Meant to Be....

Meant to Be....

It was nine at night and the trio were hanging out in the common room. Harry and Ron were engaged in a fiery chess match while Hermione read a book.

Ron stared at Hermione while she turned the page. He gulped and felt his eras get redder.

"Your move, mate," said Harry.

Ron looked down and found Harry waiting for his move; in the game of wizarding chess they were playing.

"Right," he said and moved his knight. Hermione paid no attention to them and continued reading.

Ron groaned and Harry thought he groaned because he had his queen trapped. But the true reason Ron groaned was because Hermione never noticed him.

No matter what he did, she never thought of him in that way. In his fourth year, he had ignored her purposely to ask her out formally later. But she accepted Krum and made him feel like a loser

He thought that when she saw him with another girl, she would notice him. So he went out with Padma, but she seemed more than happy with Krum. He always caught her writing letters to Krum, so he thought they must be serious. He could never control the surge of jealousy he felt when he heard Krum's name.

He always tried to be nice to her and compliment her, but it always came out wrong. Just this morning, Ron had tried to compliment Hermione on her hair.

"Hermione, your hair looks.... less bushy today," he said.

Hermione gave him an uncertain look and Ron felt like kicking himself.

Now, she sat reading on the couch, ignoring him, while he stole secret glances at her.

He was tired of them fighting so he decided to make some friendly conversation.

"So, Hermione," he said casually.

Hermione looked up from her book and raised an eyebrow at him.

"Finish Snape's essay yet?" he asked.

"Yes Ronald, but you're not getting it," she said, with ice coating her words.

"What?! I didn't say I wanted it!" he yelled. "I only asked if you were done!"

"It's the same thing, Ron," she said, rolling her eyes. "You only need me for one thing and that's to copy your homework from."

Ron was mad again. He knew he was going to say something that would bother, making them not talk for another few days, but he couldn't help himself.

"That's not true!" he yelled, abandoning his game and standing up. "You always make assumptions. I only asked you a simple question!"

Hermione glared at him, her book thrown to the side. She jumped up and glared at him

Harry sat, waiting for them to finish their row, patiently.

"You're going to teach me about making assumptions?" asked Hermione. "You're the one who always thinks me and Victor are going out when we're only friends!" she snapped.

"Sure, whatever," said Ron. He was tired of their fighting and his voice hurt from shouting, so he turned on his heel and left the common room.

Harry and Hermione stared after him.

"What happened to him?" asked Hermione. "He's never done that before."

"I think he was upset about losing against me in chess anyways," said Harry, shrugging his shoulders.

"Don't ask me to go talk to him, 'cause I won't. This is between you two- again," he said. Hermione was glad she had Harry. Even though him and Ron were both guys and she would expect him to stick up for him, he never got on a side. He always stayed in the

She was upset about the row she and Ron just had so all she said, "Of course," and said good night to Harry who made his way after Ron, to the dormitories.

She sighed. Why did her and Ron always end up fighting? She had been watching him, every few seconds when he wasn't looking and then pretending to read a book on how to clean your nostrils magically.

She cared about him since fourth year, but he just didn't show any signs of liking her back. Every night, she would ask herself why she had to choose to fall in love with an insufferable git like Ron, and she came up with very dumb answers.

He was kinda sweet. He was always defending her against Malfoy and other people who insulted her. He never forgot her birthday and always got her something cool for it.

Other than those things, there was nothing else special about him.

Hermione rolled her eyes at herself. Who was she kidding? The very sight of him made her want to jump for joy. She like it when his hair was all rumpled and uncombed and how his ears got red when he got mad. She liked how he looked when he was deep in thought, which wasn't very often. She loved the way his face would screw up in concentration when he was thinking.

She liked a lot of things about him, but didn't think he liked her back. For one thing, they were always fighting and he never did compliment her or say nice things to her. He always did get mad when she was writing to Victor, but she figured that wasn't love, only his brotherly affections.

Her nights were spent in tears and confusion of the things Ron said and did to her. She didn't understand why she was so crazy about him, but she knew she couldn't live without him.

She sighed, picked up her book and went to her dorm. Inside, she changed her clothes and went to bed and waited for sleep.

But sleep wouldn't come; she lay awake for hours, thinking about what Ron had said. For some reason, she wouldn't have peace of mind until she and Ron made up, it was just the way she was. So she decided to go down and read for a bit.

She tiptoed downstairs and sat down on her favourite armchair by the fireplace. Except instead of sitting on the chair, she sat on something squishy.

She screamed until she heard the familiar voice of Ron go, "Bloody hell, Hermione. What're you doing down here?"

Hermione blinked and saw Ron standing before her. He looked really cute in his orange pjs with white stripes. His hair was rumpled as usual.

Hermione planted her hands on her hips. "I could ask you the same question."

Ron looked at her, he thought she looked really cute. Her bushy, untameable hair was tied in two braids on either side of her head and she wore pink and white pjs with ruffles.

"I was down here cause I couldn't sleep," he said.

Hermione said, "Oh ok."

They sat down across from each other in the armchairs.

Hermione picked up her book and started reading it, while Ron looked out of the window. They kept on stealing glances at each other, when they thought the other wasn't looking.

An owl hooted in the night and Ron cleared his throat. "Hermione, I want to say sorry. I was kinda grumpy and I lost it."

She looked up from the book she was saying and said, "That's all right Ron." She continued to read but then she felt the gaze of Ron on her.

"Yes?" she waited.

"Do you like Victor, I mean really like him?" Ron asked. "I mean more than a friend?"

Hermione sighed. "No, Ron. I told you so many times, I don't."

"Oh, ok," he said, looking sad.

Hermione decided to give him a hint. "Actually, I fancy someone else, not Victor."

"Really?" he asked, looking up immediately. "Who?"

Hermione smiled, "I can't tell you that."

"Sure, you can," he said. "I'll tell you who I fancy."

"All right, then. Who goes first?" she asked.

"You," he said.

"No, you tell me whom you fancy," she said.

"You," he said again.

"Come on, Ron, just tell me," she pleaded.

He grinned and said quietly, "I fancy you, Hermione."

Hermione stared at him and felt her cheeks redden. "Me?"

He nodded and then said, "Your turn."

She blushed and looked down, shyly. "I fancy you."

* * * * *

The next morning Harry woke up to find Ron not in his bed.

He went down to the common room and found his best friends sleeping on the couch together with a blanket around them.

They both were smiling and Harry smiled too.

It was about bloody time....

Fin!