Harry Potter 1. The Yule Ball

**Fragments of a Love Story**

A/N: So. I have been completely obsessed recently with reading fanfics, especially the ones that are love stories. And I have decided I want to do bits and pieces of Ron and Hermione's love story. Because I love them and think they are wonderful. I feel that there is no need for me to put a disclaimer on every single chapter because I am obviously NOT J.K. Rowling. I only wish I could write a series of books that the world would fall in love with.

I'm about to go to college to work on my English degree, so I figure this'll be some good practice, and it'll also be a slightly more productive way to spend my summer since I do pretty much nothing all day every day. And just so you all know, it has been a while since I read the books, and I am trying to do my research, but I do not own the books. So please forgive me if I make mistakes!

Here we go!

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Ron was lying in his bed, glaring up at the ceiling, reliving the awful night he'd just had. It was the night of the Yule Ball, and nothing had gone right for him, from the awful dress robes his mum sent to a date who wanted nothing to do with him. Then, to make matters worse, he had to watch Hermione with Krum. He didn't know what it was that had made him start hating Krum so much, but he knew that watching that prat twirl Hermione around the Great Hall all night had made him want nothing more than to run over and punch the guy's teeth out.

The end of the night wasn't any better, either, involving a huge row with Hermione, ending with her in tears. He hated making her cry, and never did it on purpose. They were just both so stubborn and had such bad tempers that their fights would never end well.

As he thought about their fight, he kept coming back to one part that he didn't quite understand. What had Hermione meant when she said that _he _was supposed to have asked her? Obviously, he thought, it doesn't really matter. She's just my friend, after all. But still. What did it mean?

While he continued to puzzle over her statement, he closed his eyes, hoping sleep would come so he could stop thinking about it and put an end to this awful day. But every time he did, all he could see was her, walking down the stairs, looking more beautiful than anyone Ron had ever seen. Or he saw her twirling in front of him, laughing, her face lit up and glowing. Whenever he thought of how pretty she looked, his palms started to sweat again and his heart skipped a beat, just like when he first saw her that night.

He shook his head and turned on his side, looking out the window. This is silly, he thought. It's Hermione. Yes, she did look bloody gorgeous tonight, but most of the girls did, right? And the only reason her being with Krum bothers me so much is I'm concerned he's after her for the wrong reasons. It's nothing more than that; just one friend watching out for the other.

But deep down, Ron knew; it wasn't just friendly concern. He was falling in love with Hermione Granger.

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Across the tower, Hermione, too, was lying awake, unable to sleep as she thought about the night. She had been having a great time with Viktor, and although there was that tiny voice in the back of her mind telling her that this was the wrong guy, she continued to laugh and dance, ignoring the feelings she knew were there. The night seemed like it was going to end well after she said goodnight to Viktor and headed back to the common room; she couldn't help but be excited that such a sought after wizard was into _her. _

But when she arrived at Gryffindor Tower, Ron ruined it all. She was usually up for a fight with Ron; they did make up a big part of the friendship, and she loved a good debate, so long as it didn't end badly. This one, she didn't want. She wanted to stay happy for just one night and pretend that Viktor was truly the boy she wanted so that she didn't have to deal with the hurt she felt when Ron only just realized that yes, she was indeed a girl, and then the shocked expression on his face when she told him she had already been asked to the ball. As if the idea of a boy liking her was so surprising, even though she herself was quite surprised. But, with both of them being too stubborn to give up, they did end up fighting, and it ended in her hurt and frustrated tears as she went up to her room. Luckily, none of the other girls had been back yet, so she was able to cry in peace for a little while before faking sleep when they finally did get there.

Ron just didn't get it. He was a stupid boy, not seeing what was right in front of his eyes, even though Hermione had made the fact that she had wanted him to ask her to the Ball very clear in their argument. Although she hated admitting it to herself, she knew it was true; she was falling for him and, try as she might, she couldn't stop the feelings from growing stronger. Ronald Weasley was arrogant, obnoxious, stubborn, and ridiculous. But while the intelligent part of Hermione knew it was silly for her to feel this way for him, her heart spoke differently.

She knew she'd have to be honest with Viktor and, hard as it may be, she couldn't spend her time pretending to like him even if he was sweet.

