Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to Rowling. We are just primitive underlings who do this for fun.

Notes: Again we have to say that we are sorry for the delay. This time it's me(--Kaeera) to blame. Teachers were piling me with work, I had to study hard for some physics exam and I barely was at home on the weekends because of orchestra activities. Hope you won't kill me....o.o - Anyway, thanks to Emalia Jinx for her wonderful beta-work!!

Latrisha: *walks around with the hammer in her hands* "Where's Kaeera?*looks around* This girl....
Kaeera*hidden behind the curtains*: "Shhht!*to the readers* Don't tell her where I am! She wants to kill me because I took so long for this chapter!
Readers:*stand up and point to the curtain* "THERE! SHE'S THERE!"
Kaeera:*glares* "Thanks...."
Latrisha: *stomps on the ground*
Kaeera: "Uh-Oh...."
Latrisha: *throws hammer at Kaeera*
Kaeera: "WAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!"*THUMB*
Latrisha: *rubs hands and looks satisfied at the beaten form of Kaeera* "She deserved that!"
Kaeera:*mumbles from the ground* "As if your chapters came faster..."


Confusing Experiences and Hidden Feelings

by Kaeera Latrisha

Chapter 7: Let the music live!


Light snoring could be heard coming out of the boy's room. Ron was obviously having pleasant dreams, because he was lying in his bed and smiling contently. Harry, in the opposite bed, had his head flat on the pillow, one arm hanging over the bed. The position looked quite awkward, however, the boy managed to sleep soundly. But soon his dreams, as well as the dreams of Mr.Ronald Weasley, were disturbed by one of the most terrible events....the most disgusting sound ever, a sound which hurts every ear, pierces every soul and lets your heart bleed. The sound of pure evil, the sound of your worst enemy, the scream of terror, the wailing of the damned, the sound of....

BEEP-BEEP-BEEP. BEEP-BEEP-BEEP.

....an electric alarm clock.
Harry groaned, wanting to continue sleeping, but the evil sound didn't let him. Also, experience from living with the Dursleys had taught him that ignoring the alarm clock never did anything good, and so he yawned and rubbed his eyes. For the first moment, he didn't know where he was, but then he remembered it all...they were at Hermione's house, and today they had wanted to go shopping. This day: normal muggle shopping, tomorrow: magic shopping in the Diagon Alley. And the following day: returning to Hogwarts.

BEEP-BEEP-BEEP.

Uhm, where was this stupid alarm clock?

"Ron?", he addressed to his red-haired friend, while he got up. "Are you awake?"
His only response was a loud snore, and Harry felt a pang of jealousy. Why could he sleep and he not?

BEEP-BEEP-BEEP.

How could a normal human being sleep with this horrible sound in his ears? Harry searched for the evil clock, but couldn't find it. The sound was getting louder and louder. The boy frantically searched the blankets, the table, the floor....nothing. Where was this stupid thing??

BEEP-BEEP-BEEP.

...and another snore from Ron. ~Great.~, Harry thought gloomily. ~Just what I need in the morning. Concert à la Ron plus alarm clock. He continued the search in his pyjamas, but it was useless. Finally he tried to wake Ron. "Hey.", he shouted and shook his friend. "Wake up!"
Ron, however, turned around, mumbled something and continued sleeping, not bothering about the increasing sounds in the small room.

BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP....

"ARGH!!", Harry made and threw his hands in the air. "Okay. I will just leave.", he marched to the door, only stopped by a strange crunching sound...under his foot. He closed his eyes, let out a deep sigh and looked down on the ground.

BEeeppkrrss......krr....

"Of course.", he said defeated, sadly watching the rest of the alarm clock. Well, sad was the wrong word to use for it. Try 'relieved plus a feeling of evil joy'. He brushed the pieces away, threw a last glance at his (still snoring) friend and went to the bathroom. There he met Hermione, who was awake already and looked quite happy, unlike him.

"Morning Harry!", she greeted him cheerfully. "Where's Ron?"
Harry pointed with his finger to the closed door. Hermione sighed. "Oh. Still sleeping, huh?"
The boy nodded. "Uhm, can you wake him? I need to go to the bathroom first."

"Why's that?", Hermione wanted to know. Harry just pointed to his bare feet, where some pieces from the alarm clock were sticking out between his toes. "Oh.", she said understandingly and patted him on the shoulder. "I know how you feel. It will vanish as soon as you eat something.", she reassured him smiling, and Harry trotted to the bathroom, while Hermione prepared for her difficult task....waking Ron.

