Author's notes: Sorry that it's taking so long to write, but I've got a lot on going on at the moment and it's not all good. Still, I think that I'm going to make chapters a bit shorter where needed and try and get on with the main story, so bare with me. Thanks to the lovely peeps that have reviewed, it would be much appreciated if more people did so that I know that someone is actually reading this and then I know that it doesn't suck. Oh well, on with the story then.

"Speech" 

(My notes)

Letters

/thoughts/

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Chapter 3

Harry and Ron stared at each other in surprise. It was not the sort of sound you would usually hear in this pub. A bust of excited laughter filtered through the door.

Ron grinned,

"I'd know that laugh anywhere, it's Ginny. She'd better shut up or she'll have mum up here!"

At that moment, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in!"

The door opened and the light was finally turned on.

Ron stood up the second he realized who it was,

"Hermiony!" He practically ran towards her, and picked her skinny frame full off the ground as he hugged her.

Hermiony gasped in surprise, then laughed.

"Good to see you to!" She grinned as he put her down. She looked over Ron's shoulder at Harry, and the happy smile disappeared.

"Hi Harry." She brushed past Ron and walked over to him. Ron remained at the door, hurt. /She doesn't write to me all summer then goes strait to him. /

"Wow, Hermiony, you look amazing!"

"Thanks…" He turned to see them in a tight hug. Ron felt his anger begin to build up, but he wouldn't start yelling, no. If anything were going on between them…they would have told him, right? Any way, he was going to talk to Hermiony about ignoring him later on, with no one else around.

"I've missed you two so much!"

"I've missed you too." Harry had a ghost of a smile on his face.

"No, really…I've been really worried!"

Hermiony looked at them, "I have so much to tell you! Oh! Guess how many OWL's I got?"

Ron grinned, she looked different but by the sound of it, she was just the same.

"What ever it was, I bet it was better then my 8." Ron looked at her; she clapped her hands together happily.

"Ron, that's amazing! You're right though, I passed all my subjects with O." She blushed, modestly.

Ron gaped at her, while Harry hugged her,

"Well done,"

"Thanks Harry, what did you get?"

"8, the same as Ron."

At that second, the voice of Ron's mum drifted up the stairs, "Dinner!"

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Dinner would have been fun if Harry had actually talked. Instead, he sat there, practically silent, playing with his food, eating nothing. Even the arrival of Hermiony hadn't cheered him up.

Hermiony and Ginny were talking together quietly and Mrs Weasley kept giving Harry worried looks, pestering him to eat something. If anything, it was embarrassing, and Ron was desperately wishing for her to stop it and leave Harry alone. Some how, the table seemed empty with just the five of them, and it didn't help that Tom and another unidentified person (an aurora who was part of Harry's bodyguards) were guarding the door into their privet chamber.

When the torture was over, they returned to their rooms with Mrs Weasley's dire warning floating after them,

"You have an hour before we have to lock you in, so if you want to visit each other, do it now!"

As soon as they got upstairs to their rooms, Harry stated that he was tired and got changed, hardly talking to Ron before pulling the covers over his head. Ron was left, perched on the edge of his bed, with nothing to do. Finally, he decided that this was the perfect time to have a little chat with Hermiony. He got up, walked into the corridor and down to the girls room. He knocked and the giggling ended,

"Who is it?" Came Ginny's voice through the door.

"It's Ron, can I talk to Hermione?"

The door opened and Hermione peered at him,

"What do you want? Is Harry OK?"

Ron's anger began to simmer, why did Harry have to pop up into each conversation they had? Did she really not care about him!

"He's fine, can I talk to you…alone?"

Hermione looked at him, slightly puzzled at the harsh tone he had used.

"Yeah…of course."

She opened the door to let him in. Ginny grinned at him from her bed.

"Can you leave me and Hermiony alone for a bit please?"

"Why?"

"Just go Ginny!" Ron was getting pissed off.

"Oh Ron, you are so kind. No, I can't leave!"

"Ginny!"

She looked over at Hermiony.

