Disclaimer: I own none of them...

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

Harry was sitting on the balcony that connected to his room with Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. Ginny was painting her nails a bright shade of lilac, and Hermione was unsurprisingly leafing through the book of spells Sirius had given Harry for his birthday. Harry and Ron were playing a game of wizard's chess with the set Ron had brought from home. They'd spent the past two days by the pool and on the beach, and they were getting a bit worn out on it.

Ron had just instructed his knight to take out Harry's bishop when the door to the balcony slid open, and the twins joined the rest of the teenagers. They were both looking very guilty, and Harry was not the only one to notice.

"What have you two been doing?" Ron asked suspiciously after the aforementioned bishop fell from the table in three separate pieces.

Fred grinned at his younger brother. "Oh, not too much."

"Right," said Ginny, eyeing the oldest boys incriminatingly. "Fess up."

George patted his sister on the head jokingly. "Yes, Mum."

Ginny glared at him. "Just tell us what you've been doing."

"Okay, okay," George said exasperatedly. "You guys are no fun at all." Turning to his twin, he said, "Go ahead and show them."

Fred pulled what looked like several cards from his pocket and handed one each to Ron, Ginny, Hermione, and Harry. "Take a look at these."

Harry looked down and saw a picture of himself staring back up. The picture was not moving, though, as was common of wizard's pictures. No, this picture was completely still and accompanied by a list of information about Harry. It looked like a driver's license.

He glanced up at the twins who were grinning broadly. Fred offered the explanation. "Ids," he said simply.

"What do we need these for?" Ginny asked with raised eyebrows.

"Because we're going to that nightclub in town tonight," George said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "It's time to really have some fun on this vacation."

"This isn't my birthday," Hermione said suddenly.

George rolled his eyes. "Of course, it's not. Do you think they'll let you in with your real birthday? You're not even fifteen yet."

Hermione looked down at the ID and then back up at the twins. "You have to be eighteen to get into nightclubs."

George sighed loudly. "Would you try and follow, Hermione? We know you have to be eighteen. That's why we changed your birthday on the ID..." He spoke as though she were a two year old child.

"Fake IDs are illegal," Hermione said quite matter-of-factly.

Fred groaned and turned to Ron and Harry. "Would you two do something about her?"

Hermione looked quite offended by this. "Do you realize how much trouble we could get into for having these?" she asked haughtily.

"Oh, come on, Hermione! Live a little!" Ginny shook her head at the older girl before grinning at the two trouble-makers who had supplied the IDs. "I think it's cool."

"At least someone knows how to have fun," said Fred before rounding once again on Ron and Harry. "What about you two?"

Ron was looking quite mischievous himself. "This is wicked."

The twins smiled back at him. "Harry?" George queried, staring at his little brother's best friend.

Harry, to be quite honest, had never dreamed of sneaking into a nightclub illegally. But to tell the truth, the idea of doing something so scandalous was rather appealing. "As long as we don't get caught..."

This pleased everyone except for Hermione who was staring at her best friends angrily. "Do you understand that using this would be ILLEGAL?"

Ron just rolled his eyes. "Hermione, don't be like that."

But Hermione just glared at him. "And what are you planning on telling your parents? I hope you don't think that they're going to allow you to sneak off into some nightclub illegally!" She kept stressing the word illegal.

Fred interjected the explanation here. "We already told them we were going to that amusement park tonight. And they're going out as well, so it's not like it matters anyway."

Hermione was still not convinced. "This is illegal!"

"We get the bloody idea!" Ron suddenly exclaimed, a bit louder than he meant to. "It's not like you've never broken a rule in your life," he pointed out obviously.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Breaking school rules is one thing- breaking the law is quite another."

But Ron just wrinkled his forehead at her before saying, "Don't pretend like you wouldn't rather be put in jail than expelled."

This caused everyone else to snicker, and Hermione to grow even angrier.

"It's illegal!" she insisted yet again.

Harry saw that all of the Weasleys were about to attempt murder on a certain Muggle-born witch, so he took that as his cue to step in. "Hermione, we won't get caught. They look completely real."

Hermione frowned as she stared down at the card, obviously hoping to find some fault to point out. When she found none, she sighed loudly. "Fine! But if we get caught, I'm holding the four of you personally responsible."

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

Later that night, Harry found himself getting ready for his first visit to a nightclub. Ron seemed absolutely thrilled with the idea of doing something as scandalous as sneaking into a nightclub illegally, but as the time drew nearer, Harry found himself growing more nervous. He was getting afraid that no one would believe their suddenly upped ages. Fred, George, and perhaps even Ron could pass for eighteen, but he, Ginny, and Hermione looked nowhere near the legal age. What if they got caught?

The twins and Ron were all in the room as well, putting the finishing touches on their ensembles. They had all managed to make themselves look older, but Harry was sure that he still looked like the barely-fifteen year old that he was.

"I don't think I look old enough," he said after peering in the mirror carefully.

Fred shook his head. "It'll be fine. It's going to be dark, so no one will even be able to tell."

"Yeah," said George as he pulled on his shoes. "The main one we should be worried about is Hermione. Ginny can pull it off because she's so tall, but Hermione's kind of short."

This was true. Ginny towered Hermione by about four inches, as Hermione stood only at about 5'3". If they could get Hermione in, the rest of them would be fine.

