Dear Hermione,
How is your holiday going? Did you go visit Vicky? (At this Hermione
rolled her eyes.) My mum said that it's all right for you and Harry
to come over again this summer. I'll warn you now; it's not too pleasant
here. (Hermione frowned slightly. Ginny had also mentioned this.)
I'll tell you when you get here, that is, if you are coming. Mum owled
Dumbledore to ask if Harry can come stay with us. He hasn't answered us
yet, but Mum doesn't think Harry will be able to. Guess it will just be
me and you, huh? (Even though no one was around, Hermione's cheeks
began to burn.) Send your answer with Pig and if you are going to come,
Dad will come get you by Floo tomorrow afternoon around 2.
Ron
Hermione looked up at Pig who was currently flying around her room, irritating
Chrookshanks. She smiled. "Come here Pig," she said, trying to grab him
as he flew by her. "Pig!"
He hooted in apology and landed on her desk, scattering papers onto the
floor. She shook her head at him and let out a sigh.
She sat down at her desk and pulled a piece of parchment and her quill
and ink out. She scribbled a quick note to Ron.
Dear Ron,
Of course I want to come to the Burrow! That will be fine. I'll be ready
tomorrow afternoon for your father. I hope Harry can come too. It won't
be the same without him. See you soon!
Your friend,
Hermione
She rolled it up and tied it to Pig's leg. "Okay, go on. Take it to Ron,"
she said, smiling at the little owl. It gave a hoot and flew off to the
window. With a little huff, he flew out the window.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ginny ran into the house, holding Hermione's reply in her hand. "Ron!" She looked around the kitchen and then walked into the living room. "Ron," she said with a slight smirk on her face.
"What Ginny?" he snapped. He was playing a game of chess with George. He was staring at the board, with a look of great concentration.
George sighed dramatically. "Any time now Ronnie."
"Shut it George," Ron said, looking up at him briefly. Ginny walked up behind him and waved Hermione's letter in front of his face. "Stop it Ginny!" He tried to keep his eyes on the board, but he got a fleeting glance of Hermione's handwriting. "Stupid owl! That's to me, not Ginny!"
He sat up and turned around as Ginny pulled the letter away. "Give it!" He got up as she began to walk away. "Ginny, don't push it. Just give me the letter."
"Why are you getting so upset Ronnie?" she asked in a singsong voice.
The tips of his ears turned red. He glared at her as he ripped it out of her hands. "Leave me alone," he mumbled as he unrolled her letter.
Ginny giggled. "So, is she coming?"
Ron nodded. "Yes, now go away. I have a chess game to finish." He walked back to George and sat down. He moved a piece. "Check."
His brother rolled his eyes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next day, Hermione dragged her trunk down the stairs of her house. With each step came a loud thudding sounding though the house.
"Hermione, dear?" Mrs. Granger said, walking to the bottom of the stairs. "Do you want some help?"
Her daughter threw her hair over her shoulder. "No Mum, I've – got – it," she said, with two more thumps.
Mrs. Granger smiled. "Is Ronald coming with his father?"
THUMP. "I don't know." THUMP. "Why do you ask?"
"Well…" Hermione's mother began carefully. "I just thought he might come to help."
"Oh," Hermione said, raising an eyebrow. She let her trunk rest on a step as she turned to her mother. "I don't think Ron is that gentlemanly."
"He's not?"
Hermione shook her head. "No."
"Hmm," Mrs. Granger said thoughtfully. "I always thought you would fall for a nice gentleman."
THUMP, THUMP, THUMP! "What?" Hermione exclaimed, trying to regain her footing on the stairs. She clasped her hand over her chest. "Mother, what did you mean by that?"
She shrugged, smiling to herself, as she walked into the kitchen.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hermione sat down on the couch next to her father. She glanced at her mother
who still had a funny grin on her face. She shook her head and tried to
make small talk with her father.
He didn't seem to want to talk about dentistry, which surprised Hermione. "So, this boy, Ron is it?" Hermione nodded, crossing her arms. What is it with my parents and Ron, she thought a little irritated. "What is he like?"
Hermione shrugged. She didn't feel like going over Ron's personality and mannerisms with her parents. Her mother leaned forward and placed her chin in her hand as she leaned her elbow on her knee.
"Come on," Mr. Granger said, nudging her.
"What is this?" Hermione burst out. "We are not at a slumber party!" Hermione stood up and put her hands on her hips. She didn't notice as Mr. Weasley popped out of their fireplace. "And Ron is most certainly not my boyfriend!" She hadn't noticed Ron pop out a second later either.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mr. Weasley coughed. "Hello Mr. and Mrs. Granger, Hermione."
Hermione's back was to Mr. Weasley and Ron. She stiffened and felt her cheeks turned bright red. She dropped her arms down to her side. She bit her lip and turned around.
