Affectio-What?

It was a typical work-filled evening in Gryffindor Tower. Typical because Neville was searching for his long-lost toad, Ginny was catching up on her Astronomy, Parvati and Lavender were chatting passionately and reverently about their mystical revelations during Divination, Harry was thoroughly exhausted, and Ron was begging Hermione on his hands and knees for help with his homework.

"Oh, Hermione! Please? Can't I just see one little paragraph in your essay? I don't have the slightest clue what I'm supposed to write about!" groveled a very needy and desperate Ron.

Hermione had breached her breaking point, and was overly frustrated. She snapped New Theory of Numerology together aggravatedly, sighed angrily, and spat bitterly, "How many times must I tell you, Ron? We were assigned a two-and-a-half page essay on 'How Human Transfiguration Can Go Terribly Wrong'. And, for the trillionth time, no! I will not give you the answers to your homework! We have been bickering about this since our first year, and I am right sick and tired of it! I would think that since then you would have figured out that the only way to learn is to do it yourself!" Hermione yanked her over-filled bookbag off the chair beside the table she was working at and thundered toward the portrait hole on the opposite side of the room, probably heading to her sanctuary--the library. But, unfortunately for Ron (and the rest of the Gryffindors in the common room), she changed her mind halfway there, and headed straight back to where Ron was struggling with his essay. Hermione faced him, opened her mouth to blow up at him, and suddenly, she burst into tears and raced up the spiral staircase with her face hidden in her hands.

The audible thump of Hermione slamming the dormitory door seemed to bring everyone back to what they were doing. After all, Ron and Hermione quarreled almost every day; and day deprived of that event would set all of Gryffindor Tower off track. Yep, this was completely normal. But, what was not normal, was the fact that Hermione wasn't the only girl to fly off the handle at Ron that evening.

Ginny glared at her ungrateful and apathetic older brother. He frowned in the direction that Hermione had disappeared off to and rolled his icy blue eyes haggardly. She unexpectedly sprung to her feet, ears redder than her hair; the Weasley trademarks go head to head.

"You are unbelievable, Ron! I have a blind, inconsiderate, unthankful, merciless, selfish jerk for a brother. That girl would give her right arm for you, and practically has, and all you do is take more and more from her! Has it ever occurred to you where in the world you would be if she hadn't been there for you all those times? Probably still in first year, for one. She is one of those people that are very hard to come by, and once you do, you cherish them for a lifetime! And do you know what the worst part is?" Ginny asked daringly. "Do you, Ron?"

Ron was taken aback at this outburst. He was so afraid of the limits of her temper that he shook his head immediately.

"I have never heard her complain. Not once! Since both of us all girls, and especially since our lives consist of mostly men, or immature boys, we count on each other immensely and have deep private conversations regularly. And in those conversations, I have never heard her mention your ingratitude or greediness, not even hint at it!" Ginny took a deep breath, because she was talking so fast that she had run out of steam. This seemed to bring her to her sense, calm her down a bit.

"All I'm saying, is just, well, be a little nicer or thankful to her. Tell how much you appreciate everything she has ever done for you!" She then turned to Harry and mentioned, "But you Harry have been very appreciative of her, unlike Ron." The sudden change in mood strongly reminded Harry of Mrs. Weasley. Ginny turned back to Ron and continued ruthlessly, "Try helping her out with her own studies, even though she doesn't need it, contribute your precious time and help with her S.P.E.W. nonsense or something, or be a little more affectionate to her-"

"Affectio-what?" shrieked a disgusted Ron.

"You heard me, affectionate! You can tell her anything, but the best way to make her feel special, loved, cared for, and above all appreciated is to show affection!" She paused, waiting for Ron to respond, and reminded him nastily, "It won't kill you, you know! Every little bit goes a long way."

Following Hermione's conduct, she too whirled around and head up the stairs. This brought Ron back to earth, and he shouted at her triumphantly, "Well, if you have never chatted girlishly about my behavior towards her, than how do you know that affection is what she wants?"

