Chapter Two- Maybe There's Hope

"Come out back everyone! It's time for supper!"

Ron awoke to the sound of his mother yelling up the stairs. He hadn't realized that he had fallen asleep. He got up off his bed, now fully awake, and headed downstairs. He climbed down two flights of stairs and stopped, looking around the corner for Hermione. He didn't feel like running into her again, especially with his unbelievably nosy siblings around.

No sight of her. He continued on his way down and out to the garden, and stopped suddenly. There was Hermione, in her blue dress, and Ginny was standing next to her in a matching pink one.

"Hey Ron, come over here and help me with this!" called Ginny, who was struggling to stay upright and carry seven plates and the silverware at the same time.

Ron chuckled to himself and went to relieve his sister of the plates.

"Thanks Ron. I don't think I could've lasted much longer." Ginny laughed.

"No problem." He said nonchalantly, blushing as Hermione looked at him.

"Where were you all day Ron?" Hermione asked him.

"I-I was upstairs in my... uhhh... room." He stuttered.

Hermione blushed too. This whole day was beginning to get quite annoying. Never in his past years at Hogwarts had either of them been so awkward around the other. Ron busied himself with setting the table, as did Hermione. Once or twice they bumped into each other and muttered apologies, but that was all they said otherwise.

Fred and George came outside at the exact moment that Hermione and Ron ran into each other again, and sniggered loudly. Fred and George took their seats, and watched the two soon-to-be-sixth years amusedly. Ron reached over to put a glass in front of Fred.

"Hey Ronniekins-"Fred began.

"If either of you say one word- and I mean it- during dinner tonight, I'll hex you to Pluto and back." Ron hissed angrily at the twins.

"Mum and Dad wouldn't look to kindly on you being expelled Ronald. Especially with you being their baby boy and all." George said loudly.

Hermione turned to look at them. Ron caught her eye and quickly turned away. As he passed by the twins to continue setting out the glasses, he kicked each sharply in the shin in turn. Fred only smiled maliciously at him, and George kicked back- harder.

"You'll pay for that Ron. Don't you worry." Fred said, his grin broadening.

Brothers, thought Ron. Mum should have drowned them at birth.

Hermione and Ginny had helped Mrs.Weasley make dinner and set the tables, and all three of them chatted the afternoon away. Hermione didn't see even a hair of Ron, who was probably avoiding her. Ginny still hadn't gotten her answer to her earlier question. Were Hermione and Ron more than just friends?

Hermione decided not to ruin a perfect day fretting about that question. It was like Ginny said, she had three years or more to figure out the answer. Hermione hoped it wouldn't take that long.

Dinnertime came, and the girls went out into the garden to set the table. Ron helped Ginny with the dishes she was carrying, and Hermione and Ron barely said hello to each other. Maybe Ron didn't like Hermione after all. Maybe he was avoiding her.

Nah, thought Hermione. He wouldn't do that. He's my best friend.

Hermione and Ron kept bumping into each other, and Hermione jumped and pulled away every time. Shivers went up and down her spine whenever he bumped her, and she didn't like it much. She was too confused to understand what was going on, so she did the only thing she knew how to do at the moment. Ignore him.

It wasn't long before she changed her mind again.

"Mum and Dad wouldn't look to kindly on you being expelled Ronald. Especially with you being their baby boy and all." George yelled at Ron loudly from down the table.

Hermione looked up at the three of them- Ron, Fred, and George- and stared. Ron was going to be expelled? What was going on? Ron caught Hermione's eye, and she quickly turned away.

"Psst! Gin!" Hermione whispered to Ginny, who was standing directly across the table from her.

"What?" she mouthed at Hermione.

"Why is Ron being expelled?"

Ginny giggled, and quickly turned it into a hacking cough as the three boys stared at her from the end of the table. Hermione blushed again.

"What? What's going on?" hissed Hermione.

"He's not being expelled 'Mione!" she laughed. Then almost to herself she said, "And I thought you were the smart one."

"Just tell me." Hermione shot back.

"He threatened to hex the twins into space because they were whispering things at him." Ginny laughed again.

Hermione giggled too. Now she was beginning to understand.

"What were they saying?" she asked.

"I'm only their sister. How should I know?" Ginny began giggling again.

By this time, all three boys were giving them strange looks, and Fred and George had the biggest grins that Hermione had ever seen. She shot the twins a look, winked at Ron, laughed at the stupid look on his face, and continued setting the table.

"Told you so." The girls heard George whisper to Ron.

Ron only turned away, his grin quite bigger than both twins' put together.

Ron ate dinner catty-corner to Hermione. There were two tables set up on the lawn, three at one table and four at another. Mr. Weasley, Fred, George, and Ron were seated at one table. Mrs.Weasley, Hermione, and Ginny were at the other. Occasionally Ron would steal a glance at Hermione, who always seemed to notice him looking at her. She would look up at him, smile serenely, and turn back to giggle with Ginny about something Ron couldn't hear.

Mr. Weasley got up to chase a few curious lawn gnomes away from the tables. Mrs. Weasley went inside to look up a gnome-repelling spell in one of her Lockhart books.

"Do you believe us now?" whispered Fred from across the table.

