Hello people who have internet and read romione fanfiction! Here is the next installment!

Life tip-Don't litter! It's trashy! :)

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The next day started just about as Hermione had expected. The bell rang bright and early, dragging most people at the camp unhappily (as if it would seem) out of their beds. As a morning person, Hermione didn't mind in the slightest and was quite looking forward to her first full working day at the camp. She was up and fully dressed before any of the other girls in her cabin had done much more than stretch and lazily climb out of their bunks. Hermione chose to be practical and put on a pair of jean shorts, and a light blue plain shirt that she didn't mind getting dirty. Forgoing makeup entirely, she tied her hair back into a ponytail, knowing that some of her hair would be breaking free long before she even started to do any work.

Once her trainers were on, she opened the door, planning to head down to the toilets, thankful that their cabin was fairly close to the bathrooms. When she stepped out, she almost let out a squeal of surprise as she almost walked right into Ron Weasley. He was leaning against the side of the cabin right next to the door, his body slumped over a bit as if he was still waking up. He was yawning, and when he opened his eyes they widened and he looked surprised to see her standing there. For a second or two, she wondered why he was there but then her brain caught up to her. He's waiting for Lavender- obviously.

They stared at each other, and she was relieved to see that the angry look from yesterday was gone. He didn't smile, but he gave her a small and polite nod before averting his eyes and stepping to the side to let her pass. He intently studied his fingernails as she walked out and closed the door behind her, wanting to get as far away from him as possible. She had to admit that although it was a definite improvement from yesterday, she still felt extremely nervous around him and hoped that she wouldn't be working with or near him. Except for just now, every single interaction between them had been atrocious and she hated the uneasy feeling he gave her. She hoped that it wouldn't make things awkward between her and Lavender either so she tried to play it cool, not wanting to cause any problems.

She already knew from the schedule that she was given yesterday that she was going to be working at the obstacle course today. She, along with others, would be raking leaves before laying down fresh mulch on the ground, so after she used the bathroom, she headed that way. When she made it there, there was a stern looking woman who introduced herself as 'Hooch' and she handed Hermione and three other girls, and two boys her own age a large rake and told them to get to work. Hermione didn't recognize any of them, and let out a sigh of relief when she saw that Wasley wasn't there. As soon as Hermione started working, a whimsical voice came somewhere behind her.

"Hello, I think that you are in my cabin. Cabin 19?"

When Hermione turned around, she saw a girl with long whiteblonde hair behind her, giving her a friendly smile.

"Yes," Hermione nodded, smiling. "That's right. I'm Hermione-I mean, Granger."

The girl smiled, not stopping her raking. "I'm Luna-or Lovegood apparently. It's lovely to meet you Granger."

Hermione instantly liked Luna. She was very eccentric in a way that Hermione had never known anyone to be, and Hermione could tell that her friendliness was genuine. Luna was indeed very different, but Hermione liked that about her. She liked the fact that she spoke her mind, and part of her envied that Luna was undoubtedly herself and was confident in who she was, even if she was a bit odd. While they both worked hard, raking all of the leaves and pine needles into piles, they carried on in light chatter for several long hours.

At lunchtime, Hooch brought them all a brown paper bag with a sandwich, and she and Luna sat next to each other and ate, still talking. Hermione learned that like her, this was also Luna's first year to volunteer at the camp. Luna had lost her mother at a young age, and as an only child, she and her father were very close. When he had seen the brochure and showed it to Luna, Luna had been eager to volunteer so here she was. When they both finished eating and were about to stand up and get back to work, Hermione heard a weird hissing noise coming from the woods behind them.

"Pst!"

When Hermione turned around, she saw that it was Cormac. His body was behind a large tree, but he was sticking his head out, his finger over his lips. Nervously, she told Luna that she would be back, leaning her rake against a small tree. Luna nodded, not asking her any questions even though she had seen Cormac as well. When Hermione walked around the tree, Cormac gripped her by the waist and pulled her against him, a wide grin on his face.

