Disclaimer- Whatever.
Ice-skating and kittens.
"Ron, wake up!"
Ron sat up groggily as Harry chucked a large pillow at his head. Harry was standing at the other side of the room, already fully dressed and grinning. "Oh, so you haven't died." He said as Ron got out of bed. Ron glared at him. "Not yet." He replied. Harry rolled his eyes; Ron was always a little testy in the morning.
"What time is it?" Ron asked sleepily. "Nine." Harry replied, pulling open the trapdoor in the floor. The two boys were sharing the loft room, which had been converted into a large guest bedroom. The Granger house had four bedrooms, not including the loft, so all the visitors could fit in comfortably. "See you downstairs." Harry said to Ron as he started down the wooden ladder that was attached securely to the opening.
As Harry made his way down the stairs, he was joined by Mr Granger, who was wearing what Harry recognised as a football shirt. He didn't know the team though.
"Morning Mr Granger." Harry said cheerfully. "Hi Mr Potter." He replied sarcastically. Harry grinned. "Sorry Ben." He corrected. Ben grinned back. "That's better." He said as they reached the kitchen. Mrs Gran- er, *Joanne*, was standing in front of the oven, frying pancakes. Hermione was the only other person who was awake, and was sitting at the table reading Hogwarts: A History for what must have been the thousandth time. Ben sat down at the table next to his daughter, and Harry slid into a chair opposite them.
"Morning Harry!" Hermione said cheerfully, laying her book down in front of her. "Hi Herm." Harry replied. "Good morning Father, how are you? Oh I'm fine, thank you Hermione, the light of my life." Ben said sarcastically. Harry laughed, but Hermione rolled her eyes. "Don't encourage him." She warned.
Ben winked at Harry as Joanne placed a huge stack of pancakes on the table. "Dig in." she said with a grin. Harry helped himself to a pancake, and doused it in maple syrup. "What team do you support Mr, er, Ben?" He asked, rolling up his pancake and nodding at his shirt. Ben grinned. "Millwall." He said cheerfully. "We all do. Even Hermione does. She used to have a season ticket before she went to Hogwarts."
Harry's eyes widened as he looked at Hermione. "Do you like football? I didn't know." He asked. Hermione nodded. "Yeah, it's really fun down the Den- that's Millwall's home ground. Everyone sings loads of songs, and even though they're quite, um, well anyway, it's really fun." She said delicately, taking a pancake. Harry grinned and went to take a bite out of his pancake, but stopped as a loud shout came from the other end of the table.
"MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL-"
Hermione clapped her hands to her ears and frowned. "Dad!" She yelled angrily. Ben stopped shouting and grinned at his daughter. "What?" He asked innocently. Before Hermione could answer, the shouting started up again, but this time it was coming from the doorway.
"MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLWALL!"
Daphne came bouncing into the kitchen, yelling just as loudly as her Uncle had done. Ben grinned and joined in, and soon the room was almost vibrating with the noise they were creating. Joanne carried on making breakfast, pointedly ignoring the football chant. Hermione still had her ears covered, but she was obviously trying not to laugh. Ron entered the kitchen a few moments after Daphne, a confused look on his face.
The yelling eventually stopped and Hermione lowered her hands, frowning at Daphne and her father. "Finished?" She asked icily. Ben shrugged, helping himself to some pancakes.
"You used to be a Millwall supporter too." Daphne said, pretending to be angry with Hermione. Hermione smiled. "I still am, it's just I feel unable to cope with all that shouting so early in the morning." She replied. Ron sat down next to Harry. "What's Millwall?" He asked curiously. Hermione picked up her fork. "It's the football team that I support." She said, cutting her pancake.
"You're into football?" He asked in surprise. Hermione nodded, and he grinned. "Well, at least Dean Thomas will have someone to talk to at last." He said, taking a pancake. Hermione shook her head. "I could never talk to *Dean* about football." She said indignantly. Ron looked up. "Why not?" He asked.
Hermione smiled sweetly. "Because *that* would be fraternising with the enemy." She said. Ron's ears went pink immediately, and Harry snorted. Daphne frowned. "Huh? Where'd that come from?" She asked. Hermione rolled her eyes. "That was what Ron's argument was based on last year at the Yule Ball." She told her. Daphne grinned. "You mean about Krum?" Daphne burst out laughing, and Hermione joined in. "It's stupid, isn't it?" She said. Daphne calmed down enough to shake her head. "No, it's brilliant! Couldn't have put it better myself." She said, tears forming in her eyes.
Hermione stopped laughing and glared at her cousin, which just made Daphne laugh harder. Harry started laughing at the look on Hermione's face, so she glared at him as well, making him laugh harder. Ron was looking very smug, and Hermione's parents were looking very confused.
When Harry and Daphne had recovered from their laughing fit, Ron turned back to Hermione. "So why is Dean an enemy?" He asked. "He's a West Ham supporter." She said, still glaring at Daphne.
Ben's fork clattered onto his plate and he clutched his face in mock horror. "What?! And you haven't converted him yet?" Ben turned to his daughter, grabbed her by the shoulders and started to shake her. "Hermione! You must bring him back to the light!" He cried dramatically. Hermione pushed him away as Daphne started laughing again. Harry and Ron sat watching bemusedly as Hermione turned to face them again.
"West Ham and Millwall are sworn enemies." She explained. "Now, I like Dean, but being a West Ham supporter does let him down a bit." She said with a grin. Harry shook his head slightly. "So, are Millwall better?" He asked. Daphne snorted. "No! Millwall are crap!" She said. Ron frowned. "So who do you support then?" He asked her.
Daphne grinned. "Millwall." She said. Ron looked really confused, so Hermione decided to explain. "Millwall are quite bad, but we support them anyway." She said, and Ron nodded. Daphne shrugged. "It's like supporting the Chudley Cannons." She explained. Ron frowned. "Hey!" He said indignantly. Daphne looked at him in surprise. "Do you support the Cannons?" She asked. Ron nodded, and she grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. I'm sure you'll conquer again soon." She said, earning a glare from Ron and a laugh from the others who had ever read Quidditch Through the Ages.
"Ok, enough about football." Joanne said, sitting down at the table. "What are you lot doing today?" She asked. "We thought that we'd check out the new ice-skating rink in town today." Hermione said with a smile. Harry turned pale. "Ice skating?" He repeated fearfully. Hermione looked at him. "Yeah." She answered. "Why?"