Ron suddenly wished he were sitting with the girls, instead of having both twins straight across from him.

"No." said Ron hotly. "I do NOT think she likes me."

The twins grinned again.

"How could you not believe us? You heard them whispering." George pointed out.

"And they can probably hear us." Fred said nonchalantly.

"So? She wanted to know why I was getting expelled," said Ron.

"Ginny knows what's going on too you know." pointed out George.

"She does not!" Ron hissed.

"Fine, don't listen to us... again. You know we're right Ronald." smirked Fred.

"Why does everyone in my family know what's going on in my life but me?!" Ron sighed, laying his head in his hands so that they covered most of his extremely red face.

Across the table, Ron saw his nosy sister smirking at him and returning to probably tell Hermione what she had heard.

"He wants to know why everyone around him understands but him." Ginny giggled, doing exactly what Ron thought she would.

Hermione blushed and tried to hide her face also. She understood exactly how Ron felt at the moment. This was going to be a long month.

She pushed her food around her plate some more, and then asked to be excused.

Ginny continued to listen in on her brother's tormenting of Ron, occasionally expressing her opinions also.

Almost a week had passed since Hermione first showed up, and Hermione and Ron barely spoke to each other. Ron hadn't heard from Harry either. After lunch Ron decided to go out on his Cleensweep Eleven and practice his goal-keeping. Fred and George, since they were of age, helped Ron out by jinxing balls to fly at him. Ron didn't find this very helpful though, because they also jinxed the balls to send an electric charge up his arm whenever he tried to block his goal posts. Eventually they had taken that particular charm off, because Mrs.Weasley had a fit when her youngest son came inside with blackened hands.

Ron mounted his broom and kicked off. Immediately all his troubles left him, and all that was left was the wind rustling his hair and the broom beneath him.

"Finally, some peace." he said to himself.

Fred, George, and Ginny came out onto the hill, all carrying their brooms in their hands.

"I spoke to soon." Ron sighed. "Something you want?" he yelled down at them.

"We wanted to fly too. Is that a crime?" Ginny yelled back.

Ron didn't answer; he only zoomed away as fast as his broom would go.

Hermione sat in the shadows of a nearby tree, with and Extendable Ear connected to her own. She could hear the twins, Ron, and Ginny, as if they were right next to her. Ginny had set this all up with her older twin brothers, because Hermione was about to die with anxiety. She wanted to know if Ron really liked her as more than a friend. She wanted him to know that she liked him too. She always had. She had just been too afraid to say anything.

Ginny, Fred, and George had just gotten on their brooms and sped after Ron to bug him some more, when all four of the Weasley's stopped at the sound of one overly loud BANG and several loud CRACKS.

Hermione's heart skipped several beats. She hastily pulled the Extendable Ear out of her own, shoved it in her jean shorts pocket, and ran out of the trees toward the others. But she stopped short and screamed, because someone had knocked her over.

"Hermione!" she heard Ron yelling. "Where are you?!"

She tried to scream out again, but that someone covered her mouth.

"Hermione- shut up! It's me! You need to be quiet!" she heard Harry whisper urgently in her ear.

She then realized that she was under his invisibility cloak. Her stomach churned as she thought of the things the Death Eater's would do if they knew he was here.

"Harry what's-"

"Shh!" he hissed. "Stay here, and don't, under any circumstances, move or make a sound!"

Very suddenly she could see herself again, and she saw Harry's left foot once before he disappeared again. She looked around, keeping as quiet as she possibly could. She was frightened. The sounds she had heard were the sounds of the overly bright purple Knight Bus, and more than 10 Apparitions. She had lost count after they all started happening at once. She pulled the Extendable Ear out again and put it in her own. Ron sounded like he was next to her again.

"What do you mean you can't tell me where she is!" she heard him yelling.

"Because she isn't where she was before... I don't know Ron! I swear!" Ginny yelled back at him, obviously in tears.

She heard Ginny scream, very much like she had done, and knew that Harry had arrived.

"What the-" Ginny yelled out, as someone tapped her from behind and grabbed her right hand.

"Shhh!" Someone whispered. "Ginny- take my hand and keep close. Ron, tell your brothers to follow you. Quickly!"

Ginny blinked, confused. Suddenly it all clicked.

"Guys, come on! I think I know where she is now." Ginny whispered to Fred and George, who gave her a knowing look.

"And keep quiet!" added Ron hastily.

The twins suddenly lost their all-knowing looks and followed behind Ron and Ginny. Ginny's right hand kept slipping under Harry's invisibility cloak, and finally the twins seemed to understand what was going on.

"Fred- George- apparate to Grimmauld Place. We'll be there shortly. Tell Molly not to worry." Harry whispered to the twins.

Two more CRACKS erupted from the clearing, as Harry, Ron, and Ginny moved into the trees.

Ron looked wildly around, searching for the faintest sign that Hermione was there and that she was alright. After his eyes swept over the forest floor twice, he found her leaning on the nearest tree trunk with her head in her hands. She looked extremely pale, and she was breathing deeply as if trying to calm herself. She looked up at him with damp brown eyes, the color slowly returning to her face as she realized everyone was there, and stood up and brushed her clothes off. Before she had opened her mouth, he unintentionally wrapped his arms around her waist.