Author's Note: Do you guys have any idea how amazing it is to check your mail and have such a full inbox? Thank you all so much! All of you readers and reviewers are so awesome. Thanks for your support. Without further ado, here's chapter 5!

………………………………………………………………………………………………

After her shower, Hermione got dressed and heard a tapping on her window. She smiled, knowing that Ginny's reply had come. Unlatching the window, she saw the small form of Pig. But he was not carrying a letter from Ginny. The handwriting on the envelope belonged to Ron. Hermione grinned as she read his letter.

Dear Hermione,

I hope you're having a good holiday so far. Everything here is pretty much the same. Fred and George are working hard on their shop and they seem to be making a lot of gold. I asked if I could help out to earn some extra money but they said Lee's already helping them.

Ginny and I are pretty bored. We've already had to de-gnome the garden twice. Who in their right mind wants to spend the summer chucking those mad little potatoes all over the place? But I guess it's better than having to stay with the Dursley's like Harry does. Have you written to him at all? I wrote him yesterday and his reply seemed pretty normal, but I think he's still pretty upset about Sirius.

I've been asking Mum about when the two of you can come and stay at the Burrow. She has to talk to Dumbledore first but she's all fired up about it because she wants to get Harry away from those mad Muggles. We're hoping you can come around the end of July so that way Harry can actually have a fun birthday for once.

Ginny says to tell you that she refuses to reply to your letter until you "give her more details about the plan." What plan are you working on? It better not involve going to Bulgaria to see that git Krum. Or is it about spew again?

Well I have to end this now. Ginny and I are going to visit Loony—I mean Luna—Lovegood. Did you know she lives around here? She wants to show us all of the equipment she's taking on her expedition to Sweden to look for that Kacksnorcky thing. Hopefuly I'll have a reply from you by the time I get home. I could use a letter from someone normal after spending the day with her. Bye.

Ron

Hermione rolled her eyes at his sarcastic manner but she was smiling all the same. She missed Ron so much. She tried to picture him at Luna's house, probably goggling at the blonde girl incredulously while she rambled on about the Crumple-Horned Snorcack. Hermione laughed and went downstairs for breakfast.

"Morning, Mum," she said as she stepped happily over the threshold of the kitchen. "Any more pancakes left?"

"I saved a couple just for you," her mother replied. She took a plate down and filled it with two pancakes, then set the plate in front of her daughter.

Hermione sat down next to her dad and pulled the syrup toward her. "Morning, Dad," she said as she poured the syrup all over her pancakes.

"Good morning," he replied over the top of a magazine. "Have fun last night?" he said, raising his eyebrows.

Hermione looked down at her pancakes and busied herself with cutting them. "Yes, it was fine," she said vaguely.

Her father didn't say anything else and Hermione was very thankful. "So, what are we doing today?" she asked her Mum.

"Well, your father and I have a couple of errands to run," her Mum replied, "but there's a carnival tonight and we thought we'd go to that."

"Really?" Hermione asked. She loved carnivals.

"We thought we'd leave around eight," said her Dad. "Tonight's the last night to go, so make sure you're ready."

"Oh I will be," said Hermione delightedly.

After breakfast her parents left to take care of their errands and Hermione was left on her own. She returned to her bedroom and wrote a reply to Ron.

Dear Ron,

I hope you had fun at Luna's house. I wish I could have been there to hear about the Crumple-Horned Snorcack. Everything is fine here. My parents are taking me to a carnival in town tonight, so that should be fun.

I haven't written to Harry yet but I probably will later. Are you sure he sounded okay in his reply to you? I'm really worried about him. How are you coping? I hope your arms feel better. Those welts were pretty horrible.

Tell Ginny not to worry about the plan. I'll tell her when I see her. And don't worry Ron, it doesn't involve going to Bulgaria. I don't know why you would care anyway. (Hermione smirked as she wrote this.)

I really hope I can come visit you at the Burrow next month. I know Harry could use some time away from the Dursley's and all his grief. My mum already said it was fine for me to visit you. Hopefully I'll see you soon!

