A/N: Thanks to all who reviewed the last chapter!!!
Disclaimer: Nope, don't own them yet!
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Ron sat across from his female best friend, studying the chessboard between them very intently. After much coaxing, Hermione had finally given up any hopes she may have had about getting some of her homework completed and given into Ron's incessant pestering to join him for a game of chess. She honestly didn't know why he even wanted to play her anymore; she had never once in five years won a game against him. It actually seemed that as they grew older his chess skills were increasing while hers seemed to be deteriorating. Even Harry, who was relatively skilled in the game, didn't stand a chance against Ron.
She watched while he told his bishop to take out her castle and sighed dejectedly. All of the white chess pieces, her own, that were still standing glared up at her, and she was sure that she heard one of them call her "a senseless dolt." Taking great offense to the comment, she moved the offending piece, one of her own bishops, into the direct path of one of Ron's knights. And when Ron instructed his knight to overtake the bishop, Hermione smiled, satisfied even though she was now losing greatly.
"Ron, how is this interesting to you?" she asked, yawning. "We both knew the outcome of this game before it was even started."
Ron looked up at her and gave her a lopsided grin. "It's interesting because beating you at something never fails to feed my ego. And just so you know, it's very hungry at the moment."
She returned the grin and rolled her eyes into the back of her head. "Well, don't allow me to deny your ego its food."
"Oh, it's never hungry after a game of chess with you," he teased, glancing back down at the board to counter his next move. He gave his pieces instructions and looked back up at her. "Check."
Hermione let out a loud groan and rubbed at her tired eyes. "Ron, I'm sleepy! And you know I can't get out of check anyway!" She was very close to whining.
"Yes, you can. Look, right…" He started to point out the obvious move, but she held a hand in front of his face and stopped him.
"Don't tell me where! Let me find it myself." She was being very stubborn, but she truly doubted if she would be able to find it on her own. Peering at the board, she saw that most of her few standing pieces were standing around looking quite bored. Some of them were even sitting, nodding off even. The few that didn't look bored to tears were glaring at her, obviously still upset at her earlier stupidity. Her king, however, was pointing madly to his left, and Hermione finally found her move. After releasing herself from check, she looked up at Ron and stuck her tongue out. "See? I told you I could find it!"
"Actually," Ron said, his amusement clearly showing on his face, "you said you wouldn't be able to find it…"
"Oh, shut up," Hermione said, realizing he was, in fact, right. Another yawn overtook her, and she started whining for real. "Ron, I'm tired! I want to go to bed!" Her lower lip was barely protruding from her upper one.
"You can't go to bed, 'Mione. We haven't finished the game."
Hermione just stared at him for a second before raising a single eyebrow at him. "Excuse me? Did you just call me 'Mione?"
Ron laughed and shrugged. "Yeah, I guess so."
"Forget the Her, did you?" she asked, brow still raised.
Ron snickered. "I'm tired, too. Too tired to say the whole thing."
Hermione pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes a bit. "My name is not 'Mione. It is not Herm. It is not Hermy. Or Mio. Or Nee-nee. Or any other little nickname you can come up with. It is Hermione. Four syllables, and I require them all."
Ron smirked. "I get the idea, 'Mione."
This was not funny. "You're just going to call me that to tick me off now, aren't you?"
Ron shrugged, obviously trying not to grin. "I dunno, 'Mione. Maybe."
She groaned. "That is the stupidest name I have ever heard."
"Awe, come on, 'Mione, don't be like that," he said, smiling teasingly at her. "I think it's cute."
"Oh, really?" she asked sarcastically.
Ron nodded. "Yeah. In fact, if I ever have a daughter, I think I'm gonna name her 'Mione." He was obviously doing his very best to annoy her.
It was working.
"Why don't you just name your little sister 'Mione then?" she challenged, both brows raised.
"Because I'll only ever have one sister, and she's already got a name. Albeit, it's the name of an American state, and she's always said she'd rather be named Jennifer… But that's beside the point." He flashed her another grin. "And as for the new baby- 'Mione is a stupid name for a boy."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "It's a stupid name for anyone. Especially for me." She crossed her arms over her chest and eyed him.
Ron just laughed and started taunting her. "Mione, 'Mione, 'Mione!"
