Disclaimer: Is this really necessary? We know it’s not mine.
Love and Hate
~~~~~
Hermione sat contemplating the recent events. She sighed. It was going to be a lot of work to be a decent keeper in just a month when she could barely fly. But she had to do it. If she could get one hundred and thirty-nine percent in potions, she could learn how to play Quidditch. And besides, she didn’t even want to think about what Ron might make her do if she decided to quit.
Lately, she had found herself wanting to impress Ron, almost as though she wanted to look good in front of him. Like she fancied him. As much as the thought appalled her at first (it was initially sort of creepy thinking about her best friend that way) she couldn’t ignore the fluttering that occurred in her stomach every time she looked at him. She thought this was the best way to get his attention. If she could talk about, and possibly even play, the one thing that he loved, he would hopefully see her as more than just a bookworm. She knew it was rather a long shot, he would never go for someone like her, but she could dream, right?
And that was why she took the bet. Who would have thought, Hermione Granger going to such measures to impress a boy? ‘And it better damn well work,’ she mused to herself, ‘because I didn’t give up reading for a whole month for nothing.’
She got up from the armchair by the fire and went to her room.
~~~~~
Ron and Hermione were sitting, talking about completely random things. The conversation eventually turned to Hogwarts, a History. Reading it had been one of the hardest and most boring things he had ever done, but he did it. Simply because she wanted him to. As she listened to him talk about his favorite sections, he noticed how bright her smile was. He could really get used to the whole doing-something-horrible-to-please-her thing.
After she was done quoting a section on the various chimera protection charms on the castle, he looked at her with adoration in his eyes. He didn’t blink, and he was making her cheeks turn bright red. He slowly leaned in and gave her a sweet kiss on the lips. He looked up at her tentatively, waiting for her reaction. Her face showed signs of shock, and she stood very still for what seemed like hours. He started to turn towards his room thinking he had messed up big time. Before he could, she grabbed him, pulled him towards her, and planted a not-so-chaste kiss on his lips. This was the happiest moment of his life.
And then he opened his eyes.
“Damn, why do I always wake up just before the good part?” Ron cursed to himself. He knew it was very naughty of him to be having such thoughts about his best friend, but he couldn’t help it. She was so endearing. He had been having these thoughts about her for almost three years now, ever since she went out with Krum and he realized he was jealous. And the curves she had gained over the summer before their sixth year hadn’t hurt.
He wanted to show her that he was more that just a Quidditch-obsessed prat. Maybe if he got a little smarter by reading and could talk to her about some of that stuff, she would start to feel about him the way he felt about her. Of course, at the rate he was going, it would take him his whole life to read just the books she had read in her first year, but that was beside the point.
He groaned as he rolled over in his bed. There was no way he could go to sleep now, with his mind all distracted. “Why the bloody hell does she have to be so, well, her?” he moaned to himself as he closed his eyes.
~~~~~
“So how did you like Hogwarts, a History?” Hermione asked Ron at breakfast the next morning.
“It was fascinating,” Ron said, in a way that indicated he didn’t quite mean it.
Hermione didn’t notice the sarcasm. “Wasn’t the part on the background of the gamekeeping so interesting? What did you think?”
“I didn’t quite get to that part.”
“Well, how far did you read?”
“Page 52,” Ron mumbled, quiet enough so that she couldn’t hear him.
“What?”
“Page 52,” he said, a little bit louder.
“You only got to page 52? You were supposed to finish it last night!”
“Bloody hell, how did you expect me to read that much! The print was really teeny!”
“It only took me two hours the first time I read it, and I was 11! And it’s only fair that you have deadlines, I have to be ready for a Quidditch match at the end of the month,” she stated matter-of-factly.
“Well, Hermione, the rest of us do not share your superior brain power! And besides, one month is a perfectly reasonable deadline to become decent at Quidditch. One night is in no way a fair amount of time to read that book!” Ron yelled, starting to get really angry. With this comment, heads were starting to turn and watch the display.
“You could finish it in one night if you would just get off your lazy arse and do some work!”
“Goodness, did Hermione just swear? Don’t, it’s not nice,” Ron said, mocking her.
“Yes, I just swore. Even I do that when someone makes me royally pissed.” she said to him, giving him an evil glare.
“Oh, I’m making you mad, am I? Why don’t you go write a letter to dear Vicktor Krum and tell him to come and save you?”
“Suff it Ron. We were just friends back then, and we don’t even write much anymore.”
“Oh, did poor Her-mo-ninny get dumped by Vicky? I feel so NOT sorry for you.”
“This is ridiculous! Will you never give it a rest? Do I have to write it down for you?” She enunciated each word very clearly, as though she was speaking to an idiot. Her eyes blazing, she continued. “Vicktor and I never dated! Wait, I forgot,” she said, tapping herself on the head in rememberance, “ I can’t write it down for you. It would be too hard to read!”
“Ha ha, very funny. But I don’t think you can really criticize my reading skills. I’ve seen you fly before, and, excuse the expression, but you’re no Vicktor Krum.”
“I will be perfectly ready in time for the match!”
Ron snorted. “And I’ll own my own small country by the time I graduate.”
Honestly, you are the world’s biggest prat!” Hermione screamed as she stood up and huffed out of the Great Hall, everyone staring at her in silence for a few moments before resuming with their normal chatter.
Ron just watched her leave, his face red with anger.
“Nice going mate,” Harry said, exasperated.
“She’s just being overly sensitive. I’m sure she’ll get over it soon enough.”
“Ron, do you not remember any of your third year? She gave you the silent treatment for weeks! And she has even more of a temper now.”
“Oh yeah. I forgot about that. Damn it. I’m screwed, aren’t I?”
~~~~~
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