XII
The Ten-Galleon Confession

-x- Hermione Granger & Ron Weasley –x-

'I don't quite know
How to say
How I feel…
Those three words
Are said too much
They're not enough.'

Ron Weasley wasn't what you would call a coward, per se, just a little bit frightened by a few specific things, such as spiders, dark forests, being shown up and confessions of the heart. Unfortunately for him though, with the impending arrival of none other than Viktor Krum looming, he was destined to have to face the last two fears on his relatively short list.

Krum, having responded in the affirmative to an invitation from one Miss Hermione Granger, was due to visit in two days time on a short holiday from Bulgaria, and Ron was, to put it simply, unbelievably pissed off about it. Not only was the great accented prat staying in his family home, much to the joy of his other siblings, oh no, he was also going to find some way to show up Ron in front of Hermione, he just knew it.

It was no great secret that the talented flyer had more than a bit of a crush on the bookish seventeen year-old, but then again, it was more than obvious that the jealous redhead did too, and this presented a bit of a problem… a problem that one Harry Potter had hatched a plan to fix.

It was no great, elaborate plan really; just a simple bet that would safely see Ron share his true feelings for Hermione. In doing this he would eliminate his fear of having Hermione taken away from him and give himself a confidence boost so that he would not be so easily shown up by Krum.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

'Pretty exciting isn't it, having a Bulgarian superstar staying in our house,' remarked Ginny as she, Harry, Hermione and Ron lay sprawled about on various surfaces of her somewhat cramped bedroom.

'Nrgh,' Ron grunted sourly, as Hermione and Ginny exchanged fed-up glances.

'I don't see what your problem is,' said Harry quietly, trying hard to suppress a grin as his plan started to play out; 'he's a nice enough bloke.'

'He's a world-famous, puffed-up, arrogant bludger-head,' spat Ron venomously at the carpet he was lying unorthodoxly on, 'that's what my problem is.'

'Do I detect a hint of jealousy?' said Ginny in a sing-song voice, smiling at Harry, who was battling laughter.

'No,' replied Hermione stiffly, 'you detect a hint of pigheadedness. Honestly Ronald, you're being dreadfully immature about this, Viktor is so looking forward to meeting everyone, why, in his last letter he -'

'I don't bloody care what Vicky said in his last bloody love letter,' interrupted Ron sulkily, 'I just wish he'd keep his great fat head in Bulgaria where it belongs.'

Sighing, Hermione got to her feet.
'I'm going to go and see what the twins are up to, want to join me Ginny?'

Ginny rolled her eyes before leaning over and smacking her brother up the side of his head.
'Stop being a stupid prat, Ron.'

When the girls had left, Harry, who'd been lying on the sofa with Ginny, stretched out his legs with a loud yawn.
'You have to tell her how you feel mate.'

'Tell who how I feel about what?' Ron asked in a muffled manner, still annoyed.

'Hermione… you have to tell Hermione how you fell in love with her all the way back in first year and have felt that way ever since.' Harry replied, grinning at the ceiling.

'What?' Ron yelped, his voice squeaky and shrill, 'I haven't liked her since first year!'

'But you do like her, don't you?'

'Well, yes…'

'So why not just tell her?'

Ron sat up, clutching the pillow he'd been fiddling with.
'Well… well, it's not that simple Harry.'

'Yes it is,' Harry said, 'I did it with Ginny didn't I? How will it be so different between you and Hermione?'

'You didn't tell her, you bloody snogged her! In front of everybody I might add,' the expression on Ron's face was decidedly indignant as he said this, and Harry laughed good-naturedly.

'So? Nobody's around here to see you, are they? If anything, it'll be easier for you.'

'Yeah, but you're you! Harry Potter! Any girl'd be bloody mad not to go out with you!'

Harry rolled his eyes, sighing tiredly.
'All right, that's it…I bet you ten galleons you can't tell her.'

'Well of course I can't bloody tell her, that's a stupid bet!' Ron replied, throwing his hands up in the air, 'besides, I don't have ten galleons to give you.'

