HOW WE GOT HERE

4

Harry was laughing with the Weasleys about Fred and George's latest and, in Harry's opinion, best practical joke yet. He felt fully alive again, surrounded by all his friends, with five other tones of laughter echoing in his ears. All this laughter stopped, however, the minute they caught sight of Mr. Weasley, who was looking very livid indeed.

But Harry couldn't hear any of Mr. Weasley's remarks at the twins, nor his threats to tell their mother. His eyes, instead were locked on a certain area behind Mr. Weasley, where two girls had just approached. Both were smiling at him. But one smile was more special than the other. Harry felt himself grin back at both girls, his grin growing particularly towards one of them. Hermione was there, smiling at him both awkwardly and warmly. He took a step forward, and surpassed Mr. Weasley, who had stopped to ogle at him like he was doing something odd. Moreover, Harry supposed, it was a certain shock that maybe his methods of telling off the twins weren't as strong as Mrs. Weasley's.

"-tell me what, Arthur, dear?" came Mrs. Weasley's voice as she entered the situation. She looked from Mr. Weasley, who was debating whether to tell her or not, and her sons, who were determinedly avoiding each other's eyes. She came to a conclusion, and began shouting about it, stopping abruptly as she registered Harry's existence in the room, and turning to him, saying very kindly, "It's good to see you again, Harry. Have a good summer?"

"Er – yes, Mrs. Weasley," Harry replied sheepishly, turning to her for a moment before turning back to the girls.

Hermione was signaling to Ron, who jumped up off the couch and joined the three, murmuring something about showing Harry to his room. They left abruptly, and the yelling soon begun after they were gone. Mrs. Weasley's yelled echoed through the house. She'd found out about the Tongue Ton Toffee.

"Did you get our parcels, Harry?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, I did. Thanks loads," Harry said distractedly. He was trying to make eye contact with Hermione, but she was sticking oddly close to Ginny, who walked inbetween them. Ron led the way, not turning back to face them.

"RON! GINNY!" Mrs. Weasley yelled from below.

"Oh, damn," Ginny groaned, stopping. She rose her eyebrows at Ron, who sighed and followed.

"It's Mum. She's gone mad. Every correction at Fred and George nowadays counts as a life lecture for me and Ginny. It's been awful. We'll see you in about ten minutes." Then he headed down himself, knocking Ginny back on the shoulder. She fumed at that, and pushed him down the remaining stairs. Ron cursed, and no matter how quiet a voice he'd used, Mrs. Weasley still heard him.

"RON!" she bellowed at him. Ron cringed, muttered at a laughing Ginny, and they headed downstairs, pulling on serious faces as they reentered the battle zone.

"Well, come on then, Harry," Hermione called, her voice a little pitchy as she smiled at him. "We should wait for them upstairs." She led the way up the remaining steps, and opened Ron's door. Three cots had been set up inside. Harry took the one closest to his things, which included Hedwig's empty cage.

"Did you get my last letter?" he asked, remembering.

"Yes. I did. Quite a fright actually. I'd just arrived, and Hedwig was flying at me. She dropped the letter in my hand. It was nighttime. I was down by the fireplace with Ginny. She's suspicious, Harry. So is Ron. He wanted to see the letter. I had to feign dropping it into the fire. Was there anything important in it?" she added apologetically.

"No, no," Harry assured her. She took a seat next to him. "How've…how've you been?"

"Perfectly all right," Hermione said. "Nice shirt," she teased, looking at what he was wearing.

"Yeah, I agree. It's absolutely wonderful," he added, grinning at her. She hit his arm playfully. "Such a thoughtful gift," he remarked. She punched him.

"Stop teasing me," she said, turning faintly pink.

"Stop hitting me," he countered. He grabbed her balled up fists, and she stopped punching as he kissed her.

"Did you tell Sirius?" she asked him once they parted.

"Yeah. I did," Harry said without a trace of embarrassment.

"What'd he say?"

"I dunno yet. Told him in my last letter."

"Oh. That's what you wrote to him about?" Hermione asked.

