What You See Is What You Get...

Hermione woke the next morning to loud screams coming from the sleeping bag across the room. She sat stock straight up to see a blurred Luna, arms wrapped around a pillow, obviously dreaming about ... well, you can guess.

"Quite the dream she's having, isn't it," Ginny said to Hermione through a yawn.

Hermione chuckled. "Yeah, sounds like fun." She checked her watch. "Lucky for her, its already eleven thirty. Any earlier and she would've been screaming for an entirely different reason. Now, where did I leave my glasses?"

"Over there on the dresser."

Hermione stood up and stumbled over to the dresser. "Are you sure? I don't see them." Ginny came over to help her look.

"Huh. That's odd. But don't worry. They probably didn't leave the house. These sort of things happen quite often around here."

Harry sat on Ron's bed, talking to his fine-freckled friend. "I still don't think that was exactly the right course of action, mate." He was staring at Ron, who had Hermione's spectacles on his face. "She won't even be able to see that you're wearing them."

"That's what you think, Harry. But I've got a plan," Ron said shakily, looking at his reflection in the mirror.

"Do you now?"

"Yes. She needs her glasses, and I have them. Therefore, she needs me. She'll have to talk to me if she wants to get them back."

"Algebra never was your strongest subject. Maybe you should-"

"Hey, Harry. I'm no cassanova, all right? This is just going to have to do for right now, savvy?"

"Er - okay." Harry decided to leave it alone, figuring Ron's crashing and burning would be able to convince him, also wondering where Ron picked up the term 'savvy'. "I think I'll go down to get something to eat now. Good luck." You'll need it. And with that, Harry walked out the door, nearly knocking Hermione over on his way out.

"Oh sorry, Harry!" she squealed.

"Don't worry about it."

"Hey, have you seen my glasses? They were on the dresser in Ginny's room last night, but now I can't find them. And apparently I'm blind with out them," she said, rubbing her eyes.

"You might want to ask Ron about that, actually," Harry told her, trying not to be too obvious.

"Really?"

"Yeah. He's right in there." He cracked a smile and added, "You might want to knock first though!"

Hermione's eyes grew wide, and her face, pink. "How do you know about that?!"

"There are about fifty people in this house, do you really think it would be kept a secret for long?" Harry jolted out of sight, down the stairs before Hermione could do anything to retaliate. Not ignoring his advice, she did, in fact, knock.

"Who's there?"

"Hermione."

Ron's heart began to rush, as his face started to heat up. He glanced in the mirror once more, seeing himself with Hermione's glasses on, squinting to make the image clear. "Come in!" he shouted, more eagerly than planned.

Hermione opened the door and stepped in. She immidiately began talking without looking at Ron, still embarrassed about Harry's comment. "I can't find my glasses. I asked Harry about it, and he said to ask -- Ron! Why are you wearing glasses? Those are mine aren't they!"

Things weren't going exactly as Ron had planned out in his mind. "Y-yes they are."

"May I please have them back?" she asked, rather impatiently.

"Yes." He said, removing them at once. "I - I just wanted to see what they looked like on me," he added quickly.

Hermione grabbed them from him. "Why didn't you just ask?" she asked rhetorically, not waiting for an answer, she put them on and walked out the door, leaving Ron standing in the room alone, once again staring at himself in the mirror.

"Smooth, mate," he said to himself outloud. He turned to his messy bed and started to make it.

"I'm sorry, Ron." He turned around at the sound of Hermione's voice, and saw her standing in the doorway once again.

"For what? I'm the one who stole your glasses."

"For snapping at you like that. Must be PMS or something."

Ron wasn't quite sure what to say to that. "Er...Okay."

The two stood in an awkward silence for a few moments, looking at various points in the room, but never at each other.

"So..."

"Yeah..."

More silence.

"Can I ask you something?" Ron finally said.

"Yeah."

"It's really crazy --"

"That's okay."

"-- And totally just out of curiosity --"

"All right."

"-- And I'm just wondering you know --"

"Would you just ask already?"

