"Ginny! Ginny!" He entered Ginny's apartment and noticed a weird pair of boots which looked like they would suit well for camping or something of the sort.

'Funny. I thought Ginny was getting married, not going camping. Maybe Harry has developed a weird liking for camping boots? He shrugged off the thoughts about Harry and his sister. Once he had apparated to Ginny's apartment without checking with her first. He was not about to make the same mistake twice, so he decided on making as much racket a possible to warn them of his arrival.

"Ginny! Do you think the animals are going to heal themselves today, just because you and Harry have decided that you are going to have a honeymoon rehearsal?"

He made it to the living room and saw that someone as sleeping on the sofa.

'What's this? They had a fight? Ginny made Harry sleep on the sofa? That be a fist. Damn! Mom'll have kittens when she hears. She's so fussed about the wedding even without this. Every time I see them I feel like I have walked in on at least a heated snogging session if not more and now they are fighting? Just a mere 2 weeks before the Big Day?'

The someone groaned in their sleep under the covers and said something in Portuguese or Spanish, as far as Ron could tell.

'What? Harry brought another woman HERE? Or maybe they had some kind of a weird trio… NO! This is your sister and best mate you are thinking about!'

His fury got the best of him and he pulled off the covers. The someone was lying on her tummy and her silky nightgown was riding up on her thighs so it barely covered her bum. Ron stared in awe. Even his mouth was hanging open.

'Ginny and…'

Before he could for a coherent thought, the someone was suddenly on her two feet and pointing her wand at his chest.

"I'm sorry. I never meant to…" That was about all he could splutter out before the someone flipped her hair out of her face.

"Hermione!"

Ron. Ronald Weasly. Ronald Bilius Weasly. She had registered him shouting but had assumed it was just a very twisted dream she was having thanks to the alcohol she had consumed the previous night. But no. She was obviously not one of fate's favourites. This could only happen to her. The one person she didn't want to see would just happen to march in and find her in this utterly and completely defenceless position. Flaming red hair that was a bit bleached by the sun, freckles, has more of a tan than when she last saw him .

'Where did he get tanned? Was he taller? Or was he more muscular? What on earth are you thinking woman! You hate him! Hate! Got it?'

"Oh this is too much! My head is throbbing like mad, I wished to avoid you until the wedding day and now you've barged in on this godforsaken hour while I am half naked! How did you find out I was coming and why are you here?" Hermione was staring at him with so much hate he thought he would drop down dead at the same moment, but all he could do was stare at her.

"What are you staring at? Oh you chose this moment because now you have the advantages, right? I am naked and you're fully clothed. Nice Weasly, nice!"

Ron managed to close his mouth and decided to clear his brain of the coherent thoughts that were forming there because as far as he could tell Hermione was winning this battle of words.

"Weasly? Since when am I Weasly to you Hermione? And I didn't know you were coming. Speaking of you coming… Why haven't I been informed of your arrival from The End of Never land back to London? Don't you think I have a right to know?"

He took a step forward and pointed his index finger towards Hermione as if this was going to get his meaning through.

"You? Have a right to know?" Hermiones brows were almost melting together with her hairline by now. "Have you completely lost your marbles Weasly?"

"Lost my marbles? NO! But I think you might have!"

"No, no. This is too much so early in the morning. I need a cigarette…" Hermione was mumbling to herself but Ron heard it anyway.

"Cigarette? Hermione!"

"Oh I really don't need a mother right about now!Petrificus Totalus! " Ron's body went rigid and he fell to the floor with a thump. "But I'll be sure to let you know when I am in desperate need of nagging and overprotective anger bursts!"

At that exact moment Ginny stepped in.

"What the hell? Oh its you Ron." She calmed visibly and cast her brother a look full of amusement and false pity. Then she started to pull a huge sweater (probably Harry's) on. Ron's eyes darted wildly from one woman to the other. One in a threateningly skimpy nightgown and the other one pulling on a huge sweater over her matchingly skimpy nightclothes.

"I need a smoke." Hermione padded towards the balcony. Rons eyes never left her. 'She was right. This is too much.'

"Finite Incantatem!" Ginny helped Ron up.

"Cloud you so kindly tell me, big brother, what brings you here on this godforsaken hour?" Ron was still casting glances toward the balcony door. He could see Hermione - HIS Hermione- puffing out smoke like the Hogwarts Express.

"Godforsaken hour! I am sorry Ginerva Wealsy if you still don't know what the right time is, even though you do have two time tellers." He pointed towards her wizards clock which was pointing to LATE and her watch which currently read 10 o'clock.

"Its 10 already! My god! I'm going to be so late!"

"Hate to correct you but you already are terribly late, sister dear."

"Wait. What day is this?"

"Wednesday." Ron was barking out answers like a raged pitbull.

"Ronnie! This is my day off! Didn't you read the sign on the door of my business?"

"Well, no. But there is something wrong with Pig and I didn't have time to read the bloody signs you hang up!"

"Alright. Calm down! I'll swing by the office later and examine him. Just leave him with me for the time being."

