Thanks so much for all the wonderful reviews from the last chapter! You
guys are the best!!!!
Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling (though I did get a personal letter from her ) I don't own any of these characters.
Oh! And just for the record- I have no clue how long it would really take to get to the coast from the Burrow, so I just made up my own time. And also, I hope I didn't Americanize the convenient store too much... Please let me know if I did!
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Two weeks had passed quickly, and before anyone even knew it, it was time to head for the coast. Early Saturday morning, Harry, Hermione, and the six Weasleys living at the Burrow that summer all piled into the same car that Ron, Ginny, and Mr. Weasley had picked Harry up in from the Dursleys. It was small from the outside, but, unbeknownst to Mrs. Weasley, it had been bewitched to seat all eight people comfortably. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley sat in the front seat by themselves while all six teenagers piled into the backseat which was now the size of two couches. Fred sat by the left window with Ginny seated between himself and George. Hermione sat beside George with Ron to her right and Harry to his right beside the window.
The ride was relatively uneventful considering the fact that it was a five hour trip spent in rather close proximity with not only the twins but the youngest Weasley as well plotting quietly in the backseat. Harry kept watching them, sure that they were going to spring any of their random pranks on him at any given moment. Hermione, who was sitting right beside George was also obviously fearful of the same sort of event. She kept glancing over at the twins and Ginny nervously and scooting further away from them and closer to Ron in a most inconspicuous way. Ron also appeared to be growing more nervous as Hermione moved nearer and nearer to him; he kept glancing over at her quickly and then looking away pretending he hadn't looked in the first place. Harry was watching all of this out of the corner of his eye, and when Hermione moved so close that her right leg was actually halfway on top of Ron's left, Ron started a loud coughing fit that caused everyone in the car to turn and stare at him.
"Sorry," he muttered. "Dust."
George snickered loudly as he spied exactly what had caused his younger brother to erupt into loud coughs, and he nudged Ginny and nodded his head in Hermione's direction.
"Are you alright, Ron?" Mrs. Weasley turned around and asked in a concerned voice, "Do you need to stop for some air?"
Ron nodded hurriedly. "Yeah, please." His face was extremely red, and Harry struggled with himself not to laugh. The twins and Ginny, however, were guffawing loudly. Hermione was clueless and placed her hand on Ron's arm, concerned.
"Ron, are you okay?" She looked at him curiously.
Ron turned an even deeper shade of scarlet and nodded once again. "Yeah, I just need some air."
His father pulled the car off of the road and into a gas station, and Ron reached over Harry to open the door. Harry, anticipating that Ron was going to climb over him in such a hurry to remove himself from the car, hurried outside with Ron close behind him.
"Are you okay?" Harry asked with raised eyebrows.
Ron nodded quickly, "Yeah. Fine." Then he hurried away to the convenience store that stood behind them. Harry watched him with an amused look on his own face. He did hope, however, that Ginny and the twins would keep quiet around Hermione.
No such luck.
Hermione climbed out of the car, and the other Weasley children opened the door on the other side and exited the car as well. "I hope he's alright," said Hermione as she watched Ron hurry away. Fred, George, and Ginny came around the car, all grinning broadly.
"I'm sure he's fine," said George with a huge smile.
"Yeah, Hermione," Ginny raised an eyebrow at the other girl, "why don't you go make sure he's okay?"
At this, both of the twins started laughing loudly, and Hermione turned her own shade of pink. "What is that supposed to mean?"
Harry, knowing exactly where this conversation was going to lead, quickly grabbed Hermione's arm and pulled her in the direction away from the car. "C'mon, Hermione. Let's go get something to drink."
Hermione followed him with a backwards glance at Ginny and the twins. "What was that about?" she asked once they were out of earshot.
Harry shrugged hurriedly. "Uh, I don't know."
Hermione stared at him confused for a moment before following him into the store. Ron was standing near a display of crisps, and he looked up when they entered. He gave them a half-smile as they walked over to join him.
"Feeling better, Ron?" Hermione asked.
He nodded. "Yeah, it was just getting kind of crowded in there, you know?"
Harry nodded, wanting to save his friend from further embarrassment. "Yeah, it was a bit, wasn't it?"
Ron looked at Harry with what appeared to be gratefulness covering his face. "Yeah."
"So, did you want something to drink?" Harry quickly changed the subject.
Hermione obviously accepted all of this and nodded as she headed for the coolers at the back of the store. "Sure. It's really hot out there."
She slid the door open and grabbed a bottle of water. "What are you guys getting?"
Ron stared at the vast selection of drinks in awe. "Which one are you supposed to pick?" he asked. As a pureblooded wizard, Ron wasn't used to such things as convenience stores, so he was more than a bit confused by it all.
Harry reached into the cooler and pulled out a can of Dr. Pepper. "Here, you'll like this," he said as he handed the can to his best friend. "It has loads of sugar."
Ron smiled as he studied the can. "Really? Is it good?"
Harry nodded, "Yeah, it's great. Isn't it Hermione?"
Hermione, though, just raised her eyebrows at him. "Do you think my parents let me drink soda? That stuff rots your teeth out."
Ron rolled his eyes. "In that case, I'll take it."
Harry laughed as Hermione shot Ron a disapproving look. He reached back in and pulled out his own can of Dr. Pepper, and together, the three friends walked to the counter to check out.
"I don't have any Muggle money," Ron whispered as they stood in line behind a rather large man.
"I've got it," said Harry shrugging as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. When the large man was done at the counter, Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat their drinks on the counter, and Harry paid the lady behind the counter. And with that, they headed back out to the car.
