Simply You
Chapter 1
Alright... I have been inspired to write a new fic. This one is about Ron and Hermione(. I want to make it as realistic as possible... also I am actually greatly inspired by Ron and Hermione's relationship. SO... that means my feelings for this fic will be very strong...enjoy! And ok... Harry still likes Cho! -Geanz
Harry awoke early the next morning. Everyone was still asleep in their four- poster beds. The drapes were pulled especially tight over in Ron's bed; his foot being the only thing sticking outside the covers. Harry looked out the window quietly. The Hogwarts grounds were tinted with orange as the sun peeked over the mountains across the lake. He never usually had a girl to think about. Usually all that lingered in his mind was the thought of Voldemort watching him... and the darkness that still gathered round him about his lost godfather.
"Maybe he isn't dead..." Harry used to think. Now he realized it was all rubbish ... he was in fact gone. He never could believe it. He never could believe his luck about how certain things just had to land on him, placing the burden on his shoulders. Why was the world picking on him? Why did Sirius have to be the one who fell through the veil? Harry massaged his forehead with his fingertips. A wave of sadness overtook him on what seemed to be a harmless Thursday morning. Gently taking his fingers away from his head, he placed them on the stone window sill which was warm from the sun.
His shadow stretched across the wooden floor and sun gleamed through the window, casting warm strips of light against the velvet curtains of the beds. Harry sighed and tried to focus on something happy. He could in fact think of something.
Cho. She had stuck in his mind ever since their friendly meeting under the mistletoe during the last DA meeting before the Christmas holidays last year. Harry saw that she felt what he felt and that was something he never usually found in people. He was lucky to have met her (and for that matter kiss her). If he, Harry woke up one morning and found her lying beside him with her hand placed on his chest; in a warm bedroom listening to birds sing and children laughing happily in the living room... that would be the happiest day of his life.
He no longer felt like he had to impress her either (which wasn't a huge burden)... but he felt like now Cho was a good friend. Yes, he still had that feeling in the pit of his stomach whenever Cho came near, but that was what made her special... more than a friend.
Harry turned away from the window and pulled off his pajama top. He might as well put on his uniform early so he wouldn't be jostled by everyone at the last minute.
After doing up his tie, he saw Ron's foot twitch. "wuhh...OH MY GOD!" A shout came from under his drapes. The curtains were ripped open and Ron raced out behind Harry, cowering like a baby. "Harry! HARRY!"
"What? What's happened to you?"
"Harry! There's a spider in my covers somewhere. I woke up... and there it was, mate!" Ron's red hair stood out on his pale skin. "It's gunna kill me!" Cowered Ron sneaking behind Harry once again. "It's gunna kill me-e- e..." He sunk down to his knees.
"C'mon Ron... it won't hurt you" Harry said in a grumpy tone. That seemed to be Ron's biggest problem at the moment.
Harry left Ron and walked down the stairs to the common room. Everything glowed in the early morning sun. A girl with bushy brown hair was sitting on one of the comfortable couches. Hermione was reading a book entitled: The Art of Legilimency. Around her were sprawled several pieces of used parchment and other thick books that Harry had never seen.
"They're my new term books" said Hermione, not taking her eyes off the pages of her book. "I've passed the requirements for NEWT level even... so I'm taking advanced classes." She paused and looked up into Harry's misty green eyes.
"I knew you still liked Cho Chang Harry" She said as-a-matter-of-factly.
Harry looked at her suspiciously. "How'd?"
"The Art of Legilimency..." Hermione held up her huge book. "It's what muggles call mind reading... but as wizards say 'the mind isn't a book... you cannot just read it at leisure'" She added noticing Harry's confused look. "It's my first class today and I thought I'd get up early and start looking it over."
"Oh... I s'ppose it's pretty interesting" He said sarcastically. Hermione shouldn't be meddling into Harry's mind like that.
Then a thought struck Harry; last year Snape was giving him Occlumency lessons... because Voldemort was a very strong Legilimist and he could read people's minds. Harry didn't even know Hermione was learning this, for it was very advanced magic.
"I won't meddle with your mind anymore then Harry if that makes you happy." Hermione closed her book and started packing up everything.
