The War Over Hermione

Chapter 7: The Boy Who Protected Her

With the prefects meeting led by Hermione and Head Boy Blaise Zabini all closed up, Hermione had decided to do the first patrol of the corridors with Ron to get it out of the way. She really didn't feel like doing much of anything except curling up with a good book and eventually sleeping the rest of the way to school, and Ron was feeling much the same way (minus the good book part), so they figured it would be best to get it out of the way so they didn't have to do it anymore.

"I can't believe they made that prat Zabini Head Boy." said Ron holding the door for Hermione to walk out of the prefects car. "He's just gonna be a prick to everyone except his own house."

Hermione, who didn't really feel like hearing Ron complain about Blaise, rolled her eyes. "Oh stop it Ronald, Blaise isn't that bad for a Slytherin. We both agreed we weren't going to show preference to our own houses. And really, as long as you do what you know you're supposed to do, you won't have to interact with him as far as non prefect business is concerned."

"Mione, he's Malfoy's best mate. Of course I'm going to have to deal with his ass outside of prefect business."

"I wish you would put this petty feud behind you. Even Harry doesn't seem bothered by Malfoy anymore." said Hermione as they walked down the train's hallway.

Ron rolled his eyes. The last person he wanted to talk about was Harry while they were doing this already boring and annoying walk around the train. If it wasn't for the fact that he was with Hermione, he would have found a way to duck out of it. Being a prefect had never been a top priority of his.

"I saw that Ronald Weasley."

Ron stopped and looked down at an irritated Hermione looking back at him.

"Saw what?" he asked confused by the statement.

"You rolled your eyes at what I said."

"It's not like I did it because you were talking, Mione. I just really don't trust Malfoy. And maybe to you and Harry he has changed, but I can't forgive and forget about the slimy tosser that made fun of my family for being poor, made fun of my best mate for being who he is and saving people including his horrible ass, and I'll NEVER forgive him for every single time that he has ever been mean to you and called you a Mudblood. You know how I feel about that." said Ron, trying  desperately not to take a bite out of his tongue for repeating such a filthy word.

Hermione felt herself blush. One thing that had always been a constant thing when the two of them were having rows was the fact that Ron hated any form of ridicule and teasing that Draco Malfoy (or anyone in general) did to her. Especially when he would call her a Mudblood. There had been a many of fights between the two boys over the years because of him saying that to her. Sure she completely hated fighting, but it was something about the fact that Ron would so fiercely defend her against evil that made her feel completely safe when it came to him.

Something that sadly, she didn't always feel about when it came to Harry.

They continued the rest of their patrol in a comfortable silence, each person thinking surprisingly about the other. Ron thinking about all the ways that Hermione was simply wonderful; Hermione thinking about the summer that she had spent with two of the most important men in her life.

Hermione appreciated both of them tremendously. Even though the friendship started off rocky, and they had their bad moments in between, she knew that both boys genuinely cared about her as well as one another. The three of them balanced each other out. Harry with his determination, skill, and knack for getting the job done, her brains, focus, and willingness to do what is right, and Ron's humor, strategic nature, and way of seeing not only the whole picture, but the hidden things in between.

Hermione smiled and playfully nudged Ron to show him that she wasn't annoyed anymore. "Thanks Ron."

"For what?"

"For just being you." she said.

Ron grinned at her. "I don't know how to be anybody else, love."

Hermione laughed and looped her arm into his as they finished up their rounds. They went to the cabin that Harry and Ginny had saved for them. They opened the door to find Ginny asleep and Harry playing with the practice snitch that Ron had gotten Harry for his birthday.

"Enjoy your meeting guys?" asked Harry as Hermione kissed him on the cheek and sat down beside him.

"Oh yeah. It was sooooooooo eventful listening to Zabini go on and on about rules that he won't even follow himself." said Ron as he gently lifted Ginny's head up so he could sit down. He then put her head on his lap so she could be comfortable.

Hermione shook her head. "Ron has it under the impression that Blaise will bend the rules to his and the Slytherins advantage."

Harry nodded. "Of course he will. He's a Slytherin, that's what they do. Well, not all of them. But him and Malfoy sure do."

"Thank you Harry." said Ron looking at Hermione as if to say "see he gets it".

Hermione laughed and threw a chocolate frog at him from the mountain of candies Harry had bought, which Ron swiftly caught thanks to his keeper skills.

"So it's seventh year, you guys." said Harry as he took Hermione's hand into his (much to Ron's annoyance). "What bullshit should we get into this year to get us almost killed?"

The three friends laughed at Harry's joke. Voldemort was no more, the majority of the Death Eaters were either dead or in Azkaban, and the ones that were still out there were denying it and trying to be honest for once in their slimy lives, so really there wasn't anything evil about anymore.

"Maybe we should try the regular teen thing." said Ron. "We can sneak around the castle for the sake of exploration and not because something is trying to eat us."

"We can actually focus schoolwork without having to worry about some evil wizard trying to take over our minds." added Hermione.

The boys looked at each other and then back to her. "Damn Herm, we aren't even halfway there yet and you're thinking about schoolwork?" asked Harry. Hermione stuck her tongue out at him.

"We can actually be normal teenagers for once in our lives. That actually feels great to say." said Ron, opening up the frog and biting the head off. He then gave the other half of the frog to Hermione, as he had done every time since 3rd year, when he had convinced her to try it for the first time as a sort of rebellion to her dentist parents. It had become something of a thing between them. They even did it when they were mad at each other.

It irritated Harry sometimes.

"Dumbledore, Dumbledore. Why is it always Dumbledore?" Ron said looking at the 20th Dumbledore card he had gotten this year.

Conversation soon came to a close when eventually Hermione and Harry drifted off to sleep, Hermione fell asleep on Harry's shoulder with Harry's head on top of hers.

Ron looked at the pair and no matter how hard he tried to be glad for them, the bitter tastes of jealousy and regret formed into his mouth. It should be him. It was supposed to be him. He truly felt it in his heart and the fact that it wouldn't go away with almost 3 years of this relationship playing out in front of him bothered and saddened him to the extreme.

He wanted to be happy for them. He wanted to be able to be the one that told them that they would make it straight out of Hogwarts and beyond. But he couldn't lie to them, nor could he lie to himself.

He couldn't keep this to himself any longer. The need to at least let Hermione know how he felt about her had exceeded any logical thought. As he looked on at Hermione moving slightly, he decided that he was going to do it. This would be the year that he would lay all his cards out on the table and finally tell her how he felt. If she decided to leave Harry and be with him (which he thought would not happen at all), then he would be happy. If she just wanted to stay friends, then he would have to learn to be happy. He would rather her be in his life as his best friend than nothing at all.

But at least she would know.