"Er- I've never been and I doubt I'll be any good." He said uneasily. Daphne smiled. "That doesn't matter, you can keep me company, holding onto the edge." She said airily. Harry nodded and went back to his pancakes. Hermione turned to Ron. "Have you ever been ice-skating Ron?" She asked him. Ron nodded. "Once, a few years ago. I hated it." He said. Hermione nodded and shrugged. "Oh well, that doesn't matter. We'd better leave soon though." She said, taking her plate over to the sink. Joanne frowned. "Aren't you going to wait for Luke?" She asked disapprovingly.
Daphne laughed. "Are you kidding? We'd be here all day!" She said, standing up to clear away her things as well. She picked up Ron and Harry's plates and took them over to the sink. "Besides," she said. "He doesn't want to come, we asked him last night." Joanne sighed. "Well, ok then." She said, as Hermione and Daphne left the kitchen, closely followed by Harry and Ron.
"Why do we have to leave so early?" Ron asked curiously as they pulled on their jackets in the hallway. Hermione unlocked the front door and pulled it open. "Because we're getting the tube and it's rush hour at the moment, so it'll take a while." She said as they all filed through. Ron frowned. "What's rush hour?" He asked as they began to walk down the road. Harry grinned. "You'll see." He said.
And see he did. When they got to the tube station, (called 'Canada Water') it was chocka block with men and women running around to get onto the trains. The four of them wound their way through the crowd and queued up to buy tickets. Hermione said that they might as well buy travel cards for a week, because they would be doing a lot of travelling and they were handy to have. They waited in the line for fifteen minutes before they were served, and Hermione bought the cards, even though the man had looked suspicious as to whether or not the others were sixteen or under. Luckily, he didn't make a fuss and handed them over.
Hermione gave them each a card, grabbed Ron by the arm and led him over to a line of barrier machines. "Right," she said briskly. "Watch what everyone does. You see- they put their card in the slot at this end, it comes out at the top, and the doors open for them. Simple enough?" Ron nodded and managed to follow Harry through the barriers without any trouble. He was a bit jumpy when it came to climbing onto the escalators, but after doing it once he was fine. The four of them made their way down onto a platform, a lot smaller than 9 and ¾, and joined the great mass of people already there.
As it was a Saturday, there were not only businessmen and women, but also families and groups of friends up for a day's shopping or another day trip of some sort. There were tracks at each side of the platform, but glass sheets cornered them both off. However, when the first train pulled in, it stopped in just the right position for the doors in the glass barriers to open at the same place as the train doors, and so people were able to get on.
When their train came, it was so packed that hardly anyone was able to get on. So they waited for the next, and then the next, and then the next, until finally they were right next to the doors so when the next came three minutes later, they were among the first to get on. Ron was so tall that he could probably have held onto the ceiling of the tube for support, but instead opted to hold onto one of the suspended handles in front of his face. Hermione reached up and grabbed one as well, but Harry and Daphne were too short and just held onto the yellow bar by the door. Ron started laughing when he saw that Harry was too short to hold onto the straps hanging from the ceiling, but one death-glare from Hermione shut him up.
They were only on the tube for ten minutes, which was lucky as Ron had never been on one before, was not used to the way it was underground, very hot and stuffy, bram-packed with people and rocked from side to side as it went. By the time they got to Waterloo station, he was looking slightly green. "Maybe we should get the bus back." Daphne said as they boarded another escalator to take them up into the main station.
It took them a while to get out of Waterloo Station as the Jubilee Line, (which they had just been on) was built so far away from the exit. They had to travel on several escalators and many long moving belts like you find in airports. Finally, they stepped out into the cold December air. It had taken them an hour to get there from Canada Water, when it would have normally taken them ten, maybe fifteen minutes. Voicing this opinion, Hermione began to lead the way down the road. They walked for about ten minutes, past a Primary school, (which Ron found interesting as he had never been to one), a Secondary school, many shops and finally a large, elegant building with a huge cannon on the lawn in front of it. "That's the Imperial War Museum." Daphne said as they passed it. "We could go there after ice-skating." Harry and Ron rolled their eyes, and Hermione rolled her eyes right back at them. "Don't worry, this museum good. You'll like it."
They walked for another few minutes, until they finally reached a huge, warehousey- looking building, surrounded by a car park and with a sign saying 'Super Skate' on the side. Hermione grinned at them. "Come on then!" She said, leading the way inside.
There were dozens of people in the entrance hall, forming a large queue for tickets. The rink was opening in fifteen minutes, so people were still arriving as well. Hermione and Daphne joined the queue, but Harry and Ron wandered over to a massive window on the right hand side, which afforded a view of the ice-skating rink. It was oval shaped, and huge. Down at one end was a counter lending out skates, surrounded by a large crowd of people tying up boots and putting things in lockers. Harry and Ron watched for a few minutes before heading back over to Hermione and Daphne, who were waiting for them at the entrance gate to the rink, tickets in their hands.
Hermione handed them both two tickets each. "This one is your entrance ticket, and this is for your shoes. Don't' mix them up." She said, handing one of her tickets to the guard and going through the gate. The other three followed her down a flight of iron steps, and out onto the side of the rink. Kids and adults of all ages were milling around waiting for the rink to open, some wearing skates already. Hermione, Harry, Ron and Daphne made there way along the side of the rink to the skates stand, and joined the long queue for skates.
"Hermione?" Hermione looked around to see who had spoken, and her eyes widened in shock. "Kevin?" She gasped. A boy about her age stepped forward with a grin. He was wearing one skate and held another in his hand, wobbling slightly. He had blond hair and bright blue eyes. "Hey Brainiac, how've you been?" He said.
Hermione grinned back. "Good, how've you been thickso? I haven't seen you in ages." She said. Kevin shrugged. "I'm alright. Wow. Fancy seeing you here." He said, glancing at Harry and Ron out of the corner of his eye. Hermione smiled. "Er, this is Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, friends of mine from school. Harry, Ron, this is Kevin Carter, a friend of mine, from my old school." She said. Kevin shook hands with both of them. "You know my cousin, don't you? Daphne Granger?" Hermione said. Kevin looked at Daphne for a moment and then nodded. "Er- yeah. You're Luke's sister, right?" Daphne nodded. "Yep." She said.
"Kevin? Kevin where are you?" A female voice rang out, and Hermione cringed visibly. Kevin grinned. "Maybe I should get out of here before…" He began, but Hermione cut him off sadly. "Too late." She sighed, before putting on her best fake smile. "Miranda- hi!"