Love from,

Hermione

She folded up the letter and handed it to Pig, who was sitting on her desk and sleeping. "Pig," she said, prodding the tiny owl, "you can take this back to Ron now." Pig hooted and soared toward the window where he collided with the glass.

"Oops," said Hermione, scooping up the owl. "Sorry, I forgot to unlatch it." She opened the window and Pig hooted at her cross-eyed before he flew off again.

Now Hermione was left with another nine hours to entertain herself. She actually felt like reading and opened her trunk to peruse through all the books. She came up with several titles which would have been interesting and informative to read, but then her eyes lighted upon a small green book: Quidditch Through the Ages.

Hermione had always wanted to read this book before but thought it was utterly useless because it couldn't help her in school at all. Nevertheless, she always had a certain curiosity about what this book contained. After all, it was very fun to watch Quidditch—especially when Ron was playing—and she figured reading up on the history of it might be fun.

But that's totally pointless, said a voice in her head. You know Quidditch is complete rubbish. You should start reading up on your N.E.W.T.s. Hermione considered for a moment. Then she picked up the small green book and flopped down on her bed to read.

"Wow, I'm such a bad ass," she muttered to herself amusedly. But underneath the sarcasm she did feel rather proud that she had ignored her scholastic self for once.

About an hour later Hermione closed the book and rolled over on her bed to stare at the ceiling. That book actually had been really interesting and informative…who would've thought? And she really enjoyed reading it. Maybe there was more to Quidditch than she thought. Hermione grinned. This plan was actually working.

Around eight o'clock that night Hermione and her parents left for the carnival. Hermione practically bolted out of the car when she saw all the glimmering lights on the ferris wheel. She felt like a five year-old child but she didn't care.

"I haven't been to a carnival in ages! Can we please, please ride the ferris wheel?" she asked excitedly.

Her dad chuckled. "Of course we can. Would you like some cotton candy, young lady?"

"Do you even have to ask?" Hermione beamed and strode along with her parents into the carnival. After getting some cotton candy and playing several games, she got in line for the ferris wheel with her dad. Her mum watched them from behind the line.

Five minutes later she was at the top of the ferris wheel, a grin consuming her whole face. "I'm so glad we came," she told her dad.

He kissed the top of her head. "Why are you so excited to be here?" he asked bemusedly.

"I have no idea," she replied happily. She stared down at all the small people walking around and felt very powerful.

Hermione and her dad rejoined her mum several minutes later. "What do you want to do next?" her mum asked them.

"I don't—" Hermione stopped mid-sentence as she saw someone walking towards her. Her parents exchanged knowing looks.

"Hermione, why don't we catch up with you later?" said her mum.

"Er—no—I mean—" Hermione tried to say, but her parents had already walked off.

"Hi Hermione," said the tall, dark person walking towards her.

"Hi Henry," she said, trying to sound excited to see him. "Long time no see."

"Yeah," he said. "Er—I'm sorry about yesterday. I shouldn't have…umm…" he trailed off, looking uncomfortably at the ground.

"It's okay," Hermione said shyly.

He smiled at her. Gosh he's cute. "Do you want to ride the Tornado with me?" he asked.

"The Tornado?" Hermione said in a high voice. Henry nodded. "I—well, I—I sort of have a phobia of roller coasters."

"What?" he laughed.

"I…I don't like roller coasters," she said lamely.

"Oh Hermione, the Tornado is so fun! Come on, you'll love it," he enthused, dragging her arm forward. Hermione was at a loss for words and just walked beside him open-mouthed. Before she knew it they were in the line for the Tornado.

"Henry, I really don't think this is a good idea."

"Have you ever been on a roller coaster before?"

"Yes."

"How old were you?" he asked, raising his eyebrows at her.

She thought for a moment. "Last time I think I was seven."

"Seven? That was nine years ago! You'll love it now."

She looked towards the front of the line, breathing rapidly. "Do you have any idea how dangerous these things are?"

"No," he said happily. "But I know they're fun."

The gate opened and the line ushered forward. Hermione shuffled her feet nervously, staring at the people who were getting off of the roller coaster. A couple of them looked rather sick but most of them were chatting excitedly.