She just hoped Ron would hurry up and come to his senses and stop being an idiot so she could stop hurting so much.


	2. Kisses and Canaries

Hermione was running. Running as fast as she could. She felt her lungs burning, knew that her body wanted her to stop, but she couldn't. She needed to get as far away as she could.

She reached a tower far away from Gryffindor and raced down the stairs. Upon finding the end of the staircase, she realized that there was no way her body could take any more running, so she dropped onto the steps and took a second to just breathe. But then, just sitting there, it all caught up to her and the tears that had been threatening to pour down her face finally couldn't wait any longer, and she released them in a great wave of emotion. She had never felt like this before, as though someone had ripped out her heart and stomped on it, and she didn't really like it much. She couldn't get the image out of mind; the image of Ron, so happy after winning the Quidditch game, the smile on his face forcing one onto her's, the feeling of euphoria surrounding everyone, and then it was all ruined. By her. That stupid, stupid girl, Lavender Brown, when she grabbed Ron, the boy she had been falling in love with for years, and kissed him. Kissed him the way Hermione had dreamed he would kiss her one day.

After allowing herself to cry for a while, she decided she needed a distraction and conjured some canaries to fly around in the alcove she sat in. She sat and watched the little yellow birds flitting around and leaned back against the step behind her. She sighed, and then used her sleeve to wipe the tears from her cheeks before they dried there. She then closed her eyes and just listened to the quiet chirping of the birds, but as soon as she had started to relax, she saw them again, and her eyes flew open as a fresh wave of tears poured out. She sat up and rested her elbows on her knees and held then dropped her head into her hands and just cried.

Suddenly, she felt a hand upon her shoulder and she jumped and turned to see who had caught her, and upon finding Harry, she started crying all over again. He sat down with her and allowed her to lean on his shoulder and let it all out, knowing it was all he could do.

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Meanwhile, Ron was feeling something quite different than Hermione. Having just experienced his first real kiss, and with a very attractive girl no less, he was experiencing a high he had never felt before. When Lavender pulled away, he looked at her and smiled, not knowing what to say. She returned the smile and took his hand in hers and gently pulled him away from the crowd of excited Gryffindors surrounding them. He couldn't get the grin off his face as she pulled him through the portrait hole and then laced her fingers through his and proceeded to walk down the hall. He walked quietly, waiting to see if she would say anything, and occasionally stole a glance at her face, feeling his grin grow when he saw that she, too, couldn't stop smiling.

He had never thought of Lavender as dating material, and had never pictured himself snogging her. The only girl he had ever really thought of in that way was Hermione, hard as it was to admit it to himself, but she didn't seem to think of him that way, spending her time instead with Cormac McLaggen. So he made the decision right then and there to push all romantic thoughts of Hermione from his head and focus instead on the gorgeous girl beside him who now seemed to be pulling him towards what was usually a very secluded part of the castle. She suddenly took off running, and he sped up as well to keep up with her so he wouldn't have to stop holding her hand. She laughed and started going even faster, racing around corners. He found her laugh to be delightfully adorable and continued to follow her, excited at the thought of maybe snogging her again.

He was expecting to find the alcove Lavender led him to to be completely empty because it usually was, so he was quite surprised when they turned the corner and found his two best friends sitting together. More surprising still was when he saw the Hermione was crying and Harry appeared to be trying to comfort her while yellow birds flew around above their heads. He stopped to find out what was wrong and Lavender continued to run, laughing and calling out to him to hurry. He spoke, but regretted it immediately as he saw Hermione's brown eyes turn from sad to furious. She stood, glaring daggers at him, and muttered something under her breath, causing her canaries to fly in a circle and suddenly come racing towards him. His eyes widened and he ran, trying to escape the birds.

He caught up to Lavender and forgot about Hermione instantly once he saw the way she was looking at him, and he allowed himself to relax as her lips met his again.

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Hermione dropped onto the stair again and laid her head on Harry's shoulder, crying even more than before, the anger she had just felt slipping away as it was replaced by the intense feelings of hurt.

She cried and thought to herself how much she hated Ronald Weasley.

But she knew that was a lie.

**A/N: **Here we are! Another piece. If you have any requests of parts of their story you'd like me to attempt, let me know and I'll give it a shot.

Also, if you have any suggestions on how I can improve in any way, I'd love to hear them.


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