Ron came down the stairs pulling on his tattered robs. He was looking cautiously around to see if there were any spiders.
"Oh Ron, the spiders aren't going to kill you" said Hermione tiredly.
"I thought I said to stop reading people's minds!" Harry got rather agitated.
"I didn't... I actually heard Ron screaming this morning." Hermione giggled.
"Well it was scary! You know I don't like spiders!" said Ron fearfully.
"Whatever Ron. Are you two ready to go down to breakfast?" said Hermione to the pair of them.
"Yeah... I'm starved. We should get down there before everyone else does anyways."
The great hall was pretty much empty except for a few clusters of people at each table. Harry, Ron and Hermione sat down when all of a sudden Hermione got up. "Oh no! I forgot to go my prefect meeting!"
"We have a prefect meeting?" asked Ron.
"No not you. I was supposed to be at Dumbledore's office 10 minutes ago! I've got to go... grab me a tart for later." And she sped off with her bag jostling at her side and her brown frizzy hair jumping.
Ron seemed to be staring after her.
"You know... I think I should borrow that mind reading book from Hermione... cause I really wanna know what you're thinking right now." Harry smirked at Ron.
"Shut up" Ron punched Harry playfully in the arm. "I don't even know what you're talking about." He said suddenly looking serious.
"O c'mon Ron I know you like Hermione."
"What? No I don't!" Ron flushed a bright pink.
"I could really tell when she had a crush on that Viktor Krum guy. You weren't very happy."
"That's just because Viktor's a loser... and I can't stand to see cute girls with losers!" Said Ron strongly.
"You were absolutely crazy that Viktor came to our school... he didn't seem like a loser then... and if you think Hermione's cute... that couldn't possibly mean that you like her."
"I never said she was cute! I never......! Viktor isn't- I never! Oh damn..." Ron gave up. He threw down his piece of toast and sighed. "Harry... I used to think of Hermione as a really good friend but now, I think I feel something more for her." His eyes opened very wide, he even seemed surprised about what he had said.
"Wow... Ron this is a side of you I've never seen" Harry said unenthusiastically.
"Whatever... the thing is even though she's bossy and way too smart... still there's something about her that makes me... happy." The corner of Ron's mouth moved. He got a very subtle smile on his face.
"Hm." grunted Harry.
"Well you're the one who asked about Hermione." He said going back to his toast seeing as Harry wasn't interested.
"Hey Ron... listen why don't you ask her on a date to Honeydukes or something? It's Thursday and the visits to Hogsmeade start on the weekend"
Ron raised his eyebrow. "You think?... you think she'd go for it?"
"I dunno. But you always go there anyways... so..." Harry shrugged. "Dunno... maybe just ask her who she likes first"
"I don't know Harry... if I could get someone to maybe find out for me..."
"Does someone need help?" Two male voices said in unison.
Harry and Ron jerked around. Two older tall, slender boys with flaming red hair were walking towards them. "Fred? George?" Ron said in disbelief.
"The one and only!" George grinned.
"But... aren't you supposed to be at your joke shop?" asked Harry.
"Oh it's doing fine without us. We decided to come visit our little damsel in distress" Fred grabbed Ron and punched him playfully in the stomach.
"We listened to your" began Fred
"whole conversation" ended George.
"And we know you need someone to find out if Hermione..."
"Loves Ronnykins" George put his arm around Harry. "And we're here to take the job!"
"You're gunna find out if Hermione likes me?" Asked Ron.
"Sure. This job just cries out fun. We can dress up as other people and find out everything we need to know" said Fred.
"We could even get her to put a potty on her head and dance around singing 'I'm and idiot, I'm an idiot!' but we'll save that one for another time."
"Does she sing in the shower? Does she use a tampon or pad... we'll find out for you!" They ended in unison.
Ron seemed intrigued but thoroughly disgusted at the same time.
"Ok erm...sure. Just don't let her know-"
Fred put his finger over Ron's mouth. "Little bro, you don't have to give us the speech. We know."
They walked away in same step. Many people raced up to them, rattling their pockets. "Ahem... thank you... thank you" Fred and George pulled many different colorful candies and items out of their bag, handing something to everyone who paid.
