A/N- We are finally there! This chapter covers the first two chapters of the original, and I am so excited to be getting into familiar territory! I chose not to put the pulley conversation from the first chapter in here, but it is mentioned at the beginning!

Thanks (again) to Cheesy (cheesyficwriter), Accio (accio_broom), and Be11a (be11atrixthestrange) for the beta! Go check out their fics, Isolated, Lego House, and Completely Mental (just thought up the first completed fics of theirs that came to mind!)

As always, thank you so much for reading. I'd love to hear what you think! Otherwise, I don't know how well a chapter is received just FYI :)

oOo

Ron let out a frustrated groan as he read over the little slips of paper from last night. He had hoped that his pulley conversation with Hermione had been just a dream, but right in front of him was the evidence that that wasn't the case. As soon as he had woken up, his trembling hands laid them all out on the floor and put them in the correct order. To his horror, the contents of them were even worse than what he only vaguely remembered.

What the hell had he been thinking?

Sure, he had been pretty drunk, but he hadn't been that drunk. He took a deep breath, internally summarizing what had happened. He had gone to his usual Friday night party and taken several shots. Then, he had come home and used the pulley to talk to Hermione. He had basically told her that he wanted to bring her along to a party so he could snog her. He tried to get her to admit that he was handsome, he told her that she was beautiful, and then he tried over and over to get her to agree to marry him one day- all of which she had denied him.

He was pathetic.

Fortunately, from her responses and what he remembered of her behavior last night, he was pretty certain that she hadn't taken him seriously, and that at least made him feel somewhat better. The fact was that it had been too close. He could have ended up telling her how he felt, telling her everything, and that was something that he couldn't allow to happen.

Ron stood up and started to get dressed. He needed to talk to Hermione. Now. He wasn't planning on bringing up last night if she didn't ask, but still, he needed to see how she reacted to him, to see how much he had royally fucked up. Just as he was zipping up his jeans, a knock sounded on his door. He turned around to see it opening, his mum standing in the doorway, wincing as if in pain as her eyes scanned his room.

"Ronald Weasley," she chastised. "This room is horrid."

"Muuuum! I'll clean it tomorrow, I promise," he started. "I need to go over to Hermione's to-"

His mum cut him off with a shake of her head. "Absolutely not. You are not leaving this room until it is spotless."

Ron let out a loud groan as he threw himself face forward onto his bed, knowing that there was no use in arguing with her.

"I mean it, Ronnie," she continued. "Spotless."

He heard his mother retreat before another voice at his doorway sounded only a moment later.

"I swear, Ron, you are the most dramatic person ever," Ginny said, and when Ron turned his head, he saw her standing in his open doorway, a smirk on her face. "It will be okay, Ron. Just ask Hermione to come help you."

Ron shot her a glare. "She's working on an essay today."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "I think we both know that if you put on your pathetic puppy dog face, she will do whatever you ask of her. She's never been good at telling you no, although, in her defense, you do cave to her faster than she does to you."

Ron picked up his pillow and chucked it at her head, missing it as she laughed.

"I'm just telling the truth!" she quipped as she walked away.

A few minutes later, Ron decided that he would attempt a shot at asking Hermione over to help him, but he tried not to be too optimistic. Hoping to come across as desperate as possible, he wrote her a message and put it in the pail.

HELP! EMERGENCY! Mum forcing me to clean my room. I NEED YOU!

He put it in the pail before sending it across the way, delighted when she appeared only a few seconds later. She looked a tad annoyed as she opened her window, and Ron knew that she had been in the middle of doing her schoolwork.

He stared at her as she took the piece of paper out of the pail, clasping his hands together in front of him as if in prayer so she could see. He tried to make his eyes as big as possible, and he stuck out his lower lip for added effect. He managed to hold his dramatic composure as he watched her laugh at his act.

When she read his note, she looked back up at him and firmly shook her head no. But Ron wasn't going to give up that easily, so he stuck his lip even further out before pretending to wipe a tear from his eye. He knew that her resolve was weakening when he saw her glance at her desk before writing a note back to him.

Essay.

Ron knew she was torn, so he tried to get her to relent.

Hermione, if I know you (and I do, thank you very much), you are already done and just going over it a million times before you are satisfied. Am I not more important to you than a bloody essay?

That's a tough question.

Get your arse over here, Granger!

15 minutes. Don't bug me before then.

Scout's honor!

He smiled as he closed his window before looking around at his room. It was pretty bad at the moment- even for him. He knew that as soon as Hermione walked in, she would disapprove and nag at him about it, but he figured that he wouldn't mind because at least she'd be there. He started to pick up a few things, lazily throwing his dirty clothes into a hamper, but about five minutes later, he flopped down on his bed to wait for Hermione.

oOo

He was still there, deep in thought, when his door was flung open with no warning. Thinking his mum was coming in to make sure that he was cleaning, Ron jumped up and picked up a shirt off of the floor. When he saw that it was Hermione, though, he sighed in relief.

