For mrspadf00t, who asked the initial question that took root in my brain and inspired this small work. And for natertatersmom, a dear friend and an endless source of encouragement. This is my first, so please leave comment if you so choose. Of course it’s all JKR’s….
Canaries! She bloody threw attack canaries at me! Buggering hell!
“Ron? Harry just pushed me sidelong running after Hermione. I had no idea they were an item. Did we interrupt some—oh my God!” Lavender had walked back into the room, pouting and talking a mile a minute. She’d stopped to take breath and shriek at the sight of him. Well, little beaks and claws leave little bloody marks when a bloody mental little witch throws bloody little attack birds at you. I didn’t think it looked that bad, though.
“Oh! Poor baby! Does it hurt much? Does it sting at all? Oh my….”
Ron knew Hermione would be upset the minute he realized that she ran out of the room, and he hadn’t cared one little bit. That was before he heard her hoarse voice answering Harry; he’d heard that clear enough over Lav’s giggles when they entered that classroom. It might have been guilt that kept him from looking at her, but he didn’t have anything to feel guilty about! So what that she’d seen him with a giggling Lavender clinging possessively to his arm? She didn’t want him, what was it to her? But the minute he had looked at her, the absolute fury on her face took him completely by surprise; she’d gone from sad to livid faster than a Firebolt. He was still dealing with the thoughts swirling in his head while Lavender fussed over him.
“Hmpfh. Throwing that nasty hex at you! My poor Ron! Here let me help..” and on she talked. It was kind of nice that she was so worried about him. Lavender was cooing and fussing over his scratches like Hermione always did over every little bump Harry had.
Wait, Lavender said Harry took off after Hermione. They were in here alone. She’d said he was fanciable. They were always talking quietly without him these days. Did she…? Were they…?
“..I’ll take care of these for you. You just let Lavender take care of you, Won-Won..”
No, she’d told him she didn’t fancy Harry. And she’d told him he was brilliant after Keeper tryouts. And she had asked him to the party.
And Hermione kissed me, not Harry.
~*~
It had been back during the summer. Hermione arrived at the Burrow a couple of days before Harry was supposed to get there, and she and Ron spent most of their time talking about what not to talk about around Harry. A great deal of that time was spent outside at Hermione’s urging; she said there was “less likelihood of being overheard” when they weren’t in the house. He never could remember actually getting outside, but it did seem to coincide with Fleur appearing in the room soon before.
He’d flopped down onto the grass, rolling his eyes at their latest What We’re Going to Talk to Harry About Discussion. “I know what you’re telling me, Hermione. I am listening to you, I just don’t agree with you is all.”
She’d stopped in mid-breath and blinked at him. “I don’t expect you to agree with me, Ron. I thought we were just talking about how to best help Harry…”
“Harry’s like every other bloke. If he wants to talk about something, he’ll talk. You nagging him about it isn’t going to make it happen any faster.”
“I don’t nag him. I’m concerned, is all.” Ron looked at her as she pouted. She actually pouted at something I said. Huh, there’s a first. “Sometimes people sound like they’re saying one thing when the meaning is actually quite different.”
He was still staring at her protruding lower lip in mild amusement and not really paying attention to her next mumbling.
“What did you just say about trolls?” he blinked and looked back up to her eyes.
She turned faintly pink and would not look at him. She looked like she was thinking rather hard about something before she answered him, quietly. “I said, like when you called me a troll fourth year…”
“I never called you a troll! I only ever called you a nightmare, and that was way back in..”
“Yes, Ron. I remember.” she stared right at him, and he stopped breathing for half a second. “Vividly.” she finished, trying not to laugh. He started breathing again.
“Hermione, I never called you a troll.”
“No Ron, and that’s my point.” he was confused. It must have shown. “Look,” she sighed, “fourth year before the ball, you and Harry were talking about the need to find a date. Remember?”
“Vaguely.” he was starting to feel a little nervous. Had he called her a troll? Was there any mention of trolls?
“You said, ‘we don’t want to get stuck with a couple of trolls’.” she finished, looking at him pointedly.
“Oh yeah! I did say that. But I didn’t call you a troll…” he was confused again. Maybe she’d just lay it all out for him in a minute and he’d see where they were going.
“But you hadn’t asked me and you implied that because you thought no one had asked me that I was a troll. See?”
Ron nodded. “No. That’s completely mental, Hermione. How was I supposed to know no one had asked you? Wait,” he looked her in the eyes again. “When did Vick, er, Krum ask you to that ruddy ball?”
“It was about two days after the troll comment.”
“Oh.” Ron recalled the night when it occurred to him that Hermione was the solution to his and Harry’s dilemma: Harry had to go, and had to have a date. It would have been the perfect solution! Hermione could have gone with them and Harry would’ve had a partner. If either of them had bothered to think on it before Krum had asked her.
