DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter.

 

Author's note: Read Ouside the Hospital Wing first.... And I will like to say thanks to a little hobbit called Elanor Gamgee, for being such an excellent beta-reader, and helping me improve so much. LUV YAH ELANOR!

 

 

Somebody else

By Abigail

 

 

Hermione ran down the staircases, almost flew down, to be exact. She was still thinking about that day after the fourth task, and the little hug Ron had given her, outside the hospital wing.

 

Of course, she had other things to worry about. For example, she wasn't quite sure of what she was going to do with that Skeeter trash. She didn't fancy the idea of having her as a pet in her dorm for much longer.

 

And then, there was the Harry problem.

 

She was worried about him; he looked dreadful lately. Of course, she couldn't blame him. Poor bloke. All the things he had gone through. All the pain, the guilt, the fear that surrounded him. What he needed now was peace. And Hermione feared that he wanted more peace than she could give him.

 

But right now, she was thinking about Ron, and when she thought about Ron, she could fly. And she liked that feeling, although it did scare her sometimes. And what scared her the most was that Ron might had been feeling the same. She didn't know why.

 

She jumped the last two steps and looked around the common room. No Harry, as usual. He probably was alone in his dormitory, or something.

 

But she did see something that made her heart jump. A red spot in the distance, sitting by the fire.

 

She smiled to herself. She felt the impulse to run and hug him, like he had done only a couple of nights before, but she held back. It wasn't prudent to do that; it would be too much of a giveaway. On the other hand, she was tired of Ron not noticing her occasionally intentional "giveaways".  Maybe it was time for the big one.

 

No. Not just yet.

 

Actually, she had already given him a pretty big one.

 

Next time there's a ball ask me before somebody else does, not as last resort!

 

She had meant that. Because next time, there wouldn't be any Viktors around to ask her first. There would be only a Ron, her only possible date. No Nevilles, no Harrys. Just Ron.

 

The same boy who was now gazing lazily at the fire.

 

She approached him, her legs trembling a bit, like they always did when Ron was in the picture.

 

"Ron," she said,"hi."

 

Ron looked up at her and smiled. Hermione's insides jumped, and she smiled too.

 

"Hi," Ron replied shortly, probably too startled to say anything else.

 

"Where's Harry?" she asked, sitting next to him.

 

"Oh, here and there," said Ron, shrugging."I really don't know."

 

There was silence next. Hermione was gaping at Ron without really noticing. He was looking so nice. His hair was falling on his freckled face, shining softly before the common room fire. He was looking more than nice...he was looking handsome.

 

She became aware of what she was doing and blushed a little, then looked away. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Ron smiling.

 

Then, he moved a little closer to her.  

 

"I know it's probably not my business, but what have you decided about... Krum?" he said finally, to Hermione's pleasure.

 

She smiled, and looked at him again.

 

"Why so interested?" she asked, moving an inch closer to him.

 

"No," said Ron, blushing a little. "I'm not so interested."

 

"Oh, I see," Hermione replied. "I think I might go to Bulgaria..." Ron grunted, then blushed again. "But I'll find time to come to the Burrow."

 

More silence followed, broken only by the cracking of the fire in front of them.

 

He's interested, you know it, Hermione.

 

Of course he was interested. Ron had a talent for being pretty obvious. Or maybe Hermione was watching him more intently than she should have been, because she had noticed how he had looked at Krum when he was with her. She noticed how he said Viktor's name, as though he was disgusted about it.

 

Hermione knew. She somehow knew what Ron felt about her. The same way she felt about him.

 

And she didn't feel like this about Viktor, or about any other boy. Not even Harry. She loved Harry, but not like this.

 

Don't let him go, Hermione, don't.

 

Of course not. Never. But the look in Ron's face right now told her, that if she didn't do something quickly, her opportunity might slip away.

 

"But Ron," she said after a while, "I'm not going because of Viktor. I mean, Bulgaria has a pretty interesting history, in both magic and Muggle worlds. Did you know that Bulgaria suffered from ghouls' invasion back in 1765, and..."