The twins were sitting on the back hood of the car while Ginny was leaning through the window, talking to her parents. Everyone looked up as Harry, Ron, and Hermione returned from the store, and they all repositioned themselves in the car getting ready to leave again.
Once they were back on the road, Ginny leaned across George and Hermione to poke Ron in the leg. "What're you drinking?" she asked curiously.
Ron, who was enjoying the sugary soft drink immensely, smiled. "It's called soda, and it rots your teeth out."
Ginny looked interested. "Can I have a taste?"
Ron just laughed at his little sister. "Are you crazy? I'm going to drink all of it."
Ginny opened her mouth to say something snide, and Harry was willing to bet it was something that would embarrass Ron, so he quickly shoved his can into her hand. "You can have some of mine."
Ginny grinned at Harry. "Thanks." And with that, she took a long drink of the soda. "Wow!" she exclaimed. "Mum, why don't we ever have this stuff?"
Mrs. Weasley turned around. "What is it, Dear?"
Ginny handed the can to her mother who studied it before taking a drink. She obviously liked it as well, and she handed it to Mr. Weasley who also inspected it and tasted it. Before long, all the Weasleys were passing the can between themselves, and Harry just watched them in amusement. Ron finished his own can and placed it in the floorboard under his feet before yawning. Harry watched as Ron closed his eyes, and then he looked past him at Hermione who was already fast asleep, the bottle of water clutched in her hand. Harry closed his own eyes, and before long, he had drifted into a light sleep.
An hour later, Harry awoke suddenly. He glanced around him and noticed that besides Mr. Weasley, who was driving the car, he was the only one awake. Mrs. Weasley had her head slumped against the glass in front of him, and to his left, he saw Fred leaning against the glass beside his own head with Ginny laying her head in his lap, and George with his head straight back against the seat. He then noticed his best friends beside him and said silent thanks that the twins and Ginny were asleep and couldn't see what he was seeing. Hermione had turned her body nearly completely to the right and was snuggled against Ron as though she were freezing. Her left arm was draped across his chest, and she had her head tucked underneath his chin. Ron's own head was resting atop hers, and he had one hand on the arm she had draped across him. They might have looked rather sweet to some people, but the sight of them like that was rather sickening to Harry. Ron and Hermione weren't supposed to be snuggled up to anyone like that- least of all to each other. He could just imagine Ron's mortification if everyone in the car was to wake up and find him in that position with Hermione, and he wanted to save his friend from this embarrassment. So, after closing his eyes and pretending to be asleep, Harry nudged Ron as hard as he could in the ribs. He felt his best friend jerk awake suddenly, but Harry still pretended to be asleep; he did watch, however, through very tiny slits in his eyes as Ron noticed the girl curled against him and hastily moved so that Hermione fell rather roughly against George, knocking the both of them awake. With all the movement, Fred and Ginny also pulled from their slumber slowly, so Harry decided it would be best if he, too, decided to "wake."
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Not too long afterwards, Mr. Weasley pulled the car into the drive of a rather large house that was sitting up the bank from the Atlantic Ocean. A man in Squib Relations obviously owed him a favor and was allowing them the use of the house for the week. It was a magnificent house, and it was to no one's surprise that all six children pushed their ways out of the car hurriedly, grabbed their suitcases, and rushed up to the house. Fred got to the door first, and he pushed it open. He stopped and stared around in awe, yelling to the others to come look. Ginny was right behind him, and she, too, stopped and looked around in amazement. George raced in behind them, but he hurried up the stairs without waiting to look around on the lower level. Ron, Harry, and Hermione bustled in right behind the others, and all three of them stopped to gaze around in awe. Ginny grabbed Hermione's hand suddenly, though, and started tugging her up the stairs.
"Let's go find a room!"
Ron watched his younger sister hurry up the stairs, and he turned to Harry quickly. "C'mon, Harry!"
Together they raced up the magnificent staircase, dragging their suitcases behind them, and down a long hall to a room at the very end. They rushed inside and both stopped in shock. It was double the size of either of their own rooms at their homes; it was quite nearly as large as the dormitory they shared with each other and three of their classmates at school. It held two king sized beds and a huge wardrobe. There was a large desk upon which a nice sized television sat, and on the wall opposite the entrance door stood a double set of French doors which opened onto a beautiful balcony. They could see the beach through the glass doors.
"Wow!" breathed Ron as he inspected the room. "Let's claim this one!"
Harry nodded, and they threw their bags onto the beds before hurrying to the balcony and throwing the doors open. They were immediately met with the sounds of the waves washing upon the shores loudly. Ron smiled, and Harry marveled in awe.
"I've never been to the coast," he told Ron as he leaned over the railing for a better look. "The Dursleys never took me on their vacations."
"Really?" Ron leaned over as well. "I've been twice. Once when I was only four and then once when I was eleven; it was the summer before I started at Hogwarts. But I haven't been since."
Before they could talk anymore, though, they were met with loud shrieking sounds coming from down the hall. They looked at each other questioningly before immediately going to see what all the commotion was about. The noises took them to the room right next to theirs. Inside they found Ginny and Hermione jumping excitedly on top of one of the two beds in a room nearly identical to their own. They were hitting each other with pillows they had snagged from the beds and were shrieking giddily as they dodged each other. Ginny, perhaps, wasn't so much out of character, but Hermione was acting much more like a giggly schoolgirl and much less like the mature one of the bunch.
"Look at this room!" Ginny nearly yelped. "Isn't it gorgeous?!"
Ron and Harry watched the girls in silent confusion for a moment before Ron finally said, "What the hell are you doing?"
