A/N: Wow, everyone really liked the last chapter. I'm thrilled!

Disclaimer: No, no, no...

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A knock on the front door drew Hermione's attention at once. She groaned and rolled her eyes slightly. Five days into vacation, and this was the fourth time Harry was leaving with Gia. Apparently, they were getting on quite well, though she couldn't imagine why. They had absolutely nothing in common as far as she could see. Hermione was yet to work out exactly how Harry and Gia were actually happening.

She took her time getting to the front door, not caring at all that she was making Gia Martin wait in the cold December air. After all, Gia was the very one who had stolen Hermione's winter coat from her cubby at the age of seven, forcing Hermione to wait outside in the snow for her mother on an afternoon that just happened to have the Grangers running over an hour late at the office. She smiled to herself as she crossed the living room as slowly as possible.

When she finally reached the door, she opened it and put on her best fake smile. Gia was literally shivering as she returned the smile. "Hi, Hermione. How are you?"

Hermione smiled and politely held the door open for Gia to enter. "I'm good. How are you?"

Gia walked into the living room and took off her hat, shaking out her blonde curls as she did so. "I'm great." She glanced around. "Is Harry here?"

Hermione was going to kill the prat. "No, he and Ron ran out to the store to get some junk food, but they should be back soon." They should have been back thirty minutes ago, but Hermione wasn't going to dwell on this. She was simply working out in her mind the best way to make 'Avada Kedavra' work on them without getting cited for underage magic use.

However, Gia didn't seem to be nearly as upset by this as Hermione was. She simply smiled brightly and removed her coat, taking it upon herself to drape it across an armchair and settle down onto the couch. "Well, good then," she said briskly. "You and I can catch up."

Hermione would have liked just as well to claw her own eyeballs out, but she returned her own fake little grin and reluctantly joined Gia on the sofa.

"So, I haven't seen you in forever," Gia said honestly. "I see your parents every now and then, but I don't think I've seen you in like four years."

She was right. Hermione always did her very best to avoid her old classmates whenever she was at home. She nodded, "Yeah, it has been awhile."

"Don't you come home on summer holidays or anything?"

Hermione nodded again. "Yeah. But sometimes I travel, and I usually end up staying with Ron's family for a few weeks. So, I'm really not here for that long."

Gia was grinning quite wickedly. "So, what is with you and Ron anyway?"

Hermione raised an eyebrow, outright shocked that Gia had the audacity to ask that question. She didn't even know her! Doing her very best to keep her cool, Hermione pretended to be lost. "What are you talking about?"

Gia rolled her green eyes slightly. "Please, Hermione. I don't even know him that well, and I can already tell that you two are crazy over each other. I mean, he turned down CELESTE to spend time with you. Do you realize that no one has ever turned down Celeste? Ever?"

Hermione bit back a grin at the memory of Ron on the phone (Harry had coached him on how to use it properly) the day after they'd gone to the cinema. Celeste had called to ask if he wanted to join her with Harry and Gia on some sort of double date. Ron had immediately started coughing loudly, claiming that Hermione had been sick for quite some time and she must have given it to him.

Straightening up, Hermione said, "He was sick."

Gia just raised an eyebrow. "You don't have to lie; Harry told me the truth."

Okay, so Harry was definitely going to die... Struggling over an answer that sounded halfway normal, Hermione sighed. "Well, he just didn't want to hurt her feelings."

Rolling her eyes, Gia said, "I still don't understand why you haven't dated either of them yet anyway."

"Because they're my best friends." It was the same old defense that she'd been giving to everyone for the past five years. She was quite sick of hearing herself say those words.

"How did you manage to make two male best friends at boarding school anyway? Don't you have any female roommates or anything?"

A Mountain Troll fluttered into her mind, but she quickly dismissed the thought, knowing that she was definitely not about to let Gia in on that little secret. Of course, knowing that Harry apparently now had quite a big mouth, she wouldn't have been too surprised if Gia already knew. "I have roommates," she answered simply. "But they're a lot different than me, and I don't get along with them as well as I do with Harry and Ron."