"Calm down? Have you noticed HER out there on the balcony? That's bloody Hermione! Hermione Granger? Remember? Do you have the sudden urge to explain Gin? What on earth is my Hermione doing on your balcony imitating a locomotive?"

"You said my Hermione!"

"No I didn't!"

"Yes you did!"

"NO I DID NOT!" Ron's face wascrimson from the rage he was feeling. He breathed in an out a few timesto calm himself. "Now Ginny would you please be so kind to tell me what the hell is going on here?"

"Hermione is my friend and she can visit whenever she pleases." Ron stared at her so hard that Ginny believed green boils would erupt on her face. "She's here for my wedding."

"And you haven't even thought about informing ME?"

"I fail to see how it is your business anymore where Hermione is."

"Excuse me? Ginny are you a raving lunatic?"

"No. But it seems to me you are about to turn into one. I can already see the first signs. Do you want a sedative?" Ginny was looking amused and defensive at the same time. "If Hermione pleases she will search you out."

"Ginny! Could you fix up a sobering potion?" Hermione had poked her head in through the glass doors of the balcony.

"Sure thing."

"Sobering potion? Have you two been drinking?" Ron sounded scandalised as he was starting around. His eyes found the empty butterbeer bottles alongside the whisky bottle.

"That? You two drank all that? Merlin's beard! That could've taken down a troll!"

"Ron! Leave Pig here and go. Aren't you supposed to be at work?" Ron wasn't paying any attention to her, instead he was staring at Hermione through the glass doors.

"What's happened to her? She's nothing but skin and bones."

Ron sounded very concerned and Ginny was torn between the pain so evident in her brothers face, and the fact that she had promised Hermione she wouldn't have to meet Ron before the wedding. Since Ron was already in her apartment, Ginny deduced that it would be her mission to spare Hermione any more descomfort.

"I'll…I'll owl you later ok?"

Ron's face betrayed that he was not going anywhere.

"Come on Ron. She is obviously willing to spend the rest of the day out there, unless you leave."

Ron cast glance in Ginny's direction and proceeded towards the balcony.

"Oh no Ron! No you won't." But the person being called after was already wrenching the doors to the balcony open and stepping outside.

Hermione stared him straight in the eye with eyes so full of hate that Ginny believed Ron would find himself soon somewhere in the Kalahari desert.

Hermione expected him to say something, anything but instead he took the cigarette from between her lips, stepped on it and was gone before she could register.

"Hermione? Are you ok?" Ginny sounded worried.

'Didn't I promise Hermione just yesterday that she would not have to see my brother? Well now that Ron knows she is back in London, he isn't about to make keeping my promises to Hermione easy.'

Hermione was definitely shaken, surprised and something else Ginny could not quite make out from her eyes. She thought she saw pain and love? But the next moment Hermione cast a look down onto Diagon Alley and when she looked back into Ginny's eyes it was all gone. Nothing. The mask was back on.

"Oh I'm fine. He just wasted a perfectly good cigarette, that's all." She even managed to smile. If Ginny had not witnessed the moment before she would have thought it never existed.

'So this is how good you are at hiding your feelings Hermione.' She wasn't about to interrogate Hermione about how she actually felt after seeing Ron again over 5 years.

Hermione interrupted her thoughts saying that she was going to take a shower.

"Dou you want a towel?"

"Wow. Harry really is rubbing off on you, isn't he?" She winked at Ginny. "You are so Muggleish. Towel. I haven't been offered a towel in … 5 years. But I'll just use my wand, thanks."

Ginny looked down onto Diagon Alley and sighed. 'Things would have been so different if…'

She shuddered and hopped from one foot to the other feeling the cold stone under her feet. She cast a permanent warming charm on the stones and looking pleased with herself conjured a table and two chairs, although she had already decided to take Hermione to the Leaky Cauldron for breakfast.

She let herself have a quiet moment of memories, looking down at Diagon Alley and remembering how they had all bought books, wands and robes for school. How they had gone to Floren Fortescues to have ice cream, to the broom shop to gaze at the new brooms with all other Quiddich fans, the Leaky Cauldron for strong butterbeers and as time went on. And then when she thought they could finally have a normal quiet life…

"I'm done Ginny and all ready to wreak havoc on the shops of London." Hermiones voice floated to the balcony. "What exactly do you have planned? Muggle London? Diagon Alley? Dress fittings? Picking out the flowers for your bouquet?" She stepped onto the balcony in one of Ginny's bathrobes. "Hope you don't mind? I picked the one I could not see through." She smiled devilishly at her friend.

"Well…yes… Me and Harry… got a little carried away…. Must have forgotten it." She blushed the infamous Weasly blush and looked towards a man trying to sell balloons that shouted compliments every 5 seconds. "Actually the dress is being taken care of and we can add a few final touches before the wedding if we want to."

