Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. If I did, I'd be writing this on a much nicer computer in a much bigger house.
What He'll Sorely Miss?
by MayorHaggar
Chapter 4
Ron Weasley frowned down at his plate, scarcely even seeing the pile of food in front of him as he pushed it around the plate with his fork. For perhaps the first time that he could remember, Ron did not have an appetite. He was just too preoccupied thinking about the absence of his two best friends to commence his usual attack on his meal.
Neither Harry or Hermione had ever returned after their respective departures from Snape's dungeon. Ron wasn't sure what to think about what Rita Skeeter had written, Harry's reaction when Snape read it aloud, or Hermione's decision to actually abandon a lesson so she could follow him. There was something about it all that made him considerably uncomfortable, though Ron wasn't sure quite what it was.
He'd assumed they'd fill him in at dinner, which was right after Potions. Maybe they'd gone down there early, even. But they were nowhere to be seen when he arrived, so he'd plopped himself down alongside Dean and Seamus, and made sure to keep an eye out for his friends.
Dinner was almost half over, and there still had been no sign of either of them.
Where in the bloody hell are they? Ron wondered.
Finally, Ron decided he could not wait any longer. He tossed his fork aside, gathered both his things and those that Harry had left behind in the Potions classroom, and stood up from the table, leaving his food behind. He ignored the bewildered looks his fellow Gryffindors were shooting him as a result of his erratic behaviour, and marched out of the Great Hall with purpose.
If Harry and Hermione weren't going to come to him, he would just have to go to them.
There were a number of places they could potentially be, but Ron wasn't going to waste his time checking every likely location one-by-one. There was simply no need to do that, because he had a foolproof way to find out exactly where they were: the Marauder's Map, tucked safely away in Harry's trunk back in their dorm room.
While he made his way towards Gryffindor Tower, Ron tried to figure out what he'd say when he met up with Harry and Hermione, wherever they were. Frankly, he had no clue. It definitely didn't help that he wasn't sure why he was so bothered about their flight during the middle of Snape's tirade, or why he felt like he had to track them down right this instant.
Being confused about his feelings wasn't anything new for Ron, though. Especially when it came to Hermione. Half the time she drove him up the wall, and the other half...well, he wasn't sure what to call how he felt during the other half. All he knew was that he needed to find out where Harry and Hermione had gone, and why they hadn't come back.
With the corridors all but empty due to the ongoing dinner Ron had abandoned, it didn't take him long to go from the Great Hall to Gryffindor Tower. He absently mumbled the password to the Fat Lady, barely noticing as the portrait opened to allow him entry. Ron stepped through the portrait hole and headed straight for the stairs that would lead him to the boy's dorms, and the Marauder's Map.
"Ron! Where are you going?"
Ron's head whipped around at the familiar, feminine voice, and he was more than a little surprised to see Harry and Hermione sitting next to each other on a couch in the Common Room. His eyes narrowed in suspicion at seeing just how close they were sitting. His suspicion was not helped by Harry's reaction. Harry, seemingly only just realising how close he and Hermione were sitting, jumped to the other side of the couch as if he'd been burned.
Ron was too focused on Harry's blushing face to notice the disapproving look Hermione was shooting his way.
"Well, Ron? Are you going to answer me?" Hermione questioned.
Finally, Ron turned his attention away from Harry and towards Hermione. He saw the frustrated look on her face, and it did not please him one bit.
"Why should I have to explain anything?" Ron demanded. "You two are the ones who ran off in the middle of Potions, and left the rest of us to deal with that git Snape after you got him all brassed off! Here's your rubbish, by the way," he muttered, dropping Harry's things at his feet.
Harry quietly thanked his friend for bringing his things, but Ron paid him no heed. He simply stared at Hermione, knowing that if he were going to get any answers, she would be the one providing them.
"It's not as if we did it on purpose, Ron!" Hermione replied indignantly. "Professor Snape really got to Harry today, as you obviously saw. And I was not about to let Harry suffer all by himself, so I followed him. As to why we did not come back to class? By the time I'd caught up to Harry and finished sorting him out, there wouldn't have been much point in going back. We'd already missed a large portion of it, and I've already read through the material, of course, so I'll be able to help Harry catch up. Besides, Snape would have just spent all his time berating Harry for "disrupting his class", as well as me for following his example. So, we decided to come here and relax instead."
Ron nodded slowly, and he felt at least some of his anger dissipate. What Hermione said did make sense; Snape would have only gotten worse if they had come back. But suddenly, another thought occurred to Ron.
"Alright, that makes sense, yeah. But Harry...why did you run out like that? I know that stuff Skeeter wrote about you, Hermione and Vicky was embarrassing," Ron began, ignoring the scowl on Hermione's face at the derisive nickname he'd adopted for Viktor Krum. "But when Snape made that joke about you fancying Hermione, you blushed worse than Ginny does whenever you talk to her! It was almost like you really do fancy Hermione," Ron finished, chuckling at the absurdity of that thought.