"Okay. Sorry."

"It's fine."

"So?"

"Oh yeah. The question."

"Ask!"

"All right!" Ron cleared his throat, took a deep breath, and said, "Dyoolickme?"

"What!?"

"NO NO NO!! Oh my- Blast! I didn't mean that. Well I didn't mean for it to sound like that. Sorry-"

"Ron, you're rambling. What did you mean to say, and how's it supposed to sound?"

"Sorry. Okay. Do you possibly, maybe, I don't know, find me the smallest, weeist bit... attractive?"

"Er... maybe. Yeah. Yes I do," she said, looking at anything, anything at all but Ron. "Why do you ask?"

"Because, well, Fred and George said that you do. And I.. I kind of.. really like, you... sort of.. a lot."

"Oh. Well, then I guess we, like.. each other."

"Yeah. That's what Fred and George were saying."

"Luna and Ginny too."

"So."

"Yeah."

"Didn't we do this already?"

"Yeah, kind of."

Again, there was a silence. This time it was broken by Hermione.

"So, what do you want to do now?"

"Well, actually," Ron said, actually contemplating his next sentence beforehand. "I'm starving. Want to go get something to eat?"

"YES! I've been so hungry all this time!" she smiled. "But I must go to the restroom first. I'll meet you down there?"

"Okay. Have fun!" Ron joked, feeling a bit more like himself.

"You know I will! Bathroom visits are a great form of entertainment these days!" Hermione was also feeling a bit more comfortable, glad to go back to the way things should be with Ron. Well, not completely like they should be. But not all awkward and weird.

The two walked out together, and went their separate ways once they reached the corridor. On the way to the bathroom, Hermione met up with Ginny.

"Oh, you found your glasses I see," she said. "Where were they?"

Hermione laughed. "On Ron's face."

"What? Why?"

"Oh, I don't know. I guess he said that he just wanted to see what they looked like on him." She went silent for a minute, then spoke again, "Now that I think about it, heh! I bet he did that so I would have to go and get them from him. What a git."

Ginny looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well.. er.. nothing," Hermione said, turning pink in the cheeks.

"Hey now! You're blushing!" Ginny took a step closer to her and pronounced, "Something happened. I know it."

"Yes. Something happened," she replied meekly.

"WELL …?"

"Nothing really. Ron just asked if.. if I liked him."

Ginny beamed. "And what did you say?! You told him the truth right?! That you're madly in love with him and that you'd die for him in an instant, right!!"

Hermione gave her friend a double take. "Well, no, not exactly. I just said that I did."

"Then what did he say?!"

"He said that he liked me too. A lot."

"For crying out loud, its about time one of you took action! Then what happened?" she asked excitedly.

"Well, nothing really. It was rather awkward for a bit, he said he was hungry, I agreed but had to go to the bathroom, and here I am."

Ginny stared at her blankly. "That's it?! No kissing, no hugging, no flood of emotions and forms of affection that were held back for years?"

"Nope."

"Oh, Hermione. You got me all excited for nothing!"

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize we were supposed to put on a show for you. But listen, I still have to go to the bathroom okay. I'll see you downstairs." And with that, Hermione quickly shoved past her friend to finish her journey to the bathroom.

When she got down to the table for lunch, there was only one seat left: on the edge, across from George, and next to Fred. She saw Ron scribbling at something quick, but when Ron looked up from his paper, he immediately dropped the quill and shoved his project under the table.

"You look very nice today," Fred whispered in an overly sweet air as Hermione sat down.

"Oh, thanks," Hermione answered, surprised at the complement from Fred.

"Yeah, are you wearing perfume?" George asked, almost sounding sarcastic.

"Er… no."

"Then you must naturally smell wonderful!" Hermione looked back and forth between the twins, noticing they kept looking over at Ron, who was going red in the face.

"Are you guys up to something?!" Hermione said in a stifled yell.

"Why, Hermione, what a question you ask of us! Have you no faith at all in your fellow man?"

