Disclaimer: I still don't own any of the characters used in this story.

Author's Note: Hello everyone. Again, thanks to those who reviewed and informed me as to what they wanted chapter eight to be about. I'm glad that people are still actively reading this story. Thanks! Well, here's chapter eight, and as most have you told me, it's about the detention together. I hope you guys like it. I had fun writing parts of this chapter. Let me know how it is by reviewing! Thanks! Without further ado, here it is. Enjoy!

Chapter Eight: A Weird Week

"So Ron, when do you plan on asking Hermione to the ball?" It was eight o'clock on a Saturday morning, and the two friends were descending down the staircase to the common room to meet the girl Harry had just spoken of.

"Don't rush me, alright Harry?" said Ron, giving his friend an annoyed look (Ron wasn't much of a morning person). "We just apologized to each other yesterday. It would be too awkward. Besides, I have other things on my mind right now, like that damn detention tonight with Hermione."

"Hey – why don't you as her tonight? I mean, no one else would be around, what with the two of you serving the detention all by yourselves…" quipped Harry, giving his friend a sly smile.

"Shut Up!" said Ron, slapping the back of Harry's head as they reached the common room. "You're lucky my sister fancies you, Harry. Otherwise you'd be in a lot of pain right now." The redhead gave his friend a mildly threatening look and then looked around the room. "Where's Hermione?"

"She's already gone down to breakfast," said a familiar voice. Ron and Harry turned to see Ginny come through the portrait hole, a big smile plastered on her face. "You two really need to wake up earlier. But anyway, let's go – Hermione saved us some seats!"

~~*~~~*~~

"Finally! You two need to set your alarm clocks or something!"

"Sorry," said Harry, scratching the back of his head and taking a seat across the two girls. "It's Saturday: you're supposed to get up a little later than usual."

"Besides, it's not as if we missed another important announcement, right?" asked Ron, spreading a good amount of jam on his toast.

"Actually Ron, the two of you did miss an announcement," said Hermione with a smug look. "Dumbledore just announced that students will be allowed to visit Hogsmeade tomorrow in order to prepare for the upcoming ball."

"That's actually not very important, Hermione. We would have found out from someone else anyway," dismissed Harry, taking a drink from his goblet. Hermione shrugged, dropping the subject.

No one said a word for a few minutes as the four heartily ate breakfast. Ginny was the first to speak. "So Hermione…do you have a date for the ball yet?"

Ron choked into his goblet and looked at the prefect, a worried expression on his face. Hermione gave him a quick glance, then shifted her attention to Ginny. "Actually, someone asked me on Wednesday, but I said no. I didn't really know him…"

"Who was it?" inquired Ron, a bit peeved.

"A sixth year from Ravenclaw – Tristan McGregor," replied Hermione dismissively. "I might just go alone if no one asks me – I honestly don't mind. It's just a ball anyway…" she stood up slowly and gave the three an apologetic look. "Sorry you three, but I have a ton of work to do. I'll be at the library if anyone needs me. See you later!"

The three watched as Hermione exited the Great Hall, her cheeks a bit pink.

I better get a move on…

~~*~~~*~~

The rest of the day went by rather quickly, despite not having a single meaningful event happen. Hermione spent the rest of the morning and the whole afternoon in the library, getting some advance studying for her OWL's. She mad a brief appearance during lunch. Harry and Ron, on the other hand, spent the whole afternoon with Seamus, Dean, and Neville, talking about various things: schoolwork, muggles, professors, quidditch, and (to Ron's horror) the ball.

(Flashback to fifteen minutes before dinner)

"So, you lot have dates for the ball yet?" asked Seamus. "I heard you asked Ron's sister, Harry. I didn't know you liked her. I thought you liked…what's her name?"

"Cho Chang," replied Dean.

"Well, I do think Cho's pretty," said Harry, his face getting hot. "But I realized I didn't really know much about her. I wanted to go with someone I got along well with and someone I knew…and Ginny's my friend. I know so much about her, you know? And you've got to admit, she's really attractive…"

"She is nice, I went to the Yule ball with her last year, and the whole time she was smiling, even though I kept stepping on her foot half the time," said Neville, giving a nervous chuckle. "What about you Ron? Have you asked anyone yet?"

Ron gave a grunt.

"I might ask Hermione again," remarked Neville quietly. "I asked her last year but she already had a date. There's no harm in trying again, I suppose. She's a really nice girl."

Ron looked at Neville in shock, his eyes as big as saucers. He was about to say something when his attention was caught by the portrait hole, where Hermione had just emerged.

"Hello everyone!" she greeted with a smile. "Ron, we should go down to dinner – wouldn't want to be late to detention, would we?"

Ron gave a grunt in response, nodded his head, and stood up, walking towards the portrait hole. "You coming?"

"I'll meet you there; let me just put my books upstairs."

~~*~~~*~~

At exactly eight o'clock in the evening, Hermione and Ron entered the trophy room with blank looks on their faces, both dreading the hours of cleaning they were about to do.

"I thought you two wouldn't be here," said Filch impatiently, his annoying cat purring beside him. "Now then, start cleaning – the rags and elbow grease are right next to that ladder. Don't forget to clean the trophies on the top shelf." He bent down and scratched Mrs. Norris behind her ears. "My cat shall keep an eye on you while I patrol the hallways."

The two nodded and watched as Filch exited the room, muttering incoherently to himself.

