A/N: Hey there-I'll just add the individual notes at the bottom. Go read!

Chapter 5: In a Nutshell, Gorgeous

"Dance for yourself, if someone understands, good. If not, then no matter, go right on doing what you love."

After contemplating what would be appropriate to wear to a Weasley family dinner, I pulled on a denim skirt and just left my fitted white tank top on. I jabbed a pair of silver hoop earrings into my earlobes and shook out my brown mane. A couple brushes of mascara, and I was ready to go.

I slid my feet into a pair of straw sandals and snagged my purse.

"Mum, I'm going to the Weasleys'!" I yelled down the hall.

"All right, dear, have a good time."

I walked into my bathroom and examined my appearance one last time. Then I closed my eyes and tried to recall the basics of Apparating (since I hadn't for five years). Oh, yes-that's right-in an instant, I appeared at the Burrow's front door.

I smoothed my skirt nervously. Was Ron here already? I took a deep breath, pressed my lips together, and pushed my index finger against the cracked and faded ivory doorbell.

After the chimes sounded, a few nervous moments passed, and the knob turned slowly. My heart skipped…was it…?

A pair of familiar, screaming baby-blue eyes confirmed that it was.

"Hermione!" Ron gasped. "Mum didn't tell me you-what-how-why are you here?" He looked confused and then he blushed. "Not that we-I mean, I-don't want you here or anything-I mean-"

He was blathering like a soap opera star. I held a laugh back and hugged him quickly. "Good to see you too, Ron." This shut him up.

Ginny appeared behind him in the doorway. "Oh, good, you're here. Mum was worried, like always…"

"Why didn't you say-Hermione-what-what's going on?" he demanded, turning to face his little sister.

"Ron, it doesn't matter why, what matters is that she's here and not in New York," she dismissed him breezily. She grabbed me by the wrist and dragged me into the Burrow while Ron stood, gaping at me still.

The two of us girls ran up the stairs to Ginny's room, which was piled with magazines about bridal dresses, bridal hairstyles, bridal showers, bridal you-name-it. Ginny picked one up and rifled through it, obviously searching for a certain photograph.

"Aha!" She practically threw the open magazine at me. I stared down at the page it was opened to. It showed a picture of a beautiful satin strapless forest-green gown. The bodice was fitted, and the full skirt billowed out beautifully at the waist. The model in the picture, who bore an uncanny resemblance to Ginny, also wore matching forest-green, elbow length gloves.

"Very dramatic," I remarked, handing the magazine back to Ginny.

"Isn't it gorgeous?" she gushed, hugging the magazine to her chest joyfully. "The thing is," she continued, looking disappointed, "Mum's got her heart set on me wearing the dress she wore for her wedding-and I hate it! I've tried it on already, and it looks horrible on me. Mum insists it's fine though-and she keeps on saying how green isn't a bride's color." She sighed, obviously exasperated.

"And then there's her "white stands for purity" thing…" I said slyly. I felt the corners of my mouth twitch as Ginny went scarlet.

"Yes…well, you know, it was bound to happen sooner or later…" She blushed even more.

"Just admit that you and Harry did it already! I'm not going to condemn you or anything!" I burst. She looked shocked and tried to maintain her composure.

"No…no we haven't…you know that I…I, oh, would you quit laughing!" She went an even deeper red. "Oh, all right, we have, but just don't tell Mum, okay? She'd have a seizure or something."

"Okay," I agreed, still giggling, though I wasn't quite sure what was so funny about that idea.

"I'm going to go help Mum in the kitchen," Ginny declared, still very red in the face. "You can stay here and look at what I've got planned so far." She handed me a white folder filled with papers.

"All right." I watched as she left the room, the door swinging gently behind her. I did not look inside the folder, but instead stared off into space, thinking not of her wedding, but of Ron.

Why had he been so nervous? Had I really surprised him that much? We'd been the best of friends for seven years, and then…I winced. I'd been the one to drop him like a hot potato. The guilt attacked once again…

"No!" I said softly to myself. I stood up and headed down the stairs to the crowded living room, where I was greeted by a roar of happiness.

