A/N: Sorry this took so long, as I said, I had it written but I haven't had time to post it (poor excuse I know!). Well my fingers are too cold to type at the moment, so I'll just leave you to it!
Chapter Three.
Hermione was running round her room packing a few last-minute items into her trunk. It was ten thirty on Saturday morning and she would be leaving for the Burrow in half an hour. As she took one last look around her bedroom, she spotted some pieces of parchment on the desk. Walking over she realised that there were her letters from Ron. She paused, unsure of what to do with them, she had the wildest urge to bring them with her, although she would normally put them in the old shoebox where she kept all her letters. Come on Hermione, you're being silly, just put them in the box and go down for breakfast. But against everything her brain was saying, she took them and stuffed them inside the book she used as a Journal. Well, there's no harm in bringing them with me is there? She shut the book and placed it back in her trunk, which she then proceeded to sit on in an attempt to shut it. After much bouncing and shoving, she finally managed to shut the trunk and stood up with a triumphant grin. It was at this point that she caught sight of herself in the mirror; she was wearing jeans, a T-shirt (rather tighter than she was used to wearing, but she and her mother had gone shopping over the summer and had bought Hermione quite a few new clothes and she wanted to make the most of them while she could!). She was also wearing the tiniest hint of make-up (another recent addition!) and despite the relatively old-looking trainers would have looked presentable had it not been for her hair. Oh her hair. It had escaped from the rather neat bun she had managed to drag it into that morning and was now cascading all over her shoulders and absolutely dwarfing her head. HOW does it manage to behave like this at the worst times? Ron, Ginny and Mr Weasley will be here in under half an hour and I still have to have breakfast and say good-bye to my parents! Hermione gave a frustrated half-shriek and burst out of her room in search of a hairbrush. She ran straight into Mrs Granger who couldn't help but laugh at the state of her daughter.
"Um dear, what has happened to your hair, you look like…"
"Yes, thanks for the support Mum, I know exactly what I look like, right now I just need to find a hairbrush, I've already packed mine and I am not opening my trunk again, that's what caused this mess in the first place!"
"Alright, sorry dear but you do look quite comical!" This comment was greeted by a death glare from Hermione and Mrs Granger went on quickly, "Right, well you can borrow my hair brush if you want, I'll go down and get your breakfast ready, ok?"
Pacified, Hermione gave her mother a quick smile and rushed off to her parents' bedroom in search of a brush.
Ten minutes later, Hermione emerged from the bedroom with her hair once again in a relatively neat bun. There would inevitably be a few bits that escaped as the day wore on, but on the whole she was pleased with her efforts. She went back into her own bedroom to find that her trunk was gone, so she went downstairs to find her parents. She entered the kitchen and saw them both sitting at the small table, and next to them on the floor was her trunk with Crookshanks happily asleep on top.
"Oh thanks, I really wasn't looking forward to lugging that downstairs!" she said, gesturing towards the large chest-like thing. As she sat down at the table, she cast a fond look at Crookshanks. "I see he has found himself a new bed!" she chuckled as she helped herself to Cornflakes and milk. Crookshanks pointedly ignored them all and could well have been asleep had it not been for the slight twitching of his ear every time she spoke. Hermione knew well the antics of her cat and gave his head a quick stroke before she tucked in to her food.
"Hungry are you?" commented her father with a laugh as Hermione devoured the whole bowl in minutes and started on the next.
"Yes, well," said Hermione blushing slightly and slowing the pace of her shovelling, "I have been up since seven thirty and I haven't had anything to eat yet!"
"All right all right, I was only teasing!" replied her father with a twinkle in his eye, "So who's this Ron chap you're so eager to visit?"
"Robert…" warned Mrs Granger.
"Helen…" he replied, imitating her tone of voice.
Mrs Granger responded with one of the looks that the Granger women were famous for, but it didn't seem to bother him in the slightest - obviously over-exposure causes one to develop some sort of immunity – and he turned back to Hermione. She had turned bright red and was staring intently at her Cornflakes.
"Well?" he encouraged, trying hard not to grin too widely.
She gave him an absolute glare, which only caused the subdued grin to break out across his face.
Hermione continued glaring and replied in a frosty voice "Ron is my friend. I have been friends with him for over four years and I'm surprised you don't know who he is by now. I am going to stay at his house along with Harry - that's my other best friend for your information, as you seem to be feeling particularly slow this morning - and since I did the same thing last year I really don't know what you are making such a fuss about." With this she went back to her Cornflakes and made sure to bang her spoon against the bowl a few times for effect.
Guessing that he had probably gone a little too far, Mr Granger leant forward and in a quieter voice said "Hermione, I'm sorry, it's just that this is the only time I ever get to tease you about boys and…" she had looked up, eyebrows raised, and given him the 'That is no excuse and I am still not amused' look. "Well, anyway, I'm sorry and I don't want you to leave in a bad mood just because I'm being annoying."
Hermione sighed, "S'ok Dad, I've just had a really hectic morning and I guess I'm a bit highly-strung, BUT," she continued seeing the mischievous look re-appear on his face "that doesn't mean that I wouldn't normally mind you teasing me about… that. Just don't, ok?"
"Alright dear," said Mrs Granger, trying to change the subject, "do you have everything packed? Books, robes, all your Potions ingredients and things?"
"Yes Mum, I'm pretty sure I have it all, and if I don't you are going to have to post it to me, I am absolutely not opening that trunk again until I reach Ron's house."
"Speaking of Ron, is that him in the garden?"