Almost as if on cue, the door to the boys' room opened, and the two girls entered. Harry's eyes fell firstly on Ginny who was wearing a denim skirt similar to the one Hermione had been wearing in the picture in Quidditch Center. It fell to her knees and was slit just slightly on each side. And she was wearing what looked more like a bandana than a shirt; it was a piece of blue material that wrapped around her body instead of having any sort of straps, and it came to a V in the front of her stomach, leaving the sides of her abdomen showing. On her feet, she wore black leather boots that almost reached her knees. Obviously, being the only girl in the family meant always getting new clothes.

She looked... well, Harry didn't want to think of the word he knew would fit the situation. At once, he wondered when she had grown up so much. Ginny Weasley was suddenly very pretty, and this realization scared Harry just a bit.

Still, his eyes moved to Hermione who was standing a little behind Ginny. She was wearing black pants that flared out at the bottom and sat on low on her hips a good distance below her bellybutton. The shirt she was wearing, consequently, ended a good distance above her bellybutton. It was a silver, satiny shirt that tied behind her neck in the same fashion swimsuit had done, and it left her entire stomach to be viewed. She, like Ginny, was wearing her hair straight down, and they both had what appeared to some sort of glitter covering their bodies. Fleetingly, Harry also wondered when Hermione had gotten so pretty.

Harry glanced at Ron who was studying the floor quite intently, obviously doing his very best not to stare at their female best friend. Harry rolled his eyes to himself slightly; this was already getting old.

"Are we ready?" Fred asked suddenly. Then he turned to his little sister, "Gin, I think you need to put something on over that."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Oh, shut up, Fred."

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

Surprisingly enough, getting into the club proved to be quite easy. The bouncer did not question any of them; he simply glanced at their IDs and shrugged them inside. The moment they entered the club, Harry was in awe. He'd never been into a nightclub before, and it was exactly as he'd always imagined it would be. The lights were barely there, and the smell of smoke and alcohol was nearly suffocating. It was nearly impossible to hear himself think with the loud music blaring, but he could hear Ron nearly giddy with excitement behind him.

"Hey, look! It's football!" Harry looked to where his best friend was pointing and saw a bar area with a television that was playing a football game between two teams that Harry didn't recognize. He knew that Ron had a slight obsession with the sport despite the fact that he'd never witnessed a game; it had all come from living with Dean Thomas for four years. While the rest of the wizards in their class might have blown off Dean's Muggle sport of choice, Ron had always been more than interested. "Let's go watch!" he cried, dragging Harry off without a backwards glance at the other Weasleys and Hermione.

They watched the game for a good hour before Ron finally tired of it and decided that they needed to find Fred, George, Ginny, and Hermione. He reasoned that Hermione was probably keeping his brothers and sister from having any fun with her constant lecturing of how wrong their current actions were. "We better go save them," he said as he led Harry through the crowded club.

Finding the twins and Ginny was easy enough; the red hair was a simple trait to spot. Hermione was not with them, though, and when Harry asked where she was, Fred shrugged and said, "She ran off not too long ago. I think she went that way." He pointed to his left.

"Why did she run off?" Ron asked curiously. "She didn't leave, did she?" He looked angry. "I swear to God if she runs home and tells Mum and Dad..."

George laughed and shook his head. "No, she ran off because she said we were boring her."

"Boring her?" Harry was shocked.

"Yeah," piped Ginny. "Apparently alcohol agrees quite nicely with Hermione- makes her sociable at least."

Alcohol. Hermione had been drinking? Harry didn't have time to even think of the reasons behind this because he found himself being dragged rather roughly by his best friend across the club. When they spotted her, though, they were not surprised for the sight.

Ron glanced at Harry with huge eyes as they both spied the scene in front of them. Hermione was in the middle of a large group of people- mostly men much older than her- and was dancing in a manner that was actually quite good. She had one arm around the neck of a guy who looked like he was probably twenty-three or twenty-four and who appeared to be enjoying himself immensely, and her free hand was holding a half-empty cup. She was giggling madly.

"She's sloshed!" Ron said in disbelief, his eyes still the size of saucers as he stared at the sight in front of him.

He was right, of course. It definitely appeared that Miss Hermione Granger was, indeed, drunk. Harry could only nod in agreement with the obvious.

"And why is that guy touching her?!" Ron was fuming by this point. "He shouldn't have his hands anywhere on her!"

Before Harry could stop him, Ron had barged into the circle straight toward Hermione. Harry followed helplessly, praying that Ron wouldn't try and knock the older guy out. Thankfully, Ron ignored the prat and simply grabbed Hermione's arm, yanking her away from the other guy's grasp. "Hermione," he hissed, "what the hell are you doing?!"

Hermione's eyes lit up when she saw him. "Ron!" she exclaimed giddily before turning to the group of people. "This is my friend Ron," she explained to everyone. "Ron... Where's..." she seemed to have momentarily forgotten the name, "Harry! Where's Harry?"

"I'm right here, Hermione," Harry said quietly.

"You're right there!" Hermione giggled loudly. "This is Harry! And this is Ron!" she repeated for the group. "These are my best friends." Grinning madly, she reached up and poked at one of Ron's dimples. "Aren't they cuties?"

Ron blushed madly before leaning down to her ear once more and hissing his question again. "Hermione, what the hell are you doing? You're drunk!"

