Taking Notice

"Just because it's taken you three years to notice, Ron, doesn't mean no one else has spotted I'm a girl!"

Ron Weasley's footsteps echoed rapidly off of the surrounding walls as he moved down the corridors of Hogwarts. There were no students around him, which was most likely the safest situation. If there had been anyone in Ron's way at the moment, they would have been in serious danger of receiving boils on every inch of their skin. That is, if Ron even managed to notice any other human being. At the moment, thoughts of a bushy-haired girl yelling at him about his lack of observation skills were distracting him from the rest of the castle.

"I can't believe I never thought about it..." Ron muttered to himself. "Of course I know she's a girl."

It was all Zacharias's fault. Bloody hell, Ron had known that Smith was a smarmy prick, but he had taken it too far. At this moment, Zacharias had just topped Draco Malfoy on Ron's Least Favorite People List...and that was an extremely difficult thing to do. Even Malfoy, though, had never talked about Hermione in that way.

The worst part was that things like this were beginning to occur more often. Hermione might be too busy with her studies to notice it, but Ron--and most likely Harry--had begun to realize that Hermione was getting a fair amount of male attention. Heads were turning and Hermione was beginning to tutor more first and second years than she ever had, although Ron would never tell her that it might be for reasons other than learning. And while she still wasn't the most beautiful girl at Hogwarts, she apparently had enough to keep boys interested.

Which raised the question: How long had other boys realized Hermione's feminism?

By the time he had reached the Great Hall, Ron's anger had subsided into a less dangerous emotion--curiosity, perhaps even a bit of jealousy. Whatever it was, Ron had decided on one thing. He was going to ask Harry about...well, he wasn't quite sure yet. He'd figure it out when he sat down.

Unfortunately, Harry wasn't alone. Terry Boot was sitting next to him, and they were discussing what Ron assumed to be the D.A. Ron looked around for Hermione, satisfied when he couldn't find her anywhere. All he had to do was wait for Terry to leave, and then he could ask Harry...er, right. He probably needed to think about that while he waited.

As Ron sat down, however, a sudden thought came to him. If he found Hermione attractive--he didn't even have time to think about that fact that he had admitted, at least in part, that he did fancy Hermione--and a reasonable part of the Hogwarts castle did as well, wouldn't Harry find her attractive?

In many ways, Harry was an anomaly among teenage boys. He had had to grow up faster than anyone else in the school, and he had taken it rather well for a while. Even though it was starting to wear him down, not to mention piss him off, he still hadn't given up. Ron was positive that, if it had been himself in Harry's position, he would have left a long time ago; and he knew he was telling the truth when he thought that every other boy would have followed in his path. Harry, however, still had hormones.

Ron highly doubted that Harry liked Hermione as anything more than a friend, but that never kept anyone from simply looking. Had Harry looked? If so, how long had he been looking?

"Harry, what do you think of Hermione?" Ron blurted out. He immediately regretted it. Now he would have to have this conversation in front of Terry. And there was no telling where this was going to go, since he had blurted out what had come into his mind at that moment.

Harry ended his conversation with Terry abruptly. He looked at his best friend and frowned at the redhead's worried expression. He asked, "Why? Is something wrong with her?"

"No! No, Hermione's fine," Ron reassured Harry quickly. He then added jokingly, "Well, as fine as a mental person can be, anyway."

Harry grinned. "What do you mean, then?"

"I mean exactly what I said. What do you think of Hermione? As a...well, as a girl."

This was turning out to be the strangest conversation that Harry had ever had with Ron. He glanced at Terry, who was still sitting next to him, but saw that Terry looked just as confused as he felt. Well, at least he wasn't the only one.

"I don't understand, Ron," Harry admitted. "I mean, I think Hermione is a very intelligent person. She might get a little, uh, too into her work sometimes, but there's nothing wrong with that. Is that what you mean?" Harry looked at Ron for a short time, and then said, "Did you guys get into an argument again or something?"

Ron grunted. "No, though that would be easier to explain. That's not the answer I was looking for. What do you think of her as a girl?" Ron asked again, emphasizing the word "girl". Both Harry and Terry looked confused still, so he continued. "This shouldn't be that difficult, mate! We're guys. What do guys talk about? Girls. Now, what do you think of Hermione?"