"Ron, don't swear," Hermione playfully scolded before hitting him upside the head with her pillow.
He just looked up at her, a dazed look of puzzlement on his face. She grinned down at him, and Ginny laughed loudly before leaping off of the bed and knocking her brother to a heap on the ground where she proceeded to beat him with her pillow. Ron yelled loudly as Hermione, too, hopped off the bed and joined the attack. Harry just stood by laughing.
At that moment, two more faces appeared in the room- two identical faces. Fred and George watched for only a moment before grabbing pillows and joining the attack as well. Fred was the first to notice Harry standing by not moving, though, and he quickly pointed this out to the others.
"I don't think Potter should just stand there laughing, do you guys?"
His twin stood up and grabbed Harry before shoving him to the ground. "Definitely not."
Harry yelled out for Ron's help as both twins started to hit him, but, with Ginny now tickling him and Hermione sitting on top of his stomach beating him over the head with a pillow, Ron seemed a bit indisposed.
"Oi, Gin!" Fred yelled to his little sister, "Bring the tickling over here!"
"No!" Harry protested, but before he could make any counter-movement, Ginny had raced over and was tickling him mercilessly. Harry yelled in between fits of laughter as the twins continued to beat at him with their pillows.
With all three of the other Weasleys attacking Harry, this left Ron being tortured by only one Miss Hermione Granger. She was now straddling his stomach and was laughing loudly as she hit Ron continuously with the fluffy pillow. Ron, though, was much stronger than Hermione who was rather small, and with only her to fight, he could very much defend himself. Just as she raised her arms to deliver yet another blow to him, Ron reached up and grabbed her arms, tickling her in the process. Hermione let out a huge shriek before she launched her own counterattack and started tickling Ron as well, forgetting all about the pillow she had dropped. They yelled and laughed as they tortured each other, and soon they were oblivious to the rest of the room.
The rest of the room was not, however, oblivious to them. Harry noticed Fred stop beating him first, and he saw him nudge his twin quickly, nodding his head in the opposite direction. George, Ginny, and Harry all looked over at the youngest Weasley brother and the Muggle-born girl who was still straddling his stomach. The pair didn't seem to notice that all the commotion from across the room had ceased because they were still engaged in an all out tickling war against each other, shrieking and laughing giddily. Harry eyed the three Weasleys around him and immediately knew that his best friends were about to be subjected to the worst type of teasing. So, taking his attackers' break in concentration, he shoved them away and stood up, saying loudly, "Hey, Ron, Hermione! I need to talk to you guys for a second!"
Ron and Hermione both stopped their playing and looked up automatically. It was obvious that they were both aware that their current position was more than a bit compromising because they each blushed about three shades pinker than normal. Hermione quickly stood up and helped Ron to his feet, and then, without so much as a glance at Ron's siblings, they followed Harry out of the room and into the room next door that Harry and Ron were sharing.
"What's up?" Ron asked once they were all in the privacy of the other room.
Harry suddenly realized that he had nothing whatsoever to say to his best friends, so he stuttered a bit and said, "Well... ah... You know, I forgot what I had to say."
Hermione and Ron both looked at him strangely, and they looked at each other just as weirdly, as though they were having a silent conversation concerning Harry's sudden abnormality. Harry had to admit that he didn't enjoy the fact that his two closest friends were suddenly capable of having silent conversations with each other, so he quickly changed the subject.
"Hey! Let's go swimming!" he suggested brightly. Ron's face lit up at the proposal, but Hermione shook her head disapprovingly.
"Harry, we just got here, and we haven't eaten all day. It would probably be a good idea to have lunch first," she said sensibly.
"Don't be stupid, Hermione," Ron said with a roll of the eyes. "Swim first, eat later- that's the way you do it. You swim and work up an appetite, and anyway, if we eat now, Mum will make us wait hours before we go swimming so our food can digest properly. And it'll be too late by then."
Hermione responded with her own roll of the eyes. "Whatever, Ron. Fine."
Harry was surprised to see that a fight hadn't brewed between the two of them because it was not very often that either of his best friends simply gave into the other. He shrugged it off, though, as Hermione exited the room to change into her swimming apparel. He saw Ron open his suitcase and start throwing clothes on the floor in an attempt to find his own swim clothes, so Harry followed suit and searched through his own suitcase.
Minutes after they'd changed into their swimming trunks, a knock was heard at the door. Assuming that it was Hermione, Harry yelled a quick "Come in" without looking up.
"Hermione told me you're going swimming, so I'm going, too," a very pointed and unquestioning voice informed them from the doorway. Harry looked up to see Ginny Weasley standing with her hands on her hips and her hair pulled into a high ponytail; she was dressed in a pale blue bathing suit that consisted of a halter style top that bared most of her stomach until a tiny pair of matching shorts began underneath her bellybutton.
Harry was, for some reason, suddenly very glad that all the Weasley children basically had good Muggle fashion sense. He didn't know why this thought had crept into his head, though, so he promptly stored it away somewhere in the back of his brain.
"Who said you could come?" Ron asked, his eyes connecting dangerously with those of his little sister.
Ginny stepped further into the room until she was directly in front of Ron. She was shorter than him, of course, but she was still rather tall for a girl, and the top of her head reached the bottom of his chin easily. She looked up at her brother and glared daringly at him, her hands still planted on her hips. "Who said you could stop me?"