A short girl with dark brown hair and watery blue eyes suddenly appeared from amongst the crowd, glaring at Hermione. Then she suddenly smiled brightly as well. "Well well well, Hermione Granger. What a lovely surprise!" It was quite obvious from her tone of voice that she wasn't enjoying seeing Hermione there at all. Hermione raised an eyebrow, but kept smiling. Kevin cleared his throat. "We'd better be going, the rink's opening now." He said, taking a brave stab at trying to alleviate the tension slightly. Ron and Harry could tell from the look on his face that he didn't want the two girls standing next to each other for very long. Daphne also seemed to be getting that feeling, because she was shifting from foot to foot, and her eyes were darting between her cousin and Miranda anxiously.
Miranda glanced at the people crowding onto the ice, and then turned coldly back to Hermione. "See you on the ice, *Brainiac*." She said with a slight hint of a threat in her voice. She turned to walk away, but Hermione spoke up. "Your hair's looking very green today." She said coolly. Miranda paused for a moment, clenched her fists, but then kept on walking. Hermione smirked, and turned back to Kevin, who seemed torn between amusement and exasperation.
"You shouldn't have done that- she'll be in a mood all day now." He said. Hermione stopped smirking, and started to look ashamed. "I'm sorry Kev- she just…" "It's alright. Don't worry. I'd better go. See you later." He smiled one last time, nodded to Harry and Ron, and then hurried over to the rink entrance, pulling on his skate as he went.
Ron started on Hermione straight away. "What was that all about?" He demanded as soon as Kevin was gone. Hermione lifted an eyebrow. "What- Miranda? She's a little, well, she's a bit…"
"Bitchy." Daphne finished for her. Hermione frowned. "No- she's just, well she's, ok, she's bitchy." Hermione shrugged and handed her skates ticket to the man behind the counter. "Size five please." She said. Everyone else also got their skates and they all went over to a bench to put them on. "Me and Miranda didn't like each other very much in Primary school." Hermione said as they sat down. "But we managed to avoid each other pretty effectively until Year Five. But then Kevin came to our school, and we became friends. Unfortunately, Miranda is his cousin, so he had to hang out with her as well. He's too nice to tell her to push off."
Daphne grinned. "I almost died laughing that day…" She said, starting to giggle as she laced up her skates. Hermione grinned as well, turning a bit red. Harry and Ron frowned, so Hermione continued to explain. "One day in Year Six, Miranda was acting particularly horrible to a new girl in our class. I started to defend her, and she got shirty with me. Then suddenly her hair turned green. Now, this was before I knew I was a Witch, so I was completely bemused. But it was so funny." Hermione started to laugh at the memory. Harry grinned thoughtfully.
"I did that once. But mine was a hundred times worse because it was my teacher's wig. I turned it blue." He said. Ron started laughing at this and Harry shrugged. By this time, they had finished pulling on their skates, and so they stood up and hobbled over to the rink entrance. Hermione grinned. "I'm sorry, but I just have to have a good skate first. I'll be back in a minute." She said, stepping confidently onto the ice. A second later she was out of sight.
Hermione skated into the middle of the rink, where the more experienced skaters were circling around. Hermione joined in, feeling really happy to be skating again. She used to travel to Gillingham at least once a month with her Dad to go ice-skating, but once she had started Hogwarts, she had only been twice.
"Wait up 'Mione!" Hermione spun round and was surprised to see Ron skating towards her with ease, as if he had been doing it for years. Hermione gaped at him in shock. "I thought you'd only been once!" She exclaimed as he stopped next to her. Ron shrugged. "Just because I've only been skating once doesn't mean that I'm no good at it. I had to be- I had Fred and George chasing me around with snowballs." He said with a grin. Hermione laughed. "Ok then." She said, starting to skate again. After about three minutes, Ron suggested that they go back and find out where Daphne and Harry were, so they skated back over to edge to try and find them.
It didn't take long. Harry was about two feet away from the entrance, clinging onto the wall as if his life depended on it. Daphne was standing next to him, steadying herself with one hand, and trying to persuade Harry to try and let go. "What's wrong?" Hermione asked, as they got closer. Daphne rolled her eyes. "He won't even try." She complained to her cousin. Harry didn't seem to hear her; he was concentrating on standing completely still. Ron grinned.
"Come on Harry, it's not that hard." He said, leaning on the wall next to Daphne. Harry glared at him. "Shut up." He replied slowly and coldly. Ron shrugged and Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Maybe we should have got Fred and George to come- he could have learnt the same way you did Ron." She said. Ron grinned, pushed himself away from the wall and over to where Harry stood. "Listen Harry, all you have to do is… is that Dudley?" Ron exclaimed. Harry looked up in surprise. "Where?" He asked, glancing around. Ron seized the opportunity, grabbed Harry's hands and pulled them off the wall. Harry slid back about a foot, his arms flailing madly, but he calmed down when he realised he hadn't fallen over.
Hermione laughed. "Good one." She said to Ron, who shrugged, grinning at Harry. Harry, on the other hand, looked furious. "Ha ha." He muttered sarcastically. Daphne pushed away from the wall slightly as well. "Come on Harry. You haven't fallen over. That's a start, right?" She said encouragingly.
An hour later, the four of them had circled the outside of the rink about twelve times, and they were all starting to get tired. Harry hadn't fallen over once, and was getting more confident. Which was more than could be said for Daphne, who had fallen over three times, much to Ron's amusement.
"Do you want to start heading back?" Hermione asked them all, coaxing nods out of her friends. Daphne smiled. "It really wears you out, doesn't it?" She said, holding tightly onto the side again. Ron, who was skating backwards, shrugged. "I don't know about that. But these skates are too small for me; I've got blisters all over my feet." He said, wincing. Hermione nodded. "Ok, so all agreed?" She said, and they all said yes. At that moment, they were distracted by Daphne falling over for the fourth time. Ron started laughing straight away, as usual. Daphne glared at him as she pulled herself up, and he grinned. "Do you like it down there or something?" He asked. Daphne narrowed her eyes. "Not really, but you might." She said, shoving him in the chest. Ron fell and landed heavily on his backside. Harry, Hermione and Daphne all burst out laughing at the look on his face. "Very funny." He said darkly, grabbing the side and getting up. Daphne smiled sweetly at him, and Ron looked like he was going to say something else, but they had reached the exit, so he didn't.
Once the four of them had traded their skates back in for their own shoes, they headed over to the small fast-food restaurant near the entrance, where Hermione treated them all to a burger. While they ate them Ron told them all about the one time his father had taken him, Ginny, the twins and Percy to MacDonald's, and how George had managed to turn Percy's burger into a crab, which had promptly clamped its claws on Percy's hand.
Hermione crumpled up her wrapper and sighed. "Let's get out of here before Miranda comes in." She said, standing up and brushing crumbs off her jeans. The other three did the same, and they made their way out of the ice- skating rink and onto the cold street.
