Seven and a Half

Seven-and-a-Half

                "Hermione,"Ron began, "We've been going out for several months now, right?" Hermione lifted her head up from the Potions book she had been reading and stared at him quizzically for a moment before slowly nodding her head in agreement.  

    "OK, so that means that we're really, really good friends too," Ron continued. 

    "Ron, where's this conversation going? The OWL's are coming up in five months and I've barely even started studying; either get to the point now or shut-up," Hermione said very rapidly with an edge in her voice. 

    "Fine then, I was going to try and have an actual conversation with you, but since you're so intent on studying, I'll just leave you alone. You're really missing out on a good conversation though," Ron said quickly. Then he picked up his Quidditch book and shoved it back into his face with a well placed 'humph' annoy Hermione even more. They sat like that, with Ron thumping his fingers on the table while reading his book and Hermione studying from a thick Potions book that look like it belonged in the "Restricted Section" of the library for ten minutes until Hermione finally snapped. 

    "OK, you have my attention now. What do you want?" she said, clearly annoyed.

    "Well," Ron said mischievously," I just wanted to know what you thought of me. Say on a one-to-ten scale, what do you think about me?" 

    "Seven-and-a-half," Hermione said quickly before turning back to her books. Ron looked pleased with himself and started to gather up his things to go up to bed before he realized with a shout what she had just said.

    "SEVEN-AND-A-HALF!" he exclaimed, "WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?"

    Hermione merely looked up from her book and with a smile on her face, tapped him on the face and went up to bed without another word leaving an infuriated Ron Weasley down by himself in the common room. 

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Midnight Visitors 

        Hermione felt a little bit bad as she got ready for bed that night. She had after all, left Ron downstairs without even a goodnight kiss. And, she hadn't even had explained her reasoning to Ron for rating him a seven-and-a-half. It wasn't that she didn't like him, it was just that she was very tough on Ron; he did after have a huge temper, and would occasionally get jealous of Harry, but all in all, Ron should have pleased that he had gotten such a high rating from her. Hell, she'd probably have rated Krum a four-and-three-quarters (he lost most of his points when he couldn't even say her name correctly); therefore, Ron should be very pleased with his rating. Thoroughly convinced that she hadn't been too mean and overly judgmental, Hermione went to bed and dozed off into a deep sleep.  

        Elsewhere in the Gryffindor tower....

    Ron tossed and turned all night. He couldn't understand why Hermione had rated him so lowly. Did she truly not like him? Thoughts started to turn in his mind while all sorts of wild ideas started popping up to him. Did she really like Harry? Was this her subtle way of telling him that she really didn't like him? She hadn't even given him a goodnight kiss. The more Ron thought, the more and more worried he got. At one point in the night he had almost convinced himself that Hermione was secretly in love with Malfoy, before slapping himself in order to wake himself up. Finally, realizing that he was getting no where, he threw on a robe, pulled back the curtains on his bed  and snuck out the door to his dormitory.

    **

       Hermione was faintly aware that she was being shaken, but was having such a good dream about Ron and her, she didn't want to open her eyes. Finally after a few minutes of being shaken, she opened her eyes, only to see the object of her dream staring down at her. Smiling happily she leaned up to hug Ron, but her pushed her gently away with a slight push. Hurt, Hermione woke up even more to fully realize the situation. Glancing at the clock, she realized that it was four in the morning and Ron was obviously mad at her. 

    "Why'd you give me a seven-and-a-half?" Ron asked harshly. 

    "Honestly Ron, you're still thinking about that. I gave you a seven-and-a-half because you have a very short temper, as we can obvious see right now and you can be overly judgmental, especially for Harry and Viktor Krum. Do remember any of last year?" Hermione responded.

     "But you should still be happy, I wouldn't have even giving Viktor..." Hermione started, before she realized that Ron had walked off in as soon as she had said Viktor's name. Now fully realizing the mess that she'd gotten herself into, she got out of bed and threw on an overcoat intending to go to Ron's dormitory and apologize. Cussing Ron, his short temper, and his jealous nature towards Viktor, she tiptoed downstairs and back to the boys dormitories. When she got to Ron's bed, she realized that he wasn't there. 

    "Stupid boy," Hermione whispered, realizing that he'd left the common room and was walking about the halls now. "I swear if he gets in trouble it is not my fault," she said under her breath. She walked down to the common room and sat in the big comfy chair, prepared to wait for Ron to cool down and come back so she could apologize before he brood on it for too much longer. Hermione relit the fire and prepared her speech in her head over and over again hoping that her would come back soon. 

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Snazzy Title

                Hermione woke up the next morning to an empty common room. Realizing that she had accidentally fallen asleep while waiting for Ron, she ran up to her dormitory. A quick glance at the clock told her that she was already fifteen minutes late for Potions. Cursing while trying to find her books and get her uniform on, she sprinted from the common room al of the way to the dungeons. Pausing for a second to catch her breath, Hermione walked into Potions with a grimace on her face, completely terrified of what Professor Snape would say. Hermione opened her eyes, only to find an empty classroom. Stunned, she wondered what was going on.    

    "Ms. Granger, why are you in my classroom wearing your pajamas?" asked a harsh voice which snapped her out of her thoughts. 

    Looking over, Hermione realized that Professor Snape was sitting at his desk grading papers. Still confused Hermione answered shakily, "I thought that Gryffindors had Potions first period today. I guess I was mistaken, sir." 

