A/n: Hello again! And we get closer to the big climax eh? Well, there's a bigger climax after that but :::shrughs::: anyway, most of you felt like tearing me apart after the last chapter and I must say you wouldn't have done much since most of the damage I did to myself. Hey, it tortures me to know but not be able to tell you guys. Oh, I just decided to add a trip to a place that kinda enhances what will come later and gets Ron and Hermione fighting again. It's nature so it's gotta be there! Ron got soft for Halloween but I think the candy set him on his usual Ron track. Anyway, here it is, just some pre-ball and ball details, more to come soon! Now get to reading!!

Disclaimer: If you saw me sitting at home muttering "Evil poo," you would know that I definitely don't own them…

Chapter 10: Of Balls Preparations and Mummies

Lavender Brown raised her head groggily as the footsteps pounding on the stairs seemed to beat a steady rhythm into the back of her mind. The nerve of some people, stomping around at midnight! She was about to lay her head back down on her fluffy pink pillow when the door of the dormitory was flung open. For a moment she was sure a hostile herd of elephants had rushed in, but since when did elephants have bushy brown hair? She groaned softly and realized it was Hermione, hearing the curtains of the girl's four-poster rip open.

Hermione threw her blankets amok, muttering to herself. What made her so angry anyway? She didn't care. She wasn't supposed to care anyhow. Not bothering to remove her shoes, she sat on the bed with a force that made the whole four-poster shake. She tried to rub the sleep out of her eyes but was too weary to do so. Especially after so much of that rubbish.

The Halloween feast had been glorious, the Great Hall as wondrous as ever, the food as exquisite (although she hadn't bothered with too many sweets). The twins' song made her shake with giggles for quite a few minutes. She had calmed down, though, and returned to the party that was raving in the common room. Harry was deep in conversation with a certain redheaded young lady while Fred and George were surrounded by those who were not dancing and eating. Hermione had been amused still at the sight of the twins who seemed to be performing their song yet again. She grinned as Harry and Ginny laughed together in a dark corner of the common room.

Ron sat in another corner. Light from his wand was reflecting on a piece of parchment, where he was writing with great enthusiasm. Blinking rapidly, she decided to find out what he was doing, having seen him in that state quite a few times and still being puzzled.

As she approached Ron, however, he looked up and hastily threw his arms over the parchment. His mouth hung open, apparently noting the scowl that now bordered Hermione's lips.

"What's that?" she asked, trying to keep her voice steady.

Ron narrowed his eyes; he knew she was losing her temper. "Who wants to know?" he said, immediately cursing himself mentally for making such a stupid comeback.

"I want to know, stupid!" Hermione snapped. She distinctly saw him roll his eyes. "Don't roll your eyes at me! I just asked what you were doing!"

Ron sneered and answered in a nasty tone. "What if I don't feel like telling you?" A few people turned their attention to the row that was sure to ensue.

"Look, if you want to keep a secret from me then go ahead!" Hermione said rather loudly.

"I will if I damn feel like it!"

"Fine!"

"Good!"

"Just let me see the paper."

"NO!" Ron finally yelled. Hermione took a deep breath, shot a dirty look in Ron's direction, and snatched the paper from under his arms. She caught a glimpse of the words "I don't know what I should do. I really do want to but…" before Ron wrenched the parchment from her hands.

"You don't have to know every detail of my bloody life!" he bellowed in her face before gathering his writing tools and stormed up to the dormitory.

Hermione had stared after him open-mouthed and then threw herself onto the chair previously occupied by Ron. She looked about ready to murder the next person who talked to her. Ginny and Harry were peering at her cautiously while everyone returned to their antecedent activities.

The common room had been rather quiet, considering no one in particular seemed to understand the argument that had just taken place. Fred, George, and Ginny avoided Hermione, giving her the impression that they knew what the letters were all about. Something in the pit of her stomach had given her a hunch as well.

She had been the last in the common room. Surprisingly, everyone headed off to bed by 10:30, watching her still lethal gaze flickering towards the boys' dormitory. Before Harry had headed up as well, he glimpsed at her. She looked at him sympathetically and shook her head.

