Jigsaw Puzzle

Ron had made up his mind.

"Hermione?" he said as he approached her.

"What?" Hermione's voice was accusing this time.

Ron searched his mind for words to say, but the search yielded little. He wasn't even sure exactly what had caused his feet to carry him from his warm dormitory out into the cold.

It certainly was cold...although Ron didn't feel like stooping to make a comment about the weather. He was going to have to say something, though, and soon.

Ron opened his mouth with Hermione glaring at him. "Cold, isn't it?" he said in an overly exaggerated conversational tone.

He had made a comment about the weather. Couldn't he have said anything else? Anything?

What was colder than the weather was Hermione's manner. She made no reply whatsoever at first, still glaring at Ron. Then she looked away and stared fixedly at the castle walls.

Ron felt his ears turning red. This was going nowhere, and feeling humiliated was bad enough without the addition of freezing cold weather.

"What do you want?" said Hermione after a prolonged silence.

Ron tried to get his seemingly frozen brain to work. "I...I saw you were out here by yourself," he said slowly, "And I...I just thought you better come inside."

Hermione went back to her silence.

"You wouldn't want to catch cold right before Christmas, would you?"

"I suppose not," Hermione replied eventually, her voice still as icy as the weather.

"Maybe...Maybe we could walk to Hagrid's or something?" Ron suggested.

"Just leave me alone!" Hermione got up from the bench suddenly, and Crookshanks ran off hissing.

"Hermione!"

Acting like Ron wasn't there, Hermione kept walking towards the castle.

"Hermione, I..." Ron struggled to keep up with her. Hermione could walk surprisingly fast when she wanted to, but since his legs were longer, it wasn't long before Ron caught up. Hermione was about to reach the door when Ron touched her on the shoulder. A firm hold would have been Ron's instinctive response, but it became a gentle touch, a gesture of desperation. To his surprise, Hermione stopped. She turned and looked up at him. He saw that she had started to cry, and he squeezed her shoulder slightly, a concerned expression in his eyes. "Hermione...What's the matter?"

Ron felt like he had said something wrong. Hermione started to cry harder, looking away. She didn't say anything.

"Hermione?" Ron's voice was gentle but uncertain. Hermione was suddenly aware of how close he was o her, his hand still on her shoulder with the same gentle uncertainty. "Hermione, I...I did apologize. I know I can be an idiot, but..." Ron paused as Hermione turned to look at him, his ears turning red again as their eyes met. "Well, I, er...I care about you," Ron mumbled, forcing himself to look Hermione in the eyes. "So...I just wanted to know what's bothering you. Are you still mad at me?"

There was a long pause.

"I'm not mad at you, Ron," Hermione said quietly.

"Then what's the matter?" Ron asked.

"I..." Hermione couldn't tell Ron the truth, that she was jealous of that girl...What would he think?

"You can tell me, Hermione. What is it?" Ron asked. Hermione was again painfully aware of how close he was.

"Are you going to kiss her or what?" came a call from across the grounds. Ron whirled around, his face heating up rapidly, to see Fred and George grinning at him.

"What are you two talking about?" Hermione snapped, her cheeks slightly pink.

Before Ron could utter his own retort, it was too late.

"You have nothing to worry about, Hermione," said a grinning Fred.

"Ron's mad about you," said George. "Thinks you're a right old angel." He winked at Ron.

Hermione looked from the twins to Ron and back again, her expression unreadable. "Ron? They're...They're just joking, right?"

"No. They're not," Ron said very quietly. "Although I wanted to tell you myself," he wanted to add, but he couldn't bring himself to say anything more.

"Let's see a kiss!" Fred and George called, beginning a chant. "Let's see a kiss! Let's see a kiss!"

Soon, to Ron and Hermione's surprise, other people joined in, what seemed like at least half of Gryffindor, including Harry. "Let's see a kiss! Let's see a kiss!"

"Hermione, I guess...you don't feel the same way. I'm sorry..." said Ron awkwardly.

"Sorry for what, Ron?" said Hermione. She pulled him closer and kissed him.

A wild cheer went up, there was a flash of light, and when they broke apart, Ron and Hermione were carried into the castle, like their kiss was as much of a triumph and cause for celebration as a Quidditch win, and perhaps it was.