It was taking him way too long.

He wanted to ask her out, he really did. But things kept happening that would screw it up.

For instance- Rita Skeeter. She was a problem in the beginning. And then Hermione setting out to find her parents after blowing up at Harry. And then her coming back, injured and in a coma, pretty much dead to the world. Now it was just the undeniable feeling in his gut that he wasn't good enough, or that the how he wanted to ask her out wasn't big enough.

Which was stupid. When Ron and Luna had started dating, he had simply pulled her into a quiet classroom and asked her out. Ron had liked luna and her weird ways for a while now. Harry decided that maybe all he needed was some time with Ron, to talk it over and ask him for advice- and besides, they hadn't had as much time in their final year to talk and hang out as they thought they would.

First though, Ron needed to know that Hermione was back from St. Mungo's.

"EXCUSE ME!" Harry shouts into the Gryffindor common room that morning, making people snicker. "I REQUEST A YOUNG MAN NAMED RONALD BILIOUS WEASLEY! IS THERE SUCH A BOY IN THIS RESIDENCE? RONALD? RON WEASLEY!"

Ron comes stumbling up to him from the corner of the room, and he looked terrible. Harry probably did too- neither of them had exactly been 'on their game' ever since Hermione came back hurt.
Harry had apologised profusely the night before, after telling her about the constellations.

Ron rubs his eyes tiredly. "You bellowed?"

Harry smiles, and claps him on your back. "RIGHT I DID RONALD."

Ron frowns. "Why exactly are you yelling my name at-" he checks his watch, "seven in the morning?"

"WELL RON EXCITING TIMES CALL FOR LOUD VOICES."

Ron winces. "Yeah, like that. What the hell are you doing that for?"

"BECAUSE, RONALD, I AM EXTREMELY EXCITED AND I HAVE A FEELING THAT IF YOU COME WITH ME YOU WILL BE EXCITED TOO." Harry shouts. And then adds, "I LIKE TO EXPRESS MY EXCITEMENT IN A EXTREMELY LOUD VOICE. LIKE THIS ONE I AM DOING RIGHT NOW. COME, RONALD!" And then Harry turns and leads him out the portrait hole.

"Bonkers, that's what he is. Gone bloody bonkers." Ron mutters to himself. But, much to Harry's pleasure, before he shuts the door he shouts to the awake and confused people in the common room, "GOODBYE TO YOU ALL!"

When Ron turns around, his mouth gapes open at the girl that is standing across the hall from them. Harry smirks, and Hermione just smiles.

"Hi Ron. We would have told you I was better yesterday, but I got back late at night, just ask Harry-" But she's cut off by Ron, who rushes forward and gives her a bone-crushing hug that would make Hagrid proud.

But not before screaming, "HERMIONE!"

~~~~~

"Alrigh' Harry, Ron... HERMIONE?" Hagrid asks as soon as he opens the door, and he too gives her a hug. Ron's face is still flushed with excitement from seeing his best friend safe. Harry smiles, because he too is still elated.

Harry swears he can here Hermione's bones snap before Hagrid releases her. When he does let go, he takes a good look at her, up and down. She smiles at him. "I'm alright Hagrid- honestly."

Ron glances down at her stomach. "What does the gash look like?"

Hermione grimaces. "I'd rather not show off my fat rolls, thank you very much."

Hagrid laughs out loud. "Fat rolls? You? I ain't talkin' 'bout no fat rolls, and take a look a' me!" He thumps his stomach. "I've eaten me fair share of food, and I don't talk 'bout 'em."

Hermione glances down self-consciously. "I- I'm just insecure, that's all." She lifts her shirt up maybe an inch, if that, to reveal a mere white cotton wrap. "They wrapped it up, so you won't be able to see anything, but it's all stitched up prior to my parent's recommendations."

Harry frowns. "Does it hurt?"

"It would. But I take a vial of pain relief potion everyday." She says, pulling out a vial of clear liquid for them to see. "It's got a awful lot of ingredients in it- pixie dust, a bit of grated unicorn horn, fairy wings, moongrass that had to be plucked at midnight-"

"Okay, Professor, let's save the Potions lesson for later." Ron says, and he and Harry push Hermione into Hagrid's cabin, where they all sit down and politely turn down a rock cake.

Hagrid bites into one, chewing thoughtfully. "How's Fred doin' Ron?"

Ron looks at the ground. "Fred's dead."

"Oh, right right. Sorry. I meant George. I'm always mixing those two up- even now!" He frowns. "But I reckon not many do anymore."

Ron heaves a big breath and rubs his eyes, but both Harry and Hermione can tell that he's wiping away a tear or two that came out at the mention of his brother. "George- oh George, right. Right. He's, erm... he's doing alright, thanks. Not as alright as he... as he used to be, but he's holding up okay."

"And yer family?"

"We- we're doing okay. How're you doing?" Ron asks, trying to take the subject off of the loss of his brother.

Hagrid brightens. "Oh, I'm doin' fine. I've been helpin' Professor McGonagall- seems to accept me more, she has, and pretty soon I can start choppin' those trees for Christmas."

The mood instantly brightens at the mention of the nearing Christmas time, but, though he tries to cover it, Ron still looks down at the mention of his brother.

