Sometimes It Takes a Dream to Wake You Up

13. What you deserve

Hermione was enjoying the quiet morning so far. She was still in her night clothes, curled up in the overstuffed arm chair she'd sat in the first day they'd arrived. While sitting there this morning she had almost managed to get through the last two chapters of her O.W.L. workbook. It was her tenth time trough the book so the reading was going quickly. She took a small sip of her morning tea and turned to the last page. A shadow passed into her light.

She looked up and there stood Ron. She smiled sweetly at him but he did not return it. His face was unreadable except that he seemed to be studying her intently. Under his arm was a folder filled with parchment. After a moment he gave a hint of a nod as if making a final decision and steeling himself to follow through. He laid the folder down on a nearby end table and opened it. From within he withdrew the piece of parchment from the top along with some envelopes that had been underneath. There were still several sheets left in the folder covered with notes and sketches.

"Good morning, Ron. Something wrong?"

Ron consulted his notes and then looked at Hermione, "People often make the mistake in thinking that I'm stupid."

"Excuse me? What are you on about?" she put down her book to give him her full attention.

"It takes some intelligence to play chess well and I've never lost a game I meant to win since I was eight. I don't really apply myself at school but yet I get decent enough grades. I also manage to hold my own in an argument with you on occasion for further proof."

She looked at him utterly lost, "Who said you were stupid?"

"No one. I'm just establishing the fact before we continue."

"Continue what?"

"This chat."

She shrugged, "OK, you're not stupid."

He glanced quickly at his notes, "I took your suggestion."

"Which suggestion?"

"I went back and reread these letters," Ron held up the envelopes he had taken from the folder.

"Oh, you still have them then. I really didn't think you were the type to keep letters."

"I have them. I've kept every scrap of writing you've ever given me, even the little notes we passed to each other during class from first year. But back to these," he nodded to the envelopes in his hand. "You were right of course. No where in any of them do you actually say you are going to Bulgaria."

"Yes, I know."

"However, I'd like to point out that in this one, you mention how you had just checked the Seer's Almanac for the weather conditions for July in Bulgaria. In this next one, you say how awful Bulgarian cuisine sounds. In this one, I must admit to having no idea what you are talking about, something about a museum or similar such thing, but you do again mention Bulgaria. So you did not say you were going there, but can you admit that it was implied?"

Hermione answered slowly, "I suppose one could take it that way. Then again you were being so rude yourself about the whole thing."

"No, I wasn't. You see I've sketched out to the best of my memory when I started to send the letters that were, er, not so nice, and when you sent your letters. I received these three before I mentioned the first thing about Bulgariaor Krum for that matter."

"Oh?"

"Mm hmm, would you care to go get the letters I sent you and compare dates? I have a chart I can show you."

"No, thank you. I trust your facts."

Ron brightened faintly, "Ah good, I've put a lot of work into getting the facts correct. We have already agreed I am not stupid, but I will admit I am sometimes lazy or sloppy unless there is something that I really care about. Then I am a very hard worker," Ron nodded towards the open folder and the pages of notes within.

"Right then, where were we? You implied that you were going to visit Krum but then had no intention of actually doing so. Yes or no?"

She answered in a quiet, subdued voice, "Yes."

"Why?"

Hermione looked at him with growing fear as to where this "chat" was leading. He didn't seem angry at the moment but she felt like one misspoken word could change that instantly. She licked her lips and opened her mouth to say something but there was nothing there. She closed her mouth and then finger brushed the hair back behind her right ear. She sat back into the chair, indicating she had no answer.

Ron smiled inwardly. He was getting rather good at constructing these awkward moments at the expense of his friends. Perhaps they'd learn not to underestimate him as much again.

He looked down at the parchment and then back up to continue, "Either you're not sure yourself or you don't want to tell. I used up a lot of parchment brainstorming reasons why you might have done this. Fred and George would say it was nutters to try and figure out why a girl does anything but you're no ordinary girl. You're Hermione. There's always a reason, always a logical progression. Which is why I thought you might appreciate this approach I'm using rather than my usual methods."

