Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, so please don't sue me!
1. Meeting at the Burrow
Harry was sitting up in his room at the Dursleys at Privet Drive number 4, and was checking his things to make sure everything was packed. In a while Mr Weasley would come and pick him up and they would go to back home to the Burrow. It would be fun to see his friends Ron and Hermione again, plus all the other Weasleys, the twins Fred and George, Ginny, Mr and Mrs Weasley. It would even be nice to see Percy after this summer. Although Dudley had let him be alone most of the time, Harry had worked harder than usual with the washing and cleaning. Harry knew this was the Dursleys way of punishing him for coming back alive from Hogwarts this year too.
"At least it's good exercise," Harry thought to himself. This was quite true. Because Harry had worked so hard during the summer, he was no longer as skinny as before. Now he had a more normal build, plus the fact that he was a bit taller. And there was sure to be more exercise during the autumn, with Harry's Quidditch-training and all. When Harry hadn't slaved for the Dursleys he had been left alone up in his room. He had longed to see his friends, which he had written to all summer. Harry was checking another time to see that all was packed, when uncle Vernon entered the room.
"Weren't they supposed to be here now?" he asked Harry impatiently.
"In five minutes," Harry answered. Uncle Vernon made a grunt that Harry knew meant that he should take his things and go down to the hall and wait. When he was down in the hall Harry began thinking of how Mr Weasley would come and pick him up this time, but he didn't have time to think more on that matter since the doorbell rang. Uncle Vernon opened and there stood Mr Weasley.
"Good day," Mr Weasley said to uncle Vernon. Uncle Vernon didn't say anything but seemed relieved that Mr Weasley hadn't come through the fireplace this time to pick up Harry. "Is Harry ready?" Mr Weasley asked cautiously.
"I'm all done, Mr Weasley," answered Harry behind uncle Vernon (who was very efficiently blocking the view). Uncle Vernon moved aside so Harry could go through.
"Good, then let's go, Harry" said Mr Weasley to Harry. They went outside, and Harry was pleased that Mr Weasley didn't try to make the Dursleys say goodbye to Harry. The last time he had tried that he had become the target for several flower pots thrown by aunt Petunia. Once outside Harry saw that Mr Weasley had a new car, a exactly same Ford Anglia as the last one, only orange in colour this time. Mr Weasley saw Harry's reaction to it.
"Yes, I managed to get an new car," he said to Harry, who now noticed that no one else than Mr Weasley had come to pick him up. Harry was a bit disappointed because of this, and this also Mr Weasley noticed. "Ron and Ginny wanted to come along and get you, but they had other things to do." Harry was a little relieved by the explanation. Mr Weasley opened the baggage compartment and Harry put his trunk in it and put Hedwig in her cage in the backseat. The he sat down on the front passenger seat, while Mr Weasley sat down at the drivers seat and started the car.
"So, how was your summer?" Mr Weasley asked Harry with a smile as he started driving the car down the street.
"Alright, thanks for asking," Harry answered. "And you? Everyone's good?"
"Oh yes, a little work at the ministry only. But otherwise it's fine, but you now that already, of course." Harry knew that Mr Weasley meant Harry exchanging letters with Ron, who had told him everything that had happened over the summer. They went on talking about different things during the trip, when the car suddenly made a loud bang and a blue cloud of smoke erupted from it.
"What the..?" Mr Weasley started, but was interrupted by yet another bang and another cloud of smoke, this time a dark red colour. "Well, it's only a little further. We'll probably make it home..." Although the two of them became more uncertain of this when a light green cloud of smoke erupted from the engine. The car now begun shaking, the engine not sound well at all. "It alright, were almost there..." Mr Weasley said, half to assure Harry it was okay, half to assure himself of the same thing. Harry just hoped the car would stay in one piece.
When they finally arrived at the Burrow Harry was greeted by Fred and George.
"Oy! Harry!" said Fred. "Nice to see you!"
"Yeah, we were almost starting to wonder if those muggles wouldn't let you go," said George. Harry chuckled at the thought of the Dursleys keeping him at Privet Drive number 4 out of free will.
"No, that wasn't what happened," said Harry, a moment before a another cloud of smoke erupted from the car. This time it was purple. Mr Weasley tried desperately to understand what was wrong with the car, when he got an expression on his face that said "So, that's why!" He turned to Fred and George, who tried to look as innocent as possible. This only made them look more guilty.
"George?"
"Yes, Fred?"
"Did we clean the engine after we did the experiments?" George looked, if possible, even more guilty than before. At last he spoke to Fred again.
"Wasn't you supposed to do that?" Fred immediately looked really pissed off.