"Hello gorgeous," he half whispered, obviously not wanting to be heard.

"Hi," she replied, flushing at the fact that he had just called her gorgeous.

"Let's take a walk," he said, grabbing her hand and turned, pulling her with him. She looked back, worried, and he must've seen the look on her face because he stopped to reassure her. "Don't worry, I won't keep you long, just pretend it's a bathroom break." He shrugged. "It's not a prison."

Hermione gave a small nervous laugh, allowing him to lead her away. She was certainly not a rule breaker, and she didn't like the apprehensive feeling she got as they continued walking when she was supposed to be working. They were headed deeper into thick woods, and when they had only walked a minute or two, he stopped and spun around, pulling her body to his.

"I missed you," he mumbled, his lips grazing hers lightly. "Tell me you missed me too." Hermione nodded, not trusting her voice. "Good girl," he said, pressing his lips harder against hers.

Although the thought that things with Cormac were moving too fast again entered her mind, she tried to get lost in it anyway, liking the way that he lightly nibbled on her bottom lip. She didn't object when he backed her into a tree, and with her hands on his shoulders, and his on her waist, he deepened the kiss. After a few seconds, he leaned further into her, and she could feel his erection as he pushed it into her as he let out a small moan.

Her heart started thumping madly, and she wasn't sure if it was from nervousness, or desire, but she didn't get the chance to find out, as her whole body jolted when she heard a loud whistle coming from the direction that they had just come from. She pushed him back just enough that she could get away, her breaths coming out fast and uneven.

"I should get back," she said in a strangled voice as she hastily straightened her hair out.

He looked a bit irritated as he ran his fingers through his own hair. "I'm sure that the whistle wasn't specifically for you Granger," he told her. "They wouldn't whistle just for you walking away."

She shook her head. "Regardless if it was or not, I really should be getting back- it's been too long already."

She watched as he smiled at her again. "Of course. You're such a hard worker. We will have plenty of chances to continue this," he said, his grin growing wider.

She forced a smile, and they bid each other farewell after making plans to sit together at dinner later. To her relief, Hermione found that the whistle hadn't in fact been for her, and it looked as if no one except for Luna had even noticed her absence. She had been gone for less than ten minutes, but she felt guilty about it all the same. The raking was done now, and they were all handed buckets of mulch to dump out on the ground to spread. Hermione didn't speak as they were doing this, her mind deep in thought about what had just happened. That was the most...sexual encounter that she had ever had so far. She was both a bit flattered and a bit horrified that she had had that effect on Cormac and she didn't really know what to make of it.

"Is he your boyfriend?" Luna asked, breaking the silence, her voice curious but not intrusive.

Hermione paused before answering. "No...I actually just met him yesterday."

Luna looked surprised. "Oh," she said softly, her eyes still concentrated on her task.

Hermione bit her lip, not knowing whether to ask her the question that she wanted to ask but decided to anyway. "Luna…" she started hesitantly, watching as Luna lifted her head to give Hermione her full attention. "How fast do you think...is too fast?" she forced the words out.

She watched as Luna glanced at the woods from the direction that Cormac had come out of earlier, before looking back down as she continued to spread the mulch. Hermione hadn't really explained what she had been asking about, but for some reason she knew that Luna had understood anyway. "I guess that I can't really answer that question," she said in her dreamy voice that Hermione was finding that she used all of the time no matter what she was talking about.

"What do you mean?" she pressed, spreading the mulch and not looking at Luna.

"Well. The answer to that question varies from person to person you see. Some people are happy to move fast, while others tend to want to take things slowly. There is no right or wrong answer, but as long as it feels right, then it probably is." Hermione pondered this. "However," Luna went on. "You should never force anyone to move any faster than they want to. Boundaries are important, and if someone cares and respects someone else, then they will wait for them and go at their pace."

Hermione gave her a grateful smile. "You're right Luna- thank you."