Ron had finally gotten through to them. Terry immediately looked at Harry in surprise, his eyebrows raised. Harry looked back at him, his mouth slightly open in surprise.

"Well, uh, Ron," Harry began. He cleared his throat, but neither finished his sentence nor began a new one. He seemed to be stuck.

"Can I answer?" Terry piped in.

Both Ron and Harry stared at him. Ron was debating whether or not he wanted more than one person involved in the actual answering of his questions--he had already heard enough of this answer from Zacharias Smith. Did he want to hear anymore from someone other than his best friend? Then again, it might be good to have a handful of boys' opinions on the matter. And Harry didn't seem to want to answer him. As a matter of fact, Harry looked relieved at Terry's offer.

"Sure, go ahead," Ron nodded.

Terry laid his hands on the table and sat up straight, as if he were about to answer one of the unsolved questions of the world. He looked at Harry, then Ron, and began alternating his gaze continually. Finally, he said, "Hermione is...how should I put this? Maybe a metaphor would be an easier way to explain this. Hermione is an expensive, unique jewel in a box full of diamonds. Let me finish, Ron," Terry stopped Ron before he could open his mouth. "Diamonds are one of the most sought after jewels in the world, am I correct? They are used on necklaces, rings, and bracelets, almost all of them expensive. Girls want them because they think they're romantic, so boys give them to their girlfriends, mothers, or any other female that they happen to know. If one looks at the facts, however, they might be surprised to find that diamonds should not, in fact, be the most popular diamonds. Why? Because they are so common and, really, inexpensive. There is a plentiful supply of these so-called 'precious' jewels, lessening their value greatly."

"What the bloody hell do diamonds have to do with Hermione?" Ron scowled.

"Everything, Ron! The most beautiful girls in this school, in the world even, are simply diamonds. They are the stereotypical beauty--slim, maybe exotic, charismatic. But there are so many others to choose from that their beauty becomes a little less beautiful. Boys might not label Hermione as 'stunning' because she's too studious, or too independent, or her hair is too big or some other silly reason like that. But she truly is the most stunning girl in the school because of those reasons."

Terry smiled smugly, relaxing in his seat. He glanced at Ron and Harry's stunned expressions and added, "Plus, she has a very nice body."

"That she does, Mr. Metaphor," a familiar voice piped up behind Ron.

Ron whipped around in his seat; he could feel his ears turning red already. His blush merely intensified when he spotted his twin brothers standing behind him, mischievous grins fixed on their faces.

"Has our ickle brother finally realized how incredibly lucky he is to spend so much time with his best friend?" George said in such a way that left no doubt that he wasn't talking about Harry.

"About time, Ron." Fred smacked Ron's head.

Ron slumped down in his seat and rubbed the tender spot on his head that Fred had just slapped. He really hadn't wanted his brothers to get involved in this. Bloody hell, now that he thought about it, he didn't want Terry in on this, either. Ron had no one but himself to blame, though. Him and his stupid mouth.

Ron, in an attempt to get his brothers off of his back, mumbled, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Well, we're a little tired of that," George said. "So..."

"...we're going to tell you what we're talking about."

Before Ron could protest, Fred and George sat on either side of him. Fred draped his arm around his little brother's shoulders, and George began speaking emphatically.

"Have you noticed yet, my dear brother, that Hermione--as Boot over here said--has a very nice body?"

"Er..." Ron cleared his throat, trying to stall his answer. He was trying to figure out how to answer without revealing any discriminating evidence that could be used against him in the future. "Well, uh..."

Fred almost immediately interrupted him, not giving him the chance to answer. "Well, she does. Slim waist..."

"...but not too slim..."

"...nice hips..."

"...but not too large..."

"...round buttocks..."

"...perfectly rounded buttocks..."

"...she is a little lacking in the breast department..."

"...hey, boobs are boobs, no matter what their size..."

"...but she more than makes up for it with her legs."

"Have you seen her legs?"

"They are heavenly."

"We probably have Harry to thank for that one."

Harry looked extremely uncomfortable. "What? Why me?"

