A/n. Hello, everyone. Gypsy the Centaur here! Please read and then review.

CHAPTER ONE: THE WAY WE ACT

Ron woke with a start. His head hurt. It had been quite a day and he'd had too much butterbeer that evening. And, well, some stronger stuff that he'd nicked from Fred's bedside table. He sat up on his bed and looked around the room. It was so nice to be alone for once at the Burrow. He stood up, mostly to see if he could walk a straight line, and spotted an envelope near the door. Once he'd picked it up, a pang of fear ran through his body: this was Hermione's handwriting, spelling his name on the paper. He ripped it open, terrified of what he knew it must say. He knew Hermione would only write him a note if she were leaving. She'd left, he knew it, but he read on.

Dear Ron,

I'm sorry about that whole thing after dinner. I didn't mean to get you so angry. I guess we fight a lot, don't we? It's nobody's fault. Even so, I've seen us getting worse in the past week or so, and I know Harry comes to the Burrow trying to escape a bad situation and we're putting him smack dab in the middle of another one. I think it might be best if I leave so you and Harry can have a nice, relaxing summer without our fighting and such getting in the way. Write to me as often as you can. Hedwig can find me.

Yours,

Hermione

Ron read the note once more before he heard someone stepping off the rickety step at the bottom of the staircase. It was Hermione. He had to stop her.

- - That Morning - -

"So, mate, got any girls you're interested in?" Fred was de-gnoming the garden with George, Harry, and Ron. As he said this, he whirled the creature around and flung him into a nearby tree.

"Careful," said George. "You might've killed that one." George smirked.

"Yeah, we wouldn't want that," Fred said sarcastically. "Sometimes I wish Mum'd let us come out here with our Quidditch mallets."

"Sometimes?" Ron said in disbelief, turning towards Harry to explain. "These two used to use gnomes for practice bludgers."

"If you get 'em square in the face," Fred said in a mischievous whisper as the other three unwittingly moved in closer, "Their nose can actually becomes...inverted."

"Inverted?" Harry looked quizzically at Fred. "You mean it's like a huge dent...or something."

"Yeah, and it takes ages to pop out again." Fred looked rather proud of knowing this but Ron was not pleased at all.

"Look, I know this is disgusting, but I'm not going to get in trouble with Mum again this summer. We're doing it the way she asked us to." Ron gave Fred and George, and even Harry, a look that, he hoped, said that he meant business.

"Hate to admit it," Fred said after a short pause, "but you're right, squirt."

"Squirt?" Ron barked at Fred's face so that spit actually glistened on the surface now.

"Ew." Fred wiped his face with the sleeve of his shirt, but Ron remained where he was.

"What he meant to say, I think," Harry said, stepping between the two, "Is 'You're right, Ron.'" Harry laughed breezily.

"But- but- but that's not what he said!" Ron's temper had been completely out of control for the last two weeks, and he knew it. Comments that he used to ignore now set him off and everyone got a turn to be yelled at. Even Ginny, whom he was always so protective of, had had to be defended by Harry on more than one occasion.

"We're going for a walk," said Harry, dragging Ron away from Fred. Ron could have sworn he saw Harry give a quick roll of the eyes to the twins.

As they walked away, Ron felt his anger falling away. He unclenched his fists, which had begun to hurt from being balled up in rage.

"I don't know, mate. You've been flying off the handle- at everyone. What's this all about?" The two friends walked up a grass-covered hill. Ron could see the lake shining through a cluster of trees.

"It's nothing. I'm fine, really Harry," Ron looked at Harry guiltily, before changing the subject to something he knew Harry couldn't resist talking about. He felt a bit like he was abusing his friend's emotional problems, but he hadn't had a chance to discuss anything important with Harry yet and now was as good a time as any. "So, the war's beginning, Harry. I reckon we'll be...having a difficult year..." Ron gave a heavy sigh, as did Harry.

"I just hope you two don't get too involved," Harry said heavily.

"Harry," Ron turned to his best mate, searching for something to say. Not just something, the right thing. "Hermione and I...we'll be fine. We're here to help you. I know that's, like, the reason for my whole existence." Ron chuckled a little at the thought, though he knew it was true. Somehow, he'd met Harry in the station and his mum had shown Harry how to get onto the platform. Somehow all the other compartments had filled up. Somehow, Ron Weasley was best friends with Harry Potter. 'And that big dumb troll,' thought Ron, 'He brought us all together. Brought Hermione to us, as a friend.'

They stopped walking when they'd reached the top of the hill. Harry looked as though the thought of the Second War had carried his mind elsewhere. They'd been quite lucky to have Harry stay the summer at the Burrow. He'd only had to be with the Dursleys for a week. Harry had written the Weasleys, pleading to be taken to Grimmauld Place, and was visibly pleased when Ron and Mr. Weasley had shown up to take him to the Burrow instead. Dumbledore had cleared this at a meeting of the Order at which he said, according to Mr. Weasley, "Now that the war has begun, there is no safe place for Harry to be, except by his wand and with his friends." This had been a controversial decision, but as always, everyone respected it. Of course, Harry still had a guard with him at the Burrow, which had proved to be quite an annoyance, especially because they had never introduced themselves to anyone in the house. The ministry had appointed them as a way of saying, "We know You-Know-Who's back!" but Fudge's attempts at friendliness had not influenced Harry's personal guard at all. Mrs. Weasley fed them, let them use the shower (which they didn't do very often), and let them sleep in cots in the basement. But all they ever said was-

"I think that's far enough, Potter." One of the guards had come running up the hill to Harry and Ron.

