Title: Between the Lines

Author: LaurelSolo

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters associated with the Harry Potter series.

Summary: Set before (and eventually through) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Ron and Hermione find themselves alone for a month before Harry arrives at Number 12, Grimmauld Place. My take on what happens before Harry arrives and the consequences that Harry takes no notice of.

Author's Notes: Thanks to my beta-reader JennaMae- you completely rock!! Also, thanks to Deanna who's responsible for Krum's letter in the story- you are the best BF anyone could have! I love you babe! To Lauren for making being a theatre major fun and to Ruth because we're going to rock good ole' Abilene this semester b/c we have no curfew!!!!!

Ron paced the small living room of the Burrow impatiently. In moments Hermione would be here, and he wasn't sure why, but he was really excited about seeing her again.

"Would you stop? You're driving me mad."

Ginny sat across the room in the kitchen writing a letter. She hadn't even looked up when she said this.

This time Ginny set down her quill patiently, "Ron, you do realize that I saved your skin don't I."

He looked at her and his anger subsided substantially, "Yeah. but your help wasn't a personal invitation for you to be my own watch dog."

"You do only realize that I asked you to stop pacing right?"

Ron grimaced, "I'm a little on edge."

Ginny laughed, "Everything will be fine. She'll get here, forgive you-you'll kiss and make up and everything will work out."

"What do you mean by kiss and make up?"

Ginny rolled her eyes, "Ron, you are completely oblivious aren't you?"

Ron didn't have time to answer her because Hermione had just walked in.

Her parents were on either side of her observing the Burrow with a keen interest. Hermione had a huge grin on her face and greeted Ginny with a hug. She turned to Ron and all of a sudden Ron didn't know what to do with his hands. He stepped towards her and she looked at him curiously. His hands felt like they had suddenly been transfigured onto gorilla arms as he awkwardly hugged her.

She pulled away far too soon and they looked at each other shyly.

"Mum, Dad. I'll show you to Ginny's room," Hermione said, a blush evident on her face.

But Mr. Granger had other ideas. He put down the large trunk he was holding, stuck his hand out to Ron, and grinned.

"Ronald, it's wonderful to see you again! How has your summer been going?"

Ron grinned good naturedly, "It's been going well Dr. Granger."

Mrs. Granger was grinning as well, "Hermione has told me that you've had quite a year." her smile faltered and her tone became much more serious, "We want you to know that we are very thankful for your invitation this summer. Henry and I are so thankful that she has found such a wonderful friend."

"Henry, Helena!" Mrs. Weasley had just burst into the living room with a plateful of cookies, "Please sit down. Ron can take Hermione's things to her room-how are you both? Arthur's on his way over, he told me to tell you, Henry, that he has some new things for you." Mrs. Weasley looked at him-suspicion written clearly on her face, "What are you two up to?"

Ron never heard what they were up to-he was too busy hauling Hermione's trunk up the stairs to Ginny's room. By the time he got back down, Mr. Weasley had Apparated home and was chatting with the Grangers.

"I just bought a new eclectic toaster oven," he was telling Mr. Granger excitedly, "I've added a few new." his voice faltered as he caught an evil glare from Mrs. Weasley, "Umm. perhaps I should just show you." and Mr. Granger followed Mr. Weasley, only to turn excitedly to his wife to say, "Dear me, I hope he has made some magical modifications!" with the same manic glint that Ron saw so many times in his father's eye.

Ron caught Hermione's eye and they giggled. Mrs. Weasley looked caught between anger because her husband had once again illegally misused a muggle artifact, and humor that there was another husband out there that was like hers. Mrs. Granger just rolled her eyes.

"He talks about magic non-stop at home. He keeps badgering poor Hermione to do magic at home, but she's a good girl and won't," Mrs. Granger explained.

As Mrs. Weasley led Mrs. Granger to the kitchen for tea, Hermione grabbed Ron's arm and dragged him out to the front porch. Ginny followed close behind.

Hermione had a grim look when she encountered them on the porch.

"What has happened with Percy?" she asked heatedly.

Ron let out the breath he was holding, but grimaced noticeably. He was relieved that she didn't want to talk about the owls they had exchanged, but was immediately subdued by the mention of his brother.

"When my family was driving through London to get here," Hermione was talking now, "we saw Percy letting himself into an apartment building a couple of blocks from Diagon Alley."

Ginny sniffled behind Ron and Ron felt something dark and slimy slink into his stomach. The memory of the hateful things Percy had said to his parents was still fresh and having to tell Hermione about it wasn't going to be easy.

Ginny beat him to it, "He isn't living here anymore."

