Why Don't You Kiss Her?

The summer changed everything. One day he thought that she was just his best friend, just like Harry was. But the next day, he found himself in love with her.

She knew everything about him, and he knew everything about her. She knew what he was going to do way before he even thought about it. It was these very things that Ronald Weasley loved about Hermione Granger.

We're the best of friends

And we share our secrets

She knows everything that is on my mind

Lately something's changed

As lie awake in my bed

A voice here inside my head

Softly says...

After that, whenever he went to his bed and went to sleep, his dreams were always of her. He would be running down a long tunnel toward a girl, and when he would notice whom she was he would only run faster. But the more he ran, the more she backed away. Ron would wake sweating and breathing fast.

He thought that it meant that if he tried to get her, that he would only be pushing her away. He didn't want that. If she couldn't be his girlfriend, he wanted her for a friend. He wouldn't be able to fall back asleep after dreaming of Hermione. But oh how before he slept each night he wished that he would be able to catch her this time, bring her into his arms, and kiss her. That she would kiss him back.

Why don't you kiss her?

Why don't you tell her?

Why don't you let her see

The feelings that you hide?

'Cause she'll never know

If you never show

The way you feel inside

The start of his sixth year was confusing. Harry hadn't been able to come over this summer because of what Dumbledore said, and Hermione had only come for the last three days. During those three days, Ron hid in is room, and only came out when Ginny came to get him for lunch or dinner. Or when he was showering and changing. Only then did he come out. During those times he tried to keep a safe distance away from Hermione. At least so he wouldn't pull her into his arms and snog her silly.

All during his sixth year he knew he would have to face her. He knew he would have to tell her exactly how he felt. But he wouldn't deny the fact that he was scared to death of it. But what if she already knew? After all, he only spoke to her when absolutely necessary. What if he had already done something? When she would walk into a room, he would run like Hell, but longed to hold her tight. To tell her how much he loved her. How much she meant to him.

Oh, I'm so afraid to make that first move

Just a touch and we could cross the line

Every time she's near

I wanna never let her go

Confess to her what my heart knows

Hold her close

A year later, about two weeks before they all graduated from Hogwarts, Harry came into his room. Ron had been trying to keep his mind off Hermione by flicking himself in the calf; he thought that maybe pain would make him stop thinking about her. It never did.

"Ron, you need to tell her," Harry said softly, looking at the floor. He knew the subject was difficult for Ron and that he was very shy about it. But it needed to be done.

Ron stopping flicking himself and looking at the red and yellow quilt his mother had made for him the past Christmas. Harry was right, but Ron didn't want to admit it. He needed to tell her how he felt. He needed to tell her how much he loved her. He needed her, for both their sakes. But mostly, he needed to kiss her.

Why don't you kiss her?

Why don't you tell her?

Why don't you let her see

The feelings that you hide?

'Cause she'll never know

If you never show

The way you feel inside

So the day before graduation, Ron sat on his bed. Remembering. Just remembering.

He remembered how he and Harry had met Hermione. How she had talked, how everyone thought how mental she was about being a Know-It-All. Then he remembered when he thought that the troll on Halloween might kill her, and how he wanted to kill that troll. He remembered thinking that if he could beat that troll; she would fall madly in love with him.

Then he remembered how in second year, after a rocky first year, Hermione was known as one of the smartest witches in Hogwarts. He would try and try to beat her at something, like arguing, but in the end, Hermione came out as the victor. He remembered everything.

In third year, when Harry met Sirius, Ron remembered fighting with Hermione more than usual. It was his only way he knew how to talk to her. He thought that that was the way to talk to a girl you liked. He knew he liked her then, but he didn't know that one day it would be love.

Fourth year, the year of the Yule Ball. He'd wanted to ask Hermione to the dance so bad. But he was afraid of what she might say. Then he'd heard that Neville had asked her to the dance, and he knew it was too late. She'd said no to Neville, one of the most sensitive boys in Hogwarts, so what would stop her from saying no to him. Besides, a few days later he'd found out that she was going with that stuck up Victor Krum. She'd been taken from him.

During his fifth year, he didn't have time to think about her. But he still did. Every night, every breakfast, every lunch, every dinner, every time he saw her he fell for her even harder. He remembered wanting to cry when he'd thought she'd been killed that night in the Department of Mysteries. Then when he saw her he had wanted to pull her down and kiss her thanking God that she was all right, that she had made it back to him.

Sixth year all he remembered was avoiding her as much as possible. He would catch her eye occasionally, but then automatically look away, thinking he had had let it slip that he loved her. It went on like that for nearly two years.

Finally, he stood up. He was afraid of what he was going to do. What would she do? Would she tell him she loved him back? Would she just push him away? It hurt him to just stand there, thinking that in a few hours he could be there, his heart broken into a million pieces.

What would you say?

I wonder would you just turn away?

Or would she promise me

That she's here to stay

It hurts me to wait

I keep asking myself

She wasn't in the Common Room, or in the library. Worried that something might have happened to her he started running around the school, yelling her name over and over again. It was Saturday afternoon so everyone was out on the grounds. Thinking that she might be out there, he started running.

Only to bump into somebody.

"Ow, jeez Ronald," a girls voice moaned. It took a second for Ron to regain conscious since he had fallen to the floor. He blinked a few times then stood up. He couldn't tell whom he'd bumped into. Then he heard her voice.

"Oh sorry," he whispered, looking at the floor. He held out his hand. She glared at him, and stood up on her own. She turned around and began walking away. But Ron reached up and grabbed onto her shoulder.

She stopped.

"Hermione, please," he whispered, "Listen to me." He looked up only to see her frozen to the spot. Her shoulders had gone tense as soon as he touched her.

She turned around and looked him in the eye, her eyes bright with tears. "Why should I," she whispered. "Why should I be the one to listen to you? I've waited two years, TWO YEARS RON, and you expect me to just talk to you like were best friends again? Well, too bad because I won't do it. I've done enough waiting. I won't wait anymore. I can't wait anymore."

Tears had fallen down Hermione's cheeks as she had yelled at him. It had brought tears to Ron's eyes. He knew he had lost her.

"Hermione, I can't do it," he said as she began to walk away. "I can't lose you. Not again."

"You already lost me," she said, looking over her shoulder. "You had me once, now I'm done with it. You lost me."

She walked away, again. Ron ran up to her and grabbed onto her shoulders, looking into her eyes. There was a silence in which Ron thought could explain everything. It didn't.

"Ron, stop it," Hermione whispered, trying to break out of his grasp. But he only moved closer. Their lips only mere centimeters apart.

Hermione had backed up until she was against the wall.

Ron had never been this close to a girl before. He had never noticed how brown Hermione's eyes were, never noticed how tan Hermione's skin was. Ron never noticed anything that he was noticing about Hermione right now. In the two years he'd avoided Hermione, had she changed that much?

If he or she just moved an inch, they would be kissing. Oh how Ron wanted to kiss her. Maybe that could tell her exactly how he felt about her.

Why don't you kiss her?

(Tell her you love her)

Why don't you tell her?

(Tell her you need her)

Why don't you let her see

The feelings that you hide?

'Cause she'll never know

If you never show

The way you feel inside

"Hermione..." Ron whispered.

Why don't you kiss her?