Harry couldn't pretend that he wasn't a bit amused by the Weasley versus Weasley sibling rivalry that had recently seemed to transpire between Ron and Ginny. Up until now, he'd seen Ginny as a rather quiet, shy little girl. She suddenly seemed to be losing the quiet trait and growing into a fiery sort of girl who was holding her own extremely easily against her older brother. He knew Ron better than he knew anyone else in the world, though, and he was quite sure Ron was not going to allow himself to be bullied by his little sister.
"Ginny, you are such a brat." Ron's comeback was more than a bit childish, and Harry couldn't suppress the giggle that escaped from his lips. This snicker, of course, earned a rather nasty glare from his best friend and a matching giggle from his best friend's only younger sibling.
"What the hell is so funny?" Ron demanded furiously.
"What's so funny, dear brother," both of the twins entered the room dressed in their own swimming attire, "is the fact that you and our darling Virginia have yet to mature into your ages." Fred said all of this in a rather uncanny impression of Percy.
Ginny rolled her eyes as she turned to the twins. In a voice equally as haughty, she said, "I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to be offered lessons on maturity from the most grown-up seventeen year olds I know." When she had finished with her sarcasm, she offered them an extremely fake smile, "Oh, and by the way, don't call me Virginia. It makes you sound like Mum."
"Virginia, dear," said Fred, completely ignoring her. "Might I inquire about your choice of clothing?"
Ginny glared at her brother as though condemning him for being stupid. "It is called a swimsuit, Frederick."
George laughed. "How sad I am that I have no name to be tortured by... William, Charles, Percivial, Frederick, Ronald, Virginia..." He gave a sad sort of smile. "How did I manage to be the only one out of seven stuck with a name incapable of being cut into a nickname?"
"I wouldn't worry about it, Georgina," Fred said grinning. He then turned to the youngest Weasley. "Anyway, you call that a swimsuit?"
Ginny glared once more at him. "Well, I can't bloody well run around in a pair of swimming trunks like you lot, now can I?"
"It isn't as if we all haven't seen you naked before, sister dear," George said with a smirk.
"Ah," added Fred slyly to his twin, "not everyone in this room has lived with her for fourteen years, though..." He gave a very obvious glance in Harry's direction.
This conversation caused both Harry and Ginny to turn very deep shades of crimson. And it caused Ron to turn a rather pale shade of green.
"Just shut up," Ron said quickly, a very obvious tone of warning in his voice. The twins snickered at everyone else's uncomfortable states, and surprisingly, Ron prevented himself from throwing punches at their identical noses. Instead, he just said, "Where's Hermione?"
Ginny, obviously glad to have the room's attention taken away from her, answered him, red still burning into her cheeks. "She said that her suit was being a bit disagreeable. I offered to help, but she said she'd take care of it."
"Perhaps she said this because you are not the Weasley she wanted help from," offered George with a smirk.
Ginny and Fred both grinned mischievously in Ron's direction. "What do you say, Ron?" Fred teased, "Why don't you go help the lovely Miss Granger fix her suit properly?"
Ron's greenish shade quickly changed into one of a red darker than his hair. He looked down at the ground for a second, and Harry was very aware that Ron's embarrassment was probably tripled with the presence of his best friend in the room. Harry almost excused himself quietly, but he got sidetracked when he wondered how long the other three school-age Weasleys has been ganging up on Ron and teasing him. He felt bad for Ron, but he wasn't going to pretend as though he hadn't noticed Ron's behavior and attitude concerning all things Hermione had changed greatly in the past year.
And he wasn't going to pretend that he liked it, either.
Ron had never told him that he had any sort of feelings for Hermione that didn't concern friendship, and he wasn't about to go making his own assumptions and jumping to conclusions. Mainly because he didn't want to think that Ron might... well... like Hermione- as more than a friend. That was simply too weird of a thought to think. The thought of Ron and Hermione as more than friends was... well, it was just kind of gross. And if they by some off-chance did like each other, where would that leave Harry?
Alone? Abandoned by his best friends? The third wheel?
And, oh no, he was not going to play the go-between for them anymore than he already did. He'd spent five years forcing them to talk to each other at least once a week after they'd get into a huge row and start punishing each other with the silent treatment. He hated to think of what they would be like if they were dating. No, he was definitely not going to play the middle-man in that production. No way at all.
He did feel awful for Ron, though. It must have been terribly embarrassing to have everyone teasing him like that. Ron had now turned his glare away from the floor and back to his siblings.
"You can all shove off. C'mon, Harry." He motioned for Harry to follow him out of the room, and Harry went with a quick glance at three smirking redheads.
Just as they turned the corner of the doorway, though, the door next to them opened and Hermione popped out.
Bloody hell. She just had to be wearing a suit nearly identical to Ginny's except in crimson red, now didn't she? This was just all Harry needed at the moment- him with fleeting appreciation of the Weasley children's love for Muggle style and Ron with what was quite obvious rooted appreciation at a certain brown-haired bookworm's taste in clothing as well. Hermione stared at them with shy eyes for a second; she was clutching at the back of her neck, obviously holding the suit up by hand and not by the strings.
"I can't get it tied," she told them shyly. She turned around to where her back faced them, and with one hand held the strings together and with the other lifted her long hair away from her neck. "Could you help me?"
Harry chanced a glance at Ron who was staring at the back of Hermione as though she were a giant tarantula- he looked positively terrified of her. Harry rolled his eyes and quickly moved to take the strings from Hermione's hands. "Here, I'll do it," he said as he rapidly tied the back of her suit together.
When he was finished, Hermione turned back around and beamed at him. "Thanks, Harry."
Harry shrugged a response and started toward the staircase, leaving one very flabbergasted best friend and one very confused best friend behind him.
