Hermione left early on Saturday morning to travel back to her parents' house for the weekend. She was reluctant to leave for two reasons: one was that she didn't want to be away from Ron-a silly thought but yet, it was there; two was that she was incredibly anxious about seeing her parents again after all the trouble they experienced over the holiday break. She had written to her dad several times asking him how things were going and the response was always the same, things "fine" and he looked forward to seeing her soon. It was clear that things were not fine and she was worried.

Ron didn't realize that she would be gone already before he came down from the boy's dormitory. He took it upon himself to get up early and maybe see her alone before she was off but was very disappointed to find a note shoved under his door from her that read:

Dear Ron,

I have to get off early to get to get to rehearsal by 9am. I will be there all day. Write me if you have a minute but if not, no worries. I will see you around 8pm on Sunday night.

Love,

Hermione

Ron met Harry and the two made their way downstairs for breakfast. Close behind them came Pavarti and Lavender. Ron felt his stomach tighten at the thought of her note and the fact that he didn't read it made him even more anxious. Did she expect something from him? He had absolutely no idea.

The two girls were whispering and shuffling around Ron and Harry as they made their way out the Common Room. Lavender whispered something to Pavarti and then Pavarti turned around and asked,
"Harry, where's Hermione? She was gone from our dorm very early this morning."

"Um, not sure, she didn't say." Harry replied hesitantly. They had been given clear instructions by Hermione not to inform anyone of her whereabouts as she was concerned about the whole special-treatment appearance. Only Ginny was allowed to know.

"Oh." Pavarti replied curtly.

The girls walked on ahead and Ron told Harry, "Why does she care where's Hermione? I didn't realize she would be leaving so early …or…"

"Or…?" Harry asked snidely.

"Shut it Harry." Ron replied.

Saturday went by very slowly for Ron. He decided around 10am to abandon his rubbish attempt at his Potions essay and take a walk outside. Ron always felt better outside. He let his thoughts turn to his girlfriend, his 'secret girlfriend', what she was doing and how her day was going. It suddenly dawned on him that he was a complete sap for Hermione. Being with her had turned him into a completely lovesick sap. But then again, he had spent most of the past two (even three) years thinking of her in every waking moment and often in his dreams. Over the years he had considered the possibilities of being something more than a friend to her on an almost daily basis. He tried to read into her looks, her actions, so much so that it made his brain hurt and that was when he would end up starting a row with her. Even getting her riled was exciting for him, because it meant she was paying attention, and that she cared.

Now that he had her, it made sense that he would put all that time thinking about being with her.

He thought about Harry's comment last night, about how bossy and demanding she could be. This was very true. But she had softened a bit since their first kiss at her house over the Christmas holiday. She was less agitated with him since they started up. He liked it. He had to admit that being with Hermione like this was better than anything he really expected. Except for the fact that they were keeping their relationship quiet for now, things were pretty perfect in Ron's mind.

He was jolted from his thoughts by a girl's voice yelling his name, "Ron! Ron!"

It was Lavender. She was running over toward him from the castle, and she wasn't calling him "Won Won." He looked around quickly to see if anyone was around, no one. He felt a little panicky.

"Ron, hi!" she said giving him a great big smile.

"Er…hey." Ron replied confusedly.

She stood and looked at him awkwardly for a moment, as if expecting him to say something else.

"I saw you leave the Common Room and thought I would come out and talk to you." she said.

"You did?"

"Well, yeah. Did you read my letter?"

Ron had to be honest, "No, not yet. I had loads of homework to do and…"

"You had time to take a walk but couldn't read my letter?" she asked in a hurt tone.

Ron felt like a tit to her but he didn't and he didn't want to muck things up any more than they had been already so he told her, "Lavender, I just…I just want to be friends with you okay? I don't want us to hate each other or to expect anything from each other, just friendship. Okay?"

Lavender's eyes narrowed at him and she backed away a few feet, "I get it Ron, you don't have to tell me twice. I know you and Hermione have a thing going. I'm not stupid. I don't appreciate you leading me on the way you did before Christmas."

Ron felt a searing pain in his head and wanted to get as far away from this conversation as he could. He wondered - why are girls so barmy!? He started to walk away from her back toward the castle. She was right on his heels cursing and berating him the whole way back, calling him every terrible and demeaning name she could think of. Then she started on Hermione, calling her every terrible and demeaning name she could think of. Ron would never hit a girl but when he heard her refer to Hermione as a "stuck-up mudblood", he rounded on her and pointed his finger in her face, "Don't call her that!" he spat at Lavender. Then he turned and ran up the castle's steps two at a time.

He stormed into the Common Room, grabbed his homework and bag and started up to the dorm.

"What's the problem?" Harry asked as he and Ginny looked up from their own homework.

"Not now Harry." Ron replied shortly.

Upstairs, Ron lay out on his bed, thinking that he must have been crazy to get with Lavender in the first place, she was really mental! Imagine a Gryffindor calling a fellow Gryffindor such a name? He could handle all the other things she said about himself and Hermione. But for her to use that term, she was sinking very low. He desperately hoped not to have to deal with Lavender again.