She laughed loudly. "I am not drunk!" Then, turning to Harry and using what she obviously thought was a whisper (loud as it was), added, "Okay, so maybe I'm a little drunk." She used her forefinger and thumb to illustrate just how little drunk she was.

"We've got to get her away from here," Harry told Ron quietly, and Ron nodded his agreement.

They each took one of Hermione's arms and tried to lead her away from the crowded group of people. The guy she had previously been dancing with, though, seemed to have other plans. He reached out for her and tried to grab her shoulders, but Ron shot him a deadly look. "Leave her alone."

The guy just laughed, though, and said, "I think she'd rather stay here with us."

"You shut the fuck up and get away from her," Ron said angrily. Harry prayed that a fight didn't pursue.

"Ron!" Hermione exclaimed, shocked. "Don't swear! I've told you that before; I know I have!" She turned to Harry, "I've told him not to swear before, haven't I?"

Harry just nodded slightly, "Yes, Hermione, you have."

"I knew it!" she said triumphantly. "I knew I told you not to swear, Ron." She turned to a random girl in the circle and addressed her as though they were old best friends, "I've told him a million times not to swear, but he just doesn't listen!"

Ron sighed and pulled her once more, causing her to tumble sideways until she had spun around to face him. She wrapped both of her arms around his neck and smiled up at him widely.

Harry knew that this was definitely not a good thing.

"It's okay, Ron," she said happily. "I forgive you for swearing."

"Gee, Hermione, that's real nice," Ron said sarcastically.

Suddenly she started giggling incessantly, her head tilted straight up to stare at him. Ron was just staring at her. Finally, he said, "What's so funny?"

"You're really tall," she answered through giggles. "I didn't notice how tall you were till just now."

With that said, her eyes suddenly started to close, and she dropped quite instantly. Ron grabbed her waist and saved her from hitting the ground. Her eyes flew open and she stared at Ron for only a second before going straight back into her giggling stage.

"I almost fell," she told him.

He nodded. "Yes, you almost did." Then Ron, still holding Hermione by the waist, turned to Harry with pleading eyes. "I'll take her over there," he threw his head in the direction of a practically empty corner.

Harry nodded and followed behind Ron as he practically dragged Hermione a few feet away from the crowd before she finally straightened up enough to walk. Or at least attempt to. She seemed to be having difficulty remembering which foot went next as he stepped, and she grabbed onto Ron's elbow for support. But when she suddenly lost all ability to walk and tripped over her own feet, Harry grabbed her other arm quickly and caught her.

She grinned at him. "There you are, Harry! I didn't know where you were, but there you are!"

Honestly, Harry was starting to find this whole situation just a bit funny. He glanced over her head at Ron who was holding onto her waist and looking at her in complete disbelief.

"I can't believe that you're drunk!" Ron said once more as the two boys finally managed to get her to a nearly deserted corner and onto a stool beside a high table.

Hermione rolled her eyes at this and said, "I am not drunk! Harry, tell him I am not drunk!"

Harry didn't know whether or not to appease Hermione, but he decided on telling her the truth. "You are drunk."

She huffed up a bit, seemingly angry at first, before yet again dropping into a fit of giggles. "You two are so funny!"

Harry and Ron shared another look of consensual disbelief before Hermione started rambling again.

"Did you meet my friend?" she asked suddenly. "His name is Roger. Or wait, maybe it's Robert..." She grinned at Ron, "But I know it's not Ronald because that's you!" She pointed a finger at him as if to remind him of his own name.

"Yeah, and he was ten years older than you," Ron said bitterly.

To this, Hermione rolled her eyes. "He was not ten years older than me. Ron, you need to learn how to add."

"Oh, no? How old was he, Hermione?" Ron asked haughtily.

She smiled and said, "Twenty-four."

"And you're fourteen..." Ron looked as though he was getting a bit tired of talking sense into her. "That's ten years."

"I'm not fourteen!" she protested.

"Yes, you are!" Ron insisted just as indignantly.

"I'm not!" She turned to Harry, "Harry, tell him I'm not fourteen!"

"You are fourteen, Hermione," Harry said quietly.

Hermione looked extremely put-out by this revelation. "Well, I'm almost fifteen!" she said, as though this made any difference. "So... so, duh!"

"Duh!?" The look on Ron's face was highly amusing to Harry. "Did she just say 'duh?!'"

Harry took a breath and nodded slightly. "Yeah..."

At this, Hermione once again put a huge smile on her face as she put an arm around Harry's neck and pulled him into a half-hug. "But it's okay," she said seriously, "because my ID says I'm eighteen." She used her free hand which was still holding the half-empty cup of pink liquid to raise the cup to her lips.

Ron quickly grabbed it before she could take another drink and set it on the table behind them. "You don't need anymore of that, Hermione."

The brown-headed witch looked as though she was going to give Ron a serious telling-off for daring to take her drink, but before she could remember how to fight, her eyes closed once again and she slumped, nearly falling off the stool. Luckily, her arm was still around Harry's neck, and Ron was quick enough to grab her waist and push her back onto the stool. After opening her eyes, Hermione stared from one of them to the other before finally deciding she wanted to address Ron.

"You might want to keep your hand there in case I fall again." She glanced down at Ron's arm which was wrapped tightly around her narrow waist.

