A/N: I don't own Harry Potter. Damn it.

Idiot

By: BostonSox-Fan

He felt like an idiot. Here he was, once again letting another opportunity to make his feelings known to Hermione pass. Ron watched as Hermione pushed herself up from the warm grass, stretching a bit and giving Ron a meek smile before walking back to the Burrow. When Ron heard the rickety screen door squeak shut, he slapped an open palm over his face, groaning and muttering incomprehensibly to himself. The previous moments flashed through his mind, eliciting another loud groan and few curse words.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were sitting in the kitchen, munching on Molly's newest batch of cookies and desperately trying to avoid the subject of their rapidly approaching horcrux hunt. Hermione finally decided to break the tense silence.

"We do need to discuss this. We're leaving the day after Bill's wedding, which is this Saturday. That gives us five days to get our supplies ready, plan our first move, and," Hermione paused to clear her throat, "tell our parents we won't be returning to school."

The strained nature of Hermione's voice made Ron's hand twitch and edge slightly closer to hers, before quickly jerking it back and placing it safely on his knee. Hermione continued on as if she had not noticed the gesture.

"I've told my parents that I'm coming home after Bill's wedding, so we'll have to stop there before we do anything. After I've told them, we can start. Ron, have you said anything to your parents?"

Ron paled considerably, giving a slight shake of his head. He knew that the moment he told his mum, she would go spare and try to lock them up before they could leave. No, he would put off telling his parents until the moment they had to leave.

Hermione seemed to have different plans.

"They need to know, Ron! You should go tell them, right this minute!" She rose to her feet, probably going to go and fetch Ron's parents from the living room. Panic made Ron leap up and grab Hermione's wrist, tugging her outside and away from her destination.

"Ron! What are you doing? Let me go! This is important! You have to tell them!"

"I know I have to tell them, Hermione! But not now! I'm not ready to let go yet!"

Hermione stopped stumbling along behind Ron, inquiring, "What do you mean, 'let go'?" Ron stopped as well, his arm dangling behind him as he continued to loosely hold Hermione's wrist. He took a deep breath, pausing for a few moments to gather his thoughts, before letting Hermione's wrist go. The feel of her skin grazing his fingertips made him shiver, and he dropped to the ground, flopping onto his back and letting his eyes close.

"I'm not ready to let go of this abnormally normal moment. My family is going to be all together in just a day's time; the house will be full again. I mean, even Percy will be home!" Ron felt Hermione sit down next to him, her elbow brushing against his knee as she laced her arms about her own knees. "If I tell my parents now that we're going to be leaving on a hunt for V-Voldemort's soul, then the moment will be broken. Everyone will be worried about us instead of focusing on the wedding, or Percy's return, or Fred and George's pranks, or Ginny and Harry's budding romance, or Charlie's new girlfriend. I just… I need these next few days so I can survive these next few months, possibly these next few years."

Ron opened one eye, squinting over at Hermione. He couldn't see her face, which gave him to opportunity to let his hand hover by her hair, lightly brushing a few stray curls. He finally let his hand come back to rest on his stomach, continuing on with his speech.

"I'll tell them, Hermione, I swear. I just want to tell them after Bill's wedding, so we can enjoy these moments. Come on, lie back here and watch the clouds. Have a moment of laziness." He watched her head turn slightly, looking down at him with a slightly raised eyebrow. Ron grinned at her, patting the grass next to him. And there the two sat in relative silence for the next hour, occasionally pointing out different cloud shapes to each other before lapsing into silence once more. Every now and then his arm would graze hers, and a slight red flush would overtake them both, but neither would say a word. Finally, Hermione decided to go back into the house, probably to lecture Harry on his lack of planning. And that left Ron in his current situation.

After a good ten minutes of lying in the grass, Ron got up and went to find Ginny. She had been giving him advice about Hermione for years now (not that he'd followed it very well), so naturally she would know what to do. He stopped at her door, reminding himself to knock, just in case Hermione was in there. Muffled sobs kept his knuckles from rapping on the door. Pausing to ready himself for his 'big brother duties', he slowly pushed the door open and poked his head around the side. "Ginny?"