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"Mr. Weasley, you have a visitor," said Madam Pomfrey irritably. Ron didn't blame her, she had been dealing with his distressed parents and family for the past day and a half, who refused to leave until he had woken up, not to mention Hagrid, Harry and worst of all, Lavender.

Ron was curious, he glanced at the little clock on his bedside table. Lavender had left just a half an hour ago for class, and Harry and Ginny weren't due in until after dinner.

Madam Pomfrey stepped aside to reveal Hermione Granger, standing about eight feet away, holding a tin in her hand and looking terrified.

Ron swallowed hard. He was pretty sure he had been transfigured into a hummingbird at the rate his heart was going. He wasn't sure he was ready for this, but he wanted to talk to Hermione so much that he felt like leaping out of bed and hugging her.

"Hi," she said in an unusually high pitched and breathy voice.

"Er... Hi," Ron's hands were clammy.

"I... Well, I just thought I would come in and check on how you were doing."

Ron could swear that she was shaking slightly and avoiding his eyes. He, on the other hand, couldn't stop gaping at her. She looked lovely. She was wearing a powder blue jumper and a light purple skirt that went down just a little below her knees. Light was streaming in through a window behind her caused her to glow like an angel.

"Much better."

"Good."

There were so many things Ron had stored up in his mind to say to her once she was finally speaking to him again. And now, with her standing before him, biting her bottom lip and shaking, all of them left his head.

"I... I heard your birthday wasn't that great." She said coming closer to the bed in short, hesitant steps.

Ron smiled weakly. He had been drugged, then he had punched his best friend, then he had yelled at his girlfriend, then he had been brought careening back into cold reality and then he had been poisoned. Yeah, not the best of birthdays.

"So I... uh...I brought you this," she held out the tin to him, as if she couldn't keep it in her hand one second longer. Ron took it and her hand immediately fell back to her side.

"I...um... it's just..." she stuttered.

Ron opened the tin, inside was a slice of chocolate cake and a fork.

"I asked Madam Pomfrey ahead of time and she said that it was alright for you to have it," she said, sounding defensive.

"This is brilliant!" said Ron, grinning from ear to ear.

Hermione smiled genuinely and seemed to relax a little.

"Have a seat, Hermione," he said, gathering up a little courage.

"Oh! Alright." Hermione sat in the chair next to his bed and watched him take a bite of the cake.

His eyes widened in surprise. "This is good. Where did you get it?"

"From the house-elves," she said simply. Ron should have known.

"How many of them did you try to free while you were down there?" asked Ron with a lopsided grin.

"Oh Ron! I'm sorry!" Hermione burst out as if she had been holding her apology in her throat the whole time she hadn't been speaking to him. He could see tell-tale signs of tears starting in her eyes.

"For what?" Ron was genuinely confused. He was the one who had mucked things up between them.

"For being so mad at you. For not talking to you and ignoring you. Ron, you could have died!" At that, Hermione did start to cry.

Ron set the tin on his bedside table. He swallowed again, this time he felt as though he still had great globs of cake stuck in his throat.

"Hermione, please don't cry. I'm alright."

"But if Harry hadn't grabbed the bezoar then..."

"Hermione, it's not like this is the first time I've almost died," said Ron with a misguided attempt at humor. "There was that chess game in the dungeon in first year and then that nice cozy chat Harry and I had with Aragog and..."

"But I was with you all of those times. I could help you."

Ron thought of politely reminding her that she was petrified when Harry and he were out in the Forbidden Forest with Aragog, but he thought better of it.

"It was awful sitting here and not being able to do anything to help you. And knowing that the only reason I wasn't with you on your birthday was because I let something silly get in the way of our friendship."

"So we're still friends?"

"Of course we are!" Hermione said fiercely. Then her expression changed and she looked about to burst out in a fresh wave of tears. "Unless..." it was her turn to swallow nervously "Unless you don't want to be friends anymo-"

"I want to be friends." Ron said as quickly as possible. He couldn't bear to even let her finish that sentence. Of course he wanted to be friends with her... he just wanted more. And it was his own stupid fault he couldn't have it.

"Good," She said, wiping her tear-drenched cheeks with the back of her hand. "Because I would have taken the cake back."

Ron laughed. Hermione gave a watery smile. Merlin, he had missed her. She looked so miserable. He couldn't bear to let her think that any of this was her fault. He summoned every last bit of his nerve and reached for one of her hands and held it in his own.

"Hermione, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for being so stubborn and making fun of you in class and I... I'm sorry that I broke off going to Slughorn's party with you. It was a pretty lousy thing to do, with you counting on me to go with you and all, but I guess you found someone else to go with." Bloody McLaggen, he thought. "You were right to be mad at me and send those birds on me –"

"No I wasn't. I let my emotions carry me away. I shouldn't have hexed you. It's not your fault that you like Lavender. A good friend wouldn't be angry at you just for having a girlfrien-"

"Hermione, you're the best friend I could ever have," Ron interrupted loudly.

Hermione looked shocked. Ron had hardly said anything as nice to her in the whole six years they had known each other.

"I missed you. I missed you every day when we weren't talking. I missed you nagging me to do homework. I missed you reading the Daily Prophet every morning. I missed you cheering us on at Quidditch games. Merlin help me, I even missed arguing with you."

Hermione's eyes were open wide and her jaw looked like it was about to hit the floor.

Three months ago Ron would never have been able to make a speech like this. He was always so guarded about his feelings for Hermione that he over-thought everything that he did. He was sick of constantly worrying about seeming cool and casual whenever he was talking to her. He was sick of hiding how he felt. He just wanted to be honest. He just wanted to do what felt right.

"I don't care who's to blame and who did what to cause us to fight. I just want you to be a part of my life again."

"Oh Ron!" Hermione flung her arms around his neck.

Ron winced. It hurt, but he wasn't about to tell Hermione that. Instead he raised his own arms and wrapped them around her waist. Her hair was partially in his face and he inhaled the scent of it. It was some indescribable mixture of fragrances that smelled like parchment, powder, cucumber and lilacs all at once. He felt the warmth of her body against his and he felt as if all the anger and hopelessness and worry of the past three months had just been lifted off of his shoulders.

Hermione pulled back a little awkwardly. They were half holding on to one another and face to face. Ron looked into her eyes and thought that if they ever had another fight and he had to compose another list of things he missed about her, those eyes would be right on the top of the list.

Hermione's eyes darted a little to the clock on the bedside table. "Oh! I have to get to class!" she said, getting up in a hurry. Ron instantly missed the warmth of her hands on his shoulders.

"I'm so sorry," she said, smoothing down her skirt.

"It's alright," said Ron, though, in truth, he was severely disappointed she was leaving. "When will you be back?"

Hermione looked surprised again and blushed. "Ginny said she was going to drop in on you after dinner. I can come back then."

"Yeah, that'd be great," said Ron, eagerly. He was glad that he wasn't going to have to wait another whole day to see her.

"Well, good-bye Ron!" she said, starting to leave. "Enjoy your cake!"

"I will," said Ron, feeling happier than he had in ages as he watched Hermione disappear behind the curtain. He grabbed the tin and fork from the bedside table and was about to take a bite of cake when he heard footsteps running back.

Hermione's head peeked around the curtain.

"Oh! And Ron."

"Yeah?" asked Ron, sitting up straighter, his heart racing.

"I missed you too," she said, and with a smile, she left once more.

Ron sat in his bed, grinning from ear to ear. He stayed like this for awhile before taking a bite of chocolate birthday cake and calculating just how long it was until dinner.