Ron felt a sudden and desperate urge to connect with Hermione so he decided to write her a quick note.

Dear Hermione,

I am sorry I missed you this morning. I didn't know you were leaving so early or I would have gotten up to see you off. Today has been rotten without you here. I am trying to work on my Potions essay but not getting very far with it. Promise I will have most of it done before you get back on Sunday night. Counting the hours…I mean minutes.

Love,

Ron

Up in the girl's dormitory, Lavender was getting comforted by Pavarti.

"He yelled at me and pointed his finger in my face!" she cried into her friend's shoulder.

"He's horrible!" Pavarti exclaimed. "He and Hermione deserve each other."

Lavender sniffed and sat up and looked over at her friend.

"Do they though?" she asked Pavarti.

"What? What do you mean?" Pavarti replied.

Lavender shrugged, "I don't know, do they deserve each other or should we, you know … teach them a lesson?"

"What kind of lesson?" Pavarti asked, she wasn't exactly disgusted by Lavender's suggestion.

"Well, I told him in that letter that I would do anything to get him back. Now I know it's hopeless, so why should I just sit back and let them get on with it when he pretty much just used me?" Lavender told Pavarti.

"How did he use you?"

"You know, used me for snogging and" … she paused … "other things." Lavender blushed.

"I thought you said you two didn't do anything more than snog?" Pavarti asked her.

"Well, mostly yes, but maybe I fibbed a little." Lavender grinned and Pavarti winced.

Lavender went on, "So he should pay, and she is such a pain, always has been, she deserves it too."

It took another half-hour of convincing Pavarti to assist in Lavender's plot to seek revenge on Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Pavarti was not exactly the vengeful type but she also felt a sense of loyalty to her friend, who had been like a sister to her for the past six years.

"So what are you suggesting then?" Pavarti asked her, finally coming around.

"Well, there's a Hogsmeade trip next weekend and I know that Ron's brothers are renting out Zonko's old joke shop space to host a party there for all 5th, 6th, and 7th years. Not everyone knows about it but I heard about it through Angelina and Alicia. I don't even think Ron knows about it yet."

"Yeah, and … ?" Pavarti urged her to continue.

"Well, l was thinking…"

Sunday went a little more quickly for Ron as he looked forward to seeing Hermione around 8pm. He, Harry and Ginny spent the day doing homework and discussing Quidditch. Once they had exhausted the topic of their favorite sport, Ron challenged Harry to a game of chess which was more of a challenge for Ron since his head was saturated with thoughts of his secret girlfriend.

Hermione made her way through the portrait hole into the common room at exactly 8:05pm. Ron knew because he was looking up at the clock compulsively.

"Stop it Ron! You are annoying the pants off me!" Ginny scolded him.

"Oi! Keep your pants on!" he yelled at his sister.

Harry rolled his eyes at the two of them as Hermione stepped through.

"Hermione!" Ginny alerted them to her presence with a delightful smile.

Ron jumped up as if to go to her but he held back.

"Hey." He said nervously.

"Hey yourself." She replied smiling.

"Hermione, how was your weekend?" Harry asked awkwardly, looking at his two best friends who were in a sort of odd stare down of each other.

Hermione shook her head slightly. "Oh, it was good Harry. Very busy, but good." she said, and then she went back to staring at Ron.

Harry and Ginny gave each other a look and they both rolled their eyes.

"Harry, I need to take this to the library for another hour before bed, do you think you can help me with my star chart for Trelawney?" Ginny asked him with a smirk.

"Yeah, sure. See you two in a bit." Harry said to Hermione and Ron. They hardly noticed.

"Oh, yeah, see you in a bit then." Hermione finally offered as they made their way out the portrait hole.

Ron closed in on her a bit, "Hey." he said again smiling.

"You already said that." she giggled.

"I guess I did." he said embarrassed. "Can we go for a walk?"

"A walk?" she asked him.

"Yeah, maybe to the room?"

"The room?" she smiled widely.

He rolled his eyes at her teasing.

"Well, I don't know, did you finish your potions essay?" she asked him.

Ron never looked so disappointed in his life. Seriously she was going to make him do his homework before he could have a snog?

"Come on Hermione…" he pleaded, "it's almost done."

It was her turn to roll her eyes and she couldn't help it, he was too cute to refuse.

"Alright, let's go." she dropped her overnight bag in the corner and started for the portrait hole.

Ron couldn't believe it. Hermione Granger was putting something else before homework! For him! He suddenly had a surge of confidence and as he sidled up next to her he whispered, "You missed me didn't you?"

She pursed her lips and tutted, "You missed me too, admit it."

Yes they missed each other. It was only less than two days and they had missed each other quite a lot and by the time they made it to secret room they both felt the overwhelming urge to snog each other senseless. Which they did until Hermione, as usual, managed to exert self-control and set some limits. Ron decided during this snog that he would push some limits by touching her in some of the places he had only dreamed of touching. He figured it was worth a shot to see how much she would allow. Turns out she allowed him quite a bit of access to the two of three places of her body he found most enticing, her breasts and her arse. The third place, well, he wasn't quite ready for that anyway.

