Chapter Text
Hermione was in the library, hidden in the very last aisle, rereading Hogwarts: A History. It was what she did when she needed to calm down. She had only a few minutes before leaving for class and was already about to close the book when she heard footsteps approaching. She didn’t need to look to know who it was.
“I’m not going to run away,” she said before he could speak, as soon as he stopped in front of the table. “But I’m not going to make this easy either.”
Ron stood a few steps away from her, but the library table between them made the distance feel much greater.
“Fair enough,” he replied, steady.
She closed the book slowly and finally looked into his eyes.
“Then talk.”
Her tone truly wasn’t inviting. He took a deep breath, as if preparing to dive.
“I was a coward,” Ron said all at once. “Not because of Lavender. But because it was easier to pretend you didn’t feel anything than to risk losing you.”
Hermione felt her chest tighten, but she didn’t look away. Ron noticed her eyes widen slightly in surprise.
“I hurt you,” he continued. “And it wasn’t an accident. It was because I chose silence. I hurt myself too, out of cowardice.”
She swallowed hard.
“I didn’t come here to ask for anything,” Ron said, his voice lower now. “I just wanted to tell you that I love you. I always have. And that I understand if you don’t trust me right now.”
The silence between them wasn’t heavy. It was careful. Ron felt the full weight of what he carried now settle in his heart, no longer on his shoulders.
Hermione took a deep breath.
“Do you know what hurt the most, Ronald?” she said. “It wasn’t seeing you with Lavender. It was thinking I had imagined everything on my own.”
He took another step forward, walking around the table towards her.
“You didn’t imagine anything,” he answered.
She looked at him for a few seconds too long… and then stood up.
“I don’t promise it will be easy,” Hermione said. “Or quick.”
Ron nodded. “I’ll wait.”
Hermione held out her hand, looking only at him. She wouldn’t pull him closer, wouldn’t throw herself into his arms, she simply offered it. She offered being there, as she always had been. She offered… “Let’s do this the right way. No silence, Ron.”
When he took her hand, he did it carefully, as if he understood the weight of that gesture. But feeling her skin again, feeling her fingers curl around his, made everything fall back into place. And at the same time, into a new, more beautiful one.
“No silence,” he repeated.
And for the first time in months, Hermione felt that Hogwarts finally felt like home again.
She let go of his hand to put her things into her bag, and Ron waited. Then they left the library hand in hand.
“We need to walk a bit faster, Ron. Class is about to start,” she said, glancing at the watch on her free wrist.
He smiled and let go of her hand, slipping his arm around her shoulders and kissing the top of her head, unsure where all that courage was coming from. Ron didn’t see it, but Hermione closed her eyes, sighed, and smiled softly.
When they entered the Potions classroom, they were no longer holding hands or each other, but they sat together, Harry right in front of them.
The three of them exchanged looks filled with relief, happiness, and curiosity, each for different reasons.
“Thank Merlin,” Harry murmured to them, smiling, just before Slughorn began to speak.