"Ron! I'm sorry, but please wake up!" Hermione shook him gently, and then with increasing force as he tried to roll over and ignore her. "Ginny's going to be here soon!"
Ron groaned and opened his eyes. "Little sisters are so annoying!"
"I know, Ron, I know." Hermione helpfully pushed him out of bed. "I'm sorry, but at least you'll be wide awake now. I'm going to tell the house elves that we'll have an extra guest at lunchtime."
She was fully dressed already, Ron noted, sitting up on the floor as Hermione hurried out of the room. He sighed, and pulled himself to his feet.
"You're so lucky," he said, enviously to Harry. "You get to sleep as much as you like.
*****
"Come on, Ron!" Hermione called, standing at the end of the corridor and waiting for him to stagger after her.
"I'm still asleep," protested Ron. "No wait, I'm dead, or something."
Hermione took his arm and tried to drag him along a little faster. "I'm sorry if I'm always nagging you," she said. "But this is important."
"She's only my sister," Ron mumbled. "And since when do you apologise for nagging?"
Hermione ignored his last comment. "She may well be only your sister but the point is, we have to look responsible enough to look after ourselves, and Harry! You never know who might be watching!" She said the last part in a whisper.
Ron just frowned.
*****
"Oh dear," Hermione muttered, as they left the castle and entered the grounds, blinking in the strong sunlight.
"What? Oh."
Ginny was looking around anxiously for them, and behind her, Fred and George were just getting off their broomsticks, laden down with boxes.
Ginny hurried up to them the second she saw them, and spoke very quickly. "How's Harry? I'm sorry but Mum wouldn't let me come alone, I made them promise to behave but I don't know what's in those boxes. How's Harry?"
"He's fine," Hermione told her. She turned to Ron. "Ron, how about you deal with your brothers while I take Ginny up to see Harry?" She gave Ron a very meaningful look, and Ron woke up rather quickly.
The girls disappeared into the castle, and Ron looked suspiciously over the twins.
"Hello, little bro!" Fred called, and George just waved, unable to talk as he seemed to have his mouth full of something.
"What's in all those boxes?" Ron asked, awkwardly. "Only remember I'm staying here all alone with Hermione and I don't want things to get difficult."
"Don't worry," Fred ruffled Ron's hair as they walked past. "We won't make things awkward for you and your girlfriend."
"She's not my-" protested Ron, but Fred was still talking.
"We just wanted to come back and see the castle," he was saying. "We've missed it, haven't we, George?"
George nodded and made agreeing sounds.
"So what's in the boxes?" Ron asked, still suspicious.
"Oh, just stuff," Fred said, carelessly. "Open the door for us, will you, Ron?"
Ron opened the door, wondering if this was going to prove to be a mistake.
*****
"I'll leave you alone with him," Hermione said kindly, sensing Ginny's thoughts and wondering whether Ron could hold Fred and George back alone.
"Thank you."
Hermione closed the door behind her, and Ginny walked slowly over to Harry's bed. Harry was smiling, just like Hermione and Ron had told her, and it made Ginny break into a smile as well. Then tears overtook her, and she kneeled by his side, sobbing gently and dripping tears onto his sheets.
She took his hand, and stroke it gently, and watched him sleep. He shifted slightly, and Ginny held her breath, but nothing happened. She supposed he was just moving in his sleep. That made her feel a little better. At least it was clear he wasn't dead.
"Um, they said I should talk to you," she began, feeling rather silly. "So I am, but well, I'm not quite sure what to say. It's good to see you smiling. I… I miss you. I don't know I can still miss you even though I'm here, but I do. I hope you're having nice dreams."
She reached out and pushed the hair from his eyes, careful to avoid his scar. He felt comfortably warm to touch, and she smiled. He smiled wider too, and leaned his head on her hand slightly. Ginny felt her worries about his health slip away, only to find other worries resurface.
"Do you remember," Ginny said, still stroking his face. "How I used to have a sort of childish crush on you? I hoped to death you'd never find out, but looking back, you probably did. Even if you didn't work it out, Hermione probably did and told you. Anyway," she paused. "I don't have that childish crush anymore. It's something… different now."
