It had been a dull summer at 12 Grimmauld Place for Ron Weasley.
As the burrow has been destroyed in the final battle against Voldermort at the end of their 6th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the Weasley family had been forced to reside at the Order's headquarters. There was a lot of work to be done at the house as it had hardly been used since the summer after 5th year, so Mrs Weasley had kept Ron and his younger sister Ginny very busy with housework. After three weeks of nothing but cleaning every nook and cranny in the house, there really wasn't much left for Ron to do. His two best friends had not been to visit him. After finally defeating Voldermort, Harry had gone on a mission for the remaining Horcruxes along with Dumbledore, Tonks and Remus Lupin. Although Voldermort had been destroyed, there were still death eaters at large who were very loyal to the dark lord and they were also hunting for the Horcruxes in order to resurrect their master, therefore the war wasn't truly over until every Horcrux had been destroyed as well.
Hermione Granger had decided to take a family vacation to Bulgaria where she would visit Viktor Krum. Ron had asked her not to go but she had been as stubborn about going as he was about her staying, what was it that she had said, oh yeah; I want to get away from the war and everything and relax with my family. Ron thought, Yeah right, the death eaters killed Karkaroff, so it was only a matter of time before they tried to recruit the famous 'Viktor Krum', star pupil at Durmstrang, International quidditch superstar and a triwizard champion. Once a death eater, he would just use Hermione to get to Harry.
'BLOODY PUMPKIN HEAD' Ron groaned as he tried to focus on his transfiguration essay. With all the free time he had had over the summer, he had actually completed most of his homework 'One less thing for her to nag me about I 'spose'.
They had had another huge argument before she had left for Bulgaria, he had thought that after she had had a chance to calm down, she would owl him and apologise for being so stubborn, it had been 5 weeks and she had not owled once. Ron could understand why he hadn't received one from Harry, he had more important things to think about, but would could Hermione possibly be doing that would keep her from contacting him. Surely she wasn't still mad at him, unless she was too busy with Krum.
'Eurgh' he didn't want to think about what they would be doing together.
Deciding that he wasn't going to be able to finish his essay tonight, and as he was too agitated to sleep, he decided to see what Ginny was up to. One good thing to come out of his friends not being there was that he had become much closer to his sister. They had mostly skulked around, but had occasionally talked about Hermione and Harry. Ginny was still heartbroken over Harry, and she knew that Ron was hurting that Hermione had chosen to visit Viktor over Ron. Not that she blamed Hermione, she had given Ron plenty of chances to tell her how he felt, but he had always been either too stubborn or too insecure to do it, at east Viktor had been honest with Hermione. Ginny had told Ron this of course and he had quickly retreated back to his room for the rest of the day.
As Ron entered the study where Ginny often spent her time, he noticed that she had 2 roles of parchment laid out on the couch in front of her.
"Hey, what ya doin?" Ron asked as she looked up at him.
"Hey, I'm just replying to a letter" Ginny answered, a hint of hesitation in her voice, Hermione had been regularly owling her throughout the summer, and she hadn't sent a letter to Ron. Her hesitation however did not go unnoticed.
"Are you writing to someone you shouldn't be?" Ron asked thinking that maybe she had decided to move on from Harry and was writing to Dean or Michael.
"No…just someone you should be"
Ron sighed and made a move to leave the room, "She asks about you, you know" Ginny stopped him
"Then why doesn't she ask me herself then?" Ron snapped back, he really wasn't in the mood for this, he had gone to see Ginny because he wanted to stop thinking about it, but being a Weasley, Ginny wasn't about to let it go.
"You hurt her pretty bad you know. She did ask you to go with her and you told her you'd rather spend the holiday with the Malfoy's than go with her. How do you expect her to act?"
"She knew what I meant….I didn't want to spend the whole time playing second best to Krum" he whined.
"You know that she would never do that…"Ginny replied sympathetically "…If anything, he'd be playing second best to you, he always has".
Ron's ears turned pink as they usually did when he had any kind of strong emotion, he knew deep down that what Ginny had said was true, but he still couldn't help making a complete prat out of himself whenever Krum was mentioned.
"Who's the other letter to?" he asked defeatedly, indicating the next piece of parchment.
"Harry" Ginny replied with a grimace
"So you're actually writing to him then?" Ron asked incredulously
"I don't know whether or not I'm going to send it yet. I want him to know I still care and I can't wait to see him again, but what if he doesn't need that, what if it distracts him?"
"Actually, I think it's exactly what he needs, it'll remind him what he's fighting for". Ron said as he placed a comforting hand on Ginny's shoulder.
"I'm gonna go to bed, got a big day of nothing planned out tomorrow" Ron said with a grin. As he got to the door, he turned "He will come back for you Gin….at least if he knows what's good for him".
Ginny smiled up at her brother, she too was thankful that she gotten closer with Ron over the summer. "Night Ron" "Night Gin".
