Turning Point

She could hear them all the way down the corridor. Her friends all groaned.

"They're at it again," one of the other girls said. They did seem to be doing that a lot more lately.

"At least they aren't in the common room this time, we might actually get some studying done."

They came around the corner in time to see Hermione stomp her foot in frustration. "I don't understand why you're acting like this!"

"Well finally, a subject you aren't an authority on! Someone else actually gets to say something for a change! Not as smart as you think you are, are you?"

Ginny sucked in her breath. She couldn't believe Ron had been that cruel to Hermione. Was he losing his mind? She could see the tears beginning to well in Hermione's eyes before she turned and ran down the corridor.

"I can't believe you said something like that to her," Ginny said coming up beside him.

Ron turned, surprised by the sound of her voice. He obviously hadn't known they were there. When he saw Ginny and the rest of the Gryffindor fifth years, his ears turned pink. He looked away again, but not before Ginny caught his miserable expression.

With a sigh, Ginny turned to her classmates. "Go on without me. I'll be there in a bit."

"Ok, but don't take too long," Colin said, glancing sideways at Ron. "You've still got essays to write for Potions and History of Magic."

"I know," Ginny replied. "I'll try not to be too long."

Colin nodded as one of the others said the password. With a final glance in Ron's direction, they all climbed through the portrait hole. Ginny watched as the portrait of the fat lady in the pink dress closed behind her friends, then turned back to her brother.

"Want to talk?" she asked.

"No."

He was going to be difficult. She took a deep breath. It wouldn't do her any good to make him angry again. "I could use a break. Even after watching all of you last year, I still can't believe all the extra work the professors are handing out."

It wasn't a lie. Not really. She could have used the break, but he knew as well as she did that it was just an excuse she was using to get what she wanted, and what she wanted was for him to talk to her.

"Lets go for a walk."

"Fine," he said in a resigned tone.

They walked in silence for a while, Ginny wanted to wait for his temper to cool down a bit. They walked down the stairs and out through the front hall onto the grounds. It was a nice day for early April and they weren't the only students taking advantage of it.

As they walked along the path that lead to the lake, Ginny asked, "What was it about this time?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

All right, he was still angry. She began chatting about how much homework the teachers had been giving out and how she hadn't expected fifth year to be this hard. She was expecting it to be more difficult than previous years, but not this bad. "I mean come on. The workload has more than doubled this year. Can it really be beneficial if we mentally check out before we even get to take the O.W.L.S.? Was it something you did or - "

"Something I did?" Ron interrupted. "Why is it that you girls always think it's the guys fault?" Well he was definitely still angry, but there was no reason for him to yell at her.

"Look, I'm trying to help here, but if your vision is so clouded by your temper that you can't see my hair is red and not brown, you can just go stuff yourself." Ginny turned to walk away, but Ron caught her arm.

He sighed as he said, "I'm sorry, Ginny. I'm not mad at you."

"No kidding."

"She just never seems to get it."

"Get what?"

"Why she shouldn't keep writing to Krum all the time," he said in exasperation. "Every time I turn around, she's writing him another letter. She won't even listen to me when I try to tell her why she shouldn't."

Ginny found her esteem for Ron rising. Had he actually been trying to tell Hermione how he felt about her? "And why shouldn't she write to him?"

"He's too old." Ron raised one finger in her face. "He's too grumpy," he said, as he raised another finger, "and we can't really be sure where his loyalties are." A third finger joined the first two. "He is from Durmstrang."

Ron turned away from her, getting angry again. "But she can't see any of that! She actually says he's a nice guy. Can you believe that?"

She should have known better than to think Ron would have figured out his own feelings. "So, your were fighting about Viktor?"

"Yeah."

"Again."

It wasn't a question, but he answered her anyway. "Yeah."

"You're mad because she keeps writing him letters?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Why? Haven't you been listening to a thing I've been saying? I just told you all the reasons why!" Ron was nearing the end of his patience, but she knew she couldn't stop now. If she did, it would accomplish nothing and they would be right back where they had started, dreading the next blowup between Ron and Hermione.

"She writes letters to Harry over the summer, that doesn't make you mad."

"No."

"So it's ok for her to write to Harry, but not Viktor."

"Sure."

"Well, what about Neville? You wouldn't have a problem with her writing to Neville?" she asked as he shook his head at her.

"Then how about Dean, or Seamus, or that Hufflepuff boy ..." She searched her memory. "Ernie?"

"Of course not." Ron was looking at her as if he had just noticed that she was completely mental.

"Why not?"

"They're her friends."

"So is Viktor," Ginny said pointedly.

"That's different!" Ron was getting defensive again.