Hermione turned round in her chair and looked out of the window to see Ron coming up the garden path. She flushed involuntarily and turned back to her parents. She caught her mother giving her father another warning look and rather than suffer more of his teasing, she got up and went to meet Ron.
She opened the door to a startled looking Ron who, by all appearances, had been just about to knock.
"Uh, hi" he said, still ruffled.
"Hi Ron, I saw you coming up the path from the kitchen window."
"Ah," he said, more relaxed, "I thought you'd been learning some predictive magic or something, I was starting to worry that there'd be nothing left for them to teach you at Hogwarts!"
"Oh come on, I'm not that bad!" she said with a laugh while taking in his appearance. He had grown even more over the summer, and filled out a bit too. It looked as if Mrs. Weasley had tied him down and given him a haircut - when she had last seen him, his hair had just reached the stage where it was too long for the style it had been cut in, but now it was short and spiky. Hermione had a sudden urge to touch it and see if it was gelled or something but imagining the look on Ron's face, she restrained herself and smiled up at him.
"Ron, how is it possible that you have grown even more?"
He grinned at her "Ah, well Hermione, its just one of my many gifts," he looked her up and down, "obviously one of the few you don't also have!"
"Hmmm," she replied placing her finger to her lip and crossing her other arm over her chest, "I'm not sure whether to be pleased at the compliment or angry at your blatant prejudice against vertically challenged people…" She gave him a quizzical look before stomping her foot comically, "and I'm not that short!"
He grinned and stepped closer to her, looking down to emphasize the height difference as much as he could, then smirked and replied sarcastically, "No Hermione, you're not that short"
She took a breath, flustered by their closeness and then punched him in the stomach playfully but hard enough to make him step back. Then she folded her arms and raised her eyebrows, waiting for an apology. He mimicked her position with a huge grin plastered across his face and though she fought hard against the smile that was threatening to erupt, she could feel the corners of her mouth twitching. Ron noticed this but decided to admit defeat nonetheless.
"All right Hermione, you're not short at all, you are a perfectly normal height, etc etc, please don't get grouchy, I've only been here a few minutes!" his grin widened as he waited for her to explode, but Hermione just shook her head, she knew his teasing almost as well as she knew Crookshanks' attempts at distain and she knew there was no point in reacting to it. If she thought about it, it was really quite a lot of fun this friendly bantering, so she played along.
"Oh, very funny, I'm not actually all that grouchy Ron, you just seem to be very adept at winding me up, is that another of your many skills?"
Ron was spared from answering this because Hermione was attacked by a speeding red blur.
"Hermione!" it squealed as it crashed into her
"Hi Ginny," she managed to squeak out. Over Ginny's shoulder, Hermione saw Ron laughing at her disposition and she stuck her tongue out at him.
"Very mature," he mouthed back at her before Ginny pulled back and broke their line of sight.
"Sorry we took so long, Dad and I were trying to find somewhere to leave the car. Ron simply couldn't wait to see you," she confided in a quiet voice, her eyebrows wiggling up and down as she gave Hermione a knowing grin, "so he got out and came to get you. Anyway, how has your summer been?" Ginny paused, breathless from the running and excited babbling. Hermione was about to answer when her parents and Mr Weasley arrived at the doorway simultaneously from either side and she decided that introducing people would probably be the best thing to do.
"Mum, Dad, this is Mr Weasley, Ron and Ginny"
"Pleased to meet you," said Mr Granger, offering his hand to Mr Weasley, who shook it and then turned to Mrs Granger.
"We met last year when I picked Hermione up by Floo Powder"
"Ah yes, I remember. Thank you very much for having Hermione to stay two years running, next year we must have Ron and Harry over to stay with us"
"Oh, it's no problem at all, after our lot Hermione is a dream!" he gave his children a teasing glance.
"Yes, I heard. Six boys must be a lot to handle!"
"Well, two of them don't live with us anymore but Ginny more than makes up for that - after the twins she is by far the worst!"
At this Ginny tried to look innocent, but Ron spoilt the image by tickling her, which she dutifully responded to by thumping him hard on the arm. Realising she had been tricked, she gave Ron a glare but had the decency to look a little embarrassed.
"Well," Mr Granger chuckled, "at least we know Hermione will be in well trained hands! Would you like to come in for a cup of tea?"
The look on Mr Weasley betrayed the fact that he would dearly love to go inside a Muggle house for a cup of tea, but he restrained himself and replied, "No, much as I would love to, we are supposed to be picking Harry up in an hour and I think it will take almost that to get there, so we really should be on our way."
So they all made their way to the car Mr Weasley had borrowed form the Ministry of Magic, and Hermione said goodbye to her parents while Ron and Mr Weasley put her trunk in the boot. A few minutes later, Hermione watched as her house and parents disappeared from view, and with a last wave, she turned to Ron and Ginny.
"So, how has your summer been?"
They chatted for the rest of the journey to Harry's house and, to Hermione's immense relief, Ron stayed off the topic of Bulgarian Quidditch players. It seemed that they had both decided to try to keep un-necessary arguments to a minimum, both by avoiding touchy subjects and also by not blowing up at the slightest annoyance. Hermione was grateful to Ron for having the insight to see that an effort should be made, and though she didn't know whether it was because of Harry or just because he didn't want to fight any more, she was glad of the change.
A/N: Ron being mature? Surely not! I hope this is ok, I feel I am losing the characters a little sometimes, so if they are OOC, please tell me and I will try to do something about it. As always, please review, even a quick "Well done!" does wonders for my writing capabilities!
