Chapter twenty five- the Owlery part two.

Hermione's PoV

"Hermione?" I spun around in my seat to see Myra standing behind me, a piece of folded paper in her hand. I smiled.

"Hi Myra." I said. Myra smiled back and handed the paper to me. I took it from her in surprise. "That was fast." I said.

Myra grinned sheepishly. "Vell, I couldn't vait to read it, and I translate as I vent." She said with a shrug. "It is translate vord for vord, like you vonted."

"Thanks Myra. I really appreciate it." I said. "I'm going to go and post this. Thanks Myra." I added. Myra nodded and went to join Ginny and Greg at the other end of the Gryffindor table. I got up from my seat and made my way out of the Great Hall, past Harry who smiled at me as I went past and went to sit with Ginny, Myra and Greg.

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As I was ascending the stairs leading up to the Owlery, I heard voices coming from above me. They belonged to two people, and were speaking in rapid Bulgarian.

I froze. I didn't want to walk in on someone's conversation, especially if I didn't know them. What if it was Viktor, or one of his friends? But it was too late. I heard footsteps above me, coming down, and a few seconds later Ron's cousin, Boris, came into view. I breathed a sigh of relief.

Boris spotted me, paused for second, looking up the stairs, and then seemed to come to his senses and smiled at me. "Hello Hermione." He said cheerfully. I smiled back at him. "Hello Boris. How are you?" I said. Boris shrugged. "Alright. Still a little, er. shooken." He replied. I smiled weakly. "Shaken." I corrected. "But I know exactly what you mean." I looked up the stairs, expecting the owner of the second voice to come down, but no one was there.

"Who were you talking to?" I asked Boris. He looked at me in confusion for a moment, and then realised what I meant. "Oh. I voz speaking to Ron." He told me. I frowned. "What? But. but you were speaking in Bulgarian, weren't you?" I said, a nasty feeling developing in the pit of my stomach. Boris shrugged. "Er, yes, ve vere." He looked very confused.

I swallowed, the feeling in my stomach becoming worse by the second. Ron could speak Bulgarian. Which meant that he could have easily heard things no one else I knew had. I already knew he'd been telling the truth about Viktor. Now I knew how he had known in the first place.

Boris looked at me in concern. "Are you alvight?" He asked. I snapped out of my trance. "Huh? Oh.yes, I'm fine. Sorry." I said quickly, my eyes darting up the stairs towards the Owlery.

Boris nodded. "Haff you seen Gregori?" He asked. "Yes, he's in the Great Hall." I answered, my eyes still on the top of the stairs. I had to speak to Ron.

Boris started to walk past me. "I vill see you at dinner, yes?" He said with another smile. I nodded. "Yes. Bye." I said, climbing the stairs again.

When I reached the top of the staircase, I: felt quite nervous. 'It's only Ron.' I chided myself. But that was why I was so nervous. Ron was my best friend, and I hadn't trusted him when he was trying to help me. On top of that I had accused him of things he hadn't done and ignored him for the past three days. But he had still saved my life, even after everything I had done. I didn't apologise very often, but I knew I had to now. I took a deep breath and pushed open the Owlery door.

Ron was standing with his back to me, tying a letter to Pig's foot. Pig hooted noisily when I entered, and Ron told him to shut up. He finished tying the letter on and threw the owl out of the big window. I cleared my throat nervously. Ron turned around and saw me for the first time. His eyes widened.

"I didn't hear you come in." He said quietly. I smiled weakly. "I think Pig was making too much noise." I said, walking over to the school owls. I quickly selected one of them and tied on the letter I had written earlier, addressed to my parents. I walked over to the window, to where Ron was standing, with the owl on my arm, and let it soar out of the window. Then I turned to face Ron.

"Who were you sending a letter to?" I asked, trying to start up a conversation. "My mum." He answered abruptly, without looking at me. I almost cringed at the tone of his voice- it was so cold. This was going to be harder than I had thought.

Ron turned to leave, but I threw out a hand to stop him. "No, wait, please. I need to speak to you." I said. Ron rolled his eyes but turned to face me expectantly. I took a deep breath, wondering where to begin, and then decided the direct route was probably best.

"I just wanted to say that I, I'm really sorry." I said, silently praying that he would forgive me. But then Ron looked straight into my eyes with a look that told me very plainly that I was not going to get away with anything that easily. He folded his arms defiantly. "What for?" He demanded. "Ignoring me for the past three days or publicly humiliating me?"

I looked up at him pleadingly. "I'm so sorry Ron. You have to believe me, I." I trailed off and frowned suddenly. "What do you mean *publicly humiliating* you?" I asked.

Ron's ears turned pink and he quickly looked away. "Nothing." He said shortly. "Forget I mentioned it. Really." Ron turned again to walk out, but I took a step to the side and blocked his path. "Ron.?" I began, but Ron cut me off again.

"No, honestly- I forgive you. Let's go get some lunch." He said, trying to get round me again, but I was too quick. I knew for a fact that he didn't really forgive me, and needed to know why. "What did you mean?" I persisted. "Tell me!" Ron looked down at me stonily. "You don't want to know." He said in a stern voice that made me feel very small. I swallowed as he stepped round me. "Are you coming to lunch?" He asked, pausing in the doorway.

"I've already eaten." I said quietly, knowing that everything was far from back to normal. "Suit yourself." Ron said gruffly as he headed out the door. I felt a tear trickle down my cheek as I listened to his footsteps echo down the staircase.

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Dear Diary, If Greg tries to steal you one more time, I'm gonna turn his hair back to red. Right, that's it! Hold on. Ha! It worked! And now his eyebrows really don't match his hair! Oops, Myra's fallen off her chair from laughing. Gotta go. Love Ginny xxx

The deep, dark, sometimes-sarcastic thoughts of Harry Potter-

Hey, I didn't know his hair was the same colour as Ron's! Ha! That's priceless! Look at his eyebrows! Ow! Careful Myra, that was my foot!