Hermione didn't appreciate it. Something was very different about Ron and she didn't like it at all. He was too cool, too reserved, too much like her. She needed his fire.

Ron went on, "So I came up with several sheets of possibilities. Scratched most of them right away but there was this one that refused to be dismissed. It seemed like the only answer but it was just so unlike you. I mean, really, all of them were so unlike you but then so is deceit which is what I would have to call all this Bulgariabusiness."

She gulped hard on hearing "deceit" but made no protest. Ron moved slowly towards her and she tried to sink further into the chair.

"So I had one reason why you might have done what you did, but it didn't seem likely. You actually wanted me to tell you not to go and you got your wish. But then I admittedly went too far and you decided you no longer wanted to play the game you started. Yesterday, I actually apologized to you for doing something you had wanted me to do, something you had caused me to do. I don't think that was very Hermione of you."

Ron had wound up with his hands on the arms of the overstuffed chair that Hermione was pressing herself into. He was leaning in with his face about a foot away from hers. To anyone who knew them the scene would have been laughable from the role reversal, Ron with an air of mature disapproval and Hermione looking much like a very young girl caught in some infraction of honor.

Ron was scared for a moment that she might start crying under his close scrutiny. He did not want that. He wanted to show her he could think things through, that he could be as clever and organized as she, that they could be a good match if he worked at it. Were he to be honest with himself, there was just the tiniest part of him that also wanted to make her squirm just a bit for the weeks of pain and uncertainty she had caused him with her little ruse. He backed away and stood, consulting his notes again.

"But that really doesn't cover the 'why' does it? That was just the 'what,' what happened and what didn't. I asked my dad for advice when I was trying to figure out how to talk you out of going to Bulgaria. I asked him, 'What do girls want?' He was very tired from work and was rather short with me in his answer. He said, 'Ron, that's a foolish question. There is not a person in this world, male or female, who wants exactly the same thing as another. To think that all girls want the same thing is an insult to the gender. And it's a damned wonderful gender so stop being so insulting.' At the time the advice seemed pretty useless to me but yesterday as I was trying to puzzle this all out, it helped immensely.

"Why would you, Hermione Granger, want to make me, Ronald Weasley, think you had gone off to Bulgaria to visit Victor Krum, who you knew I did not care for, when you really had not?"

Ron was surprised to again find himself leaning on the arms of the overstuffed chair. This time his face was inches away from hers. His expression was one of determination and curiosity. Her expression was one of bewilderment and anxiety. He looked back over his shoulder at the stack of notes in the folder. He had another good hour of arguments to go through. His work on behalf of Buckbeak and Hagrid had not been nearly as well thought out and thorough, even though he had had much less time for this. His plan called for him to go through every detail of his thought process concerning his conclusions about where he and she were heading. He was proud of the work he had done and wanted her to be proud of him too. But here she was, the girl of his dreams, looking beautiful but so frail and worried as if the next harsh word from him would break her. Did he really like her reaction so far to his plan? He was hurting her. He didn't want to hurt her. He wanted to...

'Bugger the plan.'

He turned back to her from the folder. His cool manner was gone. He spoke quietly, "I think- No, I know you were trying to make me jealous. It worked. I was jealous, insanely, miserably jealous for weeks. I suppose I should be mad at you, but then all that happened did help me to realize how I feel about you and maybe gave me a hint about how you feel about me. But more than that, it helped me to realize that I deserve you. And God help you, you deserve me."

He kissed her, hard. Hermione was stunned and completely rigid for one second and then her arms folded around his neck and she kissed back harder. Their teeth clicked once or twice but neither of them noticed. For a first kiss, it was surprisingly, splendidly hungry. Ron's well thought out plan had called for a sweet and gentle pressing of the lips at then end of his presentation, but the plan was completely forgotten as Ron let the sheet of notes fall to the floor.

The kiss expanded and contracted around the lips occasionally visiting the chin and the cheeks accompanied by throaty sounds from each of them. Ron's back began to ache and his arms started to tire from the bent over position he was in and from Hermione trying to pull him closer into the chair with her. He started to straighten and she came up with him, their lips never parting. They were both now standing, he with his knees against the edge of the chair and she standing on the seat of the chair. Even with the boost in height of the chair she was only a half head taller than he now.

