Title: Acceptance

Author: Lena

Pairing: Ron/Harry, mention of Harry/Ginny, mention of Ron/Hermione

Rating: PG

Genre: Romance, Angst

Warnings: Not really…this is set in the spring of seventh year. Canon through HBP.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry or Ron. Or Hermione or Ginny for that matter.

Summary: Hermione sees what is going on and accepts it.

Author’s Notes: Thank you to my beta and friend Lorien_Eve.

I sat for hours and watched them. I probably shouldn‘t have, but I did. I suppose I would’ve left if they had started to become more intimate, but they didn’t. They never did that in public. That was reserved for their time alone at night, I know.

Harry, Ron and I did what needed to be done with You-Know-Who, but that’s for another time. Another story.

Then we came back to school. I wanted to. Harry did because I wanted to. And because Harry did, Ron did.

I knew what had been going on. They never told Ginny and me, but we knew.

I don’t know when it started, either. They never said, and I never asked.

They never flaunted it in front of Ginny or me. It was something between the two of them. Only them.

Ginny knew Harry wasn’t hers. Never really had been. And Ron? I wanted him. But I knew he wasn’t mine. Never really had been.

Watching them time after time, I knew they wouldn’t be happy without each other.

They rode their broomsticks, playing impromptu games of Quidditch. Diving and skidding along the ground. Flying high, then diving at each other in a sort of Muggle game of chicken. When they were on their brooms, they looked like when I first met them. They played like little boys. Laughing loudly and playfully taunting each other.

Then they would slowly reach the ground and prop their broomsticks against a tree. They took off their shoes and dipped their toes in the lake. They walked along, Ron ruffling Harry’s hair and Harry lightly hitting Ron on his arm. They talked and laughed; I could see. I couldn’t hear and shouldn’t. This was their private time, and I was already intruding.

They looked like young men, walking and talking. They had relaxed looks on their faces, filled with happiness. Soon, their loving taps and hits turned to pushes and wrestles. And soon, like always, they would fall to the ground, laughing, and rolling in the grass.

Then the wrestling stopped, like always. Ron on top of Harry, brushing his hair from his eyes. Harry looking at Ron, like I would want to.

Then Ron kissed Harry, and I shut my eyes.

I opened them again to see Ron and Harry lying next to each other. Ron, with an arm wrapped around Harry’s chest and his head nuzzled close. Harry’s eyes were closed, but the smile on his face was overflowing with contentment.

I stayed until they both fell asleep. I looked up at the huge blue sky with the sun beating down. It was a perfect day.

I loved them both, in different ways. So how could Ginny and I begrudge them anything? They were perfect for each other.

Harry deserved to be happy. And Ron? I wanted happiness for Ron more than I wanted him for myself.