Ron was standing next to his father, looking rather uncomfortable and a bit red around the ears. He ran a hand though his hair, which was as red as ever and a little longer. He looked as if he had grown another foot over the summer.
Mr. Weasley was no longer taller than Ron, and by the looks of it, it had been a long while ago since Ron had to look up at his father. Ron crossed his arms across his chest, which Hermione noted looked a bit more defined. She mentally kicked herself for thinking of such a thing.
"Well," Mrs. Granger said, standing up and breaking the uncomfortable silence. "How are you, Mr. Weasley, Ron?"
Ron smiled slightly at Hermione's mother. "Fine," he mumbled.
Mr. Weasley grinned at Hermione's
parents. He seemed to have forgotten he was asked a question and instead
began to bombard the Grangers with questions about their refrigerator.
Mr. Granger smiled at him.
"Do you want to see it, Arthur?"
Mr. Weasley looked as if it were Christmas morning. He turned to Ron. "Why don't you help Hermione with her trunk and other things and get back to the Burrow. Tell your mother I will be along shortly." He turned back to the Grangers with bright eyes.
Hermione hugged her mother. "Good bye Mum." Her mother smiled at her. "Good bye Dad." She quickly hugged her father. "I'll owl you."
Her father nodded. "All right then. Take care of yourself Hermione."
Mrs. Granger touched Ron's arm softly.
"Watch out for Hermione, will you please?" she whispered with a smile.
Ron's ears turned red again as he nodded.
Hermione eyed her mother suspiciously. She felt her stomach tighten as she looked at Ron blush. Oh no, what did she say? Hermione thought starting to panic. She reached for her trunk.
Ron pulled her hand away. Hermione jumped and ripped her hand out of Ron's grip.
"I've got it," he said, quietly. She nodded.
He pulled it towards the fireplace. He brought a small bag of Floo powder out of his pocket and took a pinch. He handed the bag to Hermione. "You know what to do, right?"
She nodded again.
"Okay," he said as he threw the powder and grabbed the trunk simultaneously. "The Burrow!" he shouted into the flames. In a second, Ron was gone with her trunk.
Her stomach tightened again as she thought about what her mother had said to her earlier that day. 'I always thought you would fall for a nice gentleman.'
As if she knew what Hermione was thinking, she smiled at her daughter and let out a little giggle. She seemed to be doing a lot of smiling and such the last day or two.
Hermione huffed. "Oh, stop it." She said grabbing her bag of books. "It didn't mean anything." Chrookshanks slinked into the living room right on time, and Hermione picked him up and put him in his basket.
Her mother put a look of mock-surprise on her face. "How did you know that
is what I was thinking?"
Mr. Granger and Mr. Weasley had already left the living room. Thank goodness, Hermione thought. Ron didn't need to be hearing about this also.
Hermione shook her head at her mother. "Bye Mum," she said. She couldn't help but smile at her mother's childish antics.
She took a bit of Floo powder and threw it into the flames. "The Burrow!"
she yelled before walking into the green flames and clamping her mouth
and eyes closed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hermione always hated using Floo powder. She stumbled out of the fireplace in the Wealsey's living room. She bumped into her trunk, which obviously Ron hadn't moved. She still had her eyes clamped shut. She opened her mouth to let out a small scream as she nearly fell to the ground.
She didn't fall though. It was beyond Hermione why not though. She opened her eyes. Oh I'm glad my Mum's not here, she thought as she felt the presence of Ron's arms around her.
"Are you all right?" Ron asked, forcing back a fit of laughter.
"I'm fine," she said, trying to put her feet on the floor. Ron seemed to be holding her over her trunk. "Ron, put me down please."
"Ron? What are you doing?" Hermione heard the familiar voice of Ginny Weasley squeal. She heard footsteps run into the room and then the Weasley twins' laughter.
"What a way to sweep her off her feet Ronnie!" Fred laughed.
Ron stepped back and helped Hermione stand next to him. His ear and his cheeks were bright red as he stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jeans.
Hermione's cheeks were burning. Of course, Fred and George weren't going to let this pass by.
"At little warm in here, don't you think Ron?" George said, sniggering.
"I think Hermione would agree!" Fred said, opening chuckling at his brother and his friend.
Ginny loved to pick on Ron, but Hermione was another story. She quickly stopped laughing when she noticed how embarrassed Hermione was. She slapped Fred's arm. "Stop it!" She rushed forward to Hermione and grabbed one end of her trunk. "I'll help you take it upstairs to my room."
Ron didn't look to eager to help anyways, so Hermione nodded as she took the other end. Ron walked out of the living room into the kitchen. She watched as he walked out and let out a sigh.
Fred and George followed Ron out, still quite amused. Ginny shook her head. "I'm sorry Hermione."