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So? What do you guys think? I hope you enjoyed it! If you did (or if you didn't even), click the little blue box and reply, please! :)
Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling (though I did get a personal letter from her ) I don't own any of these characters.
Oh! And just for the record- I have no clue how long it would really take to get to the coast from the Burrow, so I just made up my own time. And also, I hope I didn't Americanize the convenient store too much... Please let me know if I did!
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Two weeks had passed quickly, and before anyone even knew it, it was time to head for the coast. Early Saturday morning, Harry, Hermione, and the six Weasleys living at the Burrow that summer all piled into the same car that Ron, Ginny, and Mr. Weasley had picked Harry up in from the Dursleys. It was small from the outside, but, unbeknownst to Mrs. Weasley, it had been bewitched to seat all eight people comfortably. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley sat in the front seat by themselves while all six teenagers piled into the backseat which was now the size of two couches. Fred sat by the left window with Ginny seated between himself and George. Hermione sat beside George with Ron to her right and Harry to his right beside the window.
The ride was relatively uneventful considering the fact that it was a five hour trip spent in rather close proximity with not only the twins but the youngest Weasley as well plotting quietly in the backseat. Harry kept watching them, sure that they were going to spring any of their random pranks on him at any given moment. Hermione, who was sitting right beside George was also obviously fearful of the same sort of event. She kept glancing over at the twins and Ginny nervously and scooting further away from them and closer to Ron in a most inconspicuous way. Ron also appeared to be growing more nervous as Hermione moved nearer and nearer to him; he kept glancing over at her quickly and then looking away pretending he hadn't looked in the first place. Harry was watching all of this out of the corner of his eye, and when Hermione moved so close that her right leg was actually halfway on top of Ron's left, Ron started a loud coughing fit that caused everyone in the car to turn and stare at him.
"Sorry," he muttered. "Dust."
George snickered loudly as he spied exactly what had caused his younger brother to erupt into loud coughs, and he nudged Ginny and nodded his head in Hermione's direction.
"Are you alright, Ron?" Mrs. Weasley turned around and asked in a concerned voice, "Do you need to stop for some air?"
Ron nodded hurriedly. "Yeah, please." His face was extremely red, and Harry struggled with himself not to laugh. The twins and Ginny, however, were guffawing loudly. Hermione was clueless and placed her hand on Ron's arm, concerned.
"Ron, are you okay?" She looked at him curiously.
Ron turned an even deeper shade of scarlet and nodded once again. "Yeah, I just need some air."
His father pulled the car off of the road and into a gas station, and Ron reached over Harry to open the door. Harry, anticipating that Ron was going to climb over him in such a hurry to remove himself from the car, hurried outside with Ron close behind him.
"Are you okay?" Harry asked with raised eyebrows.
Ron nodded quickly, "Yeah. Fine." Then he hurried away to the convenience store that stood behind them. Harry watched him with an amused look on his own face. He did hope, however, that Ginny and the twins would keep quiet around Hermione.
No such luck.
Hermione climbed out of the car, and the other Weasley children opened the door on the other side and exited the car as well. "I hope he's alright," said Hermione as she watched Ron hurry away. Fred, George, and Ginny came around the car, all grinning broadly.
"I'm sure he's fine," said George with a huge smile.
"Yeah, Hermione," Ginny raised an eyebrow at the other girl, "why don't you go make sure he's okay?"
At this, both of the twins started laughing loudly, and Hermione turned her own shade of pink. "What is that supposed to mean?"
Harry, knowing exactly where this conversation was going to lead, quickly grabbed Hermione's arm and pulled her in the direction away from the car. "C'mon, Hermione. Let's go get something to drink."
Hermione followed him with a backwards glance at Ginny and the twins. "What was that about?" she asked once they were out of earshot.
Harry shrugged hurriedly. "Uh, I don't know."
Hermione stared at him confused for a moment before following him into the store. Ron was standing near a display of crisps, and he looked up when they entered. He gave them a half-smile as they walked over to join him.
"Feeling better, Ron?" Hermione asked.
He nodded. "Yeah, it was just getting kind of crowded in there, you know?"
Harry nodded, wanting to save his friend from further embarrassment. "Yeah, it was a bit, wasn't it?"
Ron looked at Harry with what appeared to be gratefulness covering his face. "Yeah."
"So, did you want something to drink?" Harry quickly changed the subject.
Hermione obviously accepted all of this and nodded as she headed for the coolers at the back of the store. "Sure. It's really hot out there."
She slid the door open and grabbed a bottle of water. "What are you guys getting?"
Ron stared at the vast selection of drinks in awe. "Which one are you supposed to pick?" he asked. As a pureblooded wizard, Ron wasn't used to such things as convenience stores, so he was more than a bit confused by it all.
Harry reached into the cooler and pulled out a can of Dr. Pepper. "Here, you'll like this," he said as he handed the can to his best friend. "It has loads of sugar."
Ron smiled as he studied the can. "Really? Is it good?"
Harry nodded, "Yeah, it's great. Isn't it Hermione?"
Hermione, though, just raised her eyebrows at him. "Do you think my parents let me drink soda? That stuff rots your teeth out."
Ron rolled his eyes. "In that case, I'll take it."
Harry laughed as Hermione shot Ron a disapproving look. He reached back in and pulled out his own can of Dr. Pepper, and together, the three friends walked to the counter to check out.
"I don't have any Muggle money," Ron whispered as they stood in line behind a rather large man.
"I've got it," said Harry shrugging as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. When the large man was done at the counter, Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat their drinks on the counter, and Harry paid the lady behind the counter. And with that, they headed back out to the car.
