A/N: I know it's been done before. Over and over and over, But I've
always wanted to write a King's Cross fic myself, so I finally did it. And
here it is!
Disclaimer: It all belongs to J.K. Rowling!!
*******************************
She kissed him.
She actually kissed him.
Lips. Cheek. It was all there. All there right in front of his bloody face.
Ron stared at his best friends in semi-shock, vaguely aware that time seemed to freeze on the exact moment that Hermione said, "Bye, Harry!" all chipper and perky like there was nothing at all odd about their departure. And then she had kissed him. Hermione Granger had put her lips, her own lips, against Harry Potter, yes that Harry Potter's, cheek.
And she had kissed him.
And Ron had watched, not even noticing that his mouth had momentarily dropped open. As time seemed to pick back up again, he vaguely heard one of the twins (he was too shocked to take the time to figure out which one it was) say something to Harry. But Ron wasn't interested in anything that either of his brothers had to say to that prat.
Yes, prat.
Famous bloody Harry Potter: Hero Extraordinaire. Wow, wasn't that one working fast? Not even fifteen and already getting the girl.
Ron wanted to punch him.
Not that he knew why. He didn't know anything actually, just that Hermione had kissed Harry only seconds earlier. And he knew that he was suddenly wishing for a time-turning, so that Ron's own earlier clap on the back and "See you, Harry," could be redone more roughly and hopefully cause the stupid jerk to fall flat on his bespectacled face.
But why did he even care anyway?
So, it was a kiss. A stupid kiss from Hermione. Hermione. Who wanted a kiss from her anyway, except maybe Krum.
Stupid Krum.
Had she kissed him, too? When she ran off after his stupid, "Can I have a vord?" Who the hell did he think he was anyway? Didn't he know that to be on good terms with Hermione you had to at least have good grammar skills? The correct question should have been, "May I have a vord?" Not that it mattered, though; the git didn't even know how to speak English correctly without worrying about the proper usage of may and can and who and whom.
How did Hermione put up with it?
Ron sneered. She probably put up with it because she was sneaking quick little songfests in here and there with that Bulgarian bozo. Well, once a scarlet woman, always a scarlet woman, right?
And now she was kissing Harry, too.
Stupid Harry.
Ron watched him walk away with his uncle. He glared at his so-called "best friend's" retreating back until he disappeared into the crowd and was no longer visible.
"Ron?" The voice jerked him back to reality and he looked around to see Hermione standing a little in front of him, peering up at him interestedly. "Are you okay?"
"Of course I'm okay!" Ron defended quickly. "Why wouldn't I be?"
Hermione just raised her eyebrows slightly. "You just looked like you were miles away or something."
"Well, I wasn't!" he snapped.
Hermione, obviously taken aback by his sudden snappiness, took an unconscious step backwards and looked at him intently. "Whatever you say," she muttered.
Ron opened his mouth to retort back with something, though he wasn't sure what, but he didn't get too far. His mother appeared at their side and smiled cheerily at Hermione, obviously forgetting Hermione's "scarlet" reputation. Ha! If she only knew! "Are you parents here, Dear?"
Hermione returned the smile politely and glanced around. "No, I don't think so. They both had to work this morning, so they told me they might be a few minutes late. The traffic's really bad in downtown London this time of the day, you know."
Mrs. Weasley nodded. "Well, we don't mind waiting until they come. The twins and Ginny and I will take all of the trunks to the car, and Ron can wait here with you in case they show up."
Ron started to protest, but his mother disappeared again to address his brothers who were saying good-bye to a few of their friends. Couldn't he help take the trunks, too? He was stronger than Ginny; let her sit here with Hermione until the Grangers showed up. But Ginny was already trailing along behind her mother obediently.
"You don't have to wait, you know." Hermione looked at him very pointedly. "I'll be fine if you want to go on."
Ron almost took her up on her offer. Almost. "No. Mum'd kill me."
Hermione took this as a plausible answer and nodded. "Well, okay." She sighed, and Ron watched as she slung her bag off of her back and set it on top of her trunk. She unzipped it and pulled out the same glass jar she'd shown them on the train, the one holding Rita Skeeter in beetle form. Wordlessly, she held the jar up and peered into it. "Think I should let her go here?"
