A/N- We see some of Kristi's really weird personality shine through here, incase you are interested. Another odd thing about my spelling, I used check not cheque, and queue instead of line. Go figure! (don't try and figure out why I use nearly all British phrases except for that one word! You and I may hurt ourselves trying) Thank you to ALL of my reviewers who I am too lazy to list now, but maybe in the next chapter. J I do have to say to Adnap Nottap- sorry, but you were right, I was laughing! :o) You quite likely will find out what happened with them in the next chapter, that was quite likely, but it is not set in stone as I have not yet written the chapter. This is a very lengthy chapter as well, 11 pages or something life that.
Chapter Three- Old Friends
When she got home on Saturday afternoon, she found Kristi using the internet on the computer that they had situated on a table against the living room wall. She seemed to be looking up different types of flowerpots, but Hermione didn't ask why.
"Um, Kris?"
"Hmm?" she grunted in reply.
"Is it alright with you if I go away next weekend?" Hermione bit her bottom lip, she knew she had to tell Kristi why, and then she would get the wrong idea.
Sure enough, Kristi stopped what she was doing, and turned around to look at Hermione. "Why? Where are you going?" she asked, a smile appearing on her lips. "Are you and that Ron fellow we met going on some romantic outing. I know you were with him today."
Hermione started at the lady in front of her. "How did you know I was with him?"
"I saw you in The Coffee Shop, looked like the two of you were having a very nice time." Her smile was broadening into an evil grin. "Come on Hermione, you can tell me why you're leaving."
"Yes, I was with him today, but not for the reason you think. I was assigned to take a bloke from a British ad agency around the school to take pictures of the magical creatures, and the rest of the city. He just turned out to be the bloke is all." Hermione started to fidget, but abruptly told herself to stop, because if Kristi noticed she would doubt Hermione's story even more.
"Yeah, sure that's what happened. Now where are the two of you going, eh?" The evil grin was still in place.
"England, alright!" The "evil grin" had then been promoted to a "sadistic smirk."
"Oooooo, you and Ron are going somewhere together, tell me are you staying at his house as well?" Hermione was trying her best to stay calm. She hated when Kristi did this to her, and she knew it too.
"No, Kristi, I am not staying at his flat. I will be staying at his mother's house." She thought she had dodged the bullet, until Kristi started up again.
"Meeting his parents already are you? The two of you move rather quickly!" Her "sadistic smirk," was still plastered across her face, and she gave Hermione a knowing wink.
"Ugh, alright I am going to start from the beginning!" Hermione was on the brink of fuming now. "Incase there are some details you have forgotten. I went to school with Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley, who happen to be my best friends. Over the summer I would go visit Ron at his house, ergo I already know his mum–"
The other woman interrupted, "Ergo, Hermione, the two of you were already getting a little frisky."
"Err, I shared a room with his little sister, Ginny," Hermione could see her friend about to intrude again so she added, "in two separate beds." The snide comment dies on Kristi's lips. "I have only been in Ron's room a couple times, and then Harry and/or Ginny were present."
That evil smile grew larger, "Hermione, I didn't know you had it in you. Harry was there, and sometimes Ginny as well, I never knew you had this wild side."
"Alright, I am going to my room, and leave you in the dark as to why I am going!" Hermione stomped off to her room, planning on doing homework, when she heard Kristi call behind her:
"Don't worry I know why your going!"
Hermione decided to ignore this comment, and kept walking to her room.
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The week flew by for Hermione, and before she knew it she was packing Thursday night, for yet another trip to The Burrow. She was walking around making sure she had everything, shirts, pants, shoes, underwear, make-up, toiletries– When her thoughts were interrupted by Kristi at the door. "Packing for your little excursion with Ron?" she asked leaning innocently against the doorframe.
"Yes, I am packing, but not for an excursion with Ron.' I am going back to see my old friends, and to help make the Bertie Bott's ads."
