Disclaimer: Don't own a thing, really. Well! I do own the little plot.

Author's Note: Anyone who reads my live journal will get the true funniness of this ficlet.

Summary: Hermione goes on her first date with Ron. Too bad Ron doesn't know anything about it. Has a bit o' angst.

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Ron and Hermione's Big Date

by

Sierra Sitruc

The Question

"Harry says he's stuck in the Hospital Wing all weekend." Ron said upon first seeing me at dinner that evening. "Do you still want to go to Hogsmeade? It'll just be you and me." He said, while taking a bite of his potatoes.

"I don't see why not, we've gone together before." I said, but I felt...giddy. He'd just asked me to go to Hogsmeade, just us. If it had been anyone but him (or Harry) it would have been an invitation to a date.

"Great, because I really wanted to have a butterbeer this weekend." Ron said, looking relieved.

We'd even be going for drinks, I thought, how very much like a date.

"I'll meet you in the Common Room then, right?"

"Of course."

The Idea

"So you and Ron are going to Hogsmeade together...all alone?" Ginny asked, grinning in a way that reminded me far too much of Fred and George.

"Yes, because Harry's still in the Hospital Wing and you're staying to be with him." I said rationally.

"Sounds like a date to me, Hermione." The Weasley girl said, smirking, "He asked you to go, he told you to meet him in the Common Room, you will doubtlessly do things couples do...Share some Butterbeers, perhaps?" Her eyes twinkled.

"It's not a date! We're just friends!" I said truthfully.

"Oh, but you want to be more."

"Well, of course, but you know Ron doesn't think of me like that. I'm like...I'm like another YOU to him." I said unhappily. I held my quill tightly in my hand. "It's stupid, really. I should just get over him and have done with it. Go for someone else. But even Neville's dating Luna now and I just...I just feel so alone. And Ron's not dating anybody, and he's always so nice to me..." I trailed off.

"Hermione, you should just go for it, ask him out." Ginny told me, leaving a blot on her essay from keeping the quill in one place for too long.

"He doesn't like me like that, it'd be...weird." I said, biting my lip.

"Ron knows you like him; he doesn't seem to mind that. Why would he mind dating you?" She asked logically. But it wasn't logical, because logic was Ron not fancying me.

"Because, it'd ruin what we have as friends." I said, giving up on my own essay for the moment. "Ron's the kind of guy who won't say anything, and I'm the kind of girl who won't say anything. So we both say nothing and get no where new."

"That's not true, you are very outspoken - " Ginny began, but I stopped her.

"I'm only outspoken when I know something's true." I said firmly.

"Hmm...But it's still like a date isn't it? You could just act like it's a date." She said thoughtfully.

I giggled, "What, and not let him know it?"

"Exactly."

The Preparation

"I want to straighten my hair, but I don't want him to think it's a date, which it's not. So I just want something that's casually pretty." I told Parvati, who was in charge of my hair for that Saturday.

She looked at my mess of hair and looked very intensely at it. "I have an idea."

Parvati began pulling it up, I felt like my hair was being ripped from my scalp, but I took it with watering eyes. After she finished, my hair looked elegant, but slightly simple.

Ron probably wouldn't notice.

"Do you like it?" Parvati asked me. I nodded, smiling thankfully at her.

"You're the best, Parvati. It's nice having roommates who understand these things." I said, "Now, what should I do with my make up?"

Lavender and Parvati both attacked my face with all sorts of sparkly things I'd never seen before, and I felt worried for my skin's life. I put all my faith in them, and they made my face look pretty.

Ron probably wouldn't notice that either.

"Hmm...clothing." Lavender said, eyeing the pyjamas I was still in.

"She wants to look normal, but nice. Because it's Ron." Parvati said, studying my wardrobe carefully. "Uh, maybe you should borrow something of mine."

I agreed.

When we were done, I honestly didn't look very different. I'd tried harder than I usually did (well, Parvati and Lavender did) but I'd looked like this before for no reason. So no one could suspect anything. Not that there was actually something to suspect.

Except for me pretending to be going on a date with Ron.

My first date with Ron. I felt my lips quirking up at the thought. "I can't believe I'm doing this." I muttered as I sprayed some pricey perfume on my chest, before heading down to the Common Room to meet Ron.

The Date

He grinned when he spotted me and I felt myself simply burn with happiness. Ron. Ron. Ron. I loved his name...Ron.

"Let's go, Hermione." He said, standing up and walking out the portrait hole. I saw Ginny smirking from behind a Witch Magazine by the fireplace at me. I took up an affronted look, before stalking out after him.

"Wait up, Ron!" I told him, catching up to fall into stride beside him. He looked at me, and I felt my heart speed up in pace. Why did he do this to me? It wasn't fair that he had a certain power over me and I had none over him.

We talked about Harry some, then about an assignment from McGonagall. Rather boring chit chat, actually. We got to Hogsmeade and Ron dragged me into Honeydukes. I hardly had any money on me at all, but I spent what I had on a couple chocolate frogs, quite impulsive of me actually.

"To the Three Broomsticks?" Ron asked, as we left the shop. I bit my lip, I'd forgotten about that.

"Err, I guess we can go, but I don't have any money left." I said nervously, kicking myself in the head, because this was RON we were talking about. Who was my friend, who, once upon a time I was so comfortable with, I didn't care what he thought of my night gown or underwear. Now I did care though, and when I went to shop for any clothing I kept asking myself, 'Would Ron like this?' or 'Would Ron notice me more in pink or blue?'