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Hermione walked out of the shower, a white towel wrapped around her. It had felt great to wash away all of the sweat and dust that had been covering her body from the day's work. While there had been a wait to use the shower, thankfully it hadn't been long. There were about thirty showers in the 'shower' building, each one separated by only a flimsy black wraparound shower curtain. As soon as she walked out, the next girl in line walked in to take her own turn. The water had been luke-warm, but it had been fine, and Hermione was glad for this. During the orientation, McGonagall had stressed that they take short showers to conserve the warmer water, and as far as Hermione could tell so far, everyone was respecting this rule.

Once dressed, she made her way to her cabin to drop off her dirty clothes and get ready for dinner. She passed by Ron and Lavender on the way, their arms around the other in a tight embrace as they spoke quietly to each other. At least this time they aren't snogging she thought, walking faster to pass them, feeling uncomfortable.

Dinner with McLaggen was uneventful, with him whining the whole time about his aunt putting his name down to help wash dishes tonight. He told her that since she had done that, they wouldn't be able to go for a walk as he had planned, and he seemed pretty sullen about it. Hermione though, found she was a bit relieved. She had a feeling that he just wanted to get her alone so he could try and run his hands all over her again, or maybe even more than that. After the talk with Luna, she decided that if he tried to go too fast again, she was going to let him know that she wasn't comfortable with it. She hoped that he would respect that, and that they would continue to get to know each other without all of the touching. She figured that that part could come later.

After a quick goodbye to Cormac, Hermione walked back to her cabin. It was still light outside, and the grounds were sprinkled with people talking to each other, no one even thinking of going to bed just yet. She however, wanted to curl up in her bunk with a good book and just relax. She headed there, and was relieved to find her cabin empty, grabbing a book and laying down to get comfortable.

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Hermione woke with a start, confused. She must've been more exhausted than she had previously thought, because she hadn't even remembered falling asleep. The cabin was dark and she heard the light breathing of her bunkmates and knew that they were asleep. She sat up slowly, checking her small watch in the moonlight from the window to see that it was almost midnight. Sighing, she knew that she was now wide awake, and wouldn't be able to just fall back asleep now anytime soon. She stood up and quietly got out of bed, grabbing her sweater, glad that she was already dressed. She made her way out the door, making sure to close it quietly behind her

There were several outside lights on, but the moon was brightest as it lit up the night. Everything was quiet except for the sound of the wind moving, whipping her loose hair around her head. Her mind wandered, and she thought about how it would be once the campers got there, and how excited she was to help these kids and their families have a fun summer. She made her way to and around the lake, staring at the still water that looked like glass. Even though she didn't consider herself a swimmer of any sort, being around the water had a calming effect that she rather liked. When she got to the far end of the lake, she heard a faint continuous thumping sound. Curious, she walked towards the boathouse where the sound seemed to be coming from as the noises gradually got louder as she got closer.

Thud-thud-thud-thud

She walked out onto the deck, preparing to walk inside and check it out, when another sound accompanied the first and stopped her right in her tracks. It was the sound of whimpering- but not in a painful way. It was...pleasurable sounding.

And then, Hermione heard a voice that clearly belonged to her cabin mate. "Ohgod Ron, I'm almost there."

Hermione put a hand over her mouth. She couldn't believe it. Ron and Lavender were actually having sex in the boathouse. She gulped as Lavender's whimpers got impossibly louder, and she also heard Ron grunt with every 'thud'. Her hand still covering her mouth, her eyes wide in mortification, Hermione slowly walked backwards, wanting to get away as quickly and as quietly as possible before she was noticed. Unfortunately though, her shock had her completely forget the fact that she had walked out onto the deck, and when she took several steps backwards, she walked right off of the deck and fell into the water with a loud splash.

The water was deep, and as she sunk, she didn't even reach the bottom before she was swimming up to the surface, sputtering and coughing before she took in a large gulp of air. She couldn't see anything as her hair completely covered her face, so she lifted her hands to hastily wipe it away from her eyes. She knew without a doubt that she had been heard, and she hoped that she could get away before Ron and Lavender discovered that it was her.