As Ron walked up the stairs towards his room, he reflected on the conversation he had just had 'So she misses me huh?' Ron thought happily 'Maybe I will send her an owl".
Ron spent most of the next day writing to Hermione, he had written so many letters, but none of them seemed right, if he had to explain why he had acted like such a prat, he wasn't going to do it in a letter he thought as he eyed the mountain of screwed up parchment on his bedroom floor. In the end he went for:
Dear Hermione,
I hope you've had a good summer, must have been better than mine, although I have finished all my homework, you'd be proud of me.
Look, I'm really sorry about the fight we had when you left, I didn't mean what I said, no-one in their right mind would want to spend a whole summer with the Malfoy's. Anyway, I'm a prat, you know that, but please forgive me. I miss you.
Ron
He had been pleasantly surprised to find that by the time he went down for dinner, there was a letter waiting for him; he wasted no time in tearing open the letter.
Dear Ron,
You are a prat, but I guess I forgive you, although I really shouldn't, you really are a prat. Anyway, my summer's been ok. Beats having to clean the house from top to bottom, although the homework thing does sound like fun. I am proud of you.
I'm going to Diagon Alley in a few days time; Ginny says we're all going at the same time, maybe we could meet up. Let me know either way.
Love Hermione.
P.S I've missed you too.x.
Ok, so she forgave him, that was good, and he was going to see her in a few days time, that was even better, but hold on, she had finished the letter with 'LOVE HERMIONE' and she had marked it with a kiss. What did that mean, she had never signed her letters that way before, had Ginny said something to her? No, she wouldn't do that. Maybe he was getting the wrong idea, maybe she had just picked it up from Bulgaria, he thought, calming down a little. But how should I reply, should I send a kiss as well. No, I can't do that, it was acceptable for a girl to do it, but if a guy did it, there was bound to be a hidden agenda. Ok I'll just go with 'love Ron', it's not like I haven't told her that before, granted it was when she had given in and did his homework for her, but he had still said it. Oh like it matters, he thought sullenly, she's not interested in me like that, how could she be when she has Viktor.
Ron had hardly slept a wink, they were going into Diagon Alley today and he was going to see Hermione again, and he couldn't remember ever being this nervous about seeing her.
'Why?' he thought as he pulled on his orange jumper and walked out of his bedroom, 'It's just Hermione, I'm used to seeing her everyday, why am I so nervous now?'
He reached the kitchen door and opened it, just as he was thinking that maybe a nice big breakfast would cure his anxiety, he stopped dead in his tracks. Sitting at the table with a plate full of sausages and eggs was Hermione
"Hello Ron" she said as she looked up from her plate and smiled.
"H…Her…Hermione, what are you doing here?" he stammered.
"I'm glad to see you too Ronald, and yes I had a lovely holiday thank you, how was your's?" she replied teasingly.
"Uh, sorry. I just wasn't expecting to see you yet, when did you get here?"
"Last night, it was late and you were sleeping. I didn't want to disturb you."
"Are you going to move or are you just going to stand there like a lost love sick little puppy all day?" Snapped Ginny as she pushed past Ron and took a seat next to Hermione.
"What's with you today?" Ron asked as he too sat down at the table opposite Hermione, blushing slightly at Ginny's remark.
"We're meeting Harry today, didn't you know?" Hermione asked.
"Of course he knew, he's just had other stuff on his mind, haven't you Ron?"
"Shut up Gin" Ron snapped warningly
"Is everything ok?" Hermione asked sounding concerned.
"Yeah fine, just having trouble sleeping" Ron replied, avoiding Hermione's eyes.
"Anything I can help you with?"
"Probably!" chuckled Ginny "Erm, better go get ready" she said as she darted for the door just as Ron threw a sausage in her direction.
Now that they were alone, there was an awkward silence between the two.
"Ron" Hermione pressed hesitatntly "Yeah?" Ron said as he looked at her properly for the first time since he had been there.
She did look more relaxed, as if a huge weight had been lifted. She didn't look tired, she didn't have the frown that had been permantly etched on her face for the last 2 years. She was wearing an old faded Chudley Cannons t-shirt, one Ginny had lent her the night before to save her from unpacking so late at night. It had been Ron's favourite t-shirt a few years back, until he had outgrown it and Ginny had pinched it. He had to admit, he liked seeing Hermione in his old clothes.
"I..uh...i really have missed you" Hermione stammered, turning a deep shade of red. Ron smiled as he pinked at the tips of his ears again as he replied "I've missed you too."
They sat there in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, grinning at each other somewhat awkwardly before Hermione came back into herself "We should get ready, don't want to keep Ginny away from Harry too much longer, I think she'll go mad if she has to wait any longer"
"Yeah, she's been driving me bloody mental moping around all summer" Hermione smiled and started for the door, mumbling that from what she's heard, Ginny wasn't the only one moping. Ron banged his head down on the table with a groan "This is going to be harder than I thought".
