Ron woke up slowly, to gentle slaps in the face. He grunted, opening his eyes. Standing about two inches from his face was the person he absolutely DID NOT want to see.

"Hello Veasley! Vould you like to come to breakfast vith me and Herm- own-ninny?" Viktor asked, smiling.

Ron looked around. Evidently, he had fallen asleep by the fire last night in the commons. He tried to stand, but quickly sat back down. He never figured his bum could hurt that bad by sleeping. He smiled weakly, seeing Hermione glide down the girls' dormitory staircase.

"Hey sleepy-head!" Hermione said, sitting next to him. "Why did you sleep down here?"

"I'm not sure." She stared at him, confused. "Honestly, I don't have a bloody clue why I'm sitting here!"

"Right." Hermione said.

"So, vould you like to?" Viktor asked.

"Sure." Ron agreed.

They walked out of the common room. As they rounded the second corner, Ron turned to Viktor.

"So...Why ARE you here?" Ron questioned.

"Oh. Vell, Ever since Professor Karkaroff left Durmstrang, they haven't really been able to find a replacement. Ve have been really confused. Everything just went haywire. So they just let us on break until they found a replacement or when Karkoroff comes back. Vhatever comes first." Viktor explained, with a sigh.

"You didn't really answer my question." Ron said, tousling his red hair.

"What are you asking then?" Viktor asked, a little disgruntled.

"Why are you here? At Hogwarts?" Ron repeated.

"I wanted to visit Herm-own-ninny. Dumbledore always said that we were welcome! I even notified him beforehand. He said he would be delighted." Viktor replied.

"Oh." Ron said feeling defeated.

"So, Ron, have you finished your extra Transfiguration homework?" Hermione asked.

"Bloody 'ell, Hermione! Do you actually expect me to do that?" Ron replied, incredulously.

"Ron, if you don't do your homework you'll NEVER pass your N.E.W.T.S." Hermione said, sternly.

"Have I ever done it before? I'll just copy yours, no problem." Ron answered, smirking in a sexy sort of way. (I love Ron. I couldn't help myself!!)

Hermione groaned and started to eat a bit of toast. Ron looked at Viktor, who was studying Hermione's eating habits intently. Hermione looked at her toast, Viktor, then at Ron. She giggled softly, as Viktor kept staring. Ron laughed, knowing she didn't love the attention. Harry walked up behind Ron and tapped him on the shoulder. Ron ignored him at first and then turned around when Harry became adamant.

"What do you want, Harry?" Ron asked, a little irritated.

"Come here, I need to talk to you." Harry replied, lifting Ron up by his collar.

After Harry dragged him away from Hermione and Viktor, Ron opened his mouth to speak but Harry started before he could utter a word.

"I meant to tell you about me and Ginny." Harry explained, flushing a little.

"No, no, Harry. I overreacted. You go with Ginny. I don't care." Ron said, feeling guilty about his outburst last night.

"Are you serious?" Harry asked, skeptically.

"Yes." Ron replied. (A/N: No I'm Ron. You know, Serious-Sirius? Ok. Forget it)

"Uhm...ok. So, are you going to Hogsmeade with Hermione tomorrow?" Harry asked, following Ron to the Gryffindors' table.

"No." Ron answered.

"Why not?" Harry asked, and then stopped abruptly. He had spotted Viktor.

"Do I need to answer that question?" Ron asked, sitting again by Viktor.

Harry sat down next to Hermione, grabbing a small muffin. He began nibbling on it, not taking his eyes off Viktor. He was acting like if he looked away, Viktor would turn out to be a mirage. Finally, he turned to Hermione as if to snap out of a trance.
"Are you going to Hogsmeade with Ron tomorrow?" Harry asked, giving Ron and little wink.

Ron rolled his eyes, knowing the answer would not be pleasant. Hermione must have been asked to Hogsmeade at least 10 times so far. Harry had even heard that Neville had gotten up the courage to ask her. She was not the buck-toothed, bushy-haired girl from earlier years. She had very much matured since then. Her parents had bought her a Muggle invention called 'braces', since they were what she called 'dentists'. She had had those for about 4 months before she found a spell to straighten her teeth, which she used. Her hair had tamed a little, so her hair was a bit tidier than Harry's. She was as pretty as a veela as far as Ron was concerned.

