Title: Dear ‘Mione.

Rating: PG-13

Special Thanks to Alex, for being my temporary beta reader.

~~~

"Dear Hermione, I just wanted to owl you- although there might be a better way going about this- to tell you that, well-"

Ron groaned, and stopped the quill to the parchment in its tracks. He looked irritated at the most; his cheeks and ears were turning various shades of red, before he took the written on parchment in his hand, and crumbled it up, throwing it over his shoulder.

"Blasted!" He sighed out, and ceased his position of lying on his stomach on his four poster to turn over on his back, and when he did the very first person he saw standing over him was Harry.

Ron blushed furiously and sat up quickly. "Hey there, Harry… W-What’s up?"

Harry took notice on Ron’s blushing immediately, then gave a mischievous grin. "Oh, nothing, what do have there, Ron?"

Ron gulped, and attempted to scoot his parchment and quill under his pillow, but as he did so, the inkbottle spilt over.

"Ugh!" Ron, without thinking, got up and began to tend to the mess.

Harry blinked, and was still grinning when he bent over and picked up one of the many crumbled up parchments. It had only took him a minute to read over it. He looked at Ron, and then beamed.

"Ron! You- Hermione, er, I mean wow! You like her!"

Ron quickly shot up from his task at hand, again spilling the inkbottle; this time all over the sweater Mrs. Weasley, his mother, had sent him for Christmas.

"It’s not what it seems Harry!" Ron looked at Harry bulgy eyed.

Harry looked over the crumbled parchment one more time, then looked to Ron. "Oh, come on Ron, it’s all here in ink!"

"But-"

"You don’t have to explain Ron." Harry smiled widely, and dropped the crumbled parchment.

Ron was still red, he had that look as if something bad was going to happen, he paid no mind to the ink all over his sweater... at least not yet.

"Let me help you, hum?" Harry suggested before Ron could do or say anymore. He understood of course, as Ron’s best friend it’s what he had to do. He would have to wait for Ron to be ready to explain things… no rush.

Ron nodded, and the both of them began to clean up the mess. Harry dealt with the ink on the bed, while Ron picked up all the crumbled parchments, and soon took off his sweater; he eyed it nervously, then smacked his head.

"Mum’s gonna throw a fit!"

Harry sighed, but smiled. "Don’t worry, okay Ron? I’m sure she’ll understand why it happened."

"Are you kidding! I’m not going to tell her the true reason why I had this accident. You’re nutters!" Ron groaned, " ‘Oh yeah Mum, I spilt ink on the sweater you bought me this Christmas because I was startled at Harry reading over my shoulder at a love letter to one of my friends!’… C’mon! I think I’ll just make up a better excuse."

Harry shrugged and choked as he tried to hold back his laughs. "You could just throw it out?"

"What! No, they may all look the same, mind you, she’s a MOTHER Harry, and she knows how many sweaters she sends me by owl every damned year. I can’t just throw it out!" Ron looked quite panicked at Harry’s suggestion.

Harry again choked, and nodded. "You’re right, I’m sorry. We’ll think of something later. Just help me clean up the ink on your bed."

And they did, Harry knew that he could calm his friend down, and then talk to him later. He had always seen Ron panic but this was a bit different. Ron had to think long and hard on a letter to send to Hermione, to tell her about how he feels about her, aside the fact that they’re fairly ever on good terms. Secondly, Harry surprises him… Harry finds out, and now Ron has to deal with the possibility of his Mum getting onto him about a sweater, in which he can’t, at the moment, figure out an excuse to cover up the truth.

But what was wrong with telling your Mum about a crush? Harry sighed, but then again, he knew he couldn’t comprehend with that fact because of his parents’ deaths. Harry of course didn't have a mother to deal with, and have experiences with.

Ron sighed, and looked at Harry when they were finally done. They both had black ink on their hands. "Let’s go wash up shall we?"

Harry nodded, and decided it’d be best to talk to Ron then.

They both left the boy’s dorm, and made their way down into the common room.

Ron looked down at his hands, and as soon as he looked up, he caught a glimpse of Hermione sitting at a table with a book open in her lap. He stopped in his tracks, and narrowed his eyes on her.

Hermione looked up and quirked a brow at the both of them, taking notice on their ink covered hands.

"What are you two doing?" She continued to eye them.

Harry smiled smugly, and looked down at his and Ron’s hands, then back to Hermione. "Just had a little accident, is all."

Ron nodded furiously, and shook the panicked and embarrassed side of him self off. "Yeah, just a bit of an accident. Why’re you so nosey, ‘Mione?"

Hermione eyed Ron more carefully, then looked him straight in the eye with that deadly glare. " ‘Mione…?"

Ron gulped and turned red. 'Mione was a nickname he had planned to call Hermione if she ever considered being his girlfriend. But even if she didn’t consider, or if he had never gained enough guts to confess he would call her that anyway.

But it seemed to have slipped out a bit too early.

"Er…" Ron looked at Harry and Harry looked back. Ron nodded towards the portrait, and Harry complied.

"We’ll explain later! Need to go wash up!" Harry grabbed onto Ron’s arm and started towards the portrait.

Hermione rolled her eyes and sighed, she knew that there was a possibility that they were up to something… but she had her mind set on finishing the thick book on her lap.

Harry and Ron made their way to the boys’ restroom, and washed their hands, sharing an awkward sort of silence. Harry shot glances at Ron to see if he looked to be in the mood to talk, but he still had a look of panic and embarrassment on his features.

~Just be patient, he’ll tell you when he’s ready to tell you.~ Harry sighed, and continued to clean his hands off, standing next to Ron.

Ron smacked his head, and Harry immediately looked up so see Ron's angst appearance.

"Gods, Harry, I DO like her. But I dun't know how to go about it. Mind you, we haven't been on good terms, and I'm afraid she might think I'm some stupid git!"

Harry shook his head, "No, Hermione's not like that. The three of us are really good friends, and I don't think she'd think you were a stupid git if you had enough guts to talk to her."

"I can't talk to her! I mean... just not yet." Ron leaned against the sink, lowering his head.

Harry finished washing his hands up and drying them; he smiled, and placed a hand on Ron's shoulder comfortingly. "C'mon Ron, don't feel down."

Ron looked up and nodded, "Right..." It was obvious to Harry that Ron was just saying this to get off of the subject, but the thought of barging into his best friend's love life was not at the top of his priority list.

"Well then... Let's go back to the dorms, sleeping will help you think about this, right?"

"Yeah." Ron nodded, and they both made their way back to the Gryffindor Common Room.

~TBC