Ron was a little surprised that she'd asked for his opinion, but he did his best to show that he simply did not care. Shrugging, he muttered a "Whatever" before leaning against brick barrier that was sure not to fade away and drop him onto a hidden platform.
Hermione lowered the jar and turned her eyes toward the redhead. "What is your problem?"
Ron stared her down and icily said, "Nothing."
"Yes, there is."
"No, there's not!" Jesus! Why did she have to argue with him on every little thing?
But Hermione held her ground. "Yes, there is."
Ron groaned and turned his stare into a glare. "How do you know?"
"Because I know you." It was simple answer, and Hermione shrugged as she said. "I can read you like a book."
Ron snorted. "Just because you have an abnormal love for books does not mean you can read other human beings. Divination is not your strong-point, remember?" He crossed his arms over his chest and looked pointedly at her.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Oh, shut up."
"You started it!" he protested loudly- loud enough to draw curious looks from several surrounding people and a silencing glare from Hermione.
"Oh, good, Ron," she said sarcastically. "Make a scene in a crowded train station. That's brilliant."
"What's this?" came a drawling voice that made both Ron and Hermione groan in disgust. "Number two and number three quarrelling? How shocking." Draco Malfoy was standing to their left, looking quite a bit better than he had moments earlier, lying in a heap with Crabbe and Goyle and covered in hex marks. Apparently, he'd woken up and made himself presentable before exiting the barrier onto the main platform. Looking past Malfoy, Ron could see his father, Lucius Malfoy, conversing quietly with what was unmistakably Vincent Crabbe's father. Crabbe was lurking near the adults, and Goyle was nowhere in sight.
"Did the hexes wear off, Malfoy?" Hermione asked snidely. "Pity you couldn't have kept the marks. They really made an improvement on your overall appearance."
Ron couldn't help himself from snickering at the sight of Malfoy's face going even paler with anger. "Oh, that's witty, Granger," he said briskly. "I can really see why you're top of the class- brilliant mind, yours."
"Why don't you go find Daddy Dearest and kiss his arse some more?" Ron countered evenly.
Malfoy sent a sharp glare in the other boy's direction. "You better watch yourself, Weasley. I expect you're going to have a fairly high price on your forehead pretty soon here. You wouldn't want to go making the wrong people mad, now would you?"
Ron fought down the urge to just punch the prat right there and get it over with. "Oh, is that a threat, Malfoy?"
But the Slytherin just smirked innocently. "Malfoys don't make threats. They make promises."
Ron let out a laugh of indignation. "Do you honestly think I'm scared of you?"
But once again, Malfoy just smirked. "Laugh it up now, Weasley. But you'll be sorry soon enough. You'll be sorry when Potter's insane and this Mudblood's finally dead." He paused for a moment, obviously enjoying the flash of instant anger that took over the redhead's features. "It's a pity we had to wait this long, of course. Everyone could have been saved a whole lot of trouble if she'd just popped her clogs in second year." He sneered at both of them. "But it won't be long now."
"Just go away, Malfoy," Hermione said through clenched teeth, grabbing onto the cuff of Ron's sleeve instantly to prevent him from being arrested for public assault.
Malfoy grinned. "Just watch your back, Granger. Mudbloods first." His cold eyes were suddenly lit with excitement. "Especially annoying, know-it- all Mudbloods who happen to be best friends with Famous Harry Potter."
"Draco, what are you doing?" Lucius Malfoy appeared before Ron had time to murder his son, but one look at the pair that the aforementioned son was conversing with, and Mr. Malfoy's sharp tone disappeared. He gave them a smirk nearly identical to the one his son was so famous for. "Well, well, well," he said fleetingly. "If it isn't Arthur Weasley's youngest male brat and the most talked about Mudblood in the country." His eyes flashed in Hermione's direction. "Tell me, Dear. Are you going to take the illustrious Mr. Krum up on his summer invitation?"
Ron didn't even have time to register jealousy. Instead, he took it upon himself to answer for his female best friend. "If she was, she wouldn't likely tell you, now would she?" he asked hatefully.
But Mr. Malfoy merely continued to smile peacefully. "No matter. She'll be tracked down soon enough any way it goes." He looked at his son, "Come along, Draco." Turning once more to Ron and Hermione, though, he finished with, "Weasley, tell your father it would be in his extreme best interest to steal some money from somewhere and invest in some security devices for that pitiful heap of wood he calls a house. With you around, he's certainly going to need it."
