Crazy For This Girl

As he pulled up in front of #119 Brigadier Drive, Ron smiled happily. He was picking up Hermione, and she was to stay at his house for the rest of the summer until they went back for their last year at Hogwarts. Harry wasn't to arrive for another few days, as he was on vacation with his godfather, Sirius Black. Ron turned off the car and stepped onto the street, eager to see Hermione. It had been several weeks since he'd last seen either of his best friends, and he couldn't wait. He knocked on the door, and heard a familiar voice on the other side.

"Mum! Dad! He's here!" said Hermione as the door opened. She flashed him a bright smile, and threw her arms around his neck. "Oh, Ron! It's great to see you!"

"Great to see you, too, Mione," he said as he pulled her in very close. Ron could see her parents appear from around a corner to see their daughter off. "Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Granger."

"Hello Ron, how nice to see you again," said Mrs. Granger. Ron had met her parents before, and had always thought them to be very nice, for Muggles. Seeing as they were the only Muggles he knew, aside from Harry's Aunt, Uncle, and cousin, he thought they were very wonderful people.

Mr. Granger helped Ron get Hermione's trunk into the back of the Weasley's new car, and Ron waited as she said her last good-byes to her parents. When they were finally off another five minutes later, he was very glad to be alone with Hermione.

"So, have you had a good summer so far?" she asked him.

"Well, Percy hung around for a few days, but he left yesterday, so it's great now," he said, making her giggle. He asked her about her summer, and glanced at her every now and then, taking in the beauty that was Hermione as they drove towards the Burrow.

" She rolls the window down

And she talks over the sound

Of the cars that pass us by

And I don't know why

But she's changed my life"

~***-***~

Ron sat on his bed and grinned at Hermione who was losing spectacularly at chess. Harry was fighting back laughter on the camp bed across the room, poorly concealing a loud snort as a cough.

"Come on, Mione, you've only got two moves!" Ron said, feeling victorious already. Both of the moves would result in her failure, as per usual. Hermione had never been very good at chess and she rarely played Ron, who was considered one of the greatest players at Hogwarts.

She scowled at him, and moved her bishop, obviously deciding to get the defeat done with quickly. "There, are you happy now?" she asked sarcastically.

"Yes, I sure am!" he said enthusiastically, "Checkmate!"

"Well, now would you mind if we actually got some work done?" she asked. They had all been working on some summer homework, at Hermione's suggestion. Well, it had been more of a demand rather than a suggestion. Ron had convinced her to take a break after a half an hour and play a game of chess, and Harry had decided that it was very important to take a break to just watch. He had nearly given up chess with Ron when they had figured out that Harry had lost at a ratio of 100 games to three.

"Okay, fine," Ron said, rolling his eyes at Harry as soon as Hermione had opened her new copy of The Standard Book of Spells: Grade 7. Harry fought back a chuckle, opening his own book.

Ron tried to concentrate on his book for a few moments but his attention kept being called elsewhere. To Hermione, to be specific. She was lying across the edge of his bed, reading and chewing on the end of her quill, occasionally writing something on the parchment that was next to her. He was completely enraptured by her and was unable to think of anything but Hermione.

She must have felt his eyes on her, as she looked up and asked, "What is it, Ron?"

"Oh, nothing," he muttered as he drew his eyes back to his book. If she only knew...

~***-***~

At Hogwarts a couple of months later Ron stormed into the common room after a particularly nasty detention with Snape. He threw his book bag on the floor and flung himself down into an armchair angrily.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked in a very concerned sounding voice. In his rage Ron hadn't even noticed that she was still downstairs. Taking notice of her bathrobe, he realized that she had probably come down to wait for him.

"I hate that sadistic, evil..." he told her, searching for a word that was strong enough to describe how much he hated him.

"What did he do?" she asked gently, sitting on the arm of his chair, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"He insulted me, my family, my work, you and Harry, and just about any other thing he could think of to bait me with. Snape just wanted me to say something so he could give me another detention and take more points from Gryffindor," he said, fuming.

"It's okay, Ron, it's over with now," she told him, hugging him tightly. What Snape had said about her had especially bothered him. He could feel his anger leaving as he put his arms around Hermione, hugging her back. She tended to have that effect on him.

" She was the one to hold me

The night the sky fell down

And what was I thinkin' when

The world didn't end

Why didn't I know what

I know now"

~***-***~

It was Christmas Eve at Hogwarts. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were gone to see Bill in Egypt, so Ron and Ginny were staying. Harry and Hermione had also stayed, to keep him company, he suspected.

"This is nice, isn't it?" Hermione asked. The trio was sitting in front of the fire in the Gryffindor common room, enjoying the quiet. The few younger years that were staying had already gone up to bed and it was very peaceful.

"Yeah," Ron replied sleepily. He smiled down at Hermione, who was sitting in between him and Harry.

She leaned in and whispered, "I think Harry's asleep," just as a quiet snore confirmed her suspicions.

"Yeah, we should all probably go to bed now," he said, yawning.

"No way, it's far too cold to walk all the way upstairs," she complained, rubbing her arms, "Plus, I think he's out for the night."