There was no such luck, because once her hair was out of her eyes, she caught sight of them both walking out onto the deck, Lavender hiding behind Ron while straightening out her short skirt. Hermione stayed afloat in the water, treading it with her arms, unwilling to look either of them in the eye, and not knowing what else to do.

"You go on ahead," she heard Ron say quietly. "I'll take care of it."

Take care of it? What was he going to do? Murder her so she couldn't tell anyone what she had heard? Her heart froze at the image in her mind of him holding her underwater with his large hands until she stopped moving. She mentally shook her head at the thought. Sometimes her imagination was just too much. She stayed in the same spot for several long seconds before she heard anything else.

"Here, let me help you."

She finally lifted her eyes to see Ron laid out on the deck, his pale and freckled arm stretched out towards her. His voice wasn't angry, it was caring even, and his eyes held nothing but concern, and maybe a bit of embarrassment as well.

Knowing that she basically had no other choice, she swam towards him, getting within his reach in only a matter of seconds. With one of her hands in his, and the other grasping the side of the deck for leverage, he pulled her up and onto the wood planks easily. She just sat there next to him, regaining her breath.

She didn't look at him, just stared hard at the wood, feeling more awkward than she ever had in her whole entire life. She was alone in the middle of the night with a boy who had previously made it clear that he disliked her. Not only that, she had just caught him shagging his girlfriend- her bunkmate and he most likely thought that she had been spying on them or something like some kind of pervert.

"So," he said slowly, obviously not wanting to bring up the horribly obvious topic.

She took a breath and forced herself to look up at him. Even in the moonlight, she could tell that he was flushed and just as uncomfortable as she was.

"I wasn't spying on you, I swear," she said hurriedly, wanting to make that point clear to him. "I was just taking a walk, and I heard- well I didn't know what I was hearing obviously, but by the time that I figured it out I-and then I tried to just back away and-" she put her face in her hands, letting out a light groan.

"So you accidentally walked into the lake trying to get away without being noticed," he finished.

She took her head out of her hands and looked at him, nodding. He let out a sigh and rubbed the back of his neck in a sheepish sort of way. "If it wasn't so bloody embarrassing, it would actually be ridiculously hilarious," he stated, giving her a small smile.

She was surprised when she felt her stomach feel a weird kind of way when he smiled at her, but she pushed it down, choosing to ignore it. "Can we please- not talk about it," she pleaded, standing up on the deck and wringing out her hair. "I for one, am just going to forget that it ever happened, and if you could forget as well, it would save us all the humiliation."

She watched as the corners of his mouth twitched up, simultaneously annoying her and making her stomach have that weird feeling again. "Well, as much as I'd like to do that, unfortunately I cannot swipe my memory with magic, and I highly doubt that you can either."

Was he teasing her right now? Really? She rolled her eyes. "Well obviously we can't erase our memories! I just meant that when we depart from here, we never mention this again. To anyone. And if you could tell Lavender the same, that would be great too."

He slowly climbed to his feet so he was standing in front of her. He really was tall, and she felt even smaller than she normally did as he stood next to her. He nodded his head. "Yeah, of course. So I take it that you aren't going to tell McGonagall or anything?" he asked, looking hopeful.

She shook her head frantically, she definitely didn't want to tell anyone about this. "No. Not because I'm trying to cover for you or anything, but because like I said, this never happened." She took a step back from him, preparing to turn around, but before she could, he spoke again.

"I'm sorry."

She raised her eyebrow at him and he went on.

"I mean- about-you know," he cleared his throat. "I shouldn't have talked to you like I did yesterday, or called you a liar. It was wrong of me and I'm sorry. Sometimes my temper gets the best of me, but I'd like to think that I'm an okay guy most of the time- so I'm sorry."

"Oh," she said, appreciating his words, but also feeling terribly guilty as well. "You really shouldn't apologize to me though," she said quietly. "I was lying."