“Would you have gone with us? I mean, if Krum hadn’t gotten to you sooner?”
“I don’t know, Ron. You never really asked…”
“I did say that you could have come with one of…” his argument hung in the air as he caught her intonation. He clamped his mouth shut and narrowed his eyes at her. She looked a bit startled. Well, if I’m going to answer that one, I want some answers too.
“Did you want me to ask you?” he asked quickly.
Hermione opened her mouth to answer, then stopped. Pursing her lips and narrowing her eyes at him, she caught his strategy. “Did you want to ask me?”
“Why did you kiss me before the first match?”
“Why did you ask Fleur?”
Ron jumped at the name of his future sister in law and looked over his shoulder to see if she’d appeared suddenly. Hermione snorted at his nervousness. Ron decided to increase the pressure. “Did you kiss Krum?”
“Did you really not think of me as a girl?” at this one she’d looked a little hurt. Time to end this…
“Do you fancy Harry?”
“Wha—no! Why ever would you think that?” Ron smiled; as much at the answer itself as getting it. Check. “Do you fancy Fleur?” she’d blinked rapidly at him.
“My soon to be sister in law? Course not, are you mad?”
“You jump and smile like a fool every time she’s around.”
“You dote on Harry.”
“You defend her all the time…”
“You defend Krum!”
“He’s a friend, Ron!”
“He’s more than a friend! You went out with him!”
“Because he asked me, Ron!”
He was a little stunned at the anger that came with her answer. His own anger was well into boiling range. “Did he ask to kiss you too?!”
She stopped dead cold; he had her now, one way or another, he’d have his answer. Checkmate. She’d swallowed hard. “Yes, he asked.” Bugger, stalemate.
Ron tore out little blades of grass in frustration. Here’s where he’d have to be very careful. He knew she hadn’t gone to visit Krum; she’d been with him all summer that year. She had written to him, he knew. But he wanted to know the rest, before he let any of his own secrets out.
“Did you kiss Krum?”
“Did you want to ask me?” Now they were in circles: did she still mean him asking her to the ball? Or did she want to know if he’d wanted to ask to kiss her? Ron shook his head to clear it.
“So….you didn’t want to ask me…” she sighed and shifted as if to leave.
“What? No! I did want to ask you…” he’d grabbed her arms without realizing it. She smiled at him brilliantly. And stopped just as suddenly.
“Why didn’t you, then?”
“I answered one of yours. Your turn.” he grinned slowly.
“All right then. I kissed you last year for luck.” she said primly.
“Because you thought I needed luck?” he resumed their rapid-fire argument. He’d caught her once before that way, maybe he could again.
“No, because...”
“You didn’t kiss Harry.”
“That’s because…”
“Because Harry doesn’t need luck?” he all but sneered at her.
“Because Harry’s not you! I wanted to kiss you, Ron!” she was squirming in his grasp now, and very nearly hissing. And just to prove her point, she leaned in and kissed him quickly. On his mouth. She’d only ever kissed him on the cheek; like she had Harry.
But this was different. He felt it in his stomach; radiating from his fingertips and toes. It was perfect. She didn’t even bump his nose when she did it, and they both had not seen where they were going. Having had their eyes closed.
“Like that, see?” she fairly glowed from proving her point. “Oh!” then put both her hands to her mouth staring at the ground as if it would swallow them both.
He thought he knew then what it all meant. “Hermione?” and she’d looked up at him, her eyes darted over his shoulder. “Hermione…look at me…”
“Your mum.” she sighed. Ron looked back toward the house to see his mum in Full Fleur mode.
“There you two are! I need the two of you to find Ginny, and then….” he’d helped her up, they dusted the bits of grass from their legs, and followed in Mrs. Weasley’s wake.
He made a mental note to ask her about it later. And maybe kiss her back. But Harry had gotten there earlier than expected with his news about the Prophecy. She’d said he was brilliant after Keeper tryouts. She’d asked him to the party…
~*~
“..Should tell Professor McGonagall about this! Deserves some kind of detention, or something! Attacking you just because you interrupted her and Harry…”
He hadn’t caught even half of Lavender’s rantings, and was fair certain there was a good bit of insult to Hermione in that rant. But she was also leaning against him again in a way that put all other thoughts out of his head. Although what happened here will be all over the school by end of the week, most likely. And he found he didn’t really mind everyone knowing he was snogging Lavender Brown. She was cute. She was fun. She was uncomplicated. She wanted him. And she was dead wrong about Harry.
“No, Lav. Harry and Hermione aren’t seeing each other.”
Yeah, Ginny really didn’t know what she was talking about; he had kissed someone before. And he was going to take his mind off of that girl with the very interested, very obvious girl hanging onto his arm and his every word.
