What if Harry Actually Helped

A/N: The excerpt in italics to start is a direct quote from Book Six, Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince.

"How do you spell belligerent?" said Ron, shaking his quill very hard while staring at his parchment. "It can't be B-U-M-"

"No, it isn't said Hermione, pulling Ron's essay toward her. "And 'augury' doesn't begin O-R-G either. What kind of quill are you using?"

"It's one of Fred and George's Spell-Checking ones, but I think the charm must be wearing off."

'Yes, it must," said Hermione, pointing at the title of his essay, because we were asked how we'd deal with Dementors, not 'Dugbugs,' and I don't remember you changing your name to 'Roonil Wazlib' either."

"Ah no!" said Ron, staring horror-struck at the parchment. "Don't say I'll have to write the whole thing again!"

"It's okay, we can fix it," said Hermione, pulling the essay toward her and taking out her wand.

"I love you, Hermione," said Ron, sinking back in his chair, rubbing his eyes wearily.

Hermione turned faintly pink, but merely said, "Don't let Lavender hear you say that."

"I won't," said Ron into his hands. "Or maybe I will . . . then she'll ditch me . . ."

Ron finished his now corrected essay and handed it to Hermione. "Would you look this over for me, Hermione?"

"Oh, okay, are you finished?"

"Yeah, I think so, well, I hope so, but let me know."

Hermione took the parchment and read it quickly. "This is good, Ron, I think Professor Snape will like that you talk about more than just the Patronus charm."

Hermione handed back the essay as Ron stood up. "Thanks, Hermione, well, I'm beat, so I'm going up to bed."

Up in their dorm, Ron sat on his bed while Harry finished getting ready. With a smirk on his face, Harry looked over at Ron and said, "so, did you mean it?"

Puzzled, Ron looked up at Harry. "Did I mean what?"

"What you said to Hermione."

Ron's brow crinkled in confusion. "What did I say to Hermione?"

Harry let out a huff. "Really Ron, you don't remember telling Hermione that you loved her?"

All the color drained from Ron's face, except his ears went bright red. "Oh, that. Uh, uhm, hmm, uh…"

"Well, did you?"

Ron lay back on the bed and covered his face with his hands. He was silent for what seemed like several minutes. Finally he took a deep breath, he opened his eyes and looked straight at Harry. "Yeah, I guess I did."

"Really? Do you really love her Ron? That's a big deal you know." Harry smiled and reached out to pat Ron on the shoulder.

Ron groaned and covered his eyes again. "Yeah, I guess I do, I've kinda thought I do, but never really had it clear in my mind until now. I don't know why I blurted it out when I did, but yeah, I do love her. Mental, yeah?"

"Well, mate, I think that's wonderful, it's about time you realized it and did something about it."

Ron sat up in a panic. "Oh no, do you think she heard me? Do you think she thinks I was serious? Blimey Harry, what if she believes me, what in Godric's name do I do now? Do you think that if I forget I said it, she'll forget too?"

Harry grabbed Ron by his shoulders and turned him so they were both looking each other straight in the eyes. "She definitely heard you, mate, and I know for sure she won't forget it. You should own it and tell her again in private and finally confess the feelings you've had since fourth year. I mean, come on, everyone knows you two fancy the pants off each other."

"I don't know Harry, what if she doesn't feel the same and I ruin our friendship?"

Harry sighed in exasperation. "I know she fancies you Ron, you just have to believe it. She's fancied you since before the Yule Ball, we all know it. Now take a moment and think about it, there are lots of blokes out there already with their eyes on Hermione, if you don't make a move of some kind, will you be able to sit back and watch someone else get her? Do you want another Victor to come along?"

Ron stood up and clenched his fists, "Bloody Hell, no, that would be the worst!"

"So get your act together, man up and tell Hermione that you were serious and make the two of you happy."

Ron squared his shoulders and a hard look came on his face. Harry hadn't seen Ron this serious in a long time. Ron took his hand and placed in on Harry's shoulder and nodded his head. "You're right, I need to do that first thing tomorrow. As soon as I see Hermione I'll ask if we can talk somewhere, private, yeah?"

"Sounds good, Ron."

"Okay then, you have to help, you know, keep everyone including Ginny from getting in the way."

"Sure, Ron, no problem."

Suddenly Ron's countenance fell and he sat back down on the bed. "Damn it, Harry, I forgot one thing."

"What?"

"Lavender."

Harry also sat down next to Ron and wrapped his arm around his shoulders. "Yeah, I knew we'd get to her sometime. You need to break it off with her before talking to Hermione."