~~~~~

Ron tosses and turns in his sleep, struggling to push his nightmares away.

They were recurring ones, and they never went away. His dreams showed his true fears and feelings- the things that he thought but never shared with anybody.

There were three dreams that, though he had others, never seemed to fade away. They always came back vivid and sharp, and they stabbed him in the heart like a knife. A few times he woke up crying into his pillow- not loud enough to wake anyone else up, but crying. Once or twice he even woke up screaming.

Thank Merlin he didn't talk in his sleep like Harry, or he would be keeping everyone up.

The three dreams that never went away were terrible.

One of them was a new one- it was about Luna.

Something would happen, anything- she would die, she would get tired of him, she would leave him- and he would be left alone in a world of sadness and hurt. He would cry when he woke up from these ones, because more commonly Luna would die in them than she would break up with him, and he would have to sit at her funeral, and bury her...

Fred haunted him as his second dream.

Not haunted in a bad way, seeing Fred in his dreams was almost the only way he could still see his older brother's face. Merlin, he would do anything to see his brother again- he would let Fred pick on him, he would try out all of the twin's joke shop foods before they were sure they were safe.

His dreams were all good memories with Fred, many of them with George as well, as the two seemed to be connected at the hip. Laughing with him. Growing up together. Introducing them to Harry, or rather, them introducing themselves to Harry. Fred picking on Ron. Fred standing up for Ron. Fred and George talking to them about the Order, and the DA.

But then it all ended the same way.

Fred was laughing, and then a bolt of light ripped through the dream, and he falls to the ground, dead.

This dream would normally screw up his morning.

The final never fading dream was about Hermione.

He always cried from this one as well- he cried after all of them, actually. The one about Hermione was always the same- maybe a different setting, if that.

Hermione would be there. Standing, happy, laughing... and Ron would have a drink in his hand- two, actually. One that was his, and one that was spiked with love potion. The love potion that contained the ingredient that she was allergic to. The one that would put her in the Hospital wing, if not kill her. Dream Ron knew what would happen if she drank it. And Dream Ron knew she would drink it.

Ron tried as hard as he could, he struggled, he pulled back, he fought himself, argued with himself, but he couldn't stop himself from giving the drink to Hermione. She would fall to the floor, just like she had, screaming for their help.

And then Dream Ron would let go, and he would rush forward to help her. But he was always too late. Even Madam Pomfrey was too late.

Hermione would be dead before he could help.

That was the dream Ron had had this time- the one about Hermione. He saw her die, he knew he couldn't help even though he tried, and then he woke to a cold sweat.

And he had somehow ended up on the floor.

Tear tracks were down his face, but Ron didn't try to wipe them away. In front of everyone else, he would brush them away and act to tough to cry. What had Hermione said? He had the emotional range of a teaspoon?

She might take that back if she saw the way he was now.

He untangles himself from the bedsheets and gets to his feet, his mind echoing with the image of Hermione falling, screaming, and then dying. He looks out the window to see that it's still dark, and there's a raging thunderstorm outside.

Maybe he just needs some time to wake up.

He walks down the stairs, planning to do some sort of activity by himself- doing nothing was his favorite hobby. He plops himself down in a chair in front of the fire and tries to stop thinking about the dream.

He looks over at one of the tables and sees a book, which he picks up. Opening the front cover, he smiles.

Property of Hermione Jean Granger.
If found, please return to owner.
If not... I know an excellent boil producing spell that will give you boils where the sun doesn't shine.
And ladies, if for some reason you aren't fazed by this even though the sun doesn't shine in places for you as well- I will make you bald.
Thank you.

"I guess I'd better give this to her tomorrow." He says to himself.

And then the memories of the dream come back, hitting him and washing away the small moment of happiness that he had received.

He tosses the book onto the table in anger- was he ever going to sleep without all of this guilt and sadness pulling at him through his dreams?

He punches the wall. That hurts. He kicks the chair. That hurts too. He crumples a paper and throws it in the fire. That doesn't hurt.

"When you're done rampaging, will you explain to me why you're up at three in the morning?"

Ron turns to see Harry standing on the staircase, watching his little tantrum with his eyebrows raised.

"I'm not rampaging."