HERMIONE'S POV

I stepped carefully into the room. Ron's snoring could be heard three rooms away, and it reminded me somewhat of my father. All I could see was the red head sticking out of the blankets. I approached the bed and shook him gently. "Ron? You have to get up?"
He murmured something and turned around, smiling in his sleep. I couldn't help but smiling, too. He looked so innocent and....well, friendly. Sweet....
Then I remembered how angry Ron had become the last time they had woken him early...and gulped. Wasn't there an easier method?

Thoughtfully I sat down beside the boy, gnawing on my lower lip. I didn't want to start the day with a fight - which would most likely happen if I woke him. But I didn't want to be late either...because then we would have to hurry and there would be fights too.

And then....I don't know why it happened. Or how. Or why I did this. It was just....reflexes, or something like that....some part of my heart which wasn't under the strict control of my brain. It just overtook my consciousness, and before I knew what I was doing, I leaned over him, bringing my head close to his. I hesitated for a short moment, seeing his face so near mine, and then I quickly....kissed him.

It was a prickling feeling on my lips; I enjoyed it for maybe a second or so, then my brain started working again and I jerked up, shocked by what I had done.
If he noticed this, he would kill me. Certainly!

But the only thing my hot-tempered friend did was smile happily. He moved around, blinked a few times and - finally - woke up.

This gave me enough time to pull myself together. "It's about time.", I said, crossing my arms and hoping that I looked strict enough.
Ron let out a huge yawn. "Stop it, Hermione.", he said grumpily. "I'm not in the mood for this, this early in the morning.", his face lit up. "Although I had a very nice dream..."

Before I could blush again, I quickly stood up and left the room. "Hurry up. We want to eat breakfast.", I shouted back over my shoulder and went to the kitchen where Harry was already inspecting the fridge.

"Just a quick breakfast today.", I told him. "We can eat something proper in the city. Some toast and marmalade, would that be okay?"
He grinned. "Of course. Did you manage to wake Ron?"

"Uhm, yeah...", I blushed again and cursed inwardly.

Harry stared curiously at me, an all-too-knowing look in his eyes. "What!", I hissed and looked away.

"Let's eat. I'm hungry!"
We sat down at the table, Ron joined us a few minutes later.

"I'm hungry!", he announced and grabbed some toast. "I could eat an elephant.", he stared down at the marmalade. "This isn't healthy stuff without sugar, is it?"

He tasted it and frowned. "Hey, wow, it's not that bad! Could be a little bit sweeter, but well...have to live with that." He put a huge amount of the red stuff on his toast and started eating.

With a full mouth, Harry said: "Ya know, if we were in Hogwarts, we would have all kinds of delicious food on the table." , then, continuing his trail of thought, he added: "Although, if I was at the Dursley's right now, I wouldn't even get marmalade."

Nibbling my toast, I listened to the conversation, letting my thoughts wander around. Hogwarts....soon we would return to our school. I was curious about what would happen to us the next year. There was always something....special. Maybe it was because of Harry; the boy seemed to have a special sense for danger.

Or maybe it was just destiny. The only important thing was that Ron and I always got involved in some sort of fight. And I had to admit...I kinda liked it. Of course, in the middle of the danger I just wished that everything would end, but after it....I felt proud.

Then I was looking forward to all the new things I would learn. I like learning. There are so many interesting...things! Being raised in the muggle world, the THOUGHT alone of being able to fly on a broomstick had been totally weird to me. And now I had a friend who was Seeker on the Gryffindor team, another friend who was a full-blooded wizard, and well, a school full of magic. It was no surprise that I liked it, right? I mean...come one, what muggle wouldn't like to be able to do magic??

"HERMIONE!", Ron shouted and waved at me. "Hullo? Someone at home? I called you, like, three times!", he snorted. "Day-dreaming?"

"Uhm...sorry.", I coughed. "What did you say?"
He sighed and rolled his eyes. "I wanted to know what exactly we are doing today. Just shopping...or do you have any surprisesin forms of museums?"

"Just shopping. You can buy muggle items, if you want.", I suggested.

"No way.", Ron pulled a face. "I don't want ANY muggle things."

"Well...", I smiled mischievously. "But there's a shop which sells football clothing...ya know, scarves of your fave teams and so on."

"Really?", he gulped, while Harry and I were suppressing our laughter.

"Hmm...I will think about that.", he said slowly and grinned. "Are you ready? Then we should go!"

*******************

And so the trio found themselves again in the city. For once, it was a pleasant trip. Hermione didn't really care in which shops they went, because she knew them all. Harry and Ron were always of the same opinion, since Ron really had no idea what they could find in the shops. They spent most of the morning buying various things, chatting nicely about everything and nothing and enjoying their freedom.

