A/N: Your reviews keep getting better and better! Thanks a million!!!!

Disclaimer: Not mine!

********************** "I cannot believe holiday is over tomorrow!" Ron threw down a quill in frustration and glared at the open Charms book in front of him.

Hermione, who was sitting on the bed reading some Muggle novel that hadn't left her face for the past two days, didn't even bother looking up as she said, "I can't believe you've not finished your homework yet."

Ron's head moved, and his glare turned toward her instead of the course book. "I've been a bit busy," he said haughtily. "When was I supposed to do it?"

Hermione rolled her eyes slightly but still didn't deem to move them to him. "Oh, I don't know," she said sarcastically. "Maybe during one of those nine-hundred hours you spent in front of the television."

"Well, excuse me for wanting to gain as much as possible from my brief expedition into the Muggle world. I was only trying to make it as educational as possible." He seemed quite self-satisfied with his response.

Hermione, however, simply snorted and finally raised her eyes to smirk at him.

"And anyway," he went on, ignoring her look. "When did you do all of it? You've been with me the whole time."

Not that he was complaining, of course.

Hermione's eyebrows raised and wiggled just a bit mysteriously before she grinned and said, "It's magic."

Now, it was Ron's turn to snort. "So speaks the girl with the Time Turner..."

Hermione burst into laughter and immediately grabbed the pillow beside her, throwing it forcefully through the air at him. Ron caught it on instant and immediately hurled it right back at her where it proceeded to smack right against the side of her head, earning another bout of giggles from her.

"Good to know your Keeper skills are still on top," she observed with a teasing smile. "Gryffindor might have a chance yet."

Ron actually took quite a bit of offense to this statement. "Excuse me, but Gryffindor is in first place in case you haven't noticed."

"Oh, I know," she said with a nod. "But you haven't played Ravenclaw yet, and Harry never seems to try as hard when a certain fellow Seeker is in the air..."

Ron laughed, realizing what she meant and knowing fully-well that it was true. "Yeah, but he always pulls through, doesn't he?"

She shrugged. "I guess so."

"And I don't think Cho is going to be on Harry's mind too much anymore anyway. I'm pretty sure that his brain is now filled ninety-eight percent full with a certain Muggle."

Hermione shrugged again. "I guess so."

Harry had told Gia about Hogwarts three days ago, and surprisingly enough, she hadn't completely freaked out. Harry said that she didn't believe it at first, but he had proved it by doing a couple of Charms; this, of course, earned a rather harsh scolding from Hermione who said everything from, "You could get expelled!" to "That's illegal!" to "What if you had made a mistake and destroyed her room?!" Harry and Ron had both rolled their eyes at the last claim, as it was virtually impossible that Harry could have messed up 'Wingardium Leviosa.' However, they was a bit surprised that no letters had come from the Ministry or from the school about his underage magic use; Ron rolled his eyes again as he'd mumbled, "Probably because it's Harry Potter," when they'd been marveling over the fact that he hadn't gotten in trouble. But anyway, after the initial shock, Gia had become completely obsessed with learning any and everything that she possibly could about the wizarding world; Hermione had been reluctant at first to divulge any information and scolded the boys for doing so, claiming that they still didn't know if she was going to keep it a secret. But it appeared that Gia was keeping it a secret; she'd sworn up and down never to tell anyone. And eventually, Hermione had given in and even showed her some of the textbooks. Gia was amazed by everything from their wands to the moving pictures in their books to the few stories they'd taken the liberty of telling her about their time at Hogwarts. It actually made things much easier on them now that Gia knew; they didn't have quite as many secrets.

Gia had also taken to questioning Hermione about all of the people at their school; she couldn't quite get past the fact that everything sounded so completely normal when it was so obviously abnormal. That conversation had actually been quite amusing.

**************Flashback*************

"So, what are your roommates like?" Gia asked anxiously.

"They're okay." Hermione shrugged a bit. "Nice enough, just a bit ditzy. They giggle and gossip a lot. And they're gorgeous. I always feel ugly next to them."

Gia rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on. I don't see how you could feel ugly next to anyone. Have you looked in the mirror?"

"You don't know Lavender and Parvati," Hermione said matter-of-factly. "Lavender is tall and thin, and she used to have long, blonde hair, but she cut it a few months ago. Now, it's a little above her shoulders and flips out really nicely, and she's got huge bluey-purplish eyes. And Parvati is of Indian-descent, so she's got this beautiful mocha colored skin, and dark eyes, almost onyx looking. And her hair- she's got this thick jet black hair that falls past her waist. And then there's me- short with brown hair and brown eyes. I'm definitely the plain one."

