Chapter 8: Guilty

Ron and Hermione walked back to the castle. They didn't really say much to each other, each one had too much on their minds.

Though both of them had really loved the time spent with one another, Ron was starting to second guess everything. He knew he could trust Hermione with everything, just like he did Harry, and the bet was really nagging at his conscience.

"So, do you want to hear back to the tower?" asked Hermione, as she took her hat and scarf off. The castle seemed to be exceptionally warm for some reason. Or maybe it was just how Ron was making her feel.

"I'm in no hurry, but we can if you want." said Ron, sticking her hands in his pocket.

"I just feel like walking around." she said as she linked arms with him, making Ron's ears glow red with blush.

The two walked silently like this down the halls, going nowhere in particular. Having her so close to him made the urge to tell even stronger.

"I have a hypothetical question for you." he said.

"Okay, I'm listening."

"Say you had this friend. Say you really liked this friend, but you were unsure if the person liked you back, so you kind of keep everything in." said Ron, nervously.

"Go on.." said Hermione not knowing exactly what to think.

"Say that this friend got roped into something really dumb. Something that could potentially hurt your feelings..."

"Whats going on?" she asked. She prepared herself for what she knew was coming.

Ron sighed. He was never clever with his wording. Maybe he should have tried something else.

Then again, maybe he should just stop being such a bitch and tell her the truth.

"I need to tell you something. But you have to promise not to be angry with me." said Ron, stopping and turning towards Hermione, who had also stopped and leaned against the wall.

"I can't promise that, Ron. What if it's bad?"

"Well then I just won't tell you." said Ron, instantly regretting it.

"On no you don't, Ronald Weasley! You have to tell me now, you bright it up after all!" yelled Hermione, pointing her finger in his face scoldingly.

"But I don't want you to be mad at me." said Ron avoiding Hermione's eyes.

"I'll be even more mad at you if you don't tell me and I find out what it is from somebody else!"

Ron sighed. "You have a point." he said. "Okay fine. Let's go in here and talk then."

He led her through the door of an unused classroom. It used to be an old Transfiguration room, until McGonagall decided to have a bigger classroom.

Ron waved his wand over the teacher's desk, cleaning the dust off of it. Hermione hopped up into it, ready to hear what Ron had to say.


"So you know how us blokes can be gits, right?" chuckled Ron nervously.

"Yes..."

Ron gulped. "Okay. So, Harry, Zabini, Malfoy, and I came up with something totally barmy to do. Actually, it isn't barmy, more like wrong."

Hermione sighed. So he was actually going to tell her. Did she really want to hear this?

"I didn't want to go along with it, but like an idiot, I did anyways." said Ron, looking like he was about to be sick.

Hermione decided to put him out of his misery. "Is this about the bet? Because if it is, we already know." she said in a solemn voice.

Ron had a mix of surprise and fear on his face. "How did you find out?"

"Pansy eavesdropped on you four. And may I just say, I'm truly disappointed in you Ron, I really am." said Hermione as she felt tears begin to form in her eyes.

"What? Why? I mean I know it was wrong, but I didn't-"

"I thought you were different." said Hermione. "I thought I could actually trust you. I can't even believe I thought we could have something real. My mistake."

Hermione hopped off the desk and headed towards the door. Ron quickly grabbed her arm.

"Wait a second, you're not going anywhere. What the bloody hell are you talking about?"

"What do you mean what I'm talking about?! It was you and your sick friends evil bet. You only see me as a shag! How do you think I'm supposed to feel knowing-"

"No! You're wrong, totally wrong! Yes we all made a bet, and yes they want to shag your friends, but that's not what I'm after!" said Ron, turning her towards him.

"And now you're going to stand here and lie to me?!" yelled Hermione angrily.

"I'm not lying, I promise you Hermione! They only bet they made with me was that I wouldn't be able to ask you out by Valentine's Day!" yelled Ron.

" But...you...and Pansy had said-"

"Pansy must have not heard everything or she is a bloody liar." said Ron, softly. "They thought betting me to ask you out would push me to do so. I don't see you as just a shag. You're mean more than that."

Hermione looked into Ron's deep pools of blue. She saw the sincerity in his eyes, and the desperation in his face for her to believe him.

Hermione loosened up the tension she was holding ever since the conversation started. "So, you actually have feelings for me?" she asked.

"I would be bloody mental not to, Hermione. You're brilliant!" said Ron, thankful that she wasn't going to take his head off his body.

Hermione blushed, a childish grin crept onto her face. She looked down at the ground, trying to hide it. She felt like a silly firstie with a crush.

"Sorry for yelling at you." she said quietly.

"I deserved it. I shouldn't have let them talk me into it. I should have just came to you myself, but I was scared you wouldn't want to be more than just friends." said Ron, rubbing the back of his neck shyly.

"I thought the same thing of you actually." said Hermione, feeling a bit more confident.

"Really? So, you like me?" said Ron as he perked up.

"Of course, you silly git." laughed Hermione.

"So, if I was to ask you out right now, would you say yes?" asked Ron, feeling a bit excited.

Hermione smiled brightly. "Dunno. You haven't asked me out yet." she said, smirking.

"You're making this difficult." said Ron, laughing.

"How? All you have to do is ask a question."

"Well, sometimes it's hard for a bloke to do that. There's so many factors to consider. You could be still be irritated with me, you may not be in the mood to be asked that, you may not even want me to ask it, you might-"

"Ron?" said Hermione, interrupting Ron's apprehensive rambling.

"Yeah?"

"Stop stalling and ask me to be your girlfriend."

Ron chuckled. "Hermione, would you be my girlfriend?"

Hermione acted as if she was deep in thought. "Well, I don't rightly know. There are so many factors to consider." she said smugly.

"You're evil."

"Of course I will." said Hermione, hugging him and giving him a kiss on the cheek.

Ron felt positively elated. "Really? Wicked!" he exclaimed as if he was a child, causing Hermione to laugh loudly.

"I do have something to tell you though." said Hermione as Ron kept his hands on her waist. "We were planning on making you guys fall for us on more than just a physical level, and then crushing your hearts on Valentine's Day."

"Blimey." said Ron. "Now I'm even more happy I told you the truth. I don't think I would have been able to take that. But I totally see why you girls would have done it. Them betting to shag isn't really a proper thing."

"So you won't tell them?" asked Hermione.

"No. Matter of fact, I think I just joined your side." smirked Ron.

"You're going to help the others? Even Pansy?"

"Harry needs to be brought back down to earth and the other two need a reality check. So yeah, I'm willing to help, if they are willing to let me. And I promise I won't say a thing to the blokes."said Ron, putting up his right hand.

Hermione nodded. "Okay. So, since technically you won your part of the bet, what do you get?"

Ron smiled. "Blaise is now my pet." he said. "Which will really make things fun for your friend Rashida."

Hermione grinned. "Excellent."

Ron took Hermione by the hand and the two left the classroom and headed to Gryffindor, fingers intertwined, feeling a whole lot better and happy about being in a relationship. Neither one could wait to tell their friends, and neither one couldn't wait to start helping the girls take over.

Sure the guys would hate him for it, but Ron didn't care. As he had told Hermione, all three needed to get a heavy dose of reality. And if this was the way it was going to happen, so be it.

But for now, he wasn't going to focus on that. For the moment, he was going to focus on how they finally got what each other them wanted, and how good it felt for Hermione's hand to be in his.