    "Well, that is a bit obvious now, isn't it, considering the fact that's it is Saturday," Professor Snape replied spitefully, "well now I'd recommend that leave before I give you a detention, like the one Mr. Weasley received last night. He had to scrub the whole entire dungeon by hand and after the mess that Longbottom made yesterday it took quite a while." 

    "Oh, well I'm sorry for bugging you sir., I guess I'd better go now," Hermione said as she made her way towards the door. When she got outside, she hit herself on the head; of course it was Saturday! She had been in such a hurry to grab her books that she had failed to notice the snoring of her other dorm mates. And to top it off Ron was not only was he mad at her, but he was probably in an even worse mood because of Snape. Hermione decided that she would find Ron and put an end to this right now. 

                                                                    ****

        Ron made his way up to the common room in an horrible mood. Not only were he and Hermione in a fight, but he had just come back from cleaning all of the dungeons, by hand. Tired and too grumpy to care about how much his hands ached, he went straight up to his dormitory and flopped into bed. Happy to be in his bed, he was extremely unhappy to be shaken awake minutes later by the last person he wanted to see, Hermione. Very disgruntled, he pulled his covers over his head in attempt to make her go away, but that only made Hermione shake harder. Finally after minutes of prodding and pushing, he let his temper take over and yelled, "GO AWAY, I DON'T WANT TO TALK TO YOU RIGHT NOW." Ron instantly regretted yelling, as now everyone else was awake, and he could also see Hermione's eyes start to well up with tears. Before he could say a thing, she turned and ran from the room, with a loud sob. Completely spent, Ron fell back on back, gave a loud sigh, said sorry to Harry, Seamus, and Dean (Neville was still asleep) and tried to figure a way out of this situation.

~*****~ 

Fluffy Ending...Or More to Come?

        Ron didn't wake up until well past noon later on. At first, he felt pleasantly refreshed, but then he remembered what had happened the night before and that morning. Frustrated with himself and Hermione, he decided to (just this once) put aside his thoughts and try and make peace with Hermione. After putting on some fresh robes, he walked out of his dormitory and down towards the common room. As soon as he entered the common room, a hush fell over the usually loud and noisy room. Realizing that it was because of him, He blushed and quickly made his way to the other staircase leading up to the girls' dormitory. He had reached the third step before he was suddenly yanked back by a strong hand. Turning around he saw Parvati pinning him against the wall with the neck of his robe. Before he could cry out a protest, Parvati yelled at him, "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? SHE'S BEEN CRYING ALL MORNING BECAUSE OF YOU! PLUS BECAUSE OF YOUR INCESSANT YELLING, THE WHOLE HOUSE KNOWS ABOUT YOUR FIGHT!" 

        Remotely ashamed, Ron turned bright red and tried to squeak out something, but the pressure from where Parvati was holding him by his robe was too much. After a minute, Parvati finally realized that Ron speaking because he couldn't speak. Apologizing quickly, she let go of his robe. When Ron could finally catch his breath, he explained that he was going up to her room to apologize right now. Parvati seemed OK with this explanation and let him continue going up to their dormitory. When he reached the door, he knocked on it softly. When no one answered, he put his ear against it to try and hear anything. The door was made out of thick oak and the only thing that that resulted in was a splinter in his ear. Finally, repeating over and over to himself 'I'm in Gryffindor, I'm brave. I'm in Gryffindor. I'm brave.' He slowly edged the door open.

        "GET OUT OF HERE!" 

        Ron wasn't stupid and knew not to bother a mad woman so he quickly slammed the door shut. Scared, but still determined, nonetheless, he quietly whispered, "Hermione, can you hear me? If you can," he continued on, barely audible, "then all that I want to say is that I'm sorry. Please forgive me. I just want you to know that I'm going to sit out here as long as it takes for you to forgive me." Content that he had gotten out what he had wanted to say, he slumped down against the door (only to get more splinters) and prepared to wait as long as possible. 

*~* Six Hours Later *~*

        "Hermione," Ron complained, "Please come out! I've gotten an horrible backache from sitting out here all day. Please!"    

        It almost seemed as if his prayers were answered at that very moment because the wooden door slowly slid open. Two brown eyes suddenly peered out from the slim crack. Ron suddenly straightened up and crawled over to the door.

    "Hermione?" he asked softly. 

    "Yes...," came a soft voice from the door. 

    "Will you please come out now? I've been out here for six hours."

    "Maybe....," came the reply.

    "Hermione," Ron said starting to pout, "Puh-lease...I'm sorry."

    "Well...," Hermione started. Ron leaned forward in anticipation. Hermione quickly opened the door and crawled out beside Ron . Leaning against her, she gave him a quick kiss.

    "I heard what you said earlier. I just wanted to say that I'm sorry too," she said. 

    Ron just smiled, happy that they were back together. "Well, its probably too late to make it for dinner in the Great Hall, but we could always have our own private dinner..." 

    "That's a deal," Hermione said leaning forward to kiss him again. 

    "Just what were you doing while you were in your room the whole time? You left your books in the common room last night," Ron asked. 

    "Oh, that...well, to be completely honest, I ate your Christmas present...I bought you a couple boxes of chocolate frogs. Haha...Sorry.." 

    "WHAT! You ATE MY chocolate frogs!!" 

    Hermione nearly shook her head in laughter; Ron was so easy to get worked up. 

~****~