"Dad," the tall, red headed 20-year-old groaned, "do I honestly have to come with you to a bookstore?"
"Ron, it's important for you to learn things, and learning begins with books!" retorted the other red head.
"Yes, but dad, this is a muggle book store!" complained Ron, as they walked into the store.
Mr. Weasley looked around for a few seconds, clearly fascinated with all the books around him, before saying, "I know, isn't it fascinating?"
Ron looked around. The bookstore that they had walked in was a pretty big one, with the books divided into different sections.
"Dad, what do you suppose a drill is?" asked Ron, picking up a book titled How to Know Your Drill.
"I don't know, but it looks pretty useful!" said Mr. Weasley, delighted.
"Well, I'm going to go over there, and, uh, have a look around," grumbled Ron, not even pausing to listen to his father's distracted reply.
Ron made his way over to the literature section, the section he thought that would interest his father the least, that way he didn't have to listen to him say "fascinating" and "ingenious" to every book he picked up.
At last, he found a cozy little sitting area deep into the literature section. There was only one person there, but she was too absorbed into the book she was reading to notice when Ron sat down next to her.
Ron stole a glance at her and his heart nearly stopped. She was beautiful. He loved everything about her: her gorgeous, bushy brown hair, her deep brown eyes concentrating on the book she was holding, her lips, slightly parted, that looked oh so soft. Ron gave a quiet gasp which made the girl's head snap up and wildly look around her. At last, her eyes fell upon Ron, who could feel his ears turning red.
"Are you alright?" she asked, concern written all over her face.
"Oh, um, yeah, I just saw a book that I liked," he replied lamely.
"Oh, well, I'm Hermione Granger," she said, offering him a smile. Hermione Granger, the most beautiful name in the world...
"I'm Ron Weasley," he said, running his hand through his hair, and regretted it instantly when her eyes looked up to his hair. She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it and looked away, blushing deeply.
"So, you come here often?" offered Ron.
"Yes, I come here almost everyday. In fact, it's just about time for my cup of tea. Would you care to join me?" she asked.
"I-I-I would love to," he stammered, "but I have to ask my dad first, and I have no idea where he is."
"Do you need help finding him?" she offered, already collecting her things.
"Oh, no its fine, Ron said. "He probably won't be much trouble to find. I doubt there are many red headed middle aged men who are fascinated with every single muggle book in the whole store." Ron was instantly paralyzed as he realized his mistake. Bugger, bugger, bugger, he really should be more careful around Muggles.
"I'm sorry, did you just say "muggle"? I'm not aware of the term," she informed him, confused.
"I-I think it's the name of a book he likes," he stuttered, his ears reddening even more when she shot him a curious look.
"Right. So, I'll be waiting in the tea shop that's in the corner of the store," she said, standing up.
"Okay, I'll see you in a few minutes," he called out, walking away to find his father.
He found his dad reading a biography about Ben Franklin.
"Ron!" Mr. Weasley exclaimed when he saw his son rushing up to him. "Did you know that this is the man that discovered -er, how do you say it- ekelricity?" he said, looking down at his book to see if he had pronounced it correctly.
"Yeah, that's all great dad. Listen, dad, can I go to the tea room for a while and then Apparate back home when I'm ready to leave?" Ron asked.
"Sure, sure," Mr. Weasley said distractedly, pulling a book about plumbing off the nearest shelf.
Ron smiled to himself as he walked to the tea room. One thing was for sure: he found Hermione Granger very attractive and would do whatever it took to reach that tea room.