A/N: This one-shot is inspired by weasleyismyking540 's comment on one of my Tumblr posts.

"That day Hermione was packing books in Ron's room and the way he seemed like he jumped when Harry opened the door and pretended he was doing something led me to believe that they were about to have a moment that Harry cockblocked….as usual, lol"

So a special shout out to her for inspiring me to write this. She has some amazing stories to share. Do check out her profile.

This fic is completely canon and sits nicely in Chapter 6: A Ghoul in Pajamas - Deathly Hallows.

A Moment Lost

"Now, Ron, have you cleaned out your room yet?"

"Why?" exclaimed Ron, slamming his spoon down and glaring at his mother. "Why does my room have to be cleaned out? Harry and I are fine with it the way it is!"

"We are holding your brother's wedding here in a few days' time, young man –"

"And are they getting married in my bedroom?" asked Ron furiously. "No! So why in the name of Merlin's saggy left –"

"Don't talk to your mother like that," said Mr Weasley firmly. "And do as you're told."

Ron scowled at both his parents, then picked up his spoon and attacked the last few mouthfuls of his apple tart.

,,,,,,,,,,

Ron glared hard at the utter mess that was his room, still furious with his Mum and her paranoia to have every nook and corner of the house cleaned up.

Figuring that it was impossible to manage this herculean task all by himself, he collapsed on his bed on top of the pile of clothes and other random articles that were spread all over it and grumbled under his breath.

Crookshanks strutted leisurely from under his bed and after shooting him a calculating look like he always did, jumped up to curl next to him. Ron brushed the cat's fur absentmindedly, and he stretched, scratching his bedsheet with his claws before turning around and pressing his furry belly against Ron's body. Over the years he had grown fond of the beast, though he would never admit the same to Hermione.

Hermione.

He let out a sigh and rubbed the cat behind his ears earning himself a satisfied purring from the furry animal. It had been a while since Hermione had come down but thanks to his Mum, he had not even managed to get a few hours alone with her. Ron closed his eyes and reminisced about the first and the only day when he had managed to get her all by herself. One glorious hour, when neither his Mum nor his sister or anyone else from his large family had interrupted his moments with her. He placed an arm under his head; the full breakfast was making him pleasantly drowsy.

The knock on the door broke his musings, and he swore under his breath while picking himself up.

"I'm on it! I'm on it!" he grumbled aloud while opening the door. "You can't possibly-!" The rest of his angry tirade was cut off midsentence as Hermione entered the room silently and shut the door behind her. It was hard to control the grin that appeared easily on his face, and he ran his hand through his hair and chuckled softly to himself, suddenly feeling a lot happier than before.

"Escaped, have you?" he grinned as she slumped down at the edge of his bed, the only space sans any of his mess. His brain was quick to picture himself next to her, and he cleared his throat and turned away to hide the blush, and sat himself down on Harry's bed instead.

"Your Mum forgot that we had changed those sheets already," she explained with a naughty grin before glancing around at the disaster that was his room. "Have you been cleaning at all?" she asked arching an eyebrow.

Ron moved Harry's sack from the bed and placed it at the foot of the bed before proceeding to pick up all the articles from his bed in a big scoop and dumping them at one corner of the room.

"On it," he replied quickly.

She stood up and retrieved some of his books from the pile and he collapsed on the now empty bedspread.

Releasing a sigh she placed some of them back in a comparatively empty space on the floor and turned around. His heart squealed in joy as she covered the small space between them quickly and occupied the place next to him.

"I have to sort our books anyway," she said casually. She indicated him to pass her Harry's rucksack and he did so silently. Without another word, she pulled at the drawstrings and began digging inside Harry's sack. But Ron's brain had stopped processing. Hermione was sitting way too close, their sides touching and sending pleasant jolts all over his skin.

He cleared his throat and watched her pull out Harry's books. Quite a few of her locks had escaped from the messy bun and were now framing her face. Some of those brown curls were sticking to her forehead. He wondered if it would be a good idea to help her hair escape the confines of the bun and allow them to cascade down her back. Would that be too much? What did that effing book say about this? He tried thinking but couldn't, possibly because she was looking at him now; slightly confused perhaps but definitely a little pleased. He reckoned that the book did say something about pleasant surprises, and hoped with all his might that he was interpreting it correctly as he allowed his fingers to tuck a curl behind her ears. The blush that crept up her cheeks was hard to miss. He must have done something right.

Finally!

"Are you alright?" he asked softly, his finger still tangled in her hair and palm cupping her face slightly. Feeling a little braver he caressed her cheek gently with his thumb. She smiled and averting her eyes nodded a little.

"Yeah, keeping busy helps a bit," she responded in a sadder voice which she tried to hide behind a small laugh. He turned a little to face her better and after a moment of hesitation, brought his other hand to cup her face, angling it ever so slightly towards him. She took the hint and met his eyes.

"You've done a very brave thing, Hermione. When all this is over, we'll bring them back."

She bit her lip and his eyes were inexplicably drawn towards them. He had been craving to taste those for a while now. Perhaps she noticed because she released them slowly, almost torturously so and Ron was sure no book could prepare him for what was happening now. He noticed how her breathing hitched, and now the sadness in her eyes was replaced with something else. He could almost feel the small gasps of air that escaped her slightly parted lips. He stared openly at them this time, embarrassment long forgotten. And when he finally looked up and met her eyes, he was sure Hermione had been watching his mouth too.

Was this it then? The moment when he kissed his best friend, the girl he had been secretly in love with all this while?

He leant in slowly, giving her all the time to move away- but she didn't. His eyes almost fluttered shut in anticipation-

"Bloody Hell!" he spat at the sound of footsteps just outside the door. In the silence of the moment, it was as loud as a cannon blast (or perhaps it was the vigorous thumping of his heart?). They shot apart from each other as the door opened a smidge and he bounded off the bed.

"I'm doing it, I'm doing it-!" he barked furiously, but it was not his Mum but Harry who entered through the door. "Oh, it's you," he said with a mixture of relief and annoyance and glanced around. Hermione was now sitting on the floor, busy sorting books into piles. Ron was sure she had Accio-ed some of them from the desk and some from his bed where they had dropped them earlier. Crookshanks, duly playing his part in the act, was busy grooming himself at her feet.

"Hi, Harry," she said casually, as their friend sat down on his camp bed. He collapsed on his bed instead, exactly where the two of them had been sitting even a while ago.

"And how did you manage to get away?" Harry inquired of Hermione.

"Oh, Ron's mum forgot that she asked Ginny and me to change the sheets yesterday," she replied before throwing Numerology and Grammatica onto one pile and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts onto the other.

"We were just talking about Mad-Eye," Ron told him, eying Hermione and noticing her get the hint. "I reckon he might have survived."

And just like that, they were back to being just friends as yet another moment was lost.

A/N: Thanks for reading and I would love to hear what you think about it.

Side note: I am working on the next chapter for A Bad Case... It should be out max by Monday (6th Feb).