He nodded. "I know you were, but that's not really the point."

"Well," she said, taking another step backwards. "Let's just call it even then." She gave him a tight lipped smile and turned around.

"What are you looking for?" he called out, and she turned back around to face him again, wondering what he was talking about. "In McLaggen I mean," he clarified, his face serious. "Are you just having fun messing around with him, or are you looking for something- I don't know- more?"

She furrowed her brows. "Well, I don't really see how that is any of your business and-"

He took a step forward "I'm not asking to be nosy," he said in an irritated tone. "I just wanted to warn you that if you're looking for your Prince Charming or whatever, McLaggen is not it."

Hermione had already been sensing this, especially the more time she spent with Cormac, but for some reason, she felt the need to defend him. She knew that it really stemmed from feeling the need to protect her judgement though, and not protecting him. She was very smart, and the thought of her coming across as a brainless bimbo tormented her.

"Oh?" she scoffed. "And you have the right to say that to me do you?" she retorted stiffly.

He narrowed his eyes, "I'm just warning you that-"

She stuck her hand up, cutting him off. "I can judge people for myself, thank you very much, and you don't even know me!"

He let out a loud barking laugh. "I may not know you, but I know McLaggen and that's bloody enough for me. Trust me, he's not interested in you- he's only interested in the chase-and once he succeeds, he will move on to the next bird before you can even blink! "

She felt her fists clench at her sides. "Oh yeah," she spit out. "You can't really talk, can you? You're the one who was out here with Lavender in the boathouse!" she said triumphantly, thinking that she had won.

His face contorted angrily. "That's different!" he shot back. "First off, Lavender is my girlfriend- has been for the last two years! And secondly, I'm in love with her and I don't plan to just- to just drop her like Cormac will eventually drop you."

Hermione put her hands on her hips. "You have no idea what Cormac will or won't do with me!"

He raised his eyebrows and she felt herself start to blush. "I didn't mean-I didn't mean it like that," she muttered, looking down.

"You must be really naive," he said, and her head snapped up.

"Why are you even here?" she asked angrily. When he glanced at the boathouse she shook her head at him. "No- not that. I mean at this camp? This camp does so much good for so many people, yet you treat it like some sort of joke!"

"What?" He gave her an incredulous look before his mouth opened and closed as if he had no idea what else to say.

"Oh come on," she said impatiently. "You try to start fights with people, you bring your girlfriend down to the boathouse to-you know. Not to mention, you couldn't even stay quiet during an hour-long orientation. It's obvious that you don't care, or take any of this seriously!"

She could tell by the furious look in his eyes that she had crossed a line with him, but she didn't back down or step back as he took a few steps forward until he was standing right in front of her, looking down at her.

His eyes were blazing fiercely when he spoke. "I have my reasons for being angry when it comes to Cormac," he said, his voice quiet but enraged. "And trust me, if I had wanted there to be a fight, there would have been one- Merlin knows I would love to beat the shit out of that scum."

Hermione felt her heart beating furiously as he paused. "As far as me shagging Lavender, well, that's absolutely none of your business- but if you heard anything earlier, you would have heard that she certainly wasn't complaining about it." He raised his eyebrow at her, as if daring her to say otherwise.

Hermione felt her face heat up at his crass words as he went on. "And let me tell you this as well. I have been volunteering at this camp for five years. That means that I have been to five orientations now, and I can almost recite what McGonagall is going to say word for word."

He licked his lips, his face scrunched up in anger. "This camp means a hell of a lot to me, regardless of what you think. You're right Granger, I don't know you, but I do know that you are not entitled to just waltz in here after twenty four hours and tell me that I'm not taking this camp seriously, or tell me what it means to me, because I can assure you, you have no fucking idea."

Hermione had almost stopped breathing while he had been talking and with one last angry look, he stepped around her, hurrying off presumably to his own cabin, leaving her to stand, still dripping on the deck, her body shivering.