Author's Notes: And the requests for fangirl status begin anew. ^_^ Cryptic Dreams and Lavender, I bestow upon you the humble duties of personal fangirls for this here fic. That means reviewing like crazy for every chapter, no matter how short it is, like this one. Apologies for that.
Thanks a bundle to all the people who have already reviewed and supported this new fic! Special thanks to all of you with kick arse constructive criticism…I'm gonna need it, because I just know I'm gonna screw something up, canonically. So don't hesitate to yell at me if I do so, or perhaps cyber slap me. Cyber slaps are hella cool.
Without further ado…Chapter Two. ^_^
Friday, 7 July
11:20 a.m.
Well, I kept to my goal, and sure enough, Ron did write back. Although his letter was rather short, and not at all what I had expected. I suppose I'll copy it out in here…for future reference, you know…
Dear Hermione,
The holidays have been fine so far, how are yours? It's a bit crazy around here, as usual. Mum and Dad are working really hard. Ginny and the twins are fine; Bill and Charlie are working. We might all take a vacation soon, maybe you can come with us.
See you soon,
Ron
First of all, this does not sound like Ron in the least. But it is his handwriting, and I've just checked – Polyjuice Potion may be able to change your physical appearance to resemble someone else's, but their personal traits, like handwriting, can't be reproduced. So this letter is not from a Polyjuiced spy of some sort posing as my best friend.
But something is most definitely not right with this letter. Ron has never begun a letter to me with the words "Dear Hermione" in his life. And last I checked, he didn't even know what a semi-colon was, never mind how to use it in a sentence.
My guess is that owls are being watched, and this is Ron's (or, most likely, Mr. and/or Mrs. Weasley's) cryptic way of telling me that they're all right. Despite that this is an enormous relief, the fact that Ron had to resort to communicating in some sort of code for fear of interception is somewhat daunting. It's obviously also a warning to watch what I put in my letters from now on. I can't believe I was so stupid as to not have thought of that before! I just hope Ron's sent the same kind of letter to Harry, and that Harry gets the message.
3:23 p.m.
That delightful woman is here yet again. Hoo-ray. (Hm, sarcasm is lost somewhat in writing. Ah well.)
Today's topic of conversation: my hair. Mrs. Crick, in all her infinite wisdom, says that I don't bother caring for it because I try to appear self-confident by blatantly not caring about my looks, which is really a thinly veiled disguise of a lack of self-confidence, whatever that's supposed to mean. Fat lot she knows – I explained that I've tried to tame my hair, and as it's a large waste of time and doesn't seem to make a difference to…anyone, I simply gave up on it because looks are superficial anyways. Mrs. Crick furrowed her eyebrows at me (which aren't really eyebrows, as she shaves hers off and pencils in fake ones every morning) when I voiced this opinion out loud.
"You know, dear," she said loftily, "de Nile is not just a river in Egypt."
Her wittiness never ceases to amaze me. (Sarcasm again.)
At this point Mum sighed and started bringing out the tea, and Dad quickly retreated to his study, leaving me to either endure tea with Sigmund Freud or make a break for it. I opted for the latter.
After running up to my bedroom, I took out Ron's letter again and realized, on the second read-through, that there is perhaps more to it than meets the eye. Obviously he's trying to tell me that his family is safe, and busy – I do hope Mr. and Mrs. Weasley aren't doing anything too dangerous for Professor Dumbledore – but something doesn't sit right. He mentions Ginny, the twins, Charlie, Bill, and his parents – but not Percy. Hm.
Also, the part about going on vacation is odd. And "see you soon"? Unless I'm mistaken, there are about two months of summer left. That does not constitute "soon".
All right, I think I'm quite done impersonating Nancy Drew for today. I have to finish that Transfiguration revision, and my boredom has at least produced some new ideas for S.P.E.W. which I feel have great potential. But I have to say…Ron's cleverer than I thought he was if he wrote that letter all by himself. Not to say that Ron's not clever…I mean, he's intelligent enough when he wants to be; he'd probably be acing all his subjects if he would only apply himself…he's just lazy, that's his problem, and I have a hunch that he deliberately does not try his hardest academically because he doesn't want to end up like Percy, being teased mercilessly by the twins and such.
Oh, God. I'm analyzing Ron. I think Mrs. Crick is finally getting to me.