Once they had sufficiently snogged and fondled each other in typical teenager fashion, they were able to have a decent conversation about their respective weekends. Hermione shared her awkwardly unhappy experience with her mother and father over the weekend.

"They aren't really speaking to each other and daddy is still sleeping in his den." She told him with tears in her eyes. "It was pretty depressing being there. What if they get a divorce Ron? What am I going to do if my parents split up?" she cried on his shoulder and he held her close but he had no words of comfort. He really didn't even understand the concept of divorce. In the wizarding world, once you're married, you're in it for life. He thought it was a better way.

"Anyway," she went on, "I spent ten hours at the studio with her on Saturday and another eight hours today and I'm exhausted. I need to finish my own essay for Snape and we need to take a look at yours so come on." she stood up off of his lap and reached out a hand to pull him up. Ron could hear and see the sadness in her and wanted to do something to make her feel happier. He pulled her in close and held her hands in his face.

"Hey, listen, I want to tell you that when we get married someday, that will never happen to us."

She blinked and looked up at him curiously. He sounded really mature. It was a bit strange to hear Ron speak so seriously and assuredly. But she liked it. She felt comforted by his words and suddenly her world felt a lot more safe and secure.

"Are you asking me to marry you Ron Weasley?" she asked with a grin, not able to help herself.

He felt his face flush with heat, "What?! No! I mean, no, not like this." Ron chose his words carefully. Of course he longed to marry Hermione but didn't want to ask her like this, and they were years away from that – weren't they?

He was curious, "But say I did ask you, what would you say?" he really wanted to know.

Hermione laughed, "Ron you know what I would say!" she exclaimed. "I would say that I'll marry you if you get your potions essay finished!"

They both laughed as they made their way out of the room into the corridor.

"Oh I forgot to tell you!" Hermione suddenly cried. "Fred and George are having a party next weekend in Hogsmeade for older students at the building that used to have Zonko's Joke Shop. They have some kind of announcement to make and they are doing it with a party."

"Really?!" Ron exclaimed. "How did you find out?"

"They owled me at my parents. They said to let you know since they weren't sending out official owls until tomorrow. They didn't want the word to spread to the younger students so everyone will be keeping the party a secret. I think they wanted you to know ahead of time and telling me was the best way to do that."

"Oh. A party-brilliant! You'll go won't you?" Ron asked her hesitantly, Hermione wasn't historically known to enjoy parties. She knew what his question implied. It implied that she was a bore, a stick-in-the-mud and just un-fun. She had to admit that it wasn't entirely unfair to make that implication. But she had loosened up a bit since Christmas (since their kiss) and she was actually excited about the prospect of having fun with Ron. They certainly had fun at the New Year's Eve to-do at the Burrow.

"I'll go." She told him. "I know I haven't exactly been Miss Party Girl but I guess I just always fretted about getting in trouble or that I should be spending my time doing other things. But I know it's okay to have fun sometimes." she was a bit shy in admitting this to Ron. He reached over and squeezed her hand, making a mental note to start taking his studies a bit more seriously. If she could loosen-up a bit, he could make more of an effort as well.

"Brilliant!" he said.

Just as they rounded the corridor to the Great Hall they bumped into a familiar face.

"Wood!" Ron practically shouted, "Blimey, what are you doing here?"

Oliver Wood was a former Hogwarts student, Quidditch Captain and was now playing in a semi-professional Quidditch league since he'd left Hogwarts.

"Weasley! Granger! Good to see you both! Weasley, you're a giant! How tall are you now? Granger … you look … " Oliver shamelessly looked Hermione up and down, "… different." he finished his statement with a tone that made Ron scowl.

"Hey Oliver, nice to see you. What are you doing here?" she asked him.

He beamed at her as he explained that he was taking a few months to do an internship for the Ministry's Department of Magical Games. His primary task was to assess the Quidditch program at Hogwarts and develop a plan to improve the school's program.

"Sounds interesting." Hermione said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, intriguing." Ron said flatly and Hermione shot him an arched-brow grimace.

Oliver leaned against the stairwell leading up the dormitories as he spoke,

"So Granger, still racking up points for Gryfinndor House?"

Hermione blushed at this slight compliment and Ron was starting to get miffed.

"Well, we have essays to finish for Snape, so we'll see you later." Ron took Hermione by the elbow and led her up the stairs.

"Oh sure!" Oliver called after them. "Oh, and hey, maybe I'll see you at the party next weekend in Hogsmeade?" he whispered to them but Ron was sure he was speaking only to Hermione.

"How did you know about that?" Ron asked incredulously.

"Your brothers knew I would be here so they owled me."

"Bloody Fred and George." Ron whispered under his breath.

"Yeah, we're going. See you Oliver!" Hermione said brightly and bounded up the stairs tugging Ron by his jumper sleeve.

As they made their way to the top of the stairs and to the portrait of the Fat Lady, Hermione could see the scowl on Ron's face. As they made eye contact and Ron opened his mouth to say something Hermione interjected,

"Ron, don't say a word!"

And he didn't.