Chapter eight: Tea at Diagon Alley

Ron was sitting at the breakfast table, unable to eat. His nightmare and the fear of what could potentially happen today suppressed his large appetite. He was nervous again, waiting for Hermione to come downstairs. He was worried that Hermione had just been playing at him, feeling sorry for him or something. No. She told me she loved me, multiple times yesterday. People don't just say stuff like that, even to their best friends. She kissed me on the cheek too. She could've just been too emotional. Yeah. Maybe she feels sorry for me?

Soon, Hermione came into the kitchen, looking for Ron. She was wearing a white blouse under a light jacket and blue jeans. Her hair looked as though she had tried to tame it, but it was still bushy as ever. Ron blushed as he glanced at her, trying not to stare. Bloody 'ell she's amazing.

Ron, on the other hand, already had his traveling cloak on, resting his head on the dining room table. Then, their eyes met.

"Hey," she said, in her cutest voice possible. Ron was still not used to this new Hermione, but he loved it.

"Hey," replied, grinning. Suddenly a lump was in his throat again. Just like that, he was nervous.

She came and sat down unusually close to him at the dinner table. "Where is everyone?"

"Mum's in the garden, and dad's at work. I thought Ginny was with you."

"She's still sleeping," said Hermione. "How'd you sleep?"

"Dreadful, to be honest," admitted Ron. "I, uhhh, had a lot on my mind."

"Me too actually," said Hermione. "I woke up so many times last night. I felt like I hardly slept."

"I had a terrible nightmare. The worst one I've had in years," said Ron.

"Noooo! Tell me about it," said Hermione.

"It might make you uncomfortable," said Ron, feeling squeamish.

"I can handle it," said Hermione. "Besides, We'll have a lot to talk about today anyway. I want you to know you can trust me. You can tell me anything."

"Really?"

"Really," admitted Hermione.

"Well..." said Ron, wishing he hadn't brought it up. "It started with you laughing at me but in a mean way. We were the only ones in the Gryffindor common room, and you kept making fun of me for being stupid. Then, all of a sudden Cormac was there, and you looked at him like you looked at me yesterday, and you were flirting with him. Then, I tried running away, but I was moving in slow motion. You and Cormac started throwing quaffles at me, laughing. Then you had a mean look on your face and you scowled at me to get out, still throwing stuff at me."

Just like that, Hermione went from being cute and happy to somber and worried. She held back tears this time though, wanting to be strong and comforting for the man she so desperately wanted to be hers. The desire to cry lingered in her eyes.

"Ron, I would never..." she began softly. "I hate Cormac and never want anything to do with him. I wouldn't throw anything at you or call you stupid."

Ron sulked and fidgeted slightly as Hermione advanced to hug him.

"I mean, you did ask him to the party and you did send those birds after me to attack me..."

Hermione let go of Ron. She shut her eyes tightly. "Those were two of the biggest mistakes I've ever made in my life. It will NEVER EVER happen again. I PROMISE. I was a complete idiot and I was jealous of you and Lavender, but that in no way excuses my behavior."

Ron still looked downtrodden, but he said, "We have to trust each other. I was a jerk to you too. I trust you now. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize!" squeaked Hermione miserably. "It's my fault! You can't help what dreams you have anyway!"

"It's my fault too," said Ron. Hermione didn't say anything at first to this.

"Can I give you a hug?" asked Hermione sheepishly.

"Of course you can," said Ron.

Hermione leaned in and wrapped her arms around him snug and locked. They both felt a rush of pleasure at the touch. She closed her eyes and squeezed him tight. This helped Ron more than he would have guessed.

"I-I love you Hermione," said Ron, "but I'm still scared."

"I love you too Ronald," she said. "Believe me. I'm just as scared as you are. Please believe me. I love you like mad and only want to be with you. I've harbored these feelings secretly for years while suppressing them out of fear and guilt."

"Well I suppressed my own feelings for you because I knew you didn't love me and thought I was a git who was lucky to be friends with Harry," Ron said nonchalantly.

"Ron!" she whispered so loudly that it made him jump slightly. "Don't you EVER say or think that EVER again! You are severely misjudging me! I never said any of those things! I think Harry considers you his best friend and is lucky to have you as his best friend! You're so loyal to him and you're really fun to be around!"

"Really?" said Ron, suddenly giggling. "I'm fun to be around? Never thought I'd hear those words come out of your mouth."

"It's true..." said Hermione, suddenly bashful. "I think you're really fun to be around, actually, if I'm being honest with myself, which I'm usually not."