She fell silent, not sure what other words there were to say. At that moment, there was a loud crash from downstairs.
*****
Hermione was wandering the corridors, looking for the boys, when she heard the crash, and was immediately worried. She hurried in the direction of the sound, and eventually found herself looking down a spiral staircase at them.
"Really!" She said, crossly. "You are so irresponsible!"
"Don't talk down to us, you're not a prefect in the holidays, and besides, we're not students anymore." Fred said, casually, picking up one of the boxes from the bottom of the stairs.
"What happened?" Hermione demanded, ignoring him.
"Just dropped some things, that's all."
"What are they anyway?" Hermione glared at Ron, who was standing awkwardly next to the twins and the pile of boxes. Ron tried to look apologetic, but Hermione didn't seem to notice.
"Well, these ones are boxes of sweets for you two. Free gifts from our shop, as an example of our new sideline." Fred smiled broadly. "Unless you'd rather we took them away…"
"Now, don't be silly, just take them upstairs, tidily please." Hermione stood back, and let them pass. Ron tried to smile apologetically again as he passed, but she ignored him and kept her eyes on the twins.
*****
Ginny looked up as the door opened, and in came her brothers and Hermione.
"Hello, Ginny, Hello, Harry," Fred said cheerfully, putting the boxes down by Harry's bed. "He looks happy, doesn't he?"
"I think he'll have his dreams come true when he wakes up," Ron said, eying the boxes happily.
"That's if you haven't eaten them all, Ron," Hermione said, and Fred chuckled.
"I can see you're having a good time," He said to Ron, beginning to open one of the boxes. Ron chuckled too, and Hermione looked annoyed, but then she was distracted by the box. "What's in there? That's not sweets!"
"No, the other boxes are for the sweets. This one's for something else."
"Like what? You can't do that! I'm in charge of Harry, and I won't have you do that!"
Ginny looked up warily from where she was still kneeling beside Harry. "Is that a Wake-up Wonder?"
"That's right."
"You surely don't except that to work," Hermione said, cynically. "Really. If you've just come here to waste everybody's time…"
There was a deafening crack and Hermione sighed.
Harry showed no signs of waking, although his smile seemed to subside a bit, and Ginny, who was nearest, quickly crawled away, rubbing her ears.
Fred seemed to have complete immunity to it however, and rummaged around in his box for something else.
"Nothing's going to work," Hermione informed them, again.
"It might do," George said, apparently having swallowed whatever it was that had stuck his mouth shut. "And think how famous we'd be for waking Harry Potter!"
"It'd be like a huge advert," Fred commented, trying to pull the stopper off a bottle.
"And we'd be doing a friend a favour," George finished.
"You're not doing him any favours," Hermione insisted. "He needs his rest."
*****
After what seemed like a very long afternoon, Fred and George agreed that nothing would wake Harry up. Hermione looked very relieved. Ron was paying no attention, instead working his way through one of the boxes of sweets. Ginny was sitting on the floor, lost in thought and looking rather worried.
"At least it gave us a chance to try some of the new stuff out," George said, packing the remains of it back into the boxes.
"You mean this was untested merchandise?" Hermione asked, shocked. "I should report you to the authorities."
"We knew it'd work," Fred assured her. "Look, to calm you down, have a Soothing Strawberry."
"Or a Relaxing Raspberry," suggested George.
"I don't need calming down!" Hermione said, testily, and the twins sniggered.
*****
Hermione and Ron went to see the others off, and again promised to keep writing to Ginny every day. She seemed more upset this time than last, although she was crying less. That only made Hermione more suspicious. There was something in Ginny's eyes that showed she was unhappy, something in her quiet manner.
"Probably just tired," Ron said, when Hermione mentioned it to him later. "Or worried about Harry."
"I don't see why. Am I the only one who trusts Madam Pomfrey?"
"Well, some of us are worried about his emotional side," Ron pointed out.
Hermione smiled. "You really are becoming quite romantic. And I'm not teasing you or putting you down, it's a nice thing."
"Yeah well…." Ron diverted his attention to a box of Every Flavour Beans. "Just growing up, aren't I?"
"It's nice to see."