"Oh no! That was YOUR job, we agreed on that!" The twins started arguing with each other, but stopped quickly when they saw Mr Weasley's rather angry expression.
"Uh... We'll help Harry take his things inside," said Fred quickly. Fred the grabbed hold of Harry's trunk, and George took Hedwig's cage at the same time as he grabbed Harry. The twins ran towards the house with Harry being dragged along. When they were inside the house they went up to Ron's room and put Harry's things on the floor.
"What did you do to the car?" Harry asked.
"Oh, just testing some products," said Fred.
"Ah, I see," said Harry, smiling as he remembered one of the twins old products, the canary cream cookies. Then he came to think of something. "Where is everybody? I didn't see anyone when we came in."
"Mom's out shopping, and the others are out on the back yard," said George.
"Ron's training to get on the team this year," said Fred.
"Well let's go out there then," said Harry. They went down the stairs and out to the back yard. Once out there Harry saw Ron flying around on his broomstick, and at same time tried to hit some balls which had to server as bludgers. The balls was thrown by a girl on another broomstick. "I didn't know Hermione could play Quidditch, or fly a broomstick for that matter," Harry thought to himself. But there was something about her that wasn't quite right. The hair was to neat and straight, especially as she was flying around on the broomstick. It also seemed to have a more red colour than the usual brown one. "She's probably found some way to keep it straightened by, and she's probably died it for fun. Or so that she and Ron would look more like a couple," Harry thought.
Hermione and Ron had become a couple during the summer. Viktor Krum had asked Hermione if she wanted to come and stay with him in Bulgaria for a few weeks. When she told Ron about in a letter, he ran down to the fireplace to use the floo network to get over to her house. Totally surprised Mr and Mrs Granger had choked on their tea when Ron had appeared in the living room fireplace, where Mr and Mrs Granger where having afternoon tea.
"Hi, where's Hermione?" Ron asked, out of breath from running down the stairs at the burrow, as soon as had had got out of the fireplace. Mr Granger pointed to the stairs and managed to get out that it was the first room on the right on the second floor. Ron ran up the stairs and knocked on the door.
"Come in," answered Hermione's voice from inside the room. Ron opened the door and sped in to the room where a surprised Hermione sat on the bed with a book in her arms, with Crookshanks the cat at her side. "Ron. What are you doing here?"
"You...can't...go...Hermione..." said Ron, still out of breath. He calmed down a bit and continued. "I'll lock you up if that if what takes to keep you here."
"Ron, now your just being silly! For the last time, Viktor is NOT as mean as he may look and it's COMPLETELY safe in Bulgaria!"
"That's not why I'm asking you to stay."
"Well then, why is it?" Hermione asked, slightly ticked that Ron couldn't accept anything she did with Krum. Ron took a deep breath and prepared for what he was about to say. "Here we go..." he thought to himself.
Hermione was beginning to realise what he was going to say. "Oh my God! That's it! He's in love with me! That's why he's been so hostile towards Viktor! Because he's in love with ME! Oh my God!" Hermione thought in about two and a half seconds. "Ron..." Hermione started uncertainly, but Ron interrupted her.
"No, wait a minute! I have to say this while I still have the guts to say it!" Hermione nodded, and Ron took another deep breath. "You can't go because...because...if you go you and Krum will become better friends during the time you're there and maybe, which I'm afraid of, more than friends... That's why I can't let you go, because then I would lose you. I love you, I really do. And when I say that I don't mean as a friend, but...more than as a friend... I've never felt like this about any girl before. I love you. Please don't go!" Slightly out of breath he ended his spontaneous little speech. Hermione had tears in her eyes. "Oh no... I've made the biggest mistake of my life..." Ron thought to himself.. He started to walk towards the door to go back down the stairs and go back home to the Burrow, lock himself in his room and never ever come out again.
"Ron, wait!" Hermione called out, her voice cracked. Ron turned towards her. "That's not why I'm crying, not because you said that! Or, yes it is, but only because I'm so happy you said it!" Ron felt more relived than ever, it felt like an mountain had been lifted from his chest. The next moment Hermione jumped up from the bed, put her arms around Ron, and gave him kiss. The first second or so Ron was shocked over what Hermione had done, but then kissed her back. He felt warm all over, and wondered why he hadn't done this sooner. Hermione felt the same thing, also wondering why she hadn't done this sooner. They stopper kissing after a about ten seconds, both of them slightly out of breath. And then Hermione said something that Ron had longed for her to say, even though understood now that she felt that way.
"I love you too, Ron." Ron just smiled and they kissed again. Then they both went down to Hermiones parents in the living room. Both adults had big smiles. "Oh... So you heard that?" said Hermione, slightly uncomfortable that her parents had listened.
