"Hermione's Arrival at the Burrow"

     It wasn't the most pleasant of trips, but it got you where you wanted to go fast!  All the zooming up, over, and every other direction and also the feeling that she was spinning very fast made Hermione very sick.  And then as quickly as she had left, she all of a sudden stopped.  Hermione was more than grateful for the ride to be over.  She heard some familiar voices as she opened her tightly closed eyes.  "Hermione, dear, what took you so long!" said Mrs. Weasley as she helped Hermione out of the fire place.  "We were beginning to worry!"  "I lost track of time.  Sorry," she said as she dusted herself off.  "Oh no trouble!  We just hoped that you hadn't gotten off at the wrong grate."  Mrs. Weasley spoke with her very warm smile that made Hermione feel comfortable no matter what.  Hermione coughed as she tried to dust all of the soot off of her clothing and then asked, "Um…Mrs. Weasley, could you?  I can't do magic you know.  It's against the rules."  Mrs. Weasley took out her wand, "Oh!  Of course dear."  She swished and flicked her wand, and Hermione became spotless of soot.  "Thank You!" she said gratefully.  "No problem.  The boys are outside.  Harry just arrived this morning."  Hermione let out a nervous sigh. "OK, try to act normal," she thought to herself while she said, "Ok Mrs. Weasley.  Thanks!"

     As she walked out into the Weasley's backyard, where Harry and Ron were turning denoming the yard into a Triwizard Tournament[1] event, she nervously patted her skirt and made sure her shirt was tucked properly.   Harry looked up from grabbing at gnome, which when he looked away bit him, when he noticed her.  "OUCH!  Hey, Hermione!"  He said excitedly.  Ron, had been quite involved with trying to sling the gnome far away, suddenly stopped what he was doing.  "Hi Hermione."  He gazed into her eyes with what one would consider deep adoration.  "Hello, Ron."  Hermione tried to calm herself; she didn't want to turn a violent shade of red in front of them.  Ron had already to go pink.  Their eyes lingered into each others for what seemed like forever.  Harry looked back and forth from the two for a second until he decided to break the silence. H  "So, how was your holiday?"  Hermione jerked her eyes away from Ron to Harry.  "OH!   It was great.  We went to Ireland.  There's so much history there!  I learned loads!"  She said this trying to sound as normal as she could.  Ron sighed, "Hermione, don't you ever do anything besides study?"

     Later that day, they had a wonderful dinner that left them feeling very satisfied and very sleepy.  Hermione was tired from her trip and decided she was going to turn in early.  She was walking down the hall to Ginny's room when she heard someone call out her name.  "Hey Hermione!  Wait up!"  It was Ron.  Her heart skipped a beat and fluttered as though a million butterflies were loose in her.  He presented her with an envelope that had her name written on it as neatly as Ron could.  She may have been mistaken, but the letter smelled as if he tried to make it smell nice.  It was a little overwhelming.  She looked at the letter and then at Ron.  "Read it after I leave, will you?"  She nodded.  With that he turned and went to his room without another word.  She walked into Ginny's room and plopped down on her bed they had there for her.  After a few minutes of staring at the letter, she opened it.  As she  read she let out a quiet gasp," Ron!"



[1] "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" JK Rowling The tournament where three representatives from different schools competed against each other.  It's meant to bring them together and make new alliances.