Chapter 16- Day 5B

A/N Thank you to all the fabulous reviews I got from you!! You have no idea how good it feels to come back home after standing outside in 100 degrees for marching band practice. From the looks of things, this is day is off to a slow start. Can you believe I intended this to be 7 chapters? One for each day. Oh, well.

Disclaimer sigh No, I don't own Harry Potter...J K Rowling... yeah...

Dedicated to flower-child-truth

Hermione flung herself on the make-shift bed set up in Ginny's room. Apparently, Ginny had vacated the room a few minutes ago.

"Oh that Ronald Weasley can be such a prat some times! But..."

"Was I supposed to hear that?" asked a curious Ginny who was now poking her head through the door.

"Actually, no, but since you did, no harm done I suppose. At least you stopped me before I said something I would have regretted."

This last statement seemed to grab Ginny's attention as she walked into the room and plopped herself down on her respective bed. "And what would that have been, Miss Granger?" Asked Ginny, her eyes sparkling mischievously.

"I don't suppose you actually want me to tell you?" Hermione said as she stared at Ginny like she was mad.

"You should be able to tell me. That is, if you're not thinking about my brother," said Ginny who was now smirking at her bushy-haired friend.

"As a matter of fact, I was not entertaining thoughts about your brother."

Ginny nodded but her eyes betrayed her.

"GINNY WEASLEY! You don't believe me, do you?" shouted Hermione, hurling a pillow at her friend.

"Why, whatever gave you that idea?" Ginny replied, faking innocence.

"Well, despite the fact that you still look incredibly smug..." However, Hermione did not get to finish her sentence for Ginny chose this exact moment to return the pillow to its owner.

The pillow missed Hermione and knocked over the book which contained the Bestia Ferra spell. Coincidentally, the bookmark graciously fluttered out and perched itself at the end of Hermione's bed as the book continued it's descent to earth. The girls were frozen, horrorstruck. After all, it was the book of 1001 spells... how were they supposed to locate the Bestia Ferra?

Ginny was the first to recover from her trance and dived in order to catch the book. Her fingers scraped the edge but the book crashed violently against the ground scattering papers in every direction.

Ginny picked up the book and took it over to her bed. "Do you remember the spell number?"

Hermione looked at the ground ruefully. "Well... not quite..."

Ginny sighed and pulled open the book. Ginny's mouth fell open and Hermione came over to see what Ginny was gawking at.

2 pairs of eyes stood transfixed to the page where in big, black letters the words, Bestia Ferra were.

Ginny let out a nervous chuckle. "How funny."

Hermione however, was working out a thought in her head. "I still don't understand, Gin. How is it possible out of all 1001 pages, you managed to open up to the exact page we needed. The exact page Harry needed.

Ginny looked at the book. She wasn't especially fond of Hermione's word choice. "Happenstance?" she muttered weakly.

"I think you might just be his guardian angel Ginevra Molly Weasley," said Hermione, laughing.

Ginny joined in but silently added, 'Or I might still be Ron's little sister.' She was sure she and Harry had gotten past that stage but after all, this was Harry Potter. No one could blame Ginny for her insecurities, "Could they blame me?" Ginny thought out loud.

Hermione looked at Ginny, the surprise evident in her eyes.

"What?" Ginny asked innocently.

"Ginny? Did you hear a word I said?"

Ginny shook her head no.

Hermione burst out laughing. "What I had said was, I wonder who should be blamed if Harry's kids end up with the Marauder's Map and wreak havoc about the school. That's when you said they could blame you. Why would they blame you, Gin?"

"But why did you say that, Hermione? That's completely irrelevant."

"I was lightening the mood considering you seemed rather pale."

Ginny's hands immediately flew up to her face.

"You're okay now. Maybe a slight tint of pink but..."

Ginny picked up a pillow to throw at her friend but decided against it. However, she found her mind quickly wandering.

Ginny looked at the book. She wasn't especially fond of Hermione's word choice. "Happenstance?" she muttered weakly.

Ginny found herself doubting her previous theory. Of course she hadn't meant to, but this was a rather strange...

"I think you might just be his guardian angel Ginevra Molly Weasley,"

Ginny was so lost in her thoughts, she was sure nothing could withdraw her from her reverie. However, a small bit of parchment fluttering down from Hermione's pocket caught her attention.

"Hermione, what's that?" asked Ginny, indicating the bit of paper.

"Something Dumbledore gave Ron and me. I'll read it later. Let me go to some last minute research on the Bestia Ferra spell. I'm hoping to be able to cast it tonight or tomorrow morning. We simply need to go to Diagon Alley which should be easy. The hard part is finding that fifth person."

Ginny simply nodded her head in agreement and watched Hermione pick up the scattered bits of parchment and leave the room. She still wouldn't volunteer to be the fifth person.

'Some guardian angel I'm turning out to be.' thought Ginny ruefully as she fell backwards upon her bed and enjoyed the view from her window. In the distance, she could hear her brother and Hermione arguing but all of it seemed far away as she slowly drifted into a mid-morning slumber.

"RON WEASLEY! I ASKED POLITELY IF YOU WOULD PLEASE CLEAR THE DESK!" yelled Hermione who was now rather red in the face from so much shouting.

"AND I POLITELY CLEARED IT!"

"YOU POLITELY CLEANED IT OUT INTO THE HALLWAY!"

"IT'S NOT ME WE SHOULD BE CONCENTRATING ON, IT'S HARRY AND HERE YOU ARE SAYING HOW YOU FEEL SO BAD ABOUT BREAKING UP WITH VICKY!"

"DON'T CALL HIM THAT! I BET YOU FEEL BAD ABOUT LEAVING AMY!"

Ron faltered for a moment. "I DIDN'T LEAVE HER!"

"WELL YOU CERTAINLY DIDN'T BRING HER HERE!"

"I MEANT TO BUT I GUESS I BROUGHT THE WRONG GIRL!" Ron instantly regretted his words when he saw the pain they had induced upon Hermione. "'Mione, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it."

Hermione turned to leave but he grabbed her arm.

"Ron, let me go. I'm going to go get the stuff and take it to Gin's room."

"'Mione, please just hear me out."

Hermione finally turned to face him. "I have to go."

This time Ron blocked the doorway.

"Ron, please move."

"You have to just listen."

"NO! You've insulted me for the last time. I should have known..."

However, Hermione didn't get to finish this statement for Ron had every so gently kissed her.

"I am really sorry."

"Yeah, me too."

"For what?"

"For believing this can work. I... well... everything is all fine now but what about tomorrow. You can't guarantee we won't be fighting and in this day and age, you can't guarantee we'll be alive. But I... " Hermione never got to say she enjoyed the kiss.

"Yeah, I'm sorry for kissing you."

Hermione was now angry and hurt. "I would never have in a million years told you I was sorry for that, In fact, I was anything BUT sorry."

"'Mione... I thought..."

Hermione looked at him expectantly.

"I meant to take a step forward but I ended up taking two steps back."

Hermione met his gaze with hers. "Maybe if you just step aside, we can stop doing this little dance."

Ron took a step to the side and watched Hermione leave. He knew she wasn't truly leaving; she would be right next door. But for all practical purposes, Ron had officially lost Hermione Granger.

Disclaimer "I meant to take one step forward... we can stop doing this little dance." Quote credited to Uptown Girls. I didn't get many reviews for Chapter 15. Was it really that bad? I hope this one is better if that's the case... Hope you guys liked this one! School starts in 2 days. And sadly, I do not go to Hogwarts. Or do I?

Special thanks to sballLuvr5 and bluechocobo for reviewing!!

Tabytha