It was so dark you couldn't even see your hand if you held it up in front of your face. The only thing Hermione could think to do was stay still until the lights came back on.

"Is everyone okay?" The voice was unmistakably Mr. Weasley's, who was a few feet from Hermione.

"Yes," came the response from everyone in the room. Suddenly, Hermione felt someone stepping on her foot.

"Ouch!"

"Sorry," was the only word Ron could get out before toppling over right on top of Hermione. She had to admit that it was kind of nice in a strange way. She had never been this up close and personal with him. She could practically feel his warm breath on her cheek.

"I'm so sorry, Hermione. I had no idea it was your foot," Ron said as he began to try to lift him self up in the dark.

"It's quite alright, Ron. You can't see anything in here anyway."

Hermione began to pick herself up when the lights flickered back on, and Tom entered the room.

"Sorry folks. Seems to have been a rat in the electrical box downstairs," he announced apologetically.

"Well, I know I've had enough excitement for one night. It's off to bed then everyone," said Mrs. Wealsey in a motherly way.

After saying good night to everyone, Hermione followed Ginny to their room. Her parents had to leave early tomorrow because something at her father's work had come up, and he had to be there, so she planned on getting some rest and seeing them off in the morning. She looked at Ginny and noticed that she seemed more tired than usual.

"You alright, Ginny? You seem a bit tired."

"Oh yeah. I am tired. I had a busy day today with all the walking around and visiting places and people."

"You had people to visit too? Harry left Ron and me today at Quality Quidditch Supplies because he said he had to visit someone. How are we ever going to keep up with you busy bees?"

"Hermione, if I were to...tell you a secret would you swear on your life not to tell anyone?"

"Of course Ginny! Now what is it?"

"Well...I'm sort of seeing Harry."

"What!" Hermione hadn't seen that coming at all.

"Well, he has been at the house for awhile this summer, and we got to know each other very well. One day we were talking, and the feelings just sort of came out. After that, he asked me if I would be interested in going out with him, and I said yes."

"I can't believe it! You and Harry. Ginny that is so great! I couldn't think of anyone better for him. Good for you two!"

"I know! I'm very pleased!" The look on Ginny's face was pure bliss. She had liked Harry for so long and now she knew he shared her feelings. If only it was that easy for Hermione to tell Ron.

"So um...has Ron been seeing anyone," asked Hermione skeptically.

"No, but Harry says he has been talking nonstop about you all summer. I've never heard him talk about anyone like that before. He's always worried about how you are or wondering what you are doing. And he said I was annoying talking about Harry!"

Hermione was so pleased to hear that. If he didn't like her he wouldn't talk about her like that or worry about her as much. The sudden chiming of the clock told Hermione that it was midnight, and she had better go to sleep if she was going to get up in time to see her parents off tomorrow morning. The two girls said their goodnights and quickly fell asleep.

Vibrant sunbeams woke up Hermione the next morning as they streamed in through the now slightly ajar window. One glance around showed that Ginny must have gotten up already and went downstairs for breakfast. Hermione got up and walked to the bathroom. She wouldn't have a lot of time to perfect her look this morning, so she set to work as quickly as she could. She threw on a full white skirt and pink capped-sleeve shirt. She didn't think she had enough time to straighten her hair, so she pulled it into a loose bun instead. A quick touch of make-up and she was out the door and down the stairs to join everyone for breakfast. Ginny and Harry were already eating side by side. Next to them were Fred and George, Percy, Mrs. Weasley, and at the head of the table sat Mr. Weasley. Ron was sitting next to Hermione's parents on the other side of the table on Mr. Wealsey's other side. Hermione took a seat next to her mother, which just so happened to be two seats down from Ron. He glanced over at her and acknowledged her with a smile. Everyone said good morning and dug into their food.

After they had all finished and Tom had brought down Mr. and Mrs. Granger's things, it was time to say goodbye before beginning a day of school shopping. Hermione hated to see them go, but she knew they had to. She hugged the both of them, kissed them on the cheek, and waved goodbye as their car pulled away. It was now time to get to business. Everyone was heading into Diagon Alley to get all their supplies since they only had two days until they would be boarding the Hogwarts Express. All of them were to meet up at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor at two o'clock. They got their things and headed out the door to the bricks that served as the entrance to Diagon Alley.

Once there, the first place Hermione headed to was Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. She definitely needed new robes for the upcoming year. Afterwards, she continued her shopping with Ron, Harry, and Ginny at her side. Just as they were leaving to meet everyone at the Ice Cream Parlor, Hermione forgot she had to run into the Magical Menagerie to pick up something for Crooshanks (who was being housed in her and Ginny's room back at the Leaky Cauldron).

"We'll go with you," said Ginny.

"No, it's alright. I'm only going to be a second anyway. I'll be right out."

She then ran into the store to pick up her item. As she exited the door a total of five minutes later, Ron, Harry, and Ginny were deep in conversation with a very pretty looking girl Hermione had never seen before. She had to attend Hogwarts because she had Hogwarts Uniforms in her bags from Madam Malkin's. Hermione couldn't help noticing that Ron seemed to be smiling quite a lot at the petite brunette. She didn't know what feelings were causing her to feel the way she was at that moment, but her lucky guess was that she was a bit jealous. She began to walk towards them when the girl suddenly started saying her goodbyes. At that moment, the girl reached out and wrapped her arms around Ron in a very tight hug, and Hermione's mouth dropped open as her blood began to boil.

A/N: Another chapter finished! I just love leaving you all hanging there at the end. I know this one was a bit shorter than the rest, but I have to prepare for a weekend camping trip with my bestfriend you all know as MissDissendium. We plan on having a major brainstorm session for our stories, so more will be on the way in a few days. I hope you all are enjoying reading this as much as I am writing it.Remember that I love hearing from you all so please review! I love waking up and finding them lol! I would lastly like to send out a special shoutout to MissDissendium, lightprincess, miss-sim4life, lucid-03-days, and Delleve for being the first few to follow the story and send me their reviews. Thanks you guys! Keep 'em coming!