Hermione took a deep breath and climbed into the roller coaster next to Henry. He smiled at her. "Ready?"

She nodded and pulled on the bar. Why was it that she could face a whole room of Death Eaters but was deathly afraid of roller coasters?

"Hermione, you'll be fine," said Henry, smiling at her. He took her hand and squeezed it.

"Thanks," she said, returning the squeeze. Then she let go.

A sudden jerk startled Hermione and before she knew it the roller coaster was speeding forward. It ascended the tracks and Hermione screamed as the roller coaster hurtled downwards. Her eyes flew wide open and she held her breath, but soon she got used to the sensation in her stomach. In fact, she started to enjoy it.

By the time the roller coaster pulled to a stop two minutes later, Hermione felt quite exhilarated. She scrambled out of the roller coaster car and joined Henry at the exit. He smiled when he saw her grinning at him.

"I told you it would be fun," he said.

"Yes, I suppose you did," she said cheerfully.

"Did you know you say 'yes' a lot?"

"Oh, I didn't realize," she said uncomfortably.

"It's not a bad thing," he said hastily. "I was just remarking that you always sound so proper."

"Oh, ye—yeah."

"So…want to go ride the log flume?"

"Okay. I've never ridden the log flume before," Hermione said, staring across the park at it.

"Are you serious? Oh come on, you'll love it, let's go!" he said brightly. He took her hand and led her to the log flume line. Although she hated to admit it to herself, Hermione really liked the feeling of his hand within her own. Don't forget Ron, don't forget Ron.

Hermione spent an enjoyable evening with Henry playing games, eating snow cones, and riding more roller coasters. They sat down on a bench at the end of the night and watched the ferris wheel riders.

"So, did you have fun?" Hermione asked him as she munched on her third snow cone.

"'Course I did, you're amazing," he said.

Hermione blushed. "Thanks."

"So…now that we know each other a bit more….er, can I kiss you?"

Hermione choked on her snow cone. "Now?" she asked.

"Yeah, now," he said. He leaned over.

"Henry," Hermione said as she held up a hand in front of her, "listen. You're a really nice guy, and you're very good looking, but I don't want to kiss you."

He frowned at her. "I don't understand you. You said you don't have a boyfriend, and we just spent the whole evening together. And I like you a lot."

Hermione stared open-mouthed at his shoes. "Henry, I like you too…but I'm really confused right now…"

"What's there to be confused about?" he asked as though she was mental.

"Ron," she muttered.

"Ron?"

Hermione sighed. "He's my best friend. And I fancy him."

"Oh," he said, sounding hurt. "Well, then why isn't he your boyfriend?"

Hermione considered this for a moment. "I…don't know." Henry didn't say anything and so Hermione tried to explain herself better. "We're best friends, but we fight all the time. We're both incredibly stubborn. And he hates my friend Viktor, because he thinks we're romantically involved. But we're not. We just went to a dance together, that's all."

"So why don't you just tell him that?"

"I've tried…but I sort of enjoy dangling it over his head," she said, giving him a guilty smile.

"Why?" Henry asked.

"Because I like to gauge a reaction out of him," Hermione said simply.

"Girls are so weird," Henry mused. "Why don't you just stop fighting with him and tell him you fancy him?"

"It's complicated. I don't know how to explain it."

Henry took her hand. "Well, when you two finally work things out, I hope you're happy. He's lucky to have you." Hermione smiled at him. Henry kissed her hand. "I had a good time tonight," he told her. "You're a really nice girl."

"Thank you, Henry. I had a really good time as well." She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "I'm going to go find my parents. I'll see you around."

"Bye Hermione," he called as she walked away.

As she walked away, Hermione reflected that she felt much better leaving him tonight than last night. He was very nice and good-looking, but she knew she would rather wait for Ron. Maybe Henry had a point. Maybe she should just stop fighting with Ron. It all seemed too simple.
……………………………………………………………………………………………

A/n: I hope everyone liked that chapter. It was a little awkward to write. I'm not sure why. I wanted Hermione to see Henry again so they could end things on a better note and she could move on. Please review and give me any feedback. Constructive criticism is appreciated. :-D