"Not when it comes down to you two!"

"That's rather insulting you know," George said, while getting up out of his seat.

"Yes, I think you owe each of us a hug as an apology for that comment." Fred began to put his arms around her as George came around to join him. But not without sneaking a wink and a mouthed "the dust" to Ron, who now had fury pasted across his face, eyes almost popping out of their sockets. Now, with not only one, but both of the twins wrapping their arms around a protesting Hermione, there were certainly a few people other than Ron who had took notice to the situation.

"FRED AND GEORGE!!" Mrs. Weasley belted at them. "You leave that poor girl alone!" Continuing to shout at them, she rushed over to them, and grabbed the boys by the ears to pull them away from Hermione, and out of the kitchen.

"My, my, Hermione. What was all that about?" Mr. Weasley asked, fighting back laughter.

"I don't know! All of a sudden they started to sweet-talk me like in some cheesey movie."

Ginny shook her head. "Those guys are such prats sometimes."

Ron stood up, threw down his fork, and spat out, "Even more than Percy." With that, he stormed out of the room.

"Ron! Wait!" Hermione yelled at him, but could not convince him to turn around if he had even heard her. "Excuse me." She too ran out of the kitchen, and chased after Ron. She heard him running up the stair cases, and figured he was going to his room, so just apparated there herself, hoping to beat him.

Ron got to his room and opened the door and slammed it shut once inside. To his surprise, Hermione was sitting on his bed. But rather than Ron going off on his brothers and Hermione trying to calm him down, neither of them said nothing, and they simply gawked at each other.

"Hi," Ron spoke calmly.

"Hello."

"So, how are… things?"

"Oh! Things are, fine I guess. How are things with you?"

Ron shrugged. "Could be better."

"Yeah." Ron walked over to his bed and sat about a foot from Hermione. After a moment, she said, "Hi."

"Didn't we already do that part?"

"Er… yes," Hermione replied. "I suppose we did." She started to chortle at this, and Ron joined in. The laughter died down after a few moments, and it was silent again.

"So."

"So."

"What do you want to do now?" Hermione asked. "We've got the greeting down."

"I don't know, what do you want to do?"

Hermione shrugged. "I don't care."

"Well, its up to you."

"Why! Why is it up to me?"

"Because you're a girl. And you're smart."

"Fine, fine." Hermione thought for a moment. "I know."

"Yes?"

"Where's that piece of paper you were writing on at dinner?"

Ron's ears turned to a very light shade of pink. "Er, in my.. pocket. Why?"

"What is it exactly?" Ron turned away and mumbled something that no one on earth would be able to understand. "What?!"

"It's… I wrote… you a &endash; a letter, note thing," Ron repeated more clearly, his entire face matching his ears. Hermione smiled and felt all warm and tingly inside.

"Well, get it out. If you're going to give it to me, I'll have to be able to make sense of it. And with you're grammar," Hermione pointed to his face, almost touching his nose. "I won't be able to make out a single sentence! SO! We're going to…"

"Edit it?" Ron said, laughing nervously.

"You're right we are. Then after it is in proper grammatical form, you may then deliver it to me however you wish. Deal?"

Ron looked unsure, but agreed. "I guess so."

"Good. Shall we move over to your desk?" They did. "Now, please lay the letter out on the surface here, and we shall get started. First, I shall need to read through it to get an idea of what we will need to fix."

"Er.. okay. But Hermione?"

"Yes?"

"Please don't laugh. I'm stupid. And some of the things in there, well, I just &endash;"

"Don't worry, Ron." She smiled slightly. "I won't laugh."

Hermione began to read:

Dear Hermione,

I can't believe I asked you that question. I can't believe you like me. But you probably don't like me that much. You are probably just bored and glad to have a guy to hang out with and forgot what all the other guys at Hogwarts are like.

I just want you to know though, that I do like you a lot, like I said. There are not any better girls at school or anywhere else. None of them are better than you. Not just because you are the smartest, but also because you are so sweet and kind to everyone, except Malfoy, but he deserves it. You never make me feel bad about being poor, and never make me feel like I'm Harry's second in command, or his sidekick, or whatever you want to call it.