"Business is booming" said Harry smiling.
"D'you think it was a good idea to let them do that?" asked Ron.
"Sure, they even said they wouldn't tell it was you" Harry said reassuringly.
After eating a bit more toast and eggs, Hermione walked quickly into the dining hall, looking furious.
"What happened?" asked Ron.
"Nothing" She said sharply. "Just the fact that Professor McGonagall is making me write an article for the Daily Prophet..."
"Hey Hermione that's great! What's wrong with writing an article for the Daily Prophet?"
"Nothing! But the article is going to be on the front page and it has to be perfect! This is putting enormous stress on my work load!" Hermione slapped a hand to her face and sighed.
Ron didn't do anything but looked anxious to comfort her.
"Go!" Harry mouthed to Ron.
Ron gave him a face that said "hold on!" and then he cleared his throat.
"Erm... Hermione it'll be ok. You've always been able to handle any amount of work" He rested his arm around her. Ron's heart skipped a beat. His arm was around Hermione.
She looked up and peeked at where his arm was. "Oh. Well that's true Ron" She said with a smile. "Ok, I think I can handle it" With her hand she took his arm which was around her shoulders. "Thanks" she said setting it down gently.
And Hermione left to go to her next class, obviously needing to be early.
"Well... how'd I do?" asked Ron with a weak smile.
Harry actually thought that was the worst move Ron could've made. But what to say to him?
"Ron I dunno if that was exactly right for the moment." Said Harry
"Oh..." Ron looked disappointed.
"But its ok! Just don't rush things" Said Harry. He really wasn't any good at this.
"Er... alright... we better get to potions class... absolutely perfect that we have it first thing eh?"
"Yeah I know." He's spirits seemed to darken; he had forgotten about the potions class first thing.
Walking down to the dungeons made Harry shiver, and he noticed that Ron wasn't taking his eyes away from the ground.
"It's ok. You didn't goof that bad."
Ron gave a quick smile, then returned to watching the ground.
The solid door of the dungeon was slammed shut and Snape continued.
"The Draught of Mandrake and Manticore flesh" he said rather nastily. "Is a combination potion... which we will be encountering this term. It is much more difficult than regular potion draughts." He drawled and looked at Harry who did not even do well in regular potion mixing.
"Directions on the blackboard. Begin."
There was suddenly the scraping of wooden stools as the class got up and walked over to the potions cabinet, glancing at the blackboard between grabbing of materials.
"This is stupid..." Grumbled Ron, his hands full of ingredients that looked mutilated and even worse than any regular potion ingredients Harry had ever seen.
"What's with these ingredients?" Said Ron pressing on still about how ridiculous this all was. "They remind me of... euuuh!" he didn't finish because the ingredient he was lifting out of a woven bag started to squirm beneath his fingertips.
"Euh!!" Said Ron quickly as though he was about to be sick.
"Ron! Grab it fast and don't look so tense" Said Harry in an urgent whisper.
"When did you become such a goodie?" Ron asked Harry sickly, still eyeing the squirming thing in his hand.
"Because" said Harry darkly, "Snape'll find some way to blame it on me" He had enough on his mind; he didn't need a week's worth of detention for nothing.
"Err... alright sorry" He rolled up his sleeves and began slicing the squirming material down its middle.
They continued to chop and mix their ingredients for the next hour. By the end of class, everyone smelt badly of raw meat.
Harry wiped his sweating forehead with his arm.
"Getting hot down here isn't it?" Said Ron jerking his collar around. "I reckon someone's not following the instructions..." He turned around and eyed Draco Malfoy, whose cauldron seemed to be giving off twice the amount of steam as everyone else's.
And Professor Snape completely ignored it as if nothing was wrong.
Harry's insides twisted with annoyance. "Never ignored my potion when it was off colour... he just got rid of it totally" Harry muttered angrily.
After potions was over, Harry and Ron walked down to the lake, their sleeves still rolled up and the top few buttons on their shirts undone. Some girls were sitting on the edge of the lake, their feet swaying in the water. They looked after Harry and Ron with interest, one girl complaining she was hot suddenly, and began to pull her top off.