When they finally broke, Hermione was the first to speak with an ironic smile on very moist lips, "So I guess you're not mad at me?"

"No, but I was going to be right bloody hacked if you didn't kiss back," he laughed.

She slapped his chest lightly, "Don't swear." She looked away from him, "I do owe you an apology though. I just didn't know what to do. I was so scared of what I was feeling, what I am feeling."

"I know what you mean. I've felt so out of control this summer." He laughed, "I thought finally kissing you would help with that, but honestly I feel even more out of control now. I'm starting to like it though. In fact, I think it's brilliant!"

She looked at him sternly, "You scared me with all this 'chat' business. It was so unlike you."

"I was trying to be more like you."

"Well stop it. It was creepy." She smiled impishly, "Bloody creepy."

He tried to look offended at the swearing but as his mouth refused to stop grinning, he kissed her instead. She sighed and closed her eyes as she sank into him.

Harry's voice sounded from behind Ron, "Oops, sorry."

Hermione opened her eyes in shock as she watched Harry turn on his heel and leave the room.

She pushed Ron away and exclaimed in horror, "Oh no, Harry!"

Hermione jumped down from the chair and started to run after Harry. Three steps into her run she spun and ran back to Ron, grabbed his collar, pulled him down and kissed him quickly. Then she pushed him into the chair she'd been sitting in.

"You wait here," she commanded with a pointed finger. "We still have more to 'chat' about."

She turned and ran even faster after Harry. Ron sat completely flabbergasted. Should he get mad now? Who should he get mad at? Harry for interrupting? Hermione for running off? He put his hand to his mouth in a contemplative gesture. It was still very wet from hers. He grinned. Nope, it was impossible to be mad just this minute, this hour, or even the rest of this day. He'd kissed her and he'd kissed her into kissing him back by being himself not who he had thought she wanted him to be.

*

"Harry, wait!"

Harry turned to see Hermione coming up the hall after him. For someone who had just been snogging, she looked very close to tears.

Was she that upset he'd interrupted them? "Sorry for walking in like that. Didn't really expect Ron to move so fast."

"I'm sorry too, Harry. I didn't want to hurt you."

"Hurt me? How would it hurt me? I'm delighted I can finally get out of the middle. It's about time if you ask me, or ask anyone for that matter."

She was confused. He appeared genuinely happy for them.

"But I thought- I mean, the way you-"

"The way I've what?" he cocked his head with the question.

"-you've been looking at me. I thought you were, uhm, interested."

"Oh." 'OK, I'll settle for a Norwegian Ridgeback.'

Harry adjusted his glasses as his cheeks heated yet again, "Well, you see-" 'You see, what? You're going to comment on the size of her chest? On her bum? On the knickers?'

"Calm down, Harry. What ever the problem is, we're friends right?"

Relief flooded through Harry as Hermione's words seemed to suggest a decent answer, "Exactly! We are friends. I was just a little surprised at what an attractive lady you've become. Not that you weren't pretty before but I mean now you are actually very beautiful."

Hermione smiled at the compliment but this didn't really sound like someone who wasn't interested in her.

Harry continued, "It took me a little while to get used to that but I am now. I don't have feelings for you beyond a -"

"A sister?" she offered.

Harry fought the urge to gag. One did not have such dreams about a sister.

'Get away from this sister business before you're ill, Potter.' "No, I wouldn't say a sister. But then I'll never really know what having a sister or a brother feels like."

"I know what you mean. I'm an only child as well you know."

"I will say that if you and Ron weren't together and if I weren't spoken for, I might just be interested. You really have blossomed but more importantly you're my friend, one of my best friends and that's all."

For the first time in days she gave him a genuine smile, "So you're not upset that Ron and I- That we are-"

He waggled an accusing finger at her, "I'm upset that it didn't happen months ago, you two have certainly put me through it."

