EE! EEE! EEE! EEE!

The alarm clock went off in Ron's room.  The light passed through the diaphanous curtains and fell gently across Ron's face. He turned over to his side, facing the clock that had rung for at least a couple of minutes. Staring in a daze at the clock, Ron shut off the alarm absentmindedly as he rose up to a sitting position. He rose up with a yawn, and scratching his stomach as he made his way to the bathroom.

Along the way he passed various pictures of people he didn't know, the Grangers' family, and pushed the thought aside telling himself it was just his father's friends visiting. He came across a very feminine looking door and took a second to look at it. He brought his face closer to the door, his nose just inches from the oak surface.

Hermione Kathleen Kelly Granger's Room

Knock first then wait for permission to enter.

"Good lord," Ron screamed, as he scrambled backward from the foreign door with which he just had a close encounter. What was going on here? Where was his room? Where was his rickety old staircase? Where were his brothers who would have pulled about a dozen pranks on him by now? Where was his mother, shouting about not teasing his sister? Where was Ginny? She's the only sane one in the family, with the exception of maybe Charlie and Bill.

"Ron, don't you think it's a bit early to be going into hysterics?" asked Mrs. Granger as she wrapped her robe around her. "What would you like for breakfast today?"

Suddenly the memories of last night's disaster reemerged in Ron's mind. Vividly he could see his brothers leading him into this inescapable trap, with no hope of being rescued before both his wish and nightmare come true.

Ron absentmindedly nodded and walked down the stairs forgetting all about his bursting bladder, now his stomach was about to cave in, simply stated, he was hungry.

"I'll eat whatever you're having," Ron said addressing both Mr. and Mrs. Granger, who sat at the table, opposite of Ron.

"Ms. Doubtfire, could you bring us some bacon, eggs, hash browns, two coffees, black, no sugar, and a glass of orange juice."

"Ms. Doubtfire?" said Ron questioningly. "Sounds like a name for an old bag."As soon as he uttered the last syllable Ms. Doubtfire was out before them, with their "order." Her hair was black and was drawn over in a braid over her right shoulder. Though she had amazingly ancient looking glasses, Ms. Doubtfire's curves were in all the right places, her cool blue eyes and nice even, white toothed smile made it even clearer that she was no old bag, but a young beautiful lady.

"Hello there," Mrs. Doubtfire said, winking at Ron as she walked past him. Ron could only stare at the food and then back to Mrs. Doubtfire.

"How did she –"

"Ms. Doubtfire, would you like to explain," Mr. Weasley said smiling at Ron. Ron looked back and forth from Ms. Doubtfire and Mr. Weasley a while before Mrs. Doubtfire spoke.

"I'm a witch," she said simply. It was if everything made sense, which it did, how she was able to make breakfast so quickly.

"Sit down Ms. Doubtfire, we can't have you standing about with us eating," Mrs. Weasley said pulling out a chair for Ms. Doubtfire to sit. Ms. Doubtfire looked as though they were asking her to murder someone. Slowly, as if waiting to hear someone dissent to the idea of having the nanny sit with them, she lowered herself onto the chair. Once sitting she returned to her usual cheery disposition.

With a snap of her fingers Ms. Doubtfire had her breakfast before her, something that reminded Ron of Hogwarts and the food the house elves made.

"So, you go to Hogwarts?" Ms. Doubtfire asked Ron before she took a sip of orange juice. Ron choked on his bacon, surprised that she would speak to him.

"Erm yes, I do," Ron chocked out, still trying to rid the cough brought on by the bacon. He looked down and played with his eggs, mixing them with his hash browns as Ms. Doubtfire watched him a little too eagerly, but only just enough as to not elicit a comment from the Grangers.

"Erm, er… you went there," asked Ron making eye contact, for a split second, before he gazed around the room with his face flushed from Ms. Doubtfire's continuing gaze.

"Yes, class of '75. Head Girl," said Ms. Doubtfire. Ron looked dubious. If she was Head Girl, then what was she doing playing maid for Muggles, albeit their Muggle's with a witch daughter. "Oh, this is just a small summer job. I like Muggles, and I don't mind, the Grangers have been very nice over the years."