"The truth comes out at last," said Ron smugly. Hermione smirked and rolled her eyes sarcastically. "Okay, then," she said in mock surrender.

Ron laughed. Hermione became serious again.

"You need to not doubt my love for you," said Hermione with a frown. "Or Harry's brotherly love for you. I love you. Harry loves you. Most likely I love you more than Harry loves you because...you know...but you need to not be so down on yourself. I'm crazy about you. I only want us to be together. I sometimes would lose myself in my suppressed emotions and do stupid things. But don't doubt mine or Harry's love for you. Ever. Okay, Ron?"

Ron gave her a weak look. "Okay," he said. "I still have my own issues to work on."

"We can do it together...but only if you want to do it together," said Hermione, looking sad

"I do want to do it together," said Ron truthfully. "But right now, how about we go to Diagon Alley first and hang out and then come back here later?" He suggested.

"I only want to do what you want to do, Ron," she said, looking up at him.

"Well I want to make sure you're okay with everything," said Ron. "I mean, your opinion still matters, doesn't it?"

"Okay," she said. "But I'm fine with whatever. I just want to be with you all day today, if that's okay with you, so we can talk more about each other."

"Of course. I'm okay with that," said Ron.

"Okay great," said Hermione, trying to be cute again.

"You want some breakfast before we go?" asked Ron.

"No thanks. I'm not hungry." she said.

"Okay, then. Let's go," said Ron.

She waited for him to stand up before she did. Then she grabbed her traveling cloak and put it on, assuming a much more modest appearance. She was putting her hair in a ponytail now.

"Hermione...you're very beautiful, I don't know if I've ever told you that," said Ron.

Hermione's face became hot. "Thank you," she said softly, blushing.

"I mean it." said Ron.

She then walked over to him so that they were breathing into each other's faces, looking into each other's eyes.

"You're not so bad looking yourself," she whispered.

"Mmm...thank you m'lady," said Ron.

Hermione giggled with pure pleasure. Then she grabbed his hand and they walked to the chimney.

"Uhh, for Diagon Alley, we should just go one at a time," Ron reminded her. "Your parents had a big enough chimney for both of us to squeeze in, but Diagon Alley still has small entrances in their Floo network for some reason."

"Right, of course." agreed Hermione.

"I'll go first," said Ron. "We should pop out in the same alleyway, okay? We'll meet up back here if something goes wrong. Here, take some extra floo powder, so you can get back."

"Okay," said Hermione, admiring his preparedness for potential danger. She took the floo powder and put it into a pouch in her cloak.

"Okay, here we go," said Ron, concentrating on what he was doing. He looked straight ahead and said, "Diagon Alley!" before throwing the floo powder at his feet. The green flames erupted, and he was gone, just like that.

Hermione winced. It looked a lot scarier seeing someone else do it than being the person doing it. She had not used floo powder very often. Nevertheless, she took some of the Weasley's floo powder, making sure she still had her extra in her pocket, and likewise said, very clearly, "Diagon Alley!" before she too erupted in green flames and found herself landing in the alleyway.

"Hermione!" said Ron. He quickly ran to the floo chimney that she had popped out of.

"I'm glad that worked out alright," she said with relief as Ron approached her.

"Me too," he said. "Let's go check out what shops are open."

"Okay."

They walked out into the main strip of Diagon Alley. It was much quieter at the beginning of summer than at the end of summer when business was booming, not to mention it was still early morning. Some of the shops, such as Olivander's Wand Shop, were closed for some reason. There was still a slight chill in the morning air.

"D-you want to hold hands?" asked Ron sheepishly.

"Always," said Hermione, quickly grabbing Ron's left hand.

They strolled along in their traveling cloaks, holding hands, admiring the old shops and masonry, some of which had been there for over a thousand years. Almost none of the shops were open which explained the lack of a crowd. However, there was a quiet tea shop up ahead with a few elderly witches and wizards. It looked as though they were having a grand time, as if they all knew each other and frequented the tea shop everyday.

"Guess we shouldn't have come so early. There's hardly anything open," said Ron.

"Don't bother. I like the quiet. Probably better than if we were surrounded by loads of people," said Hermione, trying to keep him in a good mood.

"Want to check out that tea shop up ahead?" asked Ron.

"Let's."

They found a small table inside the tea shop where they were in a corner. Only two other old couples were in the tea shop on the opposite side of the restaurant.

"I've never been here before, or noticed this place actually," said Ron.

"I've seen it before, but I've never been inside or eaten here," replied Hermione.