"Every word," said Mr Granger and smiled, if possible, even wider. "Good work, boy," he said, while Mrs Granger nodded to show that she agreed. She was so touched that she could hardly speak. She stood up and put her arms around Hermione.
"Oh, my little girl," she said, still sobbing tears of joy. She then put her arms around Ron also. Ron thought that he'd finally found a person which hugged even more crushing than his own mother, Mrs Weasley. Mrs Granger finally let go and that was good for Ron's sake, who had started to turn a blue colour by now.
"But how did you get here, Ron?" asked Hermione curiously. Ron explained that he had travelled there by the floo network. He could do this because Hermione's families fireplace had been connected to the floo network as a safety precaution when Hermione started at Hogwart's. Hermione explained to her parents what the floo network was and they looked pretty relived when they found out that it was completely normal in the wizard world. Finally it was time for Ron to get back home. He said goodbye to the Grangers, gave Hermione a peck on the cheek, took a pinch of floo powder out of his pocket and threw it into the flames. He stepped into the fireplace.
"The Burrow!" he said, loud and clear and was taken home again. After that Hermione had written to Krum and told him what had happened, and declined his invitation. Krum sent a letter where he wrote that he understood. Although, Harry was pretty sure that if there had been models of Ron (though Ron wasn't a world famous Quidditchplayer), as there were of Krum, and if Krum had owned one of those, then Mrs Krum probably would have found something looking suspiciously like little bits and parts of a model under Krum's bed. Ron had done the same thing with his model of Krum when Krum and Hermione had spent quite a lot of time together last semester. Although, Ron had denied for Harry that he'd ever done such a thing.
Ron and Hermione had seen each other quite a lot during the coming weeks, and that was why Harry wasn't surprised to see the two of them on broomsticks. Now they both landed an started walking towards Harry, Fred and George. Hermione was talking to Ron and they hadn't seen Harry yet.
"Don't you think she overdid it with colouring her hai..." Harry stopped when Ron and Hermione discovered him and waved. But it wasn't Hermione. Harry could hardly believe it, but the girl Ron had practising with was his sister, Ginny Weasley. She had changed quite a bit during the two months that had gone since he had seen here at Kings Cross station, where they all had said goodbye for the summer. Her hair had changed to a reddish bronze colour instead of the usual trademark Weasley red, she had more visible and feminine curves and she really looked more her age. But most of all it was her face that had changed. Not so much to the looks of it, no, there was something different. Sure, before the summer she had still been really cute, but then she still was cute like a little girl. Now she looked more beautiful as a young woman rather than a girl, and Harry immediately pushed every thought of Cho Chang, Rawenclaw's cute seeker, out of his mind. Ginny got her beat easily. From being startled over Ginny's beauty he literally gaped as a goldfish. Fred and George noticed this.
"Ah, yes, *sob* our little sister have grown up so fast *sob*" said Fred with obviously fake sobs, and dried a imagined tear. Harry didn't take his eyes of Ginny, who now smiled towards him, a slight blush present on her face. Harry immediately felt the same feeling he'd felt every time Cho had smiled towards him, only about twenty times stronger. Harry blushed heavily. Ron and Ginny had now reached the spot were the three others were standing. "Hi Harry!" said Ron, who at first didn't notice Harry's heavy blush. "How was your trip?" Harry snapped out of his surprise over Ginny's looks and looked at Ron. To his surprise Ron's face wasn't were it had been before the summer, but about 4 inches further up. Evidently Harry wasn't the only on who'd grown over the summer. Harry now looked slightly up towards Ron's face.
"Fine, thanks," said Harry. "But you might want to ask Gred n' Forge here about that." Ron and Ginny looked at Fred and George, who once again looked guiltily innocent.
"Let me guess, you forgot to clean the engine after the experiments, right?" said Ginny to Fred and George. Harry thought that even Ginny's voice sounded more beautiful than before. Once again the slight blush became present on Harry's face, and at the same time Fred and George began fighting over who's fault the whole "engine incident" was. Now Ginny looked at Harry.
"Eh...hi, Harry..." she said looking at her feet, with a heavy blush present in her face. Harry's mind now got overheated by the whole thing, and he had to express it somehow. This resulted in him giving out a low giggling sound.
"Eh...yes...hi, Ginny..." said Harry, also looking at his feet and with an even heavier blush in his face. Ron noticed this, and found it strange that both Ginny AND Harry was acting so odd.
"Are you feeling all right, Harry?" asked Ron. "You look a little bit strange." This lead to Harry's becoming even heavier than before, in part because Ron had noticed, and in part because Harry saw that Ginny also had noticed. The colour of Harry's blush now rivalled the colour of Ron's hair.
