A/N: Hello! The original idea for this fic was to leave it as a sort of unfinished one-shot. However, I thought about it for a bit and decided to dedicate one chapter to each of the couples in the Potterverse.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, JKR does. The only thing that's mine is the various awkward moments I write.

When Courage Fails: Years of Practice

By: eugene-the-artichoke

-----

The boy and the girl sit side by side on the snow covered bench. The boy's ginger hair is poking out from his maroon hat. The girl's hair is sprinkled with bits of snow.

He looks at her when he thinks she isn't looking.

She is.

He quickly turns away and pretends to be interested in his tatty orange gloves. He's really thinking about how wonderful she is.

She sneaks a glance at him when she thinks he doesn't notice.

He does.

She quickly looks away, feeling scared and anxious and mortified all at once. He makes her heart flutter painfully.

She feels watched. She looks up to see him gazing at her. He blushes red and she does too, both embarrassed for different reasons. She opens her mouth to say something, but he cuts her off.

"Hermione?"

"Yes?"

"I –"

"What?"

"I – silence –You've got snow on your eyelashes."

"Oh, alright. Thanks."

"No problem."

She dusts the snow off, and he watches. He is mesmerized by the small action as well as disheartened.

She is enchanting and he can never be.

He lowers his head and stares at his old, beat up trainers.

Meanwhile, she is hoping against hope that she will have the courage and he will have the courage.

She needs the courage.

"Ron?"

He slowly lifts his head and she is struck by how unusually graceful he is.

He is natural and she can never be.

"Yeah?"

She hesitates.

"Is that what you really had to tell me? That I had snow on my eyelashes?"

He doesn't answer. He doesn't know how.

Silence.

Then a few minutes later, he says it.

"No."

She questions him no further and he is grateful. They know they are words unsaid.

For he knows it, and she knows it, but he won't say it and she won't say it.

And words unsaid remain just that…unsaid.

-----

A/N: If there are any couples you would like to see in the futures (that don't contradict already established canon couples), please feel free to drop a review and let me know!

Questions, comments, suggestions? Review...