It was someone…in his past. It had to be. His siblings knew. Harry—did he know? Hermione sighed dejectedly. For all she knew, she might be the only one in their tight circle who had no idea what was going on.

She finally lay down, listening to the light snoring of Pavarti. Just more reasons to distance herself from what could definitely not be.

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Harry glanced cautiously at his best friends, sitting at opposite sides of the table at breakfast. They kept shooting dirty glares at each other and pounding their forks into their bacon and eggs with enough force to break the plates. Ron's hair was disheveled, indicating he hadn't bothered to look into a mirror. Hermione's robe was wrinkled, something unusual to see. Ginny sat beside her, giving Harry puzzled looks.

He should have known it. They were being way too peaceful with each other. Of course they had to start their ridiculous bickering again sometime. He just hadn't expected it to be over something that apparently only the two of them knew about.

"So…" Ginny began gingerly. Ron and Hermione were still glancing up at each other with murderous looks on their faces. "Erm, are you going to the ball?" Ginny tried. Ron snorted. Hermione narrowed her eyes and said, without taking her eyes off Ron, "Depends." Harry and Ginny exchanged nervous glances. Ron rolled his eyes at Hermione's comment.

"Of course she won't go. Vicky's not here to try and snog her," he said nastily.

Harry grimaced. Hermione in a bad mood and Ron mentioning Viktor Krum; bad combination. Hermione's eyes widened. Ginny cradled her head in her hands. Three, two, one—

"Ronald Weasley, you disgust me! How dare you?"

"Come off it, you know how much you wanna go with that git again!"

"What if I just don't feel like going?"

"Be my guest!"

Hermione threw down her fork and stood. "I expect you'll be missing from the ball as well, discouraged still from being rejected by some French snob!"

"Shut up, Hermione, you don't know what you're saying!"

Hermione sighed and shook her head. "You'll never understand," she muttered and stormed out of the Great Hall.

Ron looked after her, his eyes narrowed. Ginny snapped her head around to look at him. "Ron, how could you? You're just making things worse!"

"So? I reckon she doesn't even wanna see my face again so what's the harm?"

Harry was looking at Ron sincerely. "What was the argument about last night?"

Ron blushed. "Nothing, she was just being nosy." He avoided his best friend's questioning look. Ginny shoved her elbow into his ribs. Ron sneered at her. "Tell him," his sister commanded. Ron closed his eyes as if the thought of obeying her hurt him. "I—alright." He looked at Harry, who was listening closely. "It's like this—I was writing a letter and Hermione butt in and tried to read it but I didn't want her to because—because she would find out who I was writing to."

Harry nodded. "And who would that be?"

Ron sighed. "This goes back to the summer before fourth year…"

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Ginny's eyes strayed over the boy whom her heart had belonged to for five years. He stood awkwardly in the Invisibility section, completely unaware of her watching eyes. This was because he was too busy gazing at his own crush, the raven-haired oriental Ravenclaw, Cho Chang. She stood in the Magical Beasts section, engrossed in a book about phoenixes. Harry took a deep breath and approached her.

"Um, Cho?" he asked tentatively. Cho swung around, surprised to see him standing beside her. She smiled a strangely grim smile. "Hello, Harry." Harry smiled sheepishly and said, "I was wondering, er…" He glanced at her and saw her black eyes clouding up.

"Harry…" she began, putting a hand on his shoulder. Over the summer, Harry had grown enough to be two inches taller than her. She looked up at him and exhaled. "I'm sorry. Go on."

"Listen, do you, I mean, would you go to the Christmas ball with me? I don't mean to sound pushy but it would be a delight to go with you and…" Harry's voice trailed off.

Cho closed her eyes. Ginny watched, holding her breath. "Harry, I'm sorry," Cho said. "It would be a great pleasure to go with you but…I can't." Harry didn't understand. Was she already going with someone? As if reading his mind, Cho said, "I'm not going with anyone. It's just…" She sighed once more and led Harry to one of the small tables, a perfect view for Ginny.

