A/N: So, I'm going to make this a series of connected one-shots all set in and around the kitchen. Just cuz I'm cute like that. ;-)
Disclaimer: I don't own HP. That'd be pretty read if I did. More than rad.
A sob escaped Hermione as she buried her face in her folded arms. She sat alone in the Weasley's kitchen, trying to compose herself somehow, but finding it nearly impossible.
Most of the time, she was able to keep her emotions in. Harry and the Weasley's needed strength, solidarity, not a weak friend who couldn't keep from crying at any moment. She fought to steady her breathing, to clear her mind from the dark images that sometimes bombarded her. She wiped away her tears on the back of her sweater.
She startled slightly when she felt a strong, warm hand rubbing her back. She whirled around and saw Ron there, his blue eyes filled with concern. "Hermione, what's wrong?"
She melted into his touch, and flung herself around him. "It's nothing."
"No it isn't. What's wrong?"
"Just remembering. Everything."
"I know what you mean. Sometimes it's all I can think of. Fred especially."
They simply held each other for a long time. Hermione marveled at how Ron had grown over the last few years, how he was a man now and not a boy. How deeply she loved him, each day more than the day before. They still hadn't exchanged the words, but they both felt it.
"Hermione, I want to show you something." Hermione looked at Ron with curiosity as she pulled herself away from his embrace.
"What is it?"
Ron pulled out a tattered looking leather book. "I've had it since I was a kid. I barely wrote in it, you know, I mean, only girls write in diaries. Girls and poofs."
Hermione rolled her eyes and stifled a laugh. "Voldemort had a diary."
"Yeah. Total poof."
Hermione burst into laughter, despite herself.
"Anyway, I wrote in this." Ron flushed with embarrassment. "After I left." Neither one of them had to say anything to know what he meant. "I wanted to show you."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I think so."
She gingerly opened the front cover, and found Ron's messy scrawl there.
21/12/97
I have made the biggest mistake of my life. I'm worse than a git, worse than an arse. Is 'traitor' a big enough word? I abandoned my best friends because I'm selfish.
Worse than leaving Harry, I left Hermione. She cried, begged me. And I left anyway.
22/12/97
Feel worse today. Bill is ignoring me for being an idiot, and Fleur is being too nice. I've stayed in my room because I can't take it anymore.
I miss Hermione.
23/12/97
I hate myself. I need Hermione. Why didn't I realize it before it was too late? What if something has happened to them? To her?
24/12/97
It's Christmas Eve. I haven't felt this miserable since the Yule Ball. And I'd relive that a million times over if it meant I could be with her again.
Hermione kept reading, each entry growing more and more desperate, more self loathing, more depressed. Her eyes filled with tears. "Ron…" she said softly. A tear slipped down her cheek.
"No, don't cry! I didn't mean for you to cry. I showed you this… so you'd know how I felt about you, then and now. Blimey, I can't do anything right. Hermione, I was… trying to show you how much I love you."
Her face went from utter sadness to pure joy in an instant. "W-what?"
"I love you, Hermione."
She slapped him hard across the arm. "You git! You absolute git! You tell me you love me right after you make me cry! That is so typical of you, I can't believe you'd do this to me, I can't believe I'd fall in love with such an insensitive-"
"You love me?" Ron eyes were amused and hopeful more than anything else.
"Of course I love you, you idiot!" She burst into tears again, this time tears of happiness, though Ron did not catch on right away.
"Hermione, it's OK! I'm sorry… Bloody Hell, I'm such an idiot… Hermione, please…" He sounded desperate.
"Say it again."
"I'm… sorry?"
"No! Tell me you love me."
"Only if you'll say the same."
"Deal."
"Hermione, I love you."
"And I love you, Ron."
He let out a laugh of relief, and pulled Hermione to him once more, kissing her soundly. She sighed and ran her fingers through his ginger hair, pulling him infinitely more closely to her. They were caught up in each other, finally confessing the words they had been trying to tell each other for years.
They were so wrapped up in each other that they didn't see another redhead enter the kitchen, his eyes wide as saucers as he took in the sight of Ron and Hermione snogging at the table.
George pulled back a chair noisily, and watched in amusement as the two broke apart, looking dazed.
"I'm sorry, did I interrupt something?" he asked innocently, batting his eyes.
Ron turned bright red. Hermione looked down at her hands in front of her, suddenly very interested in her fingernails.
"Go away, George. This is none of your business," Ron said fiercely.
"Well pardon me for interrupting your moment in the middle of a public room anyone could have walked through." George smiled. This was the best he'd felt in a long time.
"Ron, we should just…" Hermione stood, holding her hand out to him. He took it, and they walked out of the kitchen, redfaced, knowing that George would find ways to mock them later. Neither minded.