"Ooo wow..." Said Ron looking at the girl with an excited look on his face.
"She's just wearing a tank top" Shrugged Harry
"Aw damn it" Ron turned away and sat down with Harry.
"So... what do I do?" Asked Ron. He picked up a pebble and threw it across the water.
"I dunno..." Harry looked out to the lake with squinted eyes. Where was Cho...
"I wonder if Fred and George have found out anything-"
Ron turned around and saw Hermione walking over to them. She was in her regular clothes; a pair of shorts and a halter top.
"Hey!" She called to them. "I thought I'd change... it's absolutely roasting out here!"
She sat down beside Ron and saw the girls at the edge of the lake. "Oh for heaven's sakes... look at those girls! What guy would ever fall for that?"
"Yeah I know" Said Ron piping up secretly waving to one.
Hermione sat there for a minute peeking at Ron's face "Why are you two so quiet?"
"Oh nothing Hermione..." said Ron, "You wouldn't erm... understand" He looked over to Harry for support.
"Oh, oh... yeah" Harry knew Ron still thought this was just about him. But he also wanted to find Cho and secretly ask her out or something.
"I see. Well, anyone up for a visit to Hagrid? We haven't spoken to him for a while" Hermione tried to liven up some conversation.
"Sure" Said Harry not moving.
"Oh goodness are we going to go then or aren't we?" Said Hermione getting testy.
"Lets stay here by the lake, we can visit Hagrid some other time." Ron said smiling at Hermione. He got up and walked down to the edge of the lake, rolling up his pant legs and dipping his legs in the water. Hermione looked over to Ron then to Harry. "C'mon lets go get our feet wet." She ran down the hill and sat beside Ron. "It's hot isn't it?"
"Yeah..." said Ron. He was about to move over a bit; Hermione was kind of close to him for his comfort. Then without him knowing, his foot had sunken into a very deep, loose area of mud under the water and so he tripped right over, rolling into Hermione and knocking them both in the water.
Harry saw what happened and stood there laughing. "Nice one Ron!" He called to him.
Ron came out from under the water gasping. "Yeah!"
"Whoa!" Hermione lay in the water, her hair soaking, with Ron in front of her waiting for Hermione's reaction. She smiled.
"How about this Ron?" She jumped on top of his head and dunked him under.
When he came back up he dove into Hermione and grabbed her waist to pull her under with him.
"Haha! Ron!!" She smiled and gave in after a few minutes of play fighting. Ron was sitting beside her, his hair totally flat against his head.
"Well that felt good" he said running his fingers through his hair. "I was getting kinda hot anyways."
Hermione giggled and adjusted herself so that her back was sloped on the edge of the land; her whole lower body still in the water. "Ah... the sun's so warm today" She said closing her eyes.
"Yeah" Ron looked at her in a happy dazed fashion.
"Oh goodness what time is it?" We have to go change and then eat some lunch before next period!" Hermione sprang out of the water, and started to wring the ends of her shorts.
Ron being slightly disappointed got out of the water and straightened his hair.
"You guys have fun?" Asked Harry with a hint of satisfaction in his voice.
Ron just grinned and winked at Harry. "We'd better get up to Gryffindor tower and dry off."
After Ron and Hermione changed, they walked down to the Great Hall and ate a quick lunch before heading off to their separate classes.
"Why does Hermione have to be so smart?" asked Ron heading to Divination with Harry. "She just has to be in those advanced NEWT classes..." he sighed, "she could be walking with us to Divination right now..." Ron kept walking, then suddenly bumped into Harry's back.
"Ow!" said Ron rubbing his nose, "Geez mate watch where you- Harry what are you looking at?"
"It's Cho" Harry smiled, this wave of relief washing over him. He hadn't seen her for a while and by the looks of it, Cho was amazed to see him.
"Harry!" She cried. Ron backed away as she ran into Harry, burying her face in his shoulder.
"Hi Cho" Harry's smile broadened.
She let go of him and giggled. "How are you?"
"I'm fine, you?" He asked, his stomach doing a flip.
"Great! It feels like forever doesn't it?"