"Yes, but you will be alone with Ron, for hours on end. Alone in a cold office, sitting on a cold hard chair. I say, why sit on the chair when you have a perfectly good male lap right in front of you?" She smiled, gazing longingly at the ceiling.
"Well, maybe you would, but I would not. I'll take the chair thank you very much." She turned to go and finish her mental checklist, when Kristi again interrupted her, "Well, be cold and heartless if you wish, but I don't think he'd object if you did" She trailed off suggestively.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Hermione asked coolly.
"It means that your old school friend has the hots for you, and you are too blind to notice."
"He doesn't, he made that very clear a long time ago. Look, Kristi, I don't like talking about it, all right? I need to finish packing." Kristi knew that she had accidentally hit a nerve, and that further teasing from her would be a death wish. She turned and silently left Hermione to her thoughts.
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Hermione returned from her classes around 4:00. No one was home, but that was to be expected, Hermione's classes started earlier that Kristi's, but Kristi got done much later.
She went into her bedroom, and laid down on the bed to try and sleep until about 11 PM when she would get up and get ready to leave, leaving around midnight. Once she was lying down, she mentally told each muscle to relax, until she was so relaxed her mind drifted into slumber.
Her alarm woke her at 11:00 at night, like it was supposed to, and Hermione got up. She pulled out, and put on, a pair of jeans, a bright read t-shirt, with a zip-up black sweater over top. It could get very chilly in England on spring days, at 6:00 in the morning.
She went into the kitchen to put a pot of tea on to boil, when she found a note pinned to the refrigerator with a cow magnet. She pulled it off and read:
Hermione-
I got home around 5:30. I am at The Club now if you need me.
Have good trip! See you when you get back!
Give Ron a kiss for me! (And maybe one for yourself to go along with it?)
Luv Ya!
Kristi
Hermione laughed, Kristi, always the matchmaker.
She crumpled up the note and threw it in the rubbish bin so that Kristi would know she read it. The she went into the bathroom to brush her hair and get ready. When she heard the teapot whistle 10 minutes later, she ran from the bathroom, brush stuck in a knot in her hair, to pull the pot off the burner. It was just after 11:30 and she didn't want to wake sleeping neighbours.
It was about 5 to midnight when Hermione finally got the brush out of her hair, brushed her hair properly, and drank her tea.
She got her duffel bag out of her bedroom, and set it down next to her on the living room floor. She pulled her wand out of her pocket, and prepared to apparate. She picked up her bag in her left hand, and gave her wand a twist with her right. There was an odd sensation of dissolving, and then she appeared in a huge building, that seemed to be made entirely out of pink marble. She walked forward to join the queue of people going to the customs desk.
After her passport was stamped by some surly looking goblin, she saw Ron and grinned. It was now 5 minutes after 6 in the morning. Ron started walking towards her with a smile on his face, and Hermione, for some reason unbeknownst to her, was very happy to see Ron.
"Need help with your bag?" he asked kindly with a twinkle in his eyes.
"Oh, Ron, I'm not that weak! There's hardly anything in here besides clothes anyway!" Hermione smiled at him.
"What no books?" he teased her. Hermione would never live her book fetish, which she still possessed just not as obviously, down.
When they stepped out into the bright morning sunlight of Diagon Alley, Hermione froze and looked around. Nothing, from what she could tell, he changed. They were standing next to the giant, white marble building that was Gringotts Bank. Across the street was Eeylop's Owl Emporium. Ron saw the look of awe and remembrance that was on Hermione's face. "Do you want to go straight home, or so you want to stick around for a bit? Nothing's open, but we can have a look around."
So they walked, passing Flourish and Blotts, walking by Quality Quidditch Supplies, strolling past Olivander's Wand Shop.
"Is he still alive?" Hermione asked pointing to the shop as they passed.
"Oh, yeah! Alive and kicking!" Ron stopped in front of the shop and looked at her. "He was ancient when we went to school, but he doesn't look like he's aged a day since then."
