Maybe it was the way she walked… the way that her hair flounced with every step that she took. The way her eyes lit up whenever she figured out to an answer to a difficult homework question, or the way that she had to stand on the tips of her toes to give him a quick kiss on the cheek before a Quidditch match. But whatever it was, Ron was in love. And he hated it. He hated her hair, her eyes and her kisses. He didn't want to notice when she changed shampoos or when she was sporting a new piece of jewelry. But he did. And that was why he hated it.

Ron would have been so much happier if he could just fall in love with someone else that WASN'T Hermione. And the simple reason that it was killing him was this: The sidekick doesn't get the girl. Everyone was expecting Harry and Hermione to get together. It was DESTINY for the hero to fall in love with his female best friend and run away together. Which left Ron with… what? Parvati? Lavender? Oh joy. Ron had always found the other two female Gryffindor's of his year attractive, but never in the way he saw Hermione.

Hermione Granger wasn't hott, she didn't have big breasts and she wasn't glamorous… Hermione was simply, in Ron's opinion, the most beautiful girl that he had ever laid eyes on. And he had one hell of a crush on her. Plus he was more than certain that she maybe-kindof-sorta liked him back… maybe. They HAD intentionally flirted a couple of times. But it always ended with them both going red and interesting themselves in their fingernails. Which Ron was almost certain that it shouldn't end up as.

He wanted to tell her so badly… more then anything ever, he had wanted Hermione and himself to be together as more then just bickering friends. He wanted to be alone with her for several minutes and be able to DO things with her that he would go red just thinking about.

He wanted Hermione more then he had wanted anything else in his life, and he must have tried to ask her more times then he had beat Harry at chess. It always ended with a quick 'nevermind', and he would rush off to class, or anywhere away from her.

Like in Quidditch, his problem was his NERVES. His mind would rush off in a storm of what ifs whenever he would get the chance to tell her again. What if she said no? That they should just be friends? She was secretly dating someone else? What if she laughed? What if she didn't want to be friends anymore? But scariest of all, was what would happen if she felt the same way about Ron that he did about her? Would it effect their friendship with Harry… or with each other?

Ron wondered which way his life would lead with Hermione as he watched her sleep on the common room couch, but he pushed those thoughts out of his mind as he took in the beauty of his best female friend whilst laying a blanket over her to keep her warm.

"I love you, Hermione." He said aloud, hoping that someday he could say these words when she was awake.

End.