With a sarcastic little wave in the direction of the teens, Mr. Malfoy led his superiorly smirking son away and into the crowd.
Ron was fuming.
And Hermione was suddenly looking quite sullen. Ron noticed this and momentarily forgot that he was angry enough to rip every single blonde hair out of the Malfoys' ugly little heads. Turning to her, he tried to calm down enough to console her. "Hermione, don't listen to them, okay? They're just stupid."
But Hermione was looking past him at something he couldn't see. Quietly, she shook her head. "They're right, though. Mudbloods first."
Ron cringed as she resorted to referring to herself with such a degrading term. "They're just trying to scare us; that's all."
Hermione stopped looking over his shoulder and glanced down at the ground. In a voice that was barely audible, she said, "Well, I am scared. So, I guess it worked."
Ron suddenly forgot that he was furious with the Malfoys. He forgot that he was furious with Harry for some unknown reason. He forgot about Krum. He forgot about the past two weeks. He forgot about everything. Except for the fact that Hermione needed him.
"Hermione, you don't have to be scared, alright?" He wished that he was sure of what he was saying, but deep down, he was just as anxious as she was. He willed himself not to show this, though. "Everything is gonna be okay. Just wait and see."
Hermione shrugged and gave a half-hearted hug, still looking down at the ground.
Ron, desperate to do something to cheer her up, forced a smile on his lips and carefully tugged her back in the direction of her trunk, causing her to look up at him in surprise. He picked up the small jar that was peaking through the top of her schoolbag and grinned mischievously at her. "What do you say we say, 'Bye-bye,' to this little bugger?"
Hermione returned the grin, despite herself, and nodded. "Okay." She looked around curiously before adding a question. "Where do you think we should let her out?"
"How about in front of an oncoming train?" Ron suggested only half-playing.
Hermione laughed. "No, I don't want to kill her even if she is the lowest of the low."
Ron, though, was looking past Hermione at two little boys who were studying what appeared to be, much to Ron's chagrin, a very large spider. One of them was poking it with a stick while the other had a plastic cup that was quite obviously to be used for catching the eight-legged creature. The boys' parents were talking to a train guard nearby and weren't paying any attention whatsoever to their sons. Hermione followed Ron's eye, and a slow, sure grin covered her face.
"Definitely," she whispered giddily.
Ron looked at her and smiled again before heading stealthily in the direction of the children and motioning for her to follow him. Standing a good distance from the boys' current bug of choice, Ron carefully removed the lid from the glass jar in his hands and deftly tipped it just enough to send all of its inhabitants falling to the ground, the leaves, twigs, and the beetle itself. He and Hermione watched with amusement as a startled Rita Skeeter scuttled off in the direct path to her doom. Almost instantly, one of the boys spotted the fat bug and nudged his brother. Immediately abandoning the spider, who scurried away quickly, the boys took off in pursuit of the newly spotted bug.
Ron and Hermione laughed as they watched the boy with the cup continually slamming it to the ground and each time narrowly missing the beetle. They grinned at each other and turned around to head back to Hermione's trunk, which they had left momentarily abandoned. When they reached it, Hermione zipped up her schoolbag and tossed it to the ground before perching herself into a sitting position atop her trunk. She motioned for Ron to join her, and he did. They sat like that for several more minutes until Ron suddenly brought up something that had been bothering him since mid-February.
"Are you going to Bulgaria this summer?"
Hermione looked up, obviously startled by his sudden mention of what was quite obviously a sore-subject between the two of them. "Why do you care?"
Good question, Weasley. Ron thought about it for several seconds before finally coming up with what he believed to be a safe answer. "I was just wondering because if you weren't, I was going to see if you could come to my house." Suddenly realizing what he'd said, he tried to make it as inconspicuous as possible. "I mean, you know, when Dumbledore finally lets Harry come."
Hermione's eyes, momentarily widened, softened back to normal, and she glanced at her feet, which she was kicking back and forth against the side of her trunk. Quietly, she gave an answer. "Well, Viktor just told me that his parents don't think it's such a great idea now that. you know."
Ron felt as if it had just been announced that his birthday and Christmas were going to be smashed into one day and celebrated nonstop for a whole year. Not that he knew why he felt like this, but he didn't care about the whys of the situation. Forcing himself not to grin like an idiot, he prodded on a little further. "So, you're not going?"
