Will She Say Yes?

Author's Note: This is a Hermione/Ron fic. Not much of a plot; mostly fluff. I'm writing it for my cousin, who is one of the biggest R/Hr shippers you'll ever find. Hopefully she'll stop rolling her eyes (and glaring) at me one of these days and actually read the story!

Disclaimer: See that woman over there? Hers. See all that money? Also hers. The only thing I own is the almost non-existent plot.

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

Chapter 1

"Admit it!" Harry suddenly yelled. "You like her." Ron, whose thoughts had been elsewhere, turned his head slowly in Harry's direction. Ron's expression told Harry exactly what he had suspected. First of all, Ron's mind had been elsewhere, and second of all, he hadn't quite comprehended what Harry had just said to him.

Ron stared at Harry, blinked, and asked, "What? Like who?"

"Hermione!" He responded, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Hermione likes who?" Ron asked, still not sure what Harry had said the first time. Harry rolled his eyes.

"I said, just admit that you like Hermione."

"I what?!"

"Oh, come off it, Ron! I know you like her. You're always watching her in the common room and I've caught you loads during class. You also haven't argued with her in ages, even when I know you disagree." Ron just stared at Harry, open mouthed. It's not like he had been "watching" Hermione the way Harry said. Okay, so, he'd glanced at her every once in a while. That wasn't like the stalking way Harry had implied it. He hadn't argued with her in a while; that was true. Again, so what? Maybe he just hadn't felt like fighting with her when they disagreed. But to say he liked her?! Now, that was going too far! Ron didn't like Hermione. Not that way, anyway. Did he? "Earth to Ron!" Harry said, waving his hand in front of Ron's face. Ron jumped backward a little bit, startled. He hadn't realized he had stopped walking.

"Are we still going to class or what?" He asked, hoping that Harry hadn't noticed his ears turn red. Harry, however, had noticed, but was nice enough to not comment. Instead, he grinned very broadly. This was worse than a comment in Ron's opinion. He turned even redder as he walked into Transfiguration class ahead of Harry. As they took their usual seats, Ron idly wondered where Hermione was. She was coming from a different direction, but still. She should have been there by now. As Ron threw his bag on the floor next to his chair, he realized what he was thinking and carefully avoided Harry's gaze as Hermione walked into the classroom finally, sitting down next to Harry.

~

The rest of the day went by in a blur for Ron. In fact, he couldn't remember much about their after lunch classes. He had been too busy making sure he didn't look at Hermione (or Harry, for that matter) too often. If he could avoid it, he didn't look at them at all. Even now, as they were climbing through the portrait hole to enter their common room after dinner, Ron avoided Hermione's gaze. He stood to the side to let her go through first, but he didn't dare look at her. She stopped in front of him for an instant, looking like she wanted to say something. Instead, she gave Ron a weird look and went into the common room.

"Oh, can you believe it!" Someone screeched. "A ball. We're going to a ball!" Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked around for the source of the noise. They discovered it. A group of 5th year girls were giggling as they gathered around the message board. Ron, Hermione, and Harry approached from behind them to read over their heads. A note had been put up in the middle of the message board, so it could be clearly read.

To all 5th, 6th, and 7th years:
There will be a ball held on the 10th of December.
No one below 3rd year allowed.
Decent dress robes are to be worn.
No exceptions!

Ron never got beyond the word "ball." He turned away from the board and faced the fireplace instead. He could feel his face beginning to flush and didn't want Harry and Hermione to see. Once Hermione had finished reading, she got another peculiar look on her face before turning and bounding up the stairs to the girls' dormitory.

"What was that about?" Harry had also finished reading the board and had joined Ron at the fireplace. Ron didn't answer. He pretended he was too busy watching the fire. This was a feeble attempt to escape Harry's questions, Ron knew. But at the moment he didn't have any other reason for ignoring him. Harry got this message and remained quiet.

He couldn't, however, stop himself from asking, "Ron, what is so bloody fascinating about the fireplace?"

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

Now that you've read it, how about pushing that pretty little go button and leaving a review? I know it's short, but the more reviews I get, the more I write!