"Oh, c'mon. We were just going for a stroll," Ron argued, but the guard put his hand up to stop Ron from going any further.

"No, I'm sorry, boys. This is far enough. Come on back now, Granger's returned."

At this, Ron began walking back to the Burrow immediately. Harry caught up with him just as Ron broke into a sort of walk-jog. Suddenly, without fully realizing it, he was sprinting back to the house. He heard Harry stop, panting, and yell "Accio Firebolt!" Within seconds, Harry was riding alongside Ron. "What are you doing???"

"I'm going to see where she's been to ALL DAY!" Without warning, he punched Harry off the broom and in one swift motion, seated himself on the Firebolt and zoomed back to the house. He could hear Harry yelling "You crazy bastard!" but he paid no mind. He wanted to know where Hermione had been sneaking off to for the past week. She'd only been there for three weeks and Ron couldn't see how she'd found anything better to do then hang out with her friends at his house.

Jumping off the broom, he swung the back door of the house open. Seated on the living room couch was Hermione, with two cups of tea beside her.

"Where HAVE you been!" Ron couldn't help thinking that he sounded way too much like his mother.

"Oh, hello." Hermione looked a bit flushed.

"Where! I asked you, where! Answer me."

"Hullo, Ron," a voice yelled from the kitchen in a thick Bulgarian accent.

Ron crouched down to the couch and whispered to Hermione, "What is that stupid git doing here?"

"Your mum said I could invite him. I've seen him the past couple days. He Apparates here and we go walking." She looked up and Ron with a face that, to him, looked a bit guilty. "Is there something wrong?"

"Second War, Karkaroff, Death Eaters, Durmstrang. You always know everything, Hermione, tell me what these words have in common?"

"Well, it's certainly not Viktor."

"It's too close for comfort, Hermione," Ron tried to sound gentle, but his anger was getting the best of him. "You can date him after the war, but now it's just-"

"You can't tell her vut to do." Viktor Krum had come in from the kitchen and was now standing, leaning against the wall, looking as though he'd like to use Ron as a punching bag. Ron wasn't going to have any of this; he may have been afraid of spiders, but Viktor Krum? No way was he going to scare Ron Weasley.

"Listen, 'ere, Krum. This is my house, my kitchen, my living room, my-" He waved a hand towards Hermione as though the words escaped him. He looked to Krum, who tilted his head towards Ron, waiting for him to finish. Then Ron looked down at Hermione, who looked as though she also wanted Ron to go on. Ron sighed, "My decision. Get out."

"Right," said Krum shortly. He headed towards the door but turned just before he reached it. Ron hoped desperately that he wasn't going to wave Hermione to come with him. "Herm-own-ninny," he paused, glaring at Ron, "I'll see you tomorrow, at the end of the road, just past," he gave Ron another sour look, "where the Veasley property ends."

"Okay," Hermione said quietly and Krum walked out the door. They heard a POP outside and Ron knew he was gone.

Ron turned to Hermione as if to yell at her again but all he did was put his hands on his hips and stare at her until she finally looked up. He was, in doing this, reminded once again of his mother.

"What?" she asked, staring up at him.

"You're not going."

"Ron- you can't just expect me to drop everything when you come 'round."

"When I come 'round?" Ron said this with a knot in his throat. 'Come 'round to what?' Ron thought frantically. He could feel his face going red. He couldn't think of anything to say and he really didn't want to embarrass himself. So he went for a middle-of-the-road remark, one he knew would cut her down to size. "This is my house. You are a guest. He is not. Understand? If you want to go have some relationship with Krum, why don't you just go stay with him in Bulgaria? Just leave, okay? We don't want you here if you're with him!"

Hermione did look hurt. Her eyes were teeming with tears. Ron felt his face get hot. He never meant to make her cry; he just wanted her to get off her high horse. Yet, it seemed every time he tried to do this, she ended up being really hurt by what he said and usually didn't talk to him for days. He knew he'd done it now. There was no turning back. Nothing to do but wait until she'd cooled down a bit and then maybe he could make up with her.

As always, Ron could see her suppressing her tears in favor of the anger that was slowly building up inside her. Ron found himself on the receiving end of her rage quite often and was not looking forward to the words she was about to speak.

"Honestly, Ron! How can you even speak to me like that! This isn't your house, it's your mum's too and she said it was fine! Viktor is such a gentleman that he chose to ignore that fact and left anyway. Politely. It's like your trying to sabotage our relationship-"

Ron tried to interrupt but she went on.

"No, don't say anything. I don't want to hear another word out of your mouth. In fact, I really..." She paused, getting up and piling her books on the table. "I really think that...next year...we shouldn't hang around together. With Harry and all...it's horrible, the way we act. Honestly..."

Ron gave a sound of exasperation and walked out of the door. He slammed it behind him best he could. He bolted past Harry, Fred, and George who were now transfiguring stones into Quidditch balls and yelling at him to join them. Several minutes later, he found himself on the top of the hill where he and Harry had been just a short while ago. After several minutes he heard small footsteps crunch the grass as they made their way up the incline. They stopped behind him and the sigh of someone very familiar.

"We need to talk."

A/n. Thank you so very much for reading. Review – please! The button is below on the left. Just a quick comment, bad or good. The flashback continues through the next few chapters, but I will remind you again when the next installment comes out. Hope you are enjoying this story. Please come back for more. I love ending with a bang, so if you stay with me through the 7th chapter, I promise you won't be disappointed. See you all later,

Gypsy the Centaur