Hermione looked at the two of them and gave a short nod of understanding, "It's bad isn't it.?"

"He and Dad had a bad row last week right after we got home. he called Dad some really nasty stuff and blamed him on our." Ron stopped talking briefly and blushed, "our, you know, current financial status."

Ginny nodded, "And then he said some really cruel stuff about you and Harry."

Hermione's eyes furrowed together. "He didn't call me a-"

Ron cut her off abruptly. "No! Well, he didn't use that phrase, but he did say that you weren't part of a respectable wizarding family, and then he said all sorts of horrible things about Harry. Said he was a liar and that we were all fools for believing him."

"And then he started talking all this hoopla about how Dumbledore's just a batty old wizard who's lost his touch in running Hogwarts," Ginny said angrily, "Him and Dad were yelling really loudly and Mum was sitting at the table white as a ghost."

Hermione nodded grimly. "What started it all though. I mean why did they all of a sudden start screaming at each other?"

Ginny sighed, "Percy got promoted and Dad-"

Hermione cut her off. "Your dad was upset because he knows how oblivious the Ministry is appearing to be right now."

Ron nodded, "You must be getting the Daily Prophet."

"Yes, and I've seen how asinine they are being right now. They're the fools. If they would just take precautions now."

"Innocent lives could be saved in the end. I know-it's been a nightly discussion after dinner," Ginny said.

"Plus, Mum and Dad have been acting very oddly," Ron said mischievously.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.

"Well, they leave a lot after dinner and don't come home until very late at night. It's very odd."

Ginny nodded emphatically. "Yes, we think it has something to do with Dumbledore and some secret anti-You-Know-Who organization."

Hermione looked deep in thought. "Yes, didn't Dumbledore say something about the 'Old Crowd' that night in the hospital wing with Harry?"

They were interrupted by a loud shout from above, "Oi! What are you doing talking about this stuff in broad daylight?" George shouted from an upper story of the Weasley home.

"Yeah," Fred continued, "anyone could hear you!"

Ginny rolled her eyes, "We were talking in whispers you prats! The only way anyone could hear us is if they had some of your Extendable Ears!"

Hermione looked questioningly up at the twins' eager faces. "What?"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Oh, the two prankster prodigies have created this new invention. you know them," Even though Ginny had rolled her eyes, there was definite pride in her voice.

Ron laughed, "Bloody geniuses those two are-really, this new WWW product is sheer genius!"

"Show me later," Hermione said pointing her finger to the commotion coming from Mr. Weasley's tool shed. There seemed to be smoke pouring out of the windows and then a sudden explosion from within sent Mr. Weasley and Mr. Granger sputtering out.

Ron laughed as he watched the two men grinning from ear to ear with pride at the explosion they had caused.

"Apparently toasters don't like it when you put a Jelly-Legs jinx on them!" Mr. Granger was telling his wife happily. She was smiling and rolling her eyes as she brushed his robes off.

Mr. Weasley was getting a considerable less amount of sympathy. Mrs. Weasley had her arms crossed in front of her, he wand dangling lazily in her right hand. The expression on her face as Mr. Weasley made up lame excuses clearly said, "I won't believe one excuse that you give me you dunderhead."

But something caught Ron's eye that took his attention away from the scene in front of the shed. Pig was hovering wildly in front of Ron's upstairs window hooting like mad. After finally spotting Ron on the ground, Pig zoomed towards him and started doing furious laps around Ron's head. Ron reached out and made several fruitless attempts before finally catching him.

"Thanks Pig!" he said as he untied the letter from his leg. Hermione was peering over Ron's shoulder now.

"Oh good, it's a letter from Harry. I hope he's doing well, he's seemed quite put out lately.

Ron nodded, opened the letter, and began to read it.

Ron,
I'm sorry mate, but you really are a git for egging Hermione on like that. You really are oblivious to everything aren't you? What is going on in your neck of the woods right now? I've been getting the Daily Prophet, but nothing.. I know you know more than I do. Please, I'm
dying for more information. I know your parents are doing something.
Can't you
tell me anything?

Do you have any idea how hard it is to live in a world where you have
absolutely
No idea about a huge upcoming war? I'm going mad!

Write back.

Harry

Hermione scrunched up her nose. "Poor Harry. He's really down, huh?"

"He's been writing me letters like this all summer. He seems to think because my parents aren't Muggles they have an inside scoop to all of Dumbledore's plans," Ron said.

Ron crumpled the paper angrily, "And the thing is-they do! I mean, they are doing something about Voldemort and they are a part of Dumbledore's secrets. and I haven't worked hard enough to get him the information he deserves!"

