Denial
~~~~~
Ron looked over at Hermione longingly. She was sitting on the other end of the common room. It had already been three days since she’d spoken to him. He hated it when she did that, but he wasn’t so sure he wanted to admit it. Everybody would think he fancied her. Sure, it was true, but still.
“Hello? Are you awake?” Harry said, waving his hand in front of Ron’s eyes.
“What? Oh, yeah. Sorry about that. I was just thinking.”
“About what?”
“Nothing,” he said, not wanting to reveal to Harry that he had been thinking about Hermione.
“Oh, really?” Harry replied, noticing the blush on Ron’s cheeks.
“Yep. Just daydreaming,”
“And did your daydream involve Hermione and some not-so-friendly thoughts?” Harry said with an evil grin on his face.
“W-w-hat do you mean?” Ron stammered, his face turning an even brighter red.
“Oh, come on Ron, it’s obvious. I’d have to be really thick to not notice the way you look at her.”
“I do not look at her funny”
“No use denying it.”
“Too bad. I’m going to anyways.”
“Doesn’t matter. You’re a redhead, in case you hadn’t noticed. Do you have any idea how much you are blushing right now?”
Ron got up from the armchair and walked out of the common room, muttering something about going to the library for homework.
Harry chuckled to himself as he walked over to Hermione. They had a private Quidditch lesson tonight.
~~~~~
“You’re doing much better.” Harry told Hermione as she swooped around the goal posts at the end of their practice. She was still a bit shaky, and her reflexes weren’t nearly as good as Ron’s, but it was a huge improvement.
“You really think so?”
“Yeah, and besides, you don’t have to be that great. You just have to make sure they don’t score fifteen more goals than we do. I bet even you can almost do that,” he said with a twinkle in his eye, giving away that he was kidding.
“Stuff it, Harry” Hermione said, also with a joking tone to her voice. It was quite unsettling to Harry. She rarely joked.
Hermione knew she wasn’t perfect, but she was rather pleased with herself. If she had come this far in just three days, she could be ready by the match. Not that there was really any other option....And, as much as she hated to admit it, she was actually having fun playing this stupid sport.
She glided to the ground and was proud to note that she didn’t crash nearly as hard as the last time.
~~~~~
Harry ran up the steps to his room. He found Ron sitting by the window with Hogwarts, a History open in front of him. Ron was staring intently at the page.
“How’s it going, mate?” Harry said, making Ron jump a little.
“Okay. But I can’t wait until the month is up. I don’t like this whole reading-every-day thing. It’s rather irritating. I don’t know how Hermione does it.”
“You know, if I’m not mistaken, it looked like you were enjoying the book”
“I wasn’t really, I just happened to be at the part about the Chamber of Secrets. It was kind of cool to read about it after we went in it and nearly kicked the bucket there.”
“AHA! So you were enjoying it!”
“Only that little paragraph!” Ron protested.
Harry grabbed for the book and looked at the page it was opened too.
“This page isn’t on the Chamber of Secrets! In fact,” he said as he flipped through the book, “that was about one hundred and seventy-five pages back. You were reading the part about apparating on school grounds!”
“Really?” Ron said vaguely, “The page must have turned when you picked it up.”
“AHA!”
“Will you stop saying that?”
“You’re liking this book! And you’re almost done with it! Who are you, and what have you done with Ron?”
“I am NOT liking the book!” Ron yelled, getting very annoyed.
“See, now you’re blushing again. You are really no good at lying.” Harry said with a laugh.
Ron gave him a look to almost rival Professor Snape in the department of evil glares.
~~~~~
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