A/N: I own nothing (i.e. Harry Potter); if I did I wouldn't be writing fan fic.

"Come on, Ron!" Ginny shouted at the bathroom door, "How much time can you spend in the bathroom, honestly!"

Ron looked at himself in the mirror. He'd changed so much in the past couple months; even since last term at school. He was still tall but had bulked up a little and wasn't so gangly. His ginger red hair wasn't so short and spiky anymore but was getting longer. Ginny said that soon enough he'd be asking for dragon-hide boots and getting his ear pierced like Bill. That's rubbish, he thought to himself. It was kind of true. Bill was the eldest of the Weasley children; he was tall, built and handsome. Women flocked to him. As proof, his girlfriend, Fleur Delacour, was part Veela. But Ron, on the other hand, didn't have quite as much luck. He'd tried to block the memories of the Yule Ball during fourth year, but had no luck with that. He leaned closer to the mirror, inspecting for any hair growth on his chin, only seeing peach fuzz.

"Ron, I'm serious. Don't make me get Mom!" Ginny shouted, exasperated.

"Alright, just stop being such a prat," Ron retorted.

"I don't know why you are in such a foul mood, but don't take it out on me," Ginny cried. She sure had seemed to become more emotional since the events that had taken place at the Department of Mysteries; everyone was, they just didn't want to say anything. Ron returned to his room to look in the mirror again. He was wearing a worn orange Cannons t-shirt. The color definitely didn't agree with him but he didn't want to take the time to change.

Crack! Crack! Out of nowhere appeared Ron's twin brothers, Fred and George.

"What are you two gits doing here?" Ron asked aggravated. "Aren't you two supposed to be at the shop?" He was referring to the Weasley Wizard Wheezes, a joke shop the twins had opened in Diagon Alley.

"We left the shop with Lee Jordan for a while," Fred reacted.

"Besides, we couldn't miss the reuniting of our little brother and his girlfriend!" George said sardonically.

Ron gritted his teeth, turning a dark shade of fuchsia, "She's not my girlfriend."

The twins looked at each other and replied in unison, "Sure." And with two cracks they were gone. Ron shook off their meeting and began to make his way to the kitchen for breakfast. Since he'd spent so much time in the bathroom, he'd missed breakfast with the family.

"Good morning, Ronald. I see you've decided to grace us with your presence," Mrs. Weasley said, glaring at her son.

"Sorry Mum, I just got… err… distracted," Ron stuttered.

"Use what ever excuses you like. I'm sorry, dear, but I've just cleaned up and forgot to save you anything. I'm on my way out… Order business… I hope you can manage to make something for yourself," His mother stated. "Your father and I won't be home until tomorrow but Bill will be dropping by to keep an eye on things. Hermione will be here at 5 o'clock sharp on the Knight Bus… don't forget." And with that she was gone. Ron decided it was better just to wait and eat at lunch than attempt to make anything himself. He had no luck with cooking. He felt a little nauseated anyway.

He returned to his room to re-read one of his numerous Chuddley Cannons books, but he couldn't concentrate on the words. I do not fancy Hermione, he stated in his head, almost as a self confirmation. How could I? She's my best friend. And Harry… that'd just be awkward…He began to drift off, thinking about Hermione and himself. It doesn't matter; she probably doesn't fancy me anyways.

Later that afternoon, as Ron napped, he heard a jumble of unsettling noises outside. He jumped from his bed and peered out the window, using his hand to shade his eyes from the sun. He saw the Knight Bus and its conductor Stan Shunpike helping Hermione off. He darted out of his room and downstairs to welcome her. He opened the kitchen door to see Hermione sauntering lazily toward the door. The moment she noticed Ron she broke into a run, leaping at him with a huge hug.

"It is so great to see you!" she shrieked with excitement. "Especially after six weeks with my parents in Greece!" He noticed. She was beautifully tanned, her hair lightened and tamed and her face glowing. Greece had agreed with her. She continued to hug him and he hugged back, despite its awkwardness. Ron and Hermione rarely hugged; but something was different.

"It's great to see you… you… you look great," Ron said, stifling a huge grin. An awkward pause followed. "Here, I'll take your trunk." He picked up the trunk and carried it with ease.

"Thanks," She said graciously. He couldn't help but notice Hermione staring at him, her gaze now intently focused on his arms. Maybe I bulked up more that I thought, Ron said to himself. Not that that is a bad thing…

As the day began to wind down, Ginny started to prepare dinner.

"So, Ginny, how's it going between you and Dean?" Hermione asked incessantly. Ron sighed and rolled his eyes. He hated girl talk; even if he rarely had to hear it.

"Umm… okay I guess. He went to visit Shamus and his family in Ireland for the rest of the summer and I haven't heard from him a lot," Ginny said while preparing some vegetables for chopping. "I've talked to Parvati Patil and she's led me on to believe that he's cheating on me with Lavender…"

"I wouldn't be surprised," Hermione replied, "Lavender was always a bit of a slag…" Ron's jaw dropped. He'd never heard Hermione use such language before. Perhaps she had changed just as much as he had over the summer. He knew his sister had caught him studying defense against the dark arts a couple times on accident; maybe they'd both changed their fair share.

"Whatever, let bygones be bygones," Ginny said half-heartedly. "It's not like I thought we were going to get married. So Hermione, how's it going with you and Viktor?" Ron cringed at his name.

"Oh, didn't I tell you? He's engaged." This time it was Ginny's jaw that dropped. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Apparently they were dating the entire time I was with him. He wasn't that cute anyway," Hermione finished most matter-of-factly.

Within fifteen minutes dinner was prepared and on the table. Bill showed up, just to check up, and then had to leave again, claiming Fleur was sick. However, he was glad Bill didn't stay. It gave him more of an opportunity to spend time with Hermione. However, Hermione was pretty occupied, talking with Ginny. Whatever, Ron muttered, only for himself to hear. Harry's getting here tomorrow and then I'll have plenty to do. It was only eight o'clock or so but Ron didn't have much else to do, so he decided just to go to bed.

At about midnight, Ron was awakened by a pain on his leg where the brain had attacked him just weeks before. It happened from time to time, and after it took him a while to get back to sleep. He grabbed his DADA textbook off his desk and headed downstairs for a cup of tea.

As he sat his book down on the table he was startled by another person seated at the table. It was Hermione, book propped on a stack of textbooks.

"Hey, Ron…" Hermione said "What are you doing up so late?"

"Can't sleep sometimes. I get up and have a cup of tea and read. Want some?" He asked motioning to the kettle of water he'd just started.

Hermione nodded but her eyes were focused on the book he'd just thrown down minutes before, "Are you studying?"

"Kind of. But not really. It's more of just reading about some stuff we haven't learned."

Hermione seemed honestly intrigue by Ron's new interest, "Oh? Like what?"

"I've been learning about animagi…" Ron stammered. His ears began to redden along with the rest of his face. "It's quite fascinating, really…" He realized that what he just said was almost a direct quote from Hermione.

"That's great," She said with a huge grin on her face. "It's great that you've found something to… read about," she finished awkwardly. The water began to boil and Ron poured it into two tea cup on the counter. He smiled gawkily as he handed her one of the teacups and sat down and began to read his textbook, stealing glances at Hermione subconsciously. And she definitely noticed.