Disclaimer: All characters belong to J.K.Rowling - I am merely borrowing them and promise to return them in as good condition as possible :)
Title: Kill or Severely Harm?
Rating: Pg-13 for swearing (I'm covering my back here – I tend to swear more than I realise so I am being cautious!) and a few little kisses that will (hopefully) appear in future chapters.
Pairing: R/H… eventually! Possibly a few hints of H/G - I think I do it unconsciously!
Summary: Yeah, it's yet another 4th-5th year Summer fic. Surprised? I wasn't! I doubt its mind-blowing but one can never have enough R/H fluff (!) and that's what it is. Long, very drawn out fluff, but fluff nonetheless. I am afraid I have probably skated over Harry's feelings in my haste to get to the R/H stuff – sorry, but I wasn't in the mood for Harry to be sad and troubled, he is much easier to write when he is happy-ish! Oh, also the title is a little misleading, it is a line from the fic but does not indicate that I will be killing or severly harming any of the characters in this fic! As promised in the disclaimer, I am taking very good care of them :)
Formatting: Well, it's beautiful on my computer but sadly uploading it messes all that up so you will have to try to figure out what I'm talking about… sentences in Bold and Italics are thoughts, and random words in Bold are just emphasises in speech. That's about all it will do!
A/I/O (Author's Insecurity Outlet): O.K. this is my first try at any sort of writing at all (ahhh!) but I've been reading HP fics religiously for years (yep, I know I'm sad!) so I thought it really was time I had a go myself. I had no idea it would be this hard! I find myself re-reading what I have written and criticising it, but not knowing how to fix the problems! I have always tried to offer constructive criticism in reviews where necessary and so find quite a lot to say about my own writing – I just wish I knew how to act upon it! I just want to congratulate all those other authors who have managed to do this already – I never would have thought it would be this hard! O.K. also, I know that the BSE thing was a few years ago, but since the books are set a few years ago anyway I thought I could get away with it :). I know this is moving really slowly, I don't really know what to do about it, I don't really have much control over the characters yet (which is one of the reasons I am so sure Ron and Hermione are going to get together - they are doing this on their own I swear! I mean I can't write fics!) but bear with me, I promise something will happen sooner or later! Um, lastly, I have just read over the chapters I will be posting and I really think the second one is better than the first. It is less clichéd and… oh well basically please don't stop reading after just the first chapter, I am posting two at a time so you can get a better idea of what the story will be like! Ok, I guess I had better let you actually read it now… off you go (eep!).
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Chapter One. (no, I have no inventive titles!)
Hermione sat at her desk trying unsuccessfully to her holiday work for the summer. She had been sitting there for the past hour staring out the window and fiddling with a strand of her hair. At one point, she had tied it back in an attempt to stop it distracting her, but it, having a mind of its own, had started coming out almost immediately and she had given up with a frustrated sigh. She couldn't believe how far behind with her work she was this year! She had of course read all of next years books, and she had completed her Arithmancy calculations in the first few days of the holiday, followed fairly swiftly by her Transfiguration essay (14ft she reminded herself – even Hermione was proud of that one!) and her research into the causes of the Goblin rebellion of 1498 for History of Magic (apparently the Goblins were furious about the Law passed earlier that year that wands should be proportional in size to the height – among other things – of the user. Goblins saw the size of their wands as an indication of their social status and, being rather a lot shorter than the average magical being, they were not too pleased with the new ruling!). However, Hermione still had a rather lengthy Potions essay to complete along with a few incantations to research for Charms and she couldn't help but remind herself that by this time last year, she had finished all of her work and read some of her books twice! Her parents hadn't exactly been helpful either, not that it was really their fault, they had just been trying to spend as much time as possible with her because they missed her during the school year since she usually stayed at Hogwarts with Ron and Harry during the shorter holidays. Although Hermione could understand this and had missed them too, she was now feeling very behind with her work and was wishing she had done more of it earlier in the holiday. She now only had three weeks left and was hoping to spend some of that time at the Burrow, which left her much less time to work than she really would have liked. Mind you she thought, I don't suppose Ron has even started his work! She smiled at the thought of Ron, then frowned when she thought of the letter he had sent her.
