Did You Ever
Love Somebody?
by IfICanBeAstonishing
(A/N: Even though I've got two other stories currently going right now – and both of them promise to be a bazillion chapters each – I heard this song and instantly wanted to make a fanfic out of it. Just to reaffirm, I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters or this song, which is sung by Jessica Simpson for the TV show Dawson's Creek. Ugh, I don't like her much, but I really do love this song.)
--
I'm
utterly and completely bored. Harry and Ginny are out prancing about
Diagon Alley, Fred and George are up in their room experimenting with
a new product, Bill and Fleur are on their honeymoon, Charlie's
Flooed back in Romania, Mum and Dad are still cleaning up from
yesterday's festivities, and I'm bored.
Mentally ticking
people off in my head, I'm left with one final person – Hermione
– who I know will not want to entertain me in my time of need.
Nevertheless, I hoist myself upright from my shady spot on the grass
and walk inside, hands stuffed in my pockets. The front door bangs
shut behind me and I mentally curse it for giving me away, since I
know any second Mum will want me to –
"Ronald Weasley!"
Told
you.
"Yes, Mum?" I sigh inwardly. She's probably going to
ask me to do some ridiculous task. Like picking up confetti off of
the lawn piece by piece. Or performing the Heimlich maneuver on the
poor birds who ate the rice we threw after Bill and Fleur as they
walked back up the aisle. Or if I'm really lucky, I'll get
stuck with Flooing to each wedding guest's house and taking them
trays of leftover food as a thank-you for coming.
"Why don't
you and Hermione go for a picnic; get out of the house? I know how
tired the two of you must be, after staying up all night at the
reception. I'm almost done cleaning, anyway," I hear Mum call to
me from the kitchen. "You go and find her and I'll pack you a
nice lunch." Grinning, I yell back a thanks and race up the rickety
steps to Ginny's bedroom. Yes, something to do, and food as well!
What could be better?
"Hermione!" I say, bursting through the
bedroom door. She's lying on her stomach on Ginny's bed, writing
what looks to be a Potions essay. Merlin, school hasn't been out
for three weeks and she's at it already. "Want to go on a
picnic?"
She looks up at me, startled out of her reverie. "Oh,
I was just in the middle of an essay and –"
I cut her off.
"C'mon, 'Mione, please? I'm so, so bored and you're the
only one who's not busy. And you're my best friend," I add,
sticking out my lower lip in a pout, which almost always works. Must
be her sensitiveness getting out. Sensitiveness…is that even a
word? Oh, well. "Plus," I say, thinking of the lake that's on
the outskirts of our property, "We can go swimming!"
Hermione
wrinkles her nose and pretends to consider this, but I can see I've
already broken her concentration. "Okay," she finally says. "Give
me five minutes to change into my swimsuit, I'll meet you
downstairs." I grin again and leave Ginny's room, closing the
door behind me.
Five minutes later I'm downstairs in the
kitchen, watching Mum as she carefully packs turkey sandwiches into a
large wicker basket. "Did you remember to leave off the pickle on
mine, Mum?" I ask fearfully. I don't want a repeat of the
infamous Pickle Incident, and I'd really rather not talk about it.
My mother rolls her eyes.
"Of course, Ron, but you can't be
afraid of pickles for the rest of your life. Just because Fred and
George –"
"Oh, are we talking about the Pickle Incident?"
questions Hermione, coming down the stairs into the kitchen. She's
wearing a pair of denim shorts and a pink tee shirt, and I can see
the halter-tie of her bathing suit top peeking out from underneath
it. "I love this story!"
"Yes, well, I don't," I say,
grabbing the picnic basket off of the counter and kissing Mum's
cheek. "Thanks Mum. We'll be at the lake if you need us."
Did
you ever love somebody
So much that the earth moved?
Two
hours, one long swim, and several turkey sandwiches (minus the
pickle) later, Hermione and I have run out of things to talk about.
We're lying under a tree in the shade off of the lake's edge,
head to head, forming one long, straight line. I stare up at the
branches and try to figure out something else to say. So far we've
covered the topics of Harry and Ginny ("Isn't it sweet that
they're back together?" said Hermione), the Horcruxes ("Ginny's
going to be crushed when he leaves to find them, though," she
added), and Bill and Fleur's wedding ("I'm just glad none of
the pigeons choked on the rice, or I would have had to chase them and
save them," I said).
