Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns Ron, Hermione and their
love. I love to write about it.

A/N: Many thanks to the editors at The Sugar Quill.
You are all fabulous!

The Yule Ball had ended.

Hermione said goodnight to Viktor in the entrance
hall. As she turned to make her way up the marble
staircase, she saw Harry and Ron beginning their
climb. She threw Ron the most contemptuous look she
could muster as she swept past him. How dare he accuse
her of fraternizing with the enemy! Who had been the
one to stick by Harry during the first task? Who had
helped Harry learn the summoning charm? It certainly
hadn’t been Ron. Ron was the one always blathering
about what a brilliant Quidditch player Viktor was. He
was the one debating whether he should ask for
Viktor’s autograph. He was the one with the Viktor
doll. Hermione’s face was now red-hot. She could feel
tears welling up in her eyes. Why was she allowing
herself to get all out of sorts over one of Ron’s
stupid comments? Why did she have such a knot in the
pit of her stomach?

She had had a perfectly nice time with Viktor. He was
nothing but a gentleman. He was polite and genuinely
interested in everything she had to say and he didn’t
give her cheeky replies like someone she knew. Ron
hadn’t even noticed her when he entered the Great
Hall. He had walked right past her! Three whole hours
she spent getting ready and the one person, the one
person that should have taken some notice didn’t. Wait
a minute. What was she saying? Viktor had noticed and
he was her date. Viktor had said she looked pretty.
Humph! Put that in your cauldron and boil it, Ronald
Weasley!

As she came up on the entrance to Gryffindor Tower,
Hermione glanced behind her. She saw Ron rounding the
corner. "Fairy lights!" She climbed through the
portrait hole, wiping her eyes and taking deep
breaths, attempting to calm herself. She would not
give him the satisfaction of seeing her upset over his
insensitive and utterly ridiculous comments.

*******************************************************

Hermione swept past him up the marble staircase
throwing him one of her nastier looks. Well fine, if
that’s the way she wanted to be then what did he care?
She was the one dating the potentially dangerous
enemy! He and Harry resumed their ascent when Harry
was stopped by Cedric. It didn’t seem that Cedric
wanted Ron around for whatever it was he was going to
say, so Ron continued on his way. 

He thought Hermione was smarter than this but it was
becoming quite obvious that she had no sense
whatsoever when it came to these matters. Book smart
she may be, but wise to the ways of the Wizard? That
was a definite no. You’d have to be thicker than
Crabbe and Goyle not to realize that Krum was using
Hermione to get information about the second task.
Couldn’t she see that? Getting the nerve to speak to
her in the Library - what a line! Stalking her was
more like it. Krum just wanted to find someone that
knew their way around, someone that could do the
research for him. A great big git like Krum wouldn’t
know the first thing on how to research a topic. He’d
need a pawn. Well, if Hermione wanted to be Krum’s
pretty little assistant he certainly wasn’t going to
keep his mouth shut about it! 

Speaking of pretty, what was she thinking making
herself all gorgeous for that big ape? How was he even
supposed to recognize her? She looked so different.
When the prettiest girl at Hogwarts entered the Great
Hall on the arm of that Neanderthal from Durmstrang,
well it looked simply ridiculous! The whole thing was
giving him a stomach ache. Deep in his mental tirade,
Ron almost ran right into the portrait of the Fat
Lady.

"My, someone looks even redder than usual," commented
the Fat Lady. "Did you and your girlfriend have a
row?"

"She just went in and she doesn’t look happy," added
her friend Violet.

Having no idea what they were talking about Ron just
stared blankly at them. "Wha-? Fairy lights!" he
finally said and scrambled through the portrait hole.

"Clueless," said the Fat Lady.

"He’ll learn soon enough!" replied Vi.

*******************************************************

Upon seeing Ron, all thoughts Hermione had of
maintaining her composure fled. "You had no right, no
right to say what you did about me tonight, Ron!
Fraternizing with the enemy? That has to be the
stupidest thing you’ve ever said and stupid things
flow out of your mouth like butterbeer at the Three
Broomsticks!"

"Well if you think I’m going to stand idly by while
you’re led around on the arm of the enemy then you’re
crazy! Harry is your best friend and you’re setting
him up to be checkmated! Where do your loyalties lie?"

"My loyalties? I’m not the one that acted like a total
prat and wouldn’t talk to him before the first task!"
She paused for a second then let loose with, "Am I
mistaken? Was it not you that asked Fleur Delacour,
another Champion, to the ball? "

" Touché, " Ron thought. His ears began to turn that
deep shade of scarlet that was only brought on by
Hermione. He quickly and completely changed the
subject back to Hermione and Krum. "To top it off, to
make matters completely worse, you go and make
yourself beautiful for that git! And everyone thinks
you're the smart one! Did you forgot to look up common
sense on you last library trip? Oh yeah, I forgot you
were too busy telling Krum you'd be his date!"

The pair, still bellowing at one another did not even
notice that Harry had come in and was staring at them.

"Well, if you don’t like it, you know what the
solution is, don’t you?" yelled Hermione: her hair was
coming down out of its elegant bun now, and her face
was screwed up in anger. 

She was very sure he still had no idea. 

"Oh yeah?" Ron yelled back. "What’s that?"

"Next time there’s a ball, ask me before someone else
does, and not as a last resort!"

Ron mouthed soundlessly like a goldfish out of water
as Hermione turned on her heel and stormed up the
girls’ staircase to bed. Ron turned to look at Harry. 

"Well, " he sputtered, looking thunderstruck, "well –
that just proves –completely missed the point –" 

Not to mention that it was obvious she had gone
completely mad.

*******************************************************

As Ron was getting himself ready for bed he
accidentally knocked the figurine of Krum from his
bedside table onto the floor. Stupid famous Quidditch
star. He stomped on the figurine several times. After
hearing a ‘snap’ he gave it a swift kick; where it
landed he didn’t care. That ought to teach Krum to ask
out his Hermione. Well, if she was going to go to
dances with the first bloke that asked her, then he
would save them all a lot of trouble. From now on he
would just make sure that he was the first bloke to
ask her.

*******************************************************

In the girls’ dormitory, Hermione was drawing the
curtains on her four poster bed. Resigned to the very
real possibility that Ron would never, ever get it,
she drifted off to sleep. She was somewhere between
consciousness and deep slumber when she suddenly sat
bolt upright. She had missed it during their fight but
her mind had saved it for her. Ron had called her
beautiful! Maybe there was hope for him after all.
Hermione smiled and drifted off to sleep.

The End