"Don't you have any girlfriends at all then?"

Hermione shrugged. "Ron's got a sister that I'm pretty close with. But she's in the year below us, so I don't get to spend a lot of time with her."

Gia smiled. "Well, I know you're never really around, but I'd like us to be friends again."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. Again?

Gia laughed, as if she knew what Hermione was thinking. "Okay, so we weren't that good of friends before. But I'd really like us to be now."

Surprisingly, she sounded completely genuine.

Gia went right on. "Hermione, I really like Harry. A lot." She smiled fondly. "And I know that I haven't know him for that long, but I would like to think that... that he likes me back as much as I do him."

Hermione sighed a bit dejectedly. "I think he does."

The smile returned to Gia's face and lit up her eyes. "Really?"

Hermione nodded. It was true; Harry did appear to be quite fond of her old schoolmate. "Yeah, I think so."

Gia seemed more than thrilled with the news. "I don't even know how to explain it, but I just really, really like him. He's just not like any of the guys at school, you know? He's just deeper. Or something- I don't know. But I really like it."

Harry was probably as far different from the guys at Gia's school as it was possible to be. Hermione remembered them all as being rambunctious and loud and annoying.

More like Ron than like Harry.

"He is different," Hermione admitted. "He's been through a lot in his life."

Gia's smile faded, and she looked incredibly serious. "Like what?"

Hermione shrugged slightly. "It's not really my place."

Gia nodded understandingly. "Yeah, okay. But Hermione, could we please at least try to be some sort of friends? I mean, I've already told you how much I like Harry, and you're his best friend. So, I just think it would make things a lot easier."

Hermione studied the other girl for a moment. "You do realize that Harry is going back to school in two weeks, right? And when we're not in school, he doesn't live anywhere close to here."

"I know," she said, nodding. "But... Well, we'll just see what happens."

Before Hermione could say anything else, the front door opened again, and Ron and Harry came in. Gia flashed Hermione a secret look that Hermione interpreted to be a plead for silence on her part. Nodding slightly, Hermione looked away.

Gia stood up. "Hey," she said sweetly.

Harry smiled at her, his face showing something that it rarely showed these days. Happiness.

"Sorry I'm late," he apologized, his cheeks turning the slightest of pink shades. "We got lost."

Hermione sent Ron a confused look. He grinned back at her and shrugged- obviously, it was a lie. They didn't get lost; they just got caught up in the aisles and aisles of crisps and soda and sweets at the supermarket.

"That's okay," Gia said, still smiling. "Do you need a minute, or are you ready?"

Harry set his bag on the coffee table in front of the sofa. "No, I'm ready now if you are."

She grinned. "Yeah, cool."

He sent her another sheepish smile, and they left, throwing goodbyes over their shoulders at Ron and Hermione.

Hermione watched the door close and shook her head to herself. It wasn't until she felt fingers jabbing into her sides that she yelped and spun around. Ron was laughing from behind her. "Constant vigilance, 'Mione," he scolded. "You shouldn't just drift away like that."

Hermione rolled her eyes and reached up to swat him across the room. "Don't do that! You could have given me a heart attack."

"I hardly think it was that serious. Besides, like I said- Constant Vigilance!"

She rolled her eyes again. "You're going to need constant vigilance because I'm going to kill you and Harry for leaving me alone with Gia."

Ron snorted as he sat down on the sofa and opened Harry's bag, pulling out a chocolate Mars bar. He unwrapped it and broke it in half, holding up the slightly smaller piece to her. Hermione took it roughly and dropped onto the couch beside him. Through a mouthful of chocolate, he said, "You must really hate her, huh?"

Hermione took a bite of her own piece. "I don't hate her. She's just not my favorite person. What does Harry see in her anyway?"

"Look at her." Ron raised an eyebrow knowingly, and Hermione glared at him.

"Oh, I forgot. You like those ditzy blonde types."