Harry watched as Ron turned a little pinker than normal and said, "Hermione, how did this happen?"

"How did it happen?" Hermione flashed him a huge grin for the millionth time that evening and launched into an explanation for something Ron had not requested. "Well, I almost fell, and you grabbed onto to me. And it's nice." Ron turned even pinker at this. "You're nice; you're both nice!" She smiled at Harry as well. "You guys are the best! You're my best friends, right? You know that, right?"

Harry and Ron glanced at each other and then back at Hermione. "That's nice," Harry said, trying to be as patient as possible with his drunk friend.

Hermione still had one arm around Harry's neck, and she leaned over and placed a quick kiss on his forehead. "I love you, Harry. You're so sweet!"

Harry felt himself blushing slightly as he quickly said, "Thanks, Hermione."

She grinned once more and then put her free arm around Ron's neck. Leaning over to place a kiss against his cheek, she said, "And I love you, too, Ron. And even though you're not as nice as Harry, and you make me scream all the time, I still love you because you're really cute."

"Uh..." Ron's mouth was now completely open, and he had achieved a deep crimson color. Harry was just thankful that they were alone and that no one else was witnessing this very different drunk Hermione.

"See?" she said, smiling. "You're blushing, and it's so cute. You know why? Because it matches your hair!" She ran a hand over the hair at the base of his neck and giggled, "Isn't that funny? They match!" She then moved the hand around to the side of his cheek and poked once again at his dimple, "And you know this dimple? I love this dimple! You're just so cute!"

Harry glanced at Ron and was suddenly quite sure that if Ron turned any redder, he could pass as a lobster. Hermione was having more than a definite effect on Ron, and Harry was quite frightened by this. He'd been telling himself that there was no proof of Ron's feelings for Hermione up until that point, but there was no denying it now. Not when Ron looked as though he were going to faint at any moment.

Hermione turned to Harry at this point and said quite seriously, "But don't worry, Harry. You're cute, too! Just maybe not as cute... But it's okay because you're really nice! And Ron is so mean to me sometimes he makes me cry!"

Harry wasn't sure whether he should feel flattered or offended by her remarks, so he just nodded uneasily. "Okay, Hermione..." He turned to Ron, hoping to bring his friend out of his sudden near catatonic-state. "What are we going to do?"

Ron, though, completely ignored him and addressed Hermione. "I am not mean to you!"

She turned to him with huge eyes at his claim. "Yes, you are!"

"I am not!" he cried just as indignantly.

"You are!" she insisted. "You're so mean sometimes that I cry!"

Ron frowned slightly. "Well, you always agitate me so much that I can't help it!"

Harry stepped in quickly just as Hermione opened her mouth to fuel the rapidly building argument. "What are we going to do?" he asked Ron again, this time a bit more urgently.

"What are we going to do about what?" Hermione asked curiously.

"About the fact that you're completely sloshed!" Ron supplied heatedly.

Hermione let out a loud sigh and said quite loudly, "For the millionth time, I am not drunk!"

"Ah, the first sign of drunkenness is denying your insobriety." The three friends looked up to see Fred approach them with George and Ginny close behind.

Ron rounded on them quicker than Harry would have thought possible. "Who the hell let her drink this much?!" he demanded angrily.

"She didn't drink that much," said George eyeing his younger brother. "Apparently, she just has a low tolerance- a really, really low tolerance."

Ron was furious. "You were supposed to be watching her! Some old man had his hands all over her!"

Hermione rolled her eyes dramatically and pulled on Ron's arm. "Honestly, Ron! He was not an old man! And his hands were not all over me!"

Ron stared at her incredulously. "Yes, he was!" Then he turned back to his siblings. "I can't believe you let her get this way!"

"What the bloody hell are we going to do?!" Harry demanded again loudly. Everyone looked at him in shock because he rarely cursed or raised his voice angrily.

"Harry!" gasped Hermione. "Don't swear! Haven't you heard me tell Ron a thousand times not to swear?!"

Harry was finding himself at the end of his rope. Through gritted teeth, he said quite bitterly, "Yes, Hermione, I have. Now would you shut up for two seconds while we figure this out?"

She looked at him shocked for a moment before turning away from him. "Ginny! Let's go dance!" She hopped off of the stool, nearly falling in the process, giggled, and grabbed Ginny's hand to drag her back onto the dance floor. Ginny looked backwards helplessly. Ron started to go after them and start them, but George held his hand up to stop him.

"Harry's right," George said, suddenly seriously. "We have to figure out what to do."

"Yeah," agreed Fred. "If Mum or Dad sees her like that, we're all in deep shit..."

Ron sighed; he still looked furious. He knew that everyone was right, though, so he nodded. "Look, Mum and Dad should be back soon, right?"

"In about an hour, I think," George said, glancing at his watch.

Ron nodded. "Right. So, Harry and I will take Hermione back to the house, and you three can stay here just in case Mum and Dad are already back. It'll be easier for three people to sneak in than six, right? Well, we'll take her back and get her sobered up a bit. Then the rest of you can come in later, okay?"

Everyone nodded their agreement. Harry and Ron left the twins to go hunt Hermione and Ginny down in the crowd. They spotted them on the far side of the dance floor. Hermione was practically being held up by Ginny who was glancing around anxiously for some help. She looked extremely thankful when Harry and Ron showed up to relieve her.