"Yeah... you have no idea" said Harry blushing slightly.
Cho just smiled at him. "I missed you Harry"
"Erm... I missed you too" He was surprised by the sudden comment.
Cho's friend Marietta called out to her that it was time to go to class; Cho frowned and then turned back to Harry.
"Well, maybe I'll see you at dinner then" She smiled sadly. After all, it was a long time away Harry thought.
"Yeah"
"Bye Harry" she waved to him, then joined Marietta and walked off to class.
Harry was still waving mindlessly after she left.
"Uh... Harry?" Said Ron
"Wha- oh she's gone?" Harry's hand fell away and he turned back to Ron. "Sorry, let's go to divination."
Ron nudged Harry in the arm. "You never told me you still liked Cho"
"Oh... well yeah I- I do" Harry looked down at the ground smiling.
"Mmm... you're lucky Harry" Said Ron hopelessly, "the one you love runs into your arms the second she sees you, and the one I love... I hafta fall over and knock her into the water to get her near me..."
Harry sighed. He felt bad for Ron, but he didn't have the heart to say it.
They walked to the divination classroom which held its usual strong fragrance from the fire. They grabbed a table just as Professor Trelawney glided out from behind a set of beaded curtains. "Welcome!... everyone is ready today... I can sense it" She said in her quavery spooky voice. "The noble art of Divination will not lie to your young, thirsty, eager minds! Therefore we begin..."
"YOU" She turned on Ron so suddenly his elbow slipped off the table.
"Erm yeah?" He said
"I sense a great feeling in you...ahhh your mind is crisp... adventurous! But I sense a bit of uncertainty. You are in love?"
"Um well"
"Mhm" She said quickly, closing her eyes and holding her hand up to Ron's face.
"No"
"Mhm"
"NO" Ron repeated.
"Mhm... continue!"
Ron looked stupid. "No... n-o" he sounded out slowly.
"Young boy, don't hide your feelings!" She looked closely at him, her eyes popping behind her hugely magnified glasses. "I can see what you are thinking... but very well. If that is all you wish to say"
She glided away from Ron back to the front of the class as he wiped his forehead and looked at Harry quickly. "The old bat can read minds..."
Harry nodded, suddenly remembering Hermione's Legilimency book. "Ron! I've got an idea!" He whispered.
"What?"
"You know Hermione's mind reading book?"
"Um... sure" said Ron
"Well... what if we grab it and maybe... we could find out what she's thinking around you!"
"Hey Harry..." Ron looked at the ground lost in thought "That isn't a bad idea"
After class was over, people glanced over to Ron. Especially Parvati and Lavender, who were having a very deep conversation about what Professor Trelawney had said about him. "Who do you reckon he likes?" whispered Lavender.
"Dunno... I bet it's someone we'd never expect!"
"Yeah..." Lavender looked over to him, "Maybe it's you Parvati!"
They walked away giggling.
Ron smacked his face with his hand. "Guhh... We need to get that book of Hermione's"
"Yeah" Harry replied. Now that he knew there was nothing to worry about with Cho, he would be able to focus more on helping Ron. "But how? It'll be in the girl's dormitory... unless we manage to slip it away from right under her nose..."
They headed off to their next class and by dinner time, Harry's book bag was weighed down by many extra assignments they had just gotten. (They were hopeful about getting no homework until they went to Transfiguration and discovered they had forgotten about a couple overdue assignments... now they were stuck with much more homework than anyone else.
"Where d'you wanna go to finish all this?" Ron hoisted up his bag with both hands.
"Erm...do you wanna go to the Great Hall and do it?"
Ron frowned at Harry "Cho won't be there yet... she has Quidditch practice..." Harry had forgotten about that...
"Alright then I guess the lake would be the best place, according to Seamus, someone planted some fireworks in every nook and cranny in the common room"
"Nice. Bet it was Fred and George... that is if they're around" smirked Ron.
So they headed back down to the lake and sat in the same spot they were in last time. Ron pointed out the groove in the side of the hill where his foot got stuck and laughed at himself. The girls on the other side of the lake were gone now and the sun was just peeking over the mountains and trees.