However, after a few hours Ron stopped and looked into the window of shop in which they hadn't been yet. "What's that?", he asked curiously, pointing at some metal objects which could be seen in the shop.

"That?", Hermione walked closer. "That's a music shop. You can buy instruments there!"

"Wow, cool!", Ron was flabbergasted. "They look....interesting.", he stared at the golden or wooden instruments. "What's that?", he pointed to a small, silvery one. "It kinda reminds me of a flute..."

"It is a flute.", she explained.

Ron looked at Harry. "But the muggles can't use magic! How can they play it?"
Harry scratched his head. "Well, you blow into it. I think."

"Blow?", the red-haired wizard wrinkled his face in confusion and thought for a moment. Then he grinned. "I want to try that!", he announced, and before anyone could stop him, he walked into the shop. "Well...", Harry said slowly. "This could be interesting."

They both followed their friend at a safe distance; short enough that they could see everything, but yet long enough that nobody did think of them as his friends.

Harry walked slowly through the shops. He had to admit, it was an impressive view. Music had never been a great topic at the Dursley's, and magical music was totally different. This was a completely strange world; a world of people who could read notes and play a melody by blowing into an instrument. He touched a guitar, tracing over the polished wood and playing with the thought of trying to get a sound out of it.

"So you just have to blow into it?"

"Ron...."

"Hey, this can't be very difficult!"

"Ron!"

"Ha, I will just try it!

"RON!"

Hearing the agitated discussion between his two friends, Harry turned around - only to see Ron with a trombone in his hands, preparing to blow into the huge instrument.

He put the guitar down, let out a frustrated sigh and covered his ears. Nevertheless he could hear the disgusting sounds his friend produced with the trombone - resembling more the cry of a love-sick elephant than any kind of music. Harry winced and tried to shuffle away as innocently as possible. A man of the shop was already rushing towards them, looking like mother of the lovesick elephant.

"What are you doing!", he hollered.

"I'm blowing.", Ron answered proudly, while Hermione had to bite on her lips so that she wouldn't laugh....Harry blinked a few times when he realized this. Normally their female friend was angry when Ron pulled stunt like that, but now....she seemed to be amused.

"You....", the shopkeeper said, searching for words. "We are a serious business. Clowns like you stay outside!", he then shouted and shoved them towards the exit.

~So far for our trip in the musical world.~, Harry mused and followed them, flashing an innocent smile to the fuming man. ~At least my life never gets boring.~

"I KNEW that muggles can't make music like that!", Ron said triumphantly. "It's just impossible....blowing, ha!", he snorted.
Hermione groaned. "Ron, it's not just blowing! You need to move your lips or so....it takes time to learn that!"

"Pah!", the young wizard waved off, which caused the girl to roll her eyes. Harry just chuckled. They walked through the street, which was full of young people at her age. Harry closed his eyes for a brief moment and enjoyed the sunshine. It was nice, being able to walk around with no danger lurking around somewhere, or without a bunch of people who knew him just because he was Harry Potter.

Hermione smiled a bit. She liked the day. Normally she wasn't so fond of shopping, but being together with her two friends made everything interesting....even fast food at the McDonald's. An amused expression flew over her face when she remembered what had just happened in the music shop. It had been too funny to be angry, she had to admit. The sight of Ronald Weasley with a trombone in his hands and a concentrated look on his face was....hillarious.

Now this Ronald Weasley had found something new which had caught his attention. Pressing his nose on the window, he looked into a large hall.

"Hermione, what's that?", he wanted to know, staring at the people in the hall. They were looking at many screens, like the TV-thing back at Hermione's house. But they didn't stand completely still, they were moving their hands very fast. He blinked a few times, until he realized that there were little buttons and joysticks. He scratched his head. What was this odd muggle thing?

"Hey, a game center!", Harry announced and pressed his nose against the window next to Ron.

"Wow! Cool!"

"Game Center?"

"There you can play games. Uhm, I have never been in one, but it sounds funny....can we try it out?", he looked pleadingly at Hermione, who sweatdropped. "Uhm, is this permitted for people under 18??"

Harry thought for a moment. "I guess we just have to try....", he grinned and marched into the hall.

"Come on, Herm.", Ron laughed and shoved the girl through the door. "It'll be fun....I think."

The hall itself was filled by many beeping sounds, which reminded Harry painfully of his alarm clock. Curiously he stared at all the people who were standing or sitting in front of screens, playing interesting looking games. He noticed that Hermione and Ron were walking in another direction, but he figured that they really wouldn't get lost in the relatively small hall, so he stayed where he were.

