Insecurity, fear of rejection and enough embarrassment to make a crimson blush crawl up behind his neck and up through the top of his ears. These were all reasons that Ron Weasley stood motionless at the top of the stairs, while his crush stood at the bottom of these same stairs looking up at him in anger. These were the reasons he didn't run to her and throw his arms around her and tell her how much she meant to him, how he had wished that he could tell her that he loved her with all his heart. But he didn't. As much as she yelled and screamed for him to answer her, he couldn't. He couldn't tell her that he was mad that she had gone to the dance with Krum and not himself because she would figure it out. She would realize that he had loved her for all these years and she would be disgusted. She would look at his too big hand-me-downs, his bright red hair and his lack of riches and she would reject him. Ron couldn't handle it.

So, that's why he continued to bicker with her, their voices loud enough to make the rest of the common room sneak away to escape having to endure it any longer. That's why when she walked away, he didn't call her back. And that's why he whispered to her, though she was no longer there, "I'm sorry, Hermione. I'm so sorry."