"Hi Harry!" said a voice behind Harry. He turned around and there was Hermione, a big smile present on her face. Hermione had also got more feminine curves over the summer, but the change was not as drastic as Ginny's. Hermione also noticed that both Harry and Ginny had a deep red colour on their faces, but she didn't say anything for now. "How was your trip?"
"Fine, thanks," said Harry. "And you?"
"Same here, just fine." Ron now went up to Hermione, hugged her, bent down and gave a peck on the lips.
"Hi there..." he said warmly to her.
"Hi there yourself..." she said back, equally as warm. For a second Harry got the idea of doing the same thing with Ginny that Ron and Hermione had just done, but the rational part of him won just in time. Otherwise he might very well have done it. He looked at Ginny. She seemed to have had the same inner battle that Harry just have had. Harry swallowed.
"Shall we go inside?" asked George, who now had stopped fighting with Fred. "Mom will want to welcome you two." Fred and George went in first, followed by Harry and Ginny, who both still were very red. About ten feet behind them came Ron and Hermione, walking closely together.
"Does Harry like Ginny?" Hermione asked Ron quietly.
"I don't know," he answered, equally as quiet. "But is seems that way, seeing how he's behaving towards her."
"Okay, you'll check with him later and I'll check with Ginny if she still likes him." Ron rolled his eyes, as if the answer was obvious.
"Of course she is! Didn't you see how she behaved just now?" Hermione hushed to be quiet so that Harry and Ginny wouldn't hear him.
"Yeah, your probably right... But I'll check it with her later on, okay?"
"Okay." They continued into the house.
Inside Mrs Weasley had come back home. She immediately caught sight of Harry and flung her arms around him.
"Hi, Harry!" she said as Harry was trying his best to breathe through Mrs Weasley's crushing embrace. "Had a good summer?"
"Hi, Mrs Weasley. I had an okay summer, thanks for asking," he finally managed to get out. "Did your shopping go well?"
"Yes, it went fine!" Mrs Weasley now broke her crushing embrace. "But where's Ron and Hermione?" At that moment Ron and Hermione entered through the door, still walking closely together. They hadn't seen that Mrs Weasley had come home yet. But once they did, they quickly moved apart. Mrs Weasley looked at them with a worried expression. "Ron and Hermione, its allowed for you to show that you're a couple in front of me. It's okay, I can accept that you're growing up, Ron," Mrs Weasley said to them with a concerned look. Ron and Hermione seemed to be a bit ashamed, and moved a bit closer to each other, although not as close as before.
"Sorry mum," said Ron. "We sort of do it automatically."
"Yes, Mrs Weasley," said Hermione. "We didn't mean to rude or anything. It just feels a little... To be doing that to your son i. front of you just feels a little..."
"...Embarrassing," said Ron. Mrs Weasley now looked very worried.
"To do what with my son in front of me?" she asked. "It's nothing improper to show that you like each other! For god sakes! I didn't know you saw me that way! As a sour old crone who won't accept that people show their feelings the slightest bit! Hermione, you have spent enough time in this house the last few weeks to know that." Ron and Hermione now seemed to be very embarrassed, especially Hermione.
"But I expect you'll get used to it in time..." Then a smile surfaced on her face, and she embraced them both. "Lesson understood?" she asked jokingly. Ron and Hermione also smiled.
"Sure thing, mom," answered Ron.
"Yes, Mrs Weasley," answered Hermione.
"So, run along now, Dinner will be ready in half an hour," said Mrs Weasley. All the children started to go up the stairs. "Except you two. You're going to help me with making the table, among some other things, because of what you did with the car." Fred and George sighed and went down the stairs again. Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione just smiled and went on up the stairs. Once up Ginny quietly told Hermione that she was going to do something before dinner and went into her room. Harry looked after her until her door closed, and then he, Ron and Hermione went into Ron's room.
A/N: First chapter done! As you've probably noticed this chapter was a bit heavy on emotions at times, but it was necessary to establish Ron and Hermione as a couple (I'm a BIG R/H-shipper!) and to establish Harry's new- found feelings for Ginny. Some of my early reviewers (i.e. my mom) have complained about teenagers not saying "I love you", but something more like "I like you". Normally I would write it like that, but Ron was desperate, okay?! And then Hermione didn't want to worse, so she said that too.
Oh, and in case you haven't noticed, this story focuses a lot on Ron and Hermione. And so it shall be, at least as a start. Then, later, we'll see who it focuses more on ;)
Now, click the little button down to the left and review!