It was time for drastic actions. "Ronald, Ronald, Ronald!"
Ron's laughter ceased, and he narrowed his eyes at her. "Touché."
Hermione nodded, victorious. "Good. Now that we got that sorted out…"
"I'm still going to call you 'Mione," he said quietly, studying the chessboard very conspicuously.
Hermione watched him for a moment before scooting herself onto her knees and leaning across the table. In a whisper to match his own, she said, "Then I'm still going to call you Ronald."
Ron looked up to study the wide chocolate-colored eyes so close to his own. Hermione was on her knees, leaning across the table, with her arms placed strategically on the chessboard so as not to disturb any of the (impatiently) waiting pieces. Her eyes were round, and she was looking at him with the same look she got when she grew tired of arguing with him.
The look of finality.
But just as he never let the look get to him in an argument, he wasn't about to let her get the last word here. Smiling broadly and showing off all of his teeth, he said, "What's wrong, 'Mione? Upset about something?"
Hermione's eyes narrowed, and her lips went into such a thin line that she could have given McGonagall a run for her money. Glaring at him, she promptly sat herself back in the chair and stared at the board before moving her queen to E4 and looking up at Ron long enough to say, quite rudely, "Check."
Ron nearly choked when she said the word. She'd never even gotten so far as to check him before. He quickly turned his attention to the board to see what had happened, and sure enough, her queen had his king in check. Thinking very hardly about his next move, he leaned down to whisper quietly to his pieces. His king moved strategically out of check, and Ron smirked as he said, "Check, yourself, 'Mione."
Hermione groaned, made one final move, and finally heard the word, "Checkmate," coming from her opponent's lips.
She looked up at Ron and shrugged. "Is your ego quite full now?"
"Ah, yes," Ron said, standing up and stretching. "Quite."
Hermione watched him stretch and, not for the first time, marveled at his height. She, too, stood up and arched her back to get some of the creak that had developed during the chess game out.
"So," he said as he cracked his neck to one side. "What do you want to do now?"
"Sleep," she answered decisively. She reached up to cover her mouth which opened in a wide yawn, but Ron caught her hand and dragged her to one of the couches by the fireplace. He pushed her down onto the sofa and sat beside her.
"I already told you that you can't go to sleep."
Hermione took on the whining tone again. "But Ron! I'm really, really sleepy!"
Ron mimicked her whiney voice. "Well, 'Mione, I'm really, really sorry!" He grinned at her and finished in a normal voice. "But you have to stay up with me until the Quidditch team gets back with the results." He stuck his lower lip out and gave her the saddest blue eyes he could manage. "Please?"
Hermione sighed and rolled her own eyes. "That whole puppy-dog thing does not work on me."
"Please?" he asked again, giving her even more of a pitiful look. "Pretty please?"
"Fine!" she said, exasperated. "But if I stay up, you have to play what I want to play."
He grinned at her. "Fair enough. Even though you make it sound like we're seven years old."
"Well, sometimes I do wonder about your real age," Hermione said thoughtfully, earning a gasp of indignant shock from her best friend. But she just smiled brightly and said, "Okay, here's the game. You have to tell me something that you've never told Harry."
Ron looked at her for a moment, curiosity in his eyes, before finally saying, "Well, I never told Harry that I used to play with Barbies."
Hermione laughed, but shook her head. "That doesn't count. It has to be something new."
Ron wrinkled his brow a bit as he pondered the question. He told Harry most everything, certainly more than he told Hermione. But of course there were things he'd kept from both of them. Now to think of a good one… "Um…" And then one popped into his head. "Don't laugh, okay? But I was so scared of the dark when I was little that not only did I need a light but I used to make Ginny come and sleep in my room. And then I'd tell everyone I was protecting her because she was scared of being alone."
Hermione tried not to laugh, but it didn't work. Giggles erupted from her lips, and she had to hide her mouth to prevent the other Gryffindors from looking her way.
"I told you not to laugh!" Ron said, but he was grinning, too. "Fine then," he said with a huff. "Your turn. You have to tell me something that you've never told Harry."
Hermione finally got her giggling under control enough to think up one of her own. Blushing slightly, she said, "Okay, but you have to swear not to tell him."