The twins were sitting on the back hood of the car while Ginny was leaning through the window, talking to her parents. Everyone looked up as Harry, Ron, and Hermione returned from the store, and they all repositioned themselves in the car getting ready to leave again.
Once they were back on the road, Ginny leaned across George and Hermione to poke Ron in the leg. "What're you drinking?" she asked curiously.
Ron, who was enjoying the sugary soft drink immensely, smiled. "It's called soda, and it rots your teeth out."
Ginny looked interested. "Can I have a taste?"
Ron just laughed at his little sister. "Are you crazy? I'm going to drink all of it."
Ginny opened her mouth to say something snide, and Harry was willing to bet it was something that would embarrass Ron, so he quickly shoved his can into her hand. "You can have some of mine."
Ginny grinned at Harry. "Thanks." And with that, she took a long drink of the soda. "Wow!" she exclaimed. "Mum, why don't we ever have this stuff?"
Mrs. Weasley turned around. "What is it, Dear?"
Ginny handed the can to her mother who studied it before taking a drink. She obviously liked it as well, and she handed it to Mr. Weasley who also inspected it and tasted it. Before long, all the Weasleys were passing the can between themselves, and Harry just watched them in amusement. Ron finished his own can and placed it in the floorboard under his feet before yawning. Harry watched as Ron closed his eyes, and then he looked past him at Hermione who was already fast asleep, the bottle of water clutched in her hand. Harry closed his own eyes, and before long, he had drifted into a light sleep.
An hour later, Harry awoke suddenly. He glanced around him and noticed that besides Mr. Weasley, who was driving the car, he was the only one awake. Mrs. Weasley had her head slumped against the glass in front of him, and to his left, he saw Fred leaning against the glass beside his own head with Ginny laying her head in his lap, and George with his head straight back against the seat. He then noticed his best friends beside him and said silent thanks that the twins and Ginny were asleep and couldn't see what he was seeing. Hermione had turned her body nearly completely to the right and was snuggled against Ron as though she were freezing. Her left arm was draped across his chest, and she had her head tucked underneath his chin. Ron's own head was resting atop hers, and he had one hand on the arm she had draped across him. They might have looked rather sweet to some people, but the sight of them like that was rather sickening to Harry. Ron and Hermione weren't supposed to be snuggled up to anyone like that- least of all to each other. He could just imagine Ron's mortification if everyone in the car was to wake up and find him in that position with Hermione, and he wanted to save his friend from this embarrassment. So, after closing his eyes and pretending to be asleep, Harry nudged Ron as hard as he could in the ribs. He felt his best friend jerk awake suddenly, but Harry still pretended to be asleep; he did watch, however, through very tiny slits in his eyes as Ron noticed the girl curled against him and hastily moved so that Hermione fell rather roughly against George, knocking the both of them awake. With all the movement, Fred and Ginny also pulled from their slumber slowly, so Harry decided it would be best if he, too, decided to "wake."
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Not too long afterwards, Mr. Weasley pulled the car into the drive of a rather large house that was sitting up the bank from the Atlantic Ocean. A man in Squib Relations obviously owed him a favor and was allowing them the use of the house for the week. It was a magnificent house, and it was to no one's surprise that all six children pushed their ways out of the car hurriedly, grabbed their suitcases, and rushed up to the house. Fred got to the door first, and he pushed it open. He stopped and stared around in awe, yelling to the others to come look. Ginny was right behind him, and she, too, stopped and looked around in amazement. George raced in behind them, but he hurried up the stairs without waiting to look around on the lower level. Ron, Harry, and Hermione bustled in right behind the others, and all three of them stopped to gaze around in awe. Ginny grabbed Hermione's hand suddenly, though, and started tugging her up the stairs.
"Let's go find a room!"
Ron watched his younger sister hurry up the stairs, and he turned to Harry quickly. "C'mon, Harry!"
Together they raced up the magnificent staircase, dragging their suitcases behind them, and down a long hall to a room at the very end. They rushed inside and both stopped in shock. It was double the size of either of their own rooms at their homes; it was quite nearly as large as the dormitory they shared with each other and three of their classmates at school. It held two king sized beds and a huge wardrobe. There was a large desk upon which a nice sized television sat, and on the wall opposite the entrance door stood a double set of French doors which opened onto a beautiful balcony. They could see the beach through the glass doors.
"Wow!" breathed Ron as he inspected the room. "Let's claim this one!"
Harry nodded, and they threw their bags onto the beds before hurrying to the balcony and throwing the doors open. They were immediately met with the sounds of the waves washing upon the shores loudly. Ron smiled, and Harry marveled in awe.
"I've never been to the coast," he told Ron as he leaned over the railing for a better look. "The Dursleys never took me on their vacations."
"Really?" Ron leaned over as well. "I've been twice. Once when I was only four and then once when I was eleven; it was the summer before I started at Hogwarts. But I haven't been since."
Before they could talk anymore, though, they were met with loud shrieking sounds coming from down the hall. They looked at each other questioningly before immediately going to see what all the commotion was about. The noises took them to the room right next to theirs. Inside they found Ginny and Hermione jumping excitedly on top of one of the two beds in a room nearly identical to their own. They were hitting each other with pillows they had snagged from the beds and were shrieking giddily as they dodged each other. Ginny, perhaps, wasn't so much out of character, but Hermione was acting much more like a giggly schoolgirl and much less like the mature one of the bunch.
"Look at this room!" Ginny nearly yelped. "Isn't it gorgeous?!"