Hermione shook her still ducked head. "No. But I probably wasn't going to go anyway."
This little bit of information really sent him to the sky. "Really?" he asked a little too giddily. Instantly realizing this, he forced himself to calm down a little and say, "I mean, why not?"
She finally looked up and at him. "Well, for one thing, there's no way my parents would have agreed to it. And for another." Her voice trailed before she finished. "Visiting him in Bulgaria might mean something I don't want it to." Ron couldn't fight down the maddening smile that took over his features at this. "And plus, I don't know if I would feel comfortable visiting him. I barely know him." But she had felt comfortable enough to visit Ron the year before; this bit certainly didn't slide past his mind.
Figuring he might as well point this out, he said, "Well, if you had fun at my house last year and you want to come back, you can. Anytime is fine. Mum doesn't care."
Hermione smiled shyly at him. "Thanks, Ron," she said quietly, causing him to blush for some crazy reason.
"Hi, Honey!"
Hermione and Ron both looked up to find Mr. and Mrs. Granger smiling down at them. Hermione returned the smile and got up to hug both of her parents. "Hi, Mum. Hi, Dad."
After they'd hugged their daughter, the Grangers looked at Ron, and Mrs. Granger greeted him. "Hi, Ron. How are you, Dear?"
Ron smiled politely. "Good, thanks." He glanced at Hermione, who smiled back at him.
"Hermione, what did you do to your teeth?" Mr. Granger was suddenly looking very intently at his only child's mouth.
Hermione's smile faded to a closed-mouth, and her eyes widened slightly. Ron had to suppress a giggle as she did her best to look innocent and said in a very strained voice, "Uh, nothing?"
"Let me see." Mrs. Granger reached for her daughter's chin and lifted it to get a better view of her mouth.
Hermione turned bright red. "Mum!" she hissed embarrassedly before easily ducking out of her mother's grasp.
Both of her parents looked sternly at her and gave identical tutting noises that were so remnant of Hermione it was almost scary. Ron couldn't help the snicker that escaped his lips at that, and Hermione shot the same stern look in his direction, causing him to laugh even more.
Sighing and shaking his head, Mr. Granger reached down to lift Hermione's trunk. "Well, we better get a move on. Traffic is a terror this time of morning." He nodded at Ron. "Have a safe trip home, Ron," he said cordially before turning around with his daughter's trunk in tow.
Mrs. Granger smiled at him again. "Tell your mother that I said hello." Ron nodded with a still-struggling grin and she flashed him one more smile before saying good-bye and following her husband.
Hermione reached down and picked up her schoolbag. Slinging it over her shoulder, she turned to look at her redheaded best friend. "I am in so much trouble," she said quite seriously. "They're mad."
Ron tried not to giggle, but it didn't work. "So, do you think you'll want to come to the Burrow this summer?"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Yeah, if I'm not grounded until school starts."
Ron laughed again. "Tell them you were knocked out when Madame Pomfrey fixed them like that."
Hermione couldn't help it; she giggled, too. "Yeah, that will work," she said half-sarcastically.
Ron shrugged. "Hey, it's worth a shot."
Hermione just rolled her eyes again and shook her head in amusement. "I better go before they have any other reason to bless me out."
Ron smiled and nodded.
And then Hermione reached up and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck in a hug. Ron, though he was surprised at first, instantly hugged her back. And they stayed like that for several seconds before Hermione pulled back and grinned up at him. "Hopefully I'll see you this summer." She held up both hands with her index and middle fingers crossed. "If all goes well, that is."
"You mean if you pull the lie off," Ron said, amused.
Hermione laughed. "Yeah, if I pull the lie off."
Ron smiled back at her. "You better go."
Hermione sighed and nodded. And then she reached onto tip-toes and planted a firm kiss against his own cheek. After she lowered herself back to ground level, she grinned once more and said, "Bye, Ron," before turning around and following her parents.
Ron, in half-shock, watched her go for a second before calling after her, "I'll owl you!" She turned around grinning and nodded once before disappearing into the crowd.
A tight hug. A giggle. Several smiles. A kiss. A hope of a summer visit. And the promise of exchanging owls.
Well, he certainly faired better than Krum. He certainly faired better than Harry, for that matter.