Gia rolled her eyes again. "Whatever, Hermione."

"It's true!" she protested immediately. "And they're not even the prettiest girls in the school, either." She thought for a moment, quickly figuring that mentioning Cho Chang's beauty was probably not a good idea. She settled instead for, "Like Ron's sister, Ginny. Now, she's like the walking definition of a beauty queen, and she doesn't even know it."

"Really? What's she look like?"

Hermione pictured the youngest Weasley in her mind for a moment. "Well, she's got the red hair, of course, because everyone in that family does. Hers and Ron's are about the same color, but his is just a little bit darker than hers. But hers is so straight and so shiny, and it comes... well, I guess it's about the same length as mine. And she's got this really pale skin that looks almost porcelain; it's really smooth and milky, but she's got a sprinkle of freckles that go just over the bridge of her nose and the tops of her cheeks. And she's got the biggest eyes I have ever seen in my life; they're a light browny-golden sort of color, really pretty. Oh, and she's tall, and she definitely has more curves than I've got." Hermione smiled a little and shrugged. "She's just really pretty."

"Wow," Gia grinned. "Sounds like it. I wish I could meet her; she sounds really nice."

Hermione considered this for a moment. That would certainly be an interesting meeting... 'Hello, Ginny. Meet Harry's girlfriend.'

Yeah, right.

"Yeah," Hermione agreed, careful not to let her thoughts show through on her face. "She's really cool."

"She's your best friend?"

"Ron and Harry are my best friends."

Gia nodded. "Yeah, but I mean girlfriend."

Shrugging, Hermione nodded a little. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Has she got a boyfriend?"

Hermione bit her tongue for a moment, choosing her words carefully. "No. There's a guy that she likes, but... he's seeing someone else right now."

Gia frowned. "Well, she should just move in on him. She sounds gorgeous; a guy would have to be gay not to like her. She should just push the other girl out of the way and take whatever she wants."

A loud laugh escaped Hermione, and she immediately put a hand to her mouth to cease it.

Gia raised an eyebrow. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing," she answered instantly. "It's just... Nothing, never mind."

***************End Flashback***************

"Hermione!"

Ron's whining immediately drew her out of slight lapse in time, and she looked over at her desk where he was leaned back in the chair staring at her expectantly.

"What do you want?" she asked smoothly.

"I don't understand this!" he continued to whine. "None of it makes sense!"

Hermione glanced at the textbook and saw that he was working on his Charms assignment. With a slight laugh, she said, "Here's a hint. Make the 'gar' nice and long in 'Wingardium'..."

Ron glared at her. "Hand me the pillow, so I can throw it at you again."

Hermione laughed and got up from her place on the bed to stand behind him. She peered down at his work; only a few of the questions were answered, and the ones that were weren't exactly perfect. Shaking her head slightly, she sighed and said, "This is all wrong."

"Well, then help me!" He looked up at her expectantly.

Crossing her arms over her chest, she looked back at him just as expectantly. "Why should I?"

With the tiniest hint of a smirk, Ron reached a hand up and pushed her hair back from her face. "Because if you don't, I might tell your mum that you didn't really burn your neck with a curling iron."

Hermione shrugged away from him and rolled her eyes. "Oh, that would go over brilliantly with my father. Why don't you just do that?"

He considered this for a moment and then nodded. "Oh, yeah. Right." Then he stuck out his lower lip and pleaded once more with her, this time using the pity attempt. "Please, 'Mione? I really need your help."

After staring at him with pursed lips for a long moment, she rolled her eyes again and gave in. "Fine. Leaning across him to the other end of the desk, she reached for her own work and scooted it beside his. She bent down a little and started comparing the two pieces of work, pointing out what was different and how he should redo his. Ron, though, seemed quite distracted and didn't appear to be paying too much attention.

"Are you listening to me?" she asked, turning her head and watching the way he was eyeing her profile intently.

His eyes flicked back to meet her own, and he appeared completely lost. "Huh? Oh... Yeah..."

"What did I just say?"

Ron continued to stare at her. "You smell good."

Lost in his words for a brief second, she momentarily forgot about his work. She came back to reality quite quickly, though, and did her best to look reprovingly. "Ron, do you want to finish your homework or not?"

"Not as badly as I want to spend the last day of holiday with you." His words had come without hesitation, and his eyes were so full of honesty that she almost felt like she could melt on the spot.

"Ron..." She started to scold him for procrastinating, but she stopped short when his hand once again went to her hair.

"The curls are beautiful," he said suddenly.

