Title: Discovering Hermione Granger: Ron's Story

Chapter Title: Harry's Interlude: The Weasley/Granger Row

Rating: M (rather be safe than sorry)

Summary: Harry's take on the legendary fights that make Ron and Hermione, RONandHERMIONE.

Disclaimer: In case any of you didn't know, I do not own, in any way, the Harry Potter franchise. I'm just a broke woman trying to make her way through college.

A/N: This just popped into my head one day while doing the dishes. I don't know where it came from. Delia is not claiming it. This is their AU 6th year. I wrote this before the sixth book came out so I didn't know that they would decide not to go back to Hogwart's for Year 7.

B/N: I've had working on these pieces! -naiad

"She bloody well better not be snogging any blokes in between the stacks!" Ron Weasley turned away from his little sister toward his best friend across the room, his face was already as red as his hair. "As your best friend, I absolutely forbid you to snog, Hermione Granger!"

Harry Potter's ( The-Boy-Who-Lived) wide green eyes jerked up from the book spread on his lap when he heard his best friend's bellow.

Ron Weasley was in no way stupid, he was pretty smart when he applied himself. A ruddy genius at Quidditch and chess. But the boy didn't know which way was up when he was around their small female best friend.

When he didn't get a sufficient reaction from the young witch, Ron strutted (to Harry it really looked like the misguided youth was strutting) toward her chair. Hermione steadfastly refused to turn and look at him her gaze fixed on the book she had once called light reading nearly two weeks ago. In actuality it almost outweighed her and Madame Pince had to give her special permission to levitate it from the library to the common room. Not very light, Ron had grunted after attempting to move it from beside her.

Later on, Harry would think that this was the Armageddon, the apocalypse, the end of the very world that he was meant to save. For at that moment Hermione Granger's smile slipped from her face and she turned slightly so that her golden eyes were locked on Ron.

Oh no… Harry shook his head wearily and slid further down in his seat. Maybe if he thought himself as one with the chair he would meld with it and no one would notice Ginny Weasley, rolled her eyes, a look that said she knew what he was thinking (something she did with surprising regularity), and it wouldn't work.

"Not again," she muttered under her breath.

Harry had a feeling that was what everyone in the common room was thinking as they braced their bodies for the shrill shriek that would inevitably tumble from Hermione Granger's pouty lips.

Ron Weasley raised himself to his full 6'4" height and prepared for battle.

But surprisingly, she didn't say a word, her hands didn't move to her hips and she didn't raise her chin in that bossy, haughty, I-know-everything-and-you-don't manner. As a matter of fact she settled more comfortably in her chair, crossed her legs, and clasped her hands demurely in her lap. (Warning!! Harry's mind blared. Hermione Granger is anything but demure.) She cocked her head to the side one unruly caramel curl falling in her face and she stared, her eyes unreadable. Ron took a life-preserving step back as he gazed at her suspiciously. You could see his thoughts flashing across his face as his eyes darted around searching for a way out. This is not how we row.

The silence in the common room was so rare when it came to a Weasley/Granger fight, Harry stuck a finger in his ear to confirm that he did not in fact go spontaneously deaf.

Seamus Finnigan leaned toward his best friend Dean Thomas, a whisper out of the side of his mouth. "This is new."

Dean kept his eyes on the girl he was sure would fling a Killing Curse at any moment. "Don't make any sudden movements and provoke her." He said back.

Hermione tilted her head in the other direction and that one curl slid past her nose and to the other side of her face. "Why do you care so much Ron?"

Ron's jaw dropped and Harry could practically hear his best friend's brain furiously working to catch up with what had happened in the last minute. Harry wondered what had happened in Greece that summer, that had altered Hermione quite so much.

For, you see, there was a process. An order to A Weasley/Granger row. Certain Steps to be taken. Hermione had bypassed the steps, and jumped the entire stair-case they had been navigating for 5 years and Ron was left standing, looking to all the world like a... well, like an utter git.

Neville looked up from his potions homework only to mutter, "You poor, dumb sod." Harry had to agree.

"Wait? Wha…? I..Huh?" Ron stuttered out still watching her as if he never seen this particular petite witch before.

Ron says something stupid, which hacks off Hermione, who then lays into him about his laziness, then he says something else that's completely and utterly Ron, which makes Hermione burst into tears and lock herself in the girls dorms for the rest of the day, then at breakfast Ron pours her a goblet of pumpkin juice, she smiles and everything is right with the world until the next fight.

But this...this was different. This was completely unimaginable. Harry never thought that they would stop dancing around each other. And from Ron's expression, he'd had the same thought. Leave it to the smartest witch of their age to shock everyone in the Gryffindor common room into a stunned silence.

"I said, 'why do you care?' I mean, I can snog, or shag, five blokes and a girl at the same time in between the stacks if I want to. Harry is my best friend, and he'll tell me what his thoughts are but he'd let me do it-"

"Oh, no he wouldn't if I got a hold of him" Ron said. Again without the thinking, Harry thought cringing.

Hermione's eyes narrowed and she uncrossed her legs and stood. "What is your problem? Honestly? Why I should I have to sit around and watch you and Harry have it off with every girl in Hogwarts while I sit around with my cat reading books?"

There it goes, Harry thought. The hands have officially placed themselves on her hips. In the words of Neville, You poor, dumb sod.

"I am not some slag who jumps into bed with the first boy who tells her she is pretty. If that was the case, I would have shagged half the boys in Gryffindor." She stomped her foot in frustration and Harry had to hold back a snigger even as Ron's mouth fell open in shock.

"All right," Ron turned to the room at large, and bellowed in a voice to rival Mrs. Weasley calling all her children into dinner, "Who told Hermione that she's pretty?"

All the boys, first years to seventh years, hid their faces as best they could. Even the girls wouldn't meet Ron's epic glare. The sudden silence was broken only by the crackling of the fire in the hearth.

Therefore, everyone heard Hermione's uncharacteristic whisper in response, "Don't you think I'm pretty, Ron?"

Ron, still at the height of an attack of righteous indignation turned back to her and replied without thinking, as he had done all night, "What? You're bloody beautiful! But that's not the point. They," he hooked his thumb over his shoulder indicating the room at large,"aren't suppose to notice that."

Hermione Granger smiled. Not the shy sweet smile of a girl, but the curving, sexy smile of a woman. The kind of smile that made Ron's lips curl unknowing into a half smile in response, and drool start to form at the same time. The kind of smile that could make any man's knees weak, and practically made Ronald Weasley fall over flat.

Then, Hermione Granger completed the pattern of the Weasley-Granger row by turning around, and walking…no, sauntering, toward the steps of the girl's dorm. The room was still silent, but a collective breath was released as she put her foot on the first step, turned around, and gave Ron a look that he would puzzle over for days, but the other occupants of the Common Room understood just fine.

Hermione Granger had won that Weasley-Granger row. Score 1,000:0