"A knock would have been nice, Hermione!" he chastised as she let out a laugh. "What if you had walked in on me while I had been wanking or something?"

She grimaced. "Then I would be forced to have my eyeballs surgically removed," she replied as he let out a barking laugh.

Their banter was how it usually was, and Ron felt himself relax, relieved that he hadn't fucked things up after all.

Hermione again grimaced as she looked around at the disaster that was his room. "This is even worse than usual, Ron!"

"I did tell you that it was an emergency!" he said as he walked towards her. "Besides, you willingly walked into this situation, Buttercup, so you can't back out now."

"I agreed under duress," she replied as she bent down and picked up a piece of melted chocolate that was stuck to a dirty sock. She held it out in front of her with two fingers before walking it to the trash bag in the middle of the room. "And don't call me Buttercup."

He smiled to himself, not wanting to miss the opportunity to tease her a bit more. "Princess?" he asked.

"No."

"Sunshine?"

"No."

"Cutie Pie?"

She let out an exasperated breath and glared at him. "Hermione will work."

"Okay, how about Queen Hermione."

At his words, a smug grin crossed her face. "If I'm queen, I get to tell you what to do. So CLEAN!"

"Fiiinnne," he grumbled as he started picking up his dirty clothes.

They both threw themselves into cleaning then, hardly even talking as they worked together. Ron couldn't help but sneak glances at her every few minutes. Even though her attention was on cleaning rather than on him, he had always loved how she looked when she threw herself into any project- as if nothing else mattered. He didn't know how she always managed to look both adorable and sexy as fuck, but she did so flawlessly.

Around noon, Ron stopped cleaning because he felt hungry, and he left Hermione alone in his room before heading downstairs to make them both a sandwich. He walked into the kitchen, running into Ginny, who was standing at the counter pouring herself some tea.

"You look marginally happier than you did earlier," she mused, and Ron shrugged in response, choosing not to take her bait as he grabbed the various ingredients to make sandwiches.

"Have you two finally snogged or something?" Ginny continued in a teasing voice.

Ron turned to glare at her. "No."

Ginny giggled. "Well, be sure to let me know when it happens!" she replied as she walked out of the kitchen, Ron glaring at her retreating form.

Ron made Hermione's sandwich first, but once he finished making it, he realized that he had put mustard on it. Hermione didn't like mustard, so Ron started to eat that one while he made her another. Once finished, he put her sandwich on a plate and made them a large cup of ice water to share.

Heading back to his room, he had already finished half of his sandwich, and he looked down at Hermione's plate as he walked, an idea forming in his mind. Smiling, he picked up her sandwich and took a small bite out of the side.

When he made it to his room, he walked in to see Hermione already sitting in the middle of his floor waiting for him. He said nothing as he sat next to her and handed her her plate. He tried to remain straight-faced, and when Hermione went to pick up her sandwich, she let out a huff of frustration.

"Ron! Why did you take a bite out of my sandwich?!" she asked in an irritated voice.

Smiling on the inside, he leaned over to study her sandwich. He kept his face blank before looking back up at her, trying to appear innocent. "I don't see it," he replied, now unable to keep the smirk off his face as he sat back and took another bite out of his sandwich.

She didn't respond, but he watched as she carefully set her plate down on the floor before lunging at him. Hermione grabbed his hand that held his sandwich, trying to take a bite out of it in retaliation. Ron was startled, but he realized what was happening and threw himself backwards, reaching his hand holding his food high above his head.

It happened so fast, and all of a sudden, he was lying back on the floor, with Hermione right on top of him, the front of her body pressed tightly against his. He felt her body stiffen as she froze, and when she looked down at his face, he couldn't help but grin up at her. To his disappointment, she immediately scrambled off of him and sat back to where she had been sitting before, her cheeks now pink.

He sat up as well and stuffed the rest of his sandwich in his mouth, still giddy about what had happened but saying nothing, not wanting to embarrass her. They ate in silence as they shared the glass of water, and when they had finished, Hermione insisted that they continue their task to get his room clean.

oOo

It took three more hours, but afterwards Ron allowed Hermione to lay on his bed while he splayed himself out on his now clean floor, both of them exhausted.

He clasped his hands behind his head in a makeshift pillow, crossing his feet at his ankles and closing his eyes.

"You owe me big time, Weasley," he heard her say, but he only let out a sigh in response.

Ron thought about the way Hermione had fallen on top of him, remembering what her body had felt like against his, how perfectly she had fit. He was definitely going to have to find some inconspicuous way to re-create that scenario, and was thinking of ways to do just that when he heard the bed let out a squeak as if Hermione had made a sudden movement.

Confused, he opened his eyes.