"Help me," she pleaded, nodding her head at a practically passed out Hermione who was leaning heavily against her.

Ron instantly grabbed Hermione and stumbled a bit as her full weight came to lean against him. Her back was against him, and Ron was holding her around the middle as her head dipped forward and her eyes closed completely. He looked at Harry helplessly. "Look, tell Ginny what's going on, and I'll meet you outside. I think she needs some air..."

Harry nodded, and Ron started dragging Hermione toward the exit of the nightclub. Her feet soon lost all ability to move, however, and she was rooted to one place, her eyes shut and her head lolling from side to side. "C'mon, Hermione," Ron pleaded softly. "Just walk... It's just a little further." When she gave no sign of hearing him, he sighed worriedly and decided that literally dragging her was the only way he was going to get her outside short of carrying her which he feared would bring just a bit too much attention to them- they were underage, after all.

Ron managed to get her outside after much difficulty; she was small, yes, but seeing as she had passed out, she was a dead weight in his arms. She was not nearly as light as she should have been. Once they were out of the smoky club and into the fresh night air, Hermione stirred enough to look up once before letting her head fall again. Ron moved her to a bench where he could seat her, and once she was safely on the bench, he squatted in front of her.

"Hermione? Hey, Hermione, wake up," he begged gently. She gave no response, so he lightly reached up and patted her cheeks which were very flushed. "Please, wake up..."

She moaned something, and her eyes fluttered open slowly to stare at him. She no longer seemed to be in her giggly mood; in fact, she looked as though she could start crying if she really wanted to. "Ron," she croaked in a deep, quiet voice, "I think I'm going to be sick..."

Ron, who still had his hand against her warm cheek, cringed at her words. "Can you wait just a few minutes until we get back to the beach house?" he asked her.

She swallowed with a horrible look on her face and nodded her head much more slowly than she normally would have. "Yeah, I think so."

He gave her a half-smile and moved his hand to her shoulder which he squeezed encouragingly. "That's good."

Suddenly, Hermione eyes started to shut yet again, and she leaned forward to place her forehead against Ron's shoulder. Her arms went around him as she supported herself completely against him. Ron, who was quite terrified by the whole situation, patted her awkwardly on the back as soothingly as possible. He was having a bit of trouble holding his balance in the squatting position with Hermione's added weight, and he was quite thankful when Harry showed back up.

"Is she okay?" Harry asked nervously.

"I think so," Ron said, turning to glance at the side of Hermione's head which was still on his shoulder.

"Can she walk?" Harry asked with the same nervous tone.

Ron felt Hermione shake her head slightly, and he heard her mumble, "No, I'm going to pass out..."

He frowned and looked up at his other best friend. "I can't carry her all the way back," he said worriedly. "It was hard enough getting her out here!"

Harry returned the worried expression for a moment before suddenly being hit with an obvious solution. "We'll just get a cab! I've got some extra money."

Ron let out a huge sigh of relief and nodded hurriedly. "Great!"

They waited only a few minutes before a cab pulled up to the side of the road beside the bench and stopped for them. Harry reached over and helped to pull Hermione off of Ron enough, so that Ron could stand up. Together, they moved the now unconscious Hermione into the back of the cab and slid in beside her. The driver turned around to grin at them. "Is she going to make it?" he asked knowingly.

Harry just nodded hurriedly and told the man where to take them. He glanced over at his best friends. He was shocked to suddenly find Hermione dropping sideways onto Ron's lap; her arm reached out to fall against his own lap, and Harry was very aware that Ron's nervousness was probably double that which he was feeling. He looked at his best friend silently and saw that Ron was staring down at Hermione, his eyes wide in fear. He looked at Harry suddenly and said, "What if she pukes on me?"

Harry couldn't help but be amused at the image of Hermione waking up only to vomit in Ron's lap. Luckily for them all, though, Hermione stayed unconscious until the cab pulled up to the beach house. Harry quickly paid the driver and slid out of the car with Ron right behind him. He watched as Ron reached in and pulled Hermione across the seat by her arms until she was sprawled out completely over the seat with her head hanging out the door. Ron let out an exasperated groan and turned to Harry expectantly who quickly leaned down to help remove Hermione from the car. They yanked together, and Hermione was finally extracted from the vehicle only to fall headfirst out and knock Ron to the ground in the process. Quite luckily, she landed on Ron's lap instead of the concrete. The sudden movement jerked her awake, though, and she opened her eyes to look around, confused. Harry heard the driver of the cab laughing loudly as he watched the scene before driving away.

Harry looked down to see Ron trying to lift Hermione off of him. "Come on, Hermione," he was saying as he pushed her, "We need to go inside."

Hermione's eyes were glazed over, and she smiled very sleepily and shook her head. "I don't want to," she insisted.

Ron sighed as he gave yet another useless shove. "Hermione, I don't care what you want to do! We have to go inside!"

Hermione, though, seemed to be in a very stubborn mood suddenly, and she shook her head yet again. "I want to sit out here like this."

Harry was watching the whole thing in silent amusement. As long as he wasn't the one to be vomited on, he was quite fine with staying outside and watching his best friends in their latest predicament.

Ron looked sternly at the girl who was occupying his lap and said, "You're heavy!"

