New Jeans

He used to always bicker with Hermione. Why did it make Ron feel so much worse now. The rest of the holiday passed without any trouble. Ron and Hermione often spend time alone. Ron felt he couldn't talk to Harry about what happened in the department of mysteries. Every time he brought it up Harry wouldn't want to talk about it while Ron felt like he needed to. Hermione understood that and needed to talk about it as well. So after dinner they would often walk into the woods to talk.

After a few weeks of hard work the basement was clean and ready to be used for whatever the order wanted to use it. On that same day the letters from Hogwards arrived. The would need to go to Diagon Alley to get the new supplies and books. Ron still needed to new clothes as well. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley hadn't been around the house much in the summer. They'd always been away on Order business and Ron, Hermione, Harry and Ginny had managed fine on their own. Because of this Mrs. Weasley decided they could go to Diagon Alley on their own. They could buy their school things and visit Fred and George. 'what about my new clothes, mom?' Ron asked. 'Well, I'll give you a few extra Galleons and Hermione can help you pick out some nice things, can't you dear?' Hermione looked slightly taken aback but agreed to help all the same.

They all got up early the next day so they could spend the whole day in Diagon Alley. After the arrived by Floo powder they decided they needed a plan. Getting the books and stuff straight away didn't make sense because they would need to drag them around all day. Harry and Ginny didn't feel like helping Hermione pick out Ron's clothes so they decided to split up. They'd meet around lunch at Fred and George's. Ron and Hermione set off to the Magical Wardrobe. When they entered they were ambushed by an old witch with a lot of grey hair pointing in every direction: 'Good morning my dears. What can I help you with today?' Ron was rather startled by the woman and stepped back. Unfortunately he did so on Hermione's foot. 'Ow!' she squeaked. 'Sorry Hermione. I'm sorry we're just looking we'll call you if we need help' he told the old lady. They walked to the back of the store Ron still apologizing. After ten minutes or so they seemed pretty hopeless.

'I don't know why your mum thought I'd be any help' Hermione sighed.

'Probably because you're always dressed really nice' Ron suggested. This made Hermione blush a bit but also seemed to give her the confidence to pick out some clothes.

She walked to the front of the store and came back after a little while carrying a few t-shirt and a pair of jeans. 'here, try these' she said, as she gave them to Ron. Ron went behind the big purple curtain to change. The shirts Hermione picked are really cool he thought. He put on the dark blue ones and the jeans and stepped back out. Hermione was holding a cute pink and yellow top. 'That'd look a bit weird on me but it might be nice for you though' Ron said. Hermione turned around and smiled. 'Wow, that looks really good, Ron.' Hermione moved in closer and before Ron knew what was going on Hermione had put her hand under his shirt and into his pants. Ron took a step back but her fingers were still in his trousers. 'What are you doing???' he asked shocked. 'I'm just checking whether they're the right size. That's how my mum does it with me when we buy pants' she responded as she stepped in closer. 'It feels right to me.'

'yeah, it feels good.' Ron wasn't sure whether he was talking about the jeans though. It felt strange having Hermione's hand touching his bare skin. She was looking down at the jeans but when she looked up Ron saw something in her eyes he had never seen before. 'so how are you two lovebirds doing?'

The Old lady just came out of nowhere. Ron and Hermione both took a step back immediately as if they'd been caught doing something they shouldn't be doing. 'I was just checking the size' Hermione said rather quickly. The old lady gave them an odd sort of look and walked back to the front of the store.

'so I like these jeans and the shirts are good too.'

'Good, that's good'

They were both blushing and trying hard not to look at each other. Hermione turned back to the pink and yellow shirt she was looking at before.

'You should try it on' Ron suggested 'I bet it'll look great'

'Ok I will. You should look around for another pair of jeans though. One won't be enough.' And with that she disappeared behind the purple curtain. Ron walked through the store not quite sure what just happened between him and Hermione. He found a pair of dark green jeans that looked alright. When he walked back to Hermione he found her standing in front of a mirror. Wow, he thought, she looks just stunning. Should he tell her? Or would that be weird. Hermione turned around and spotted the jeans Ron was carrying. 'Those are nice. They'll go really well with all your maroon sweaters' she said smiling. Ron was still looking for the right words. 'Go try them on' Hermione said.

'you look very pretty' Ron said softly before going behind the purple curtain. He wasn't even sure if she'd heard him.

She didn't mention it when he came back out. And she didn't test the jeans with her fingers either. Ron felt rather disappointed. He changed back into his old clothes and handed the new ones to the old lady. He went to the till to pay. He noticed the pink and yellow shirt hanging on the rack. He took it with him to the till. Hermione was looking at the most unusual wizard robes when he was paying so she didn't see the shirt. The old lady put it in a separate bag for Ron which he handed to her when they stepped outside. 'For helping me out' he said. Hermione looked in the bag and smiled. 'You didn't have to' she said.

'I wanted to'

'You can be very sweet you know'

It was still early so they walked up and down the street before going to the twins. They ended up having such a good walking and talking they forgot the time. When she arrived at the twins Harry and Ginny were already there. They were huddled up with Fred and George and stopped talking the minute they walked through the door.

'Hello Ron, Hermione.' Fred said innocently. 'Hi Fred. The shop looks great!' Hermione said while she looked around. And the shop did look great. Everywhere you looked there were shelved or bowls with Weasley twin tricks. The whole place looked colourful. They had lunch there and checked out some of the twin's new tricks. After lunch they walked to Flourish and Botts to get the new school books. Ron left to get something he left at the twins but once outside he walked in the opposite direction. Hermione's birthday was coming up and he wanted to get her something nice. He stopped in front of a shop window with all sorts of jewellery in it. He walked into the store and looked around. A blonde witch with white glasses was standing behind the counter 'Looking for anything in particular, love?' Ron looked around at the woman and thought for a moment. She could help him, he didn't want to get Hermione something awful. 'Yes, I'm looking for a birthday gift for a girl. Something pretty, a necklace maybe.' Ron said. The woman got out several silver necklaces with pendants. Ron really liked the one with a cat on a half-moon, Hermione likes cats he thought. It cost him all the money he'd saved but it would be worth it. She would love it. The witch rapped it nicely and he joined the others like nothing had happened.