Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not mine (if that changes you will be the first to know)

Chapter 6: Ron's advice

I woke up happy, thinking of my talk with Ron. Then I remembered my encounter with Hermione and my happiness quickly dissipated. I sighed and pulled on my clothes and made my way to breakfast, my feet dragging behind me. I trudged to the table and sat down on the other side of Ron. Hermione was on his other side and she didn't even acknowledge my presence. Ron was the mediator, sitting between us and trying to get us to talk to each other.

Hermione barely even looked Ron's way. When she did, I caught her eye and our gaze stayed locked. She blushed and broke our eye contact, shaking her head and looking away. Ron noticed and rolled his eyes and shook his head in disappointment. He then stood up and said he'd be back. After his departure, Hermione and I remained silent, neither of us looking at the other. I heard some one approach.

"Move over Hermione," I heard Lavender say. I heard Hermione whisper, "what," but Lavender obviously didn't hear and Hermione grudgingly complied and I felt her move closer to me.
As she brushed against me, I felt the jolt and I felt her stiffen in reaction. Smilingly inwardly at her discomfort, I purposely leaned in front of her to grab more food. I heard her quick intake of breath and I could imagine her blush.

Lavender must have been completely oblivious because she didn't say anything. The only thing she said was, "Where's Ron?" which actually interrupted my evil plot of slowly torturing Hermione. Where was Ron?

"I'm not sure," I stated, thoroughly perplexed by his long absence.

"He said he'd be right back, but that was 20 minutes ago," Hermione supplied. "Why do you want to know?" she inquired, raising an eyebrow inquisitively

"Uh, no reason, just that the three of you are always together," she said quickly, her excuse easily seen through.

"Well actually, I sometimes find that I'd rather be with only one other person doing something, instead of all three of us. Don't you Hermione?" I asked slyly, but she caught my insinuation.

"Well I suppose, but only if the one person your with does something enjoyable for both of you," she countered triumphantly. Touché', I thought. Once again, however, Lavender was completely ignorant to Hermione's and my attacks on each other.

"Well, he's not here. Can you tell him to come talk to me?" She stood up.

"Sure," we said simultaneously. We looked at each other then looked away immediately. Even though Lavender left, creating more space, I realized that Hermione and I were still against each other. I once again marveled at the effect she had on me. I saw Ron heading over towards us, looking confused.

"So here's where you two have been. Geeze, I leave you for a couple minutes and you can't keep off of each other," he joked. Hermione looked at Ron and then at me and then moved away from me. I frowned over the lack of contact. We got up and started following Ron out of the hall.

"Ron, it wasn't...Lavender, she...We weren't.." Hermione began.

"Its ok Hermione, I was just kidding," Ron said half laughing.

"I.."

"Really Hermione, apparently words aren't your forte today," Ron joked. "I'm ok with it, Hermione. All of it," he said fully serious.

"But, I, uh, that is I though that you.."

"You thought that I liked you?" he supplied. She nodded and he continued. "I do. I didn't expect my crush on you to magically end, but you're not the only girl worth of my affection," Ron stated pompously as he stuck out his chest.

"Oh, pardon me," Hermione said sarcastically. "So who's the other lucky girl?" she inquired jocularly.

"Well, uh..." he hesitated and began to blush. "Um I don't think you know her."

"We don't?" I asked, completely fooled by his lie.

"Oh, I think we know Lavender well enough," Hermione said, while an evil, knowing smile played at her lips.

"Lavender!?" I asked completely surprised.

"Wh-who said it was her?" Ron tried, but all for naught.

"Ron, you might as well have said it. It's written all over your face," Hermione said.

"I didn't know," I replied honestly.

"Yeah well Harry, you're pretty dense when it comes to girls. It was so obvious."

"Hey, that's not-" I began.

"Speaking of obvious, when are you two going to stop being idiots and go out with each other?" Ron interrupted. We looked at each other and blushed. "C'mon, you both know you like each other. How long have you liked each other? Since third year?"

Finally able to speak, Hermione asked, "Since when did you become a dating expert?"

"I'm not, but you're smart enough, Hermione to see that you like each other," he stated simply. He seemed to stump her with this because she didn't say anything else. Ron, however, wasn't done and he turned to me.

"Its as simple as this: Harry, you like Hermione. Hermione, you like Harry. Quit being a prat about it and ask her out, Harry. You want to know why I never told anyone about my crush on Hermione?" I nodded.

"Because I saw how you to responded to each other. I mean sure, you're best friends, but it was more than that. Most of the adventures we've gone on, you two have always been by each other. You subconsciously put yourselves together." Ron sounded much older than he was after his speech and it made me feel stupid.

With that sermon, Ron left a confounded Hermione and me standing, gawking at his retreating form. Once out of our trance, we gazed at each other, not saying anything, non-verbally communicating with each other. When my courage finally surfaced, I opened my mouth to speak, my mind forming words my mouth wouldn't utter. Hermione seemed more capable but she said only one word, my name. Her one word affected me so much and it made my heartbeat quicken.

It was then I realized that I didn't need some elaborate, well thought out speech. Once again, Hermione made me forget everything except breathing, and even that was in short intakes of air. I took a deep breath and said," Hermione, Ron's right." Wow, go figure, I thought. "What happened between us? You said you don't want to ruin our friendship, but if I can't have all of you, I don't think that I could handle having you and not being able to be with you."

"Neither could I," she said honestly, unspoken emotions in her eyes.

"Hermione, I'm not good at this sort of thing, but would you…" Hermione obviously felt pity towards me and she abruptly ended my sentence by kissing me. My whole body tingled from the kiss and I knew that she felt the same. I couldn't really explain what I felt, but all that I could say was that it was...perfect. The kiss. Her. Everything.

When we broke apart, we both blushed and looked at our feet, overcome with an awkward silence. Thankfully, Hermione grabbed my hand, a hint of a blush visible on her face, and pulled me along.

"Let's go find Ron so that he can gloat about how "right" he was," Hermione said, sighing in an amused, exasperated tone and rolling her eyes. We walked in a comfortable silence, content on walking and holding hands.

A/N: Reviews will always be appreciated