They turned away from the shop and walked on. Seeing old shops and new, remembering and laughing. They had just finished a particularly good laugh, about how Neville had eaten one of Fred and George's joke candies, Caroling Catastrophes, and was singing nothing but Christmas carols for the next hour, when Hermione stopped and leaned against a building to get her breath back. Ron leaned next to her, their arms touching slightly. Hermione was very surprised what this small contact was doing to her.
"I think we've looked at everything, do you wanna go home, or do something else?" Ron looked at her and she realized he was expecting an answer.
"Oh, yeah, sure we can go to the house. We can apparate from here can't we?"
"You remember where it is?" Ron teased.
"It hasn't been that long." Well it had been a long time, too long, a whole seven years had passed.
"Alright, apparate outside the house, unless you want mum to jump you the second you appear, which she might do anyway"he smiled, "Ready? Ok, let's go!"
They twisted their wands, and were gone.
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Ron and Hermione were in the front yard of The Burrow, chickens fluttering away from their abrupt landing spot, and some gnomes were running across the front garden. That was all Hermione had time to notice before Mrs. Weasley came running out the door, and scooped Hermione up into a bone-crunching hug. "Oh my God, Hermione, you're back!" Mrs. Weasley hadn't let go yet, and she had tears in her eyes,
"Alright, Mum, let the poor girl breathe!" Ron came and pried his mother's arms off Hermione, and she was again able to breathe.
"Oh, I am so sorry! It's just you've been goneand now you're backand II" Hermione was scooped up again.
Hermione didn't know what to say.
"Mum, lets let Hermione go to her room and put her stuff down, then we can talk about what has been going on in our lives." The trooped into the house Mrs. Weasley behind Hermione muttering things like, "I'm so happy you're back!" or "So happy you hadn't forgotten about us."
Hermione was about to turn around, to tell Mrs. Weasley that she could never forget them, when she felt Ron's hand on her arm, stopping her turn with out much effort, the effect of his touch was enough to do that by itself. "Unless you want to get her started again," he whispered into her ear, his breath warm, "I suggest you save any comments for our discussion.'" He pulled his head away from her ear, but didn't take his hand off her arm. He guided her through the house with it, as if she had no clue where she was going, and into Ginny's old bedroom.
"Where does Ginny live now?" she asked.
"With Harry," Ron replied. Hermione's eyes grew, she knew Mrs. Weasley would never have approved of that. Ron saw the look on Hermione's face, "They are engaged, they'll be married in the beginning of June."
"Wow! I guess I missed more than I thought," she sat down on the bed, with Ron next to her.
"You know that Ginny and Harry were upset that you wouldn't be able to see their wedding. I remember the night that Harry proposed, Ginny started naming people that she could invite, you know how she can be, and said how she wished there was some way to track you down and invite you. Now, you're here, and we know where you are, and I think Ginny and Harry would love to see you again." Ron didn't know why he was going through all this, but he felt he had to if he were going to get Hermione to say yes, and come to dinner that night.
"Oh, Ron," she had tears in her eyes, and she knew this would not be the last time this trip she cried over all the pain she had caused people, "of course I want to see Harry and Ginny!"
"How about for dinner tonight?"
"I know you already have it planned, but I would have agreed anyway."
"I told them that I had a friend they had to meet."
"Ron, you didn't tell them I was back? You are a cruel person!" She slapped him playfully on the arm.
"I know!" Ron was always the modest one.
"So you ready to go and talk to Mum?" Ron looked worried, almost like he thought that maybe Hermione couldn't handle speaking to his mum.
"Yes, it's only your mother." Hermione had an odd look of determination on her face, and she felt that she had to explain to Mrs. Weasley why she never kept contact, even if Ron said she already understood.
"Ok, look, I have to go up to finish a letter I am writing to a colleague, about some new client. You two can go downstairs and have your woman to woman type chat and I'll join you in a bit, all right with you?"
"Sure," Hermione got off of her bed, and walked down the flight of stairs, while Ron continued up to his old room. Hermione made a mental note to look in his room while she was staying to see if the Chudley Cannons were still up.
