Ron could not have felt more awkward. He and Hermione were dancing as uncomfortably stiff as humanly possible.

"Ron, wait. I know this song! They played it at the Yule Ball!" Hermione said suddenly. He listened to the words…

Don't be scared she wants you to

Its hard

You must be brave

Don't let this moment slip away

"Yeah! This is the song…" he was about to say it was they song they had fought during but stopped himself from making it any more awkward and finished lamely with, "…the song they played at the Yule Ball." Hermione looked at him. Her stare was a bit chilly. "This is the song that was playing while we were fighting, Ronald," she said with a sigh.He grinned sheepishly and said, "Yeah, we seem to do that a lot," he said. There was a pause and Hermione said"Why do you think we fight so often? Like uncommonly often."

"Uh. Probably because we're so different," he could hear Ginny's voice in his head screaming because you're trying to hide your true feelings! Ron was fairly sure it wasn't a good sign if the voices in his head were people he was familiar with. He thought for a second before adding, "And…I suppose I like the attention I get from you when we're rowing. I mean you're always focused on books or Harry or the news and…and I guess I w-want a little attention now and again as well," Ron's ears turned beet red and he looked at her nervously, hoping he said the right thing. Her faced softened and he could see the shadow of a smile on her face.

"Well, I see that, I mean, that's understandable. With Harry's celebrity status and all your brothers…and such," she said not meeting his eyes. "I never meant to ignore you or anything," she said. Tears began to well up in her eyes.

"Its really fine Hermione! It wasn't even that…" Ron was starting to get the feeling that Hermione was on the verge of tears for another reason. "…what's the matter?"

"I'm frightened," she whispered. She looked at him like she had just told him she was pregnant with Malfoy's child and expected Ron to burst into flames.

"Why does it look so painful for you to say that?" Ron asked, forgetting to comfort her out of curiosity.

"I-I don't know. I feel bad. I'm supposed to be strong for Harry and yet there's part of me that wishes I could just stay here and pretend it wasn't happening," she looked up at him, her expression full of shame, "How dreadful is that?"

"Its not dreadful 'Mione, its natural. You cant be brave all the time," Ron didn't really know what else he could say so he just left it at that. He then realized just how much more comfortably close he and Hermione had become, so he pulled her even closer. They were sort of swaying slowly now, in a warm, loving embrace, preparing to protect each other in the days to come.

The next chapter will be a few months later, because I'm too lazy to be that detailed. Reviews are lovely.