"That was fun." Daphne said. "Even if I did keep falling over." She added, glaring at Ron to stop him laughing. Hermione smiled. "It was fun. I've missed skating." She said a little sadly. Harry looked at her thoughtfully. "What else did you have to give up to come to Hogwarts?" He asked curiously. Hermione shrugged. "Well, there was the skating. The only other things that I really miss are watching Friends every week, knowing all the new music, and going dancing. Oh, and of course football matches." She said. Ron raised his eyebrows. "Dancing?" He asked.
Hermione sighed. "Yeah. I used to go twice a week. Ballet, tap and disco. I miss that." She said heavily. "But I definitely don't miss the people I went dancing with." She added, perking up a bit.
They had reached the bus stop, and they spent the next ten minutes explaining the Muggle bus system to Ron.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Luke spent the next four days avoiding Harry, Ron, Hermione and Daphne as much as he could. They didn't mind though- the four of them spent all day watching TV and videos, mainly for Ron's benefit, as he had never seen either before. This gave Hermione and Daphne a great advantage, as they were able to watch all their favourite Disney films without a fifteen-year- old boy complaining about it. Ron was fascinating with anything they watched. Harry wasn't so thrilled to be watching Bambi, Beauty and the Beast, Sleeping Beauty and Lady and the Tramp amongst numerous others, but he tolerated them because it was three against one and he had never seen hardly any of them before.
On Christmas Eve Eve, Harry and Ron were woken up by the sound of the trap door in their attic room opening. Well, Harry was- Ron slept soundly on. Harry sat up sleepily as Hermione's head appeared through the gap, followed by the rest of her. She hurriedly put the thing she was carrying on the floor and closed the trap door behind her. "Good morning." She said cheerfully, throwing a shoe at Ron to wake him up. He sat up, his eyes out of focus and his hair standing up on end.
"What where?" He muttered sleepily. Harry yawned and put on his glasses, turning to look at Hermione. "I swear we just went to bed." He said, stifling another yawn. Hermione rolled her eyes at him. "Oh come on you two. It's almost seven for Merlin's sake." She said sternly. Ron let out an undistinguishable sound and flopped back down onto his back, pulling the covers over his head in answer. Harry silently agreed with him, but instead he turned back to Hermione. "Ok. Why are you…?" He began, but Hermione cut him off. "I've got something to show you both." She said, gesturing towards the box. She glared in Ron's direction and stood up. "To show you *both*, I said." She said, walking over to Ron's bed. She threw back the blanket, grabbed the startled Ron by the collar and began to pull him out of bed.
Ron jumped and pushed her away. "Alright alright I'm up. I'm not awake, but I'm up. Ok?" he said, twisting his pyjamas back round and clambering out of bed. Hermione wandered back over to the box on the floor, which had holes cut out at the sides. "I got a Christmas present for Daphne from all of us. Is that alright?" She asked. Harry nodded and Ron yawned in reply. Hermione rolled her eyes again and began to open the box. "Look, isn't she cute!" She exclaimed as she threw the box open.
First came an overlarge pair of ears, then bright blue eyes, then a small pink nose and the whiskers. The kitten was tiny, and Hermione was right- she was kind of cute. The kitten placed its front paws on the side of the box, lifted her back leg to climb over, lost balance and fell back down with a small thump.
Harry smiled and sat down on the floor next to the box. "Where did you get her?" He asked curiously. Hermione reached into the box and picked up the kitten. "Friends of mine down the road- their cat had five kittens. So they gave me her." She said, stroking the kitten on the head. Ron stared at her in disbelief. "You went to someone's house at seven in the morning?" He asked exasperatedly. Hermione didn't look up at him. "Yes I did, because they were on their way to work and completely awake, unlike some people." She said sternly, placing the kitten on the floor.
The kitten stumbled a bit before finding her footing, and when she did she headed straight over to Ron, who stroked her sleepily. Then he looked at her more closely, looking sceptical. "This cat is blond." He stated as she stepped onto one of his feet, purring quietly. Hermione folded her arms. "Yeah. So what?" She said testily. Ron shrugged. "It's just unusual for a cat, that's all." He said as the kitten settled down on his foot. "Great, now I can't move." He said with another yawn.
Hermione smiled. "She likes you." She said with a giggle. Ron rolled his eyes, pointedly ignoring the kitten falling asleep on his foot. "How much did she cost?" Harry asked Hermione, who rolled her eyes. "The kitten didn't cost anything. But we're going to have to buy a cage, a basket and a food bowl for her." She said, her eyes still on the (now sleeping) kitten. "It's amazing how fast they can fall asleep, isn't it?" She added, going completely off the subject.
"Er- when exactly are we going to, to- to get all of that?" Harry asked, stifling a yawn. "Well, we're all going shopping together today, including Luke, so we can't get it all today. But we could tomorrow, if we go quite early- the shop will close early because it's Christmas Eve." Hermione answered, reaching out for the kitten. Ron seemed to be dozing with his eyes half open, but he woke up quite effectively when the kitten dug its claws into his foot in a vain attempt to stop Hermione picking her up. "Ow!" He cried, his eyes jerking open. Hermione calmly placed the kitten back into its box.
"Anyway, I brought her up here because you two are going to have to hide her in your room- it's the only place Daphne won't find her." Hermione said, placing the loose lid back on the box and standing up. Ron yawned and vaguely waved his hand over to the corner. "Whatever- I'm going back to bed. Good night." With that he stumbled back across the room, flopped down onto his bed and was asleep in seconds. Hermione began to roll her eyes at Harry, but stopped when she realised he had fallen asleep as well, still sitting on the floor with his head on his bed. Hermione placed the box in the corner near Ron's bed and then turned back to Harry. If he slept like that he would have on hell of a neck ache when he woke up.
Hermione bent down and shook him gently by the shoulder. Harry sleepily batted her hand away, but didn't wake up. Hermione shook her head in exasperation and opened the trap door to leave. "Boys." She muttered darkly as she climbed down the ladder.
A/N- Ok, here's the deal everybody- I would like to thank my reviewers, but I can't coz I don't know who they are. I haven't had access to the Internet for over a week- my computer's playing up. I can't get onto fanfiction at school because the page is filtered. It's really starting to annoy me. Really.
Anyway, my mate Aleydis is uploading this chapter for me, so everyone thank her in your reviews. Obviously the lack of Internet on my part is going to mean a dry-up in the amount of uploading I do, but don't despair! (Not that you would anyway). I will have my computer working again within a fortnight or have either died trying to get it to work for once or chopped it up with a chain saw, (of course after removing all my story records from it).
So in conclusion, please bear with me!