Emher (who began writing this in February! Although in his native language, not English)
1. Meeting at the Burrow
Harry was sitting up in his room at the Dursleys at Privet Drive number 4, and was checking his things to make sure everything was packed. In a while Mr Weasley would come and pick him up and they would go to back home to the Burrow. It would be fun to see his friends Ron and Hermione again, plus all the other Weasleys, the twins Fred and George, Ginny, Mr and Mrs Weasley. It would even be nice to see Percy after this summer. Although Dudley had let him be alone most of the time, Harry had worked harder than usual with the washing and cleaning. Harry knew this was the Dursleys way of punishing him for coming back alive from Hogwarts this year too.
"At least it's good exercise," Harry thought to himself. This was quite true. Because Harry had worked so hard during the summer, he was no longer as skinny as before. Now he had a more normal build, plus the fact that he was a bit taller. And there was sure to be more exercise during the autumn, with Harry's Quidditch-training and all. When Harry hadn't slaved for the Dursleys he had been left alone up in his room. He had longed to see his friends, which he had written to all summer. Harry was checking another time to see that all was packed, when uncle Vernon entered the room.
"Weren't they supposed to be here now?" he asked Harry impatiently.
"In five minutes," Harry answered. Uncle Vernon made a grunt that Harry knew meant that he should take his things and go down to the hall and wait. When he was down in the hall Harry began thinking of how Mr Weasley would come and pick him up this time, but he didn't have time to think more on that matter since the doorbell rang. Uncle Vernon opened and there stood Mr Weasley.
"Good day," Mr Weasley said to uncle Vernon. Uncle Vernon didn't say anything but seemed relieved that Mr Weasley hadn't come through the fireplace this time to pick up Harry. "Is Harry ready?" Mr Weasley asked cautiously.
"I'm all done, Mr Weasley," answered Harry behind uncle Vernon (who was very efficiently blocking the view). Uncle Vernon moved aside so Harry could go through.
"Good, then let's go, Harry" said Mr Weasley to Harry. They went outside, and Harry was pleased that Mr Weasley didn't try to make the Dursleys say goodbye to Harry. The last time he had tried that he had become the target for several flower pots thrown by aunt Petunia. Once outside Harry saw that Mr Weasley had a new car, a exactly same Ford Anglia as the last one, only orange in colour this time. Mr Weasley saw Harry's reaction to it.
"Yes, I managed to get an new car," he said to Harry, who now noticed that no one else than Mr Weasley had come to pick him up. Harry was a bit disappointed because of this, and this also Mr Weasley noticed. "Ron and Ginny wanted to come along and get you, but they had other things to do." Harry was a little relieved by the explanation. Mr Weasley opened the baggage compartment and Harry put his trunk in it and put Hedwig in her cage in the backseat. The he sat down on the front passenger seat, while Mr Weasley sat down at the drivers seat and started the car.
"So, how was your summer?" Mr Weasley asked Harry with a smile as he started driving the car down the street.
"Alright, thanks for asking," Harry answered. "And you? Everyone's good?"
"Oh yes, a little work at the ministry only. But otherwise it's fine, but you now that already, of course." Harry knew that Mr Weasley meant Harry exchanging letters with Ron, who had told him everything that had happened over the summer. They went on talking about different things during the trip, when the car suddenly made a loud bang and a blue cloud of smoke erupted from it.
"What the..?" Mr Weasley started, but was interrupted by yet another bang and another cloud of smoke, this time a dark red colour. "Well, it's only a little further. We'll probably make it home..." Although the two of them became more uncertain of this when a light green cloud of smoke erupted from the engine. The car now begun shaking, the engine not sound well at all. "It alright, were almost there..." Mr Weasley said, half to assure Harry it was okay, half to assure himself of the same thing. Harry just hoped the car would stay in one piece.
When they finally arrived at the Burrow Harry was greeted by Fred and George.
"Oy! Harry!" said Fred. "Nice to see you!"
"Yeah, we were almost starting to wonder if those muggles wouldn't let you go," said George. Harry chuckled at the thought of the Dursleys keeping him at Privet Drive number 4 out of free will.
"No, that wasn't what happened," said Harry, a moment before a another cloud of smoke erupted from the car. This time it was purple. Mr Weasley tried desperately to understand what was wrong with the car, when he got an expression on his face that said "So, that's why!" He turned to Fred and George, who tried to look as innocent as possible. This only made them look more guilty.
"George?"
"Yes, Fred?"
"Did we clean the engine after we did the experiments?" George looked, if possible, even more guilty than before. At last he spoke to Fred again.
"Wasn't you supposed to do that?" Fred immediately looked really pissed off.