I can also be me around you. I can say whatever I am thinking, do whatever I feel like doing, and you won't scrutinize me for it. You may not agree, but you at least respect me. You're such a great friend already. I know that because of our trust and what we've already been through with each other that we could make it through any problems that came our way.

And last, but definitely not least, you are so beautiful. You always have been. When you came back this summer, I just couldn't believe you could have grown any more beautiful, but you did. You're not just beautiful on the outside either. You are such a wonderful woman, you have the best personality I could ask for in a girl.

Sorry for my rambling, but I just couldn't contain myself any longer. The other night, Fred and George made me realize that I wouldn't be able to have a chance with you any longer if I didn't act soon. And you know what, they are right. I just couldn't handle it if I just let my chance pass on by. But I guess now it is up to you. Although this was probably a complete waste of your time. I will talk to you later.

All my love,

Ronald Weasley

Hermione couldn't look up from the paper. She couldn't believe what she had just read. She realized then that she was crying. Ron was still pacing around the room when she looked up finally. She looked back down at the intimate letter. "Ron..."

He stopped immediately in his tracks. "Yeah?"

Hermione sniffed twice. "That was ... you're grammar ..."

"I know, it was horrible. I tried my hardest, really I did! I know how much --"

"No, Ron. It was... perfect," she skimmed quickly for any obvious mistakes she might have missed, wiped her eyes and looked up at him, but he was not facing her. "As far as I can tell anyway."

"Are you sure?" Ron asked, dumbfounded.

"Yeah. How did you do that? Oh, sorry! I just meant --"

"It's all right, I know what you meant. But, after your letters this summer, I felt really dumb. I figured you wouldn't like me if I kept getting on your nerves with all the stupid mistakes I do, and kept copying off of you all time. So, I - I got a tutor."

"You... got a tutor... because of me?"

"Yeah. I'd do anything for you." It wasn't until now that Ron really got a good look at Hermione. "Er... Hermione?"

"Yes?"

"Have you been crying?" he asked hesitantly.

She sniffed again, wiped her eyes. "Yes."

Again with hesitation, Ron asked, "Why?"

"That letter - you - what you wrote -" Hermione tried in vain to hold back her tears. "I had no idea you felt all that about me! And why do you think I wouldn't like you, or that I'd like another guy at school over you, or that you wouldn't have a chance with me?"

"Well look at you, Hermione! You're so sexy and you've got brains! Guys will be lined up around the school for the chance to date you."

"And what makes you think I'd want to date those guys? Shallow guys that wait for me to get taller, straighten my hair, and grow boobs to decide they want to be with me? I want a guy to like me for who I am, not which female celebrity I look like the most!" Ron still looked unhopeful. "And Ron! You're not stupid! You just don't try! And - Oh Ron!!"

Hermione, lost for words anymore, ran up to Ron, threw her arms around his neck and began weeping into his shirt. He instantly wrapped his around her waste. Through tears, Hermione spoke again. "I've been hiding it for so long! From you, from Harry, from everyone else. And from myself! I have felt so much for you for so long! I didn't want to believe it, things were working out so nicely. I didn't want to risk our wonderful friendship, if you didn't feel the same way about me! I didn't want to lose that too!"

She continued to cry, it seemed as if she couldn't control herself. Ron scooted her over to his bed, sat her down and tried to calm her. "Hermione, please, it's all okay now. You have our friendship, and I'm yours, if you'll have me." Still, she continued to weep. He put his hands on her shoulders and said, "Hermione, sweetie, look at me. Look at me please." She was able to stop and look into his eyes. He looked right back into hers, deeply. "Will you have me?"

She smiled and nodded her head and sniffed. "Yes, of course!" she answered.

Ron smiled back. "Are you okay then?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me," she said. "Blasted PMS."

Ron's eyes bulged. "Er... yeah."