Lying here, head to head with Hermione,
I'm feeling an odd sense of loss. I'm not sure why. Could it be
because one of my best friends is going off to kill a dark wizard?
Could it be because I've lost a brother to the vortex that is
married life? Or could it have something to do with Hermione?
Somehow, I feel that this last one is the reason why.
Did
you ever love somebody
Even though it hurt to?
"Ron?"
Hermione says suddenly. "Let's play a game."
"Like what?"
I ask. Absentmindedly, I pluck a blade of grass and begin to shred it
into long shards between my fingers.
"I dunno, Twenty
Questions, maybe?" she suggests.
"What's Twenty
Questions?"
"Well, technically, someone thinks of an object,
and the other person guesses for hints about what the object is."
Hmm. That doesn't sound too bad, I guess. "But," she continues,
"I've never actually played that way…when I was little, my Dad
and I would play it in more of a 'Did you ever…' style."
"'Did
you ever…?'" I repeat, tossing the pieces of grass into the air
so that they float gently down around me. I reach for another blade
to shred.
"We ask questions starting with 'Did you ever…'
and answer them. It's not really Twenty Questions, I just call it
that for lack of a better title," she explains.
"Well then,"
I say, ripping my newest grass-victim in two, "Did you ever fail a
test?" Even though I'm not looking at Hermione, I just know she's
turning red with indignation.
"Yes," she mutters after
awhile. Or, on second thought, perhaps she's turning red with
embarrassment.
"What!" I say, rolling over onto my stomach
to face her. She does the same, and I can see that she is indeed
quite a bright shade of red. "When was this?"
She falters
over her words. "In primary school, before I knew I was a witch.
When I got to Hogwarts, I studied so hard…I guess I just wanted a
chance in my life to be perfect." Embarrassed, she breaks my gaze
and looks over towards the lake, sighing softly.
And it's at
this moment that I realize I've fallen head over heels in love with
Hermione Granger.
Did you ever love somebody?
Nothing
else your heart could do
The game continues on, and I
recover from this startling revelation just in time to hear Hermione
ask me the next question.
"Did you ever wish your life was
different?" she says, moving so that she's leaning against the
tree trunk. I position myself so that I'm sitting beside her,
leaning against the trunk as well, and I think about my answer. Did I
ever wish my life was different? Well besides from the obvious, like
You-Know-Who being gone and not always having to ask Hermione for the
answers on a test? Besides wishing I was Harry, instead of just his
stupid sidekick? This is what I've always thought of when I've
asked myself this question. But suddenly, being here, I've got a
different answer.
"No," I say truthfully. "Well, I mean, I
used to. But I don't anymore. I think I like my life just the way
it is." Hermione turns her head to look at me, and I know for fact
that I like my life just the way it is when I meet her
chocolate-brown eyes. She smiles.
"Hermione," I say slowly,
getting up the nerve to ask my question. Not that I'm sure she'll
even answer…it's not like we've signed a legally binding
contract or anything. "Did you ever love somebody?"
Did
you ever love somebody
Who never knew?
She turns
red again, and this time its Hermione shredding grass between her
fingers for lack of something better to do. I watch her as she bites
her lower lip; concentrates on the piece of emerald-green grass. It
seems like hours have gone by when she finally replies.
"Yes,"
she says very softly, and all of a sudden she's gone and rested her
head on my shoulder. I freeze for a moment. Yes? Well, what's
that supposed to mean? Slowly, I lay my head on top of hers.
Did
you ever lay your head down
On the shoulder of a good friend?
I
begin to wonder about who it could be, for as much as I like her,
love her even, I'm certain that she doesn't feel the same way
about me. I'm just a shoulder to lean on when things get rough, and
a gangly best friend she can laugh at. Is it Krum, I wonder? I mean,
that's the obvious choice. Even though I know she didn't go to
Bulgaria the summer after fourth year, I know they've kept in
touch. We've had enough bloody arguments about him (and my feelings
about him), for sure, and according to her I've got the emotional
range of a teaspoon. 'C'mon,' I think to myself. 'It's got
to be at least a tablespoon.'