"Hermione! Great to see you!" yelled George, jumping out of his seat.

"Yeah," added Fred, leaving Katie in the armchair they had been sharing. "Ron's especially happy to see you." He winked.

"Well…how's the joke shop?" I asked, steering the conversation out of dangerous waters.

"Oh, fantastic," George said, "a bunch of Americans bought a huge stock of Whizbangs for their Fourth of July celebration. Galleons and Galleons…" He looked to the sky dramatically with a happy grin on his face. A thought ran through my brain: If he wasn't married already, he'd be perfect for Ellie-both pranksters, both completely the opposite of serious.

"How are you, Hermione?" Charlie asked with a smile.

"Fine, thanks!" I smiled back at him. I hadn't gotten to know Charlie very well, but he was one of my very favorite Weasleys (if I was picking favorites). He still worked with dragons and other wild beasts, but rather than developing an "outer shell" and becoming insensitive, he reached out to people and gave so much of himself. In essence, he was a "tough Mama's boy".

"Bonjour!" A little red headed girl climbed into my lap and stared at me with wondering silver eyes.

"Diane!" Bill chased after the girl and picked her out of my lap. "Sorry about that, Hermione, she's taken to saying hello to everyone she knows-and doesn't know, for that matter."

"It's all right; she's adorable!" I gazed around the room looking for Fleur. Sure enough, she was there, scolding two young boys and a girl in rapid-fire French. Her slender hand rested on her protruding belly. It looked as if they were expecting yet again.

Bill, Charlie, Fred, George, Ron, Ginny…Percy. That's who was gone. I swallowed as I recalled how he died. A still-unknown servant of Voldemort had killed him, right under Fudge's nose! It was a horrible tragedy. As much as I'd disliked Percy, I felt terrible when I heard about his death.

After a few more minutes of visiting, Mrs. Weasley ordered everyone into the dining room, where there was a bit of a dispute about the seating arrangements.

"Hermione," Fred began conspiratorially, "is there any way you could help George and me with advertising in the States? I mean," he continued, beginning to lower himself into the chair next to me, "New York City-what a huge market-"

"Fred," Katie interrupted, "why don't we sit over by Charlie?"

"Hang on, Katie; this is an important business discussion-"

"Frederick." She raised an eyebrow and tilted her head slightly toward the door, through which Ron had just ambled.

"Oh, right…" He moved away, leaving the seat empty once again. Ron seized his chance.

"No one's sitting here, right?" he inquired cheerfully. Without waiting for an answer, he took the seat. He seemed to have overcome his shyness. Too bad, I thought to myself wistfully, it was rather cute….

While everyone was busy eating, I took a few minutes to just observe Ron. He hadn't changed much…his hair was still that vivid hue of red, exactly like every other Weasley. As I had noticed before, those eyes….oh, those eyes….they were still perfect. The thing that was most noticeable was his build. He was still extremely tall-there was no questioning that- but he seemed to have filled out…He wasn't so lanky-he looked much stronger and broader in the shoulder. Muscular-that was the word I'd wanted-more muscular!

In a nutshell, gorgeous…

I shook myself out of my trance as Harry, who was sitting on the opposite side of me, passed the mashed potatoes right in front of my face.

"You are allowed to eat this, right?" Ginny inquired carefully. "You aren't doing that crazy Muggle no-carb diet, right?"

"Of course not," I laughed. "Let's see….choosing between your mum's cooking and low-fat yogurt for every meal…There's no competition!"

Everyone at the table laughed, and then continued with their own conversations. I turned to face Ron, who was eagerly devouring a dinner roll. I noticed that, believe it or not, his table manner had improved quite a bit.

"So, what's new with you, Ron?" I asked politely as I cut my meatball into bite-sized pieces. "I haven't heard from you lately…." For the past five years, really, I thought shamelessly.