Ron continued to laugh to himself, not noticing that neither of his friends were joining him in his amusement.
"And just why do you find that so funny, Ron?" Hermione asked icily. Harry shivered at her tone, and silently begged Ron to realise that he was on very thin ice.
He didn't.
"Well, I mean, you're...Hermione! You know Harry's been mooning over Cho, and we talked about how he'd probably go after Fleur next. You're not exactly his type."
Harry opened his mouth, desperate to diffuse this situation before it blew up in all of their faces. But Hermione drowned out whatever he was going to say.
"Oh, I see. What you really mean is that I'm not pretty enough for Harry, right?" Hermione ground out.
Ron was even more rubbish with girls than Harry, but even he now realised that he was in deep trouble.
"Err...no, no, that's not what I meant at all, Hermione," Ron stuttered. "What I meant is, Cho and Fleur are, you know, all outgoing and everything...and you're more...well, more concerned with learning and books and whatnot. That's what I was trying to say."
"So I'm too boring for Harry to be interested in me, then? That's little better. Not all boys are as superficial and shallow as you are, Ron Weasley!" Hermione exclaimed.
Under normal circumstances, Ron would have shouted right back at Hermione. He usually didn't mind arguing with her. He actually enjoyed it, at times. In fact, he sometimes went out of his way to set her off. But this was different. Looking at the fury in her eyes and hearing the venom in her voice, he could tell that this was no ordinary argument. This was serious. Without even meaning to, he'd gotten Hermione seriously angry. Angrier than she'd ever been, at least with him. He wanted no part of it.
Thankfully for Ron, Harry took note of the rising panic on his face as he tried to find a way out of his predicament, and decided to come to his aid.
"He does have a point, you know," Harry said quietly.
Hermione turned her head in Harry's direction, and now her mutinous expression was directed at him. Wanting nothing to do with a furious Hermione, Harry hurried to explain himself.
"About the differences between you and Cho, I mean. Like we talked about before, I don't know her all that well. But from what I do know about her, you two seem very different. She's the outgoing type, always surrounded by giggling girls, while you'd much rather be surrounded by piles of books. She loves to play Quidditch, while you'd rather sit in the stands and cheer for Gryffindor. If Ron, or anyone else, were going to use my crush on Cho to try and decide what kind of girl I liked, you wouldn't really fit."
Hermione didn't respond right away, as she took some time to consider Harry's words. She eventually gave a nod of admission, and Ron let out a relieved sigh.
"See, Hermione? I didn't mean anything by it. Just because you aren't Harry's type doesn't mean no other bloke will fancy you," Ron said, hoping it would be enough to get him off the hook.
Harry and Hermione exchanged an uncomfortable look, and Hermione cocked an eyebrow at him. Harry shrugged his shoulders and gave a slight nod, so Hermione took a deep breath.
"Actually, Ron, I've recently learned that there already is a boy who fancies me," Hermione said quietly.
"Well, of course. Vicky. We already knew that," Ron replied, rolling his eyes.
"I didn't mean Viktor. There's another boy who is interested in me. And I'm interested in him as well. In fact, we've decided to start dating."
Ron's jaw dropped. "Really? Who is it?" he asked, doing his best to sound normal, even if he felt anything but.
"It's me."
Ron stared open-mouthed at Harry, not believing the two words that his best mate had just uttered.
Harry? Harry...fancies Hermione?
And Hermione fancies him, too? They're...together?
"Oh."
They were probably expecting more of a response than that, but that was the best Ron could manage at the moment. His head was still swimming, trying to process all that he'd just learned.
He was surprised to learn that Hermione fancied Harry, but he had long ago given up any hope of being able to understand her, so being surprised by her was nothing new. Harry was a different story, though.
He'd never thought, even for a moment, that Harry could be interested in Hermione that way. The first girl he'd shown interest in was Cho, who was a polar opposite of Hermione in many ways. And after the Second Task, he'd been convinced that there was something there between Harry and Fleur, or would be soon. But now...
"Really? You guys are...together?" They both nodded, so Ron continued. "For how long?"
"Let's see...an hour? Maybe less?" Hermione said, frowning in thought.
"You mean, you got together after you followed Harry out of Potions? After Snape read that article out loud?" Ron asked, frowning.
"Yeah," Harry confirmed. "It's kind of a long story, but basically...my feelings for Hermione have been changing lately, and when Snape caught on during my outburst and taunted me about it, I was humiliated. Hermione ran out to comfort me, which you already know. And while we were talking, well...my feelings just sort of came out. And Hermione said she felt the same way, so we decided we'd try to be, you know, a couple, and see how it went," Harry finished rather lamely.
Ron nodded along, but didn't respond.
"We wanted to tell you first, before anyone else had a chance to find out about it," Hermione said quietly. "Merlin knows, word will spread fast enough tomorrow, with the Hogsmeade trip and all."
