But he was. Ron was upset because Ginny could snog someone wherever and whenever she chose. And he couldn't. Because…well, he had Hermione. Sort of.
"He doesn't mean anything, Ginny—" Harry tried to break in, but Ron didn't have time to tell him it was pointless before Ginny flared up again.
"Oh yes he does! Just because he's never snogged anyone in his life, just because the best kiss he's ever had is from our Auntie Muriel—" she continued, her voice shaking with anger.
He reddened from embarrassment and anger. "Shut your mouth," he roared, hearing his voice bounce off the walls.
"He's the only one!" Ginny kept going. "Harry's kissed Cho Chang, Hermione snogged Viktor Krum. You're the only one left!" she shrieked.
Silence reigned over the corridor as Ginny's last words echoed. Last one… The words repeated themselves, each time more horrible than the next, in Ron's ears. He didn't pay attention to Harry as he made excuses and hurried them back to the Common Room.
He was shocked. Shocked and hurt. He knew that Hermione had gone with Krum to the Yule Ball—a fact that he wouldn't soon forget. But it had seemed, even to him, that there had been nothing more between them than that. Next time there's a ball, ask me before someone else does, and not as a last resort. Ron mentally slapped his hand to his forehead. Hindsight was bloody awful.
He should have asked Hermione to the Ball. He realized that now. Maybe then… He swallowed hard, fighting the stinging behind his eyes. If Harry saw him crying… Maybe then she'd be snogging me and not that ruddy Krum. It hurt, Ron realized, finally understanding what that pain in his chest was. The one that had suddenly taken root when Ginny had said Hermione had snogged Krum. The slightly nervous, shaky feeling. He was hurt…he felt betrayed.
How dare she? After all those hints she'd insisted she'd dropped. After asking me to Slughorn's party. She made it seem like it was something she'd wanted to do for awhile. So why had she snogged Krum?
Ron tried to clear his thoughts as he and Harry made their way to the boys' dormitories. However, one question still remained. "D'you reckon Hermione really snogged Krum?" he asked quietly, not sure if he wanted to know Harry's answer.
Harry didn't answer right away, avoiding Ron's eyes. He seemed lost in his own world. "Oh..err.." Harry finally responded.
Ron's shoulders slumped. There it was, then. He and Harry got ready for bed without saying much, as each seemed preoccupied with his own thoughts. Ron lay awake for a short time, staring at the ceiling above his bed, thoughts of Hermione and Krum whirling about dizzily in his head.
"Why does this always happen?" he muttered softly out loud. He and Hermione would row, apologize, get so close to dating (or something similar to that, he admitted)…and then something like this would happen. But this time it wasn't his fault. He'd responded to Hermione the way she'd seemed to always want him to. No fights, no arguments—just a clear response.
"I suppose if you'd rather I hooked up with McLaggen…"
"No, I wouldn't." Ron shook his head. How much clearer could he have been?
This time, when he felt the stinging behind his eyes he didn't fight the few tears that trickled slowly down his cheeks. What a sight he must he, he thought. An almost grown wizard, crying over a girl. But she's not just any girl. That was the heart-wrenching twist of it all. It was Hermione. Not a random girl; Hermione, the one person who he could see himself with…well, forever.
Ron blinked his eyes rapidly as he tried to control his sobs. "Wha—what did I—I do?" he whispered hoarsely to the unanswering darkness. He heaved a sigh, gulping in the air and feeling…
Anger. He suddenly felt angrier at Hermione than he ever remembered being. Sure, they had gotten into their fair share of rows over the years, but he'd never before felt this much passionate fury. He and Hermione were not officially together—never had been—but not even he was completely blind. He'd always known there was a reason why he goaded her, challenged her, and yes, even teased her.
It had been the same reason why he'd always felt the need to be with her, to make sure she wasn't studying too much and didn't forget to have fun once in a while. The same reason why he felt the overwhelming need to protect her, whether it be from exhaustion or bloody gits like Malfoy and his cronies.