"Being taken care of? Add a few final touches? Ginny? Would you care to explain?" Hermione was looking slightly confused. If it had been her wedding she would have made sure that everything, absolutely everything was going smoothly, but Ginny didn't seem the slightest bit concerned about her dress which was, after all, the main concern for many women. She conjured up two mugs of hot chocolate which twirled a bit and then settled down to sit (literally, they had two little legs) before them on the table.

"Alright. Now out with it!" Hermione took a seat at the table and inhaled the fresh smell of the hot chocolate

"Umm.. Fleur is designing it."

"Fleur? As in Fleur Delacour?"

"No. As in Fleur Weasly, remember? I hear she has her own line of clothes now in France and she is quite good. Lavender filled me in and was awfully excited when she heard that Fleur agreed to design my dress. I have to admit that the top that Lavender was wearing looked good but a wedding dress is a whole different thing." She turned her worry-filled eyes towards Hermione. "I mean… It's my special day but I just couldn't tell Fleur that I didn't want her to do my dress when we talked through the fire last week. You should have seen her. I bet she would have jumped if she could have but seeing as she was kneeling in front of the fire because she is so far along she couldn't quite manage that."

Hermione laughed. "She's pregnant?"

"Yes. Again. I don't know what she and Bill are doing." The woman before her rolled her eyes.

"Well, I have quite a good idea…" Hermione teased.

"Oh shut up. You disgusting woman. Bill is my brother!" Ginny also giggled. "Well, actually its not that I don't like Fleur…"

"Well, yes I can see that. You used to call her Phlegm. Fleur is a major improvement."

"…its just that I hope I don't look like a fashion freak." Ginnygazed downtoward her pink toenails. "If I do…will you help me make some last minute changes?"

She stared hopefully at her friend who was giggling madly, obviously imagining Ginny as a fashion freak.

Hermione managed to control her laughter a bit and reassured Ginny, saying that she would conjure up a whole new dress if she had to.

"Wow. What have you mixed in this? Its great … especially on a morning like this." Ginny was currently making strange faces as she was trying to guess what the secret ingredients of Hermiones hot chocolate were.

"Well Sherlock, any luck?" Hermione sipped her drink looking very pleased with herself.

"Hmm…lemon peel?" She concentrated and tried once more. "And something spicy?"

"Yes. Lemon peel and chilli powder and a little bit of ginger. The best for a small cold, loneliness or hangover." She swallowed another gulp. "One more cigarette and I'll be ready for the day. Where to first?"

Hermione noticed the disapproval in her friends eyes but decided to ignore it as she lighted another one "to start her day".

"You know…Ron compared you… "

"Don't want to know what HE thinks. Don't care what HE thinks." The woman sitiing across the table from Ginny, wore the mask of indifference so perfectly, you might have thought that she actually didn't know the person they had just been talking about.

"Alright, alright. Well… first I think we'll go to Muggle London. I've really grown to love some shops. We'll meet Harry for lunch…well late lunch, that is. You do want to see Harry, right?" Seeing Hermione nod eagerly in agreement she continued, "… and then hit Diagon Alley. We'll swing by here, compare our newly found treasures and off to the Burrow for dinner."

"What? Wait, wait. Burrow? Dinner? No. Definitely not." Hermione inhaled such a large amout of smoke, that Ginny thought she wanted to finish her cigarette

"Why not? Mom will hex me when she finds out that you were in London as much as two weeks before the wedding and I didn't give her the chance to stuff you with food. Looking at you now I think she'll want to do that even more than before."

"Ginny…It's not Molly and Arthur…You know that…I'd love to see them." Hermione's mask was crumbling a bit, as she turned to look down at the bustling Diagon Alley, attempting to fight tears.

"Wait. You think that Ron still lives at the Burrow, don't you?" Seeing Hermiones confused look she burst out laughing. "No. He has his own flat now. Much too big for one person you ask me… Well, I'm blabbering. You're coming and that's final. We'll bring Harry so we can save you from their interrogation, okay?"

"Alright, alright Ginny." How could the little witch speak so much in so few breaths? "You make my head spin."

"Harry says the same thing but then I am wearing considerably less clothes."

"Okay. I did not HAVE to know that. Harry is still like a brother to me, remember?" Hermione put out her cigarette and got up. "Alright. Off to the shower with you. We've wasted enough time if we want to make it to the Burrow by dinner time."

"The shower? Do I smell," Ginny asked jokingly. "Well alright. You go and pick out some clothes from my closet. You can't go out looking like… well…like you did yesterday."

"What? What did I look like?"

"Well…like the woman from the Muggle movie…what was she called… hmm…gosh…Harry and I rented the video once…. Ahh…right… like Lara Croft from the Tomb Raider."

"Ginny!"

The one being called after in a shocked voice had however fled the balcony and headed towards the bathroom as fast as she could.

A/N: Sorry it took so long. Hope you enjoyed, though. I appreciate feedback and constructive criticism but flames are just pointless in my eyes and will go unnoticed, so don't bother. Don't you just wish, that sometimes you could just freeze the whole moment or some people in it? I do.

I appreciate the time you have taken to read. Thank you all, who bothered to review the first chapter.

Lindsay.