"Well – er – no. That's not all," Harry admitted. "I…I had a dream." She smirked at him, and he frowned. "Not a silly one. It…I can't remember it clearly. But I woke up, and I was screaming. My scar was hurting badly. It burned." Hermione's smirk disappeared.

"What – Are, are you sure? Was it You-Know-Who?"

"I dunno. Last time it hurt it was because of Voldemort, but…well, there's no way he could've been near me that night, is there?" He shrugged it off.

"But – but Harry, how could you have known? He could've been. He could've been ready to attack you. Or maybe it's something else. Maybe he's cast something dark on you. What if he's used dark magic to hurt you? What if it happens again? You should write to Dumbledore. It might mean something important, Harry. Or it could be something that'll hurt you again. What if it's worst next time –"

"Hermione, stop panicking," Harry said firmly. "It was just a bad dream. It didn't mean anything. I'm not writing to Dumbledore about a nightmare. I'm going to just wait for Sirius's reply. It was nothing."

"Are you –" she began doubtfully. Catching the look on Harry's face, she sighed. "All right. If you're sure."

"You worry too much," he sighed, lying down on the cot. "You should learn to relax, Hermione," he joked. He shifted, making space for her. She took her place next to him hesitantly, waiting for him to sign whether she really should. He nodded, and laid herself next to him.

"I'll stop worrying once I'm assured that everything's actually all right," she said steadily. He turned to look at her. His forehead pressed against hers. "Once I know for sure you're all right."

"Take my word for it," he said slowly. "Trust me, Hermione, I'm fine."

"Cosy, aren't we?" Ginny called as she entered. She was smirking as well, glaring at the two of them like they'd betrayed her greatly somehow. "Like nobody could tell. I saw it the minute you laid your eyes on her, Harry. You'll have to be more deceiving than that. And last I checked, lying next to each other like that was always a great give away."

"It's not what you think," Hermione stammered silently, sitting up. Harry leaned slightly on his left arm, and looked at Ginny in genuine surprise.

"What?" he called out.

"Oh, please," Ginny snorted. "It's all right," she said, motioning to them as she sat on one of the spare cots. "Since when?"

"Are you serious?" Harry asked her. Turning to Hermione, "Is she serious?"

But Hermione was smiling at Ginny as well. "Should've known," she was murmuring.

"You may be a bright girl, Hermione," Ginny said, flicking through one of Ron's comic books idly. "But Harry's a terrible actor." She smirked once more, and looked up from the comic book at them. "However, my brothers – and I mean Ron, especially – are gits either too ignorant, or too naïve to believe anything other than they see. Fred and George might notice, but no one takes them seriously when it comes to this sort of thing." She paused, and glared at Hermione. "Tell him to stop looking at me like that!" she urged.

Harry shook his head and sat up, "You figured it out?"

"Better me than Mum," Ginny said darkly. "I may not mind keeping a secret, but she would've blabbed on the spot right there. You'll have to be extra careful around her."

She smirked at the two, and winked as the door creaked open, and Ron walked in, mumbling about useless lectures and stupid gits.

"She wants us to help with dinner," he said, holding the door open for the rest of them. "Come on," he said, defeated.

.;.;.

"Get up! Come on! You're going to be late!" Mrs. Weasley said loudly as she pulled the blankets of Fred and George, and shook Harry lightly. "Come on, Harry, dear," she said, before moving to Ron and shaking him up as well. "Get dressed, the lot of you. Breakfast's ready downstairs. Come on! I have to go wake the girls."

She left in an instant, and Fred and George groaned in unison. After a while, everybody was dressed, and fed, and though sleepily doing so, Mr. Weasley led all of them towards their portkey.

Harry hung at the back of the group with Hermione, while Ginny served as guard infront of them. He tried to start conversation.

"So…"

"Harry, this is stupid, you know," Hermione suddenly blurted out.

"Wha – What is?"

"This feeling of awkwardness between us. Don't lie –" she snapped as he looked ready to retort, "you feel it too. And I don't know what to do to get rid of it. But it's driving me insane. It shouldn't be like this."

