Ron didn't understand girls. At all. It was almost as though they were a separate species, he thought sometimes. When he was younger, it hadn't really mattered, but now, at seventeen, he had been wishing for years that he knew, at least a little bit, what went on in girls heads sometimes. That was why he was so grateful that Fred and George had given him 12 Fail Safe Ways to Charm Witches. Just like he told Harry when he gave him a copy for his birthday, Ron thought this book was pure gold. There were some spells and potions recommended to get witches to fall in and out of love with you, but what Ron really needed had nothing to do with wandwork. Besides, he thought it was unfair to manipulate anybody's emotions by magic, especially after that incident with Romilda Vane's spiked cauldron cakes fifth year. All he really wanted to do was understandgirls, after all. And the book had plenty of chapters to help him do that.
Hermione arrived at the Burrow a week before they were scheduled to get Harry from the Dursleys'. She went there because she had no place else to go, as she'd modified her parents' memories so completely that they'd forgotten they even had a daughter. Doing that was one of the hardest things Hermione had ever done-it made her realize exactly how much she really did love her mum and dad, and also how real the possibility of her death was. But Hermione knew how important the mission was, and besides, she would be with her two best friends the whole time. Harry was like her brother and Ron...Ron was her best friend, but there was something more, too. Or at least she wanted there to be something more.
When Hermione arrived at the Burrow, Ron knew immediately that something was up. He was a lot more perceptive than a lot of people seemed to think-he could tell that something major was bothering Hermione. The minute they got some time alone together to catch up, he asked her what the matter was.
"Oh, Ron, I've had the hardest time. I had to put a memory charm on my parents in case something happens to me. I've made them believe they're Wendell and Monica Wilkins and that their dearest ambition is to move to Australia. And now they have. And I know they'll be okay, you see, Wendell and Monica Wilkins haven't got a daughter, but I just..."
And here she started to cry. Ron wasn't sure what to do, he tentatively put his arm around her and patted her shoulder. He wanted to do something more, but he wasn't sure what sort of action this type of situation called for. So he just patted her shoulder until she calmed down, and then it was time for dinner, anyway. Ron decided he would have to read Twelve Fail Safe Ways to Charm Witchesmore carefully tonight, especially the bits about how to act when a girl is upset. He needed some major help in that area.
Hermione was glad that she always shared a room with Ginny when she came to stay at the Burrow. Ginny was her best girlfriend, and as much as Hermione loved Harry and Ron, sometimes one needed some good old-fashioned girl talk. When your two best friends were blokes, there was a definite lack of opportunity to chat about things like love, gossip, and period pain. On a few occasions, Hermione had tried to imagine how Ron would react if she complained to him about cramps or severe cravings for chocolate. She concluded that it wouldn't be pleasant, and therefore neglected to mention anything of the sort around him or Harry.
But Hermione could definitely talk to Ginny about that sort of thing, especially now that they were older and the eighteen month age gap between them didn't make as much of a difference. Ginny was the only person Hermione had told about how she thought that, perhaps, she might be in love with Ron Weasley. Hermione also knew exactly how cut up Ginny had been when she and Harry broke it off at the beginning of the summer. Hermione supposed that, when you'd loved someone from the moment you first saw him at the age of eleven, it would be devastating to have to break things off with him, even if it was because he had to go off and save the wizarding world. Ginny was tough, probably as a result of growing up the youngest and only girl in a family of nine, but she wasn't so tough that having her heart broken was painless. More than once during her stay at the Burrow before she, Ron, and Harry went off on their hunt for Horcruxes, Hermione had woken up in the middle of the night to quiet sobbing. When this happened, Hermione got up and conjured some hot water for tea and poured two cups, giving one to Ginny and drinking the other herself. She would sit on Ginny's bed with her until the crying stopped. It was difficult to know what to say to make Ginny feel better, seeing as Hermione knew Harry had done it for a really good reason, she couldn't exactly tell her that he was a prat and it didn't matter. To Ginny, and to Harry, it mattered very, very much.