Hermione looked positively scandalized by this statement, and she glared at Ron in disbelief. "Are you saying I'm fat?!"

Ron looked ready to pull his hair out as he nearly screamed, "Do you look fat?!"

Hermione threw her hands into the air dramatically and said, "I don't know! Do I?"

Ron looked up at Harry, "Help me!" Harry just shrugged, though, and received a death glare from his best friend. Ron turned back to Hermione and tried to speak to her rationally and calmly. "Hermione, you are not fat. But I have been dragging you around all night, and every time you pass out, you're like a dead weight!" he finished not quite so calmly.

Hermione suddenly looked as though she were ready to cry. "I'm sorry that I'm so heavy... I'm sorry you've been dragging me around. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!!!"

Ron sighed loudly. "Don't be sorry. Just please get up," he looked at her pleadingly. "Because if Mum and Dad get back and find you like this, we're all going to be loads of trouble!"

"Oh, alright!" Hermione huffed. She made a serious move to get up, but seeing as she was still quite intoxicated, she only managed to move herself a few feet from the ground before falling back onto Ron and knocking him onto his back. She had, Harry noted, somehow turned around while falling and landed face to face on top of Ron. Why Harry had expected anything less, he had no idea; this was just a wonderful position for the two of them to be in...

Ron was staring up at her with the most horrific expression on his face, as though he were terrified. Harry did take notice, however, that Ron was suddenly making no movement whatsoever to move Hermione from her current position. In fact, Harry wasn't even completely sure that Ron was breathing...

Hermione was staring back at him just as intently for a good thirty seconds before she dropped back into a deep sleep, her head falling rather roughly right against Ron's chest and settling there quite nicely. Ron looked up at Harry helplessly and said, "Get her off!"

Harry knew that their time was getting cut close, so he reached down and grabbed Hermione under her arms. She was rather heavy, just as Ron had said, in her deep sleep. Harry tugged her upwards, but was met with a loud yell of pain from Ron. Apparently, Hermione had managed to grab a handful of Ron's hair, and when Harry pulled her up, Ron's hair as well was yanked.

Harry looked at his friend apologetically but said, "Sorry! But what am I supposed to do?"

"Just get her the hell off of me!" Ron said, reaching up to pry Hermione's fingers from his mass of red locks.

Once he had managed this task, Harry once again attempted to heave Hermione away from Ron. He managed to get her to her feet after a lot of struggling, but he held her long enough for Ron to leap to his feet and take some of Hermione's weight away from him.

"Let's just get her inside," Ron breathed heavily. Harry nodded, and together, they walked her toward the house, dragging their female counterpart between them. Once they got inside, they both glanced around quickly to make sure there were no signs of either of the adult Weasleys.

Ron looked at Harry pointedly and told him the rest of the plan. "Right. Now you stay down here and be on the lookout for Mum and Dad. If you see them coming, yell up to me, okay? I'm going to take her upstairs and see if I can get her sobered up some."

Harry nodded. "Okay. If you need anything, just yell, okay?"

Ron smiled half-heartedly and nodded. Placing one of Hermione's arms around his shoulders, he used one of his hands to hold hers there, and he wrapped his other arm around her waist. After he had her supported as best as he could, he started up the stairs with her. He had dragged her up all of two stairs before he realized that making her walk while she was unconscious was clearly impossible.

"Bloody hell," he mumbled as he realized exactly what he was going to have to do. Without thinking twice about it, though, he bent down and placed his right arm behind her knees and, keeping his left arm around her waist, he swung her up and into his arms. She was surprisingly much lighter like this than she was when she was being dragged. Immediately, her head flung itself backwards lifelessly. Ron nudged his left arm upwards, causing her head to fling itself once again- only this time, it flung upwards and landed against Ron's shoulder. He passed for a second, looking down at the girl in his arms. She looked really... peaceful all snuggled against him asleep like that. He could feel her weight starting to grow, though, so he hurried up the stairs to the second floor bathroom where he kicked open the door and carried her inside.

Ron bent down and tried his best to sit her down on the floor without waking her, but this was easier said than done. He more or less dropped her, and when she hit the floor, her eyes flew open and stared at him. "What are you doing?" she asked groggily.

Ron pulled a washrag out of the cabinet over the sink and wet it with warm water. Wringing it out, he answered her question. "I'm trying to get you sober enough, so that my parents won't find out about this," he told her pointedly.

At this, Hermione smiled sweetly at him. "That's so nice, Ron. You're really nice, you know that? When you want to be, I mean- sometimes you're a prat."

Ron just walked to her and knelt beside of her. "That's nice," he said off- handedly. He held the rag out to her. "Here, hold this against your face."

Hermione was still smiling, and in a voice much more high-pitched than she would normally use, she said, "Won't you do it for me?"

Ron eyed her, his hands growing damp with the wet washrag. "Hermione, you can do it yourself."

She closed her eyes and beamed at him larger than ever, showing off every single one of her newly perfect teeth. "Please? I'll be your best friend..."

"You already are my best friend."

Hermione burst into giggles. "I know! That's the funny part!"

Ron couldn't help but laugh a bit at the whole silliness of the situation. Silliness was rather cute on Hermione... Wait. Hermione was not cute; she was his best friend. Silliness was rather unusual on Hermione. Yes, that was better.

She kept laughing and asked him a question. "Hey, Ron, guess what!"