Luv sparkley xxx
Ice-skating and kittens.
"Ron, wake up!"
Ron sat up groggily as Harry chucked a large pillow at his head. Harry was standing at the other side of the room, already fully dressed and grinning. "Oh, so you haven't died." He said as Ron got out of bed. Ron glared at him. "Not yet." He replied. Harry rolled his eyes; Ron was always a little testy in the morning.
"What time is it?" Ron asked sleepily. "Nine." Harry replied, pulling open the trapdoor in the floor. The two boys were sharing the loft room, which had been converted into a large guest bedroom. The Granger house had four bedrooms, not including the loft, so all the visitors could fit in comfortably. "See you downstairs." Harry said to Ron as he started down the wooden ladder that was attached securely to the opening.
As Harry made his way down the stairs, he was joined by Mr Granger, who was wearing what Harry recognised as a football shirt. He didn't know the team though.
"Morning Mr Granger." Harry said cheerfully. "Hi Mr Potter." He replied sarcastically. Harry grinned. "Sorry Ben." He corrected. Ben grinned back. "That's better." He said as they reached the kitchen. Mrs Gran- er, *Joanne*, was standing in front of the oven, frying pancakes. Hermione was the only other person who was awake, and was sitting at the table reading Hogwarts: A History for what must have been the thousandth time. Ben sat down at the table next to his daughter, and Harry slid into a chair opposite them.
"Morning Harry!" Hermione said cheerfully, laying her book down in front of her. "Hi Herm." Harry replied. "Good morning Father, how are you? Oh I'm fine, thank you Hermione, the light of my life." Ben said sarcastically. Harry laughed, but Hermione rolled her eyes. "Don't encourage him." She warned.
Ben winked at Harry as Joanne placed a huge stack of pancakes on the table. "Dig in." she said with a grin. Harry helped himself to a pancake, and doused it in maple syrup. "What team do you support Mr, er, Ben?" He asked, rolling up his pancake and nodding at his shirt. Ben grinned. "Millwall." He said cheerfully. "We all do. Even Hermione does. She used to have a season ticket before she went to Hogwarts."
Harry's eyes widened as he looked at Hermione. "Do you like football? I didn't know." He asked. Hermione nodded. "Yeah, it's really fun down the Den- that's Millwall's home ground. Everyone sings loads of songs, and even though they're quite, um, well anyway, it's really fun." She said delicately, taking a pancake. Harry grinned and went to take a bite out of his pancake, but stopped as a loud shout came from the other end of the table.
"MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL-"
Hermione clapped her hands to her ears and frowned. "Dad!" She yelled angrily. Ben stopped shouting and grinned at his daughter. "What?" He asked innocently. Before Hermione could answer, the shouting started up again, but this time it was coming from the doorway.
"MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLWALL!"
Daphne came bouncing into the kitchen, yelling just as loudly as her Uncle had done. Ben grinned and joined in, and soon the room was almost vibrating with the noise they were creating. Joanne carried on making breakfast, pointedly ignoring the football chant. Hermione still had her ears covered, but she was obviously trying not to laugh. Ron entered the kitchen a few moments after Daphne, a confused look on his face.
The yelling eventually stopped and Hermione lowered her hands, frowning at Daphne and her father. "Finished?" She asked icily. Ben shrugged, helping himself to some pancakes.
"You used to be a Millwall supporter too." Daphne said, pretending to be angry with Hermione. Hermione smiled. "I still am, it's just I feel unable to cope with all that shouting so early in the morning." She replied. Ron sat down next to Harry. "What's Millwall?" He asked curiously. Hermione picked up her fork. "It's the football team that I support." She said, cutting her pancake.
"You're into football?" He asked in surprise. Hermione nodded, and he grinned. "Well, at least Dean Thomas will have someone to talk to at last." He said, taking a pancake. Hermione shook her head. "I could never talk to *Dean* about football." She said indignantly. Ron looked up. "Why not?" He asked.
Hermione smiled sweetly. "Because *that* would be fraternising with the enemy." She said. Ron's ears went pink immediately, and Harry snorted. Daphne frowned. "Huh? Where'd that come from?" She asked. Hermione rolled her eyes. "That was what Ron's argument was based on last year at the Yule Ball." She told her. Daphne grinned. "You mean about Krum?" Daphne burst out laughing, and Hermione joined in. "It's stupid, isn't it?" She said. Daphne calmed down enough to shake her head. "No, it's brilliant! Couldn't have put it better myself." She said, tears forming in her eyes.
Hermione stopped laughing and glared at her cousin, which just made Daphne laugh harder. Harry started laughing at the look on Hermione's face, so she glared at him as well, making him laugh harder. Ron was looking very smug, and Hermione's parents were looking very confused.
When Harry and Daphne had recovered from their laughing fit, Ron turned back to Hermione. "So why is Dean an enemy?" He asked. "He's a West Ham supporter." She said, still glaring at Daphne.
Ben's fork clattered onto his plate and he clutched his face in mock horror. "What?! And you haven't converted him yet?" Ben turned to his daughter, grabbed her by the shoulders and started to shake her. "Hermione! You must bring him back to the light!" He cried dramatically. Hermione pushed him away as Daphne started laughing again. Harry and Ron sat watching bemusedly as Hermione turned to face them again.
"West Ham and Millwall are sworn enemies." She explained. "Now, I like Dean, but being a West Ham supporter does let him down a bit." She said with a grin. Harry shook his head slightly. "So, are Millwall better?" He asked. Daphne snorted. "No! Millwall are crap!" She said. Ron frowned. "So who do you support then?" He asked her.
Daphne grinned. "Millwall." She said. Ron looked really confused, so Hermione decided to explain. "Millwall are quite bad, but we support them anyway." She said, and Ron nodded. Daphne shrugged. "It's like supporting the Chudley Cannons." She explained. Ron frowned. "Hey!" He said indignantly. Daphne looked at him in surprise. "Do you support the Cannons?" She asked. Ron nodded, and she grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. I'm sure you'll conquer again soon." She said, earning a glare from Ron and a laugh from the others who had ever read Quidditch Through the Ages.
"Ok, enough about football." Joanne said, sitting down at the table. "What are you lot doing today?" She asked. "We thought that we'd check out the new ice-skating rink in town today." Hermione said with a smile. Harry turned pale. "Ice skating?" He repeated fearfully. Hermione looked at him. "Yeah." She answered. "Why?"