"Oh no! That was YOUR job, we agreed on that!" The twins started arguing with each other, but stopped quickly when they saw Mr Weasley's rather angry expression.
"Uh... We'll help Harry take his things inside," said Fred quickly. Fred the grabbed hold of Harry's trunk, and George took Hedwig's cage at the same time as he grabbed Harry. The twins ran towards the house with Harry being dragged along. When they were inside the house they went up to Ron's room and put Harry's things on the floor.
"What did you do to the car?" Harry asked.
"Oh, just testing some products," said Fred.
"Ah, I see," said Harry, smiling as he remembered one of the twins old products, the canary cream cookies. Then he came to think of something. "Where is everybody? I didn't see anyone when we came in."
"Mom's out shopping, and the others are out on the back yard," said George.
"Ron's training to get on the team this year," said Fred.
"Well let's go out there then," said Harry. They went down the stairs and out to the back yard. Once out there Harry saw Ron flying around on his broomstick, and at same time tried to hit some balls which had to server as bludgers. The balls was thrown by a girl on another broomstick. "I didn't know Hermione could play Quidditch, or fly a broomstick for that matter," Harry thought to himself. But there was something about her that wasn't quite right. The hair was to neat and straight, especially as she was flying around on the broomstick. It also seemed to have a more red colour than the usual brown one. "She's probably found some way to keep it straightened by, and she's probably died it for fun. Or so that she and Ron would look more like a couple," Harry thought.
Hermione and Ron had become a couple during the summer. Viktor Krum had asked Hermione if she wanted to come and stay with him in Bulgaria for a few weeks. When she told Ron about in a letter, he ran down to the fireplace to use the floo network to get over to her house. Totally surprised Mr and Mrs Granger had choked on their tea when Ron had appeared in the living room fireplace, where Mr and Mrs Granger where having afternoon tea.
"Hi, where's Hermione?" Ron asked, out of breath from running down the stairs at the burrow, as soon as had had got out of the fireplace. Mr Granger pointed to the stairs and managed to get out that it was the first room on the right on the second floor. Ron ran up the stairs and knocked on the door.
"Come in," answered Hermione's voice from inside the room. Ron opened the door and sped in to the room where a surprised Hermione sat on the bed with a book in her arms, with Crookshanks the cat at her side. "Ron. What are you doing here?"
"You...can't...go...Hermione..." said Ron, still out of breath. He calmed down a bit and continued. "I'll lock you up if that if what takes to keep you here."
"Ron, now your just being silly! For the last time, Viktor is NOT as mean as he may look and it's COMPLETELY safe in Bulgaria!"
"That's not why I'm asking you to stay."
"Well then, why is it?" Hermione asked, slightly ticked that Ron couldn't accept anything she did with Krum. Ron took a deep breath and prepared for what he was about to say. "Here we go..." he thought to himself.
Hermione was beginning to realise what he was going to say. "Oh my God! That's it! He's in love with me! That's why he's been so hostile towards Viktor! Because he's in love with ME! Oh my God!" Hermione thought in about two and a half seconds. "Ron..." Hermione started uncertainly, but Ron interrupted her.
"No, wait a minute! I have to say this while I still have the guts to say it!" Hermione nodded, and Ron took another deep breath. "You can't go because...because...if you go you and Krum will become better friends during the time you're there and maybe, which I'm afraid of, more than friends... That's why I can't let you go, because then I would lose you. I love you, I really do. And when I say that I don't mean as a friend, but...more than as a friend... I've never felt like this about any girl before. I love you. Please don't go!" Slightly out of breath he ended his spontaneous little speech. Hermione had tears in her eyes. "Oh no... I've made the biggest mistake of my life..." Ron thought to himself.. He started to walk towards the door to go back down the stairs and go back home to the Burrow, lock himself in his room and never ever come out again.
"Ron, wait!" Hermione called out, her voice cracked. Ron turned towards her. "That's not why I'm crying, not because you said that! Or, yes it is, but only because I'm so happy you said it!" Ron felt more relived than ever, it felt like an mountain had been lifted from his chest. The next moment Hermione jumped up from the bed, put her arms around Ron, and gave him kiss. The first second or so Ron was shocked over what Hermione had done, but then kissed her back. He felt warm all over, and wondered why he hadn't done this sooner. Hermione felt the same thing, also wondering why she hadn't done this sooner. They stopper kissing after a about ten seconds, both of them slightly out of breath. And then Hermione said something that Ron had longed for her to say, even though understood now that she felt that way.
"I love you too, Ron." Ron just smiled and they kissed again. Then they both went down to Hermiones parents in the living room. Both adults had big smiles. "Oh... So you heard that?" said Hermione, slightly uncomfortable that her parents had listened.