Ron and Harry watched the girls in silent confusion for a moment before Ron finally said, "What the hell are you doing?"
"Ron, don't swear," Hermione playfully scolded before hitting him upside the head with her pillow.
He just looked up at her, a dazed look of puzzlement on his face. She grinned down at him, and Ginny laughed loudly before leaping off of the bed and knocking her brother to a heap on the ground where she proceeded to beat him with her pillow. Ron yelled loudly as Hermione, too, hopped off the bed and joined the attack. Harry just stood by laughing.
At that moment, two more faces appeared in the room- two identical faces. Fred and George watched for only a moment before grabbing pillows and joining the attack as well. Fred was the first to notice Harry standing by not moving, though, and he quickly pointed this out to the others.
"I don't think Potter should just stand there laughing, do you guys?"
His twin stood up and grabbed Harry before shoving him to the ground. "Definitely not."
Harry yelled out for Ron's help as both twins started to hit him, but, with Ginny now tickling him and Hermione sitting on top of his stomach beating him over the head with a pillow, Ron seemed a bit indisposed.
"Oi, Gin!" Fred yelled to his little sister, "Bring the tickling over here!"
"No!" Harry protested, but before he could make any counter-movement, Ginny had raced over and was tickling him mercilessly. Harry yelled in between fits of laughter as the twins continued to beat at him with their pillows.
With all three of the other Weasleys attacking Harry, this left Ron being tortured by only one Miss Hermione Granger. She was now straddling his stomach and was laughing loudly as she hit Ron continuously with the fluffy pillow. Ron, though, was much stronger than Hermione who was rather small, and with only her to fight, he could very much defend himself. Just as she raised her arms to deliver yet another blow to him, Ron reached up and grabbed her arms, tickling her in the process. Hermione let out a huge shriek before she launched her own counterattack and started tickling Ron as well, forgetting all about the pillow she had dropped. They yelled and laughed as they tortured each other, and soon they were oblivious to the rest of the room.
The rest of the room was not, however, oblivious to them. Harry noticed Fred stop beating him first, and he saw him nudge his twin quickly, nodding his head in the opposite direction. George, Ginny, and Harry all looked over at the youngest Weasley brother and the Muggle-born girl who was still straddling his stomach. The pair didn't seem to notice that all the commotion from across the room had ceased because they were still engaged in an all out tickling war against each other, shrieking and laughing giddily. Harry eyed the three Weasleys around him and immediately knew that his best friends were about to be subjected to the worst type of teasing. So, taking his attackers' break in concentration, he shoved them away and stood up, saying loudly, "Hey, Ron, Hermione! I need to talk to you guys for a second!"
Ron and Hermione both stopped their playing and looked up automatically. It was obvious that they were both aware that their current position was more than a bit compromising because they each blushed about three shades pinker than normal. Hermione quickly stood up and helped Ron to his feet, and then, without so much as a glance at Ron's siblings, they followed Harry out of the room and into the room next door that Harry and Ron were sharing.
"What's up?" Ron asked once they were all in the privacy of the other room.
Harry suddenly realized that he had nothing whatsoever to say to his best friends, so he stuttered a bit and said, "Well... ah... You know, I forgot what I had to say."
Hermione and Ron both looked at him strangely, and they looked at each other just as weirdly, as though they were having a silent conversation concerning Harry's sudden abnormality. Harry had to admit that he didn't enjoy the fact that his two closest friends were suddenly capable of having silent conversations with each other, so he quickly changed the subject.
"Hey! Let's go swimming!" he suggested brightly. Ron's face lit up at the proposal, but Hermione shook her head disapprovingly.
"Harry, we just got here, and we haven't eaten all day. It would probably be a good idea to have lunch first," she said sensibly.
"Don't be stupid, Hermione," Ron said with a roll of the eyes. "Swim first, eat later- that's the way you do it. You swim and work up an appetite, and anyway, if we eat now, Mum will make us wait hours before we go swimming so our food can digest properly. And it'll be too late by then."
Hermione responded with her own roll of the eyes. "Whatever, Ron. Fine."
Harry was surprised to see that a fight hadn't brewed between the two of them because it was not very often that either of his best friends simply gave into the other. He shrugged it off, though, as Hermione exited the room to change into her swimming apparel. He saw Ron open his suitcase and start throwing clothes on the floor in an attempt to find his own swim clothes, so Harry followed suit and searched through his own suitcase.
Minutes after they'd changed into their swimming trunks, a knock was heard at the door. Assuming that it was Hermione, Harry yelled a quick "Come in" without looking up.
"Hermione told me you're going swimming, so I'm going, too," a very pointed and unquestioning voice informed them from the doorway. Harry looked up to see Ginny Weasley standing with her hands on her hips and her hair pulled into a high ponytail; she was dressed in a pale blue bathing suit that consisted of a halter style top that bared most of her stomach until a tiny pair of matching shorts began underneath her bellybutton.
Harry was, for some reason, suddenly very glad that all the Weasley children basically had good Muggle fashion sense. He didn't know why this thought had crept into his head, though, so he promptly stored it away somewhere in the back of his brain.
"Who said you could come?" Ron asked, his eyes connecting dangerously with those of his little sister.
Ginny stepped further into the room until she was directly in front of Ron. She was shorter than him, of course, but she was still rather tall for a girl, and the top of her head reached the bottom of his chin easily. She looked up at her brother and glared daringly at him, her hands still planted on her hips. "Who said you could stop me?"