"It would—hurt me too much." Still, Harry was perplexed. Cho gripped his hand. "You—you remind me of—of…of Cedric," she murmured, choking on her tears. Harry looked away. Cho shook her head. "I'm so sorry. But every time I see you, I think about Cedric and how much you two shared that night. I just can't believe he's gone," she managed to say, tears rolling down her cheeks. "I'm so sorry, I…" She was sobbing now, clutching on to Harry's hand for comfort. Harry shut his eyes tight, unable to hold back tears much longer and unable to see her suffer like that.

"No," he said. "I'm sorry for making you feel this way. It won't happen again." Cho looked up and leaned forward. She hugged him briefly before whispering, "You'll always have my friendship. We need each other's support."

Ginny watched the scene in front of her, full of pity for Cho Chang. She must have truly loved Diggory.

Harry smiled downheartedly and nodded. He stood and headed for the exit of the library. Ginny gathered her books hurriedly, not wanting Harry to know she had just been spying on him. As she walked towards the door, Harry bumped into her.

"Sorry, Ginny, didn't see you there," he said, grinning. Ginny nodded, not returning the smile. Harry furrowed his eyebrows. "Is everything okay?" he asked. Ginny nodded again. The castle glowed from the candles hovering around every corner as they walked toward the Gryffindor common room in silence.

"So what were you doing in the library?" Harry asked. Ginny usually sat by the fire reading by six in the afternoon. She finally looked up. "Just doing a Potions essay," she replied. Harry eyed the book she was holding: The Standard Book of Spell (Grade 3). Harry knew she was lying but didn't pursue the subject. Instead, he asked what had been troubling him since that very morning.

"Why didn't Ron say anything before?"

"Just embarrassed, I reckon," she replied, giggling. "Or maybe he just didn't want you to get the wrong idea about it." Harry nodded and asked, "Is he planning on telling Hermione?" Ginny sniggered and said, "When Percy works in Zonko's." Harry laughed at her intended pun. She flicked strands of her flaming hair back and turned her brown eyes to Harry. "You can imagine the row that would start then!" Harry laughed again, glad to have someone to take his mind off the pain and guilt that had surged through him just minutes before.

"I suppose I'll go with Neville again this year," Ginny said tonelessly. "Hey, maybe he learned that crushing people's toes is not a part of dancing!" She shook her head and continued. "Or maybe I'm hoping for too much."

Harry opened his mouth. Wait, what was he going to say? Hopefully something not too stupid. Then again, his all-too-present unstrung ways would rear its ugly face. "Yeah," he finally said. "You never know."

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Ron sucked on a Sugar Quill, finding little inspiration to write his History of Magic essay. "Explain how goblin rebellions affect the wizarding society today." Seriously, how many times did one have to learn about goblin rebellions?

Hermione sat not too far from him, writing her essay with her new eagle feather quill. Ron noticed she had 4 pieces of parchment to her side, already one too many from what was required. He found himself smiling at the familiar scenario. He quickly replaced the grin with a sour scowl, making sure she hadn't seen him smiling. Of course, that would be somewhat hard to miss, since for the past half-hour she had been glancing up at him every 10 seconds.

Ron propped one elbow on the table at which he sat and placed his chin on his hand. He didn't want her angry with him. It was really dangerous to have her in a state of death glares like that. Then again, he had insulted her at breakfast rather harshly. But how could he explain the letter? I'll be in deep dragon shit if I tell her what that really was about. Okay, so some other time I'll tell her but I gotta apologize. Ron cringed. Apologizing wasn't one of his strongest qualities, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

He stood and walked toward her, noticing she had just finished her 5-page essay. She didn't look pleased, though; troubled would be more like it. I'm willing to bet I made her feel like crap this morning. Damn, I suck at this stuff. Ron shook his head to clear his thoughts and sat next to her. She froze and moved away from him. This left her at the edge of the seat, so Ron moved towards her. Now she couldn't move.

"What, pray tell, do you want?" she snapped.

Forcing himself not to say, "You," he rolled his eyes. "Look, Hermione, don't get all worked up about absolutely nothing, okay?"