"I swear."
Hermione nodded and swallowed, a pinkness still tingeing her cheeks. "When I was eleven years old, I used to have a really big crush on him…" Her voice trailed off, and she bit her lower lip.
Ron stared at her. Then, "What?!"
Hermione instantly looked in all directions to make sure that Ron's sudden outburst hadn't drawn the attention of all their housemates. "Be quiet!" she hissed.
But Ron was looking at her, open-mouthed and shocked. "Are you serious?!"
"I was eleven, Ron!" she whispered heatedly. "It was the whole hero thing. My God, it's not that big of a deal!"
"Oh, my God, Hermione!" he said, dropping his voice a good bit but still using just as much shock as before. "I cannot believe you just told me that!"
"You can't tell him!" she said quickly. "You swore!"
"I'm not gonna tell him!" Ron said with a hurried shrug of the shoulders. "I just can't believe you have a crush on Harry!"
Hermione once again glanced around to make sure no one was listening, as Ron wasn't doing such a swell job of keeping quiet any longer. "Had, Ron! Had! I don't still like him!"
"Are you sure?" Ron raised his eyebrows at her as though he didn't quite believe her.
"Are you kidding me?!" Hermione shook her head in shock. "You think I still like him?!"
"Well, I don't know!" Ron's hands flew into the air. "I certainly didn't know you liked him then!"
"That's because we were eleven years old, Ron! Eleven!" She couldn't believe her simple confession had turned into such a big deal. "It was just a stupid crush."
At that moment, the portrait hole swung open. Just as this was happening, Ron said, "I still can't believe you had a crush on Har…"
He didn't get to finish because Hermione swiftly slapped a hand over his mouth and hissed a quick, "Shut up!" at him, her eyes flashing dangerously.
Then she turned to flash an innocent grin at Harry and the rest of the Quidditch team that had just entered the Common Room. "Hi, guys," she said, praying that the flush was now absent from her cheeks.
Ron snorted with from behind her hand, and she slowly removed it, turning only to glare at him warningly.
Harry was staring at them both as though they'd lost their minds. "What's up with you two?" he asked warily.
Hermione's eyes widened in feigned confusion. "What? Nothing's up."
Ron snorted once again. Hermione leaned into him, giving him a good sharp jab in the ribs with her elbow, all the while beaming innocently at Harry.
"Ow!" Ron yelped, shoving Hermione away from him.
She turned to him and put on a fake concerned look. "Oh, I'm sorry, Ron! I didn't realize you were that close!" She placed a hand on his arm in what looked like a soothing manner but quickly gave him a sharp pinch. "Are you alright?"
Ron glared at her and yanked his arm away roughly. "I'm fine, thanks."
Harry just eyed his best friends oddly. "Right," he said slowly.
"If you two are finished," said George loudly. "We have announcements to make." He took it upon himself to stand up on one of the chairs and call loudly to the rest of the room. "Attention! Attention!" he roared as though he was a professor or something. The Common Room quieted as curious heads turned from all direction. Once George was satisfied that he had the needed attention from his housemates, he went on. "My fellow Quidditch players and I have reached a few decisions that we would like to share with the rest of you. First of all, I would personally like to congratulate our new captain, the beautiful Miss Alicia Spinnet!" He flashed her a grin and motioned for her to join him. "Everyone congratulate our new leader."
The whole thing was being conducted so formally that it was amusing. Hermione laughed with the others and clapped for Alicia. She silently thanked God that the team had enough sense not to appoint one of the twins captain because if that had been the case, Gryffindor would have been royally screwed.
Alicia rolled her eyes. "Well, thank you, Mr. Weasley," she said sarcastically. "But we seriously have announcements to make," she told the rest of the house. "As I'm sure you all know, we held tryouts earlier today for the positions of keeper and chaser, and they went really well. Everyone who tried out has talent, but unfortunately, there are only two open spots on the team. So, my teammates and I would like to welcome Josh Brenner as a chaser and Ron Weasley as the keeper." She beamed at the two new teammates.
Hermione, momentarily forgetting that she was currently angry with her redheaded best friend, turned to him and instantly threw her arms around his neck. "You did it! I knew you would!"