Some things were definitely better than others.
***********************************
So? I'd love feedback!
Disclaimer: It all belongs to J.K. Rowling!!
*******************************
She kissed him.
She actually kissed him.
Lips. Cheek. It was all there. All there right in front of his bloody face.
Ron stared at his best friends in semi-shock, vaguely aware that time seemed to freeze on the exact moment that Hermione said, "Bye, Harry!" all chipper and perky like there was nothing at all odd about their departure. And then she had kissed him. Hermione Granger had put her lips, her own lips, against Harry Potter, yes that Harry Potter's, cheek.
And she had kissed him.
And Ron had watched, not even noticing that his mouth had momentarily dropped open. As time seemed to pick back up again, he vaguely heard one of the twins (he was too shocked to take the time to figure out which one it was) say something to Harry. But Ron wasn't interested in anything that either of his brothers had to say to that prat.
Yes, prat.
Famous bloody Harry Potter: Hero Extraordinaire. Wow, wasn't that one working fast? Not even fifteen and already getting the girl.
Ron wanted to punch him.
Not that he knew why. He didn't know anything actually, just that Hermione had kissed Harry only seconds earlier. And he knew that he was suddenly wishing for a time-turning, so that Ron's own earlier clap on the back and "See you, Harry," could be redone more roughly and hopefully cause the stupid jerk to fall flat on his bespectacled face.
But why did he even care anyway?
So, it was a kiss. A stupid kiss from Hermione. Hermione. Who wanted a kiss from her anyway, except maybe Krum.
Stupid Krum.
Had she kissed him, too? When she ran off after his stupid, "Can I have a vord?" Who the hell did he think he was anyway? Didn't he know that to be on good terms with Hermione you had to at least have good grammar skills? The correct question should have been, "May I have a vord?" Not that it mattered, though; the git didn't even know how to speak English correctly without worrying about the proper usage of may and can and who and whom.
How did Hermione put up with it?
Ron sneered. She probably put up with it because she was sneaking quick little songfests in here and there with that Bulgarian bozo. Well, once a scarlet woman, always a scarlet woman, right?
And now she was kissing Harry, too.
Stupid Harry.
Ron watched him walk away with his uncle. He glared at his so-called "best friend's" retreating back until he disappeared into the crowd and was no longer visible.
"Ron?" The voice jerked him back to reality and he looked around to see Hermione standing a little in front of him, peering up at him interestedly. "Are you okay?"
"Of course I'm okay!" Ron defended quickly. "Why wouldn't I be?"
Hermione just raised her eyebrows slightly. "You just looked like you were miles away or something."
"Well, I wasn't!" he snapped.
Hermione, obviously taken aback by his sudden snappiness, took an unconscious step backwards and looked at him intently. "Whatever you say," she muttered.
Ron opened his mouth to retort back with something, though he wasn't sure what, but he didn't get too far. His mother appeared at their side and smiled cheerily at Hermione, obviously forgetting Hermione's "scarlet" reputation. Ha! If she only knew! "Are you parents here, Dear?"
Hermione returned the smile politely and glanced around. "No, I don't think so. They both had to work this morning, so they told me they might be a few minutes late. The traffic's really bad in downtown London this time of the day, you know."
Mrs. Weasley nodded. "Well, we don't mind waiting until they come. The twins and Ginny and I will take all of the trunks to the car, and Ron can wait here with you in case they show up."
Ron started to protest, but his mother disappeared again to address his brothers who were saying good-bye to a few of their friends. Couldn't he help take the trunks, too? He was stronger than Ginny; let her sit here with Hermione until the Grangers showed up. But Ginny was already trailing along behind her mother obediently.
"You don't have to wait, you know." Hermione looked at him very pointedly. "I'll be fine if you want to go on."
Ron almost took her up on her offer. Almost. "No. Mum'd kill me."
Hermione took this as a plausible answer and nodded. "Well, okay." She sighed, and Ron watched as she slung her bag off of her back and set it on top of her trunk. She unzipped it and pulled out the same glass jar she'd shown them on the train, the one holding Rita Skeeter in beetle form. Wordlessly, she held the jar up and peered into it. "Think I should let her go here?"
Ron was a little surprised that she'd asked for his opinion, but he did his best to show that he simply did not care. Shrugging, he muttered a "Whatever" before leaning against brick barrier that was sure not to fade away and drop him onto a hidden platform.
