Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
Ron eyed Hermione from across the room. She was frantically scratching her quill on parchment, fingers red from the pressure of writing so much, eyes half glazed over but she was determined. She'd been like this for a while.
After the war McGonagall had offered everyone who missed the last year to come back, even the seventh years. Ron had decided to join Hermione at Hogwarts and finish his schooling because he needed her after the war. He already had a job with the auror department regardless of his grades and he knew this would please his mother as well and things rarely did these days. Not to mention he couldn't stand to be in the Burrow for too long with the grief that had become a part of the air.
Harry had decided not to come back
They were getting closer and closer to N.E.W.T.s and the pressure was getting to Hermione, although she would aggressively disagree with that. She was head girl and co-head of the duelling club with him and the rest of the D.A. who was still there. Not to mention she never missed one of his Quidditch games.
He had the same pressures as somehow, he had been made head boy, but Hermione put so much pressure on herself to be perfect in school that he was sure she had not slept in weeks. They had mountains and mountains of homework and he barely got through them but he did because he wasn't spending extra time drawing up revision tables or study notes or planning out prefect meetings like she did. She had taken up knitting hats for the house elves again too as lots of them wanted to be free after helping fight the war.
Ron had let this go on for a couple of weeks because he had been too busy to address it. But he was done letting it slide, she needed some sleep and relaxation. And he knew she wasn't eating properly either. He finished his essay for D.A.D.A, rolled it up neatly, and trudged down to the kitchens. Hermione didn't even notice him leave the common room.
Before he reached the kitchens, he took a detour to the hospital wing to get some dreamless sleep. Madame Pomfrey didn't even bat an eye. So many students had needed it to quell nightmares that as long as they were of age and she knew they weren't abusing it, it was always free and in large supply for them. He smiled and thanked the house elves profusely once he got to the kitchens for making him two restorative mugs of medicinal hot chocolate, the kind Remus had preferred.
A pang went through his heart at the thought of his ex-professor and he pushed it away. He wasn't grieving today, he was helping Hermione. He dropped some dreamless sleep into her mug and disposed of the bottle. He hadn't known how much to use and knew she would actually kill him if she missed class, os he got a very tiny amount since it was already very late.
It seemed like an extremely long walk back to Gryffindor tower but finally he stepped through the familiar portrait into the warmth of the common room.
Hermione was exactly where he had left her, but her hair was now so frizzy he couldn't see her face. He stifled a chuckle, knowing it would be unwelcome. He walked up to her and cleared his throat. Hermione's head shot up, hand dropping her quill to rest on the wand at her waist. She relaxed when she recognized him and gave him a weary but adoring smile.
He smiled back and held out the mug. "Hot chocolate? It's medicinal. I thought you could use it." Her smile widened and he set his own mug on the table behind him as a precaution.
"I love you." She stood up and came around the table her books were covering to take it from him.
"I know." He joked and she glared. He watched carefully as she drank the whole thing. Nothing happened for a minute and then her eyes widened in shock, narrowing on him accusingly.
"You drugged me!" She slurred before falling to the ground. He caught her deftly in his arms as she fainted.
"I did." He proclaimed to himself as the empty mug shattered on the ground. Ginny raised an eyebrow at him from the seat he had abandoned earlier.
"She's going to kill you when she waked up you know." She informed him.
"At least she'll have the strength for it." He retorted, carrying her gently up the stairs to the boys' dorm. He placed her gently on his bed, removing her robes and muttering a switching spell to make her shirt and jeans become pajamas. He tucked her under his blankets and placed a kiss on her temple. "You're a crazy witch." He mumbled in affectionate annoyance as he left the room.
He climbed down the stairs to see that Ginny had cleared up Hermione's mug. They were the only two left in the common room, everyone else was in bed. He grabbed his mug and took a swig to fortify himself and then set to work on the homework she hadn't finished.
He had planned this out. He knew she would have the entire thing planned out beforehand so he could finish her assignments according to her thoughts and she could add space to the paper and edit it magically when she woke up, if need be. Ron had been paying attention in classes this year and had gotten much better at schoolwork.
He grinned at the neat maps of all of her assignments and set to work finishing them. Ginny came up beside him, sending him a knowing smile.
"What?" He asked.
"You're sweet with her." Was all she replied before grabbing Hermione's plan for their astronomy assignment and setting to work on it.
A couple hours later and they had just finished up all of her work. Ron stretched his back over the top of the chair and rubbed his hand, mind swimming with work he had now done twice. They organized all her work carefully in her bag and had just finished as they heard footsteps on the stairs. Ron stiffened and Ginny snickered. Hermione appeared at the bottom of them, hands on her hips.
"Ronald Bilius Weasley! You slipped me dreamless sleep!" Ron winced and Ginny smirked. She marched over to him but instead of hexing him she threw her arms around him. His arms automatically encircled her waist. He saw Ginny's mouth drop open at Hermione's reaction over her shoulder.
"Thank you." She whispered and he softened completely.
"I love you." he mumbled into her hair, holding her to him. She pulled back, eyes glazed slightly and then kissed him.
"Unbelievable." Ginny mumbled. "If I'd done that she would've cursed me into next week." Hermione giggled and threaded her hand through Ron's.
Her mouth turned into a small frown. "But what about all my assignments?" She asked.
"Done." Ron said. "We followed your plans to the letter. You can edit them tomorrow if you want."
"And the plans for the Yule Ball?" She asked skeptically.
"The head boy handled them." Ron grinned as Hermione chuckled. "You can look over those too." She eyed them longingly.
"Tomorrow." He emphasized, expression leaving no room for argument. She pursed her lips. "You only slept for a couple of hours." He shouldered her bag. "Do I need to carry you up again?" She rolled her eyes good naturedly.
"Night Ginny." She said to the bemused redhead behind them.
"Night Gin Gin." Ron added.
Ginny glared. "Night."
"I'll just put this in my room." Hermione told Ron, grabbing her bag from him. She reappeared in his dorm a little while later. Neville was the only other one to come back and he was in the room of requirement with Hannah so they had it to themselves. She appeared to have gotten her hair into something at least manageable and rub the makeup off of her face.
He looked up from his Chudley Cannons book as she entered and she laughed not unkindly at the title. "Of course." She said, climbing in beside him.
"Thanks for caring enough to drug me." She whispered to him in the dark.
"Anytime." He replied and she giggled.
"Goodnight Hermione." He whispered, putting his arms around her.
"Goodnight Ron." She replied just as soft, resting a hand on top of his arm.
That ended up being the story Ginny told in her wedding toast to them as maid of honour to general shock and amusement. Minerva was scandalized that Ron and Ginny had done some of Hermione's work for her and Harry was upset he'd missed that interaction. His words had been "Of course you stop arguing when I'm not there."
Ron and Hermione just smiled at each other. That was when they'd known they were endgame.