"Er- I've never been and I doubt I'll be any good." He said uneasily. Daphne smiled. "That doesn't matter, you can keep me company, holding onto the edge." She said airily. Harry nodded and went back to his pancakes. Hermione turned to Ron. "Have you ever been ice-skating Ron?" She asked him. Ron nodded. "Once, a few years ago. I hated it." He said. Hermione nodded and shrugged. "Oh well, that doesn't matter. We'd better leave soon though." She said, taking her plate over to the sink. Joanne frowned. "Aren't you going to wait for Luke?" She asked disapprovingly.
Daphne laughed. "Are you kidding? We'd be here all day!" She said, standing up to clear away her things as well. She picked up Ron and Harry's plates and took them over to the sink. "Besides," she said. "He doesn't want to come, we asked him last night." Joanne sighed. "Well, ok then." She said, as Hermione and Daphne left the kitchen, closely followed by Harry and Ron.
"Why do we have to leave so early?" Ron asked curiously as they pulled on their jackets in the hallway. Hermione unlocked the front door and pulled it open. "Because we're getting the tube and it's rush hour at the moment, so it'll take a while." She said as they all filed through. Ron frowned. "What's rush hour?" He asked as they began to walk down the road. Harry grinned. "You'll see." He said.
And see he did. When they got to the tube station, (called 'Canada Water') it was chocka block with men and women running around to get onto the trains. The four of them wound their way through the crowd and queued up to buy tickets. Hermione said that they might as well buy travel cards for a week, because they would be doing a lot of travelling and they were handy to have. They waited in the line for fifteen minutes before they were served, and Hermione bought the cards, even though the man had looked suspicious as to whether or not the others were sixteen or under. Luckily, he didn't make a fuss and handed them over.
Hermione gave them each a card, grabbed Ron by the arm and led him over to a line of barrier machines. "Right," she said briskly. "Watch what everyone does. You see- they put their card in the slot at this end, it comes out at the top, and the doors open for them. Simple enough?" Ron nodded and managed to follow Harry through the barriers without any trouble. He was a bit jumpy when it came to climbing onto the escalators, but after doing it once he was fine. The four of them made their way down onto a platform, a lot smaller than 9 and ¾, and joined the great mass of people already there.
As it was a Saturday, there were not only businessmen and women, but also families and groups of friends up for a day's shopping or another day trip of some sort. There were tracks at each side of the platform, but glass sheets cornered them both off. However, when the first train pulled in, it stopped in just the right position for the doors in the glass barriers to open at the same place as the train doors, and so people were able to get on.
When their train came, it was so packed that hardly anyone was able to get on. So they waited for the next, and then the next, and then the next, until finally they were right next to the doors so when the next came three minutes later, they were among the first to get on. Ron was so tall that he could probably have held onto the ceiling of the tube for support, but instead opted to hold onto one of the suspended handles in front of his face. Hermione reached up and grabbed one as well, but Harry and Daphne were too short and just held onto the yellow bar by the door. Ron started laughing when he saw that Harry was too short to hold onto the straps hanging from the ceiling, but one death-glare from Hermione shut him up.
They were only on the tube for ten minutes, which was lucky as Ron had never been on one before, was not used to the way it was underground, very hot and stuffy, bram-packed with people and rocked from side to side as it went. By the time they got to Waterloo station, he was looking slightly green. "Maybe we should get the bus back." Daphne said as they boarded another escalator to take them up into the main station.
It took them a while to get out of Waterloo Station as the Jubilee Line, (which they had just been on) was built so far away from the exit. They had to travel on several escalators and many long moving belts like you find in airports. Finally, they stepped out into the cold December air. It had taken them an hour to get there from Canada Water, when it would have normally taken them ten, maybe fifteen minutes. Voicing this opinion, Hermione began to lead the way down the road. They walked for about ten minutes, past a Primary school, (which Ron found interesting as he had never been to one), a Secondary school, many shops and finally a large, elegant building with a huge cannon on the lawn in front of it. "That's the Imperial War Museum." Daphne said as they passed it. "We could go there after ice-skating." Harry and Ron rolled their eyes, and Hermione rolled her eyes right back at them. "Don't worry, this museum good. You'll like it."
They walked for another few minutes, until they finally reached a huge, warehousey- looking building, surrounded by a car park and with a sign saying 'Super Skate' on the side. Hermione grinned at them. "Come on then!" She said, leading the way inside.
There were dozens of people in the entrance hall, forming a large queue for tickets. The rink was opening in fifteen minutes, so people were still arriving as well. Hermione and Daphne joined the queue, but Harry and Ron wandered over to a massive window on the right hand side, which afforded a view of the ice-skating rink. It was oval shaped, and huge. Down at one end was a counter lending out skates, surrounded by a large crowd of people tying up boots and putting things in lockers. Harry and Ron watched for a few minutes before heading back over to Hermione and Daphne, who were waiting for them at the entrance gate to the rink, tickets in their hands.
Hermione handed them both two tickets each. "This one is your entrance ticket, and this is for your shoes. Don't' mix them up." She said, handing one of her tickets to the guard and going through the gate. The other three followed her down a flight of iron steps, and out onto the side of the rink. Kids and adults of all ages were milling around waiting for the rink to open, some wearing skates already. Hermione, Harry, Ron and Daphne made there way along the side of the rink to the skates stand, and joined the long queue for skates.
"Hermione?" Hermione looked around to see who had spoken, and her eyes widened in shock. "Kevin?" She gasped. A boy about her age stepped forward with a grin. He was wearing one skate and held another in his hand, wobbling slightly. He had blond hair and bright blue eyes. "Hey Brainiac, how've you been?" He said.
Hermione grinned back. "Good, how've you been thickso? I haven't seen you in ages." She said. Kevin shrugged. "I'm alright. Wow. Fancy seeing you here." He said, glancing at Harry and Ron out of the corner of his eye. Hermione smiled. "Er, this is Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, friends of mine from school. Harry, Ron, this is Kevin Carter, a friend of mine, from my old school." She said. Kevin shook hands with both of them. "You know my cousin, don't you? Daphne Granger?" Hermione said. Kevin looked at Daphne for a moment and then nodded. "Er- yeah. You're Luke's sister, right?" Daphne nodded. "Yep." She said.
"Kevin? Kevin where are you?" A female voice rang out, and Hermione cringed visibly. Kevin grinned. "Maybe I should get out of here before…" He began, but Hermione cut him off sadly. "Too late." She sighed, before putting on her best fake smile. "Miranda- hi!"