She turned to look at him. She didn't have to turn much since he was practically sitting on her lap. "Nothing? Oh, secret letters to a mystery person is nothing?" She looked at him expectantly, her expression as stern as ever.

Ron looked taken aback. "What d'you mean, letters? There was only one!"

Hermione shook her head. "At your house this summer, you locked yourself up and I'm sure you were writing to the same person!" she answered defiantly.

Ron swore mentally. "That's not important."

"Then what is?"

"Your friendship! Don't you get what I'm saying?"

A smile tugged at Hermione's lips. "Is Ron Weasley on the verge of apologizing?" She raised an eyebrow and murmured, "Come on, say it!"

Ron knew he had it made. "Hmm…I don't know, convince me."

Hermione couldn't help it; she grinned. "Well, I happen to know how very ticklish you are, oh, around your neck." She wrapped her hands around his neck and said, "Don't make me torture you!" They both blushed at her words but did nothing.

"I'm sorry," Ron said finally, eyeing her suspiciously. "Now tell me, how the hell did you know where I'm ticklish?"

Hermione shrugged innocently. "I have my ways." She tickled him a little before removing her hands, to Ron's disappointment.

Ron was about to start was would promise to be a heated tickling war when a barn owl swooped through the open window of the common room and landed on his head. It pecked at Ron's hair, seeming perturbed by the color.

Hermione chuckled and removed the letter tied to the owl's foot. She glanced at Ron, who was trying to shove the bird off his ginger head, and said, "It's from my parents." She ripped open the sealed envelope and read the letter out loud:

Dear Hermione,

Hullo, darling, we miss you as always. We assume your grades are as fantastic as ever so we should get right to the point. We know how much you love Egypt so we decided to take a trip there with you for your Christmas holiday. Harry and Ron are welcome to come as well. If there's anyone else you would like to accompany us, they are most gladly invited. Just as long as it's only one or two other people. We hope to hear from you soon, honey!

Love From,

Mum and Dad

Hermione grinned as she turned to face Ron. Her smile widened when she saw him tilting his head to the right, trying to rid himself of the barn owl. He managed to return the grin with a slight look of pain on his face. "As soon as this bloody menace gets off me, we'll talk," he muttered.

Hermione laughed and extended her arm to the owl. It hoped on, eyeing Ron corruptly.

"Okay, now I can talk," Ron said, rubbing his head. "That's really wicked! You're gonna love it there! Maybe I'll lock you in with a mummy until you both bow at my feet!" Hermione glared at him. "Just kidding! No, seriously, we could scare the crap out of Ginny again—Fred and George did it when we went and it was funny!" Ron saw the look on Hermione's face and chuckled. "Then again, maybe not!" Hermione broke out into a fit of giggles as Ron looked at her, bewildered. Then he smirked and started tickling her.

"No! Stop!" she squealed as Ron sniggered. "Who's in power now?" he said. "You! Fine!" Hermione choked, sprawling down on the sofa, gasping for breath between giggles. Ron nodded and exclaimed, "I thought so!" Hermione bolted upright and threw her arms around his neck. Then she started tickling him mercilessly. They were roaring with laughter while the other Gryffindors looked on, amused. Ginny and Harry entered the room and grinned, relieved that at least that problem was solved.

The laughing stopped. Ron and Hermione laid their heads on each other's shoulders, panting.

"What was that all about?" Ginny asked as she reached her brother and friend.

Hermione shrugged and Ron looked dazed. Harry was sure Hermione would start laughing again if she saw Ron's face so he asked, "What's that?" and pointed to the letter that lay forgotten beside Hermione's homework.

"Oh!" Hermione said suddenly. "That's a letter from my mum and dad! They said we could all accompany them to Egypt for Christmas holiday!"

Ginny bit her lip. "Don't worry," Hermione said, glaring at Ron. "Fred and George won't be there and Ron will be in grave danger if he does anything fishy." That said, Ginny's face lit up. "I'm sure Mum and Dad will let us go, eh, Ron?" Ron had just stuffed a Chocolate Frog he had fished out of his pocket into his mouth, so he only nodded. Hermione bit her lip to suppress more giggles and said, "Then it's settled! I'll write back to them as soon as you get a definite approval."