I glance down at her and
hurriedly look away, not trusting my feelings. Staring at the
sparkling lake, I wonder if it's Harry. If it is, she's hiding it
rather well, seeing as she's thrilled about him and Ginny. Nah, it
can't be Harry.
And then had to look away somehow…
Had to hide the way you felt for them?
This is
really starting to bug me, and just as I begin to get truly annoyed
over it all, I catch the scent of Hermione's hair in the breeze.
Even though we spent quite awhile dunking each other underwater in
the lake, her hair still smells of daisies and that oddly familiar
perfume-y scent I now recognize from the Amortentia potion. Oh,
Merlin, this is killing me. I feel my stomach begin to wind its way
into knots. Maybe it's Seamus, or Dean. Or perhaps it's
Neville.
"Did you, Ron?" Her voice startles me out of my
thoughts. "Ever love somebody, I mean." She lifts her head off of
my shoulder to look at me for what seems like the thousandth time
today, but this look gives me goosebumps. Oh God, those eyes are
going to break my heart.
"Did you ever love somebody?" she
repeats, in a slightly urgent tone.
And suddenly, I begin to
hope. Maybe there really is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Have
you ever prayed the day would come
You'd hear them say they feel
it too?
My face feels as though it's on fire.
"Y-yes," I stammer. I reach for my third blade of grass today.
Between Hermione and I, we'll have the whole lawn shredded up by
dinner, I think ruefully. What she says next totally surprises
me.
"What's she like?" she says gently, as though treading
on glass. Is Hermione wondering, too, the way I did about her? Maybe
we can trade secrets. But what am I supposed to say to this
question?
"She's…amazing," I finally say. "There's
never been a person I've felt about this strongly before. Not even
Lavender." I let this sink in for a moment. "Not that I ever even
really liked her." I pluck another piece of grass and hand it to
'Mione, and she rips it into miniscule pieces, a small smile
twitching across her lips. I hope that means what I think it
means.
"She's quite beautiful," I add, and I see Hermione's
face fall. I want to reach out to her, to comfort her, because I'm
sure she's thinking that it can't be her. Hermione's never
really considered herself beautiful. How can I tell her that, to me,
she's gorgeous?
Did you ever love someone
Who
never knew?
I do
Hermione looks crestfallen, but she's determinedly staring at the grass, keen to avoid my gaze. "Did you ever…when did you know you loved her?"
And
if you did
Well you know I'd understand
"It
wasn't anything special she did. One day I just looked down at her,
and there it was. Wasn't too long ago, in fact," I put in,
thinking of her earlier unburdening of her need to feel perfect.
"I
think I understand," she says, biting her lip again, two patches of
red blooming on her cheeks.
I could, I would
More
than anybody can
"How did you know that you loved him, Hermione?" I ask her now, reaching out my hand to pull her chin up so that she's looking at me. She looks as if she's about to cry, and I'm not sure if it's in a good way or a bad way. Who knows, with girls, honestly?
Did you ever love
somebody
So much that the earth moved?
"I was in a…sticky situation, and he came to my rescue. I realized that if…if…" she sniffles, and glances away for a moment, but then her eyes come back to rest on me. "If I lost him," she continues in a brave tone, "I don't know what I'd do. And that thought just hurt so, so much…that I knew I loved him."
Did
you ever love somebody
Even though it hurt to?
"I don't think my head had a choice," she laughs slightly. "It was my heart's decision." My hand is still on her chin; she's still looking me right in the eye. Speaking of hearts, mine is beating faster than I ever thought possible; I understand her sentiments completely.
Did you ever love somebody?
Nothing else
your heart could do
"Hermione," I say, so quietly that it's almost inaudible, "Did you ever love somebody…like I love...you?"
Did you ever love somebody
Like
I love you?
Moments later, I'm flying. My head is soaring, and so is my stomach, which is no longer in knots. I have my answer, which is indeed an affirmative one. Kissing Hermione is like nothing I've ever experienced, but it doesn't come close to loving Hermione the way I do.
Like I love you
Like I
love you
--
(A/N: Yay, I had enough plot to use up the whole song! Does victory/happy/Chicken dance! Okay, that's enough of that. Please review, and thanks!)