Hermione lowered the jar and turned her eyes toward the redhead. "What is your problem?"
Ron stared her down and icily said, "Nothing."
"Yes, there is."
"No, there's not!" Jesus! Why did she have to argue with him on every little thing?
But Hermione held her ground. "Yes, there is."
Ron groaned and turned his stare into a glare. "How do you know?"
"Because I know you." It was simple answer, and Hermione shrugged as she said. "I can read you like a book."
Ron snorted. "Just because you have an abnormal love for books does not mean you can read other human beings. Divination is not your strong-point, remember?" He crossed his arms over his chest and looked pointedly at her.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Oh, shut up."
"You started it!" he protested loudly- loud enough to draw curious looks from several surrounding people and a silencing glare from Hermione.
"Oh, good, Ron," she said sarcastically. "Make a scene in a crowded train station. That's brilliant."
"What's this?" came a drawling voice that made both Ron and Hermione groan in disgust. "Number two and number three quarrelling? How shocking." Draco Malfoy was standing to their left, looking quite a bit better than he had moments earlier, lying in a heap with Crabbe and Goyle and covered in hex marks. Apparently, he'd woken up and made himself presentable before exiting the barrier onto the main platform. Looking past Malfoy, Ron could see his father, Lucius Malfoy, conversing quietly with what was unmistakably Vincent Crabbe's father. Crabbe was lurking near the adults, and Goyle was nowhere in sight.
"Did the hexes wear off, Malfoy?" Hermione asked snidely. "Pity you couldn't have kept the marks. They really made an improvement on your overall appearance."
Ron couldn't help himself from snickering at the sight of Malfoy's face going even paler with anger. "Oh, that's witty, Granger," he said briskly. "I can really see why you're top of the class- brilliant mind, yours."
"Why don't you go find Daddy Dearest and kiss his arse some more?" Ron countered evenly.
Malfoy sent a sharp glare in the other boy's direction. "You better watch yourself, Weasley. I expect you're going to have a fairly high price on your forehead pretty soon here. You wouldn't want to go making the wrong people mad, now would you?"
Ron fought down the urge to just punch the prat right there and get it over with. "Oh, is that a threat, Malfoy?"
But the Slytherin just smirked innocently. "Malfoys don't make threats. They make promises."
Ron let out a laugh of indignation. "Do you honestly think I'm scared of you?"
But once again, Malfoy just smirked. "Laugh it up now, Weasley. But you'll be sorry soon enough. You'll be sorry when Potter's insane and this Mudblood's finally dead." He paused for a moment, obviously enjoying the flash of instant anger that took over the redhead's features. "It's a pity we had to wait this long, of course. Everyone could have been saved a whole lot of trouble if she'd just popped her clogs in second year." He sneered at both of them. "But it won't be long now."
"Just go away, Malfoy," Hermione said through clenched teeth, grabbing onto the cuff of Ron's sleeve instantly to prevent him from being arrested for public assault.
Malfoy grinned. "Just watch your back, Granger. Mudbloods first." His cold eyes were suddenly lit with excitement. "Especially annoying, know-it- all Mudbloods who happen to be best friends with Famous Harry Potter."
"Draco, what are you doing?" Lucius Malfoy appeared before Ron had time to murder his son, but one look at the pair that the aforementioned son was conversing with, and Mr. Malfoy's sharp tone disappeared. He gave them a smirk nearly identical to the one his son was so famous for. "Well, well, well," he said fleetingly. "If it isn't Arthur Weasley's youngest male brat and the most talked about Mudblood in the country." His eyes flashed in Hermione's direction. "Tell me, Dear. Are you going to take the illustrious Mr. Krum up on his summer invitation?"
Ron didn't even have time to register jealousy. Instead, he took it upon himself to answer for his female best friend. "If she was, she wouldn't likely tell you, now would she?" he asked hatefully.
But Mr. Malfoy merely continued to smile peacefully. "No matter. She'll be tracked down soon enough any way it goes." He looked at his son, "Come along, Draco." Turning once more to Ron and Hermione, though, he finished with, "Weasley, tell your father it would be in his extreme best interest to steal some money from somewhere and invest in some security devices for that pitiful heap of wood he calls a house. With you around, he's certainly going to need it."