He loved her. In the darkness, Ron's eyes widened. He'd never spoken those words out loud, had never even thought them, not seriously at least. But that was what the feelings had to be. Why else would I get this jumpy feeling inside me whenever I see her? Why does the thought of anything hurting her make me want to watch over her forever?
Ron swallowed the growing lump in his throat. And why does the thought of any bloke who isn't me kissing her and holding her tear me up inside? He groaned quietly taking one hand and scrubbing it vigorously across his face, erasing any sign of tears. He wished for anything—any thought—that would take this pain away. Something to disguise it… He returned to the anger. Yes, he was hurt, more so than ever before, but he was also furious.
Hermione was his. He knew the thought was selfish and self-centered, but it was the truth. In some way, Hermione had always been his. Just as he'd always been hers. "That's it, then," he muttered once more to the darkness. So she was going to break that bond, was she? Well, he wasn't going to let her get away with it. Hermione Granger wasn't the only one who could be snogged.
No, she's most certainly not, he thought. He could have a girl—if he wanted one—and Lavender Brown suddenly came to mind. She'd been paying closer attention to him recently, and he'd heard the girlish giggles coming his way whenever Lavender crossed his path.
Ron nodded decisively. Give Hermione a taste of her own medicine, that's what he would do. Then she could see what it felt like to be betrayed.
And maybe, just maybe, she would be hurting as much as he was right now, he thought sadly as he rolled over and closed his eyes. But with that thought came the intense roiling of his stomach…the same feeling he got whenever Malfoy got near Hermione, or whenever Hermione was upset. He tried to push it away as quickly as it had come. She had hurt him, hadn't she?
Did she feel this illness in her stomach as she snogged Krum? He wondered half-heartedly. Did she even think about his feelings?
NO was the quick answer. If Hermione could so easily put him out of her mind, then…then he could do it, too. With that thought settling a bit uncomfortably in his stomach, Ron finally gave into sleep.
Hermione lay awake in her dormitory, smiling contentedly at the ceiling. She could hear the faint snores of her roommates. As she simply laid there grinning like a fool, she wondered if she was going mental. Here she'd been, smiling all day long, and now, hours after she should have been sound asleep, she was still completely alert, reliving the moment when Ron had said he'd be her date to Slughorn's party.
It was such a wonderful feeling, knowing that Ron—the only person she'd ever fancied—appeared to genuinely feel the same towards her. Hermione had always been skeptical of love and relationships; she thought they were wonderful, but only when both parties put forth love and equal effort. For years, she and Ron had constantly been at each other's throats. At times, she admitted, an outside observer might wonder if they even tolerated each other, let one liked each other.
But she knew Ron inside and out, and she knew their whole relationship, as confusing at it could be sometimes, inside and out. And for the first time, she felt like things were truly moving along. He'd finally gotten the point. Sure, he didn't ask me, but at least he said yes. She'd finally worked up the courage to ask him…and it hadn't been terrible, she thought with a happy, tired sigh, turning over and closing her eyes, waiting for the first truly happy sleep she'd had in ages.
And maybe, just maybe, she'd soon be able to work up the courage for something much greater, much more important than simply asking Ron to a Christmas party.
One day in the near future perhaps, she could tell Ron Weasley that she loved him.
A/N: I'm sorry if some parts don't make sense. There was a lot of independent thoughts to put in here. How exactly did Ron react to hearing that Hermione kissed Krum? And poor Hermione, right? Here she is, going to bed, almost ready to tell Ron she loves him, not knowing that he's awake and plotting to betray her. Well, I'm going on a trip to visit my best friend in California so I'll be gone until after Labor Day. I'll try and get the next chapter up as quickly as I can…but with school and extra-curriculars, I just never know exactly when I'll be able to write. REVIEW please! I love hearing what you guys think. :D