"Every word," said Mr Granger and smiled, if possible, even wider. "Good work, boy," he said, while Mrs Granger nodded to show that she agreed. She was so touched that she could hardly speak. She stood up and put her arms around Hermione.
"Oh, my little girl," she said, still sobbing tears of joy. She then put her arms around Ron also. Ron thought that he'd finally found a person which hugged even more crushing than his own mother, Mrs Weasley. Mrs Granger finally let go and that was good for Ron's sake, who had started to turn a blue colour by now.
"But how did you get here, Ron?" asked Hermione curiously. Ron explained that he had travelled there by the floo network. He could do this because Hermione's families fireplace had been connected to the floo network as a safety precaution when Hermione started at Hogwart's. Hermione explained to her parents what the floo network was and they looked pretty relived when they found out that it was completely normal in the wizard world. Finally it was time for Ron to get back home. He said goodbye to the Grangers, gave Hermione a peck on the cheek, took a pinch of floo powder out of his pocket and threw it into the flames. He stepped into the fireplace.
"The Burrow!" he said, loud and clear and was taken home again. After that Hermione had written to Krum and told him what had happened, and declined his invitation. Krum sent a letter where he wrote that he understood. Although, Harry was pretty sure that if there had been models of Ron (though Ron wasn't a world famous Quidditchplayer), as there were of Krum, and if Krum had owned one of those, then Mrs Krum probably would have found something looking suspiciously like little bits and parts of a model under Krum's bed. Ron had done the same thing with his model of Krum when Krum and Hermione had spent quite a lot of time together last semester. Although, Ron had denied for Harry that he'd ever done such a thing.
Ron and Hermione had seen each other quite a lot during the coming weeks, and that was why Harry wasn't surprised to see the two of them on broomsticks. Now they both landed an started walking towards Harry, Fred and George. Hermione was talking to Ron and they hadn't seen Harry yet.
"Don't you think she overdid it with colouring her hai..." Harry stopped when Ron and Hermione discovered him and waved. But it wasn't Hermione. Harry could hardly believe it, but the girl Ron had practising with was his sister, Ginny Weasley. She had changed quite a bit during the two months that had gone since he had seen here at Kings Cross station, where they all had said goodbye for the summer. Her hair had changed to a reddish bronze colour instead of the usual trademark Weasley red, she had more visible and feminine curves and she really looked more her age. But most of all it was her face that had changed. Not so much to the looks of it, no, there was something different. Sure, before the summer she had still been really cute, but then she still was cute like a little girl. Now she looked more beautiful as a young woman rather than a girl, and Harry immediately pushed every thought of Cho Chang, Rawenclaw's cute seeker, out of his mind. Ginny got her beat easily. From being startled over Ginny's beauty he literally gaped as a goldfish. Fred and George noticed this.
"Ah, yes, *sob* our little sister have grown up so fast *sob*" said Fred with obviously fake sobs, and dried a imagined tear. Harry didn't take his eyes of Ginny, who now smiled towards him, a slight blush present on her face. Harry immediately felt the same feeling he'd felt every time Cho had smiled towards him, only about twenty times stronger. Harry blushed heavily. Ron and Ginny had now reached the spot were the three others were standing. "Hi Harry!" said Ron, who at first didn't notice Harry's heavy blush. "How was your trip?" Harry snapped out of his surprise over Ginny's looks and looked at Ron. To his surprise Ron's face wasn't were it had been before the summer, but about 4 inches further up. Evidently Harry wasn't the only on who'd grown over the summer. Harry now looked slightly up towards Ron's face.
"Fine, thanks," said Harry. "But you might want to ask Gred n' Forge here about that." Ron and Ginny looked at Fred and George, who once again looked guiltily innocent.
"Let me guess, you forgot to clean the engine after the experiments, right?" said Ginny to Fred and George. Harry thought that even Ginny's voice sounded more beautiful than before. Once again the slight blush became present on Harry's face, and at the same time Fred and George began fighting over who's fault the whole "engine incident" was. Now Ginny looked at Harry.
"Eh...hi, Harry..." she said looking at her feet, with a heavy blush present in her face. Harry's mind now got overheated by the whole thing, and he had to express it somehow. This resulted in him giving out a low giggling sound.
"Eh...yes...hi, Ginny..." said Harry, also looking at his feet and with an even heavier blush in his face. Ron noticed this, and found it strange that both Ginny AND Harry was acting so odd.
"Are you feeling all right, Harry?" asked Ron. "You look a little bit strange." This lead to Harry's becoming even heavier than before, in part because Ron had noticed, and in part because Harry saw that Ginny also had noticed. The colour of Harry's blush now rivalled the colour of Ron's hair.