Harry shrugged. They were too far back to be overheard anyway, and Hermione was adding to the reassurance by whispering to him in a hurried voice.

"I – I dunno, Hermione," he countered after a moment. "It doesn't – Well, even if it does – Look. I dunno what a normal relationship's suppose to be like, but we're not normal. I suppose things'll have their own way of working out for us. I also suppose that there's a perfectly good reason for the awkwardness," he added, before someone gave a shout somewhere ahead.

Ginny had stopped dead in her tracks, and from the back, Harry had to say that she looked very tense and ready to kill. Her right hand steadily grew closer to her wand. Infront of her, Ron had turned back, looking slightly green, but nonetheless annoyed. The twins were grinning slightly as they watched.

"You – Ron – are the most loathsome git of a brother a person could ever have the greatest misfortune of living with, breathing with, and sharing a house with. Do not touch me!" she suddenly screamed angrily as he motioned to pat her shoulder in apology. Ron waited a moment, shrugged, and poked her lightly.

It was uproar. Ginny swiped at Ron, who jumped back, knocking into the twins. She lost balance, and felt to her knees, hands dropping into a mud puddle. The twins laughed at her, joined by Ron, although a little half-heartedly. It did not, however, stop him from remarking, "Load of mud coming out of your mouth, Ginny. I haven't done anything to make you say those things to me."

Ginny stood, fuming this time, and ran at him. Ron looked scared, but the twins grabbed him under the arms to stop him from moving.

"Face the flames, mate," they both chorused.

It was, in conclusion, a mess.

"Harry, help!" came Ron.

"Ouch! – Ginny, don't hit me!" Fred remarked.

"Gotcha!" George said loudly, pulling Ginny away from Fred and Ron.

"You act so full of it, sometimes, Ginny. What the bloody hell has gotten into you these past two days? I take a step in your direction, you throw a bloody knife at me. Fred calls your name, you throw a knife at him. And Mum thinks we're the ones playing with knives!"

Ginny stammered for a moment, looking between Harry, Hermione and her brothers. She whipped back to Harry and Hermione.

"Tell them!" she said. "Tell them the truth. Tell Ron – that git over there – the truth!" She was slowly starting to come in tears now.

"I – I," Hermione stammered. "Ginny, please."

"No! Tell him! He deserves to know!"

"What has gotten into you?" Hermione asked.

"Tell them or I'll tell them, Hermione!" Ginny sobbed. She stood her ground, huffing for a while, crying silently as she covered her eyes with her hands. She was trying to rub away traces of tears as fast as she could, but they seemed to keep falling down.

"H-h-harry," Hermione said, turning to him. Harry was openmouthed. He had no idea what to do. "Do something," she whispered.

"What's she blabbing about?" Ron suddenly asked.

They heard Mr. Weasley's distant call for them.

"Harry. What's she talking about?" Ron asked as Mr. Weasley called once more.

"Ron – I – me and Hermione…" Harry trailed off, unsure of what to say.

"They're dating!" Ginny said in a muffled voice. Nobody'd heard her ofcourse, unless they'd been able to guess what she'd said.

"What?" Ron called out.

"We're dating," Hermione said firmly, looking at his face for a reaction.

Fred and George made identical shocked faces. Ron looked green, but quite red around his ears. Ginny just stomped off. Ron watched her go. Fred and George tried to comfort her to no avail, and followed off instead, saying to things to her as they walked. Ron turned back to Harry and Hermione.

"You…you could've said something," he said slowly, his tone uneven. "You…you should've said something."

"Ron –" Hermione began, but Ron was already backing away, looking thoroughly disturbed. She began to start after him, but Harry pulled her back.

"'Mione, just give him some time. That's all Ron needs: Time." She looked at Harry, who was equally as worried as her. "I'm sure of it."

She stopped, and took a step back to join him as they walked back to the group.

But Harry wasn't sure.

A/N: Thanks for the reviews! They keep me going :) So, please keep me going?