"Ron. . .I don't exactly know how to tell you. That's the problem."
"Well, Hermione, if you can't tell me yet, then we're just wasting our time sitting down here when we could be sleeping."
"Okay, let me give you a hint. There's only one person for me, and you know me well enough to know who it is by now. If I have to tell you who it is, you aren't as smart as you think you are." With that, Hermione left Ron alone and went back up to her dormitory. She couldn't go back to bed, so she climbed up in the windowsill and looked out across the grounds to the darkness that was fading in the sky.
* * *
"Hermione, Hermione! Wake up!" Lavender Brown was calling her name as Parvati Patil was shaking her shoulders. She had fallen asleep on the windowsill. She groggily opened and adjusted her eyes to the light of the new day. "Hermione, breakfast starts in ten minutes. Why are you already dressed?"
"What were you doing in the windowsill?" Parvati asked in a worried voice.
"I was just. . .thinking. . .and I fell asleep."
"Thinking. . .about Ron you mean." Lavender guessed.
Hermione's deep red blush confirmed their thoughts. "I knew it! Come on, Hermione, you know that he likes you back!" Parvati exclaimed.
"No, I don't. I don't know for sure."
"Then you should find out for sure! Tell him how you feel." Lavender said softly.
"I can't. . .not until I know for sure that he likes me back. What if he doesn't?"
At that moment, a knock sounded on their dormitory door. Ron poked his head in.
"Is Blaise in here? No one's seen her all morning."
"No, she's not here. She might have already gone down to breakfast." There was a touch of annoyance in Hermione's voice that sent Ron back out the door in search of Blaise.
"There you have it! He didn't even acknowledge me! He just asked about. . .about. . .that girl!"
"Come on, Hermione, let's go down to breakfast."
The girls went down to breakfast, and there was Ron sitting by Blaise. Harry, however, was waiting for her at the door. He had grabbed her some toast and he ushered her back onto the grounds.
"You didn't tell him. Come on, Hermione, you're a Gryffindor. You're supposed to be brave!"
"I can't be brave when I'm face-to-face with him. I can't tell him until I know how he feels too."
Harry just shook his head and accompanied Hermione back up to Herbology. Throughout the day's classes, it seemed as if Ron were distant with her, as if he knew something was bugging her, but was angry with her for not telling him what it was. She was just hoping that it was sleep deprivation that was causing him to be so unfriendly.