Ron scowled slightly. "I don't just like ditzy blondes," he said quietly. "Sometimes I like the exact opposite of ditzy blonde..." His face was incredibly red, and Hermione somehow wasn't sure if she was supposed to have even heard that.

Blushing a little herself, she brushed over his last statement as if it hadn't been said. "Well, I know she's pretty. But that can't be the only reason he likes her."

Ron recovered from his momentary blush and cleared his throat slightly. "She's the first girl who's ever liked him."

"That's not true," Hermione said briskly. "Loads of girls like him. Your own sister likes him."

The scowl returned for a moment, but he didn't comment. "I mean, she's the first girl who's ever liked him without knowing who he is. She's the first girl who's ever liked him because of who he is and not because his name is Harry Potter. Get it?"

And suddenly, it all made sense. "She's the first girl who hasn't known he was famous..."

"Exactly." Ron finished off his piece of the chocolate. "You know, these Muggle sweets aren't half bad."

Hermione took her last bite and leaned forward to look into the paper bag in front of her. She rolled her eyes at all the junk food. "My parents will freak if they see this."

Ron laughed and lifted the bag onto his lap. He reached in and pulled out a bag of barbecue flavored crisps. "Well, we'll just eat it all before they get home." He opened the bag and held it out to her.

Hermione laughed and shook her head. "Those things make your breath smell horrible."

Ron shrugged. "So?" He popped one into his mouth. "Are you planning on kissing somebody or something?"

She turned her head sharply and looked at him. To her surprise, he wasn't blushing, and she found that she wasn't, either. They held each other's eyes for a long moment, almost daringly, and then she looked down at the bag and took a single crisp. Looking back up, she shrugged a single shoulder and said as nonchalantly as possible, "Wouldn't you like to know?"

Ron looked at her for a second before raising a single eyebrow and saying, "Yeah, I would, actually."

It was weird. They were flirting. They were flirting with each other, and they both knew it. And neither of them was stopping.

Placing the still uneaten crisp into her mouth, she smiled airily and said, "Well, maybe someday I'll let you know."

Ron stared at her; he was giving her a rather unexplainable look, and she reveled in it. Quietly, he said, "Yeah. Maybe."

They stared at each other for a long, long moment. Finally, Hermione smiled and glanced back into the paper bag. "You should probably save some of this for Harry. I expect he'd be pretty mad if it was all gone when he got back."

Ron shrugged. "Who cares? I'm sure Gia's got plenty for him to eat."

There was a stunned silence as they both realized how incredibly crude that statement sounded.

Especially to two fifteen year old minds.

They looked at each other, both shocked. Ron turned bright red. "I didn't mean it like that! I meant food!"

Hermione burst into a fit full of giggles all at once. She, too, was now a vivid crimson color, and her body was shaking as she tried terribly to get her laughing under control. It was of no use, though, and things weren't helped when Ron, obviously quite shocked that Hermione had found his mistake humorous of all things, collapsed into laughter with her.

"Hermione, stop!" he managed through laughter. "It wasn't even that funny!"

Hermione had her face pressed into her lap and was still convulsing with giggles. "I think I'm gonna pee in my pants!"

Ron laughed even louder as he looked at her dangerously. "Really?" And with that, he launched into a full out tickling attack that had Hermione scrambling halfway over the back of the couch.

"Stop!" she shrieked as he held her and continued to tickle her mercilessly. "I'll pee on you! I swear I will!" She kicked her leg out, and Ron let go just in time.

He jumped back and looked at her with a grinning incredulous look. "Hey! Watch it!"

Hermione rolled her eyes quickly and finished her task of climbing over the back of the sofa before running as quickly as Ron had ever seen her run in the direction of the downstairs bathroom. He was still laughing when she returned minutes later, quite over her own laughing fit and glaring warningly at him.

"I am going to kill you," she said, dead seriously. "You are not going to live to be sixteen; I just want to make that perfectly clear to you."

