Red Flowers
Rating: G.
Genre: Romance/Angst
Summary: Realization is scary. One-shot.
She's running away.
'But why?' She asks herself. 'Why am I running away? Didn't I know that was coming?'
She suddenly stops. She realizes she's in front of the Fat Lady's portrait. It opens, and she sees her other best friend leaving the Gryffindor Common Room. She tries to look normal, but fails.
"Hermione," he asks, before she says anything. "What the hell are you doing out here? Where is Harry?"
"I left him there," she answers, knowing that Ron is aware of everything that happened in the last few minutes.
Harry had asked her to meet him at the Room of Requirement that night. She met him there. He had handed her a pack of red flowers, and asked her to be his girlfriend. She knew that was coming. Everyone knew that was coming. But Hermione got nervous to answer his question. She just ran away, leaving a confused and heartbroken Harry alone.
"You didn't do that," Ron says, in a very shocked tone. Hermione just nods.
"I knew he was going to do that. I just got too nervous to say answer, and I ran away," she says weakly. "I am feeling horrible," she continues. "He must be feeling horrible. What do I do, Ron? I had no intentions to hurt him." She had never pictured herself asking Ron for advice. Especially love advice.
Ron just pats her on the shoulder. "I know," he says truthfully. "Just go after him and tell him the truth. He will understand."
"I am not so sure," she replies. "He seemed very hurt when I left."
"You see, love is a weird thing," Ron says. "One year ago, I would be madly jealous if I saw the two of you together. Then, we had that talk and I realized I did not love you like I thought I did. And now, the person I think I love is someone I used to hate one year ago."
Hermione remembers the "talk". Ron had gone to her to confess his feelings, and she was aware of them. Somehow, she made him understand that his crush on her was too childish, and that it wouldn't last. After that, Ron had dated several girls at Hogwarts, while Harry and Hermione had awoken their feelings for each other.
"So, I can say you are going to talk to Luna, right?" She asks. He blushes. That's more than enough for her. "Congratulations Ron. It was about time you see you can not just jump from girl to girl every week," she continues. After several dates, Ron had found a counterpart in Luna Lovegood, but was avoiding her, afraid of risking his new-found popularity on a serious relationship.
"Hey, a bloke needs to try everything," he defends himself. "I just decided I had enough trying."
She smiles. "I will not keep you here. I have some things to sort, too," she says, and the mood darkens again. Ron hugs her. "It will be okay. You see, you two are meant for each other. He won't be that thick to turn you down."
She doesn't answer. Ron lets her go, and walks away, leaving her to her thoughts. She walks back to the Room of Requirement. He's not there.
Looking at the empty room, she feels even worse. 'I should have answered it there. I shouldn't have run away.'
She's about to leave when she notices the red flowers on the window. She had dropped them when she ran away, but he had picked them up and left them there. He knew she was going to come back. She feels a small wave of relief run through her body as she walks towards the window.
She picks up the flowers, and smells in their scent. It's faint, but still lovely. The flowers themselves look very beautiful, under the moonlight that illuminates the room. She's instantly reminded of the last full moon. Harry had taken her to a walk by the lake. She smiles at the memory, and looks at the lake.
She should have expected that.
He's there, sitting by the lake, on the spot they got used to call theirs. And he's looking to the window. Looking to her.
She had never run that fast before. People on the corridors looked at her as if she was mad. Somehow, she was.
Madly in love with her best friend, and maddeningly full of relief.
She meets him there. He's looking at her, expecting.
"I'm sorry for that, I just got nervous and…" She begins, but he interrupts her with a gesture. "It's okay. I was nervous to ask you too. I have been planning this for months now," he admits. There's a brief silence between them, when Hermione's analyzing his last statement. He breaks her train of thought.
"You know, this is time where you're supposed to answer my proposal," he says, trying to sound cheerful. Hermione realizes he's afraid of being rejected. That had always been his greatest fear.
"Yes," she says simply, and he smiles. He walks towards her, and leans his face onto hers tentatively. She nods, and he kisses her softly. Just then she realizes she had been expecting this for a long time. And it's worth the wait.
"You know, Ron said flowers were not very effective," he says when they pull apart. "I need to give him some lessons later," he adds, and chuckles. Hermione replays her meeting with Ron in front of the Fat Lady. Ron had some flowers on his left hand.
"He won't need it, I can assure you," Hermione answers, pulling Harry into another kiss.
A/N: I had to write this. I know I should be working on the sequel of Confused Paths… But this thing was bugging me. At least you won't forget me until my next story is out. :P I know this is not very good, so you don't need to take it easy on me. R/R, of course.
A/N (2): It's the first time I try having Hermione as the center of the story… It's rather nice, but I think the "Harry in me" is a lot stronger. :P