Hermione forgot all about schoolwork.

It was without struggle that she allowed herself to be pulled down and into a kiss, which ended quite easily with her sitting on top of his lap. 'I can't believe we have to go back to school tomorrow..." he murmured against the side of her neck.

School.

Things would change now. It was one thing to carry on like this with Ron while she was at home, but tomorrow they'd be back at Hogwarts. This brought up several problems, not the least of which was their best friend.

"We need to tell Harry," she said suddenly, leaning back just enough to escape his lips, which were once again headed for her own. Her statement caused him to look at her seriously.

He didn't need to ask what she was referring to; his face showed immediate apprehension. "I thought you didn't want to."

"Well, he'll find out anyway, won't he?" She paused for a moment. "Everyone will."

Ron's face set into defeat. She understood his worries about telling people; she was worried, too. Harry had made it no secret that he didn't want the two of them together, but what had happened had happened and there was nothing to change it. They liked each other too much to let anyone else, no matter if it was their best friend, stand in the way.

Nodding, though, Ron agreed. "Yeah, we should tell him."

"You should tell him," Hermione corrected instantly.

The look on Ron's face was priceless. "Why me?!"

"Because you're a boy." Wasn't it the most obvious thing in the world?

"What's that got to do with anything?"

"Harry's a boy, too."

"I know that..."

"You're both boys."

Ron was getting exasperated. "Why does that matter?!"

"Because you're both boys, so you should talk about things like that. I shouldn't."

"Oh, really?" Ron didn't seem to share her logic. "And who are you going to tell?"

"Lavender and Parvati," she answered instantly, giggling to show that she wasn't being serious.

"Oh, yeah," Ron said sarcastically. "I'm sure if the whole school didn't know it before, they would then."

Hermione shrugged. "And I could tell Ginny."

"What?!" Ron's eyes doubled in size. "You can't tell Ginny!"

Hermione giggled again, thoroughly enjoying the look on his face. "Or maybe you should tell Ginny. She is your sister."

"No one is telling Ginny," Ron said flatly. "She's too young to be discussing things like that."

At this statement, Hermione snorted disdainfully. "Please, Ron. Let me point something out in case you haven't noticed. There is a larger age difference between you and me than there is between Ginny and me."

It was clear that Ron was mentally doing the math in his head, and when he finally realized that she was right, he rolled his eyes. "By a month!"

Hermione rolled her own eyes before standing up from his lap and looking pointedly at him. "Tell Harry."

Ron glowered. "Fine. But you have to help me with this Charms shit."

Hermione laughed and reached for her work, which she promptly shoved into his hands. "This is the only time I'm ever going to let you copy." With an flip of the hair, she walked airily out of the room, leaving a stunned Ron holding her homework in his hand.

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

Ron waited up until he heard Harry come in late that night. As it was his last night with Gia, he'd stayed out later than usual, spending as much time with her as possible before they'd have to say good-bye the next day. When he was sure that Harry was upstairs and shut carefully into his bedroom, Ron tiptoed out of his own room and knocked gently on his best friend's door, glancing down the hall and seeing that Hermione's lights were already out.

Harry opened the door slightly and peeked his head out in question of who the late-night visitor was. When he saw that it was Ron, he opened the door fully and let him in. "What's up?" he asked as he shut the door and finished getting ready for bed.

Ron shrugged, doing his best to appear nonplussed. "Nothing much. Just couldn't sleep."

Harry nodded absently as he continued about his business. "You all packed?" he asked, eyeing his own empty suitcase.

Ron nodded vaguely. "Yeah, mostly. Just a few things left."

Harry turned around with huge eyes all of a sudden. "Shit!"

Ron was confused and wrinkled his forehead to voice this. "What's wrong?"

"I haven't done any of my homework!"

Ron laughed. "I'm all done."

Harry sneered slightly. "Yeah, well you've been with Hermione. She probably held a gun to your head until you finished it."

"Actually," Ron went on smoothly, "she let me copy hers."

"Are you serious?!" Harry was in stunned disbelief, and when Ron nodded, he said, "Can I copy yours on the train?"

Ron shrugged. "Of course. Just don't tell Hermione." After a few seconds, he tried to gradually change the subject away from homework. "So, how are things with Gia?"

Harry's face fell. "I don't even know when I'll get to see her again."

His friend's voice was so full of honesty that Ron felt a tiny bit bad about it. "You can see her at Easter," he said cheerily. "When we come home to see the baby, you can take the Floo back here and go see Gia."

Harry nodded. "Yeah. But April's a long way away."

