Just a note to you all: If you haven't noticed, I kind of took a bit of a break from the Ginny/Harry romance and focused more on Ron and Hermione for the past two chapters. Don't panic now; it's just that I was a bit tired of them and wanted to write with different characters. And oh boy, of course we all want to see the Ron/Hermione romance progress, don't we?
Also, don't ask me what's going to happen or when it's going to happen. I DON'T outline my story at all. It takes me (on average) two hours or so to write a chapter, and when I can find time to sit down, I just start typing away- and whatever comes to mind goes into the story. I also don't revise, so if there are mistakes or I forgot something that happened earlier on, I apologize.
Okay, now you guys are absolutely amazing! Breaching the 200 review mark- WOW. I'm so frickin' happy =D!!!
Thank you to Tru Lys, possom2009, BrownPryde, AnA4ever, Nightwing 509, The Vampire Story Hunter, Sabrina, Hermionehp110, HPBeatles, mary-v, snowbabyjoe, skittish, Zeo and the Harvest Sprites, Ze-Cookie, WhyDoYouCare36, Saraiyu, and Luna Lovegood2 for ALL YOUR REVIEWS! Thank you thank you thank you!
ronnies gurl- You spoil me with flattering reviews =)! Thank you so much for being such a dedicated reader and reviewer. Sniffles What would I ever do without you? And no, I don't write the chapters out on paper first; I'm pretty bad at the whole outlining and drafts business. I kind of just write... and if it flows it flows. Well thanks for everything!
Jamie Bell- Hehe, thanks for your review! You're awesome... Anyway, YES I KNOW. I went to the new main library in my hometown and my goodness, it is amazing. And of course, I used part of it as the inspiration for my library (lots of glass- but no glass floors, thank god... and only 8 stories!). So there you go, and here's the next chapter. I hope you like it!
Kingmaker- Oh I know, the library was my idea of heaven. I felt terribly jealous of Ron and Hermione as I wrote it out. Thank you for your reviews; you rock!
Whippy Bird- Thanks for reviewing my story! Well, I tried to update every day, but I've gotten busier, so now occasionally I update every other day... but for the most part I try to update whenever possible. So cool; here's the new chapter!
Lightprincess- Eep! I'm happy for you and your love interest, lol! And your brothers- how funny. I'm glad you can relate to what Ginny's going through. Haha, well thanks for the awesome review. You rock!
Crookshankx- Oh no, YOU are awesome! Hehe, well thanks for reviewing! And no I will not tell you when they kiss (looks scandalized)! Lol, kidding, I'm sorry, but I just don't know. So when it happens, it happens, kay? Hehe, thanks for the spiffy review!
Bob-chan- Haha, thanks! My extensive vocabulary?! (Snorts) Not quite, but I try =)! I'm so happy you like the story so far; hopefully you'll like this next chapter!
Leoking- Ah, long review! =D Anyway, YES I guessed right and you're German (does a victory dance)! Hamburg, wow, that sounds amazing! I really want to go visit Europe; hopefully someday soon! Hmm, I'm actually not that much of a sports person, so I really don't follow soccer =(, sorry about that! Yes, but thank you for your review! I'm so glad you've been following my story; you've been such a dedicated reviewer! What would I ever do without you? Haha, anyway, here is the next chapter, and hopefully you'll like it!
Fireboy- Thanks for reviewing my story! You're so cool =D. Well, I really don't know where I come up with ideas for this story. I suppose I find them from snippets of my life, or weird things that I dream up. For instance, the library was partially based on the new library that was built in my hometown, and the playground scene a while back was written after I had gone with my mother's second grade class to play on their new playground. But anyway, that's pretty much it!
Elanor- Ah, English weather sucks? Aww, but it seems so much cooler over there! Haha, well anyway, thanks for your review! It helped me so much! The comment you made about flying gave me an idea about how to end the chapter, so THANK YOU.
A Harry and Ginny Dreamer- Well actually, its not so much that I ran out of ideas (because I never sit down to brainstorm ideas anyway; I just think of a sentence to begin with and it usually goes from there). I just decided to focus more on Hermione and Ron for a bit, so this chapter extends that. The kisses, I presume, should be coming soon (hopefully!). Not TOO soon (so not the next chapter, I'm sorry), but soon enough! Oh yes, and thank you for all your reviews! You're the greatest!
