Chapter 7- Day 3C



A/N I want to thank all the people that reviewed. Thank you! And my amazing beta, MilesFromNormal, that makes this possible to read. Thanks! After I polled my readers, thee majority want this to be a full-blown story. I'm going to wait for just the right moment when this will cross from fluff to a real story.

Disclaimer I only own Sarah, Elizabeth, and Amy and the plot. The rest belong to the incredible JKR.

Hermione looked around at the familiar room. 'It's good to be home.' She thought. A lot of thoughts had crossed her mind.

'Maybe I should go to the Weasley's... wait... under the circumstances... well, my parents are on a business trip. They don't come back until...5 days from now.'

Hermione finally settled on her own house. She settled herself on the couch.

'Oh! Ginny should come but... No, I can handle it. After all, I'm 17 and graduated from Hogwarts... but... yes, I'll invite only Ginny.'

The truth of the matter was that Hermione was lonely. She wished she hadn't left Crookshanks at The Burrow. She got up and headed to the telephone. It was a good thing Ginny knew how to work one. Hermione had taken the liberty of teaching her. She braced herself for 2 long rings.

"Hello?" came Ginny's breathless voice.

"Ginny? It's Hermione."

"Oh, Hermione. I can't talk now. Ron's in a right state. I have to go. Bye."

Hermione sighed. Suddenly she gasped. 'Crap, I left my stuff in Mueshke Village. Should I... I'll just have Ginny owl it over. But Pig can't handle it. It's ok. The week will be over soon enough.'

Hermione had opened the fridge when the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hermione?"

A few minutes earlier... "Bloody hell! Harry! Ginny!"

Harry and Ginny, assuming the worst, rushed into Ron's room.

"What? What happened?" Ginny asked, feeling a bit short on breath.

"Where's Hermione?" questioned Harry.

Ron seemed to have said his entire vocabulary in one sentence. His mouth just hung open ad his eyes held complete shock.

"Ron? RON!"

Ron seemed to have been snapped back down to earth.

"HERMIONE! SHE JUST APPARATED!! AND...AND..."

Ginny's face displayed the same shock Ron's had earlier. Harry seemed to have recovered first.

"Well, we should just owl her. Pig should be able to find her." Ginny glanced at Harry. She loved how he could be level-headed.

"Yeah...yeah... she wouldn't make herself undetectable." Said Ron, shaking his head, as if agreeing with himself.

Ginny risked a glance at her brother. His face was crimson, yet it somehow managed to be pale at the same time too.

The phone rang. Ron jumped and then collapsed onto his bed. "Gin- can you get that?" he said, mustering all the strength he could.

Ginny turned on her heel and briskly walked out of the room.

Hermione sat at the kitchen with a bowl of ice cream in front of her. Somehow, this reminded her of Ron. She sighed and threw the ice cream away.

She re-settled herself on her living room couch, near the telephone. Although she had expected this, when the phone rang, she jumped about a mile high.

"Hello?" she said breathlessly into the phone.

"Hermione? I'm coming over."

"No Gin! Stay. Remember, we're not allowed to use magic." Part of her wanted Ginny to come, but part of her didn't."

"I'm not apparating. I'm walking."

At first, Hermione felt grateful, than the logical part of her brain took over. Again.

"No, Ginny. You're not walking all the way over here."

"Yes, I am."

"No, you're..." but Hermione knew better than to argue with a Weasley. Although she wanted Ginny to stay where she was, she wasn't going to argue.

"Fine. But I don't want you walking here all by yourself."

"Of course not, silly. Ron's coming with me."

"NO!" But Ginny had hung up the phone before Hermione could protest. A knot tied in her stomach and she felt extremely hot.

'Crap. Crap, crap. What am I going to do?' pondered Hermione as she paced back and forth in her living room.

As soon as Ginny had re-entered Ron's room, she was pounded with questions.

"Gin? Who was that? What did they want? Was it 'Mione? Where is she? Is she okay?"

Ginny roller her eyes at her brother. It was obvious he liked her, so why didn't he say anything?

"It was Hermione, and she's okay. Get ready. I'm making you com..." Suddenly Ginny got an idea. She looked over at Harry. Apparently, Harry had the same idea. "She wants you to come over. To her house. While her parents are away." Ginny saw Harry smirk out of the corner of her eye.

Ron's face turned more crimson and more pale. A feat that seemed almost impossible to Ginny. Ron glanced at Harry.

"You're coming with me."

Ginny sighed. She knew this was going to happen. It was all part of the plan.

