Ron, after five years, finally learned to do his homework in the evening and not late in the night, as he used to do before. But still, he was sitting on a table in the Gryffindor common room, his Potion essay was done, his eyes were tired but he didn't want to go to sleep. Not yet.

Something was holding him back, a thought. He hadn't seen Hermione, his best friend, all day and he started to worry. He only met her at lunchtime but only for like 10 minutes - more or less - because 'I really need to go, Ron!' her words were still fresh in his mind.

He couldn't go to sleep, not without knowing if she was okay. He knew that being a Prefect lead to a lot more work, and it was pretty stressful, but never to the point of not going to dinner or being out of the common room at 11:30 pm, like Hermione.

His eyes were slowly closing, but a big noise made him stood up quickly and look over some footsteps he was hearing.

"Oh, hi. Still up?" Hermione grinned as she stepped into the room and saw Ron, her best friend.

Ron sat down again and smiled back at her, "Yeah. I-I just... Er, finished my essay." He looked down at the paper that stopped writing hours ago, but he just didn't want to tell her he was waiting for her and worrying about her.

"You never learn to get your work done before dinner, do you?" He let out a small laugh, she sat down next to him and she started to pick up her books from her bag, placing them all over the table.

"What are you doing?" He asked, a bit shocked.

"Homework." She responded as if it was obvious.

"Homework? Hermione, it's almost midnight!"

Was she out of her mind? What was she doing all day instead of studying?

"Please, Ronald, I had a rough day. The last thing I want is to argue with you. Just go to bed, I'll see you tomorrow."

Ron shook his head and pulled his chair closer to hers, his eyes fixed on her as she was focused on her work. "No way. You need to rest, Mione-" She let out a little smile when she heard the nickname he had called her with. "You can copy my homework! See, here, copy this." He put his essays on her books but she gave them back to him.

"Ron, thank you. But you know I want to do it by myself. Go to sleep, seriously."

"Would you mind telling me where have you been all day?" She sighed and put her hands over her hair, with a stressful look on her face. "Are you okay?" He asked again.

"Just headache, I guess. I've been helping first-years with their homework, and then I stayed with most of them until now."

"Hermione, you are a Prefect, not their mother! You need to take care of yourself!" He sighed and slowly caressed her back, she gasped at his touch.

"I know, I just couldn't say no to them. Doesn't matter anyway, now I'm here and I need to get my work done."

"Let's do it then." Ron picked up the book under the strange look Hermione was giving to him.

"What are you doing?"

"Your homework." He saw the disappointed look on her face. "Come on, Hermione, it would take less time if I help you."

"I don't want you to help me with homework!" She hissed and he sighed.

"Fine. But I'm staying here until you finish everything. I'll keep you company." Hermione shook her head, with a smile she was trying to hide.

Ron was always so caring, and she didn't know what she could do without him. He always reminded her to eat, to take care of herself, things that she always put last in her to-do list. But he taught her that taking care of herself was more important than school, books, and homework.

"You look tired, why don't you go to sleep? I'll be fine." He shook his head.

"I'm going to pick up some snacks from my dorm, alright? I suppose you're hungry, you've missed dinner. I'll be back in a minute."

She smiled as she watched him go upstairs, up to his dorm. She was so happy to be able to call him her friend, even If some times she thought about him in another way, in a way that always made her heart beat faster and faster she was scared it could explode.

She shook her head and got back to her essay, which was almost done. She felt her headache getting worse and her eyes slowly closing...

"Hey, I brought your favorites-" Ron came downstairs and stopped talking when he saw Hermione sleeping with her head on the table.

He smiled. She had her mouth half-opened, her hand was still holding the quill, and her head was resting on her essay.

Ron thought she was simply beautiful. There were no other words to describe her. He quickly picked up a blanket and put it over her body.

He left the snacks on the table, next to her books, and wrote a note with them.

'Please, eat as soon as you wake up!'

He took some minutes to look at her, thinking she looked like an angel. At that moment, he wondered what it would have been like to go to sleep or to wake up, with her next to him. But that was just stupid; she didn't think about him in that way, she didn't fancy him. He was her friend, he was like a brother to her. He was sure she thought that.

"Sleep well, Mione." He whispered and let a kiss between her hair.

--

Hermione woke up, feeling relaxed, but as soon as she realized where she was her eyes widened open. She looked over at her watch and let out a sigh when it said 7:00 am. She wasn't late, at least.

She looked at her homework and focused on a note left next to some snacks. Her thought suddenly went to Ron and the little moment they had last night. The way he cared about her just made her fall even more for him.

After eating the snacks with a smile that didn't want to go away, she noticed the blanket over her, and she recognized it, it was Ron's. He used to lend it to her when she was at the Burrow those past years.

"Look who's up." His voice, coming from the stairs, made her smile, and stood up quickly.

She jumped on him and hugged him tighly, not knowing why. She was just thankful for him, to have him in her life. He looked surprised but hugged her back, putting his arms around her waist.

"What the bloody hell was this about?" Ron asked when she pulled away and they both smiled at each other.

"Thank you, for taking care of me." He shrugged his shoulders and looked down, Hermione could see his ears slowly turning bright red.

"It was nothing really. Just little things."

"It's exactly that. The little things."