'You'll have to tell her then, won't you?' said Harry, grinning mischievously as he got to his feet, 'I'm off to see Ginny, talk to you later.'

Cursing, Ron sat in the middle of the room for a moment before getting up, lobbing the pillow forcefully at his sister's bed, where it flopped dejectedly on top of the simple purple quilt.

'You aren't still moping about Viktor, are you?' asked a voice from behind him and he turned to see Hermione standing in the doorway.

'N-no,' he stammered quite truthfully, his ears beginning to glow a marvellous scarlet.

'What's the problem then?' she said, walking in and sitting down primly on the bed, looking up with that mildly concerned look she always seemed to have around him.

'Harry's… Harry's bet me to do something, but I can't, see, so I owe him ten galleons…' he said awkwardly, staring down at his feet.

'Ten galleons?' she echoed, 'that's an awful lot of money, doesn't he realise that you – oh, never mind.'

A heavy silence hung in the air between them… they both knew what she'd been about to say, she'd been about to say doesn't he realise that you can't afford it?

Hermione held a hand over her mouth, horrified, as she watched the colour drain from his face. It was unusual for him not to yell at her about something like this, and it unnerved her more than if he'd actually yelled at her.

'Oh Ron, I didn't mean it… you know what I meant,' she hoarsely, reaching out to touch his arm gently.

'I know,' he croaked, coughing to clear his throat and turning away.

'What is it he's bet you to do?' she asked hesitantly.

'Tell… tell you…' he was sweating now, his ears a flaming red and his face a sickly white colour, '…tell you s-something.'

She raised a graceful eyebrow.
'Tell me what?'

He turned to face her, stricken with panic.

'To tell you that I love you! But I can't! You believe me don't you, that I couldn't ever do something like that? You know that I'm a gutless coward and that I can't afford ten bloody galleons! I mean, Merlin above, how good a best mate is he betting me ten galleons on something like that? Blimey!'

'Are you finished?' she asked after he'd finished babbling.

'Erm, yes, I suppose I am,' he said, breathing heavily.

She smiled.
'Then I suppose you'd better go and claim your ten galleons then.'

He stared at her, confused for a minute, before realising what she was talking about. If it was possible, his face became even more pallid for a minute, before his face suddenly split into a huge, goofy grin. 'Blimey, I did it!'

'Yes, yes you did,' she said, laughing merrily.

He grinned at her for a few more seconds before coming to his senses and rushing out of the bedroom, clumping down the rickety staircase as he went, bellowing out for Harry as he went.

Shocked at the fact he'd just run out after confessing his undying love for her, Hermione sat dejectedly on the bed, feeling decidedly cheated. Wasn't that type of confession supposed to be accompanied by at least a hug? All she'd gotten was a stupid grin and an earful of babble. Not in the least romantic.

But as she stood up, ready to make her way downstairs, she smiled. Who was she to complain? That was just Ron, he wasn't smooth-talking Roger Davies or the endlessly charming late Cedric Diggory… he didn't have a romantic bone in his body. And yet, she loved him anyway, just for being him.

She was at the bottom of the staircase by the time she'd finished thinking this, and she was startled suddenly by none other than Ron himself, who'd come skidding out of the kitchen, ten fat gold galleons in his hands.

'Look 'Mione!' he cried, jubilant.

'Congratulations Ron,' she said softly, smiling gently.

'Thanks,' he said, taking one last loving look at them before stuffing them into his pocket, 'you know what I'm going to do with them?'

'What?' she said, glancing down at the hand he'd just held out to her before taking it in her smaller one.

'Take you out to dinner, if you'll let me,' he replied, the silly grin on his face softening into a smile of pure joy.

So maybe he had a romantic bone or two in him after all…

A/N: lyrics used - "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol.

so. can i just take a moment to say OHMYGOD about the new book? i'm going to go ahead and admit that i read it in one sitting until the early hours of the morning and enjoyed it a lot. it was a good book. but argh! she killed off so many good characters! i was sobbing by the end of it. honestly. -shakes head-

so yeah, if you've read it let me know so we can rant about it together.. because a lot of people haven't finished it yet.
Ash x