"All of that running around she has to do because she's your best friend. Running from You-Know-Who and his faithful servants."

"Actually, in their case, it's running toward You-Know-Who and his faithful servants. Then it's the running away."

"Good point. So it's three times as much running as the average witch or wizard has to do."

"Which gives us Hermione's delightful legs."

"Thanks, Harry," Fred and George said in unison.

"Er, no problem, I guess."

Ron was now practically leaning on the table. This was so embarrassing! Yet, strangely enlightening at the same time. This was now three people who he knew for a fact saw Hermione as a girl. Four, if he counted Zacharias.

"So, Ron, do you know what we're talking about now?" Fred smirked.

"Yes! Yes! Merlin, yes! Just go away!" Ron groaned.

"Are you sure you don't need a few more people to explain it for you?" George winked at his twin brother.

Ron's head snapped up. Why did he feel as if Fred and George were up to something? "What? No, I'm fine..."

"No, we still think you need a bit more tutoring."

That was George. Fred had already left the table, and Ron had a feeling that it wasn't because he felt like giving his poor brother a break.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, a large group of boys had gathered around the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. Boys from every house including Slytherin (although there were noticeably fewer of them) were talking loudly and behaving as obnoxiously as was possible with their Professors close by. Every boy was having an immensely good time discussing one certain girl--every boy except Ron.

Ron wasn't quite sure how much he could take. Between the frequent comments similar to the ones that Fred and George had mad earlier and the less uncomfortable remarks of Hermione's virtuous personality, Ron had concluded that no one didn't think that Hermione wasn't a girl. Furthermore, every boy in the school had realized this about his best friend long before he had. That was irritating. Unfortunately, however, Fred and George refused to let Ron leave.

The table broke out into a loud raucous over something Seamus Finnigan had just said. Ron hadn't heard it, and he was sure that he didn't want to.

"Okay, okay," Seamus tried to calm the table down. "We need to hear what Dean has to say."

The entire table looked towards the dark young man. First through fifth year boys waited in anticipation to hear what Dean Thomas was about to say. He, who had already had four girlfriends and thus the most out of any of the other younger boys, was considered the expert on girls, at least as far as the fifth years and under were concerned. The sixth and seventh year boys waited in amusement.

Dean laughed nervously, shaking his head slightly. "I've never dated anyone like Hermione, so I don't really know what to say. In fact, I don't think there is anyone quite like Hermione."

"My point exactly," Terry Boot said triumphantly.

Most of the boys looked slightly disappointed that Dean wasn't going to say anything else. Fred and George, however, quickly took the opportunity to put their brother on the spot. They loudly, and happily, announced that it was Ron's turn to speak his mind.

Ron shifted uncomfortably at the large group that was staring and grinning at him. He usually relished such attention, as it rarely happened to him. But this was something he really didn't want to speak about to a rowdy group of boys, nor in such a large public place as the Great Hall, where any girl could overhear his conversation and run off to tell Hermione. It didn't help that he didn't fully understand his own feelings on the subject in question. Seeing as he couldn't get up without Fred and/or George inflicting bodily harm on him, Ron figured it was better to get this over with.

Luckily, there was very little he could say on the matter without screwing it up entirely. Therefore, this would most definitely be quick.

"Hermione is...well, obviously she's a girl." He waited for the boisterous laughter to die down before he continued. "I know that, and apparently every other boy in the school knows it, too." There was much elbow nudging among the boys. "I don't know what else to say really, besides to state the obvious and say that I'm completely nutters for not realizing sooner how amazing of a girl she is. As to why she's amazing, I dunno. She just...is. Because she's Hermione. She's...just Hermione."

Ron finished his sentence confidently and certainly, then looked up at the group of boys who had been listening to him. He looked down quickly again after he saw the shock in their faces. Yet another blush began to form as he realized how stupid he probably sounded to them. He was sure that they now thought that he was a raving lunatic.

But what he had said was true. Ron had described Hermione in the best way that he knew how. Indescribable. His. His indescribable Hermione.

Ron had no idea that the shocked looks on the boys' faces were not directed at him. Their expressions were aimed at the bushy-haired girl who had silently walked out of the Great Hall, smiling timidly at what she had just heard Ron say.