"We better hurry and get all this done. Sun's starting to go down." Ron opened his bag and pulled out a quill, ink and a couple pieces of parchment.
"I wonder where Hermione is?" He asked after writing the title on his parchment.
"She could be in the library" said Harry not looking up from his essay.
"Oh... yeah she could. We've barely seen her at all lately cause she's got those NEWT classes..."
Harry looked up at Ron and frowned. "D'you miss Hermione that much?"
Ron put down his quill and looked out to the lake. "Yeah... kinda"
Harry went back to his essay. Then, he looked up. "Ron, after we finish all this do you wanna go look for Hermione's mind reading book?"
Ron looked away from the lake and smiled. "Hey yeah... I forgot about that"
Their quills raced across the parchment in which they were writing their essay. This obviously gave Ron some motivation to finish up quickly.
"Filibuster Fireworks" said Harry to the Fat Lady.
"Correct! Bit of an ironic password isn't it?"
They ran into the common room which was bright and lively. Harry and Ron heard someone talking about how all the fireworks blew a hole in the wall, and a tapestry was set on fire.
They ran over to the staircase leading to the girl's dormitory. As they began to walk up, the stairs folded and turned into a gigantic narrow slide. Harry and Ron slide right back down to the bottom of the stairs.
"Blimey! I forgot that was there" Ron said rubbing his neck.
"Ok we have to figure out some way of getting up there..." Harry clambered back onto his feet, "we could use my broom!" he was about to race out of the room to get his Firebolt, when Ron began climbing on the ledges of the windows.
"Ron? What are you doing?" Harry called up to him.
"This way works too!" said Ron jumping from ledge to ledge.
Harry chuckled then began to follow him along the window sills.
They continued to climb, the moonlight lighting the staircase.
"Ouch... the walls are bumpy" said Ron sliding his hand along the wall.
Harry clung on to the frames of the windows when Ron stopped and scowled under his breath.
"What is it?" Harry asked him.
"There aren't any more windows... and the door is right there!" Ron pointed to the door which was just a long jump away.
"We can't jump that" sighed Harry.
"Hey... let's try this."
Ron grabbed his wand out of his back pocket and whispered a spell very quietly to the wall. "Rictusempra!" At the touch of his wand, a stone from the wall burst apart and the pieces fell on the stair case.
"Ron!" Harry whispered in panic, "someone's gunna notice that"
Ron didn't look worried. He placed his hand where the empty space was and repeated the spell several more times so there were places for their feet to sit.
By the time they reached the top of the stairs, the wall looked absolutely ridiculous. There were chunks of it missing everywhere and the stairs were covered in little shattered pieces of stone.
"How do we fix that now?" asked Harry, annoyed.
"Don't worry" replied Ron nonchalantly, "Hermione taught me a spell... we can use it when we head back down... but right now..." He tugged open the double doors to the girl's dormitory and they peered inside.
It looked just like the boy's dormitory except it smelled of light perfume and there was a little vanity per bed. Makeup and clothes were lying everywhere and the curtains over some of the beds had glow-in-the-dark flowers painted on them.
"Wow... a guy could be entertained in here" Ron smiled, looking through some luggage. "Hey I never knew Parvati wore a thong!"
"Ron that's not what we're here for!" Harry smirked then looked around at the beds, looking for Hermione's.
"I found hers!" Harry shouted running over to a bed that was incredibly neat. All the makeup on the vanity was put away and there were pictures of Hermione and her family all over the baseboard of her bed. Piles of books were stacked neatly at the base. Ron dropped a bra he was looking at and dove into the pile of books, looking for the Mind Reading one. He found it in an instant and then a piece of parchment which was obviously her time table.
"Harry we're lucky. Hermione doesn't have Legilimency until next week!" He picked up the book and tucked it under his arm, leaving the timetable on the top of the books. "Hey..." said Ron looking on Hermione's bed, the smile leaving his face.
There was a photo album which was lying open, cuddling in each other's arms, a picture of Hermione and Viktor Krum waving merrily up at them.A/N: OK that was the first chap... sorry about the cliffhanger. I hope that you find the wait well worth it, though!
Thanks for reading!! Please review -Geanz