Alright, thank you guys! Here's the next chapter, specifically designed for all of you who love Ron and Hermione pairings! It's a bit shorter than usual, but that's because Harry and Ginny don't appear in this chapter (at all!). So here you go!
Ron and Hermione walked along, visiting all the stores and finally stopping at the sweet shop. After a long time spent deciding, they finally left with several bags of candy, enough variation to satisfy the both of them.
After some more meandering as they munched through their sweets, they found themselves in front of a pet store. Hermione immediately dragged Ron inside, much to his dismay. Inside, the dank room was poorly lit and smelled of a strange mixture between dog hair and Lysol- the product of the wizarding world's air fresheners and too many animals in one room.
Behind a counter an old woman dozed off, drool coming out of her partially opened mouth and dripping onto the counter. And of course, covering almost every surface were cages housing a very diverse menagerie. Some creatures were so bizarre that Hermione found herself gasping in wonder for the second time that day as she gazed in awe at the translucent, shimmering bat-like creatures that fluttered their ethereal wings, opening their little mouths wide as soft melodies emitted from their throats.
"But Hermione," Ron whined, casting suspicious glances at the caged rats. "You know I don't trust rats anymore, and..." his gaze drifted over to a large tank of tarantulas. He shuddered, inching towards the door again.
"Come on, Ron," she persisted, taking hold of his sleeve. "They're harmless for the most part." She looked fondly at a cage of sleeping small white rabbits, similar to the ones that muggle magicians pulled out of their hats. Turning back to Ron, she smiled. "See?"
Ron stared.
Behind her back, the rabbits had turned sinister. One cracked its blood red eyes open, staring at Ron as it curled its upper lip back, revealing a row of sharpened fangs.
Ron gaped. "The rabbits are turning evil!" he exclaimed, jumping back in horror.
Hermione turned around, only to find the fluffy white creatures snuggling into each other, sighing softly in contentment, blearily blinking their (to Ron's astonishment) sleepy blue eyes.
"Ron," she rolled her eyes. "Stop being stupid. They are not turning evil." She leant over the cage, ignoring Ron's frantic warnings. "They're absolutely adorable!" She cooed, squealing in delight as one waddled its way over to her, nuzzling her hand with its nose.
Ron glared at it resentfully, fuming as its eyes temporarily flashed red when it looked towards him.
Hermione, however, was completely oblivious, happily making her way to where the owls were perched. As she passed by them, she stroked their feathers, giggling when they hooted softly at her. One owl, to her delight, even leaned forward to give her a light nip on the finger.
Ron, on the other hand, was not so happy. He stood uncomfortably aware of the little red eyes that were watching him. From time to time he would glance nervously at the rabbit cage, shuddering as they turned to him, big red eyes glaring, fangs bared.
"Look here, Ron!" Hermione flounced over to him excitedly, cupping in her hands a tiny owl chick. She giggled, "He's even smaller than Pig!"
He nodded, chuckling in reply as he tried to ignore that feeling of being perpetually watched. "Yeah, he's a tiny one," he answered, peering into her cupped hands to look at the little ball of fluffy feathers, curled up in her fingers.
She giggled approvingly and scurried off again to put the own back in its cage. "I think," she confided, pointing at the rabbit cage. "That I might get one of those. What do you think?"
Ron stared at her for a moment, a little panicked. "Well..." he searched for an alternative. "Didn't you like that owl better?"
She shook her head, making her way over to the rabbit cage, smiling down tenderly at the little bundles of white fur. "Aww..." she reached over to undo the latch on the cage.
Ron stood next to her nervously, shifting from foot to foot. He didn't know how, but he was almost certain that those little innocent looking creatures meant to do him serious harm.
The time of reckoning had come.
Hermione's nimble fingers lifted the latch, and she opened the cage door, prepared to pick one of the little darlings up and cuddle it. Instead, she was shocked to see five (for there were that many) little furballs whoosh past her as they leapt, sinking their teeth into Ron as they landed on him, making furious little hissing noises.
