Note: I know this chapter's longer than the others, but I felt I needed to describe the emotions a bit more in this one. So here you go…

Letters

Chapter 3

Ron roared with laughter as Hermione conjured a pink feather duster and continued to sweep the library shelves. Maybe doing it the muggle way will help take my mind off of things, she thought .She turned round hurt, thinking he was laughing at her.. She smiled.

"Honestly Ron I don't see what' so funny".

"It looks like Arnold, only bigger" he chuckled looking at the feather duster, and referring to Ginny's pygmy puff.

"Well, I suppose it does, doesn't it", she smiled; glad to be seeing Ron's happy expression for once. The last few hours in this house has tought her two things: don't look at your surroundings too long, the Black house gets quite depressing that way, and stay away from the curtains on the third floor. Already twice today had she heard the bloody hurtling screams of what had been explained to Hermione as Sirius's mother. Reminded Hermione of a muggle film she watched with her mother a few years ago: the exorcist. Only so many times could you use Silencio before the portrait fought the spell.

Something caught Hermione's eye as she continued to dust immersed in her thoughts. Ron had his knees on a desk and was sweeping the top of one of the book cases, and Hermione couldn't help but admire his lower back as it was revealed. She took this opportunity to observe him like she never had before. His muscles had definitely broadened over the summer. His hair was now short and neatly cut, although Hermione never did mind it long. His muscles in his arms flexed as he reached further to reach the back end of the book shelf. Hermione blushed at the thoughts that came to her mind as she surveyed him. He was her best friend. It wasn't right that she was doing this. If he performed occlumency on her right now she would never be able to look him in the eye again. What if…

However she was brought out of her reverie by the sound of someone yelping.

"Bloody hell" Ron shouted. He scrambled from the desk and backed away towards the door. Hermione had never seen Ron move so quickly, and she looked over at him questioningly. His face was white and he looked as though he was going to pass out. He looked glued to the spot.

"Ron? What wrong? Have you finished that shelf?" she smiled wandering what on earth could be wrong.

"I-I-I…." Ron looked at her and blushed, clearly embarrassed that Hermione had to see him in such a state. He pointed to the top most shelf and shook his head, clearly lost for words.

Hermione put down her feather duster and climbed into the position that Ron had previously been in.

"What-"She stopped dead as she noticed what Ron was so afraid of.

A spider was sitting on the corner of the bookcase. Ron's wand lay discarded and the spider was slowly creeping its way over towards it. Another thing to add to the collection Hermione thought as she spotted a few bits and bobs hidden away in the dark corner. She chuckled, looking back at Ron. However his eyes were somewhere else. How ironic she thought. Only five minutes previously was I doing the same thing. It's just teenage boys and their curiosity, she thought, there couldn't possibly be anything behind it.

She looked back quickly, determined not to embarrass Ron, and pretended she hadn't seen.

"Well, Ronald I believe you have made a little friend". She grabbed Ron's wand and put it through her belt loop on her jeans, and then muttered "Scourgify", and the dust was gone. Only the spider remained, and what Ron didn't know won't hurt him. She climbed back down and laughed at Ron who was still standing by the door.

"Oh, Ron, stop being so silly, it's gone now, there's no need to go back up there, I've cleaned that part now".

Ron stepped forwards attentively keeping his eyes on the top most bookcase.

"Silly? That thing was huge Hermione, oh, what can I ever do to thank you" the smile returned to his face as he stepped forwards.

"You can help me order these books into alphabetical order if you want", she grinned seeing the regret across Ron's face. He mumbled and agreed, not too pleased with the outcome. Just as she turned to walk towards another load of books, she felt Ron pull her back. He smirked as Hermione jumped at the sudden contact.

"Hermione?" Ron said. Her heart thudded a hundred miles an hour as she felt him grip her elbow. What could he possibly want that puts us in such close proximities? There was only one time previous that I remember being this close to him. A month or so ago, as we saw Harry land on the grass on the outside of the maze, with Cedric's body. Tears cascaded down my face as I felt for the boy's father, and I couldn't have possibly imagined what he felt like at that moment. Ron looked over at me as we watched Dumbledore take care of Harry, and he did something unexpected. He hugged me. Actually hugged me. I remember feeling guilty for feeling so euphoric as Cedric's body lay in front of us. But that was our first hug. I remember breathing in his scent as I hugged him back, nuzzling into his striped jumper. He held me tight as we watched Harry being lead inside by Moody, and Dumbledore conjuring a stretcher of which Cedric's body was placed upon. The row in front of us contained Cho Chang and her friends. She was sobbing hysterically as a blanket was placed over Cedric's body, shielding him from view. It was so quiet all a person could hear was sobs from those who knew him most . At that moment I felt a stab in my heart for the girl, and my feeling's were confirmed what I had wandered about at the Yule Ball. Ron. What if it was him lying there on that stretcher. I would never get to hold him again, or ever get the chance to kiss him. It was then that I knew how I felt. I suppose I had know for a while, but I accepted it in my own mind, no longer afraid of liking my best friend. However over the past few weeks that I had been away from Harry and Ron had I thought mainly of only one.

"Yes?"

"You have my wand". He looked down towards her waist and sure enough, there was Ron's wand, still through Hermione's belt loop, smiling as he did so. She did nothing, and so Ron reach forward and tugged the wand from her belt loop. He then walked away and started to collect the books from another shelf, starting to sort them from a to z. She stood there for a moment, collecting her thoughts. She started to get quite annoyed. He can't just come over, and pull a sexy trick like that and just walk away! She grinned as she started to pull the books down from the first shelf. This is going to be an interesting summer indeed.