A waitress with a magic quill and notepad walked out from the back of the shop and noticed Ron and Hermione. She walked briskly to approach them.

"Need menus? Or know what you want?" asked the waitress quickly.

Hermione was the one facing the waitress. "Yes, we would like menus please," she said politely.

The waitress whipped her wand out and muttered, "mutatio," transfiguring two salt shakers on the table into simple menus.

"Wicked," said Ron. "Can't wait until we're good enough to do stuff like that."

"I know right?" piped Hermione.

The restaurant was called Theodore's Tea, Tahini, and Tapioca. Our motto is, If it starts with Tea, we serve it with glee!

"Do you like tea?" asked Hermione, looking up from the menu at him.

"It's been years since I've had it," admitted Ron, laughing to himself. "I usually drink juice, milk, butterbeer, stuff like that. Dad will drink it occasionally along with coffee to feel more like a muggle. Fred and George have made some pretty strange drinks, but I wouldn't put them on the market."

Hermione giggled. "I think you'll like it. You're not a picky eater anyway. It's a hot drink that can be bitter, but people add sugar or cream to it sometimes to make it sweeter."

"A'right. Neat," said Ron, eager to please Hermione. "Want anything to eat?" He was checking the menu out as if he had never seen one before.

"No. That's okay. I'm still not hungry. I'm just gonna get tea," she said, amused as she examined his facial features with her eyes.

"Okay. If you change your mind, I'll be glad to get you anything," he said, still reading the menu.

"Aww...thanks," she said. She nudged her foot against his to play footsie with him a little before the waitress came back.

"Ready to order?" asked the waitress.

"Earl Grey tea, please," said Hermione.

"What she said," said Ron. Hermione nudged her foot against his again.

"I'll have that right out," said the waitress, and she mumbled "reditus" to the menus to turn them back into salt shakers.

Within ten seconds of walking back into the back of the shop, the waitress came back out with two piping hot cups of Earl Grey tea floating in front of her.

"Here you are," she said. "Anything else I can get you?"

"No that'll be fine. Thank you," said Hermione.

"Amazing," said Ron, admiring the hot tea in front of him to please Hermione. "Smells good."

"You'll like it, I think," she said.

Ron took a sip, burning his lip and tongue. "Woah!"

Hermione couldn't help but giggle.

"Bit hot, eh?" said Ron. "Didn't realize it was quite so hot."

"It's almost like an art form, drinking hot beverages," said Hermione, sipping her tea.

"Yeah, apparently," said Ron, amused. He, being easily entertained, reflected his father's idiosyncrasies when it came to Muggle artifacts.

"What's it like, going to Muggle school?" asked Ron.

"It's a lot different than Hogwarts, of course. Not nearly as exciting," Hermione said.

"Yeah, but you learn loads of stuff that we don't know about," said Ron. He was so glad to be talking to Hermione about something fun and casual without the stress of school and danger.

"Not when you're little," said Hermione. "We learned reading, arithmetic, writing, science, and sometimes history or life skills. I mean you learned most of that stuff when you were young too, right?"

"Yeah. Except that one in the middle. Science? What's that?" asked Ron.

"You don't know about science?" She was trying to not sound condescending but instead genuinely surprised. "It's just a term Muggles use to describe the natural world like everything we can see and hear and taste and touch. We didn't talk about it much. We talked about plants, animals, and a few other things like the weather. The closest thing would probably be Care of Magical Creatures or Herbology put into one class. Muggles would have a heart attack if they saw the stuff in Professor Sprout's greenhouses."

"Ha! I've never thought about that!" grinned Ron. "They'd probably be scared of the Whomping Willow too."

Hermione giggled, biting her lip.

"Ohhh!" said Ron, raising his eyebrows. "You're biting your lip again!"

"What?"

"It means you want to say something but don't know how."

"How did you know that? I didn't even realize I was doing it."

"I've paid attention to your behavior for a long time. I think I know your little quirks and manners," said Ron. "I guess I know you better than you think!"

Hermione grinned. "I guess you do! That's funny. I didn't even know I did that."

"What was it you wanted to say?"

"Oh, let me remember," she thought. "Oh, it was about the Whomping Willow. It's not terribly related, but I was talking with Ginny last night and told her how you had saved my life."

"What? At the Whomping Willow?"

"No, not really, although you being there helped me feel a little more safe. It's...hard to explain. I guess you were nervous but you didn't show it as much. Somehow you just reminded me of the Devil's Snare incident in first year again."