"You okay up there?" he asked, not able to see her from where he lay.

"Yeah," she squeaked. "I'm fine."

He knew her enough to know that something was off, so he sat up to look at her. She was staring at the ceiling, her eyes wide, almost panicky looking.

"What's wrong?" he asked, knowing something had happened, though he had no inkling of what it could have been.

He saw her startle at his voice before her head snapped to the side to look at him.

"Nothing's wrong," she squeaked again, and Ron now knew without a doubt that she wasn't telling him the truth.

"You look like you've just seen a ghost or something. My room's not haunted, is it?" He gave her a lopsided grin.

Still looking alarmed, she shook her head no at him.

"Oookay. Girls are barmy," he muttered under his breath as he laid back down, his words partly because it was true, and partly to tease her.

"When's your next party?" she asked him a moment later in a calmer voice.

The question as to why she had just been acting the way she had left his mind as he thought about her coming with him to tonight's party. Excited, he threw himself on the bed next to her, landing on his stomach as he propped himself up on his elbows to stare down at her. She let out a cry of surprise at his quick movement.

"Tonight. Do you want to come with me?" he asked, but was disappointed as he watched her grimace in response.

"No, I'm still not interested in going to any parties, Ron," Hermione said as he felt his face fall. "Sorry."

Ron groaned. "Awww, man, you got my hopes up there for a second."

He threw his body fully down on the bed, and now his face was on the pillow next to hers. He was so close that if she were to turn her head, they would only be inches apart. The thought made his heart start to beat faster. She stayed still, though, and he again felt disappointment.

"I wish you would come with me sometime," he continued. "I think you would have fun. I would protect you if anyone decided to be mean or get handsy, you know that I would."

"I know," she replied. "That's not the reason- I just-I've never gotten along with people my age."

He sat up again and looked at her, his heart beating even faster. "You get along with me, " he reminded her, giving her a small smile as he did so.

"You're... different."

Hermione was so close. Ron's hands began to sweat as he looked down at her. Her chest was heaving, and he dared to hope that the reason was because of his proximity. Unconsciously, he licked his lips, and he watched as her eyes followed the movement of his tongue, making his cock stir in his jeans.

"How so?" he whispered, leaning in just a bit.

"I-I don't know."

When he started to lean in even closer, Hermione abruptly sat up before jumping out of his bed. He internally cursed himself as she grabbed her sweater that she had been wearing earlier off of his dresser.

"I need to get home, actually," she told him, her voice strained. "Mum wanted me to help with dinner tonight. Let me know how the party was when you get home, okay?"

Ron stared at her, trying not to let the defeat he now felt show on his face. "Right. I'll use the pulley system to let you know how it goes," he said dully, unable to act cheerful.

"Great. See you later!" she said as she made her way out, leaving him sitting there, feeling stunned.

"Fuck!" he hissed as he picked up his pillow and flung it across his now-clean room in anger.

What had he been thinking? Not that he ever thought she did, but from the notes last night alone, he knew for certain that Hermione wasn't even the least bit interested in him like that, yet he had very nearly bloody kissed her just now! If she hadn't jumped up at the moment she had, he definitely would have, and he shuddered to think how she would have reacted.

He was fucking losing his grip on the things he said and the way he acted around her, and this was not a good thing. Although a part of him was desperate to just tell her the truth, to unload all of his feelings and tell her everything, the rational part of him was terrified because he knew that he would only get rejected, and to be honest, he wasn't sure if he could even handle that particular rejection.

Ron had never been rejected before by the girls that he snogged at parties. He knew that it was because he was never the one to start things and that if a girl was interested enough, she would come up to him. Even if he were to get rejected by a random bird, though, it would probably hurt his ego, but he would be fine. If he got rejected by Hermione, it would be one hundred percent different, and he wouldn't be able to stomach it- just the thought of it happening made him feel nauseous.

oOo

He lay on his bed doing nothing but think the same negative thoughts over and over. After what seemed to be several hours, he heard a knock on his door. For a second, his heart leapt in his chest. Was it Hermione coming back? When his mum popped her head in, he tried to push down his disappointment.

She smiled as her eyes scanned his room. "This room looks spectacular! And dinner is ready, dear." She looked around the room again. "Where's Hermione? Did she leave already?"

Ron tried not to grimace at the memory of why Hermione had left. "Yep. She went home," he responded in a dull voice. "Couldn't have left fast enough."

His mum gave him a concerned look. "Did something happen between you two?"

The last thing Ron wanted to do was discuss his feelings about Hermione with his mum, so he sat up with a groan. "No, nothing happened, Mum, she just needed to get home. I'll be down in a minute."