"AARRRGGGHH!" Ron jumped up and down in pain, trying desperately to shake off the little rabbits that were now in their most vicious state, their eyes huge and blood red, and their fangs sunken into his flesh. "Get them off, get them off, get them off!!!"
Hermione stared, mouth open in shock, then rushed over, grabbing one of the rabbits and trying to tug it off.
Of course, this only served to tear open more of Ron's flesh, and he immediately yowled in pain.
Upon hearing the racket that poor Ron as causing, the wrinkled old woman behind the counter started, waking up dazedly. She took one look at Ron and immediately leapt up, wand in hand, quickly and efficiently stunning the little rabbits one by one as they dropped to the floor with dull thuds.
Ron stood, panting as blood dripped from his multiple wounds (mostly on his arms, shoulders, and chest), staring in horror at the little rabbits lying on the floor. "Little bloodsucking monsters!" he cried in disgust.
The old woman turned, glaring at him. "Boy, you should've known better!" she chastised, shaking a gnarly finger at him. "That's a special breed of rabbit right there; they come from Zaire and are extremely rare-"
"Not to mention vicious," Ron muttered under his breath.
She continued. "They are extremely rare, and although can be the most loving and harmless creatures in the hands of females and children, they have an aversion to males beyond puberty," she glanced at Ron. "In fact, they are known to attack males at random, often ripping apart their flesh until they are stripped to the bone." She finished, and then bent down to pick up the rabbits and place them neatly back in their cages.
Ron and Hermione stood with their mouths open in shock.
They shuffled outside, Ron wincing a bit as Hermione stared at him guiltily. "Ron, I'm so sorry!" she pleaded earnestly. "I didn't know they'd attack you, and I'm honestly so sorry that I didn't believe you when you said that they were evil!"
He smiled back reassuringly. "It's okay, Hermione," he glanced down at his fresh wounds, his bloody, torn robe. "It wasn't too bad."
She gave him a knowing look, gently tugging on his sleeve as she led him to a nearby bench to sit down.
"Now you wait here," she instructed. "I'm going to get some water to clean your wounds, alright?"
He nodded, sitting idly as he watched her disappear into a nearby restaurant, shout something at the shocked waiter, and emerge satisfied with a glass of water and a napkin. She then proceeded to walk across the street to the pharmacy, which provided all types of wizarding cures for all ailments. Eventually, she came out again, this time with (surprisingly enough) a plain roll of gauze and adhesive bandages.
"Okay," she sat down beside him, carefully pouring some water onto the napkin. "Now," she looked down, blushing slightly. "You're going to have to take off your robe so that I can clean your wounds, alright?"
He nodded, discarding his robe with a wince. Damn those little monsters, he mentally cursed the rabbits.
She glanced at his torso, covered with deep gashes, bite marks and scratches and wasn't sure whether she wanted to recoil in horror or laugh at the irony that little fluffy rabbits no larger than guinea pigs had inflicted this.
Hermione began to wipe at his wounds with the napkin, hand shaking as the napkin became more and more bloodied. "You know," she laughed nervously. "I learned first aid a while back, but I've never really taken that well to blood."
He grinned back, despite the stinging as she cleaned up the blood. "Yeah, I'm quite a mess, huh?"
She shook her head. "I'm so sorry Ron," she began again. "I really didn't know they were ruthless little killers!"
He shuddered, remembering what the storeowner had said about being stripped to the bone. Thank god she had waken up and stunned them.
She finished cleaning his wounds, then turned to the roll of gauze with concentration. "Okay," she breathed, looking determined. "Over and cross over, and over..." she rolled the gauze around his elbow snugly, finally tying it in a bow. "That's called a figure eight, or at least that's what they call it in the muggle first aid classes I took," she explained as she rolled gauze around his other wounds. "It's meant to keep the bandage at the joint I think, instead of coming right off as you move."
After covering all his larger wounds with gauze, she proceeded to sticking bandages on all his smaller scratches and little bite marks. "There!" she stepped back, proudly admiring her handiwork.
Ron stared down at himself and started laughing. For the most part, his upper body was immobilized by many yards of gauze wrapped around every wound, and bandages dotted the few places where skin was showing. "I look like one of those mummies!" he remarked, chuckling.
Hermione blushed. "Well it'll keep you from getting all infected!" she defended.
