You and Me, Forever - Romione

008. Yellow

"Okay, students," called the cheery voice of Professor Sprout. "Pair off."

Everyone scrambled to find a work station with their friends. Ron, who had almost been late to class and was standing at the back of the greenhouse, looked over the heads of his classmates to find Harry. He was already standing at a station with Neville and shot Ron a look that said "I'm sorry," but Ron just shrugged. He scanned the rest of the greenhouse to find a partner and spotted a station with a spot open next to. . . Hermione.

Fantastic.

He trudged over to her and huffed when she narrowed her eyes at him. Just that morning, he had discovered Scabbers to be missing—likely dead—and blood all over his sheets. Naturally, he blamed Crookshanks, which seemed to irritate Hermione. They hadn't spoken a word since their argument at breakfast.

Ron had to hold back a groan as Professor Sprout explained their task for the day. They'd be extracting poison from Golden Nettle plants, a job that required two people working together in very close proximity. This day just kept getting better and better.

"I'll clamp the shoots," Hermione offered.

Ordinarily, Ron would've agreed. With Golden Nettle, one person had to hold the shoots together while the other tickled the leaves, releasing the poison from the flowers in a steady trickle. If the shoots weren't held together properly, the plant would spit the poison in a high arc, which would likely hit both people working and cause severe burns. Normally, that was too much pressure for Ron, but today, he felt like he had something to prove.

"What? You don't believe I can handle clamping the shoots? Just like you don't believe your cat murdered Scabbers?" Ron snapped. "You tickle the leaves."

Hermione scoffed and held her hands up as if surrendering.

"Let's just get to work," she muttered as she grabbed a tray of plants and pulled on her dragon-skin gloves. Ron followed suit. He held the shoots together firmly as Hermione expertly extracted the poison. As he studied the plants, he began comparing them to Hermione. The Golden Nettle had these unassuming yellow flowers that were actually quite pretty, but they were tougher than they looked, just like Hermione.

Not the pretty part, of course. Well. . . maybe. She definitely wasn't ugly, but that didn't make her pretty. Ron did often find himself staring at her hair, or her smile, or her eyes, but that wasn't because he found her attractive. Right?

"Ron!" Hermione yelped, clasping her hand over his. The flower had started bubbling, like a volcano getting ready to erupt. Ron shifted his grip on the shoots and the poison started flowing steadily again.

"Pay more attention," Hermione hissed. "Unless you want me to get sent to the hospital wing."

Her eyes were blazing as if she was daring Ron to challenge her. He just muttered a quick apology. He figured that was safer than telling Hermione he was distracted because he'd been comparing her to a poison-spitting plant.