Disclaimer : I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters……

A/n: So, here's the post for the color eggplant.

Chapter 3: Midnight study

The merry crackling of the fire and furious turning of pages were the only sounds in the common room when Ronald Weasley entered it late one night.

After the Final battle at Hogwarts, the Golden trio had decided to come back to complete their seventh year. And it had been barely two weeks since school had started.

And she was already poring over more books than she could count.

Hearing the sound of footsteps behind her, Hermione paused in her study to look at her intruder with irritation.

Seeing that it was just Ron, she drowned back in her book.

He came down and sat beside her on the couch rather forcefully, unseating the book on her lap.

"Ron! I was reading that!" Hermione retorted as she bent down to retrieve her book.

"That's all you have been doing ever since the battle!" Ron hadn't intended it to sound that whiny, but he couldn't take it back now.

"I took a break. For a month, if you had forgotten" Hermione said as she pushed her glasses further up her nose and went back to studying.

"So? That doesn't mean you have to study all the time now!"

"This is our NEWT year Ron. If I don't study, who will you and Harry copy essays off?"

Having nothing to say to that, Ron tried a different path.

"You already know every thing you need to, to pass NEWTs! You were probably ready by our third year!"

"May be, Ron. But, school is not the end of every thing. We have to get into some job after that. Saving the world isn't going to bring you food. And also,…"

Ron, who had about had it with her rants took her by the shoulder and turned her away from the book and towards him.

He took a long look at her bushier than normal hair, which had half come out of the pony tail she had managed to put it in; the pale face which clearly indicated that she hadn't been sleeping; and the red shot eyes which were tired and unfocused.

"You're straining your self. If you go on like this, you'll have to visit the Hospital Wing even before we go there for Harry's post-Quidditch match party"

She smiled at that. That's what they had always called Harry's unfortunate habit of visiting the Infirmary after each Quidditch match.

"I'm not that bad…"

"When was the last time you slept? When did you last eat? Without a book open with you, that is?"

"Uh…"

Sensing that he could win this one, he said, "You won't be arguing with me this way if you look at your self in the mirror now"

"Why?" Hermione asked self-consciously, while she placed a hand on her cheek, as if hoping to find patches of mud on it.

"You're exhausted, 'Moine. You need to rest"

"But what about all these books that I have to read?"

"They'll be here when you wake up tomorrow. Go get some sleep, will you? I shouldn't see those purple bags under your eyes the next time I see you, okay?"

"Eggplant" Hermione muttered low enough for just him to hear.

"What?" Ron asked, baffled.

"They aren't purple, they're eggplant in color" Hermione said and gave him a smile before she picked up the books around her.

Ron helped her with shrinking the books so that they'd fit in her book bag.

"Good night, Ron. And thanks"

"Sure thing, 'Mione" Ron said as he scratched his neck, a clear sign that he was embarrassed.

May be I should have told him Hermione thought as she let her bed hangings close around her bed and lied down Nah, I'd have freaked him out. Moreover, he was just being a loyal friend.

Yet, it had been Ron, and not Harry, who had come down those stairs, in the middle of the night, to help her.

A/n: Review!