Ginny and Hermione eyed him curiously as he scrunched his face up, clearly in deep concentration.

"We could start using Fred and George's Extendable Ears." Ginny said sensibly.

Ron sighed and nodded, "Yeah, I guess I could buy some from them," He looked at the confused expression on Hermione's face, "We've been wanting some but they won't just give them to us. They said since they are just starting out they need as much revenue as possible."

"Well that seems reasonable," Hermione said.

"We'll start using them tonight right before Mum and Dad find some excuse to leave after dinner," Ginny said.

"Right. well let's go to Fred and George's room and see if they'll even give us a discount," Ron said.

Ginny giggled, "Maybe if we call it support for the 'Save Harry Potter Fund,' they will!"

~*~

Ron could smell amazing scents coming from the kitchen where Mrs. Weasley and Mrs. Granger were currently mixing magic with Muggle as they prepared an evening feast for the Weasleys and Grangers.

Mrs. Weasley called into the living room, "Ron, could you go find Hermione and Ginny please?"

He nodded from his spot on the couch and proceeded up the stairs to Ginny's room.

He knocked on the door several times before looking behind him and seeing that the bathroom light was on.

"Ginny?" he questioned at the closed door in front of him.

"Sorry Ron, I haven't seen her," Hermione answered, "Maybe she's gotten back since I've been in the loo."

"Um. thanks Hermione," Ron said carefully, hoping that she was just in there washing her face and not doing other things like taking a shower. That thought made him very uneasy, and he took a deep breath and then exhaled slowly. Turning towards the closed door, he knocked once more and finally opened the door gingerly.

He opened it all the way revealing Ginny's cluttered purple room. Posters of the Canons and the Weird Sisters adorned the walls as well as various pictures of friends. There was a very large portrait on one wall of a very outdated Weasley family, and several of just Ginny and each brother. There were two small beds crammed into the room and each one had a bright purple quilt on it.

Ron walked in, glad that some things don't change-his sister would always be a packrat and keep everything she ever owned.

In the middle of the room, there were pieces of paper and an almost completely empty box with "Harry Things" crossed out in his sister's neat handwriting. Hermione and Ginny had obviously spent the afternoon talking about boys and such because there were papers and magazines strewn all over the floor. Ron, curious now about a box marked with his best friend's name on it, knelt down to get a better look, but was sidetracked by something he saw.

There, lying a couple of centimeters from the box was a letter marked "Miss Hermione Granger" in a very unfamiliar scrawl.

His heart beating wildly in his chest, Ron picked the offending object up with trembling fingers, opened it up, and read it.

Dear Hermione,

I hope that you are enjoying your summer vacation. It is really nice to be home with my family for a while. I can not wait for you to meet them. I was very disappointed to hear that you can't make it this summer. I was really looking forward to spending more time with you alone. I like you a lot and I love being with you. You are an amazing witch and I hope we can continue to get to know each other even better. Let me know how you feel.

Yours, Victor

Ron's heart was pounding madly with anger, and he could feel the heat rise to his face as he dropped the letter. He had an amazing urge to hit something-and Krum's face seemed quite appealing. He walked silently from the room as Hermione exited from the loo.

"Oh, you still can't find her?" she asked.

"No," Ron managed, balling his hands into tight fists, "tell my mum I'm not hungry."

He turned on his heel and walked up the stairs-deaf to Hermione's confused protests. He shut himself in his room and threw himself on the bed. He grabbed a pillow with "CC" emblazoned on it and punched it- imagining it was Krum's face. It ripped in the middle and Ron gave a shout frustration. He was sick and tired of always having rubbish! He took the pillow and pulled hard at the hole he had created-eventually ripping it completely in half. His anger only intensified. With a growl, he chunked a piece of the pillow at an old, faded Chudley Canons poster. It didn't rip, so he grabbed it and shredded it to pieces. His heart raced with physical and mental exertion and sweat prickled his forehead and upper lip. He felt a little better. Suddenly exhausted, he fell onto his bed. A nap seemed like an appealing idea and he laid his head on his remaining pillow and fell into a restless sleep.

Several hours later, Ron heard footsteps approaching his door. He rolled away and closed his eyes tightly, praying it wasn't Hermione. He heard a knock on the door and then the creak of his door opening.

"Ron? If you're awake. Mum and Dad are downstairs talking. We're going to try to use the Extendable Ears now. Everyone's kind of worried about you. goodnight."

As the door closed, Ron took back the previous thought-wishing Hermione had been worried enough to check on him herself.