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Hermione arrived in the kitchen, where Mrs. Weasley was sitting at the table with a pot of tea and three mugs in front of her. She didn't hear Hermione until she started to speak, "UmmMrs. Weasley" the older woman jumped.
"Oh, dear, you scared me!"
"Sorry, I just thought you should know why I left, without telling where I was going." Hermione sat down across from Mrs. Weasley who was pouring her a mug of steaming tea.
"You said you were going away to college, and after what happened to you , I understand why you would want to get away for a while, I just–"
Hermione cut her off. "I didn't tell you specifically where I was going. And getting away for so long may have been all right, but I didn't talk to anyone from here, and that was wrong on my part. I was upset over a lot of things and I thought the sooner I get away the better, I didn't mean to lose contact, it just never occurred to me, until it had been so long, I was afraid to send any letters, in fear of getting letters back saying how pissed off everyone was at me, and" Hermione broke into sobs, just as Ron entered the kitchen.
He sat down next to Hermione and gave an inquiring look to his mother, who returned it with one of her I-will-tell-you-later looks. Ron laid a hand on Hermione's back, running it softly up and down, up and down, his touch calming her.
Hermione turned to him, "I'm sorry, so sorry," and with that she buried her face into his shoulder. Ron wrapped his arms around her soothingly, completely forgetting his mother was in the kitchen.
"Shhh, it's all going to be ok, calm down Mione, everything is all right" and other soothing words came out of Ron's mouth as he held his best friend close to him. Holding her like this felt so right, so perfect. He continued running his hands up and down her back.
Hermione took her face away from his shoulder and laid her cheek on it instead, "I am sorry for everything I have done, or for what I haven't." She still had a few silent tears running down her cheeks, but she had stopped sobbing, and as she calmed down she started to notice the spicy scent of Ron's cologne. Then Ron noticed that his mother was still in the room, watching them with a slight smile on her face. Ron gently pulled back from Hermione, and looked into her eyes, she nearly stopped breathing, then she too remembered Mrs. Weasley's presence and tried to regulate it as much as she could.
"No one, no one, blames you for leaving. Not Mum, not Harry, not Ginny, and especially not me. If anyone really understands why you left, it's me." Mrs. Weasley confused by this last statement, but didn't want to interrupt the moment. Another silent tear fell down Hermione's slightly flushed cheek. Ron lifted a hand, and not looking away form her, he brushed the tear away , in a rather intimate gesture Molly mused. "Now, do you want to gowhat is it Ginny always says?freshen up? Then come back down and we can leave for the office." She nodded slowly, got up, and walked upstairs, giving Molly a giant hug on her way by.
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When she was gone Ron's mum said, "Well, she hasn't changed that much. I feel so sorry for the poor girl. She really does regret what she did."
"Yeah, well, if she breaks down and cries like that every time, I don't know what I'll do." Ron said staring up the stairs that Hermione had just climbed.
"I don't know, Ron," Mrs. Weasley looked at her son and smiled, "you didn't seem to mind too much." She crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows.
"What are you talking about, I–"
"Ron, Ron, Ron, when will you learn it never works to lie to your mum. I know you enjoyed very minute you had to hold her, and that you only stopped when you came back to earth and realized I was still in the room."
Damn the woman, Ron thought furiously. "How did you–? I mean"
"Ron, you know very well how long I have been a mother, and how many boys I have raised. I also know what it is like to go through that feeling, and I can recognize it a mile away. All I am going to say to Ron is, I don't think Hermione would complain too much if you acted on that feeling." After that bit of motherly advice, she got up and announced she need to finish the wash, and was off leaving Ron to his own thoughts.
If only I hadn't screwed up before, he pondered, then Hermione may not have left, if she did she would have written, and I would have acted on that feeling a long time ago.
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When Hermione got back to the kitchen, her face no longer red and blotchy, she found that Mrs. Weasley was gone, and Ron seemed to be in very deep thought.