"OK, I'll go!"

Ginny stormed passed and let the door slam behind her. 

Hermiony walked over to her bed and moved her trunk off the bed so they could sit down.

"There was no need to be rude you know."

Ron ignored this statement, and tried to calm himself down.

"Why don't you sit down?" Hermiony patted a space on the bed next to her.

"No thanks."

There was a pause as Ron worked out how to begin.

"How come you hardly wrote to me over the summer?"

Hermiony looked up and blushed slightly.

"…I was busy."

Ron snorted as she was obviously lying.

"You weren't too busy to write to Harry and Ginny!"

Hermiony stood up, indignant.

"Hang on, I did write to you!"

"Yeah…like 2 times!"

Ron was gearing himself up for an argument,

"I sent you loads of letters and you didn't even reply! Being busy isn't a good enough excuse Hermiony. I want a strait answer…"

"But…"

He carried on, his voice getting steadily louder.

"At first, I was really happy to see you, and ready to forget the fact that you keep ignoring me. Finally, I could actually talk to you, but you practically ignore me and run strait to Harry. I know a lot has happened to him, but stuffs happened to me to! What's with you and Harry anyway, because if your going out, I think it's a bit harsh not telling me, or am I completely out of the picture now!"

Silence followed his little rampage.

"Nothings going on between me and Harry." Said Hermiony quietly, "I wrote to him because I was scared of what he might do…He's just lost the closest thing to family he ever had, and I was worried that he would do something stupid. As for Ginny…she's my best girlfriend in Hogwarts, the other girls are great but Ginny's like a sister, that's why I was writing to them so much."

Ron was looking at her hard. His anger had subsided a little and secretly, he felt relieved that Harry and Hermiony were not going out.

"That still doesn't explain why you decided to ignore me."

 "To tell you the truth…I don't quite know why I didn't reply. It was like I had a mental block. I couldn't think of anything to say. And it's true, I was busy!"

Ron snorted again,

"You…a mental block, come on Hermiony!"

"No, really…it's different with you. Your still my friend and everything, but…"

"You can't talk to me."

"NO! It's not that. It's just that, well, to me my relationship to you isn't the same as it is to Harry…It's different. Isn't it like that for you?"

She had sat down again looking at him expectantly. This was making absolutely no sense to Ron.

"I don't understand Hermiony. How is it different?"

"I don't…"

She was interrupted by Ginny shouting through the door,

"Mums coming up! Can you two hurry up please? I don't want to get yelled at!"

Ron began to walk towards the door.

"Hay…Wait up."

He turned as Hermiony reached him. She was still quite small; the top of her head only came up to his mouth.

"I'm sorry I didn't write to you, but I can't explain it better then that," Then almost tentatively, "Are we OK?"

Ron softened as her brown eyes bored into his,

"Yeah,"

She grinned with relief.

Something that had been puzzling Ron popped into his head.

"Don't take this the wrong way, I mean, you look great and everything but why all the new cloths and strait hair? I liked your hair curly."

"Don't you like it now?" Hermiony looked upset,

"Yeah, it's just a bit of a shock seeing you like that."

"Don't worry," Hermiony's smile turned into a smirk, "I got board with being the bookworm, so some friends gave me some fashion tips."

At that point, Ginny began to bang on the door, so Ron left the two girls to gossip, disappearing into the dark of his and Harry's room just as Mrs Weasley appeared on the landing.

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Ron sat on his bed in the dark; they had all been locked in a long time ago and it was getting late, but he wasn't tired.

His mind kept wondering back to the conversation he had had with Hermiony earlier. She felt that their relationship was different to others, and the more that he thought about it; the more he was beginning to agree. He was just not sure why it was different. And her new look was…hot. He had always thought her pritty, but now…he wasn't sure what he thought, but he defiantly found her very attractive. Were you allowed to think your best friend sexy?

He fell to sleep, very confused.

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Well, there you go folks; I got it finished in the end! Go me. PLEASE REVIEW! Pritty, pritty please!