"Hi Harry!" said a voice behind Harry. He turned around and there was Hermione, a big smile present on her face. Hermione had also got more feminine curves over the summer, but the change was not as drastic as Ginny's. Hermione also noticed that both Harry and Ginny had a deep red colour on their faces, but she didn't say anything for now. "How was your trip?"
"Fine, thanks," said Harry. "And you?"
"Same here, just fine." Ron now went up to Hermione, hugged her, bent down and gave a peck on the lips.
"Hi there..." he said warmly to her.
"Hi there yourself..." she said back, equally as warm. For a second Harry got the idea of doing the same thing with Ginny that Ron and Hermione had just done, but the rational part of him won just in time. Otherwise he might very well have done it. He looked at Ginny. She seemed to have had the same inner battle that Harry just have had. Harry swallowed.
"Shall we go inside?" asked George, who now had stopped fighting with Fred. "Mom will want to welcome you two." Fred and George went in first, followed by Harry and Ginny, who both still were very red. About ten feet behind them came Ron and Hermione, walking closely together.
"Does Harry like Ginny?" Hermione asked Ron quietly.
"I don't know," he answered, equally as quiet. "But is seems that way, seeing how he's behaving towards her."
"Okay, you'll check with him later and I'll check with Ginny if she still likes him." Ron rolled his eyes, as if the answer was obvious.
"Of course she is! Didn't you see how she behaved just now?" Hermione hushed to be quiet so that Harry and Ginny wouldn't hear him.
"Yeah, your probably right... But I'll check it with her later on, okay?"
"Okay." They continued into the house.
Inside Mrs Weasley had come back home. She immediately caught sight of Harry and flung her arms around him.
"Hi, Harry!" she said as Harry was trying his best to breathe through Mrs Weasley's crushing embrace. "Had a good summer?"
"Hi, Mrs Weasley. I had an okay summer, thanks for asking," he finally managed to get out. "Did your shopping go well?"
"Yes, it went fine!" Mrs Weasley now broke her crushing embrace. "But where's Ron and Hermione?" At that moment Ron and Hermione entered through the door, still walking closely together. They hadn't seen that Mrs Weasley had come home yet. But once they did, they quickly moved apart. Mrs Weasley looked at them with a worried expression. "Ron and Hermione, its allowed for you to show that you're a couple in front of me. It's okay, I can accept that you're growing up, Ron," Mrs Weasley said to them with a concerned look. Ron and Hermione seemed to be a bit ashamed, and moved a bit closer to each other, although not as close as before.
"Sorry mum," said Ron. "We sort of do it automatically."
"Yes, Mrs Weasley," said Hermione. "We didn't mean to rude or anything. It just feels a little... To be doing that to your son i. front of you just feels a little..."
"...Embarrassing," said Ron. Mrs Weasley now looked very worried.
"To do what with my son in front of me?" she asked. "It's nothing improper to show that you like each other! For god sakes! I didn't know you saw me that way! As a sour old crone who won't accept that people show their feelings the slightest bit! Hermione, you have spent enough time in this house the last few weeks to know that." Ron and Hermione now seemed to be very embarrassed, especially Hermione.
"But I expect you'll get used to it in time..." Then a smile surfaced on her face, and she embraced them both. "Lesson understood?" she asked jokingly. Ron and Hermione also smiled.
"Sure thing, mom," answered Ron.
"Yes, Mrs Weasley," answered Hermione.
"So, run along now, Dinner will be ready in half an hour," said Mrs Weasley. All the children started to go up the stairs. "Except you two. You're going to help me with making the table, among some other things, because of what you did with the car." Fred and George sighed and went down the stairs again. Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione just smiled and went on up the stairs. Once up Ginny quietly told Hermione that she was going to do something before dinner and went into her room. Harry looked after her until her door closed, and then he, Ron and Hermione went into Ron's room.
A/N: First chapter done! As you've probably noticed this chapter was a bit heavy on emotions at times, but it was necessary to establish Ron and Hermione as a couple (I'm a BIG R/H-shipper!) and to establish Harry's new- found feelings for Ginny. Some of my early reviewers (i.e. my mom) have complained about teenagers not saying "I love you", but something more like "I like you". Normally I would write it like that, but Ron was desperate, okay?! And then Hermione didn't want to worse, so she said that too.
Oh, and in case you haven't noticed, this story focuses a lot on Ron and Hermione. And so it shall be, at least as a start. Then, later, we'll see who it focuses more on ;)
Now, click the little button down to the left and review!
Emher (who began writing this in February! Although in his native language, not English)