"Haven't I already answered that? We're all going together! You, Ron, Viktor and I!" Hermione replied, smiling.

All 3 boys slumped a bit in their seats by this answer. Ron figured that Viktor thought he was going alone with Hermione to Hogsmeade. Harry had wanted to go with Ginny alone, Ron presumed. Ron wanted to go with Hermione only. Obviously, she did not want any of those pairings. If she was THAT oblivious, she needed to see Madam Pomfrey or go to St. Mungo's.

"What do we have this morning?" Ron asked Harry.

"Potions," Ron paused for both of them to make a face of disgust. " And Defense Against the Dark Arts"

"Great. Here comes my wake-up call from Snape. Good morning!!" Harry said, bitterly.

"How did you pass that O.W.L. anyway?" Hermione asked, following closely behind.

"I have no clue." Harry replied, honestly.

They entered their dungeon Potions classroom and sat down close to each other. Snape was sitting at a desk in the far corner of the room looking much more foul than he had earlier and that was saying something. He had a look of disparagement on his face as he looked at the class. He was probably thinking, 'too many Gryffindors'. Draco was sitting close by with a nasty sneer on his face. He was looking at Harry muttering some nonsense about dirty blood. Hermione cast Draco a glare and he looked away, laughing with his flunkies Crabbe and Goyle.

"Today we are starting on Veritaserum. Otherwise known as truth potions." Snape said coldly, standing in front of the class.

"VERITASERUM? For the first day?" Ron whispered.

"5 points from Gryffindor for interrupting, Mr.Weasley" Snape said.

"But you weren't-"Hermione started.

"5 points from Gryffindor for talking back, Miss Granger." Snape replied, nonchalantly

Hermione and Ron both slumped in their chairs with scowls on their faces. Snape was always unfair and why did they think he would change? Ever since their first year, he had NEVER been nice or EVER shown the hint of a smile, unless of course he was making fun of a Gryffindor. Which happened very often. So Harry, or the others in that case, had no room to argue.

"I will split you into groups of two. Ron, Hermione. Harry, Neville..." Snape continued but Ron wasn't listening.

He scooted over to Hermione as she grouped together the ingredients as they were supposed to be put in the potion. She smiled for a second and turned back to the cauldron. HOW DID I GET IN THIS CLASS? Ron thought, looking at the mysterious liquids in the small flasks. I haven't got a clue.

"Come on, Ron. Help me." Hermione urged, handing him a large wooden spoon.

"But I don't know what to..." Ron started.

"Read the directions." Hermione stated, pointing to a small piece of parchment.

"Ok..." Ron replied uneasily,

He picked up the parchment and read:

Veritaserum...I should use it on you, Ron. JUST TELL HER!!!

Ron stared at the paper. Then, he heard chuckling behind him. Harry and Neville were laughing at him. Harry had his wand out and it looked as if he had put an enchantment on the paper to make it say that. Hermione reached over to pick up the directions sheet. Ron froze in fear. Harry had written something else.

Tell Hermione that you...

"Expelliarmus!" Ron chanted and a burst of light shot out of his wand at Harry.

The writing had stopped and Harry's wand was on the floor, Harry was sitting shocked on the chair. Ron looked at his wand, amazed. He had never done that before!

"Ron! What are you DOING?" Hermione gasped, pulling his wand out of his hands and turning him around.

"Snape's out of the room, isn't he?" Ron asked.

"Yes. He just left." Hermione answered, a look of severity on her face.

"Bloody 'ell that was lucky." Ron whispered, almost to himself.

"Why did you DO that?" Hermione demanded, absolutely livid.

Ron thought for a moment, why was he so afraid of her finding out his feelings? Why DID he disarm Harry, his best friend? It all didn't make sense...or did it?