"How is that different? Victor is just as much her friend as Neville, or Dean, or Harry or even you."

She watched him struggle. He was so close. She couldn't let up on him. "You don't want her writing to Viktor because she went to the Yule Ball with him two years ago." He just stared at her, silent, so she plowed ahead. "There's a word for that Ron. It's called jealousy."

"I am not jealous!"

"Then explain to me why it bothers you so much that she writes to a friend that she doesn't get to see?"

Ron was utterly speechless. Ginny smiled sadly at him. "Think about it. I've got to get back and work on my essays." She walked back toward the castle, leaving him staring dumbfounded at her retreating form until she vanished inside.

I am not jealous!

But if he wasn't, why did it bother him that Hermione wrote to Krum so often?

Because he's too old for her!

Well that wasn't really true. He was only three years older than they were. Three years wasn't a lot.

Because he's a grouchy git!

Well that wasn't entirely true either. Sure, he was a bit gruff and he seemed grouchy at times, but then everyone was a grouch at some point. And though it was hard for Ron to admit it, Krum wasn't really a git either.

I just don't like him!

That was true enough, but that was also the problem. Why didn't he like Krum? Why didn't he like the fact that Hermione was writing to him if he is just a friend?

IF!

That was it. He knew he and Harry were her friends. He new that the others Ginny had named were her friends. He didn't know, not for sure, that Krum was just a friend. That's what bothered him.

She said they were just friends, but...

But she didn't go to the Yule Ball with any of them. She went with Krum!

She must think of him as more than a friend. How could she not? Look at him. He's a famous quidditch player.

That wouldn't impress her. She doesn't care about things like that.

He had been the Tri-wizard champion for his school.

But she had wanted Harry to win.

She had helped Harry as much as possible so that he would win. She had been more concerned about him and Harry after the second task than Krum. Thinking about that only made him remember what had happened after the second task. Krum had invited her to visit him over the summer holiday. The thought made him angry, until he realized something. She hadn't gone. She had gone to Grimmauld Place instead. She had the chance to go and see Krum, but she had chosen to stay with him and his family. He was the git.

He was jealous. Had been since she had said she couldn't go to the ball with him because she already had a date. He had tried to cover it up, call it something else, but it was plain old jealousy. He hadn't realized how much he had wanted her to go to the ball with him until she said she was going with someone else.

Why had he been hiding it?

That was easy. He was afraid. He was afraid that she didn't feel the same way he felt. He was afraid that if he did something about the way he felt, it might mess up their friendship. He didn't think he could handle that. But their friendship was getting messed up anyway, wasn't it. The constant rows were taking a toll. They could barely be in each other's company these days with out getting into a fight. And the worst part was that each argument was about some stupid little thing. They never argued about anything that was important.

With a sigh, Ron admitted to himself that he was mostly to blame. He was starting most of the arguments to hide how he felt. He made her mad so that she wouldn't know that he wanted more than friendship from her. He wanted her and it scared him just how much.

Some Gryffindor you've turned out to be.

He had turned toward the castle and started walking before he even knew where he was going. He had to talk to her and he knew exactly where to find her.

He couldn't believe it. She hadn't been in the library. The library was her safe place, a comfort zone, a place she could go and always felt better after, but she hadn't been there. Where would she have gone? Then he remembered what had happened on Halloween their first year.

Please, he thought as he ran down the corridors, please don't let her be crying again.

He found her coming out of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. He slid to a halt, breathing heavily. She looked up at the sound of his approach, but when she saw him, she turned on her heel and walked the other way. This wasn't going to be easy.

He called her name, but she kept walking as if she hadn't heard him.

He tried again. "Hermione."

Nothing.

He raised his voice. "Hermione!"

Still no response.

He followed her around the corner. She heard him coming and began to walk faster. He caught up to her and said, "Hermione, wait."

Still she ignored him and tried to quicken her steps, but with his longer stride, he easily kept pace. "I need to talk to you."

That got a response.

"No."

"Look, I just..."

"I have nothing to say to you," she said before he could finish. "Leave me alone."

She tried to turn down another corridor to get away from him, but Ron, trying to keep his temper under control, grabbed her arm. "Would you just stop and listen?"

He realized too late that this was a mistake. She spun around and all but snarled at him, "WHAT?"

The depth of her anger took him by surprise and he didn't answer her quickly enough. "WHAT, RON? WHAT?"

"I ... um ... " He realized she wasn't going to make it easy on him. He paused, trying to figure out just what to say.

"Well?" She was still angry but at least she had stopped shrieking at him. Now she was just yelling.

"You couldn't leave me alone! You tracked me down and chased me through the halls!" He had never seen her this angry, she was actually trembling.