"Oh, so...you'll be going to Hogsmeade alone, then? Just the two of you?" Ron asked, doing his best not to sound bitter. He didn't succeed.
"Of course not, mate," Harry assured him. "There's no way I'd go meet up with Sir...err...Snuffles without you. And we'll stop by Honeydukes, The Three Broomsticks and Zonko's, just like always. Maybe Hermione and I will spend a bit of the day alone, but we still want you around for all the rest of it."
"You're still our best friend, Ron," Hermione chimed in. "Just because Harry and I are going to try being a couple doesn't mean we'll stop being your friend, or won't have any time for you now. There are some times where we'll want to be alone, yes, but it's not as if you and Harry don't do some things without me. We'll still be there, Ron. We'll still spend lots of time together, all three of us. This doesn't change that."
Ron nodded in acceptance. He still wasn't entirely pleased with this. It felt like his friends were pulling away from him, somehow. And honestly, the thought of Harry with Hermione made him very uncomfortable. Actually, the thought of Hermione with anyone made him uncomfortable. Strangely, it bothered him even more than the thought of Ginny dating a boy.
But he had to acknowledge that there wasn't much he could do about it, and at least they still wanted him around most of the time.
"OK, fine. Just...if you're going to get all...you know, if you're going to start...kissing and stuff, just give me a bit of warning, so I can leave. I don't need to be seeing my best friends sticking their tongues down each other's throats," Ron said with a grimace.
"Sure thing, Ron," Harry readily agreed, while Hermione rolled her eyes. "We can do that for you. We don't want you to feel uncomfortable. Right, Hermione?"
"Well, we aren't going to pretend as if we aren't dating just for your sake, Ron. But I can see how it would make you uncomfortable to spend time with us if we were being overly affectionate with each other. So I suppose we can try to keep the physical side of our relationship to a minimum while you're around."
The thought of there even being a physical side to this new relationship between his two best friends filled Ron with disquiet, regardless of if they promised to try and tone it down around him, but he supposed it was the best he could hope for.
"Alright then. Well, I guess I'll head back down to the Great Hall, then. I didn't finish my dinner, and I'm starved."
Ron turned away from his friends and nearly ran out of the room. He was eager to fill his stomach, which was protesting his decision to run out on dinner earlier, but he was just as eager to get away from his friends. It would take some time for him to get used to the idea that his two best friends were now more than friends.
**
Harry and Hermione watched Ron exit through the portrait hole, amused at his hasty retreat. After the portrait swung shut behind Ron, Harry scooted closer to Hermione on the couch and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
"How do you think he took it? Do you think he's OK with this? With us?" he asked.
"It'll probably take him some time to get used to the idea, but he'll be fine eventually," Hermione responded.
"What about what we talked about earlier?" Harry asked, uncomfortably.
"You mean when you said you think Ron might fancy me?" Hermione wondered. Harry nodded, and so Hermione answered him as best she could. "You could be right; I don't know. But, even if I were interested in Ron that way, which I'm not, it would never work out between us. There's no way we'd be able to spend that much time around each other. We'd bite each other's heads off. He and I would never work. Ron will realise that eventually, if he does happen to have feelings for me right now. He'll meet another girl who will be much better suited to his personality, and be much better off for it."
"I hope you're right," Harry said hopefully. He was thrilled that Hermione felt the same way about him that he did about her, but he didn't want these romantic feelings to come between their friendship with Ron.
There was something else that happened during their conversation with Ron that bothered him just as much, though.
"Why'd you get so angry when Ron said you weren't my type?"
Hermione sighed and took a deep breath before responding. "Well, it's just, this is all still so new. Before today, I'd never dreamed that you could possibly return my feelings. I guess part of me is afraid that you might wake up tomorrow, or the next day, and realise that Ron was right, that I'm not the type of girl you want to be with. That I'm not pretty enough, or fun enough, or..."
Harry wasn't about to listen to Hermione voice these doubts, and he silenced her in what he was finding to be the most effective method possible: by pressing his lips against hers. Hermione sighed against his lips and leaned in, deepening the kiss.
Once he was sure Hermione had been thoroughly silenced, Harry broke the kiss. He pulled back slightly, and looked into her eyes as he gripped both of her hands.
"That's not happening, Hermione. I don't want to be with Fleur, and I don't want to be with Cho. I want to be with you, Hermione. You. That's not changing any time soon."
Hermione could tell that Harry meant every word, and she couldn't help but smile. She doubted that her insecurities would just go away. Not immediately, at least. But she'd be happy to let Harry ease her doubts, one kiss at a time.
**
A/N: There's Ron's reaction out of the way. Up next: the trip to Hogsmeade. That COULD be the final chapter, but I'm not committing to that just yet. I've learned my lesson.
All feedback is welcome and appreciated, of course.