Ron snickered at her grave face and rolled his eyes. "Okay, Hermione."

It was clear that he didn't trust her. Well, then, she'd just have to prove her point. Without waiting for another word, she jumped onto the couch and shoved him backwards, tickling him in a far more furious manner than he had done her. He shrieked louder than she had when he fell backwards with her force. He was completely helpless, breathless from laughter and pinned down by the fact that she had wasted no time in climbing on top of his stomach and straddling him, holding him down as she continued to torture him.

"Stop it! I'm sorry!" He was yelping and shrieking as she showed him no mercy. "Hermione!"

She looked down at him and cocked an eyebrow. "If you were smart enough, maybe you could get out of this," she challenged. She even stopped tickling him, waiting for his answer.

Ron looked up at her before cocking an eyebrow right back at her and offering her a challenge of his own. "Maybe I don't want to."

And there it was again.

They were openly flirting- this was probably the first time they'd done any of this without blushing like mad and stuttering around their words.

It was completely wicked.

And she loved it.

Hermione sat back a bit and crossed her arms over her chest. She eyed him curiously, and neither of them spoke for another very long moment. Hermione bit down on her lower lip and wondered if maybe she should just throw all caution to the wind and get everything over and done with. It would be easy enough; she was now positive that this whole thing wasn't one- sided.

As she was thinking though, Ron reached up and grabbed her shoulders, pulling her down to where she was almost lying on top of him.

She didn't move; she didn't breathe. They were face to face, just inches away from each other, and she noticed that this was one of the very few rare moments when they were literally eye-to-eye.

And he was staring at her like he'd never done before.

In a voice much deeper than the one he normally used, he said, "You get out of it." Their eyes locked, and she held her breath as he barely whispered his next words. "Unless you don't want to, either."

"Hermione!"

The kitchen door closed with a thud, and Hermione immediately looked up in terror at the sound of her mother's voice.

"Oh, shit!" It had come from her mouth, but Ron didn't even have time to scold her because without hesitating another second, she had jumped off of Ron and was pulling him into a sitting position. He looked at her bewildered as she quickly sat back down, a good distance from him.

At that exact moment, the door leading from the kitchen to the living room opened, and Mrs. Granger walked in dressed in her work clothes. She glanced at the two teenagers. "Oh, good. I didn't think you were home."

"We're here," Hermione muttered.

"Where's Harry?" she asked casually.

"With Gia," Hermione muttered again. She was doing her very best to appear casual, but she wasn't doing too good of a job of it.

"Oh," her mother sounded slightly disappointed. "Well, your father wants to take everyone out for dinner tonight. But I suppose if Harry's busy then that's fine." She eyed the bag of sweets on the coffee table. "If you two haven't spoiled your appetite, of course." She rolled her eyes. "Hermione, you know I hate for you to eat this junk."

"I know, Mum," Hermione said, quite annoyed with the presence of her mother.

"It's mine, Mrs. Granger," Ron spoke for the first time. "Mine and Harry's."

Mrs. Granger looked rather disapprovingly at the redhead. "You're both going to rot your teeth out."

Ron grinned, a winning grin that he knew to work quite well on Hermione's mum- he'd noticed this a few days before. "Then it'd just be more business for you, right?"

Mrs. Granger chuckled. "Just make sure you're ready at seven, okay?"

Both teens nodded, and when Mrs. Granger was out of sight, Hermione took a chance glance at Ron, who she was surprised to see was looking back at her.

There was a very awkward moment of silence that hadn't been there moments before. Hermione wasn't sure whether this was good or bad, but she did know that her mother was at home. And Hermione was feeling things far too tempting for that to be a good mix.

"Well, I'm going to go find something to wear," she said casually.

Ron looked at her. His face was serious, but he nodded, knowing what she was thinking and knowing that it was true.

There was a time and a place for everything, and this definitely was not it.

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Ahhh!!! More shoes hitting the computer screens! I can see it now! Lalala, I am so evil!!! I LOVE it!!!!!!

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