"A penny for your thoughts?" she asked, using a phrase she had grown to love.
"Hmm, what, oh, nothing, it was nothing. Thinking about some advertising ideas, that's all." Hermione knew it wasn't all because Ron still had a faintly dazed expression, but she didn't press the matter.
"Ready to go?"
"Oh, yeah," he stood up.
Are you sure you're up to apparating? You seem kind of distracted."
"No, I am fine, thanks. Just apparate to Trafalgar Square, and we can walk the rest."
She did as she was told, and when they arrived in a crummy looking underground tunnel, Ron explained it was the old Trafalgar Square underground stop. It was now abandoned and used as an apparition point. They climbed the stairs when the guard instructed them to do so, the stairs worked something like Platform 9 3/4, and were in the warm spring sunlight. They walked through bustle, crossed a street and entered tall office building.
The wizarding office building was lit like a muggle one, with overhead fluorescent lighting, and elevators, Hermione couldn't even tell the difference between this one and a muggle one, until they got up stairs. Ron and Hermione get into the elevator, and Ron pushed the button for the 15th floor. At the right floor, they hopped off, and proceeded down the hall. At the end, they came into a big room, with giant tables all around. Witches and wizards were "discussing," Ron told her, how to lay out different ads, putting different pictures and changing the font until they were satisfied, but , Hermione thought, they are really just arguing. They strolled down the middle of these table, and took a left down another small corridor, which opened up into a smaller room where there was a young woman, maybe around 30, sitting at a chair at a desk that was littered with bits of parchment and quills. It must have been organized in her mind, because when Ron approached the woman picked up a stack of parchment and handed it to him, smiling.
"Your mail, Ron."
"Ah, thank you," he said as he took the mail from her out stretched hand. He turned and looked at Hermione, "This is Denise Howard, my secretary, Denise, this is Hermione Granger, an old friend."
"Oh, yes, I should have known! Ron has a picture of you on his desk, you know?" Denise smiled innocently up at Ron, who was blushing.
"Really? Thank you, I will have to make sure it's a good one, then." She smirked evilly at Ron, and walked into his office.
Hermione walked casually around to the back of the desk, while Ron leaned against the doorframe. She saw many pictures, his family, Harry and Ginny, Harry, Ron and herself, one of the twins and either their girlfriends, or wives, Hermione wasn't sure.
"Are the twins married yet?" she asked Ron.
"No, they both have been living with their girlfriends for about, oh, nearly four years. Neither has proposed, neither is planning any weddings, they are just happy the way they are. Mum wasn't happy at all when she found out George had moved in with Angelina, and was really pissed when Fred followed, only with Alicia. Every time they come home mum says something like, I hope you two don't do anything you'll regret.' Then the twins reply with some cheeky remark like, "Mum, you think I would have sex when I'm not married,' then they gasp," Ron demonstrated the twins gasp of sarcasm, " then they finish with something like, unmarried sex is just wrong.' They try to use the word sex' as often as possible when they answer Mum, because she hates the word, and then they run off and start kissing their girlfriends just to spite her. But, there have been no babies so far, so Mum's happy."
"Your poor mother, putting up with them. I thought your mum wanted grandchildren." Hermione looked puzzled.
"Oh, believe me, she does, she would just prefer that they arelegitimate." Hermione sat in Ron's therapeutic chair, while he finished speaking, and he sat in the visitor's chair across the desk.
"So what about Percy, is he married? He doesn't strike me as the type to live with someone before marriage." She leaned back and looked at Ron as he spoke.
"Percy? He's been married for a while to Penelope. Her parents were killed in the fight against Voldemort, both were aurors, and she and Percy got back together at the funeral. Engaged a year later, married six months after that, been happily together ever since, but Mum is on their arses to have children"
Hermione laughed, "So she does want her kids to have children!"
"Yes, yes she does," he smiled at her from his chair.
"Well, better than my parents who told me I couldn't have kids until I was thirty, even if I was married."
Ron gave her a questioning look, "Why?" he asked.