Dear Hermione,
Hi, how are you? I suppose you've done all your work already! Oh god my work, arrrrgh, he has NO idea! I have been playing Quidditch loads, I think I might try for Keeper next year… I dunno, don't tell anyone o.k. 'cause I don't know if I will or not. Who exactly would I tell? So, did you go anywhere nice this summer? I hope you didn't go to Bulgaria, I heard there is some sort of disease over there which makes the cows go nuts, I think it affects people too, especially Quidditch players, yeah, they must eat lots of meat and stuff so it can't be good for them! O.K. how stupid does he think I am? Honestly! And Mad Cow disease has certainly NOT spread to Bulgaria! Anyway, have you heard from Harry? He wrote to me a while ago and he seems a bit subdued… maybe I could invite him over for the last few weeks of the holiday? You could come too! Do you think Dumbledore would let him, I think he said something about not letting him stay all summer, I'll get Mum and Dad to owl him and ask. Well, I hope you're o.k. and maybe I'll see you soon-ish?
Ron
Hermione had been slightly pacified by the latter (less annoying) half of the letter, but had still put it down hard on the desk, grabbed a quill and written back angrily:
Dear Ron,
The disease you are talking about is called "BSE" aka Mad Cow disease and it has NOT spread to Bulgaria. It is in fact only in Britain and so if you are worried about me getting it, then I would suggest you ENCOURAGE me to go to places like Bulgaria where I would be much safer. Also, a simple charm has been developed to rid the meat of the disease and you would know that if you had read the section in our charms book about research techniques, so PLEASE don't try to tell me what to do when you have no idea what you are talking about!
Sorry Ron, I don't mean to be snappy, but contrary to popular belief, I have NOT done all my work and I am getting a little worried about it. As to what you mentioned about Harry – I think it's a really good idea, it can't be nice for him cooped up in that house with his family (can they even be called that?), I am sure he would love to get out a few weeks early. As for me, I think I might be able to come, but I would need to know when before I tell my parents – they have been really overprotective recently (they didn't let me go to Bulgaria, so good for you, gloat all you want…) so I would need to have it pretty much sorted before I asked them. Write back soon if you can get Dumbledore to let Harry come over to the Burrow and let me know what is happening.
Love Hermione
xxx
P.S. I definitely think you should try for Keeper, you would be really good at it!
Hermione had sent this letter a few days ago and was expecting a reply within the next few days. Maybe that's why I can't concentrate… no, a letter from Ron wouldn't make me this distracted, its not like its anything special… She tried to settle down and get on with her Potions essay, somewhat more successfully than earlier, but she still hadn't written very much before she heard a tap at the window. She looked up to see Pig flying in extremely fast, tight circles outside her window I don't know how that owl always manages to have so much energy! She stood up and opened her window and the tiny owl came hurtling in, dropped a letter on her desk and proceeded to perform a series of startling manoeuvres around her ceiling. While she marvelled at his acrobatic ability, watching him was making her rather dizzy, so she left him to it and went to read her letter.
Dear Hermione,
Don't worry about being grouchy, I've become used to it over the years (no, only kidding, please don't kill me!!!). Hermione, I haven't even started my work Ha, I KNEW it! so I don't know what you are getting so worried about, I'm sure you will be fine, it's just the way things are, you worry (even though you are always top of the year) and I don't (even though I probably should!).
Dumbledore said we can have Harry over for the rest of the holiday, so we are picking him up on Saturday (it's the earliest we can get a car, I think its best we pick him up like that after what happened last year… I'm sure Harry will appreciate that! ) so if you want to ask your parents if you can come too then say we could pick you up on the way to Harry's if that would make things easier.
Do you really think I would be good as keeper? I might give it a go then, I mean, I might as well right? Just hope no one sees me, I'm bound t0 mess up and do something stupid. I never realised he was so insecure about what people think of him, I wonder why he is telling me?
Well anyway, tell me whether or not you can come, and if you can we will pick you up on Saturday at about 11 0'clock (morning, not evening!) o.k.?