"Yeah," he grudgingly agreed, slipping into his robe again with some difficulty.
Hermione tried not to snicker when she saw poor Ron is his robe, sprinkled with bite marks and strange lumps jutting out here and there from the gauze. "Oh come on, let's go home, Ron," she smiled comfortingly. "We'll take off the bandages and find some magical means of healing you, alright?"
They made their way home, Hermione looking guiltily at Ron every few minutes when he grimaced.
He caught her concerned stares and sighed in exasperation. "Really Hermione," he assured her rather unconvincingly (as he was carefully trying to move his upper body as little as possible while walking, and was consequently walking rather stiffly). "It barely hurts at all!"
Shooting him a dubious look, Hermione continued walking.
Soon enough, they reached the Burrow, and Ron audibly sighed in relief. "Come on," he motioned to Hermione, leading her into the kitchen where he began rummaging through the medicine cabinet. "Ah, found it!" He pulled out a grayish cloudy potion, making a disgusted face as he turned to Hermione. "Taking a tablespoon of this quickens the healing process, I believe... so I shouldn't be all cut up and bleeding for more than a couple days. But it tastes terrible!"
Hermione rolled her eyes in reply, opening a drawer and pulling out a spoon. She took the potion from him, carefully, pouring a tablespoon out.
"Open your mouth," she instructed rather in a motherly fashion as she held out the spoon to him.
Reluctantly, Ron slightly parted his lips, scowling as she tipped the liquid from the spoon into his mouth. "Argh," he muttered, swallowing with great effort and running to fill a glass with water. "That's terrible stuff."
She, however, looked satisfied. "Well now we know you'll be alright," she remarked cheerily, washing the spoon, drying it and placing it back in the drawer. "So, feeling better?"
He gulped down the glass of water, and grinned at her. "I am now!"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "I meant your wounds."
"Oh," he glanced down at his still gauze wrapped cuts and gashes, shrugging. "Looks fine to me, except for the terrible job that someone did in dressing the wounds," he teased.
She huffed dramatically, trying not to smile. "Well next time," she replied haughtily. "I'll just let you die of some terrible infection, you ungrateful git."
He pouted at her. "Aww, but Hermione," he wheedled. "You'd miss me if I died, wouldn't you?"
She rolled her eyes in reply.
"Hah!" he shouted triumphantly. "You didn't deny it; you would!"
"Of course I would!" she snapped back, blushing slightly, then adding, "There are very few people I actually wish would die."
He smirked, snickering. "Would Malfoy be one of them?"
"I'm not telling," she raised an eyebrow playfully. "Because when he does die a very painful and mysterious death, you'll just use that against me."
"Ah," he nodded, chuckling. "Right. And you won't have anything to do with that death."
"Of course not!" she widened her eyes innocently. "He's just a poor misguided soul who um... hexed himself twenty times over."
They laughed, each happily imagining cursing Malfoy many times in their heads.
"Hermione?" Ron looked over at her. She had stopped laughing and now seemed deep in thought. "What are you thinking about?"
She bit her lip. "Ron, I want to go back to the library," she began. "But the glass floors were a bit... well frightening. So," she looked at him hopefully. "I thought maybe I could get used to heights, you know, maybe on a broom or something. Would you help me?"
He groaned in reply and began laughing. "Honestly Hermione," he patted her shoulder fondly. "You've got to be the only person I know who would fly for the sake of reading."
She glared at him. "Well," she huffed. "If you don't want to, that's fine. I'll do it on my own!"
"No," he assured her, chuckling. "I was kidding, Hermione. Of course I'll help you; you'd probably kill yourself if I let you fly alone. And who knows, maybe you'll even develop a love for quidditch after this, eh?" He winked at her.
She shook her head at him, smiling. "I wouldn't count on it."
"Well," he winced slightly as he stood up, but smiled at her concerned frown reassuringly. "I'll go grab a couple of broomsticks and we'll head out, alright?"
She nodded, sitting on the chair nervously. "Thanks Ron," she said rather awkwardly, biting her lip as she looked up at him.
He grinned down at her, patting her shoulder gently. "You know Hermione, I'd do anything for you."
He quickly strode upstairs, leaving a blushing and confused Hermione downstairs to interpret what he had just said.