A short girl with dark brown hair and watery blue eyes suddenly appeared from amongst the crowd, glaring at Hermione. Then she suddenly smiled brightly as well. "Well well well, Hermione Granger. What a lovely surprise!" It was quite obvious from her tone of voice that she wasn't enjoying seeing Hermione there at all. Hermione raised an eyebrow, but kept smiling. Kevin cleared his throat. "We'd better be going, the rink's opening now." He said, taking a brave stab at trying to alleviate the tension slightly. Ron and Harry could tell from the look on his face that he didn't want the two girls standing next to each other for very long. Daphne also seemed to be getting that feeling, because she was shifting from foot to foot, and her eyes were darting between her cousin and Miranda anxiously.
Miranda glanced at the people crowding onto the ice, and then turned coldly back to Hermione. "See you on the ice, *Brainiac*." She said with a slight hint of a threat in her voice. She turned to walk away, but Hermione spoke up. "Your hair's looking very green today." She said coolly. Miranda paused for a moment, clenched her fists, but then kept on walking. Hermione smirked, and turned back to Kevin, who seemed torn between amusement and exasperation.
"You shouldn't have done that- she'll be in a mood all day now." He said. Hermione stopped smirking, and started to look ashamed. "I'm sorry Kev- she just…" "It's alright. Don't worry. I'd better go. See you later." He smiled one last time, nodded to Harry and Ron, and then hurried over to the rink entrance, pulling on his skate as he went.
Ron started on Hermione straight away. "What was that all about?" He demanded as soon as Kevin was gone. Hermione lifted an eyebrow. "What- Miranda? She's a little, well, she's a bit…"
"Bitchy." Daphne finished for her. Hermione frowned. "No- she's just, well she's, ok, she's bitchy." Hermione shrugged and handed her skates ticket to the man behind the counter. "Size five please." She said. Everyone else also got their skates and they all went over to a bench to put them on. "Me and Miranda didn't like each other very much in Primary school." Hermione said as they sat down. "But we managed to avoid each other pretty effectively until Year Five. But then Kevin came to our school, and we became friends. Unfortunately, Miranda is his cousin, so he had to hang out with her as well. He's too nice to tell her to push off."
Daphne grinned. "I almost died laughing that day…" She said, starting to giggle as she laced up her skates. Hermione grinned as well, turning a bit red. Harry and Ron frowned, so Hermione continued to explain. "One day in Year Six, Miranda was acting particularly horrible to a new girl in our class. I started to defend her, and she got shirty with me. Then suddenly her hair turned green. Now, this was before I knew I was a Witch, so I was completely bemused. But it was so funny." Hermione started to laugh at the memory. Harry grinned thoughtfully.
"I did that once. But mine was a hundred times worse because it was my teacher's wig. I turned it blue." He said. Ron started laughing at this and Harry shrugged. By this time, they had finished pulling on their skates, and so they stood up and hobbled over to the rink entrance. Hermione grinned. "I'm sorry, but I just have to have a good skate first. I'll be back in a minute." She said, stepping confidently onto the ice. A second later she was out of sight.
Hermione skated into the middle of the rink, where the more experienced skaters were circling around. Hermione joined in, feeling really happy to be skating again. She used to travel to Gillingham at least once a month with her Dad to go ice-skating, but once she had started Hogwarts, she had only been twice.
"Wait up 'Mione!" Hermione spun round and was surprised to see Ron skating towards her with ease, as if he had been doing it for years. Hermione gaped at him in shock. "I thought you'd only been once!" She exclaimed as he stopped next to her. Ron shrugged. "Just because I've only been skating once doesn't mean that I'm no good at it. I had to be- I had Fred and George chasing me around with snowballs." He said with a grin. Hermione laughed. "Ok then." She said, starting to skate again. After about three minutes, Ron suggested that they go back and find out where Daphne and Harry were, so they skated back over to edge to try and find them.
It didn't take long. Harry was about two feet away from the entrance, clinging onto the wall as if his life depended on it. Daphne was standing next to him, steadying herself with one hand, and trying to persuade Harry to try and let go. "What's wrong?" Hermione asked, as they got closer. Daphne rolled her eyes. "He won't even try." She complained to her cousin. Harry didn't seem to hear her; he was concentrating on standing completely still. Ron grinned.
"Come on Harry, it's not that hard." He said, leaning on the wall next to Daphne. Harry glared at him. "Shut up." He replied slowly and coldly. Ron shrugged and Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Maybe we should have got Fred and George to come- he could have learnt the same way you did Ron." She said. Ron grinned, pushed himself away from the wall and over to where Harry stood. "Listen Harry, all you have to do is… is that Dudley?" Ron exclaimed. Harry looked up in surprise. "Where?" He asked, glancing around. Ron seized the opportunity, grabbed Harry's hands and pulled them off the wall. Harry slid back about a foot, his arms flailing madly, but he calmed down when he realised he hadn't fallen over.
Hermione laughed. "Good one." She said to Ron, who shrugged, grinning at Harry. Harry, on the other hand, looked furious. "Ha ha." He muttered sarcastically. Daphne pushed away from the wall slightly as well. "Come on Harry. You haven't fallen over. That's a start, right?" She said encouragingly.
An hour later, the four of them had circled the outside of the rink about twelve times, and they were all starting to get tired. Harry hadn't fallen over once, and was getting more confident. Which was more than could be said for Daphne, who had fallen over three times, much to Ron's amusement.
"Do you want to start heading back?" Hermione asked them all, coaxing nods out of her friends. Daphne smiled. "It really wears you out, doesn't it?" She said, holding tightly onto the side again. Ron, who was skating backwards, shrugged. "I don't know about that. But these skates are too small for me; I've got blisters all over my feet." He said, wincing. Hermione nodded. "Ok, so all agreed?" She said, and they all said yes. At that moment, they were distracted by Daphne falling over for the fourth time. Ron started laughing straight away, as usual. Daphne glared at him as she pulled herself up, and he grinned. "Do you like it down there or something?" He asked. Daphne narrowed her eyes. "Not really, but you might." She said, shoving him in the chest. Ron fell and landed heavily on his backside. Harry, Hermione and Daphne all burst out laughing at the look on his face. "Very funny." He said darkly, grabbing the side and getting up. Daphne smiled sweetly at him, and Ron looked like he was going to say something else, but they had reached the exit, so he didn't.
Once the four of them had traded their skates back in for their own shoes, they headed over to the small fast-food restaurant near the entrance, where Hermione treated them all to a burger. While they ate them Ron told them all about the one time his father had taken him, Ginny, the twins and Percy to MacDonald's, and how George had managed to turn Percy's burger into a crab, which had promptly clamped its claws on Percy's hand.
Hermione crumpled up her wrapper and sighed. "Let's get out of here before Miranda comes in." She said, standing up and brushing crumbs off her jeans. The other three did the same, and they made their way out of the ice- skating rink and onto the cold street.
