143.

Chapter Six: Fair.

When my world is falling apart,
When there's no light to break up the dark.
That's when I look at you.
When the waves are flooding the shores,
And I can't find my way home anymore.
That's when I look at you.
You appear just like a dream to me.

Ron felt as though he was going to break into an extreme case of hives as he heard the footsteps becoming louder, and much more clear. He heard Hermione saying that they should just continue looking at pictures and he slowly nodded. He'd talked to Mr. And Mrs. Granger a few times before. But it was short, at Hogwarts Express or briefly in second year, right before Lucious Malfoy placed that bloody diary in Ginny's cauldron.

What if they hated him? What if they had absolutely no respect for how he treated their daughter? He wouldn't blame that all. He could be cruel sometimes.

But it wasn't as if he beat her. He couldn't even imagine laying a hand on Hermione. Not to mention the small fact that she could hex him until he begged for death. But of course that wasn't the only reason.

Ron wasn't cruel as in the, nasty, wanting to make her cry, sort of way. More in the I don't like what the fuck you're saying so I'm just gonna say something out of line, that doesn't even apply to the topic at hand kind of comeback.

But it hadn't happened yet. Well, he probably did say something to hurt her, in the past 5 hours or so. But he just didn't know, or realize it.

As he shook his head, he noticed Ms. Granger was already in the room, sitting next to Hermione, her eyes fixated on the picture of Ron with his missing teeth. It was bad enough for Hermione to see, but her mother? He let out a slight laugh as his eyes met with Ms. Grangers and he waved slightly. He knew that probably wasn't acceptable, and he should have held his hand out for a nice genuine handshake. But he thought it was rather foolish seeing as how she was already sitting down.

"Ronald. How nice it is to see you. We still hear so much about you!" She smiled, leaning over Hermione to place a hand on his shoulder. "We're glad to see you two are alright again." That had to have meant Hermione told them all about the Lavender fiasco. He was screwed.

"Oh yes. Definitely. Never better, actually." He spoke quickly, slightly nervous at the new contact of Mrs. Granger's hand on his shoulder. But he got over it. Quickly. "I'm sorry for being so awful to your daughter, Mrs. Granger. I guess I didn't really realize what was happening." He wasn't trying to suck up, to her, nor Hermione. But he wanted it known that he was sorry. And he knew he was bloody awful. Though he actually did realize what was happening, when he looked back at the whole situation, he claimed that he didn't. There was no way he could have. Because he never would have been such an asshole.

"Please, Ron. Call me Heather." She smiled, her hand dropping from his shoulder to meet back into her lap. "And it's okay. Things must have gone on. I know I probably don't know the whole story." It was then that Ron realized she must be a really understanding woman. Because she didn't go completely bonkers on him like he was totally expecting. She had patience as well, she wasn't prying for the whole story. He was glad to know that.

"Okay, Heather." He felt slightly awkward calling Hermione's mom by her first name, but if that's what she wanted, then he'd do it.

"Do you two have anything planned for today?" She then asked, looking over at Hermione who shook her head slightly, her eyebrows raised.

"No.. why?"

"Because your father and I wanted to take you two to a fair a few blocks away." Heather saw the excitement in her daughters face and then turned to look at Ron, who looked completely clueless. His face actually hadn't changed since he last spoke. She didn't know if maybe he wasn't even listening. "What do you think, Ron?" She watched as he quickly smiled, nodding his head enthusiastically.

"Yes of course."

"He doesn't know what a fair is, mom."

"Yes I do."

"No. No you don't." Hermione could tell by Ron's face that he had absolutely no idea what it was. Ron stared intently at her, before shrugging. Basically letting her know that she'd won the fight. "Ron you'd love it. It doesn't happen very often. Once a year, even. It has rides, and games, and food. Lots and lots of food." She watched as Ron's face turned more and more excited as she listed the things that would be at this 'fair'.

"We'll go." Ron quickly spoke, standing up as he let Hermione's baby book fall onto the couch. Hermione doing the same,

"Okay!" Heather smiled, "Let me just tell Mark that you two agreed and we'll be right out." She then went into the kitchen as Hermione turned to look at Ron.

"It's going to get a bit chilly, so if you have a sweater of some sorts you might want to go grab it." Hermione knew she was doing so. She started up the stairs, feeling Ron's foot steps behind her, and then disappear. She grabbed her white zip up sweater, and placed her arms through both of the arm sleeves before zipping it up. Stepping out of her room as she saw Ron doing the same, but with a green hoodie , stripped with thin white lines. She recognized it, it was Harry's, definitely not Ron's. Plus it was too muggle like to be Ron's. But she had to admit, he looked fairly good in it. Much better than Harry. That was just her opinion though.

Hermione nodded her head silently towards the stairs and watched as Ron nodded and walked down them, her following behind as they made their way to the door where her father and mother both stood.

"Ron, nice to see you again." Mark spoke, holding out his hand as Ron quickly shook it, trying his best not to look like a total idiot. Mark opened the door as he let the three of them walk out, then walked out himself, turning around and locking the door. "I heard you haven't been to one of these before. I assure you that you'll have some fun."

Ron nodded as he got into the back seat of the car with Hermione, watching as Mark got into the drivers seat, Heather in the passengers.

"Ron, have you ever been in a car?" Heather asked, Ron immediately asking before Hermione could send him a look that said, you better say no. Say no.

"In one? I've driven one!" Ron blurted out, then by the looks of Heather and Mark's face, that wasn't the best answer. Ron looked slowly over at Hermione, who placed her hand to her face, and quickly regained himself. "Well, no. I mean. I haven't driven one. It wasn't a CAR per say…" He started, seeing her parent's faces relax. "It was a flying car. Much easier. It was back in my second year, I was naïve." He figured everything he was saying was helping him out. It wasn't.

Then he thought about it, huh. He really didn't help himself out.

Oh no it's not a safe car driving on roads, it's flying in the sky!

But I didn't do it recently, that'd be stupid.

I did it when I was twelve.

Why yes, Mr and Mrs. Granger. I can leave. Thank you for letting me stay.

He was waiting for the worst.

"I'm not even going to ask." Mark laughed slightly, as they were already headed down the road.

This was going to be a long night.

At least, that's what Hermione thought. Long and stressful.

I ended it here, ONLY because I want people to tell me if I should continue with this chapter- the fair idea. I'd like to because I think it'd be amusing for Ron to see everything there. You know? But if people don't agree, I'll delete this chapter and go from where I was originally going to. It's just I went to the fair the last two days and had some ideas! But, PLEASE review and let me know. And I know this chapter wasn't all that amazing.. At all. But that's only cause I wanted the idea across. REVIEW.