Harry couldn't pretend that he wasn't a bit amused by the Weasley versus Weasley sibling rivalry that had recently seemed to transpire between Ron and Ginny. Up until now, he'd seen Ginny as a rather quiet, shy little girl. She suddenly seemed to be losing the quiet trait and growing into a fiery sort of girl who was holding her own extremely easily against her older brother. He knew Ron better than he knew anyone else in the world, though, and he was quite sure Ron was not going to allow himself to be bullied by his little sister.
"Ginny, you are such a brat." Ron's comeback was more than a bit childish, and Harry couldn't suppress the giggle that escaped from his lips. This snicker, of course, earned a rather nasty glare from his best friend and a matching giggle from his best friend's only younger sibling.
"What the hell is so funny?" Ron demanded furiously.
"What's so funny, dear brother," both of the twins entered the room dressed in their own swimming attire, "is the fact that you and our darling Virginia have yet to mature into your ages." Fred said all of this in a rather uncanny impression of Percy.
Ginny rolled her eyes as she turned to the twins. In a voice equally as haughty, she said, "I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to be offered lessons on maturity from the most grown-up seventeen year olds I know." When she had finished with her sarcasm, she offered them an extremely fake smile, "Oh, and by the way, don't call me Virginia. It makes you sound like Mum."
"Virginia, dear," said Fred, completely ignoring her. "Might I inquire about your choice of clothing?"
Ginny glared at her brother as though condemning him for being stupid. "It is called a swimsuit, Frederick."
George laughed. "How sad I am that I have no name to be tortured by... William, Charles, Percivial, Frederick, Ronald, Virginia..." He gave a sad sort of smile. "How did I manage to be the only one out of seven stuck with a name incapable of being cut into a nickname?"
"I wouldn't worry about it, Georgina," Fred said grinning. He then turned to the youngest Weasley. "Anyway, you call that a swimsuit?"
Ginny glared once more at him. "Well, I can't bloody well run around in a pair of swimming trunks like you lot, now can I?"
"It isn't as if we all haven't seen you naked before, sister dear," George said with a smirk.
"Ah," added Fred slyly to his twin, "not everyone in this room has lived with her for fourteen years, though..." He gave a very obvious glance in Harry's direction.
This conversation caused both Harry and Ginny to turn very deep shades of crimson. And it caused Ron to turn a rather pale shade of green.
"Just shut up," Ron said quickly, a very obvious tone of warning in his voice. The twins snickered at everyone else's uncomfortable states, and surprisingly, Ron prevented himself from throwing punches at their identical noses. Instead, he just said, "Where's Hermione?"
Ginny, obviously glad to have the room's attention taken away from her, answered him, red still burning into her cheeks. "She said that her suit was being a bit disagreeable. I offered to help, but she said she'd take care of it."
"Perhaps she said this because you are not the Weasley she wanted help from," offered George with a smirk.
Ginny and Fred both grinned mischievously in Ron's direction. "What do you say, Ron?" Fred teased, "Why don't you go help the lovely Miss Granger fix her suit properly?"
Ron's greenish shade quickly changed into one of a red darker than his hair. He looked down at the ground for a second, and Harry was very aware that Ron's embarrassment was probably tripled with the presence of his best friend in the room. Harry almost excused himself quietly, but he got sidetracked when he wondered how long the other three school-age Weasleys has been ganging up on Ron and teasing him. He felt bad for Ron, but he wasn't going to pretend as though he hadn't noticed Ron's behavior and attitude concerning all things Hermione had changed greatly in the past year.
And he wasn't going to pretend that he liked it, either.
Ron had never told him that he had any sort of feelings for Hermione that didn't concern friendship, and he wasn't about to go making his own assumptions and jumping to conclusions. Mainly because he didn't want to think that Ron might... well... like Hermione- as more than a friend. That was simply too weird of a thought to think. The thought of Ron and Hermione as more than friends was... well, it was just kind of gross. And if they by some off-chance did like each other, where would that leave Harry?
Alone? Abandoned by his best friends? The third wheel?
And, oh no, he was not going to play the go-between for them anymore than he already did. He'd spent five years forcing them to talk to each other at least once a week after they'd get into a huge row and start punishing each other with the silent treatment. He hated to think of what they would be like if they were dating. No, he was definitely not going to play the middle-man in that production. No way at all.
He did feel awful for Ron, though. It must have been terribly embarrassing to have everyone teasing him like that. Ron had now turned his glare away from the floor and back to his siblings.
"You can all shove off. C'mon, Harry." He motioned for Harry to follow him out of the room, and Harry went with a quick glance at three smirking redheads.
Just as they turned the corner of the doorway, though, the door next to them opened and Hermione popped out.
Bloody hell. She just had to be wearing a suit nearly identical to Ginny's except in crimson red, now didn't she? This was just all Harry needed at the moment- him with fleeting appreciation of the Weasley children's love for Muggle style and Ron with what was quite obvious rooted appreciation at a certain brown-haired bookworm's taste in clothing as well. Hermione stared at them with shy eyes for a second; she was clutching at the back of her neck, obviously holding the suit up by hand and not by the strings.
"I can't get it tied," she told them shyly. She turned around to where her back faced them, and with one hand held the strings together and with the other lifted her long hair away from her neck. "Could you help me?"
Harry chanced a glance at Ron who was staring at the back of Hermione as though she were a giant tarantula- he looked positively terrified of her. Harry rolled his eyes and quickly moved to take the strings from Hermione's hands. "Here, I'll do it," he said as he rapidly tied the back of her suit together.
When he was finished, Hermione turned back around and beamed at him. "Thanks, Harry."
Harry shrugged a response and started toward the staircase, leaving one very flabbergasted best friend and one very confused best friend behind him.
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