With a sarcastic little wave in the direction of the teens, Mr. Malfoy led his superiorly smirking son away and into the crowd.
Ron was fuming.
And Hermione was suddenly looking quite sullen. Ron noticed this and momentarily forgot that he was angry enough to rip every single blonde hair out of the Malfoys' ugly little heads. Turning to her, he tried to calm down enough to console her. "Hermione, don't listen to them, okay? They're just stupid."
But Hermione was looking past him at something he couldn't see. Quietly, she shook her head. "They're right, though. Mudbloods first."
Ron cringed as she resorted to referring to herself with such a degrading term. "They're just trying to scare us; that's all."
Hermione stopped looking over his shoulder and glanced down at the ground. In a voice that was barely audible, she said, "Well, I am scared. So, I guess it worked."
Ron suddenly forgot that he was furious with the Malfoys. He forgot that he was furious with Harry for some unknown reason. He forgot about Krum. He forgot about the past two weeks. He forgot about everything. Except for the fact that Hermione needed him.
"Hermione, you don't have to be scared, alright?" He wished that he was sure of what he was saying, but deep down, he was just as anxious as she was. He willed himself not to show this, though. "Everything is gonna be okay. Just wait and see."
Hermione shrugged and gave a half-hearted hug, still looking down at the ground.
Ron, desperate to do something to cheer her up, forced a smile on his lips and carefully tugged her back in the direction of her trunk, causing her to look up at him in surprise. He picked up the small jar that was peaking through the top of her schoolbag and grinned mischievously at her. "What do you say we say, 'Bye-bye,' to this little bugger?"
Hermione returned the grin, despite herself, and nodded. "Okay." She looked around curiously before adding a question. "Where do you think we should let her out?"
"How about in front of an oncoming train?" Ron suggested only half-playing.
Hermione laughed. "No, I don't want to kill her even if she is the lowest of the low."
Ron, though, was looking past Hermione at two little boys who were studying what appeared to be, much to Ron's chagrin, a very large spider. One of them was poking it with a stick while the other had a plastic cup that was quite obviously to be used for catching the eight-legged creature. The boys' parents were talking to a train guard nearby and weren't paying any attention whatsoever to their sons. Hermione followed Ron's eye, and a slow, sure grin covered her face.
"Definitely," she whispered giddily.
Ron looked at her and smiled again before heading stealthily in the direction of the children and motioning for her to follow him. Standing a good distance from the boys' current bug of choice, Ron carefully removed the lid from the glass jar in his hands and deftly tipped it just enough to send all of its inhabitants falling to the ground, the leaves, twigs, and the beetle itself. He and Hermione watched with amusement as a startled Rita Skeeter scuttled off in the direct path to her doom. Almost instantly, one of the boys spotted the fat bug and nudged his brother. Immediately abandoning the spider, who scurried away quickly, the boys took off in pursuit of the newly spotted bug.
Ron and Hermione laughed as they watched the boy with the cup continually slamming it to the ground and each time narrowly missing the beetle. They grinned at each other and turned around to head back to Hermione's trunk, which they had left momentarily abandoned. When they reached it, Hermione zipped up her schoolbag and tossed it to the ground before perching herself into a sitting position atop her trunk. She motioned for Ron to join her, and he did. They sat like that for several more minutes until Ron suddenly brought up something that had been bothering him since mid-February.
"Are you going to Bulgaria this summer?"
Hermione looked up, obviously startled by his sudden mention of what was quite obviously a sore-subject between the two of them. "Why do you care?"
Good question, Weasley. Ron thought about it for several seconds before finally coming up with what he believed to be a safe answer. "I was just wondering because if you weren't, I was going to see if you could come to my house." Suddenly realizing what he'd said, he tried to make it as inconspicuous as possible. "I mean, you know, when Dumbledore finally lets Harry come."
Hermione's eyes, momentarily widened, softened back to normal, and she glanced at her feet, which she was kicking back and forth against the side of her trunk. Quietly, she gave an answer. "Well, Viktor just told me that his parents don't think it's such a great idea now that. you know."
Ron felt as if it had just been announced that his birthday and Christmas were going to be smashed into one day and celebrated nonstop for a whole year. Not that he knew why he felt like this, but he didn't care about the whys of the situation. Forcing himself not to grin like an idiot, he prodded on a little further. "So, you're not going?"