Ron's head slumped toward his chest. "Yeah, I know, I've been wanting to break it off with her since the second day we were together. We don't have much of a relationship, all we do is snog, but I don't want to hurt her feelings."

Harry gave Ron a slight hug with his one arm. "What do you think will hurt her more, breaking it off now, or waiting for who knows how long. You aren't planning on marrying Lavender are you?"

"Gods no! No way."

"So you'll have to break up sometime, and now is better than later, yeah?'

Ron took another deep breath. "You're right, you're right. Now is better, but it won't be fun, she'll probably make a big scene and embarrass us both, but I do have to do it."

Harry nodded at Ron. "Yeah mate, it's best for everyone."

"Okay, okay, tomorrow, I'll talk to Lavender and then later talk to Hermione. Help me out if you can, alright mate?"

"Always, Ron, I'm here to help."

Ron woke early the next morning after having a less than stellar night's sleep. As he lay there in bed he was having an internal debate with himself.

Do I really need to do all that, I mean break up with Lavender and then confess to Hermione that I was serious when I said I loved her? Bloody hell, I wish it were tomorrow already and all this was behind me. Life would be so much easier if I just did nothing today and kept things as they are, nice and easy, no drama, so upset Lavender, everything the same…

But then he remembered Harry's words, "Do you want another Victor to come along?"

Remembering that was enough to get Ron up and off to start his day. After getting dressed and visiting the loo he looked over and saw his best mate smiling at him waiting for him to head to the Great Hall.

Harry put his arm around Ron, gave a brief squeeze and said, "You can do this Ron, it's the best thing for everyone, including Lavender. Just remember how much you care for Hermione, and you'll be fine. Let's go."

Ron nodded and murmured "thanks" as they headed out.

Ron knew that Lavender would be in her usual spot, waiting for him to sit next to her. Sure enough, Ron spotted her as soon as he entered the room. Harry patted him on the back, and said, "you can do this" and then headed for his usual spot next to Hermione.

Ron took a deep breath and slowly walked toward his current girlfriend who had her usual overbearing smile on her face.

"There you are Won-Won, I've got breakfast here for you, come on and I'll feed it to you."

Ron almost gagged at the image of Lavender feeding him, but he choked his nausea down. Taking another deep breath, looking over towards Harry, and seeing an encouraging nod, Ron said softly, "Lav, can we go somewhere and talk? I need to talk to you about something."

Immediately, the smile faded from Lavender's face. Swallowing hard she replied, "Won-won? What do we need to talk about? We don't have anything to talk about. Is everything ok, Won-Won?"

Ron took yet another deep breath and said simply, "Yeah Lav, we need to talk, let's head over somewhere private, please?"

"Won-won, you're scaring me now, come on, just sit down and we'll eat breakfast. I know you like breakfast, come on, sit down."

"No, Lav, I really need to talk to you now, come on."

Having said that, Ron turned away and started walking toward a quiet alcove at the other end of the room. He looked back over his shoulder and said, "come on, Lavender, please."

Lavender looked back and forth at her friends, who both looked concerned. Parvati gave her a weak smile and said, "you should go hear what he has to say, we'll be here when it's over."

Lavender stood and headed toward Ron. As she got closer Ron could see the beginnings of tears in her eyes.

Oh shit, Ron thought, she's crying already, damn I hate this.

Ron took Lavender's hand and led her to a small bench in the alcove. He let go of her hand as they sat down. "Thanks, Lav, I know this isn't going to be easy, but…"

Lavender jumped up and said, "you're breaking up with me, right? You just want to break up with me, well, I'll save you the trouble because I'm ditching you, you were a shit boyfriend Ron and I'm glad to be rid of you."

She started to walk away quickly but stopped after a few steps and yelled loud enough for everyone in the Great Hall to hear, "CONSIDER YOURSELF DUMPED RONALD WEASLEY, YOU WERE AN AWFUL BOYFRIEND AND A TERRIBLE KISSER!

Lavender then ran from the hall back toward the Gryffindor dorm. Her friends where right behind her.

Ron stood there in stunned silence and looked back to where everyone was sitting. He found Harry who was smiling and quietly clapping. Ron smiled back, shrugged, and walked toward his friend.

In his mind, Ron was thinking, okay, one down, one to go. I don't think talking to Hermione will go like that just did. I wonder what she's thinking after seeing that.

Ron went through classes that day as a bit of a zombie, distracted by all that had happened that morning and all the teasing that went with it. It seems everyone in Hogwarts either saw Lavender's outburst or heard about it from someone who had. Ron stayed close to Harry all day who thankfully only mentioned the incident when Ron finally sat down for breakfast.