"Mmhm," said Ron absentmindedly. He had forgotten about his shyness as his hunger grew. "Mr. Granger could you pass the ketchup?" asked Ron as he munched away on his eggs. Ms. Granger smiled at the young man eating breakfast so eagerly as if he were in a contest to finish first.

"Here you go," said Mr. Granger, also smiling,, as he handed Ron, whose mouth was full, the ketchup.

"Ms. Doubtfire, how are you this morning..." said Mrs. Granger. Ron tuned her out. He was contemplating what he was going to say when Hermione arrived who knows when. Sitting there chomping merrily away at his breakfast, no one was the wiser of his thoughts on Hermione's arrival.

In the Backyard

Ron sat on a bench in the backyard, or that was what he supposed it was called, it looked more like a garden was dropped on top of their backyard. There were dozens of beautiful, exotic flowers on either side of the walkway that led to the gazebo. The gazebo stood some five meters tall, and ten meters wide. Its cris-cross patterns mesmerized Ron as he sat on a bench which sat in front of a hole in the shape of a heart which shone in the light from the orange sun set in the background. Romantic, though Ron had no one with whom to share this beautiful place...

"Mind if I sit with you?" Mrs. Doubtfire asked, who startled Ron into falling over the side of the bench.

"Er... why – I mean, if you want to," stuttered Ron as his face flushed. First he falls over, and now he is sitting with this beautiful woman.

"So, Ron," she said showing all of her beautifully straight teeth, "do you have a girlfriend?"

"What – I – I – What?" was all Ron could manage while his face flushed beyond belief. Who was she to ask him whether or not he has a girlfriend? He just met her a couple of hours ago, and now she's asking him about his love life? Anyway, the answer was too embarrassing to utter.

"Do you, or don't you?" she asked more sternly. Her eyes were still beautiful even when they were compelling Ron to divulge his secrets.

"No."

"I see," she said nodding to herself, prying her eyes from Ron..

"What do you think of Hermione?"

"I – well, she's my best friend. She's everything that she ought to be, and more. I wish I could be more like her: smart, daring, beau – brilliant. Yes, I wish I could be smart, daring, and brilliant," Ron replied, flushing as though he were a toilet that would not stop flushing.

"Do you like her, as in "more than a friend" sort of way?"

If Ron was flushing before, he was not transfigured himself into a giant humanoid tomato.

"I – I don't know. First year we got off to kind of a bad start. She performed a spell that I couldn't and I – "

"Which spell?"

"Wingardium Leviosa," sighed Ron as he remembered Hermione upstaging him in Charms class.

"May I continue?"

"Yes, sorry."

"Then I said that she was horrible and that was why she didn't have any friends. I then saved her from a troll when she locked herself in the bathroom, crying her eyes out."

"She said that you locked her in the bathroom, and that Harry helped you."

"You know this already, and you were letting me go on about this?"

"Well, I thought you'd jump to whether you liked her or not. Truth is I know about all of your adventures, except for your fourth year. Before she left for Bulgaria (Ron's stomach lurched at the name of the country) she was very quiet about the dealings at Hogwarts, and only offered that You-Know-Who is rising back into power. I came to see if I could get the info from you."

"I see."

"Well, Hogwarts was holding a Yule ball. When Harry and I were turned down, we turned to my sister and Hermione to escort us to the ball. She said that she had a date, but I insisted that she was joking. Harry and I went to the ball, not with each other, but with dates," he added quickly seeing a smile play across Ms. Doubtfire's face. "Anyway, I ignored my date and had a row with Hermione about her date, Vicky Krum –"

"Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian Seeker?" Ms. Doubtfire said, very flustered.

"Yes, the Bulgarian Seeker," Ron said in an annoyed, mocking tone.

"Well, we got into a spat about him, and she went stomping away while I sat there with my date flirting with others At the common room we had another spat, this time she said that I should have asked her first instead of a last resort. Of course she missed the whole reason I was angry, she was fraternizing with the enemy. The tri-wizard tournament was held that year, and Harry and Krum were two of the contestants."

"So, do you, or don't you?"

"I – I don't know. I'll tell you this though, she'll always be my friend."

"Aww," moaned Ms. Doubtfire enveloping Ron in her arms. "That's so cute."

Ron sighed to himself, asking "What did I dig myself into?"