Our Ickle Ronniekins

Ships: R/Hr, H/G hinted, and D/Hr hinted.

Ron and Hermione watched the stars in an abandoned storage room in the Astronomy tower. Harry’s Invisibility Cloak lay forgotten on a nearby table.

Ron looked over to see Hermione’s profile. He didn’t know why he didn’t just snog her right then and there. He was still sort of bothered by his conversation with Harry, but yea, this is my sister we’re talking about, he thought. He blew a stray strand of fiery- red hair out of his eyes.

"Does it bother you?" Hermione asked, glancing over at Ron.

"What’re you talking about?" Ron asked back.

"How Harry feels about Ginny."

Ron snapped. "What did he tell you? How does he feel about her? What is he thinking?" he exclaimed more than he asked.

Hermione flinched. "He didn’t tell me anything. I thought he told you." Hermione thought for a moment. "You can totally tell anyway."

"No, he didn’t…" Ron’s voice trailed off. "But what is he thinking? He could have almost any other girl here. Why Ginny? She do anything for him…"

Hermione touched Ron’s hand. "He’s not going to take advantage of her… That’s not like him."

Ron looked out the window. "Yea, I know… but still. Harry, my best friend, with my sister. Ginny, my sister, with my best friend. Them, together, doing stuff that people that are together do. My best friend and my sister… that’s an accident waiting to happen…"

"’An accident waiting to happen’," Hermione scoffed. "Come off it. Harry’ll do what he wants."

Ron’s brow furrowed. "What’s that supposed to mean?"

Hermione took her hand off of Ron’s. "Exactly what I said." With that, she stormed away, taking the Invisibility Cloak and leaving Ron standing there, bewildered.

What did I do? Ron thought. So that’s what fighting’s going to be like with her. No shouting matches. No yelling. He shoved his hands in his pockets and walked away. I should’ve kissed her while I had the chance.

* * * * *

Hermione walked into the common room calmly. She saw Harry laying on the couch and threw the Invisibility Cloak at him. "Where’s Ron?" Harry asked.

"He’s still in the storage room," Hermione said.

"Hermione, how is he going to get back?"

Hermione crossed the crossed the room and grabbed the banister of the stairs. "I don’t know and I don’t care," she said. She walked up the stairs.

Harry looked nonplussed. I don’t know either, he thought.

* * * * *

"Sorry!" Ron exclaimed. "You’re the one that told me to put the diced chocolate in before the molasses!"

"Well," Hermione protested, "…you should have read the directions!"

"Hold it!" Harry yelled. "Hermione, no offense, but you are the one that’s been hogging the directions the whole time."

Hermione looked at the crumpled piece of parchment in her hand. She groaned in frustration. "You guys are such… such…" Hermione searched her mind for an insult. All she could manage was "morons!" and by that time Professor Snape had intervened.

"What in God’s name is going on here?" he asked as he viewed the scene. "Granger, sit over there," he pointed to an empty seat, "and work with Malfoy." Draco, who for once had been minding his own business, looked up at Snape with shock. "And ten points from Gryffindor!" Draco’s horrendous expression softened a bit as Hermione gathered her things. As she picked up her things she glared at Ron and Harry. She walked to the back of the room and sat next to Draco, not saying a word to him.

Hermione sighed inwardly as she diced some chocolate. Why did I have to go and call Harry and Ron morons? Of course it had to be during Snape’s daily Gryffindor bashing. God he is such a biased, slimy git. She poured some molasses in her cauldron, and stirred the bluish mixture. Oh well, at least if I’m working with Malfoy I’m guaranteed to get a good grade. Snape’s not about to give his favorite student a bad mark. She gave Draco a sideways glance. I really am the smartest person here. I don’t need him to earn a good grade on this potion. Hermione picked up a flask of water and poured it into the mixture. As she stirred it she looked at Harry and Ron. This would be so much more fun if I was working with them. Ron and I are always getting into fights but… oh I don’t know. I really wish last night would have never happened. She looked at her potion, which had turned a turquoise color. Harry’s always been neutral whenever we fight. It’s unlike him to take sides with Ron. Hermione tried to fix her concentration on the potion, but soon found herself sneaking peeks at Draco. She sighed inwardly again. It’s no use thinking about it now. I’m stuck sitting next to the evilest fifth- year in this school. I’ve got to admit, though, he is really cute, in an evil sort of way. She studied Draco’s expression. He looks like he’s daydreaming. I didn’t know evil people daydreamed. She pondered this for a moment. Maybe he’s not all that evil after all.