Harry just whispered in Ron's ear. "Nicely done, letting everyone think that it was her idea was brilliant, it certainly saved her some embarrassment."

"Yeah, I guess," replied Ron.

Hermione was noticeably silent about Ron's breakup all day. Her only comment to Ron happened as they were leaving the Great Hall when she said softly, "Are you okay, Ron?"

Ron replied just as softly, "yeah, I'm fine." And then gave her a look that communicated clearly and I don't want to talk about it.

By dinnertime, the buzz around the castle about Ron and Lavender had faded into the background. Lavender and her friends did make every attempt to give Ron the evil eye the entire day, but Ron didn't seem to notice. He was too busy in his brain thinking about talking next to Hermione.

That night in the Gryffindor common room Ron sat doing homework as usual with Harry, Hermione, and Ginny. After about half an hour of quiet work, Harry nudged Ron in the ribs and gave him a pointed look and a nod.

Ron grimaced and reluctantly nodded back.

Harry put down his quill and parchment and poked Ginny in her side. "Hey Gin, can I bother you for a moment? I've got some quidditch stuff I want to show you and McGonagall said I can use the blackboard in her classroom, come with me?"

Ginny looked up surprised, "what? Now? The next match isn't for three weeks."

"I know," said Harry looking at Ron, "but I want to go over it with you before I forget it."

Ginny sighed and put down the textbook she was reading. "Okay, I could probably use the break."

Harry and Ginny stood up to go, leaving Ron alone with Hermione. Harry looked at them both and said, "We'll be back in about 30 minutes," while smiling and nodding at Ron.

A minute or two after they left, Ron put down his work and looked over at the bushy haired girl next to him. All the fear he had seemed to melt away as he looked at her and reveled in the love he felt for her.

"Hey Hermione?"

Hermione looked up a bit put out at being interrupted. "Yes, Ronald?"

"Can we talk for a moment?"

Hermione gave a short laugh, "This seems to be your day for talking Ron, is it about this morning?"

Ron's ears went a bit pink as he replied, "yes, and no, believe it or not."

"Okay Ron, what do you want to talk about?"

"Well you know that Lavender and I broke up today, yeah?"

"Yes, Harry told me that you were going to break up with her, but you let her dump you first to save her from the embarrassment. Is that true?"

"Yeah, but did Harry tell you why I wanted to break it off with Lav?"

Hermione frowned, "uh, no, Harry didn't mention a reason."

Ron hesitated and took a deep breath to calm himself. "Remember last night when you had to fix my essay because the twin's quill kept spelling everything wrong? The one where I wrote my name and it came out 'Roonil Wazlib'?

Hermione laughed, "yeah I remember, your brothers are a menace to society."

Ron wanted to laugh but kept a serious look on his face. "Remember what I said? I want you to know that I was serious and I meant it."

Hermione looked confused for just a moment as she recalled last evening. Suddenly her eyes went wide open and she stared at Ron with her mouth open. After a moment, she coughed out, "what?"

"What I said after you fixed my essay, I meant it and I'm serious. Harry helped me realize that I needed to make sure that you knew those words were true and I needed to recognize what I was feeling and to share that with you."

Hermione covered her mouth with her hand. "What are you saying Ron? I need to be sure."

Ron scooted over and took her hands in his and gave her a tentative smile. "If you remember, I said, 'I love you, Hermione' and it took me a while, but I realize that it's true and I mean it. I love you, Hermione."

Ron sat back and looked at the shocked expression on her face. Since she didn't reply, Ron continued, "I went to bed and Harry helped me realize that I did love you and I needed to let you know. Even if this ruins our friendship, I needed you to know, I needed you to know, and I needed to break it off with Lavender. I never should have ever gotten with her, but I'm glad it's over."

Hermione still sat there in stunned silence.

"So I decided that today I would break up with Lavender and tell you. Now I don't know how you feel about this, and I have no expectations of us getting together right away, but sometime soon I would like to date you and to call you my girlfriend. I can't fool myself any longer and I can't be afraid anymore, but I love you Hermione and hope you might someday love me too."

Ron let go of her hands and sat back and closed his eyes. Still Hermione said nothing.

Softly he said, "I'm sorry. I've ruined everything. I'm sorry, I'll leave you alone."

Ron started to stand but Hermione threw her arms around him and pulled him into a hug and buried her face in his chest. "Oh Ron! I love you too" is all he heard from her.

Ron put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her away far enough to see her eyes. He could see tears falling down her smiling face. Ron smiled back and leaned in for their first kiss.

THE END