Harry looked away from his best friends and across the room to catch Ginny's eye. She looked at Ron and Hermione and rolled her eyes in Harry's direction.
Fred laughed and leaned down to whisper in Harry's ear. "I'm still keeping my money on Tuesday."
Harry sighed and walked the short distance to join his best friends. "Congratulations, Ron," he said from around Hermione's back. He watched as Hermione finally untangled herself from Ron's neck and turned to smile at him.
Ron grinned, too. "Thanks!"
Just then, Ginny planted herself on the armrest beside Ron and patted his head. "Mummy will be proud."
Ron ducked from her hand and reached up to smooth his hair. "Thank you, Virginia."
Ginny just rolled her eyes and reached up to pinch one of Ron's cheeks. "Don't mention it, Ronald."
Hermione glanced around to see where the twins were, but she saw them both smiling flirtatiously at Alicia Spinnet and knew they wouldn't be over to congratulate their little brother anytime soon. Seamus, Dean, and Neville made their way over, though. She half-listened as they gave their own congratulations, but she was mainly looking at Harry.
It definitely looked like something was bothering him.
Scooting over closer to him and allowing Dean to slide between her and Ron, she said, "What's wrong, Harry?"
He just shook his head. "Nothing's wrong."
Quietly, she said, "Is your scar hurting?"
"No, it's nothing," Harry said again.
But Hermione knew him too well to believe that. "Harry, if something's wrong, you should tell someone."
"I said nothing's wrong, Hermione!" he said, a little more heated than he had meant to. "Sorry," he said quickly, noticing the shocked look on her face. "But I'm fine. Really."
She frowned. "You're worried about Sirius, aren't you?"
Harry was a bit worried about his godfather. He made a mental note to write to him later that night after he'd gone to bed. But it wasn't really Sirius that was bothering him.
It was Ron and Hermione.
He didn't particularly like the idea of them cozying up together and leaving him out. He knew that it was stupid, that he should be happy for them when and if they got together. But it was still hard. They were supposed to be a trio.
And a trio meant three. Not two with one on the side.
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Wow! I'm posting fast, huh? More good stuff soon! I'd love reviews!!!
Disclaimer: Nope, don't own them yet!
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Ron sat across from his female best friend, studying the chessboard between them very intently. After much coaxing, Hermione had finally given up any hopes she may have had about getting some of her homework completed and given into Ron's incessant pestering to join him for a game of chess. She honestly didn't know why he even wanted to play her anymore; she had never once in five years won a game against him. It actually seemed that as they grew older his chess skills were increasing while hers seemed to be deteriorating. Even Harry, who was relatively skilled in the game, didn't stand a chance against Ron.
She watched while he told his bishop to take out her castle and sighed dejectedly. All of the white chess pieces, her own, that were still standing glared up at her, and she was sure that she heard one of them call her "a senseless dolt." Taking great offense to the comment, she moved the offending piece, one of her own bishops, into the direct path of one of Ron's knights. And when Ron instructed his knight to overtake the bishop, Hermione smiled, satisfied even though she was now losing greatly.
"Ron, how is this interesting to you?" she asked, yawning. "We both knew the outcome of this game before it was even started."
Ron looked up at her and gave her a lopsided grin. "It's interesting because beating you at something never fails to feed my ego. And just so you know, it's very hungry at the moment."
She returned the grin and rolled her eyes into the back of her head. "Well, don't allow me to deny your ego its food."
"Oh, it's never hungry after a game of chess with you," he teased, glancing back down at the board to counter his next move. He gave his pieces instructions and looked back up at her. "Check."
Hermione let out a loud groan and rubbed at her tired eyes. "Ron, I'm sleepy! And you know I can't get out of check anyway!" She was very close to whining.
"Yes, you can. Look, right…" He started to point out the obvious move, but she held a hand in front of his face and stopped him.
"Don't tell me where! Let me find it myself." She was being very stubborn, but she truly doubted if she would be able to find it on her own. Peering at the board, she saw that most of her few standing pieces were standing around looking quite bored. Some of them were even sitting, nodding off even. The few that didn't look bored to tears were glaring at her, obviously still upset at her earlier stupidity. Her king, however, was pointing madly to his left, and Hermione finally found her move. After releasing herself from check, she looked up at Ron and stuck her tongue out. "See? I told you I could find it!"