"I'll buy you a butterbeer, don't worry about it." Ron said.

And suddenly I was in a horrible situation. On the one hand, I wanted to play the independent woman who could buy her own things, but on the other I wanted him to buy me the drink. However, I also knew that Ron didn't have a lot of money to spend, and that making him waste some of it on me was just an awful thing to do. And just because I had had a moment of bad spending choices.

I didn't want to offend Ron by declining; it would hurt his macho ego. "You don't have to Ron -"

"It's fine, it's fine, don't argue." Ron said, grinning as we walked into the pub.

"Well, alright then." I was thirsty, I told myself unconvincingly. It was becoming even more like a date now, Ron had just opened the door for me, and now he was buying me a drink.

Was Ron thinking about this? It was highly unlikely, I decided with a sigh.

"Do you think we could die in this war, Hermione?" Ron asked me out of nowhere.

I was trying to calm my nerves down as we sat in our private book, when he jumped this question on me.

"I'm sure we could, Ron, but will we? I don't think so." I said as confidently as I could. The truth was the worries about it had entered my mind. Ron and Ginny I was especially worried about, besides Harry of course. They were the two people closest to him in the world. Yes, I was his bookish best friend, but I was not his closest friend, Ron came first. I knew that. And now Ginny was closer than Ron, which I'm sure Ron resents.

"I don't know, sometimes I'll be thinking late at night...like the Tri-Wizard tournament. Cedric wasn't supposed to be killed; it was just bad luck, wasn't it?" Ron said, "All that has to happen, is for any of us to be at the wrong place at the wrong time and we're done with. You-Know-Who wouldn't necessarily go out to kill you or me, but maybe, because of Harry, we'd go to protect him or whatever, and we'd...die."

I could tell Ron had been holding this inside for awhile. I guess Harry was Ron's usual confidant, along with Ginny and Ron certainly couldn't tell either of them about this.

"Ron, you shouldn't worry about that. Harry will pull through this, with our help, he can. It doesn't mean any of us have to be sacrificed in the end." I told him, as reassuringly as I could.

"I worry about Ginny. If she should lose Harry..." Ron drifted off, "If any of us did."

"Harry won't die, you won't, I won't, Ginny won't die. Dumbledore will help us, if anything." I said, patting his hand across the table.

"I'm glad you're around to talk to Hermione, I don't know what I'd do without you." He said softly. My shoes were suddenly full of Hermione Goo. Ron always knew just what to say to turn me into a puddle. But he also knew just what to say to get me angry.

"We'll get through this, Ron. I promise." I told him, holding the butterbeer in my hands tightly. My toes were very cold, for some unexplained reason, and I didn't know just what to do with my legs, they kept crossing and uncrossing on their own accord.

When we were ready to leave The Three Broomsticks, we strolled along the streets of Hogsmeade for a bit.

"I don't want to go back to the school just yet." Ron said, leading me to the Shrieking Shack. It brought back memories of third year, when we were thirteen and I had a thing for Professor Lupin, however embarrassing it was. I'm sure Ron and Harry had never guessed; maybe I should tell Ron, see how he reacted...?

"Remember third year, when Professor Lupin was teaching us?" I said, stating the obvious.

"Yeah, of course." Ron said, not pointing out my stating the obvious, like he normally would. When Harry was around. Things were different with Harry with us.

"I fancied him." I told him, blushing.

"Lupin!?" Ron's eyes bugged out of his head, "He's old." He wrinkled his nose.

"I know, but he was nice to me. That's why I noticed when he was gone, his symptoms to being a werewolf. I was studying him closely, because I fancied him." I explained.

Ron looked flabbergasted, "He's old!" He repeated.

"Well, I fancied Lockhart too. You didn't say anything about HIM being old." I said, putting my hands on my hips.

"He wasn't Harry's dad's age!"

"Lockhart was older!" I nearly yelped, "He just had many charms to hide his aging."

Ron rolled his eyes, and we went back to Hogsmeade, running into Dean and Seamus who talked to us for awhile. I kept wishing they would leave, but they wouldn't.

So the rest of our date included Dean and Seamus. I took a moment to fancy it as double date, Seamus was the girl of course, but it failed and I just grew disappointed.

We finally lost them at Honeydukes, and Ron and I headed back to Hogwarts. I was depressed, because I knew Ron didn't fancy me, but he knew I fancied him and he kept smiling at me. What was he thinking? I hope he was thinking about me. I hope he wasn't thinking about me, and thinking that I was thinking this was a real date. Which I most certainly was and new I shouldn't be.

I pretended he held my hand on the stairs and I pretended he'd opened the doors to the Great Hall for me. I pretended he put his arm around my waist while we spoke to Nearly Headless Nick. I pretended as we parted ways in the Common Room, that he'd kissed me goodnight.

I pretended I wasn't disappointed. Really, I'd had fun, but I felt empty. Like something more should have happened, when it didn't.

That night I dreamt of sitting over butterbeers and talking about the future. I dreamt of Ron, of Ron, of Ron.

The End.

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Author's Note: I know it's not a very happy ending, but that's how things go sometimes. My stories always have happy ending so I thought this one shouldn't. It was my first Hermione fic so feedback would be nice. She wasn't very in character, but I hope you let that slide. Ron wasn't in character either, but you can let that slide too. :-)