Hermione shook her still ducked head. "No. But I probably wasn't going to go anyway."
This little bit of information really sent him to the sky. "Really?" he asked a little too giddily. Instantly realizing this, he forced himself to calm down a little and say, "I mean, why not?"
She finally looked up and at him. "Well, for one thing, there's no way my parents would have agreed to it. And for another." Her voice trailed before she finished. "Visiting him in Bulgaria might mean something I don't want it to." Ron couldn't fight down the maddening smile that took over his features at this. "And plus, I don't know if I would feel comfortable visiting him. I barely know him." But she had felt comfortable enough to visit Ron the year before; this bit certainly didn't slide past his mind.
Figuring he might as well point this out, he said, "Well, if you had fun at my house last year and you want to come back, you can. Anytime is fine. Mum doesn't care."
Hermione smiled shyly at him. "Thanks, Ron," she said quietly, causing him to blush for some crazy reason.
"Hi, Honey!"
Hermione and Ron both looked up to find Mr. and Mrs. Granger smiling down at them. Hermione returned the smile and got up to hug both of her parents. "Hi, Mum. Hi, Dad."
After they'd hugged their daughter, the Grangers looked at Ron, and Mrs. Granger greeted him. "Hi, Ron. How are you, Dear?"
Ron smiled politely. "Good, thanks." He glanced at Hermione, who smiled back at him.
"Hermione, what did you do to your teeth?" Mr. Granger was suddenly looking very intently at his only child's mouth.
Hermione's smile faded to a closed-mouth, and her eyes widened slightly. Ron had to suppress a giggle as she did her best to look innocent and said in a very strained voice, "Uh, nothing?"
"Let me see." Mrs. Granger reached for her daughter's chin and lifted it to get a better view of her mouth.
Hermione turned bright red. "Mum!" she hissed embarrassedly before easily ducking out of her mother's grasp.
Both of her parents looked sternly at her and gave identical tutting noises that were so remnant of Hermione it was almost scary. Ron couldn't help the snicker that escaped his lips at that, and Hermione shot the same stern look in his direction, causing him to laugh even more.
Sighing and shaking his head, Mr. Granger reached down to lift Hermione's trunk. "Well, we better get a move on. Traffic is a terror this time of morning." He nodded at Ron. "Have a safe trip home, Ron," he said cordially before turning around with his daughter's trunk in tow.
Mrs. Granger smiled at him again. "Tell your mother that I said hello." Ron nodded with a still-struggling grin and she flashed him one more smile before saying good-bye and following her husband.
Hermione reached down and picked up her schoolbag. Slinging it over her shoulder, she turned to look at her redheaded best friend. "I am in so much trouble," she said quite seriously. "They're mad."
Ron tried not to giggle, but it didn't work. "So, do you think you'll want to come to the Burrow this summer?"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Yeah, if I'm not grounded until school starts."
Ron laughed again. "Tell them you were knocked out when Madame Pomfrey fixed them like that."
Hermione couldn't help it; she giggled, too. "Yeah, that will work," she said half-sarcastically.
Ron shrugged. "Hey, it's worth a shot."
Hermione just rolled her eyes again and shook her head in amusement. "I better go before they have any other reason to bless me out."
Ron smiled and nodded.
And then Hermione reached up and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck in a hug. Ron, though he was surprised at first, instantly hugged her back. And they stayed like that for several seconds before Hermione pulled back and grinned up at him. "Hopefully I'll see you this summer." She held up both hands with her index and middle fingers crossed. "If all goes well, that is."
"You mean if you pull the lie off," Ron said, amused.
Hermione laughed. "Yeah, if I pull the lie off."
Ron smiled back at her. "You better go."
Hermione sighed and nodded. And then she reached onto tip-toes and planted a firm kiss against his own cheek. After she lowered herself back to ground level, she grinned once more and said, "Bye, Ron," before turning around and following her parents.
Ron, in half-shock, watched her go for a second before calling after her, "I'll owl you!" She turned around grinning and nodded once before disappearing into the crowd.
A tight hug. A giggle. Several smiles. A kiss. A hope of a summer visit. And the promise of exchanging owls.
Well, he certainly faired better than Krum. He certainly faired better than Harry, for that matter.
Some things were definitely better than others.
***********************************
So? I'd love feedback!