He grinned at her, no longer allowing himself to be angry with the fact that she was drunk. It was too funny. "What?"

"The last time we were in a bathroom together..." she broke off into giggles and had to find breath before she continued, "I turned into a cat!"

Laughing at the memory, he nodded his agreement. "Yes, you certainly did..."

"And guess what else!" she prompted, her dark amber eyes gleaming.

He was humoring her now more than anything because he was quite sure he really could guess what else. "What's that?"

"The last time we were in a bathroom together, you turned into Vincent Crabbe!" She obviously found this quite hilarious, as she erupted into even louder laughter than before.

"True..." he decided to tease her a bit. "But I didn't look as stupid as you, though... Close, but not quite."

Hermione found the fact that he was playing along to be hilarious, and she nearly doubled over from laughter. "We should hang out in the bathroom more often," she said matter-of-factly. "We always have fun!"

Ron laughed, but quickly ceased his laughter when she stretched her arms and said, "In fact, I think we should stay here all night." Ron started to protest and tell her that they couldn't stay there all night, but she had sprawled herself against the floor with her head in his now Indian-style lap. She was on her back and looking up wide-eyed at Ron who was staring down at her cautiously. Flashing him a grin, she said, "I would tell you to lie down, too, but then I would lose my pillow."

Ron managed a half-smile. He was not at all sure why he was in the habit of getting so insanely nervous around Hermione lately, but this latest scenario was proving to be no different.

She reached up for his hand that was still holding the warm rag and brought it to her face. She held his hand to her face and closed her eyes saying, "Hmm... That feels nice."

For some reason, Ron thought that it would feel much nicer if the piece of damp material weren't in the way of his actual hand on her skin. He had this really sudden wanting to caress her cheek; it was so flushed, and it looked so soft and inviting... Ron glanced up and was glad to see that the door was locked because he didn't want to even think of what it would be like if any of his siblings, or worse yet, his parents were to barge in on this scene. Or, God forbid, Harry. He then turned his attention back to Hermione whose eyes were now closed, though he knew she wasn't asleep. She was smiling ever-so-slightly, and her chest was rising and falling gently as she breathed; she was still holding his hand and the rag to her face.

Ron was still looking at her other cheek and longing to touch it. He wondered briefly if she would possibly not mind if he were to reach up and put his fingers to it. He figured that since she was, after all, lying in his lap quite willingly that she wouldn't completely freak out if he were to touch her. Still, working up enough of his own nerve and convincing himself that he really should do it was a completely different thing. But that red cheek of hers just looked so warm and smooth that he really couldn't help himself.

Slowly, half-hoping she wouldn't even notice, he raised his left hand which had been pressed against the floor beside him and raised it to that bothersome, yet wholly endearing, splash of crimson on her cheek. He ran his fingertips over the spot that was just as hot as he'd imagined and watched as she opened her eyes to look straight up into his. He was scared for a moment that she was going to tell him off, but when she spoke, her voice was soft and sweet.

"That feels nice."

Ron felt the breath catch in his throat. She'd really just said that? Wow. Ron swallowed, quite instantly finding that he couldn't speak.

It didn't matter, though; Hermione kept talking. "I could fall asleep like this," she murmured softly. "When I was little, my mum used to play with my hair, and I'd always go straight down for a nap..." Her voice actually was trailing off rather sleepily.

His eyes traveled to her hair at that point- her hair that was so straight and sleek and completely different from its natural state. It looked nice this way, but Ron had always liked her hair, even when it was frizzy and bushy. In fact, he'd always found her wild curls to be rather captivating.

"Why did you change your hair?" He'd asked it before he'd even realized he'd been thinking it.

"I hated it the other way," she answered clearly. "My head looked like a bush before."

Ron snickered at the imagery but once again found himself speaking before he could think. "I liked it."

Good God, had he really just said that out loud?

Hermione smiled mischievously, though, and spoke to him with closed eyes. "What? You have a thing for girls whose heads look huge? Does it make you feel better about your figuratively big head?"

Ron's hand stopped tracing lazy circles on her cheek, and he found himself staring down at her in disbelief. Even though she was more drunk than he had ever seen anyone in his entire life- Hagrid included- she was still managing to insult him. His first instinct was, of course, to shoot back at her with an equally as jibing remark, but for some reason, he couldn't quite get the first part of her remark out of his mind.

"You have a thing for girls whose heads look huge?"

A "thing?" He didn't have a "thing" for her. She was Hermione, for crying out loud! His friend- his best friend. Who the hell had a "thing" for their best friend? Well, certainly not him; that was for sure! Yes, his siblings had been teasing him incessantly about whatever feelings they thought he might hold for Hermione that went deeper than friendship, but he was the first to admit that his siblings weren't the brightest lot in the world- save Percy and Bill, of course, but they didn't count. And they weren't the only ones, either. He could vividly remember being taunted by Dean and Seamus for weeks after the now infamous Yule Ball fight- the fight when Hermione had flat out told him that if he ever wanted to ask her out, he needed to do it for proper reasons and not because she was his last resort. He'd wanted to kill Seamus after the Irish boy had sat behind Hermione in Potions one day and made kissing faces at him over her shoulder every time Snape chose to turn his back. But what did they know anyway? They were all stupid- the whole lot of them.