"Oh yeah? But don't forget, Hermione, you saved my life when you came to get me from the wizard's chess match that night."

"Yeah," mumbled Hermione. "I was so worried about you that night."

"I was glad you were able to get me to Madam Pomfrey," said Ron.

"Me too," said Hermione. Her eyes were now twinkling at Ron. "You're so brave though."

"Aww Hermione. Now you're just embarrassing me," said Ron. His ears were burning as she continued to compliment him.

"It's true!" said Hermione.

"Yeah….look, Hermione. We both know I've been a git to you, and I need to do my fair share of apologizing today. You did yours yesterday. It's only right."

"You weren't a git like me though," said Hermione.

"That's debatable," said Ron. "Let's just talk about it when we get back to the Burrow."

"Okay."

Ron and Hermione had changed the subject and started talking about what Hermione was like before she knew she was a witch. Ron was fascinated. Hermione enjoyed all the attention she was getting from Ron. Ron was quick to compliment her on her good grades in Muggle school. He had forgotten about the tea in front of him.

"Your tea is probably room temperature now," said Hermione with a smirk.

"Ahh, whatever. I'll drink it," said Ron, trying to be cool as usual.

He downed it in one gulp.

Hermione giggled.

"So? What'd you think?" she asked.

"Not bad. I'd get it again if we ever came back," he told her.

"Ooo you would want to come back here with me?" asked Hermione, playing with him.

"Of course! I've enjoyed myself. Would you want to come back here with me?" asked Ron.

"Definitely," Hermione beamed. Ron's heart melted right then and there.

"Brilliant," Ron muttered, grinning at her. "What do you want to do now?"

"Whatever you want to do," said Hermione, still wanting to be agreeable.

"No, I'm making you pick this time. What are we doing next?" asked Ron again.

"Oh alright. Wanna walk around and look in the shops even if they're closed, then go back to the Burrow?" suggested Hermione.

"Sure! Let's go!" exclaimed Ron.

And with that, Ron left a couple of sickles on the table as a tip, and they were off exploring the main strip of Diagon Alley. Various shops advertised their wares in the windows. Ron commented on a candy store, wishing it was open. Then Hermione noticed the old pet store where she first bought Crookshanks.

"He's grown on me, you know? Crookshanks?" said Ron, much less annoyed at the cat after it had helped expose his rat for the evil traitor that he was to Harry's parents.

"YOU'VE grown on me, Ron" said Hermione, looking into his eyes again.

"You've grown on me too!" said Ron awkwardly. "I mean...I guess...you know what I mean."

"Yeah," she said softly, still smiling, looking into his eyes and not really thinking about what she was saying.

Then they passed a magic broom store. Ron had to make a comment. "One day, I want to teach you how to fly fast on one of these brooms."

"Ron! You know I can barely fly. It scares me a little."

"It's all about feel and willpower over the broom. It just takes more practice for some people. It'll be fun. I would enjoy teaching you."

"Only if it was you though," said Hermione sweetly.

"Of course," said Ron feeling elated.

The streets were still quiet. A few more people had arrived in the streets, but it was mostly elderly witches and wizards. In a particularly quiet place on the strip, Ron stopped Hermione.

"Hermione, I need to tell you something," said Ron.

Hermione gazed at him, unsure of what would come next.

"You're the best thing that's ever happened to me or ever will happen to me," said Ron.

"And why is that?" asked Hermione softly, smirking at him. She was holding back tears again. She wanted to lock lips with him right then and there. I've been waiting for this day for years, thinking it would never come.

"Because you're my best friend, and now I can tell you I love you without reservations. You're so amazing. Everything about you is perfect. I'm mental for you." said Ron. He couldn't believe he was telling her this in a public area, but he didn't care anymore. She was everything to him.

Hermione had a couple of tears leave her eyes. She was still beaming. Her breathing had shortened a little bit. She whispered to him in response. "I love you. I need you so much. Please don't ever leave me."

"I wouldn't leave you if you-know-who himself used imperio on me to make me leave you." said Ron.

Hermione burst out laughing. "Ron, that's so funny and so romantic!"

Ron had never been so happy in his life. The same could be said for Hermione. They locked arms and continued looking in various shops, laughing and making jokes. Eventually they left Diagon Alley to return to the Burrow. It was the best morning either of them had ever had in their lives. It was pure ecstasy. All of their suppressed love was gushing out on each other.

Harry could have never guessed the impact his decision would have on the sheer happiness of his two best friends, who looked as though they would never separate ever again.