"They didn't think that I would be responsible enough to handle it before then. That I wouldn't have enough life experience to get through it and raise the child properly." She gave an exasperated sigh.
"But, what if you felt you were ready? Ms. Perfect-Picture-of-Responsibility Hermione Granger not being able to handle a kid until you're thirty? I think you could have handled a child at 18."
"Yeah, thanks, but I don't know what I am going to do with that aspect of my life. I know what job I want, I know I can be successful in it, but getting married, having kids, I don't know what I want." She looked into his eyes.
"That's your call, Herm. Before you left you had no question in your mind though. You were going to get married, have children, and be a successful businesswoman at the same time. You wanted to prove to the world that people can have a successful business career, and a wonderful personal life with their family. I don't know what happened to that dream, but, I do know that maybe you have thought this thing through too much." At that moment Denise came in and told Ron that she had the pictures he had taken while he was away. He and Hermione got up, and left the room to go and put some ads together.
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When they were done, Hermione went back to The Burrow, while Ron went to his apartment. He would come back to get her when it was time to leave for dinner with Ginny and Harry.
When she walked in the door, Molly Weasley was there, with two identical red-haired men sitting at the kitchen table. When they saw her, they got up with looks of astonishment on their faces, apparently, their mother hadn't told them Hermione was here.
"Hermione?" Fred said.
"Hi, Fred! Hi, George!" she said this slightly shyly for some reason, she thought maybe she was expecting some type of reprimand form them. Instead they came over and have her a big bear hug. Some things never changed, she realized, as she had the air knocked out of her.
"Why are you here?" they asked her when they had finally let go.
"Ron asked me if I would come and help him put together some ads with him."
"How did he find you?"
"Wellit wasn't on purpose, I sorta ran into him at a club" and she proceeded with the entire story of how they had run into each other, taking the ad pictures, and Ron's invitation to come and help put them together.
"Well, sounds like you two have been having some fun!" Hermione didn't miss the suggestive note in George's voice.
"George!" his mother scolded.
"Hermione's a big girl, Mum, she can retort herself." Fred's eyes gleamed.
Hermione looked him and then George. "Ron and I are friends, we have never been anything more, and I doubt we ever will be." She ended her sentence on a slightly disappointed note.
Fred looked around the kitchen to find that his mother had left to go and clean somewhere upstairs, so he said, "I detect that you would rather be more." His voice held surprising sympathy.
"Look, Fred, it doesn't matter what I want, it will never happen." She looked at the table with her hands in her hair.
"Why not Hermione?" it was George's voice this time, and a comforting hand was laid on her shoulder.
"Because" she was holding back the tears as best she could, "because it's not what he wants, ok? Why am I telling you this to begin with?" she looked at them, her face slightly red, and ashamed to be crying like this in front of them.
"Because we're here, and we want to know what our stupid, fat arse prat of a brother is up to." Fred's voice seemed to be coming from a bit of a distance.
"Thanks ,you guys, for listening to me, but I have to go and get ready, Ron and I are going to see Harry and Ginny tonight. Ron should be here soon." She got up, and walked up the stairs to the room she was occupying, with the twins watching her go.
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Ron appeared in the kitchen and saw his twin brothers with their heads together, like they used to do when they were plotting in the Gryffindor Common Room at night. They looked up at him when he appeared and got up. Each clamped a hand around one of his arms, and wheeled him to a chair.
They stood over him, and Ron felt like he was going to be interrogated. "You, dear brother, and we need to talk, about certain things." Fred said mysteriously.
"What am I supposed to have done?" Ron asked very surprised at his brothers' strange behaviour.
"All we are going to say to you is, that if you're not careful you are going to let a very good thing slip out of your life. You lost it once, and you have been given another chance to get it backdon't make the mistake of letting it go and run away. Unless you go after it, it's not going to come back to you." After that they let him stand again.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Ron was bewildered.
"That is for you to figure out," George answered, "but we suggest you figure it out soon." They disapparated from the kitchen.