His mum looked like she wanted to ask him more, but she didn't. Instead, she gave him a nod and left, closing the door behind her. Ron sat there for a few minutes longer. He couldn't get the panicked look that had been on Hermione's face out of his mind. Really though, what else was he expecting? Like she would ever fancy the idea of snogging him! With a sigh, he stood up and headed downstairs, still feeling glum.

Once at the table, he managed to put on a happy face for his family, but still, he didn't say much as they all sat around and ate their dinner. He was hardly paying any attention to the conversation, instead forming a plan in his mind about how he was going to get to the party tonight.

He knew that his mum wouldn't let him go since he had gone out last night, so he would just have to sneak out. His parents weren't too strict, but they had their limits on how much they let him do. He had convinced them that Dave was a standup guy, and that Ron went over to his house to play board games with friends. He knew that his mum was more comfortable when he was with Hermione though, as she trusted her inexplicably, much more than she trusted even him.

Nothing significant happened at dinner, and after everyone had eaten, the family watched TV for a while before retiring to their bedrooms. Ron lay in his bed until around eleven, and after he was positive that everyone else was asleep, he got dressed and walked downstairs, easily slipping out of the front door.

oOo

On the walk over to Dave's house, Ron thought even more about how he had almost kissed Hermione. He could see the scene perfectly in his mind as if he had actually done it. His lips would have met hers, and Ron would have been in heaven for approximately half a second before receiving a stinging slap to the face. She would have jumped up and yelled at him before telling him that she didn't want to have anything to do with him anymore, and then he would lose her forever.

He made it to Dave's house and opened the door, the loud music drowning out almost all of the other noises around. He was greeted by other familiar faces, and he managed to smile in return, but his mood was as bad as ever. Instead of heading to play beer pong as he usually did, he walked to the kitchen where all the alcohol was.

Ron wanted to get drunk tonight. He wanted to forget how much of an idiot he was, and that he was forever doomed to love someone that he could never have. Pouring a couple shots of tequila, and a couple shots of vodka, Ron downed them all in a quick manner. He made a JD and coke and held it as he walked to the living room and plopped down onto the sofa. Sitting in silence, he watched the party-goers laughing and dancing around him as he sipped his drink. By the way the room was swaying even as he sat completely still, he could tell that he was already drunk, but unfortunately, it hadn't lifted his mood.

He turned his head to the left when he felt someone sit next to him on the sofa. It was a blonde girl who he had never seen before, and she was staring at him expectantly. When he didn't do anything but turn his head away from her, she slid closer to him.

"Hi," she said in a casual voice.

When he again turned to look at her, she batted her eyelashes at him. "What's your name?"

"Ron," he grunted, taking another sip of his drink.

"I like your hair," she mused as her hand slid up and down his arm as he eyed it warily. "Want to find a more private location?"

It hit him just then that she wanted to snog, but he didn't feel like snogging tonight. "I'm in love," he blurted out, too drunk to hold it in any longer.

Her eyebrows furrowed. "Excuse me?"

"Not with you!" he said, feeling annoyed that she hadn't understood. "With my best friend."

"Okay…" the girl said, obviously confused. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I don't want to kiss you," he said as if the answer were obvious. "I want to kiss her."

The girl let out a bit of a frustrated sigh. "Well, I can see that I'm not going to get anywhere with you tonight," she said, eyeing the room as if looking for someone else.

"What should I do?" he asked her in a whining voice, for some reason thinking that she could give him the answer he was looking for.

She sighed again. "Well, does she know that you feel that way about her?"

He shook his head, stopping as he started to feel dizzy. "No. Of course not!"

"Well, then tell her."

"Tell her?" he asked incredulously.

"Yes," she answered. "It's that simple."

"But it's not," he tried to explain. "It's not simple at all. You don't know her, you don't know how she is."

"How is she?"

"She's better. Better than me, I mean. I don't deserve her."

"Maybe let her be the judge of that," she replied.

"What if she doesn't want to be my friend anymore?" he asked. "Or I make it awkward? Or she hates me for it?"

The girl shrugged. "I don't know. Then don't tell her, whatever."

Ron ran his hands down his face. "I don't know what to doooo," he groaned.

"She at least deserves to know, so I think you should just tell her."

"You do?" he asked, pulling his hands away from his face to look at her. "Maybe I should."

"Then go tell her," she responded, now looking quite bored.

Ron jumped up, swaying and almost falling. As drunk as he was, he knew that he wouldn't be able to walk home.

"Dave! Take me home!" he yelled out as he spied Dave with his new girlfriend, Charlotte.

Dave turned around. "Already? Why?"

"I just need to go home," Ron slurred. "Can you drive?"

Dave nodded. "I'm not drinking tonight. I'll take you."

They headed out together, and minutes later, Dave was dropping Ron off in front of his house before pulling away and heading back to the party. Ron staggered towards his house, a large grin on his face that wouldn't go away.

He was going to tell her. He was going to tell Hermione that he was in love with her.