Ginny stopped halfway up the stairs, and raised her hand up to her chin in mock thought. "Hmm.... I don't know. Maybe the fact that I'm a girl too. And I, being a girl, like to be shown affection. Not that you would know, of course. I'm your sister and you haven't been even a shred affectionate towards me since my first year when you thought I was dead! I can just imagine how you treat Hermione. Poor thing," she spat nastily. But she wasn't done. "And then, when she, or I, finds someone who does show her affection and makes her feel appreciated, you blow up and get really angry! If you don't want any of that, than why don't you try it for once?"

This left an awkward silence in the common room. Obviously, since Ginny Weasley's outbursts were rare, they were much more interesting and entertaining compared to the ones between Ron and Hermione.

Fully exhausted after having to endure two emotional tantrums aimed at him that evening, Ron decided to retire to bed early, completely forgetting about his Transfiguration essay. Harry admitted defeat also and followed suit.

* * *

Ron lay in his bed, long after Harry had fallen asleep and his snores encompassed the dormitory, pondering about what Ginny had said. Strangely, it had made sense to him. As reluctantly as he was to admit it, Ginny was right. He was a git towards Hermione, especially when she was so helpful and nice to him. Not always, but the majority of the time, yes.

Ron then resolved to be nicer to Hermione, but he suddenly realized how useless that was. He recalled a particular moment the year before...

"Okay, right that down, and copy out this conclusion I have written for you."

"Hermione, you are honestly the most wonderful person I've ever met," Ron said weakly, "and if I'm ever rude to you again--"

"--I'll know you a re back to normal," Hermione finished.

The memory pained him to think about, and added to his steadily mounting guilt. Ron sighed miserably, slid out of his bed, and headed down stairs to the certainly empty common room, where hopefully, he could think better.

But the common room wasn't empty. There was one inhabitant. Hmm...I wonder who it is?

Hermione Granger was situated cross-legged in front of the fire, leaning back on her arms. She was apparently lost in thought, because she didn't hear the door shut as Ron descended the spiral staircase.

Not having the slightest clue what the heck he was going to do, Ron sat down beside her and mimicked her position.

She turned towards him, sighed angrily and turned back to face the smoldering fire.

"Hermione?"

She grunted in acknowledgement.

"I-I'm sorry," he admitted defiantly. "I'm sorry for never saying thank you for all the help you have given me."

Hermione straightened up, faced Ron, her face pleasantly surprised.

"I am sorry for fighting with you even when you were doing what you thought was best for me. Or Harry."

She grunted again, but this time in almost amusement.

"I am sorry for taking you for granted."

Ron started to smile at her reactions, straightened up himself, and thought hey, this is getting a lot easier...

"I am sorry for calling you names and getting on your nerves."

She started to smile, too.

"I am sorry for not helping you when you needed or wanted it, even though you dropped everything to help me."

Her grin reeking with respect, awe, and sweetness encouraged Ron immensely. He took a deep breath.

"I am sorry for being jealous."

Her eyes brightened with surprise, even though she knew exactly what her friend was talking about.

"I am sorry for not being the good friend I should have been. I will try to be better," he finished apologetically. Suddenly, Ginny's voice popped into his head...affection.

Ron, nervous yet comfortable, relieved of her positive reception, put his arm around Hermione.

Hermione breached her breaking point yet again that night, yet again with Ron. With Ron. She leaned her head on his solid shoulder, happier than she had been all year, more relieved and relaxed than she had been all her life. A tiny teardrop trickled down her cheek.

Figuring he had screwed something up, Ron asked concernedly, "What's wrong, Hermione? What did I botch up now?"

When she slowly lifted her head, she gently lifted his head parallel with hers, which made a manic tingling sensation start where her fingertips touched his chin course through his body and a perpetual beating rise excitedly in his chest, Ron discovered how beautiful she was.

Leaning forward, Ron discovered that Hermione was all he wanted, and all he needed.

Kissing Hermione, Ron discovered that Ginny was, yet again, right.

Every little bit goes a long way.