"It won't be that bad." It was an attempt to cheer his best friend up, but it wasn't working too well.

When no one said anything else for several moments, Ron decided to just suck it up and do it. Gryffindor courage... Gryffindor courage...

"Um, Harry? There's something I've been meaning to tell you..."

The raven-haired boy looked up immediately as if he knew what was coming. His eyes set seriously and he waited expectantly.

"Yeah," Ron swallowed slightly. "Um... Remember when you asked me if I liked Hermione?"

The green eyes deepened even more, and Harry frowned. "Yeah, I remember..." he said slowly.

Ron nodded again. He could feel his face heating up slightly. "Right. Well, remember how I said I didn't?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, yeah. I lied."

Ron said all of it very quickly and suddenly found the print of the bed quilt quite intriguing. He couldn't look at Harry, but he didn't need to. His reaction was clear.

"What?!" The response was loud and caused Ron to jump. "You cannot like Hermione!"

At this, Ron looked up, something strange filling his brain. "What's wrong with Hermione?" he asked sharply.

"Well, for one," Harry said instantly, his eyes dancing dangerously, "you fight with her too much. For two, she annoys you. For three, she's your best friend. And for four, she's Hermione Granger!"

Ron forced himself not to get angry. It wouldn't do to go around punching Harry the night before they were supposed to go back to school. "What's that supposed to mean?" he questioned shortly. "She's Hermione Granger? What is that?"

"She's like my sister!" Harry nearly screamed this. "You shouldn't be liking her! Or kissing her! Or touching her or anything! No one should!"

"She's not your sister," Ron said sharply. "And even if she was, she's a big girl and can make her own decisions. She doesn't need you to be overprotective."

Harry snorted with a rather rueful laughter. "Listen to yourself! You're such a hypocrite! And Hermione is the closest thing to a sister I've ever had or will have."

"Well, she's still capable of taking care of herself. Why do you even care so much?"

"Because she's Hermione Granger!"

"Yeah?..."

"What if it was Ginny Weasley?" Harry asked with narrowed eyes. "How would you feel then?"

Ron screwed up his face in disgust. "Gross! I'd feel incestuous- why would you even say that?"

"Not you, you dolt!" Harry said with a roll of the eyes. "What if it was me and Ginny?"

Ron immediately stopped his tirade and glared piercingly at the other boy. "Don't you even think about it."

"I'm not," Harry said exasperatedly. "But if I was, you'd get mad. It's the same way I feel about Hermione."

"There's a huge difference there, Harry. Blood. Ginny and I happen to have a bit of the same; you and Hermione don't."

"It doesn't matter!" Harry groaned. "Ugh! Ron, why?"

"Because she's fucking gorgeous for one!" Ron exclaimed, not even caring anymore. "And because she's brilliant. And wonderful. And caring. And compassionate. And mostly because she's just damn perfect!"

Harry didn't have a retort. He simply stared in quiet disbelief as Ron's cheeks finally decided to blush at his unbridled confession.

"You really like her?" he asked softly.

Ron's face dropped to his hands for a long moment before he finally looked back up and sighed quietly. "Yes. I really like her. I've liked her for a long time."

"And?"

"And she likes me, too," he added quietly.

"You know this for sure?"

Ron nodded.

"Have you talked about it?"

Another nod.

"Have you kissed her?"

Ron hesitated for just a second before nodding again.

"What?!" Harry's loud voice was back. "How long has it been going on?"

Sighing again, Ron said, "Since Christmas..."

A look of unmistakable hurt crossed Harry's features. "And you've just been keeping it a secret?"

"You haven't exactly been around," Ron pointed out shortly.

Harry ignored him. "I can't believe you didn't tell me."

"Look," Ron said pointedly. "I didn't tell you because Hermione wasn't ready, and I didn't want to screw it up. And I didn't want to jinx it, either. Just please understand," he begged gently. "I like her in a way I didn't think was possible. I didn't want to mess anything up."

Harry regarded him for a long moment before turning around and mumbling something that sounded like, "I'll see you tomorrow."

Ron, defeated and knowing that there was no use, stood up silently and walked to the door. Without another word, he let himself out and went back to his own room. Harry would get over it. It would just take some getting used to; that's all.

And when Harry was fine with it, his life would be perfect.

Or at least he hoped so.

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Just one more chapter at the Grangers! Unfortunately, you've got to wait till after Christmas. I'm going out of town for the holidays. I'll still be posting on the yahoo group, but I won't have a chance to upload.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season whether you celebrate Christmas, Chanukah. Kwanzaa, Solstice, or anything else. Be safe and have fun!