"Actually," Ron said, his amusement clearly showing on his face, "you said you wouldn't be able to find it…"
"Oh, shut up," Hermione said, realizing he was, in fact, right. Another yawn overtook her, and she started whining for real. "Ron, I'm tired! I want to go to bed!" Her lower lip was barely protruding from her upper one.
"You can't go to bed, 'Mione. We haven't finished the game."
Hermione just stared at him for a second before raising a single eyebrow at him. "Excuse me? Did you just call me 'Mione?"
Ron laughed and shrugged. "Yeah, I guess so."
"Forget the Her, did you?" she asked, brow still raised.
Ron snickered. "I'm tired, too. Too tired to say the whole thing."
Hermione pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes a bit. "My name is not 'Mione. It is not Herm. It is not Hermy. Or Mio. Or Nee-nee. Or any other little nickname you can come up with. It is Hermione. Four syllables, and I require them all."
Ron smirked. "I get the idea, 'Mione."
This was not funny. "You're just going to call me that to tick me off now, aren't you?"
Ron shrugged, obviously trying not to grin. "I dunno, 'Mione. Maybe."
She groaned. "That is the stupidest name I have ever heard."
"Awe, come on, 'Mione, don't be like that," he said, smiling teasingly at her. "I think it's cute."
"Oh, really?" she asked sarcastically.
Ron nodded. "Yeah. In fact, if I ever have a daughter, I think I'm gonna name her 'Mione." He was obviously doing his very best to annoy her.
It was working.
"Why don't you just name your little sister 'Mione then?" she challenged, both brows raised.
"Because I'll only ever have one sister, and she's already got a name. Albeit, it's the name of an American state, and she's always said she'd rather be named Jennifer… But that's beside the point." He flashed her another grin. "And as for the new baby- 'Mione is a stupid name for a boy."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "It's a stupid name for anyone. Especially for me." She crossed her arms over her chest and eyed him.
Ron just laughed and started taunting her. "Mione, 'Mione, 'Mione!"
It was time for drastic actions. "Ronald, Ronald, Ronald!"
Ron's laughter ceased, and he narrowed his eyes at her. "Touché."
Hermione nodded, victorious. "Good. Now that we got that sorted out…"
"I'm still going to call you 'Mione," he said quietly, studying the chessboard very conspicuously.
Hermione watched him for a moment before scooting herself onto her knees and leaning across the table. In a whisper to match his own, she said, "Then I'm still going to call you Ronald."
Ron looked up to study the wide chocolate-colored eyes so close to his own. Hermione was on her knees, leaning across the table, with her arms placed strategically on the chessboard so as not to disturb any of the (impatiently) waiting pieces. Her eyes were round, and she was looking at him with the same look she got when she grew tired of arguing with him.
The look of finality.
But just as he never let the look get to him in an argument, he wasn't about to let her get the last word here. Smiling broadly and showing off all of his teeth, he said, "What's wrong, 'Mione? Upset about something?"
Hermione's eyes narrowed, and her lips went into such a thin line that she could have given McGonagall a run for her money. Glaring at him, she promptly sat herself back in the chair and stared at the board before moving her queen to E4 and looking up at Ron long enough to say, quite rudely, "Check."
Ron nearly choked when she said the word. She'd never even gotten so far as to check him before. He quickly turned his attention to the board to see what had happened, and sure enough, her queen had his king in check. Thinking very hardly about his next move, he leaned down to whisper quietly to his pieces. His king moved strategically out of check, and Ron smirked as he said, "Check, yourself, 'Mione."
Hermione groaned, made one final move, and finally heard the word, "Checkmate," coming from her opponent's lips.
She looked up at Ron and shrugged. "Is your ego quite full now?"
"Ah, yes," Ron said, standing up and stretching. "Quite."
Hermione watched him stretch and, not for the first time, marveled at his height. She, too, stood up and arched her back to get some of the creak that had developed during the chess game out.
"So," he said as he cracked his neck to one side. "What do you want to do now?"
