The Letters to No One - Romione

Chapter 31

It took two days before Ron would even look at any of his friends, let alone tell them about what McGonagall had said. He was too embarrassed to tell them and in the end Hermione overheard a couple of Slytherin 5th Years discussing it on the way to their lessons. She knew that Ron had a free period and rushed around the castle, eventually finding him sat in the library, slowly flicking through and old, hard back book.

'Why didn't you tell me?' She questioned, taking the seat next to him. His head dropped when he realised what she was talking about and he pretended to be completely absorbed in the book rather than answering her. 'Please Ron,' she begged, lifting his chin up and forcing him to look at her. His eyes looked sad and he tried to shake her away.

'I don't want to talk about it,' he replied and Hermione was sure that if she tried to push it anymore that he might burst into tears in the middle of the library.

'Just one question and then I promise not to mention it again,' Hermione said and Ron nodded, telling her to go ahead. 'Is it a temporary thing or is it permanent?' 

'Temporary,' Ron muttered. 'For now at least.'

'Is it my fault?' Hermione asked. 

'You said one question,' Ron replied, managing a slight smile. 

'I know,' Hermione began, 'but I feel as if it's my fault because before I got here...' Ron cut her off with a kiss, it was soft and quick but it told Hermione everything that she needed to know. 

'McGonagall says I just need to get my act together and then she'll make me a prefect again,' Ron added, knowing that Hermione was never going to stop with just the one question. Well, two. 'I just need to focus on my work a bit,' he said and Hermione just smiled.

'Well so do I,' she replied. 'We can help each other.' He took her hand in his, under the table, and squeezed it tightly and she lent her head on his shoulder, carefully reading the book over his shoulder. 'McGonagall said that if I take some exams in January then I might be able to skip a year or two.' Hermione muttered, deciding that now was probably a good time to share this.

'That's great,' Ron replied although there was something in his voice that made Hermione think that he was lying.

The truth was, Ron was thrilled for her, it was amazing how far she'd come in such a short amount of time. She would probably end up being a better witch than anyone he knew, it was clear that she had a natural talent for magic that very few others had. But there was something else. He'd spent his whole life up until now feeling as if he was in the background, as if he was living in everyone else's shadows. 

That was naturally going to happen with five older brothers and he'd accepted that. He'd also accepted that he would probably spend his life as the friend of Harry Potter. Well, he'd half accepted that, it still stung a bit

But now with Hermione, she'd only been at the school for three months and she'd done more than he'd done in the first three years at Hogwarts. It wasn't that he was jealous, she'd done about ten times as much work as Ron had, but he was bitter. He felt as if he was just there, moving along, an unnecessary character in everyone else's story.

'That's great,' he said again. 'I'm so proud of you.' 

Hermione wasn't convinced but she decided not to push the matter any further, she could tell that he wasn't particularly happy and she didn't want him to resent her. 

'They're having another ball,' Ginny squealed the second they made it into the common room. Ron and Hermione had been meeting in the library for every free period they had and for an hour every day once lessons had finished, and things were looking much better for both of them. 'They're having another ball,' Ginny repeated when no one seemed particularly excited by her statement. She slumped down into the chair next to them.

'Another ball?' Hermione questioned, who clearly hadn't been there for the first one and so didn't quite know what Ginny was going on about, although it sounded pretty exciting. 

'Hogwarts hosted students from other wizarding schools last year and there was a huge ball,' Ginny explained. 'McGonagall announced today in transfiguration that there's going to be another ball this christmas, for all Hogwarts students, not just the older ones like last year.' 

'Wait,' Hermione said, interrupting Ginny for just a moment. 'There are other wizarding schools?' She had never thought about the possibility that there was anywhere else in the world quite like Hogwarts, but now she thought about it, it made complete sense. Of course there were other wizarding schools, there must be hundreds of young wizards and witches and they couldn't all live in England.

'Durmstrang and Beauxbatons,' Ron said, also choosing to ignore Ginny. 'Some students came to stay at Hogwarts last year during the TriWizard Tournament. 

'And there was an incredible ball,' Ginny tried again but neither of them were particularly listening to her. Ron hadn't enjoyed the Yule Ball one bit and Hermione had never been to a ball before. They had one at her old school, but it was at the end of the final year, so she doubted that she would ever get to go there. 

'It was alright,' Ron muttered. 'Fancy going for food?' He asked, to no one in particular, glancing at his watch.

'Do you ever think about anything but food?' Ginny asked, irritated that neither of them were listening to her or shared her excitement for the ball. She stalked off to find some of the girls in her classes who had thought about nothing else since the announcement was made.

'I think she's excited for the ball,' Ron muttered and Hermione couldn't help but laugh. They went down for dinner but Hermione's mind was now swimming with thoughts about the ball and how lovely it would be to go with Ron.