"That was fun." Daphne said. "Even if I did keep falling over." She added, glaring at Ron to stop him laughing. Hermione smiled. "It was fun. I've missed skating." She said a little sadly. Harry looked at her thoughtfully. "What else did you have to give up to come to Hogwarts?" He asked curiously. Hermione shrugged. "Well, there was the skating. The only other things that I really miss are watching Friends every week, knowing all the new music, and going dancing. Oh, and of course football matches." She said. Ron raised his eyebrows. "Dancing?" He asked.
Hermione sighed. "Yeah. I used to go twice a week. Ballet, tap and disco. I miss that." She said heavily. "But I definitely don't miss the people I went dancing with." She added, perking up a bit.
They had reached the bus stop, and they spent the next ten minutes explaining the Muggle bus system to Ron.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Luke spent the next four days avoiding Harry, Ron, Hermione and Daphne as much as he could. They didn't mind though- the four of them spent all day watching TV and videos, mainly for Ron's benefit, as he had never seen either before. This gave Hermione and Daphne a great advantage, as they were able to watch all their favourite Disney films without a fifteen-year- old boy complaining about it. Ron was fascinating with anything they watched. Harry wasn't so thrilled to be watching Bambi, Beauty and the Beast, Sleeping Beauty and Lady and the Tramp amongst numerous others, but he tolerated them because it was three against one and he had never seen hardly any of them before.
On Christmas Eve Eve, Harry and Ron were woken up by the sound of the trap door in their attic room opening. Well, Harry was- Ron slept soundly on. Harry sat up sleepily as Hermione's head appeared through the gap, followed by the rest of her. She hurriedly put the thing she was carrying on the floor and closed the trap door behind her. "Good morning." She said cheerfully, throwing a shoe at Ron to wake him up. He sat up, his eyes out of focus and his hair standing up on end.
"What where?" He muttered sleepily. Harry yawned and put on his glasses, turning to look at Hermione. "I swear we just went to bed." He said, stifling another yawn. Hermione rolled her eyes at him. "Oh come on you two. It's almost seven for Merlin's sake." She said sternly. Ron let out an undistinguishable sound and flopped back down onto his back, pulling the covers over his head in answer. Harry silently agreed with him, but instead he turned back to Hermione. "Ok. Why are you…?" He began, but Hermione cut him off. "I've got something to show you both." She said, gesturing towards the box. She glared in Ron's direction and stood up. "To show you *both*, I said." She said, walking over to Ron's bed. She threw back the blanket, grabbed the startled Ron by the collar and began to pull him out of bed.
Ron jumped and pushed her away. "Alright alright I'm up. I'm not awake, but I'm up. Ok?" he said, twisting his pyjamas back round and clambering out of bed. Hermione wandered back over to the box on the floor, which had holes cut out at the sides. "I got a Christmas present for Daphne from all of us. Is that alright?" She asked. Harry nodded and Ron yawned in reply. Hermione rolled her eyes again and began to open the box. "Look, isn't she cute!" She exclaimed as she threw the box open.
First came an overlarge pair of ears, then bright blue eyes, then a small pink nose and the whiskers. The kitten was tiny, and Hermione was right- she was kind of cute. The kitten placed its front paws on the side of the box, lifted her back leg to climb over, lost balance and fell back down with a small thump.
Harry smiled and sat down on the floor next to the box. "Where did you get her?" He asked curiously. Hermione reached into the box and picked up the kitten. "Friends of mine down the road- their cat had five kittens. So they gave me her." She said, stroking the kitten on the head. Ron stared at her in disbelief. "You went to someone's house at seven in the morning?" He asked exasperatedly. Hermione didn't look up at him. "Yes I did, because they were on their way to work and completely awake, unlike some people." She said sternly, placing the kitten on the floor.
The kitten stumbled a bit before finding her footing, and when she did she headed straight over to Ron, who stroked her sleepily. Then he looked at her more closely, looking sceptical. "This cat is blond." He stated as she stepped onto one of his feet, purring quietly. Hermione folded her arms. "Yeah. So what?" She said testily. Ron shrugged. "It's just unusual for a cat, that's all." He said as the kitten settled down on his foot. "Great, now I can't move." He said with another yawn.
Hermione smiled. "She likes you." She said with a giggle. Ron rolled his eyes, pointedly ignoring the kitten falling asleep on his foot. "How much did she cost?" Harry asked Hermione, who rolled her eyes. "The kitten didn't cost anything. But we're going to have to buy a cage, a basket and a food bowl for her." She said, her eyes still on the (now sleeping) kitten. "It's amazing how fast they can fall asleep, isn't it?" She added, going completely off the subject.
"Er- when exactly are we going to, to- to get all of that?" Harry asked, stifling a yawn. "Well, we're all going shopping together today, including Luke, so we can't get it all today. But we could tomorrow, if we go quite early- the shop will close early because it's Christmas Eve." Hermione answered, reaching out for the kitten. Ron seemed to be dozing with his eyes half open, but he woke up quite effectively when the kitten dug its claws into his foot in a vain attempt to stop Hermione picking her up. "Ow!" He cried, his eyes jerking open. Hermione calmly placed the kitten back into its box.
"Anyway, I brought her up here because you two are going to have to hide her in your room- it's the only place Daphne won't find her." Hermione said, placing the loose lid back on the box and standing up. Ron yawned and vaguely waved his hand over to the corner. "Whatever- I'm going back to bed. Good night." With that he stumbled back across the room, flopped down onto his bed and was asleep in seconds. Hermione began to roll her eyes at Harry, but stopped when she realised he had fallen asleep as well, still sitting on the floor with his head on his bed. Hermione placed the box in the corner near Ron's bed and then turned back to Harry. If he slept like that he would have on hell of a neck ache when he woke up.
Hermione bent down and shook him gently by the shoulder. Harry sleepily batted her hand away, but didn't wake up. Hermione shook her head in exasperation and opened the trap door to leave. "Boys." She muttered darkly as she climbed down the ladder.
A/N- Ok, here's the deal everybody- I would like to thank my reviewers, but I can't coz I don't know who they are. I haven't had access to the Internet for over a week- my computer's playing up. I can't get onto fanfiction at school because the page is filtered. It's really starting to annoy me. Really.
Anyway, my mate Aleydis is uploading this chapter for me, so everyone thank her in your reviews. Obviously the lack of Internet on my part is going to mean a dry-up in the amount of uploading I do, but don't despair! (Not that you would anyway). I will have my computer working again within a fortnight or have either died trying to get it to work for once or chopped it up with a chain saw, (of course after removing all my story records from it).
So in conclusion, please bear with me!
Luv sparkley xxx