He swallowed and answered, "Yeah, I've been so busy at work, I'm so sorry I haven't written…." An apologetic note rang through his clear voice. "I've been promoted-I'm assistant to the Head of the Misuse of Magic Office!" He grinned proudly in spite of his attempt to keep his voice modest. It was adorable.

My stomach flipped. Here was Ron, the jokester, doing something worthwhile and helping people, while I, Hermione, the brainy bookworm, was learning how to dance and look pretty. Too ironic for words….

I settled with a, "That's great, Ron! I'm really proud of you!" He literally glowed at my complements.

"Thanks….so, anyway, how's the ballet going? D'you have to wear pink all the time and walk everywhere on your tiptoes?"

I laughed. "No, actually, I usually wear black for ballet; in my other classes, I can pretty much wear whatever color I please."

His eyes widened. "You mean, you take other dance classes besides ballet?"

"Oh, yes!" I rambled on about the amazing, unique classes I took at Julliard. I think his eyes glazed over once I got to the joys of modern, but he, unlike his mother, took a special interest in hip-hop.

"That sounds really good," he remarked. "Like I could possibly learn how to dance like that."

"Oh, you could, definitely!"

"You would teach me?"

"Well…." I hesitated. Hip-hop was probably the type of dance I was worst at- I don't know, I could never seem to get my soul into it. "If we found a club, I could try…"

"Cool." He looked satisfied with my answer and stabbed some green beans with his fork.

Later on, after dinner, I stayed and chatted with everyone, but then I figured I'd better be heading home soon. A chorus of "Bye, Hermione!" s and "Good to see you!" s followed me as Ron walked me to the door.

"You know, I'm really glad you're back," he said. "It's just not the same around here without you."

"Well," I replied, smiling slightly, "it's good to be back. Everyone's so different, yet, as a whole, it's the same. Wait-did that even make sense?" I laughed at my puzzling remark.

He laughed, too, though it was the kind of laugh that wasn't mocking. Like laughing with me, not at me.

"A lot of things don't make sense," he said sagely.

Huh? Ron the Philosopher? Where did this come from?

"I'm going to hold you to that dancing lesson promise," he said teasingly.

"Oh, darn, I thought I would get away without having to really teach you."

It felt so natural to be back to arguing, though both of us knew we weren't really trying to hurt the other.

"Seriously, 'Mione," he said in a low voice, leaning against the front door, "let's get together sometime, just us. Just to talk about what's been going on-nothing too serious."

My heart soared in an upward swoop. "That would be great," I said, forgetting about acting casual.

"Great," he replied, looking so content. A couple awkward moments passed, and then I decided to give him another hug, just to be friendly. He chuckled, a bit surprised. This was different from your standard "hello" hug. I could feel the laughter rumble through his chest. It was comforting and awe-inspiring at the same time.

"Well, I'm off," I said, really not wanting to leave now. "I'll see you soon."

"Yeah….bye, 'Mione."

I closed my eyes. In the milliseconds before I disappeared, Ron's face, so elated because of my embrace, had etched itself in the insides of my eyelids.

A/N: Okey dokey-review, por favor!!!

Shoutouts to my beloved reviewers:

Kagome: Harry and Ginny have been bad! Haha…yeah, I've always wanted to know more about her parents, JKR never seems to talk much about them, but ah well….

Ladyla: Everyone loves a happy reunion, don't they? Thanks for reviewing!! : D

KateM: Yeah, Hermione's not picking up on all those "signals", is she? Haha…

Ilikechicken: "Harry Potter and the Harry Potter"? (laughs hysterically) That doesn't make any sense….but I didn't think of it that way before, so thanks! Oh yeah-everything R/H rules! I'm with ya on that one…

Bluehoax: There ya go, they just met! I wanted a dramatic sort of build up. Oh-I love Hermione's dad, too. He turned out about a billion times better than I ever expected.

Okay-I can't give you the title for the next chapter, but I will tell you that it is FREAKIN' AWESOME so far! Seriously, it's my favorite one (though I say that about every chapter now). Okay-have a good day-P-stepper