 

Ron rolled his eyes at her, the way he always did when she blabbed about history and books. In a way that made him look adorable.

 

For she was blabbing, and she knew it.

 

Sometimes she blabbed on purpose, just to look at Ron's reaction. It made her smile.

 

"Hermione, I couldn't care less about ghouls or Bulgaria," he cut her off. "You don't have to explain yourself about going over to Krum's.  It's okey."

 

Hermione was startled. "What... Ron, what do you mean?"

 

"I mean..." Ron started. He paused for a minute, as though he was about to say something really difficult, then continued, "If you like that oaf...I mean, Krum, I... I won't tease you, I promise. Don't worry."

 

And he moved farther from her.

 

What? Tease me? What...

 

Oh...

 

"No, Ron," Hermione said quickly, moving closer to him. Ron looked at her quickly, before standing up from the couch, and crossing his arms defiantly. Hermione looked at him in surprise, then continued, "I don't like Viktor... I never did..."

 

She stood up too, and found herself eye to eye with him. Well, not exactly eye-to-eye; she needed to look up a bit, as he was really tall. But the fact was,  their eyes met, and she enjoyed it for a second. Those green, beautiful eyes. The ones she dreamt about every night.

 

"Hermione, it's okay," Ron said, looking away, "I really don't care."

 

No, you have to care, Ron, you have to care!.

 

But she kept quiet, her mind racing fast, just as her heart did. She needed to say something. But she couldn't pluck up the courage; it was too difficult.

 

"I... I..." she started.

 

Ron turned to look at her again, his eyes flashing. Say it! Say it!

 

But nothing came out.

 

Ron sighed, and started to walk towards the boys' staircases.

 

Don't let him go. Don't let him go...

 

A small shriek came out of her lips, causing Ron to stop and turn around. "Ron," she began, her legs shaking like mad, "I don't like Krum... because I... I like..."

 

She couldn't. She just couldn't. Ron was looking at her with expectant eyes. She looked down, and Ron sighed again. But he didn't move. Instead, he spoke."Yes?" he asked. “You like...?"

 

Books. That was the first thought that came into Hermione's mind. How dumb. She grinned at her own stupidity. School. Not helping...

 

Ron. She liked Ron. If only she could blurt out those three little words... if only Ron wouldn't look at her the way he was doing now. If only the crackling fire wouldn't make so much noise. If only her heart didn't pound so quickly. If only Viktor had never come into her life...

 

"I like somebody else," she blurted out finally.

 

They looked at each other for quite a while, Ron by the staircases, Hermione by the fire.

 

Then slowly, Ron smiled. Hermione sighed with relief.

 

Ron walked over by the fire again, and stood just a few inches from her.

 

"Oh," he said, "I like somebody else too.

 

Hermione laughed. "What a coincidence," she said.

 

Ron laughed too.

 

Do something , Hermione, do something.

 

And, without really thinking about it, Hermione rose on her tiptoes, since Ron was way too tall, and was about to kiss him on his left cheek, when the portrait hole opened, and in came Seamus and Dean.

 

Hermione draw back at once and sat on the nearest chair.

 

"We tend to get interrupted lately..." she heard Ron muttering.

 

"Hi, guys," Seamus said, sitting on a chair nearby.  "Just finished our Care of Magical Creatures essay... never thought Hagrid would set us actual homework... besides feeding strange creatures and stuff..." He stopped at the look on their faces.

 

They were staring intently at each other, hardly blinking in the process. Seamus smiled.

 

"Did we interrupt something?" he asked mischievously.

 

Yes, you git. Can't you see we were in the middle of something here?

 

"No, don't worry Seamus, I was just leaving," she said instead.

 

She walked up to the staircase again, then stopped.

 

She couldn't go without leaving behind one of her "giveaways".

 

Breathe, Hermione, you can do this...

 

"Goodnight, somebody else," she said before climbing up the girl's staircases.

 

I'm pretty sure he got the message this time... she thought, as she smiled to herself.

 

 

The End