A/N: Thanks to Fool4Sasuke, Lioness, Emma, and Deidre for reviewing! I really, really appreciate it. You all should follow their lead and review!! ) This chapter is a bit short; I'll go ahead and warn ya. It's going to be from Ron's POV for just a bit in the beginning for a nice change. Enjoy!!

Oh yeah, and I don't own any of this. J.K. is amazing!

Talk is Cheap

Chapter 3

There was no doubt in Ron's mind: Hermione had done something terrible after leaving the party. There was a look in her eyes he had never seen before—a look of utter desperation. He was genuinely scared of what she was going to tell him. But it was Hermione, for God's sake. What could she have done that was so horrible? She stripped in front of the whole house, Ron; she could've done anything. He felt guilty for even thinking such a thing about her, but it was the truth wasn't it? If she could find it in her to do a striptease, she could've found it in her to, say, kiss the wrong person…. But who? Ron didn't really even want to think about it.

But he was going to have to, because Hermione needed someone to talk to, and she was sitting right there in front of him. She was still sitting there, her fingers still on her lips, eyes glazed over with tears. Ron waved his hand in front of her face.

"Hermione, what is it? What did you remember?" But she just shook her head violently.

"No. Ron, we have to go to Potions," she said quietly as she stood up, grabbing her backpack from the floor.

"Wait, Hermione, tell me!" he said, taking her hand and pulling her back around to face him.

"No, Ron! Just leave me alone, okay?" She glared at him, jerked her hand out of his, and flung the door open. Ron just stood in the doorway, shocked. He sighed and followed her down the stairs.

AAAA

Hermione didn't know what in the world she was going to do. She did know one thing for sure: liquor would never pass her lips again. As she stormed out of the room, leaving Ron in her wake, she knew she was being unfair to him. But what could she do? There was no way in hell she could tell him what happened after she left the common room that night. She could barely stand to admit it to herself. She stopped short when she realized she had reached the dungeons. She had been so lost in thought on the way down that she hadn't even realized where she was walking. She could have passed Merlin on the way down and not noticed. She swallowed. It was now or never. She had to go to class, no matter what looks and whispers awaited her there. She held her breath and opened the door to Snape's classroom.

AAAA

The looks and whispers had not relented since breakfast. All eyes were on her, following her every move. She sank down into her seat next to Harry. He looked at her sympathetically, patted her on the shoulder and leaned over. He breathed into her ear, "Don't worry about them, 'Mione. It's going to be all right." She glanced at him and forced a smile. It isn't them I'm worried about. But all she said was "Thanks, Harry." It was at this point that Ron came into the dungeon and sat in his regular seat next to Hermione. He was going to try his best not to be angry with her; she had been through enough already. Hermione looked at him sheepishly, sorry for the way she had talked to him a few minutes earlier. She mouthed the words "I'm sorry, Ron," afraid that if she spoke, she might cry. He smiled and reached for her hand. "It's okay, Hermione," he mouthed back. They kept looking into each other's eyes, and Ron stroked the palm of her hand with his thumb. The rest of the room seemed to disappear, and Hermione was lost in his eyes. All thoughts of what happened the night before left her mind, nothing mattered except the fact that her best friend Ron Weasley was looking deeply into her eyes and doing all the right things to make her feel whole again.

Ron didn't know what he should do. This was the perfect opportunity to kiss her, but there were so many things working against him. For one, they were in Snape's class, and he would walk in any second, and Ron knew he would not be giving him and Hermione the warmest of congratulations on their newfound love. He also didn't know if it would be wrong to kiss her while she was feeling vulnerable. But even as these thoughts entered his mind, he found himself leaning in to kiss her. To his great surprise (and pleasure), Hermione closed her eyes and leaned into him. Their lips were about 4 centimeters away from each other when Snape came into the room, his black robes billowing behind him. He entered so quietly that Ron and Hermione didn't even notice. Their faces drew closer together. His lips were about to close over hers…

Snape reached them, put both hands on the table, and leaned over right in front of them. "50 points from Gryffindor. I don't tolerate public displays of affection in my classroom," he said in his soft, deliberate voice.

Ron and Hermione broke apart, shocked and embarrassed. Ron was seething; what else could go wrong? He narrowed his eyes at Snape, looking at him with as much hatred as he could muster.

Snape shifted his eyes from Ron to Hermione, and his expression immediately changed. The anger that had been radiating from his face as he looked at Ron morphed into concern for Hermione.

As she looked up at Snape, her mouth went dry. Everything that had left her mind a few minutes ago came rushing back. Snape opened his mouth to say something to her, and she abruptly got up, pushing her chair back. Without grabbing her things or looking back, she ran out of the dungeon. The class sat in silence, confused at what had just happened. Ron's thoughts were racing. He didn't know what in the bloody hell was happening, but he knew it must not be good.

Snape stood there for a split second, and Ron could have sworn that he saw a look of sadness come over him. But as quickly as the moment came, it passed. Snape turned on his heel and strode to the front of the room. "Open your books to page 230. Now!" he snapped. Harry and Ron glanced at each other. Harry could offer Ron nothing but a small shrug of his shoulders. He turned away from Harry, blocked Snape's voice out of his mind, and wondered what in the world just happened.

AAAA

Hermione was running up to the dormitory when she stopped dead in her tracks. She had to talk to him. She couldn't avoid it anymore. She would just wait until he got out of class, and sit down with him to have a talk about what had happened. It was really the best thing. She turned around, making her way back to the dungeon to wait for him.

AAAA

Ron sat in class, impatiently waiting for it to be over. There was nothing else on his mind except her. He needed to know what had happened last night, but he also needed to know if anything was going to happen between them. This waiting was completely agonizing. And what was that look Snape gave her? As if he actually cared about embarrassing her in front of the whole class. Ron nearly laughed out loud at this despite his misery. He doubted Snape could find it in his cold heart to care about anything, let alone Hermione, whom Ron knew he looked down upon as a "filthy little Mudblood." Ron was shaken from his thoughts as chairs started moving and people started getting up. Class was over. Ron stood up and faced Harry.

"What the hell, mate? What was with Snape today?" Harry asked quietly, narrowing his eyes across the room at the professor as he cleaned up his desk area.

"Huh?"

"You didn't notice how he was acting? All quiet, calm, and almost… nice," Harry said, scowling.

"I wasn't paying attention. All I can think about is Hermione and what she could've done that was so terrible," Ron said, gathering up all of his things.

"I know, she's acting like it's the end of the world. It isn't like she kissed Snape or something…" Harry said quietly, a laugh in his voice.

This made Ron drop his Potions book on the floor. He laughed lightly as he picked it up. "Now, that's a laugh, Harry," he said, stuffing it into his backpack and walking out the door, Harry following him.

Hermione was waiting outside the door. This brought a smile to Ron's face. She is waiting for me. She wants to explain. He opened his mouth to thank her for coming back, but she walked right past him into Snape's classroom. Ron turned slowly and watched Hermione close the door behind her. He turned to Harry.

"What in the hell?"

TBC

I hope you liked this chapter! Please review and tell me what you think!