"Sleep," she answered decisively. She reached up to cover her mouth which opened in a wide yawn, but Ron caught her hand and dragged her to one of the couches by the fireplace. He pushed her down onto the sofa and sat beside her.
"I already told you that you can't go to sleep."
Hermione took on the whining tone again. "But Ron! I'm really, really sleepy!"
Ron mimicked her whiney voice. "Well, 'Mione, I'm really, really sorry!" He grinned at her and finished in a normal voice. "But you have to stay up with me until the Quidditch team gets back with the results." He stuck his lower lip out and gave her the saddest blue eyes he could manage. "Please?"
Hermione sighed and rolled her own eyes. "That whole puppy-dog thing does not work on me."
"Please?" he asked again, giving her even more of a pitiful look. "Pretty please?"
"Fine!" she said, exasperated. "But if I stay up, you have to play what I want to play."
He grinned at her. "Fair enough. Even though you make it sound like we're seven years old."
"Well, sometimes I do wonder about your real age," Hermione said thoughtfully, earning a gasp of indignant shock from her best friend. But she just smiled brightly and said, "Okay, here's the game. You have to tell me something that you've never told Harry."
Ron looked at her for a moment, curiosity in his eyes, before finally saying, "Well, I never told Harry that I used to play with Barbies."
Hermione laughed, but shook her head. "That doesn't count. It has to be something new."
Ron wrinkled his brow a bit as he pondered the question. He told Harry most everything, certainly more than he told Hermione. But of course there were things he'd kept from both of them. Now to think of a good one… "Um…" And then one popped into his head. "Don't laugh, okay? But I was so scared of the dark when I was little that not only did I need a light but I used to make Ginny come and sleep in my room. And then I'd tell everyone I was protecting her because she was scared of being alone."
Hermione tried not to laugh, but it didn't work. Giggles erupted from her lips, and she had to hide her mouth to prevent the other Gryffindors from looking her way.
"I told you not to laugh!" Ron said, but he was grinning, too. "Fine then," he said with a huff. "Your turn. You have to tell me something that you've never told Harry."
Hermione finally got her giggling under control enough to think up one of her own. Blushing slightly, she said, "Okay, but you have to swear not to tell him."
"I swear."
Hermione nodded and swallowed, a pinkness still tingeing her cheeks. "When I was eleven years old, I used to have a really big crush on him…" Her voice trailed off, and she bit her lower lip.
Ron stared at her. Then, "What?!"
Hermione instantly looked in all directions to make sure that Ron's sudden outburst hadn't drawn the attention of all their housemates. "Be quiet!" she hissed.
But Ron was looking at her, open-mouthed and shocked. "Are you serious?!"
"I was eleven, Ron!" she whispered heatedly. "It was the whole hero thing. My God, it's not that big of a deal!"
"Oh, my God, Hermione!" he said, dropping his voice a good bit but still using just as much shock as before. "I cannot believe you just told me that!"
"You can't tell him!" she said quickly. "You swore!"
"I'm not gonna tell him!" Ron said with a hurried shrug of the shoulders. "I just can't believe you have a crush on Harry!"
Hermione once again glanced around to make sure no one was listening, as Ron wasn't doing such a swell job of keeping quiet any longer. "Had, Ron! Had! I don't still like him!"
"Are you sure?" Ron raised his eyebrows at her as though he didn't quite believe her.
"Are you kidding me?!" Hermione shook her head in shock. "You think I still like him?!"
"Well, I don't know!" Ron's hands flew into the air. "I certainly didn't know you liked him then!"
"That's because we were eleven years old, Ron! Eleven!" She couldn't believe her simple confession had turned into such a big deal. "It was just a stupid crush."
At that moment, the portrait hole swung open. Just as this was happening, Ron said, "I still can't believe you had a crush on Har…"
He didn't get to finish because Hermione swiftly slapped a hand over his mouth and hissed a quick, "Shut up!" at him, her eyes flashing dangerously.
Then she turned to flash an innocent grin at Harry and the rest of the Quidditch team that had just entered the Common Room. "Hi, guys," she said, praying that the flush was now absent from her cheeks.
Ron snorted with from behind her hand, and she slowly removed it, turning only to glare at him warningly.
Harry was staring at them both as though they'd lost their minds. "What's up with you two?" he asked warily.