"I onwy 'ope we won' miss the bwall," Ron said through his mouthful of chocolate. Hermione looked at him in surprise. He managed to grin and wink, completely unnoticed by Harry and Ginny.

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A/n: Hehe…I like tickling! Er, sorry, okay, so how did you guys like that? Are you plotting my murder cuz Harry knows about Ron's pen pal and you don't? Ooh, it hurt so much having to write about Cedric but it's what I really think…Harry and Cho just don't belong and it's partly cuz of that. So anyway, the next installment will probably feature the actual ball which is gonna be, er, interesting, to say the least. And now, to praise all you wonderful people out there!!

CurlsofGold- Thanks, I'm glad to see additions to my line of readers especially since I thought I would have zero to one reader…you're writing was fine, everyone makes mistakes! Anyway, thanks for your compliments, they make me feel like writing this isn't just a waste of time.

Adnap Nottap- I seriously think you still don't know how much I love your reviews :::big hug::: eck, that sounded like a Teletubie, lol, but it wasn't supposed to! I know, they seriously are like a married couple but they just don't know it, they're so thickheaded! Then again, I wouldn't know either, but that's because I spend way too much time cooking up my insane ways, lol. Hehe, Hermione would be screaming at me cuz sometimes I sleep till like one so :::shrughs::: and yes, you're right, the Brits get all the good stuff…the accent, Rupert, JKR, Rupert, and, OMG, before I forget, RUPERT!! Man, this is starting to look more like an e-mail message so…can't wait to read your next review!

ltnikki- Are you sure you're not in my fic cuz I swear you are Voldie, lol. Don't tell or I will seriously :::pounds desk::: hey, I just read When Things Start to Change and practically blew apart my computer so be careful…

ferggirl99- Cool, more sweet people to compliment me based on little talent…anyway, it's true, Ron just doesn't fit with anyone else, eh? Oh, and you are welcome to e-mail me and tell me your guess and I'll tell you if you're close, kk?

Tuesday's Child- Aww, aren't we all smitten? Oh, I'm afraid I won't be able to tell you who he is writing to…in due time, if I'm still alive by then and have not strangled myself for not telling you guys.

Cristina- Woo-hoo!!!! You read my fic, you read my fic! :::dances around like insane person that she is::: did you read anything else? And Rupert does NOT look like a white gorilla :::growls:::

Margarita Mocha- thanx, I just really love having more people read my story. Like I said, I seriously thought I would either have one reader or everyone would hate my fic so…your "Liked it too much" can really inspire a person :::wink:::

Miss Zippitydodah- aww, thanks! I will read your stories! I got a look at their summaries and they look really good. I couldn't read them cuz I didn't have enough time but I will! And trust me, there's no better way to make my day than saying my story is awesome :::sniff::: makes me feel all warm and tingly inside!!

Ketchum- Glad to have you back!! Yes, I know, poor baby!! Nooo!!! I am so mean! And yes, Hermione just :::sniff::: aargh, I wish I could tell you guys, especially people like you who have been so loyal to my fic! And if you feel the need to murder me, help me plot a way to do so cuz I'm just so evil!!! Eek!!!

Hermione-G-Weasley- ooh, splendiferous, I like it!! Very nonsensy, lol! I love making up those funny nonsensy words. It's like I was gonna call my computer Willie (I know, I AM insane!!) but now I call it Evil Poo cuz Ron didn't do anything, I swear I screamed and shattered windows throughout the world when I read your last chapter!! Lordy, you had me hanging on your every word. Oh, and I forgot to mention this in the review. You made this mistake (no, I am not trying to point out your mistake, although it didn't matter anyway) and it said something like, "he bit down on her lower lip" when it was supposed to be "she bit down on her lower lip" and I just cracked up! Oops, hehe…anyway, thanks, you are so extremely sweet!! :::wink:::

Toodles, till next time!

R/Hr Fan