"Let's start then," said Ron, walking to the corner of the room where a box of rags and two bottles of elbow grease lay next to a ten-foot ladder leaning against the wall. "Why don't we each work on one side of the room? That way, we can work together on that shelf—" he motioned towards a seven-shelved trophy case across the entrance to the room. "I'm sure it won't take that long if we do it that way. Is it alright with you?"

"Sure."

"Right then. Here you go," said Ron, holding out two rags and a bottle of elbow grease with his hands. Hermione took the items from Ron's hands, the tips of her fingers touching the back of his hands. Ron felt the tips of his ears burn up, glancing at their almost holding hands, then looking up at Hermione, who was doing the same thing. She caught Ron's eyes with her, blushed, then turned to walk to the other side of the room.

Both Ron and Hermione said nothing for a whole hour and fifteen minutes. Each was busy cleaning trophies, left to their own thoughts. Once in a while, Ron would throw Hermione glances and Hermione would throw Ron a smile. But both immediately went back to work when Mrs. Norris gave them a piercing look and purred. Indeed, the proud cat did not budge the whole time Ron and Hermione were busy cleaning. She watched the two with great patience. But when a loud giggle was heard from outside the trophy room, she gave the two an I'll be back look, then hurried out the room.  

"I wonder what that was," said Hermione, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ears.

Ron shrugged. "I don't know. You done over there?"

"Just a minute." She wiped some elbow grease off the trophy in her hand, smiling as she saw her reflection. "Done!"

"Good. Help me with the ladder then," Ron said, walking towards the corner where the object stood. "I think it would be better if you cleaned the top trophies. You're much lighter than I am: the ladder can support your weight more easily."

Hermione gave him a disturbed look. "That doesn't seem fair. What will you be doing while I clean?"

"I'll hold onto the ladder to make sure it's stable. Wouldn't want you to fall and hit your head now, would we?"

They leaned the ladder onto the shelf quietly, Ron holding onto its side. Hermione climbed up the ladder, rag and elbow grease in hand, and proceeded to dust the shelf.

"Hey, watch it! You're getting dust all over me!" said Ron, running his hands through his hair vigorously.

"Ron, don't move too much! You're shaking the ladder!"

"Sorry. Just try not to let the dust fall on me," he apologized, giving his hair one last comb and looking up at Hermione. Unfortunately for Ron, Hermione hadn't noticed that she had dusted a spider off the shelf. The spider landed on Ron's nose – right when her looked up.

"Oh shit! Get it off me! Get it off me!" screamed Ron, frantically brushing the spider off his face, forcing the ladder to teeter off balance.

"Ron! The lad—whoa!" Before she had a chance to finish her sentence, Hermione fell of the ladder, the rag and the bottle of elbow grease flying off her hand. The prefect closed her eyes in anticipation of the cold floor. But the stone floor never came. Instead, she had hit something firm but warm.

"I told you to stay still Ron. It's only a spider – it can't hurt you!" growled Hermione, pushing herself up from the sport she landed on. She opened her eyes. "You nev—"

The girl didn't finish her sentence. She didn't expect to see Ron underneath her. Her cheeks flushed crimson as she looked at the redhead, who was looking at her seriously, their faces six inches apart. Whoa…this is too close…why is he looking at me like that? He shouldn't look at me like that…wow…Ron's attractive when he has a serious expression on his face. Hermione moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue.

God…please don't do that…it makes me want to kiss you…wow…you're really beautiful, Hermione…you're perfect. Without thinking, Ron brought his hand up and tucked a loose strand of hair behind Hermione's ear. He gently ran his hand through her cheek, slowly pulling her face closer to his. Their lips were three-quarters of an inch apart when…

Meow!

The two friends snapped back to reality, turning their heads towards the door, were Mrs. Norris was staring at the two with inquiring eyes. Hermione sat up, giving a nervous giggle. Ron followed suit. "Are you alright?" he asked, clearing his throat and running his hand through his hair. Hermione nodded with a smile.

"What are you two doing?!"

Filch entered the trophy room, his brows furrowed in anger. "Get back to work! When I come back, I had better see my reflection on every single trophy in this room!" And with that said, he turned and left the room.

~~**~~~**~~

Hermione entered the deserted Common Room, and exhausted look on her face. Filch had made her and Ron scrub three trophies over and over again until he was satisfied. Hermione stifled a yawn and turned around to face Ron. "Well, that was awful, wasn't it?"

"Tell me about it. I'm so exhausted," said Ron, yawning and stretching his arms. "I'm sorry about the whole ladder thing, Hermione…"

"It's alright…well, I'm going to bed now." She walked towards Ron, placed a hand on his shoulder, and then gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Good night…"

Ron watched as Hermione ran up the stairs, a small smile playing at her lips. This has been a weird week: at the beginning of the week, we were mad at each other. Now, we almost kissed…I should really ask her to the ball soon…

And with that, Ron gently touched his cheek and went up to the boy's dormitories.

~~**~~~**~~

So…how was it? Please tell me…I hope it was alright…anyhow, the next chapter is the Hogsmeade chapter. Will Ron and Hermione talk about what happened during detention? Will that darn redhead finally stop procrastinating and ask her to the ball? Find out on the next chapter of Curiosity. BUT I will not post the next chapter until I get Atleast seven reviews…I'm upgrading it from five…well, have a nice weekend and all that. and again, thanks for reading my story.

~~:azaleafaye:~~