Ron
P.S. You will be pleased to hear that I have gloated all I can, I thought it was best to get it out of the way before I saw you so you didn't get even more grouchy than you already are (!) WHAT?!?. Ginny is now ready to kill me though, oh well! Bye!
Hermione smiled to herself at the thought of seeing her friends again. It was funny, but even though she spent all year with them, only a few weeks away from them made her realise how much she missed them. Perhaps it was because she spent her entire year with them that she missed them when they weren't there, but whatever it was, she found herself eagerly awaiting Saturday morning.
As she re-read the letter, she laughed and tried to envisage Ginny killing Ron, all that appeared in her mind was a picture of Ginny, who was at least a head shorter than Ron, beating uselessly at his chest while he stood there grinning that cute Cute? Did I just think that? Yes, apparently I did! lopsided grin of his. Hermione felt her face grow slightly warmer as she thought of him and shook her head forcefully.
"Hermione, don't be stupid, this is Ron" she said out loud, but she knew that she was only kidding herself, her feelings for Ron were certainly not the same as her feelings for Harry, and she could make a fairly good guess as to why that was, she just didn't want to think about it.
To distract herself from this (rather unwelcome) train of thought, she decided to go and ask her mother about going to the Burrow. She made sure Pig was still safely (?) in her room doing his magical flying circus act, and went downstairs to find her.
"Muuuuuuuum…" Hermione said with a cheeky smile on her face.
Mrs. Granger looked up from her desk, raised one eyebrow and smiled back. "Let me guess, you want something? How did I come to that conclusion?"
"Its your astounding intelligence and unprecedented ability to read minds I guess!" Hermione replied, attempting to look innocent.
"Well I somehow doubt that, isn't that more likely to be something you would learn?"
"No Mum, mind-reading is not something they teach to unscrupulous eleven-year-olds!" Hermione said, still smiling, "not even to unscrupulous 15-year-olds!" she added as an after thought.
"O.k. I suppose I just know you too well! What did you want?"
"Well, Ron just sent me a letter and he asked if I wanted to go and stay at the Burrow for the rest of the holidays. Harry is going too, and they are picking him up on Saturday and Ron said that they could pick me up on the way, they would be here at about 11 o'clock, and I know that I spend all year with Ron and Harry and I've only spent a few weeks with you and Dad, but I really miss them and I really want to go to the Burrow again, and well… I just really want to see them Mum." All this was said very fast and in one breath, so Hermione took a huge gulp of air as she waited to see what her mum would say. Once she had caught her breath, Hermione noticed that her mother was giving her a strange look. Oh no, what's that about, what did I say? Have I gone red thinking about seeing Ron again? Oh, well if I hadn't, I certainly have now! Oh god, what is that look for?
"Um… what's wrong Mum?"
Her mother seemed to notice that she had been staring and smiled a little guiltily. "Oh, sorry dear, I just noticed that now it's 'Ron and Harry,' and I distinctly remember it used to be 'Harry and Ron.'" She gave a small smile and raised her eyebrow again.
Hermione turned bright red. Is it that obvious? It can't just be because of the way I say their names, but whatever it is, she has noticed. Oh god, I hope no one else has noticed. Arrrgh!
"Wh-What?" she stammered.
"Oh its nothing dear, don't worry about it, I just wondered…" The two stood there for a moment, unsure of what to say, and then,
"Is it really that obvious?" Hermione asked in a small voice. She was not used to talking about this sort of thing with anyone, let alone her mother, but she suddenly felt that she really needed to say something. Her mother looked vaguely surprised, but pleased nonetheless
"Well, only to me, and like I said, I just know you too well. Don't worry, I'm sure no one else has noticed." She gave Hermione a reassuring smile "Do you want to talk about it?"
Hermione thought for a minute, she didn't really want to discuss it because that would mean thinking about it when she had been avoiding doing just that for, well, she had no-idea how long really, but she didn't want to pass up the opportunity for some advice about something she was fairly new to.
"Um, I don't know, not really, but…"
"…you want some advice?" How does she do that? Its uncanny!
