Disclaimer: It's all good, and none of it's mine

Chapter three... Trying to find an answer


Ron paused, his hand bent over the parchment he was trying to write
on. What would he say? He couldn't very well admit to Hermione that he
wanted her help, could he? Because that would be like complimenting her
or something. She might think he LIKED her if he did that. Which he
didn't. Not at all.
Right.

Dear Hermione.
At this, Ron frowned. Maybe he shouldn't put the "dear", it made him
sound lovey-dovey. He scratched it out and replaced it
with:
Hermione. Ron frowned again and ran his fingers through his hair in
frustration. That wasn't very good either. It sounded...gruff.
He scratched it out again.
Hi Hermione. Yeah, that was good. Casual, yet still friendly.
Ginny told me today you haven't heard from Harry. I haven't either.
I'm really worried about him, and want to do something to help him. I
was wondering if you had any ideas. That is, if you're not too busy with
your love life and all. Write me back.

Ron

Ron wasn't sure about the love life comment. He thought Hermione
might get mad, and she could be scary when she got mad. Trying not to
think of exactly why the thought of her being mad at him bothered him
so, Ron opened Pig's cage and Pig immediately zoomed out, knocking over
the one-armed statue of Victor he had (not on purpose, of course) left
standing on top of a discarded banana peel. Come to think of it, he
should get rid of the banana peel. It was starting to smell. He could
put Victor in that pile of dirty underwear over there...it was soft,
wasn't it? Ron smirked at the idea of Vicky sitting in his underwear and
had just started a fascinating daydream of Victor being ambushed by
enchanted, dirty underwear when he was interrupted by a loud crash. Pig
had hit the wall in his frantic travels, and was now flying in rather
jerky circles,looking dazed. "Stupid owl," Ron muttered. At least he had
slowed down. Ron tied the letter to his leg and said sternly, "Find
Hermione. And don't bring home a girlfriend like the last time. She was
five times bigger than you!"
Pig sailed out the window, and was nearly blown right back in by a
strong gust of wind. After a moment, though, he recovered and began
flying in what Ron hoped was the right direction. Hopefully not
Bulgaria.

It was four days before Pig returned, and by that time Ron was a
nrevous wreck. He shouldn't have wrote that about her love life. It
wasn't as if he really wanted to know, or that he cared, and now she was
probably going to be all mad, and write him a scathing epistle
demonstrating just how intelligent she really was. Life had not been so
great at home either, these days. More and more stories had started
appearing in The Daily Prophet about torturing of Muggles(although, no
one, to his knowledge, had been killed yet.) and his poor dad had his
hands full at the Ministry. Even Percy had stopped his endless bragging
and general insufferablilty and was also rarely seen. You knew it was
serious if Percy wasn't talking. Mrs. Weasley had a look of perpetual
worry on her face that she tried very hard to hide but wasn't quite
succeeding. Ginny seemed to have lost weight. The only ones seemingly
unaffected were the twins, and from the occasional muffled explosions he
heard from their rooms, they were full-scale ahead with the joke shop
idea.
Pig finally returned, however, and right away Ron gave him an owl
treat to shut him up. He grasped the letter with suddenly shaking hands.

"Dear Ron," it said. Ron smiled. She had said dear! Maybe she liked
him!
"Do you always have to such a git about Victor? We both know that's
what you're talking about. I'm sure Ginny told you that I did NOT go to
Bulgaria, and it wasn't just because my parents didn't want me to. I'm
scared, Ron. Muggles are being tortured everywhere, and I'm scared to
leave my parents alone. Not that I could help them much if the Death
Eaters did attack, but their Muggles, and I have to help them in any way
I can.
About Harry-why don't we write to Snuffles? If anyone can get Harry
out of his depression it would be him. Harry would write us if Snuffles
told him to, he has to listen to his godfather.
I've been doing a lot of reading over the holidays and studying for
the O.W.L.S. (The O.W.L.S! Ron shook his head in disbelief. He wouldn't
be surprised if Hermione was already studying for the N.E.W.T.S as
well.) I haven't really told my parents what's been going on, but they
can tell I'm worried. I don't know what to tell them. So, write to
Snuffles, and let me know as soon as you hear back. I miss you, Ron

Hermione.

Ron's heart skipped a beat. She missed him! An unbidden image of
Hermione in a wedding dress came to him then. And writing to Sirius!
What a great idea! He knew Hermione would have the answers. She always
did.
As Ron bounded down the stairs, smiling to himself, it occurred to
him that perhaps he DID like Hermione as a little more that just a
friend. Maybe.

To be continued

A/N I'm not sure I'm really happy with this part. I tried to make it
longer, and I think I made it boring. Oh, well...it will get better, and
longer, I promise. I'm just warming up...or something.
Thank you to my new reviewers, and the ones I didn't get to last time.
You all rock!!!
collegegirl, Kaite:Queen of the Killer kittens, cecill, Josie, and
w&m_law. It's so cool to get reviews from people who's stories I have
read.
Nikalee