It was Christmas time at Hogwarts once again, and the Gryffindor common room looked particularly festive. There was a huge Christmas tree in the corner, the tinsel glittering in the glow of the fire place. Red and gold garlands were hung around the room, as well as several sprigs of mistletoe. Reddest of all though, was Hermione’s face.
“Ron, just shut up!” Hermione yelled, jumping to her feet. “You just don’t understand at all!”
Hermione ran into the dormitory, slamming the door behind her and leaving Ron spluttering in her wake.
Earlier...
Harry, Ron and Hermione had been sitting on a comfy couch near the fire place for a few hours already. Professor McGonagall had given them an unusually difficult essay to write, the books strewn on the table in front of them evidence of just how much work it was. Hermione leaned back, sighing.
“Well, that about does it for me! I hope I get an ‘O’ on it, considering the amount of effort I put in, but you don’t think that an ‘E’ would jeopardize my grades, do you? Oh, I don’t know...”
“Hermione, your worrying really isn’t helping at all,” Ron grumbled, “I have to worry about just finishing my essay first!”
“Sorry, Ron,” Hermione answered meekly.
She usually would have snapped at him, if it hadn’t been at that exact moment that his arm had brushed hers. The touch sent shivers down her spine and goose bumps down her arms. When would she stop feeling this way! It had become almost impossible to go through a day, or even a few hours, without wondering what it would be like for Ron to hold her hand, stroke her hair, kiss her...
Hermione shook her head to steady herself, her cheeks unknowingly turning a light red.
“Are you ok?” Ron asked, his annoyance quickly forgotten at the sight of Hermione. “You look kind of flushed...”
“I guess it’s just hot in here, that’s all!” Hermione said, turning an even deeper shade of red. She quickly tried to reel in her emotions from a few moments before. “Harry, how are you doing on your essay? Because, you have a meeting with Dumbledore tonight and you can’t be late!”
“What time is it... it’s 7:55 already?! Why didn’t you remind me before?” Harry jumped to his feet, scattering books and parchment everywhere.
“Harry, wait, your stuff!” Ron yelled to Harry’s retreating back. “Oh well, guess it’s just me and you now, Hermione!”
While he was talking, Ron put an arm around her shoulders before realizing what he was doing. He smiled at Hermione, noticed her red face, and withdrew his arm as quickly as he had laid it there.
“Erm, sorry Hermione, I didn’t mean to do that, I was just, ...” Ron mumbled and quickly as deeply as the garlands on the wall.
“It’s no problem,” Hermione mumbled quietly. “I’m going to sit and do some Christmas wrapping, if you don’t mind.”
She pulled out the presents for her parents and some colourful paper, and was wrapping quietly for a few minutes. Her hands were shaking, and she hoped Ron wouldn’t notice. Ron had put his arm around her in a random gesture of friendship, right? So there was no need for her heart to keep racing. Ron didn’t like her ‘that’ way, right?
“Stop being stupid,” Hermione chided herself. Unfortunately, she had spoken out loud.
“Why do you think you’re being stupid?” Ron asked, “you’re the smartest witch in our year!”
“Well, thank you very much. But, I’m just... tired. I’m stupid because I don’t get enough sleep,” Hermione concluded hastily.
At that moment, a rather wicked idea came over her. She and Ron were already sitting pretty close on the couch, weren’t they? And what better way to tell if he liked her than to give him some hints?
“Ron, mind if I lean on you while I rest a little?”
Ron looked stunned for a moment, then slowly responded. “Um, well, yeah! Sure. I’ll just keep, uh... working on my essay. Yeah.”
Hermione, a slight blush covering her face, set her Christmas presents down, tucked her feet under her and leaned her head against Ron’s shoulder. It was surprisingly soft and easy for her to snuggle into, just as she had imagined it would be. She could hardly believe that she was really so near to the man who had occupied almost all of her dreams for the past three years. She could imagine sitting like this for years to come, and surprised herself by how comfortable she was next to him.
From her rather close vantage point, Hermione began to examine Ron. The way his ginger hair almost glowed in the fire light, the smattering of freckles across his nose, the way his lips looked so red, and she started wondering what would happen if she leaned just a little closer, to examine those lips in more detail...
“Hermione, can I ask for your advice about something?” Ron turned around suddenly and started has he realized how close Hermione was. He stared into her chocolate brown eyes. He started leaning in, until she could almost feel his breath on her cheek, he... jerked away in surprise.
“I...I... I’m so sorry! Um, yeah, I wanted to ask you something.” Ron’s face had turned a shade of scarlet, particularly similar to the cranberries hanging on the tree on the corner.
“What were you going to ask me? I’ll be happy to help you, whatever you need,” Hermione squeaked timidly, eager to dissipate the embarrassment of the moment.
“Well, it’s about a girl,” Ron began nervously, “and, well, I’d really like to know how she feels about me. Should I ask her on a date? Should I just tell her? I... this is really hard for me to say, and...”
“So you want my advice?” Hermione could feel her heart starting to leak out from her toes, a hollow feeling in her stomach forming as she moved away from Ron.
“I don’t know how much I can help you,” Hermione said in a slightly louder voice, “I have some of my own problems to deal with!”
“I just thought that you might talk with Ginny about this kind of thing, I’m sorry! You’re a girl, so I guess, well... I guess I jumped to conclusions!” Ron was sitting away from Hermione now, starting to get agitated.
“Yeah, you thought wrong!” Hermione exclaimed, “Why don’t you go talk to Harry about this!”
“I don’t want to talk to Harry, we don’t talk about this sort of thing! Why won’t you help me, we’re best friends!”
“Ron, just shut up!” Hermione yelled, jumping to her feet. “You just don’t understand at all!”
Hermione ran into her dormitory, slamming the door behind her and leaving Ron spluttering in her wake.
The Colour Red by rather_be_athogwarts
Chapter Notes: Stay tuned, one more chapter to come after this one!
This is my first fic, so some reviews would be much appreciated!