Hermione's eyes widened in feigned confusion. "What? Nothing's up."
Ron snorted once again. Hermione leaned into him, giving him a good sharp jab in the ribs with her elbow, all the while beaming innocently at Harry.
"Ow!" Ron yelped, shoving Hermione away from him.
She turned to him and put on a fake concerned look. "Oh, I'm sorry, Ron! I didn't realize you were that close!" She placed a hand on his arm in what looked like a soothing manner but quickly gave him a sharp pinch. "Are you alright?"
Ron glared at her and yanked his arm away roughly. "I'm fine, thanks."
Harry just eyed his best friends oddly. "Right," he said slowly.
"If you two are finished," said George loudly. "We have announcements to make." He took it upon himself to stand up on one of the chairs and call loudly to the rest of the room. "Attention! Attention!" he roared as though he was a professor or something. The Common Room quieted as curious heads turned from all direction. Once George was satisfied that he had the needed attention from his housemates, he went on. "My fellow Quidditch players and I have reached a few decisions that we would like to share with the rest of you. First of all, I would personally like to congratulate our new captain, the beautiful Miss Alicia Spinnet!" He flashed her a grin and motioned for her to join him. "Everyone congratulate our new leader."
The whole thing was being conducted so formally that it was amusing. Hermione laughed with the others and clapped for Alicia. She silently thanked God that the team had enough sense not to appoint one of the twins captain because if that had been the case, Gryffindor would have been royally screwed.
Alicia rolled her eyes. "Well, thank you, Mr. Weasley," she said sarcastically. "But we seriously have announcements to make," she told the rest of the house. "As I'm sure you all know, we held tryouts earlier today for the positions of keeper and chaser, and they went really well. Everyone who tried out has talent, but unfortunately, there are only two open spots on the team. So, my teammates and I would like to welcome Josh Brenner as a chaser and Ron Weasley as the keeper." She beamed at the two new teammates.
Hermione, momentarily forgetting that she was currently angry with her redheaded best friend, turned to him and instantly threw her arms around his neck. "You did it! I knew you would!"
Harry looked away from his best friends and across the room to catch Ginny's eye. She looked at Ron and Hermione and rolled her eyes in Harry's direction.
Fred laughed and leaned down to whisper in Harry's ear. "I'm still keeping my money on Tuesday."
Harry sighed and walked the short distance to join his best friends. "Congratulations, Ron," he said from around Hermione's back. He watched as Hermione finally untangled herself from Ron's neck and turned to smile at him.
Ron grinned, too. "Thanks!"
Just then, Ginny planted herself on the armrest beside Ron and patted his head. "Mummy will be proud."
Ron ducked from her hand and reached up to smooth his hair. "Thank you, Virginia."
Ginny just rolled her eyes and reached up to pinch one of Ron's cheeks. "Don't mention it, Ronald."
Hermione glanced around to see where the twins were, but she saw them both smiling flirtatiously at Alicia Spinnet and knew they wouldn't be over to congratulate their little brother anytime soon. Seamus, Dean, and Neville made their way over, though. She half-listened as they gave their own congratulations, but she was mainly looking at Harry.
It definitely looked like something was bothering him.
Scooting over closer to him and allowing Dean to slide between her and Ron, she said, "What's wrong, Harry?"
He just shook his head. "Nothing's wrong."
Quietly, she said, "Is your scar hurting?"
"No, it's nothing," Harry said again.
But Hermione knew him too well to believe that. "Harry, if something's wrong, you should tell someone."
"I said nothing's wrong, Hermione!" he said, a little more heated than he had meant to. "Sorry," he said quickly, noticing the shocked look on her face. "But I'm fine. Really."
She frowned. "You're worried about Sirius, aren't you?"
Harry was a bit worried about his godfather. He made a mental note to write to him later that night after he'd gone to bed. But it wasn't really Sirius that was bothering him.
It was Ron and Hermione.
He didn't particularly like the idea of them cozying up together and leaving him out. He knew that it was stupid, that he should be happy for them when and if they got together. But it was still hard. They were supposed to be a trio.
And a trio meant three. Not two with one on the side.
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Wow! I'm posting fast, huh? More good stuff soon! I'd love reviews!!!
