I do not own HP

Chapter 14:

After watching them for another minute, Ron turned around and headed back to the house; his head hanged in defeat. It was a shock to see them together; let alone Hermione falling for his brother. He knew he had to talk to Hermione make her see some sense. When he opened the front door he saw that everyone had moved into the living room. Penelope was talking to Sally-Ann and knew that she was telling his sister-in-law about what their plans are after he finished the season with the Chudley Cannon. Ron ignored them, and went straight out to the kitchen and took out a glass from the cupboard and poured himself a glass of pumpkin juice. As he drained the contents, Hermione came in, her hair tousled with two bright pink spots on her cheeks. She stopped on her tracks when she saw Ron standing in the middle of the kitchen. They stared at each other for a few seconds, when both didn't knew what to do or say; Hermione hurriedly ran out of the room.

Ron wanted to stop her but thought better of it. He would just make arrangement to talk to her some other time when no one was around, especially Sally-Ann and his mum and possibly George.

Hermione awoke the next day feeling elated, the sun shining through her open window; a nice soft chilly breeze blew throughout the room. She hurriedly got up to close the window and went back to bed; she smiled at the memories of the past night. She remembered George's tender kisses and warm embraced. She was glad that they now both admitted their feelings towards each other; she was so happy she could barely content herself from jumping. She got up one more time and hurriedly went to the loo to get ready for her first day of work.

When she got to the landing overlooking the kitchen, she saw her mum and dad having breakfast. Once she stepped down the last of the steps, her parents heard her and both smiled at her.

"Someone's happy! Good morning, dear. Come sit and have breakfast," her mum greeted, pouring her a cup of coffee. Hermione kissed both her parents and sat down; she proceeded to butter a toast and asked her parents about their night last night.

"Are you ready to go back to work, honey?" her dad asked. She nodded and told them that she was as ready as she could be; after she had coffee and toast she kissed her parents good-bye and left for work.

Hermione got to work a bit early so she walked around and familiarized herself with her surroundings. She could not believe that she will be working with the department to which she could actually make contributions. She was excited to start her day.

Her first day was slow, but she liked everything about her job and the people she was working with. It was already past five when she finished what she was doing. Hermione rubbed her shoulders and prepared the report that she needs to finish tomorrow, after she was done she tidied her desk and grabbed her bag. Hermione walked out from her office and said good-bye to Amanda and Laurie, her other co-workers.

She was waiting for the lift to arrive when someone clear their throat behind her. Hermione jumped, clearly startled and turned around. There behind her stood Ron.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" she asked, clearly puzzled.

"I wanted to talk to you." He said, looking at her with desperation in his eyes. She clearly had no idea what he wanted to talk to her about, and why would he come here?

"What about?" she asked, suspiciously, but she already had an inkling of what he wanted to talk about. They both jumped a little when the lift opened. They jumped in and rode quietly, until Ron broke the silence.

"George," he said and sighed deeply.

"I beg your pardon?" replied Hermione.

"George. I wanted to talk to you about George." The lift opened once more and Hermione hurriedly got out, but before she could go farther Ron grabbed her wrist. She turned around to face him.

"Why do you want to talk about George?"

"I saw you and him…the way you looked at each other. The way he looks at you." Ron said, rather loudly. Some wizards and witches turned to look at them. Hermione pulled her wrist away from his grasp and walked ahead. Ron followed.

"I'm sorry," Ron whispered. "I didn't mean to yell like that."

Hermione stopped at the corner so as not to be heard by the passing crowds. Then she faced Ron; who halted at her sudden movement.

"What about it, Ron? What is it to you, if George looked at me a certain way? And what if I look at him differently?" Hermione hissed.

"He's my brother and you're my girlfriend," he replied with a hint of anger and jealousy. Hermione noticed two bright spots are beginning to form on his cheeks and his ears are certainly reddening; this only means that he's upset or embarrassed or maybe both. But Hermione doesn't care.

"So what if he's your brother? And please, I'm not your girlfriend, Ron. You have a girlfriend, but it certainly isn't me." Hermione said, turning fast on her heels; leaving Ron seething. I don't believe it, Ron said to himself. He stalked out of the building and apparate back to the Burrow.

George came by that night and noticed that Hermione was quiet and not her usual self. Even the jokes he was telling her didn't make her laugh as usual. He was scared that maybe she was having second thoughts about last night.

"Are you okay, Hermione?" She nodded and took his hands to her as she squeezed them tight. Then she moved closely to him and kissed him on the lips. George kissed her back, but he knows something was up and he wants to know what.

"Hermione… Honey, are you okay? You've been very quiet; I hope you're not getting sick." George said, worriedly.

"Yes…yes I'm fine. I'm sorry; I'm not much of a company tonight. It's just that it was busy my first day at work and there's a lot to learn. I guess I'm just a bit tired," Hermione said, kissing him once again, but this time with a little more force.

"Alright, tell you what- I'll go home now and you, my love get some rest. Alright?" George said, kissing her back. George stood up and left the room. He said good-bye to her parents; then apparate back to his flat.

As soon as he got to his flat, he poured himself a glass of firewhiskey. He stared at the amber liquid in front of him. He hasn't touched this stuff for a long time and he knew he needed one now; he drained the contents and sat down heavily on the sofa. He knew why she wasn't herself today, it was his brother. Does she still love him? George thought; he poured another one then another until he was too drunk to go to his bedroom. He fell asleep on the sofa thinking about Hermione and his brother.

At the Burrow, Ron was in a foul mood and was taking it out on his mum and Ginny; to which the latter didn't take it kindly and almost hexed him, had Harry and Sally-Ann had arrived in time. When Ginny finished explaining everything to the two; Sally-Ann grabbed Ron's arm and marched him outside.

"What is it?" asked Ron irritably.

Sally-Ann sighed loudly and said in a small voice in an attempt to sound calm.

"Is it about her? You're still in love with her, aren't you?" she asked, trying to keep her emotions in check.

Ron was confused, but he knew what she was trying to say. He wasn't in love with her anymore, was he? Why, then, would she ask him such a ridiculous question?

"What are you talking about?" he asked quietly.

"Sure! Pretend you don't know what I'm talking about!" Ron remained quiet, unnerving Sally-Ann.

"Hermione!" yelled his girlfriend, "you're still in love with her aren't you?"

"No- No of course not, we're just friends; whatever happened between the two of us, that's no longer an issue. I've moved on and she certainly moved on."

"And yes, I love-had love her at one point, but it's over now. I'm with you now," Ron yelled back at her. Sally-Ann looked at him with tears in her eyes. Ron felt like a git and walked towards his girlfriend; taking her in his arms, his expression softening. Was she right? Am I still in love with Hermione? Ron thought, and the answer was yes; he still loves her, but it looked like she doesn't love him anymore.

"You…you promised?" Ron nodded his head and kissed her forehead.

"I promised. Remember our plans? We're going to get married right after the Quidditch season." Sally-Ann smiled.

"I'm glad. I do love you Ron. I'm sorry I got angry, I guess I was just jealous; especially the way you look at her."

"I forgive you," Ron said. Sally-Ann looked up and kissed him on the mouth.

However, Ron's mind and heart was far from everything and everyone. His mind was on Hermione and how to tell her that he still loves her, before it was too late.

A/N: Thanks everyone for reading my story. Please leave a tiny review and let me know what you think. Thanks, again to all the readers who follows this story and to Steph O: you rock