Competition Smiles

:...looking up I saw...:

the black clouds that threatened rain were still there, as if threatening me to continue with my plans. But of course I wouldn't stop what I was planning on account of perhaps a few raindrops. This was special. This was Hermione.

I had finally worked up the nerve to ask her on a picnic. She had said no at first, bringing the topic of finals into the discussion before I finally persuaded her by just uttering four simple words. I don't know where I found those words within my throat, but they came out anyway. 'I'll study with you.'

Of course I had no intention of studying, but I had no intention of anything else, either. This was not all for a quick snog, a quick slap, and a ruined friendship. I loved the girl and wanted to show her. I wanted to show her that I cared.

A bug, a ladybug, had landed on the blanket I had spread out, and I watched it for awhile, watched

:...its creeping across my...:

blanket until it found a stray blade of grass that had drifted onto the red and white checks somehow. It nibbled at it, and I poked it with a stick.

She was going to be coming soon, and by then I wanted the nervous knot in my stomach to be gone. Harry had suggested a few simple breathing techniques. Neville had pointed out that watching clouds could calm him down when he was jittery, but the fact that the sky was covered in its own blanket of dark clouds, that wouldn't help. Seamus had handed me a stone to rub, while Dean had handed me a bottle of Firewhiskey. None of them would help, of course, but I had thanked each in turn.

"Ronald Weasley,

:...so help me...:

if it rains, I'm never going to forgive you. My Arithmancy notes should not get wet." There she was. I couldn't help but grin at the large stack of books in her hands, her head poking out the right side of them. "Oh, this looks so nice. A picnic was a good idea."

"Do you... do you need me to help you with those?" I stood, careful not to disturb any of the food or the ladybug, and took the books from her, setting them gently on the grass beside the blanket. She gave me a quick smile, tucked a strand of her unruly hair behind her ear, and sat beside the picnic basket I had nicked from the kitchens.

There are so many things I want to say to her right then, all of them bouncing around

:...in my mind...:

so fast that they were like snitches, and I couldn't quite grasp one. So I sat there, staring at the ladybug for awhile more, hearing the faint rumbles of thunder in the distance, but ignoring it. If I didn't believe it, it wouldn't happen.

The silence was so awkward that I wanted to scream, but I didn't. "I brought chicken." She didn't care that it wasn't a very intelligent thing that came out of my mouth, and didn't care that I hadn't brought any chicken at all, but instead ham. Hermione still smiled at me.

Upon

:...opening up my...:

feeble attempt at being a gentleman, all contained in a basket, she pulled out the ham and butter first, set them down to the right of the ladybug, who had now found a separate piece of grass, and then nodded her head. "I like ham, Ron. Thank you." I was grinning like mad, though I hope she didn't notice.

As soon as she brought out the rest of the food in the basket I grabbed the butter knife and started to butter four pieces, wanting to do something for her, until I felt her hand upon my wrist. I looked up into those brown eyes, those eye

:...where it's easy to lose...:

myself, and only saw my reflection. "I, however, do not like butter."

"Oh. Yea." I stopped butting the third piece, and wiped what I had spread on it onto the back of one of my two, trying hard not to let my face flush. It was a vain attempt. When I chanced a look up at her over my work, she was flipping absently through one of her books.

The sandwiches didn't take long, and we ate them in stone silence. The sounds of a storm were getting louder, and I know she heard them too, but she wouldn't say anything. Occasionally, between bites, I would open my mouth to make conversation, but she always seemed to be looking at everything but me.

And when it was finally over and all the crumbs had been either eaten or given to the ladybug, who nibbled at them much the same way it had with the grass, I finally found my voice. "Now we can study."

Hermione nodded, and passed me her Potions book, seeing as I had left my up in my dorm in the panic to get the picnic set up just right. And as I opened my mouth again, this time to ask her something much more important than what he would get if he added such an ingredient to another, a raindrop landed on my nose.

And then another. They came down faster and harder, and I didn't have the intelligence to close my mouth. So I sat there,

:...looking dumb in the rain...:

as she just watched me. "Ron? Ron, let's go under that tree for a minute. Not the smartest thing, but it's low enough where we can sit there for a minute and hide my books under our robes." It sounded like the best idea in the world, for some reason, to shove large textbooks up my robes at the moment, so I grabbed some and followed her to the tree, hoping that the ladybug would be alright.

And before I knew it, we were crammed together under that tree, Hermione right against me, worried far more about her books than herself, who was soaking wet and shivering slightly. "Are you cold?" It wouldn't do much, but it was something, and as I took of my robes and set them over her's, she smiled again.

"Thank you, Ron. I'll bet you none of the other boys in our year would give up their robes in the rain." Her hair was wet, all of her was wet, and here she was comparing me to others, saying I was better. My heart beat heavy in my chest and I realized it was

:...not easy to...:

breathe. But I didn't care.

We sat there for awhile, the sounds of the rain pattering around us the only thing I could hear, except for her mutterings about her books as she shoved them into pockets and such. I wasn't really thinking about much of anything as I watched my blanket slowly get more and more covered in tiny puddles of water.

"Hermione." She paused, but said nothing. And all of a sudden again, I lost my confidence. "How are the books?"

"Oh, they're fine." Her voice sounded nearly sad. More silence. I was cold without my robes, but wouldn't tell her that. "Ron?"

"Yes?" I hid the eagerness that I felt. Would she ask me what I wanted to ask her, but couldn't?

She paused for a moment, then sighed. "Is it alright that I filled your pockets the most? I don't know how much I can carry."

"That's fine." And found myself again. "No, it isn't fine. Listen, Hermione,

:...what I'm dying to...:

say is that I love you. I want to love you."

The silence now was even, if possible, worse than before. Worse than any silence between us had ever been. So many spats had held silence, but this... "Oh, Ron." I felt her throw herself against me, felt her hugging me, but didn't really. All I noticed was that she felt the same way.

"So... so is that it then? Are we... you know?" She looked up into my eyes, those eyes that showed me myself and now a little of her, and she smiled. I love her smile.

:...and all the while...:

that she looked at me, I felt a smile growing wider on my own face.

My first kiss was under that tree, in the rain, with a girl who's pockets were stuffed with books of all kinds and who was wearing both of our robes. But it was funny, I really didn't feel cold anymore.