Draco stared at the endless ceiling of the dungeon. I know she’s staring at me… why aren’t I telling her off? Draco looked down at the smooth slate of the table. …I’m not having quite a good day. I guess I tell people off too much. I told Crabbe and Goyle off and now they’re off working with Pansy. Ewww… Pansy keeps staring at me… ewww… No, you can never tell people off too much.

"Hey, Malfoy," Hermione said.

Draco snapped out of it. "Hmm?"

"Can you pass the pink stuff over there?"

Tell her off… tell her off… "Okay." He handed the pink solution to her. Why didn’t you tell her off? "Because she’ll get ticked at me and we’ll get a bad grade," he muttered to himself. Oh, I don’t know. It’s better than sitting by Pansy, I guess. He watched Crabbe and Goyle swooning over Pansy. "That’s sick," he said.

"Well if you think it looks sick maybe you’ll want to help out a little," Hermione said. She was balancing several things in her hands.

"No," Draco said with a dismissive wave of his hand, "not the potion." He gestured in Pansy’s general direction. "Look at Crabbe and Goyle and Pansy. You can totally tell they like her."

"And you can totally tell she likes you."

"Excuse me?"

"She staring right at you."

"Ewww…" he said with a shudder.

"I think you are the one that took her to the Yule Ball," Hermione said pointedly.

"Well…" Draco retorted, "it’s not like I wanted to go stag. Do you know how bad that would have looked?"

"Oh wow," Hermione said in mock horror. "It might have ruined your reputation."

"Sod off," Draco said. "It the potion almost done?"

"Almost," Hermione said as she added a crushed bay leaf. The potion turned lilac, popping and hissing. "There. Exactly like it should look."

Draco stared at the sizzling concoction. Professor Snape walked over to the pair. "Very nice," he said. "Much better than Weasley and Potter." Hermione and Draco looked at Harry and Ron. Ron was chopping furiously at something with a knife. Most of the time he would miss the object and put marks in the cool slate of the table. Harry was obviously avoiding Ron’s frenzied hand, because Ron and knives don’t mix.

"Wonder what’s eating him," Draco said snidely.

"Dunno," Hermione lied, not taking to the hint of nastiness in Draco’s voice.

Snape looked at the two of them. "This is a great potion. I was sure that would be… fifteen points for Slytherin and ten points for Gryffindor."

"Excuse me?" Hermione said. "How does he get five more points than me?"

"That should be obvious," Snape said. "It’s clear that Malfoy did all of the work."

Hermione was livid, but she dared not argue with Snape, because she knew he would take points from Gryffindor if she did. Snape began to walk away, scribbling something in his grade book.

"A- actually, Professor," Draco said. God, I sound like Professor Quirrel. "Hermione did all of the work… I helped a little." Snape looked thoroughly digusted. He threw a look of contempt at Draco. I wasn’t supposed to do that! Draco thought to himself.

"Fine," Snape said through clenched teeth. He wrote something else in the brown, leather book. "Fifteen points for Gryffindor and ten for Slytherin." With that, Snape walked over to Neville and began to harass him.

He’s never done anything like that. I’m dreaming. Hermione eyed Draco’s steel- gray eyes skeptically. Draco arched an eyebrow. Hermione looked away and busied herself by looking in her bag for something. No, she convinced herself. It’s real.

Hermione glanced up involuntarily, and noticed Ron’s eyes staring in her direction. He had abandoned his cutting knife, leaving Harry to do the rest of the work. Hermione noticed Harry look up from the sheet of directions, and the look of anger on his face. Harry looks like he wants to deck Ron. She chuckled under her breath. I’ll bet he wishes he hadn’t said anything. Hermione sighed inwardly. Why did I say what I said last night? Ron will think what he thinks about Harry and Ginny. I should know that by now. I wonder if Ron told Harry about what I said to him. Knowing him, he probably didn’t. At least he got back all right. Hermione set her bag back down on the table. I shouldn’t have said it, she repeated in her mind.