Hermione shrugged at the small redhead. "It's not your fault." She could feel her cheek regaining their normal color. "I should have opened my eyes sooner."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hermione and Ginny managed to get Hermione's trunk up the stairs and into Ginny's room without any incident. Hermione sunk down onto the bed that she would be sleeping in that night. Ginny sat down on her own bed and smiled at Hermione.
"What?" Hermione said, looking slightly confused. She furrowed her brow.
Ginny shook her head. "Nothing."
Why was everyone smiling at her like that lately? Hermione thought, sighing frustrated. She decided to change the subject. "Why did you say that things are 'that pleasant' here? What's wrong?"
Ginny's smile faded quickly, and she looked at her hands. "Well… Dad and Percy aren't on the best of terms right now."
Hermione furrowed her brow. "Why's that?"
"Percy doesn't believe that… t-that You-know-who…" She began to stutter on her words.
"That You-know-who is back?" She offered. Ginny nodded. Hermione guessed that Mrs. Weasley and Ron had told everyone what had happened at the end of last year.
"I think Percy remembers what things were like. I don't know how. He was so small. But, it just seems like that." She shrugged. "So, he doesn't want to believe it might all happen again."
Hermione shuddered. Only this time Lily Potter isn't here to give her life for Harry, she thought, letting out a sigh.
"Ginny!"
They both turned towards the door as they heard Mrs. Weasley yell up the stairs. Ginny got up and ran to the door. "Coming Mum!" she shouted back down. "She probably wants help with dinner."
Hermione nodded. "Do you mind if I go find Ron instead?"
She shook her head. "No, not at all."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hermione walked into the living room. Fred and George were sitting by the chessboard. But, they weren't playing. Fred was holding a piece of paper in his hands and seemed to be explaining some reasoning to George. George nodded and took the paper from Fred.
"What are you two doing?" Hermione said, rather loudly.
They both jumped, and George shoved the piece of paper into his pocket. Hermione laughed, even though she wasn't one to take revenge.
"Nothing," Fred said, simply.
"Do you know where Ron is?" she asked, hoping they wouldn't give her a hard time.
Fred looked as if he was going to say something smart, but George stopped him. "She'll go get Mum," he muttered to his brother. "He's out by the garden."
Hermione nodded and smiled slightly. Now she knew why she always liked
George a bit more than Fred. She told him her thanks and walked out of
living room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ron was lying on a blanket spread on the ground by the garden fence. He had his long arms crossed behind his head with his eyes closed. He was humming along with a song that was playing on the Wizard Wireless. His foot was tapping along with beat as well.
Hermione walked out the back door of the kitchen. She spotted Ron right away and walked over to him. She smiled to herself as she surveyed him lying there.
"Ron?"
He opened his eyes slowly and sat up. "Hullo."
"Hello," she said, smiling weakly at him.
"You can sit," Ron said, scooting over so there was enough room for her too. She sat down next to him.
"So, how has your summer been so far?" Hermione said, hoping to make things a little less tense between them.
"All right. I reckon it could be worse," He scrunched up his face to block the sun from his eyes. "Did Ginny tell you about Percy and Dad?" Hermione nodded, and he continued. "Well, to top it off, he doesn't even listen to Dad when he tries to reason with Percy. He is so stubborn!"
Hermione giggled. "Sounds like another Weasley I know."
Ron smiled beside himself and shook his head. "Very funny Hermione. Very funny." He let out a laugh anyways. "I'm not as stubborn as Percy."
"You'd be surprised."
"Okay, enough." Ron said, preventing a row.
Hermione nodded. "All right, I'll stop."
Ron looked at her for a while. "You never answered the question in my letter." He waited for her to answer, but she just gave him a blank look, obviously not remembering the question. "Did you go visit Vicky?"
She rolled her eyes and huffed. "His name is Victor!" she said, irritated. "And no I didn't."
"You didn't?" He repeated, a little surprised.
"No," she said, crossing her arms. "Not as if it is any of your business,
but my parents didn't want me going to stay with a boy over the summer."
Ron shook his head. "And what am I? A blast-end skrewt?" He said, obviously
a little offended.
"Ron," Hermione said shaking her head. "My parents know you though. It's different."
"Uh huh," he said, his jealously rising. "So, I'm innocent little Ron? And he's big bad Vicky?"
"Ron," she repeated. "Will you stop it?" She grabbed his arm as he tried to stand up. She pulled him back down. "My parents like you. They know your parents. They feel comfortable letting me stay with you."
He let out a little sigh. His way of saying 'okay, I give up'. It was the closest thing to actually getting him to say it. He looked at her as a smile spread across his face. "Your parents like me?"
Hermione hit his arm and rolled her eyes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disclaimer: You all know the routine. I don't own any of this, JK Rowling owns it all.
A/N: Don't worry... I have another
chapter ready.