He was about to say something, though he didn't know what, when Hermione suddenly sat straight up and turned to him with huge eyes. He looked at her curiously until she told him exactly what was wrong.

"I'm going to be sick!"

Ron made a quick movement to get out her way, so she could crawl toward the toilet faster than he would have thought on all fours. She had barely made it when she flung her head over the side of the bowl, and Ron was instantly met with loud gagging sounds and the noise of splashing water- the sound of vomiting. For a moment, Ron was certain that he was going to be sick as well, but the sight of Hermione throwing up so violently was actually quite pitying. He could hear her practically choking, and when he chanced another glance at her, he saw that tears were making their way down her perfectly flushed cheeks. He'd seen her do a lot of things, but he'd never seen her actually throw up, nor had she seen him, and he intended to keep it that way. He'd been embarrassed enough when Harry had caught him puking in the Forbidden Forest when he was twelve years old; he was not going to allow Hermione to witness a similar scene, so he forced himself not to grow sick right along with her. Instead, he insisted with his quickly sickening side that the only gentlemanly thing to do would be to try and help her. He tried not to ponder when he'd started thinking about being gentlemanly around Hermione.

Moving so that he was behind her and didn't have to actually see the horrible mix of vomit and spit that was being ejected from her mouth, he placed one hand soothingly on her back and rubbed it gently. "It's okay," he prompted gently as his mother used to do with him when he was younger, "Just get it all out." She certainly appeared to be getting it all out, and Ron wondered how it was possible to throw up that much. He saw her long, straight hair falling around her face as she desperately tried to throw it backwards while still gripping the sides of the toilet. Having seen Ginny as a sick child many times, he instantly knew what to do. He reached with his free hand and pulled her hair away from her face and held it behind her while he continued to rub her back gently with the other. He kept this up, along with the words of sympathy and encouragement, for what seemed like hours before Hermione finally spat one last time at the toilet and leaned up a big, gasping for breath. She was still crying, and she looked so absolutely pitiful that Ron took it upon himself to reach around her flush the toilet. He then reached behind him for the recently discarded washrag and held it around for her; instead of taking it from him, though, she pressed her face into it while he was still holding it, and he instinctively wiped away the sweat that he could see glistening from the side of her face as she settled back between his legs and leaned against him. With his free hand, he cautiously reached up to wipe a tear away from her cheek. He let his hand linger just a bit too long before moving it sideways and allowing it to run down the length of her hair that was framing the left side of her face. Letting it rest on her shoulder, he slowly leaned around and peered at her. Her eyes were shut, and she was still breathing quite heavily.

"Are you okay?" he whispered.

She didn't answer him verbally, just nodded instead. Then she opened her eyes and turned to meet his gaze. Very quietly, she said, "Thank you."

He forced a smile and shrugged. "Just remember that you owe me," he said teasingly. Truthfully, he was more than glad that Hermione probably wouldn't remember any of this the next day.

She returned the smile, small as it was, and said, "See? This is why you're supposed to be eighteen to drink. This is why we're not supposed to do things illegally."

Ron just rolled his eyes and said, "C'mon. You need to go to bed."

She nodded and allowed him to help her up by lifting her from under her arms. Once they were both standing, she turned to him and said, "I need to brush my teeth."

He laughed at this for some reason, though he didn't know why, and led her over to the sink where he opened a drawer and pulled out a lilac colored toothbrush. "This yours?"

She nodded, and he turned the water on and opened a tube of toothpaste in order to squeeze some onto her brush. He stood behind her while she brushed her teeth for a very long time; finally, he said, "Aren't you done yet?"

She looked up at him in the mirror and gave him an annoyed look. Spitting into the sink, she rinsed quickly and said, "You're supposed to brush for three full minutes."

"So speaks the spawn of two dentists," Ron mumbled sarcastically, and Hermione turned to him and playfully punched him on the arm.

"Shut up!"

Ron laughed and led her out of the bathroom toward the room she was sleeping in. At that moment, he heard feet pounding up the stairs behind them, and he spun around to see Ginny coming toward them.

"Is she okay?" the redheaded girl asked cautiously.

Ron nodded. "Yeah, but she needs to change clothes and go to bed."

Ginny took Hermione's hand and turned to her brother. "I'll take care of her."

Ron nodded again. "Okay. If she needs anything, come get me, okay?"

"I'm right here," Hermione reminded them impatiently.

Ron sighed, "Okay, if you need anything, Hermione, come get me, okay?"

She smiled, satisfied, and gave a quick nod. "Okay."

He smiled at her for just a brief moment and then said, "See you in the morning then. Goodnight."

Both girls bid him goodnight, and he turned away from them and headed back to the room he was sharing with Harry. For some strange reason, he felt strangely pleased with the night's events.



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

Wow! That was so much fun to write! I know it was a bit long... Okay a bit is an understatement, but I was having such a blast writing it that I just couldn't cut it short! I'd love to hear your comments! I know that the POV switched a little in this part, and it hasn't done that before. But this story's romantic focus is Ron/Hermione, so it will be necessary to do some parts without Harry who has, up until now, served as the sort of narrator.

Thank you SOOOO much for your wonderful reviews on the last chapter! They're great, and they mean so much!!!!

Please leave me feedback for this part- if you've made it all the way through this part, then that should be easy :)

[pic]