Hermione Granger And The 6th Year

Chapter 2

Hermione had kept her word. She hadn't talked to Ron at all in the last week, and he still couldn't decide if it was a good thing or not. He was not really mad anymore, but his stubbornness was keeping him from apologizing to his best friend. Right now he was watching her from afar. She was standing next to Ginny in the common room, and they were giggling. Hermione wasn't really the girl who giggled, but whenever she talked to Ginny, there was a lot of giggling going on. "What do you think they're talking about?", Harry asked him, looking really interested, as if he couldn't imagine anything more interesting than girls talking about girl stuff.

OK maybe Ron was interested as well, but it was only because he wanted to know if they were talking about Viktor Krum, but maybe it was better if he didn't knew. He would just get fed up, and he had already been in a bad mood for the last week and that had probably ruined the feiendship between him and Hermione. Ron really missed his best friend, but he would never admit it out loud. He even missed her annoying him about his homework. "Ron?", Harry asked, reminding Ron that he had just asked him something. "Sorry, was distracted". "Why don't you just apologize. You clearly miss her", Harry said making his next move. Harry was losing, like he always did. It was the only thing he could beat the Chosen One in. Wizard's chess. "I do not". "Sure keep telling yourself that, maybe you'll actually start believing yourself", Harry argued. "She doesn't want to talk to me", Ron countered back. "You didn't even try, your turn", he said. Ron took his eyes from Hermione and tried focussing on the game, clearly failing. He loved her smile. It was always the brightest one in the room. He rarely saw her smiling. He had to change that. 'Good luck with that', Ron thought to himself. He was the one person who constantly brought her to tears. To make her smile would be a very rare occurrence. Ron moved his knight.

"You know what I am not going to play till you and Hermione make up", Harry said standing up. "No", Ron protested. Hermione and Ron were currently sharing Harry and it was really difficult. He always felt bad when he hung out with Harry, because he knew that he had Seamus and Dean and that she couldn't stand the girl's in her dormitory, therefore had to spend her time alone in the library.
So he didn't mind giving her more time with Harry than he had, but now he wanted to play a game of chess with his best friend. Tomorrow was his first Quidditch game of the year, and he was very nervous about it and it really didn't help that people in his house like Seamus and Lavender were always reminding him of it. Lavender had been really weird since the beginning of the year. Normally she just greeted him and sometimes chatted with him about random things, but now she was all chatty, always touching him on his shoulder or furiously waving at him. It was ,pretty strange, because of her popularity. Actually Lavender and Parvati were one of the most popular girls in school. Nevertheless she was way too pretty to spend her valuable time with him. He would get it if she took an interest in Harry, since he was the Chosen One, but in him. Why? "Go talk to her!", Harry said one last time before walking over to Seamus and Dean. Ron looked once again over to where Hermione was standing, talking to his sister.

Right at that moment, she decided to look over to where he was sitting and the smile on her face instantly vanished. Harry was right, he had to make up with her. Hermione looked away, walked over to the other corner of the room and sat down on one of the armchairs. He felt a tug on his heart. It hurt him to see her all by herself, and that because of him. He had to talk to her, right now.
So he did.

The courage left him once he stood in front of her. But it was too late now. She was looking at her feet. "Hermione?", he asked his voice coming out a little too raspy. She looked up startled. "Can I sit here?", he asked mentioning to the armchair that was right beside the one she was sitting on. She nodded. He slowly sat down and rested his arms on the armchair. His hand so close to hers that if he spread his fingers he could touch her. 'Stop distracting yourself Ron', he reminded himself. "I'm an arse", he whispered. She laughed, her laugh humorless. Her eyes rested on the flames, whilst his rested on her face. "I'm sorry", he tried again. "You're sorry? For what? For telling me to shut up? For ignoring me? Or for telling me not to cry?", Hermione asked her voice barely a whisper. "For everything", Ron said sliding to the edge of his seat, so that he could try to look into her eyes. "I should have never treated you like that. I'm so sorry", he whispered. She still had her eyes fixed on the flames. "Why should I forgive you?", she asked, her voice louder now. "You shouldn't". "What?", she asked her head turning away from the flames, but still not meeting his eyes. "You should not forgive me. You are too good for me. You are the best friend anyone can have. You always help me with my homework, you always notice when I'm in a bad mood. You give the best advice and I'm always bringing you down. I don't deserve you", at the last part her head snapped to him and her eyes connected with his, what made something in Ron's stomach flutter.