"Well, yes. I just have no idea what to do in this situation, I mean I am pretty sure I like him… Ron… that is." Hermione raised her head cautiously and saw her mother smile knowingly and nod. Wow, its good to finally admit that, but this is so embarrassing, how am I supposed to say this? Hermione ducked her head again and continued "…but I, uh, well, I don't know if he likes me back, and even if he does I don't want to mess up our friendship, and what will Harry think, and what will everyone else think, and…" Now that she had finally admitted her feelings and started thinking about them, a whole hoard of unanswered questions started building up in Hermione's mind and she began to panic.
"Hermione, calm down," said her mother in a pacifying voice, "the most simple, helpful piece of advice I can give you is that this sort of thing is not something you can 'work out.'" Hermione groaned and slumped forward on the table, head in her arms as her mother continued, "there is no set answer, you just have to do what you want to, it is best not to try to predict what the consequences of your actions will be because you are bound to be wrong, just do whatever seems right at that moment." Mrs. Granger smiled at her daughter, and with a small chuckle at the face Hermione was pulling, she added "and don't worry, trust me, it isn't worth it!"
Hermione sighed but had the sense to see that this was actually very sound advice. "Thanks Mum, I do worry a bit too much don't I?" she said with a hint of a smile on her lips.
"Oh, well that is a 'Granger woman' family trait, you learn to get over it though, I mean look at me!" She smiled wryly and Hermione nodded.
"Well, you haven't done too badly if you started out anything like me! I'll give it a go…" Hermione paused, and added hopefully, "starting by going and having fun with my friends in the last two weeks of my summer holidays?" She crossed her fingers and looked up expectantly at her mother.
Mrs. Granger smiled and rolled her eyes. "Well, I will have to discuss it with your father, but I am sure he will agree that you need to go and have some fun without us." She smiled at the delighted expression that Hermione was now sporting. "Go on, send Ron an owl saying 'thank you very much' and tell him that you can go. Oh, and don't forget to thank Mr. and Mrs. Weasley for inviting you!"
Hermione huffed, "Mum, I am not that ill mannered! Have a little faith!"
Mrs. Granger smiled and nodded her head in acquiescence, "I do Hermione, you make me very proud you know."
Hermione blushed and nodded, pleased at the praise but slightly shy at accepting it.
Mrs. Granger paused a moment in thought, then continued, "Oh, and Hermione?"
As their eyes met once again, Hermione saw a glint in her mother's eyes, which she recognised unmistakeably as mischief. "Yes…?" she prompted unsurely.
"Make sure this Ron boy appreciates what he is getting, will you? He is a very lucky young man."
Hermione grinned "Oh don't worry Mum, I'm hardly about to fall at his feet like Lavender and Parvati would!" Seeing the mildly confused look that crossed her mother's face at the mention of these two names, she waved her hand to dismiss the comment. "Forget it, sorry, I just mean that although the situation is not entirely in my hands, I'm not planning on making it too easy for him!"
"Alright love," replied Mrs. Granger with a smile "I hope it all turns out the way you want it to"
"Thanks Mum" replied Hermione, feeling immensely grateful that her Mother had been so understanding about the whole situation. With a last smile, she placed a quick kiss on Mrs. Granger's cheek and went back upstairs to write the letter.
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Dearest Darling Ronald (cough cough splutter!),
I am NOT grouchy. I just care a little about my work! And I am not sure whether I should be happy that you won't be gloating when I get to your house or angry that you have driven poor Ginny up the wall! Either way, I suppose one of us will have killed (or at least severely harmed) you by the end of the summer so I don't suppose it matters! Are you still looking forward to seeing me? Well it doesn't really matter, because, in case you hadn't realised, I can come! I suggest you invest in a few bodyguards, perhaps Fred and George would oblige!
O.K, seriously, I am really looking forward to coming, and I am sure it will be good for Harry to get out of that house, he must be really miserable. If you could pick me up on the way to his that would be great! Just one thing though, if you haven't started your work by the time I get to your house, I won't be speaking to you for the rest of the holidays.
Happy Studying!
Love Hermione
xxx
Hermione smiled at the last few lines of her letter, Nothing like a little bribery to get him started on his work! She folded up the parchment, addressed it to Ron and then looked up as she prepared herself for the task ahead… SOMEHOW she was going to have to get that owl to stay still for long enough to tie her letter to his leg!