"OUCH!", someone had walked right into him. "Hey! Watch your way!", the person said angrily, and Harry blinked. He knew this voice, didn't he? Short, curly black hair....clothes which seemed to be too big for the small girl and...

"Nat?", Harry groaned unbelieving.

"Oh. The idiot from yesterday.", she said flatly and sighed. "Why do I always stumble over the stupid ones?"

"Hey, watch your mouth!", Harry replied angrily. "You insulted me first! If you are in a bad mood, find someone else to insult!!", he swirled around and stormed away. He was fuming....why was this girl always annoying him like that?
I'll just be glad when I am back at Hogwarts, he thought. Then I don't have to see her again!


RON'S POV

"Hermione! Look!", I said excitedly and pointed to a strange machine on the other side of the room.

"This looks like a part of a car....the funny circle your father held in his hands, and the seat."

"You mean a steering wheel?"

"Whatever. Come on, let's take a look at it!", I grabbed her hand and walked over to the game machine. There, realizing what I had done, I quickly let go of her hand, trying to pretend that nothing had happened. "Uhm....that's a game?", I asked, more as a distraction than out of real interest.

"Yeah.", Hermione looked at the screen. "It looks pretty simple - it's a driving simulator. You sit in a virtual car and you have to steer it with the wheel. Then you can race against each other."

"Wait a moment.", I interrupted her. "Race? Does that mean that I can drive a race against you?"
She nodded hesitantly, and I beamed. "Great! Herm, let's race against each other!!", I climbed into the seat and grabbed the wheel, waiting for her.

"I don't know...I've never played it before...", she said, looking uncertain. I rolled my eyes. "Do you think I have? Duh." Just sit down and play." I examined the machine. "is there a special button I should push so that it will start?"

"You have to pay.", Hermione informed me and took a seat. "Wait a moment.", she took out her purse and threw a few coins into the slot. Immediately the screen changed and I grabbed excitedly for the wheel. This was fun!

On the first screen, we chose our cars. I took the large silvery one, while Hermione was happy with a smaller red version. Then we were standing at the starting line....or better, our cars were standing. I impatiently waited for the GO, and when it finally came....nothing happened.
I stared at the screen. Hermione's car had started without problems, but mine was still standing there.

"You have to put your foot on the pedal, Ron!", Hermione informed me.

"A pedal?", I looked down on the ground, and really, there was a small black one. Quickly I stepped on it, and WRUUMMM! my car started and raced off the road....into some trees.

"Waaaaahhhh!", I yelled and tried to steer out of it, but it was more difficult than I expected. The car moved everywhere but the expected direction....

"Noooo!", I wailed, finally bringing it on the street again. I drove with the highest speed, suddenly finding a new pleasure in ramming the other cars and throwing them down the street where they exploded. "Wow!", I smiled, and looked over to Hermione who had a deep look of concentration on her face. Her car was far away from mine, and although I was speeding like mad, I had no chance to reach her in time.

Hermione won the first race and smiled triumphantly, a mischievous glint in her eyes. I had to admit, this side of Hermione was rather interesting; seeing her putting so much concentration into a pure game was totally new to me. But...I liked it.

"Ready for a revenge?", I grinned, and she nodded.
We chose our cars and started the race again. Really, some of the muggle things weren't that bad.

To be continued....

Some answers to you reviewers.... - American word is fries, British chips, huh? Well, people, we learn British English in school, so...hehe, we can just call it pommes frites which is the German name(and the French one).

Adnap Nottap - Yes, Nat is back! Huhu...we have some plans for her, but not in this story. Remember, it's a Ron/Hermione....however, knowing us, everything might be possible...

Caylen Rider - uhm, see answer one :P So you liked Nat? She's funny, huh? Skater girl...

Mizzy-Izumi - Oh, the age....of course we know that dinosaurs died 65 millions of years ago*sheepish smile* I think we just oversaw it in the rush of writing....Thanks for telling us, however!

Angelic Fairy - Yes, Ron is kinda sweet like that! *Latrisha hugs her Ron clone* "Awwww...."

Emalia Jinx - Well, we know already that you liked the alarm clock. Again, thank you VERY VERY much for correcting the mistakes!!!! :)

Uhm, and to your questions how Hermione knocked the dinosaur down...we might answer this later in a flashback :P You will see!! Thanks for the reviews! You are so great! *wave*

Latrisha: "Oh NO! My turn again...Writer's Block!!"*sobs*
Kaeera: *laughs evilly* "MWAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Latrisha: *glares and shows her hammer*
Kaeera: "Wait! I have a guardian!" *pulls out her Legolas clone*