She rolled her eyes at the mock scolding, "I know, we were- Wait! You're spoken for?! Who? When? Who?!"

"I'm surprised she hasn't told you. I mean she was quite noisy when she cam back to your room two nights ago."

Hermione shrieked and clapped in delight, "Ginny?! That's wonderful! She loves you so much!"

Then she added sheepishly, "She couldn't really tell me since I've been avoiding her. I felt so cut off from everyone thinking Ron hated me and you liked me, that is, really liked me and how Ginny would feel about you liking me."

"I thought you were mad at me for some reason."

"I remember. I'm sorry. I almost made a mess of things with Ron too. Oh my! Does Ron know? About you and Ginny I mean?"

"He knows. He had me down for her a long time ago it seems. He surprised me."

She looked back wistfully at the room where Ron waited for her, "Mm, me too."

Harry rolled his eyes, "This is going to be sooo weird. Congratulations though, on Ron I mean."

"You too, Harry. Ginny really loves you."

Harry beamed, "And I'm in love with her. How about a deal? You go keep Ron occupied while I go find Ginny?"

She laughed, "Wonderful plan, we should think about using it back at school quite a lot. I hope Mrs. Figg isn't looking at her map too hard. She's about to get an eyeful."

Hermione turned and rushed off before Harry could tell her Mrs. Figg's map was bogus. He shrugged, turned, and continued down the hall to the stairwell and rounded the banister. He'd taken the first two steps up when he looked up and saw Ginny near the top. She looked happy but she was crying too. He continued up the stairs slowly until he was facing up at her slightly from on stair below her.

She sniffed up a tear, "I heard you."

'Uh oh, what did I say? Did she hear the part about being interested in Hermione if things were different? Is she mad that Ron knows about us? Is she mad I told Hermione? She looks happy though, except for the tears.'

"You're in love with me?"

'Oh, that.' "I'm sorry Ginny."

She suddenly looked alarmed. 'He's going to take it back.'

Harry took one of her hands, "You should have been the one I said it to first. I made a mess of that just like I made a joke of the girlfriend thing, didn't I?"

Ginny couldn't speak but her mind was screaming, 'No Harry! Please! Just please say you meant it!'

He took her other hand into his and looked into her eyes. He smiled, "Ginny, I love you. I have been dreaming and daydreaming about you all summer, wondering if that girl might be as wonderful as the real Ginny. And then we started to send letters and I saw that you were that wonderful and more. And then that night at the cupboard, I saw how much you really cared for me, what happens to me, what happened to me. And the day after that we spent together was... well it just was. Not to mention that kissing you is bloody brilliant! I want more, much more. I want everything you are willing to give me. I am completely in love with you and I want everyone we know to know it, even-" Harry closed his eyes and took a breath, "Even Fred and George."

'Oh my God! He does love me!'

He opened his eyes and looked at her earnestly, "Please say you'll be my girlfriend?"

"I'll be your girlfriend," she answered almost before he had finished the question.

She bent to kiss him gently and then pulled him to the top of the stairs. She was desperate to hold him and kiss him harder but she was afraid they'd fall down the stairs. After all he'd been through in his short life that would be a fairly silly way to die. She planned on holding him to his words for the next couple of centuries or so.

When they reached the top Harry spoke, "So you've stopped crying. Does that mean I've asked you properly now? That you're OK with the fact that I love you? That you believe me? Why were you crying anyway?"

"Shut up, Harry," she kissed him hard against the wall of the top floor hallway.

Harry laughed to himself, 'She keeps telling me to 'shut up' this way. I'm going to be one odd duck if I start getting aroused every time someone tells me to shut up.'

Ginny suddenly squeaked into his mouth as if remembering something. She broke the kiss, "Ron and Hermione?"

Harry grinned, "'Bout time, yes?"

"Yes."

"Speaking of that, Hermione is going to keep Ron busy for awhile. Maybe we could go somewhere less public to take advantage?"

She tried to look shocked at the provocative suggestion but just couldn't manage it. Ginny took Harry's hand and led him quickly towards the girl's room. They were both anxious to begin acting like the young people in love that they were.

End.