Pumpkins

Harry had asked us for a few hours alone at Godric's Hollow before we moved on, so Hermione and I had headed back home to make mum's Halloween.

It was all fine until she insisted that we carve some pumpkins. Hermione was enthusiastic on the idea; she jumped up and immediately began to ask questions about the wizarding ways of doing it; whether we used different types of spells to mimic different knives and such. When I laughed at her excitement, I got my traditional glare.

So here we are, sitting on some old things Hermione called 'Washing Machines' (as she stared at them incredulously) that dad had brought back for our yard. And the worst thing is that I have no clue what to carve.

"What're you making?" I asked casually, trying to see what muggles did as well as get an idea. She stared up at me oddly before laughing.

"I'm going to make a face... I'm guessing that that's not what wizards do on their pumpkins."

I started laughing at her before realizing that she was glaring at me. What the heck had I done now? When I opened my mouth she shook her head and turned away.

I'll never understand girls.

Especially ones that I like.

Thinking of what she said muggles did, I decided to try and make Hermione's face on the pumpkin. The base came out okay, and then the carving made it look sort of different than I'd planned. I tried to look at what Hermione was doing, but she kept her pumpkin faced away from me. Even worse was the fact that she kept looking at me all curiously.

What did I do now? I can't go five minutes without getting her all mad at me. Even worse is that this time I didn't even say anything!

I finished a few minutes later with a grin, still hiding my pumpkin from Hermione. She finished a minute later as my whole family seemed to congregate outside. The twins were playing beat-the-stone on their broomsticks, Ginny was feeding Crookshanks some of the pumpkin seeds we had left over, mum was glaring at the twins while trying to set a table for dinner outside, Charlie and dad were talking about the dragons he worked with, and Fleur was talking with Bill behind me about something to do with a period having been skipped. Why would she be worried about grammar on Halloween?

Tonks and Lupin were in the corner by the fence, looking at each other with those puppy eyes. Hermione saw me staring and looked back, shaking her head. "It's good for them, Ron. They both needed love in their lives." She paused and looked down to my pumpkin. "It's good that they were able to admit to each other how they felt. Most girls are too afraid to make the first move, so they end up waiting for the guy to tell them the truth."

I looked at Hermione for a second before understanding. I let out a happy sigh. "I'm glad you feel that way, Mione. I was kinda afraid of how you'd react if I just showed it to you."

She grinned and began to laugh. Her eyes were wide. "So it's finally time?"

I nodded, and she leaned forward. She closed her eyes, and I took my pumpkin out from behind my back and put it in front of her. "Here, Hermione. Open your eyes."

She opened her eyes and looked at me expectantly, so I pointed down. She looked down to see the pumpkin with a likeness of her carved on it.

I grinned proudly, and leaned back. "Isn't it great?"

She stared at the pumpkin, not moving. I guess it really impressed her. I swelled with pride and looked up to see the reactions of the others--only to see everyone staring at me incredulously, as though I were insane. Even Fleur's mouth was dropped open.

What now...

"Ronald Billius Weasley. You are the most stupid, unbearable, dull-brained..."

I was shocked; I hadn't expected that. I needed a defense. "What now, Hermione? Every time that I do anything to impress you, or to make you proud of me, you throw it aside! I don't understand anything you say to me or try to say to me! I guess I'm too stupid to understand you or care, so let me just go and do something else too stupid for you!"

I stood up and threw my pumpkin down where I'd been standing. It shattered on the ground in front of me, and Hermione stared at it with tears falling down her face. She looked at me as through she were drowning; lost and fearful, as though she had just been thrown under.

"You never understood, after all these years, you never caught on, you never cared, you never realized the truth, it was never important enough to you, never never never..."

It hurt to see her like this; it hurt so much that I felt the need to lash out back at her. "You know, you call me stupid, but then you went out and did... whatever you did with McLaggen and Krum and whoever else you went with! Call me stupid, but at least Lavender and I knew each other longer than a day or two before going out and..."

I froze up at the sight of Hermione's face. She had stopped crying and had looked at me with a sight not far from terror. "Done what, Ronald?"

My family stared at me still, not moving; most of them looked shocked, but the twins of course looked almost proud of my exploits.

Hermione shook her head at my silence and walked away towards the forest. Standing up and walking after her (I didn't feel the conversation was over), I only turned to look at her pumpkin.

It was my face, perfectly done, staring back at me.

I felt like the world had crashed down on me; like the ground had suddenly disappeared and the air had stopped moving.

She wasn't talking about her pumpkin. She was talking about me.

Memories flooded back. Her voice ringing, telling me that I should have asked her to the Yule Ball... her mentioning Slughorn's parties... her hand catching mine when I was making it snow...

This has always been about me.

I ran to the forest, completely floored. "Hermione!" She was here, somewhere, and I had to find her right then and there. "HERMIONE!" She was here somewhere; I had to find her now...

"What is it, Ronald?"

She looked terrible; tears lined her face and her clothing was streaked with mud from where she had apparently tripped and fallen. But truthfully, I'd never seen anyone so perfect in my life.

I would give up anything to had the gift of words right now. She stared at me with hatred.

"Come to make fun of me again? Come to laugh at me and tell me how horrible..."

"I like you," I blurted out suddenly, not able to stand her self-hatred. She was too good for that. If she was going to make fun of anyone, it would be me for saying something as stupid as that when she was so much better than me.

But she didn't. She stared at me, her eyes still filled with tears--but there was something else there.

"Are you just saying that," she whispered fearfully. "-are you just saying that to make me stop crying?"

I stared at her for a long time, just watching her. "No. I've liked you for as long as I can remember... since our third year, I guess. That's why I went out with Lavender; to make you notice me, to make you see me and not Krum or Mc..."

"I always saw you, Ron!" she yelled out suddenly. "I always saw you! I went out with them because you never noticed me! I've always seen you, always loved you..."

I froze at what she said; not able to move. Hermione loved me?

She stopped suddenly, lowering her face for a moment before continuing on. "You know what? It's better that this is out, so that I don't have to hide it anymore. I've loved you since our fourth year, Ron. I've loved you, I always have."

It didn't take a worker from the Department of Mysteries to tell me what to say next. It came directly from me.

"I love you too, Hermione."

We matched eyes, and before I could take a breath, she up and in my arms, sobbing and holding me tightly.

"We've wasted so much time we could've had together..."

"But we have forever from now." I countered back, smiling. It felt right to have her in my arms.

"Forever," she whispered, taking my hand and leading me back to the Burrow, wherein I knew that we would find a group of people all sighing in relief that we had finally gotten our senses in tune and gotten together.

I slowed for a moment before we entered the yard, and pulled her back.

"For good luck," I muttered softly, pulling her close before kissing her gently for the first time of all time.

For the first time since I'd met Hermione Jane Granger, I knew what she was talking about. And I loved it.

"Happy Halloween," she whispered gently as she pulled away. "This is the best holiday I could ever imagine."