The bell rang. Draco grabbed his book and began to walk away.

"Hey, Malfoy," Hermione called to the retreating form. Draco turned his head ever so slightly, and looked at Hermione out of the corners of his gray eyes. Hermione took a deep breath. She hadn’t ever thanked Draco for anything. Usually she was very ticked off at him. There’s a first time for everything… she thought to herself. "Thanks," she said, in a surprisingly clear voice.

Draco only nodded.

* * * * *

Later on that day, Hermione, Harry, and Ron were all hanging around in the Gryffindor Common Room. Tension hung so heavily in the air it could’ve been cut with a knife. Possibly a heavy-duty chainsaw, since this was the first time they were each on a "side". Ron and Hermione were ticked off at each other because of the Harry and Ginny situation, Ron was mad at Harry because of the same thing, and Harry and Hermione… well, they never *fought*, this was just an awkward moment for them. So, to sum it up, none of this would’ve happened if Ginny didn’t exist. Unfortunately, for them at least, she did.

For Harry, there was a total of two living females that meant something to him: Hermione, of course, since she was his best friend, and Ginny, because once you save someone’s life you don’t forget it.

Harry looked at his watch – 11:07. He sighed and tilted his head back, staring at the ceiling. Shifting his eyes to the side, he saw Hermione squished in an armchair, reading, and Ron staring at the floor.

Ron didn’t remember how they all ended up being alone in the Common Room, but they were. Ran also didn’t know why he felt the way he did about Harry and Ginny being together. He kept reminding himself that they weren’t yet, but even if they were, Harry was his best friend, and Ron would trust his life with him. Okay, he thought, It’s none of my business. If I tell them that this’ll be over and we can get back to being friends. He was about to say this when–

"Look," a voice said behind them. They all looked.

"Guys, this is my fault," Ginny said. She crossed the room and sat in an armchair.

"Wha–" the other three said in unison.

"I mean–" Ginny’s voice faltered for a second, then gained strength. "You three have been glaring daggers at each other all day. None of you have talked to me either, and I put two and two together… I’m not stupid, and I don’t want to feel guilty. So we’re going to figure this out right now."

The other three looked around. Harry said, "Ginny, it’s late, and I was just about to go to bed…"

Ginny looked at him. "Harry, do you want to do this now or wait and keep putting it off until it’s too late? You guys have this circle of friendship that I know a lot of people envy, especially me. I’m not jealous, but I don’t want to see it go to waste just because of a stupid thing like romance. Especially if it’s my fault."

Ron sat up. "It’s not your fault, Gin," he said. "It’s mine." He waved his hand. "It’s none of my business what you all do." He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, unless you do something stupid."

Harry smiled. "You mean, like bungee jumping?"

Hermione laughed. Ron and Ginny looked confused. "What’s that?" Ron asked.

Hermione stood up. "Well, that was easy. I expected this to be like a talk show or something."

"What’s that?" Ron asked.

"I’m going to bed," Hermione said.

"Me too," Ginny smiled at them all. "G’night"

"Hey," Ron called suddenly. "Hermione."

Hermione turned around. "What?"

"Er…" Ron looked at the floor. "Are we still, um, together?"

Hermione smiled. "Well, why don’t we wait a while. We’ve got two years, anyway." She turned back and walked to her dormitory.

Ron and Harry were left in the Common Room. Ron slumped into a chair. "Well, that’s great. Dang, my first girlfriend and I kept her for less than a week. Fred and George were right. I’m ickle, whatever that means."

"Pretty pathetic, eh?" Harry said, grinning. Ron threw a pillow at him. Harry laughed and caught it, his Seeker reflexes getting the better of Ron. Squishing it in his hands, he said, "Well, all’s well that ends well." He threw the pillow back at Ron, hitting him on his shoulder.

"What does that mean, anyway?" Ron asked, laughing. "And who said that ended well?"

"Shut up!" Harry said. "I’m just trying to give you advice or something. It was crappy advice, though, because it sounded more like closing remarks on a talk show."

"What’s a talk show?"