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Hermione heard Ron's voice in the kitchen, and knew he had arrived. She couldn't tell what was being said, but she could tell that Ron was very confused. She heard one of the twins' voices, Ron's again, the other twin, and then, silence. Hermione decided that if she was going to go down stairs, now would be the time.
Walking down the stairs, she found Ron sitting at the scrub wooden kitchen table in deep, deep thought. She placed a hand on his shoulder and he jumped. He turned to look at her. She was wearing a pair of straight kakhi pants, and a stretchy short sleeved back shirt, and black shoes. Her ensemble was very casual, but very nice and tasteful. "When do we have to be there?" she asked.
"Um," he looked at his watch, "about 5 minutes."
"Where do they live?"
"In a flat in Windsor, very nice actually. You know where the castle is?" She nodded her ascent. "We can apparate there, since you don't know the exact location, and walk the rest of the way." They waved their wands and were gone.
They arrived at the foot of Windsor Castle, the wind was blowing gently, but the evening was pleasantly cool. Ron started walking down the winding road from the castle, passing a shops and restaurants. They passed a parking lot, and strolled down a little street that ended up by the train station. From there they walked down Peascod Street, over a bridge that spanned the Themes, where the Queen's Swans swam beneath them. Pass The House on the Bridge Restaurant, some bars, club, and more closed shops, until they arrived at a small apartment complex.
They went up the stairs, and Ron knocked on number 234. When the door open, Ginny was behind it. She smiled at Ron and asked, "Where's this mystery friend, hm?" She then gave him a hugbut pull away instantly when she saw Hermione behind him. She screamed and ran to give her old friend a hug.
The screen alerted Harry who came running in saying, "Ginny, what the hell happened?" stopping dead in his tracks when her set eyes upon the person Ginny was holding. Both Ginny and Hermione were crying, Ron had a weird smile plastered on his face, and Harry just looked flabbergasted.
Hermione walked over to Harry and looked at him. He threw his arms around her, and held her there, not believing she was really back with them. "Hi, Harry," she whispered in his ear, and he held her even tighter.
"I thought you would never come back," he whispered to her, and then pulled back, "but I am glad you did."
They walked into the living room, and talked about everything they had to catch up on. How Ron and Hermione had run into each other, how she had come to be in England. About Harry and Ginny's wedding, and about how they were so glad she could be there for it. They talked and talked and talked. All through dinner and dessert, which were both wonderful, and for a while afterwards.
It was around 10 in the evening when Ron stood up and said, "I know I would love to stay and keep talking, but I have to get Hermione back to The Burrow. Then go home and get some sleep myself because we have to get up to finish the ads in the morning.
They said their good-byes and Hermione promised both Ginny and Harry she would keep in touch when she had to go back to the states.
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Hermione and Ron left the apartment building. It was such a nice night, Hermione asked if Ron would mind walking back the way they had come and disapparating from the castle. As they walked, they talked even more, about many, many subjects, Ron realizing that he and Hermione had even more in common that they had before she had left. They walked very close together, it just felt comfortable, and Ron had managed to put his arm gently around Hermione's waist without her objecting.
As they rounded the bend, coming around by the train station once again, Hermione noticed a flowerpot with flowers blooming in the darkness. Odd, she thought as they drew closer, flowers blooming at 10 at night? When she was nearly right in front of the pot, she stepped in a puddle that resembled some kind of oil, and started to fall.
As Ron watched her fall something clicked. He now knew what Fred and George had been talking about. Something that had gotten away from him, and would never come back if he let it run away againHermione! He saw her foot slip out in front of her, heard her gasp of surprise, and watched her hit the ground, all this happened before he had a chance to move and help her.
Hermione felt herself falling. She hit the ground, felt something hit the back of her head, and the world swirled into darkness.
A/N- Sorry about that, but I will try and get the next chapter out soonreviews will help (hint hint) Also I haven't been to Windsor in over two years, so if anything has changed, I am sorry to those who may know the area.