The next morning after breakfast, Harry and Ron left Hermione at the door to her Arithmancy class and proceeded to North Tower for Divination.
"Harry," said Ron slowly, as they climbed the seemingly never-ending stairs, "d'you like Hermione?"
Harry looked quickly at him. "Of course I like her!" he exclaimed, scandalized. "She's one of my best friends ever! Why would I not like her?"
"No, not that way...." replied Ron. "I mean...." He trailed off.
Harry looked at him. "What do you mean, Ron?" he asked.
There was silence for a few minutes, and then Ron abruptly asked, "Harry, can I ask you a question?"
"Sure," replied Harry, beginning to wonder why Ron was suddenly being so serious.
"Okay, well," Ron began, staring down at his feet, "wanskhermigoutwime."
Harry stared at him. "Sorry?" he asked.
Ron sighed. "Hermione," he repeated. "I want to ask her to go out with me."
Harry's brain reeled. What? Ron wanted to ask Hermione out? What the-?
He must have looked pretty weird, because Ron said quickly, "Harry, I-I'm really sorry, mate! Really, I am! You know I would never want to do anything that would jeopardize all of our friendships, but I really can't help how I feel, really I can't, mate! And you don't know how I feel about her, man! She's always in my thoughts, every instant of the day, it's driving me stark raving mad! Harry, I can't let her go! What if I never tell her how I feel about her and she hooks up with Malfoy or something?"
Harry let out a small laugh, then instantly sobered down. What the hell was he laughing about? His two best friends might get together. And then again, why shouldn't he be laughing? What was so bad about Ron and Hermione getting together?
Ron was watching Harry with something of a worried look on his face. "You okay, mate?" he asked when Harry looked up at him.
Harry nodded, forcing a happy expression. "Yeah, fine," he replied. "Good- good luck on asking Hermione out."
Ron grinned. "Knew you'd say that, Harry," he said. "Thanks, mate. And, you know we'd never try to butt you out as our friend. Sure, Hermione and I will have our private moments, but we're still your best friends, and never forget that, 'k?"
Harry quickly looked down at his shoes. "That's not-" he started, then stopped. "Yeah, well, we better be going, then, we're going to be late." And with that, he quickly climbed up the silvery ladder leading to Professor Trelawney's classroom without another word to Ron.