"You sure aren't. When you rampage, you're supposed to make a mess without hurting yourself. Your hand is purple." Harry points out. "I rampaged once, in Dumbledore's office. I broke a lot of his possessions, and only got one cut. Not that that's something to be proud of, but still."

Ron sighs. "What're you doing up?"

"Well when you fell off the bed and woke up crying I sorta figured something was wrong, and followed you out here to see you talking to yourself." Harry shrugs.

Ron's ears turn red. "I was not talking to myself!"

" 'I guess I'd better give this to her tomorrow.' "

"I was just mumbling a thought!"

"Why did you wake up crying, Ron?" Harry asks impatiently, coming down the stairs.

"I don't know what you're talking-"

Harry rolls his eyes. "I hear you wake up crying all the time, Ron! But I never say anything because I figure you'd be embarrassed."

Ron drops into the armchair that's facing him. "It's nothing, Harry, honestly."

Harry huffs. "That's it, I'm going to go get her."

Ron watches him march towards the girls dormitories. "I don't see how your girlfriend will help right now."

Harry pauses for a second, not even bothering to turn around. "She's our best friend- she can help with anything. And she's not my girlfriend. Yet."

He somehow floats himself up to the top of the stairs where he knocks, requesting to speak to Hermione Granger.

Hermione comes out, her hair half dry from her shower that she takes before bed and her nightgown crooked. She rubs her eyes and slides down the stairs which, after a simple touch by Harry, turns into a slide. Harry follows after her and she stumbles to sit in the armchairs, so now all three of them are together facing the fire.

"So. We have a problem I assume?" She says, yawning and pulling out three packs of hot cocoa from her robe pocket. She summons some steaming mugs of milk and stirs the mixture so that the three of them have a mug of cocoa each.

Ron stares at her. "You keep cocoa packs in your robe?"

"You don't?"

Ron just shakes his head and Harry starts to speak. "Hermione, Ron has been waking up to dreams that are making him cry, and I'd like your help figuring out what's going on."

Hermione looks at him, stunned. "You've been crying?"

He nods.

"Wow. Turns out you have the emotional range of a tablespoon, rather than a teaspoon. Good job." She says, trying to be light hearted. And then she gets serious. "Ron, you might as well just tell us what's going on. I've been learning those mind viewing spells..."

Ron sighs. "Fine."

And then he tells them about his dreams, sadness erupting on their faces and they both wince at Hermione's.

When he ends, he feels a little less upset. "I don't know why I keep having them, but it isn't going away."

Hermione taps her chin for a minute, thinking. "It's likely a guilty conscience that is making you have these dreams. Or at least, I think that's what it is for mine and Fred's. For Fred's, there's likely some part of you that thinks you should or could have done something, even though you really couldn't. And as for mine- maybe you feel bad-"

"I do, Hermione." Ron breaks in. "I feel terrible that I ever gave you that love potion. We're friends, and even though you just forgave me I was so dumb and stupid and I'm sorry- I think about it all the time." And then he stops. That explains why he was having those two dreams.

Hermione smiles slightly. "I told you. And it's okay. I forgave you a long time ago."

"What about Luna?"

"I think that one is just fear of losing someone that loves you- or at least, someone that you care for. Love is kind of a strong word." Hermione frowns. "But when you like someone in that way it makes you afraid that they won't, or they will stop liking you too. I get those dreams a lot." Her eyes seem to slicker over to Harry.

Harry clears his throat, looking at her for a second. "I get them too." But both of them look at Ron after, and he knows that they're all afraid of losing each other, even though they never will.

"Anyways, I can have a potion for you tomorrow- a dream potion, that will coax out the bad dreams from your guilty conscience and replace them with good ones. A single dose should rid you of those dreams forever." Hermione says.

"Thank you." Ron says tiredly, closing his eyes and leaning back in his chair. "Did I ever tell you that you're the best person on the planet Hermione?"

"Ouch." Harry says quietly, and Ron can tell that the three of them are starting to fall asleep.

"It's okay Harry, you're pretty cool too." Hermione mumbles from her chair, and within a few seconds they hear her snoring.

"I told you she could fix anything." Harry says sleepily before they both fall asleep.

Ron smiles because he knows it's true.

And that's how the golden trio slept that night- alone in the common room, asleep in the armchairs by the crackling fire.

WOW.

That was a long chapter huh?

Anyways I ended that little bit with some Ron information because I wanted to make sure that none of my readers are anti-Ron. He feels bad about what he did, and we all make mistakes.

I wouldn't have written that part of the story if it was going to make everyone hate him.

But I realised that we haven't had as much of Ron or Luna or them, so make sure you're expecting more characters soon. And a Quidditch match!

As ALWAYS (haha see what I did there), thank you for reading and have a great day :)

Peace out,

Magisky