"Spit it out so I can leave!"

"I wanted..." Why was this so hard?

"I don't really care what you want!"

"I just wanted to talk to you."

"Haven't you said enough?!"

"I need - "

"You need? You want? Why is what you want so much more important than what I want? I DONT WANT TO TALK TO YOU!"

"I'M SORRY!"

That calmed her a bit. "You're sorry?"

"Yes." She seemed taken aback, so Ron pressed his advantage. "I'm sorry about everything. I was mad and I don't think very straight when I mad."

"The things you said..." Her anger was gone, replaced with anguish. His insides clenched knowing he was the cause of her pain.

"I'm sorry."

"They were horrible."

"I didn't mean any of it."

"Then why would you say it? Why?"

He took a deep breath. Now or never, Weasley! "I thought that if I made you angry, you wouldn't figure it out. I should have known better, but I don't always think clearly where you're concerned."

"What?" she asked, her eyes wide.

"After what happened, I was thinking ... well Ginny made me, but that doesn't really matter." He looked at her. From her confused expression, he realized he was making a mess of it. "Anyway, I was thinking ... I realized ... well I realized it before, but..." Ron was mortified. Here was his chance to tell her everything and he couldn't find the right words. Maybe he was hopeless.

She was watching him, waiting for him to say something.

"I don't like you writing to Krum because I don't like the idea of losing you to him."

"Ron, you won't lose me. You're my friend. Nothing could change that."

"I don't want to be your friend."

From her hurt expression, he knew he had messed up again. "I didn't mean it like that. Of course I want to be your friend. That's why this is so hard for me; I don't want to mess up our friendship. If I lost that I don't know what I'd do." He paused again, not sure how to continue.

"I'll always be your friend, Ron. I was just mad."

He looked into her eyes and smiled. "I know that, Hermione. The thing is that Krum wants more than friendship. He has from the start." Ron looked down at his shoes. "I was afraid that you might fancy him," he said to his toes.

"I don't. I've told you over and over that we're just friends."

"I know, but I couldn't believe you. I was jealous."

"You were jealous?" she asked, clearly shocked.

"Yeah."

"Of Viktor?"

"Yeah. I was afraid you fancied him and it made me completely mental just thinking about it. I couldn't stand the idea that you might fancy him. It took me awhile to figure out why I wanted to be sick every time I thought of you with Krum."

He looked directly into her eyes, encouraged by the hopeful expression he saw reflected back at him. "I didn't want you to fancy him. I wanted you to fancy me, but it scared me, too. I didn't want to mess up our friendship, so I tried to ignore it, but it didn't help. I was afraid you would figure it out, your too smart not to. So I would start fights, hoping that if you were angry, you wouldn't see. I know how stupid it sounds, but..." He shrugged.

"That's enough." Hermione said quietly.

"But I..."

She put her fingertips on his lips to silence him. "I don't need to hear anymore," she told him with a broad smile. Her fingers traced the line of his jaw then slid around to his nape as she rose onto her toes. When she gently pressed down on his neck, he lowered his head to hers.

Her mouth met his with a soft, hesitant touch that he knew wouldn't be enough. Hoping he wouldn't make a muck of it, he wrapped his arms around her. With one hand resting in the small of her back, he pulled her closer. His other hand traveled up her spine and neck where he buried it in her hair.

In response, she slipped her arms around his neck, holding him tight. He tilted his head and deepened the kiss. When he did, she melted into him with a soft sigh. He could feel her heart thundering against his own and it gave him an odd satisfaction to know that he had caused it to race like it was.

She was still clinging to him when he lifted his mouth from hers and stared into her eyes. His heart shuttered at what he saw there. He caressed her cheek with his hand as he said, "If I seem insensitive at times, it's not because I mean to be. I'm just not as good with this stuff as you are."

"What stuff?"

"Talking about my feelings," he replied, slightly embarrassed.

"Since you've been so honest, I should be the same. I only wrote Viktor so often because I was trying to make you jealous. I guess I'm old fashioned, but I just couldn't bring myself to make the first move. I've been doing everything I could to get you to notice me."

That made him laugh.

"It's not funny, Ron."

"All you had to do to get me to notice you was to walk into the room. I can't seem to get you off my mind."

"That might just be the nicest thing I've ever heard."

Ron grinned at her.

"We need to go thank Ginny," he said as he released her. He reached out his hand and she slipped hers into it.

As they walked through the castle toward Gryffindor tower, she asked, "What are we thanking Ginny for?"

"For not being as brainless as I am."

Hermione smiled up at him then placed her free hand on his arm and rested her head against his shoulder as they walked. He definitely owed Ginny a large box of Chocolate Frogs.