"Okay, what do you want to do, then?" he asked. Hermione pulled out her wand and said, "Accio blanket!" A large, red comforter levitated down the stairs, landing in Hermione's lap. She spread it out over the three of them, and grinned.

"Why don't we just stay here and get an early jump on presents in the morning?" she asked. He nodded, trying, quite unsuccessfully, to fight back another yawn. Hermione conjured a few pillows, and Ron put a couple behind his head, stretching his long legs out onto the coffee table in front of them. He watched as Hermione put one under Harry's head, gently and carefully, as to not wake him. She then turned and put one against Ron's side, lying against him. Ron stretched his arm out and put it his hand on her shoulder, wishing that she would move the pillow and lay just against him, as close as possible.

Hermione wiggled against the pillow for a moment, finally giving up and unwittingly granting Ron his wishes. She snuggled against his chest and whispered, "Happy Christmas, Ron."

"Happy Christmas, Hermione," he responded in kind, pulling the comforter tighter around himself. Ron watched as Hermione fell asleep and, once he was sure she couldn't hear him, he whispered even quieter, "I love you." Ron knew that even if he didn't get any presents in the morning it would be his best Christmas ever, waking up next to Hermione.

~***-***~

Ron swallowed nervously as he walked. He had decided that he needed to tell Hermione his feelings, no matter what. The two of them were walking down to the lake in the chill night air, and he noticed Hermione shiver. He put an arm around her shoulder and asked, "Better?"

"Much," she said, smiling. "Oh, that smile!" Ron thought, feeling his heart pound. He lead her to a spot along the shore where the waves were gently lapping against the sand and stopped, thinking, "Okay, it's now or never, Weasley."

He took Hermione's hands into his and looked intently into her deep brown eyes. Ron took a deep breath and said, "Hermione, this is the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life. You've always been there for me, and have been my friend through everything. You are a wonderful person, Hermione Granger, and everyone in your life is extremely lucky as they get to be blessed with your presence."

"Hermione, I love you," he continued, "You are intelligent, beautiful, funny, kind, determined, brave, and just about any other good adjective there is, it describes you. Out of everyone in the world, I cannot even contemplate being with anyone but you."

Hermione looked at him for a moment and burst into tears. She threw her arms around Ron's neck and cried into his shoulder and he held her tightly. Ron made comforting noises, patting her back.

Once she had calmed down a bit, Hermione pulled back and looked at him. She spoke quietly and he could barely understand her. "Ron, I love you too. I have for the longest time and I've never had the courage to tell you. Whenever I think about my future, thinking about love, only one person ever springs up into my head: you," she said, more tears falling down her cheeks.

Ron leaned in and tenderly pressed his lips to hers, kissing her as he'd dreamed about for so long. Her lips were soft and sweet, kissing him back gently and carefully. Ron's head felt as if it was about to explode; feelings of great bliss were coursing through him.

When he pulled back Ron realized that a few tears had fallen from his eyes as well. He had only cried three times in his whole life that he remembered: when he had fallen off of his toy broomstick when he had been five; when his brother had transformed his teddy bear, giving him a lifelong fear of spiders; and when Hermione had been Petrified in second year, when he had been sitting beside her bed in the hospital wing thinking that she might never wake up and he'd never get her back.

"I love you so much," he breathed into Hermione's hair, as he was still holding her in a tight hug.

"And I you," she replied as she nuzzled her face against his shoulder.

"Would you look at her

She looks at me

She's got me thinkin' about her constantly

But she don't know how I feel

And then she carries on without a doubt

I wonder if she's figured it out

I'm crazy for this girl

Yeah I'm crazy for this girl"

~***-***~

A few weeks later, Ron sat in the common room, playing chess with Harry. Surprisingly enough, Harry was winning. Ron glared at him as he chuckled, contemplating on how to get the game back to his favor. Hermione walked through the portrait hole a moment later, setting her book bag onto the couch and beginning her salutations.

"Ah, now I know why I'm not winning!" he joked, cutting her off, "I didn't have my good luck charm!" He caught Hermione's hand as she prepared to sit down next to him, and pulled her onto his lap, kissing her deeply and dipping her nearly to the floor.

"Hello to you, too," she breathed when he let her go, looking at him with a dazed expression. He smiled innocently, and went back to the game. As he made his next few moves the game did turn to his favor and Ron smiled.

"Okay, you are banned from all future games, Hermione," Harry joked as Ron checkmated him. She grinned, and kissed Ron's forehead in congratulations.

"Did you get your studying done?" Ron asked, barely refraining from calling her 'baby', the pet name he had taken to calling her. He knew that would have resulted in plenty of teasing from the other Gryffindor boys who had just walked in.

"I did but if you two want to pass your NEWTS you had better crack a book," she said sternly.

"Okay, okay," Ron said, jokingly putting his hands into the air. Hermione slid off of his lap and grabbed her book bag pulling out her copy of The Advanced Guide to Defense Against the Dark Arts. Ron smiled as she read over her color coded notes intently, chewing on the end of her quill. Once again unable to concentrate on his work, he watched Hermione indiscreetly over the top of his book. The way she brushed a loose lock of hair out of her eyes; how she bit her lip thoughtfully every now and then. Ron knew that he would be absolutely content with nothing more than the love of this woman for the rest of his life.