Ginny carefully made her way out of the room with Harry close behind her. Ron was trying to pick out a new outfit. A cause of laughter for Harry and Ginny.

"Gin, you are fabulous. If they don't do anything about it, we will."

Ginny blushed at the compliment.

"Thanks, Harry." She mumbled without ever taking her eyes off the floor.

Hermione dug through her drawers in desperation. She had taken all her decent clothes to the Village in hopes of impressing Ron. That is. Before Amy arrived.

She miraculously found a white mini skirt. The miracle was that her Aunt Elaine had given it to her at Christmas. But Hermione hated it, being as conservative as she was. She had planned on throwing it out as soon as Aunt Elaine had left. However, she had forgotten about it until now.

She quickly pulled that aside and now rummaged for a shirt. She settled on a sheer pink top. 'I didn't know I owned anything sheer.' She though. But just because Ron was coming over didn't mean she was going to stop being conservative. She pulled a white jacket over her shirt.

She then ran to the mirror. 'Oh, what were those spells Lavender was going on about? Um...' Hermione sighed in desperation. "Yergarn Estimpio."

POOF

Hermione's hair shifted into the shape of a cactus.

"AH! Er... Pfaltzgraff limpier."

POOF

Hermione's hair started spouting confetti. She might have been plenty book- smart, but Hermione had never really cared for cosmetic spells. Up until now.

"Enarugo Fintude." Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. Her hair curled around her shoulders and tumbled softly from her pink barrette.

Ron wrung his hands nervously behind his back. Ginny stood next to him perfectly calm.

A few seconds after the first ring of the doorbell, Hermione opened it.

Ron had to bite his tongue, hard, to keep his mouth closed. He began to feel extremely light-headed and he felt his mouth turn dry.

"Hey, Hermione!" said Ginny, reaching out to hug her friend. Ginny elbowed him to make him move.

However, this only succeeded in pushing Ron forward. A bit too much, actually, way too much.

Ron, not excepting this, had lost his balance and had fallen forward. Ron had fallen on top of Hermione.

He felt extremely nervous. Then, he made a huge mistake. He looked into her eyes.

Hermione found breathing extremely difficult. Not that Ron was hurting her but it was just that... she was... well, nervous.

She looked into the baby blue eyes she had known for 7 years. But this time they looked different. Because this time, they were looking at her. They were looking at her the way they looked at Amy. And a combination of all this turned out to be a bit too much for Hermione.

"Sorry." Said Ron nervously, standing up and never taking his gaze off of a particularly boring tree.

Ginny, who had been watching everything unfold, had caught all the details she possibly could. She was averting her gaze from Ron to Hermione and vice versa.

"Um... er..." Hermione brushed a stray hair behind her ear before finishing her sentence. "Why don't you come inside?"

Ron watched painfully as Hermione buttoned up her jacket. He had been able to catch a glimpse of her shirt.

"I've invited over Viktor, if that's alright." Said Hermione. She had called Viktor right after Ginny, but was now regretting that choice.

"We're having a block party and poor Harry's at home all alone." Giggled Ginny jokingly.

Ron's face turned a shade of red that rivaled his hair. "Yeah. Sure."

Hermione situated herself as far away from Ron as she possibly could. Ron winced as she chose the seat at the far left of the room. Especially because he was on the far right.

The doorbell rang and Hermione got up to answer it. Ron watched her open the door. He clenched his fists as Viktor quickly pecked Hermione on the cheek.

He felt nauseous when Viktor put his arm around Hermione. He felt horribly sick when she did not pull away.

He refused to take part in the polite conversation Ginny was making.

"I miss Harry." Ginny accidentally let slip. Hermione giggled even though she had never been one for gossip.

"Well, well, well. Is there something we don't know Ms. Weasley?"

Ginny blushed and thought about how to answer. "Yes, as a matter of fact, there's something you and everyone else in this room doesn't know."

The entire room fell into an awkward silence. Ginny bit her lip. She immediately regretted the words she had just let slip.

"I... I..."

RING

Hermione quickly got up to retrieve the phone.

Ron followed in after her.

"Hermione?"

"Wait Ron."

"But 'Mione..." She sighed. She loved that nickname, but there was someone on the phone. Ron could wait.

Suddenly, the phone dropped, Hermione turned deathly pale, and fell into Ron's arms.

HA! Talk about a cliffhanger. What's going to happen? Please R&R so I can make my story better! And recommend it. Please. Sorry it took so long.

Tabytha