Ohmigosh! Please don't hate me because it took forever to update! If no one is reading this story any longer then I don't blame them! How long has it been? A MONTH? Okay, well I hope you like this chapter! It's a bit longer than normal…I'm trying to make up for my slackness…Oh, and of course, a special thanks to my AWESOME beta reader The Mad Gremlin!

Disclaimer: No, Harry Potter not mine!

You're going places, Hermione

!!!

Chapter Seventeen: The party

Hermione stopped outside Ron's front door, Christmas presents in hand, and paused.

To ring the doorbell, or not to ring the doorbell. That was the question.

To ring the doorbell would mean walking in and seeing friends and old classmates that she hadn't seen in years. Friends and old classmates that knew how horrible she had been when she had left.

To not ring it would mean she could go home without the confrontation and the whispering and pointing and reminiscing.

To not ring the doorbell it was.

She turned briskly.

"Hey! Watch it!" Someone snapped.

"Oh sorry," Hermione muttered, sidestepping them, "I've just realised that I'm at the wrong house. Excuse me."

"Hang on a moment. Lumos," Wand light reflected all around her and then the person cried out in amazement, "Hermione Granger!"

Oh crap, she thought.

"Hi," She squinted against the light, "Who is that, I can't see."

"Neville!" He brought the wand to his face, "Neville Longbottom. You remember me, right? We were in the same year together. And both in Gryffindor. I…I shared a dorm room with Harry and Ron."

"Oh, yes I-"

"I asked you to the Yule Ball in our forth year, and then we fought together in that battle in our fifth year and-"

"No! No, Neville, it's okay. I remember you," she said quickly.

"Oh," he grinned. "Oh, okay. What are you doing here?"

"Nothing, nothing." Hermione went to side step him again but he stopped her.

"Hang on, did you say you thought you were at the wrong house?" Neville asked, "Because this is Ron's house! Don't tell me you didn't know?"

"Really," said Hermione weakly, "Well there you go. I thought I was at the wrong place."

"You're here for the party?" he said eagerly.

"Yes."

"All right!" Neville stepped forward towards to door. "It's going to be great catching up."

Hermione could do nothing but stand next to him as he banged furiously on the front door, which was opened after a few moments by Ginny.

"Neville!" She smiled prettily. "It's great to see you! Come on in."

"Hey guess what, Gin!" Neville said happily, "I found Hermione right outside here, she thought she was at the wrong house and she was about to leave! Lucky I caught her, hey?"

"Yes, lucky you did," she said slowly, glancing at Hermione, who blushed.

"Right, presents out back?" Neville asked. Ginny nodded and he pushed his way past her, disappearing down the hallway.

"Thinking of ditching us were you?" Ginny wondered, placing her hands on her hips.

"Something like that," Hermione muttered. "Sorry."

"It's okay," Ginny stepped forward. "Give us a hug. We didn't really get do the whole 'it's great to see you' thing last time."

Relieved, Hermione received the embrace gratefully, realising as she had with everyone else she'd met, just how much she had missed her friends.

"Well you've missed quite the party already!" Ginny said brightly as she pulled away, "Harry's already drunk and caused quite a stir."

"What do you mean?" Hermione said curiously as she hung up her coat near the door and dropped her presents on the floor.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Hermione!" Harry said, grinning goofily he made his way over to her. "What's up at your end of the table?"

"Don't you mean my end of the world Harry?" Hermione wondered, trying to hide a smile.

"Hey you! Shut up!" Harry snapped. "You can't say that! You don't own the whole world. It's not your world!"

"I didn't say it was. What on earth is the matter?"

Harry didn't say anything and Hermione suddenly noticed something unusual about his appearance.

"Harry…where is your shirt?"

"I have a headache." Harry moaned before he leant slightly forward and promptly threw up all over the doormat.

"Harry!" Ginny squealed. "You are such a git! Get away while I finish my conversation with Hermione!"

"Have a Harry Christmas mate." Harry giggled before he was shoved back down the hallway. Ginny pointed her wand at the doormat with disgust and the vomit disappeared.

"I'm sorry about that," she said darkly, "Fred and George are over and they spiked his Pumpkin Juice with Firewhisky. I thought it was funny at first but he's had too much and it's all just been awful." Ginny sighed.

"Why isn't he wearing a shirt?" Hermione questioned.

Ginny scrunched up her nose, as though remembering something unpleasant. "Harry thought it would be funny to dance around outside, naked. That was before he tried to make the Christmas Tree reproduce with a Garden Gnome and after he proposed to me."

"He proposed to you?" Hermione gasped, shocked more by that more than anything else.

"Yes," Ginny half-grinned, "Except he thought he was proposing to my Dad."

Hermione laughed, "That's the funniest thing I've ever heard!"

"Dad didn't think so. He's gotten rather worried and he refuses to be in the same room as Harry."

"Really?" Hermione considered this. "Well, I suppose it's perfectly understandable."

"Tell me about it. Come on, everyone's dying to catch up with you."

Hermione must have looked worried because Ginny grabbed her hand and squeezed it reassuringly.

"Don't worry," she whispered, "You're amoung friends. Everyone's pretty much forgotten what happened."

The friendly words didn't calm her however, and Hermione felt even more anxious when she walked into the Weasley's brightly decorated living room and everyone became silent. She saw so many familiar faces it was unnerving. There was Neville, Harry and Ron of course, as well as Ron's entire family, with the exception of Percy. She saw Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, Dean Thomas, Luna Lovegood, Angelina Johnson, Katie Bell, Hannah Abbot, and Susan Bones, just to name a few. It was exactly like being back at school. Except when she was at school, no one used to stare at her as intensely at this group was.

Ginny coughed, "You all remember Hermione Granger, right?"

The silence was thankfully broken.

"Oh yeah."

"Good to see you again!"

"Welcome back to England."

"Nice to see you."

"Well, this brings back old memories, doesn't it?"

"You look nice!"

"Great to have you back."

"Thanks," Hermione mumbled gratefully. "Thanks Ginny."

Ginny just smiled, "What are friends for?"

"I really thought you'd stay in America," said Lavender, cocking her head to the side.

"Yeah, me too. When Ginny told me you'd gone there, I wasn't ever expecting you to come back," Parvati added.

"But here you are!" they said together.

"Here I am." Hermione forced herself to smile. She looked around the living room. Someone help me, she begged silently. Her gaze stopped at the fireplace where Ron was talking to Caddie. He grinned at her and she threw her head back laughing. Hermione's stomach churned.

"Oh," Lavender followed Hermione's gaze, "Does that bother you?"

"What?" Hermione's head snapped back.

"Ron and Caddie."

"No, why would it?"

Parvati and Lavender exchanged glances.

"It's okay, Hermione," Parvati patted her hand, "Time heals all wounds."

"It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all," Lavender told her.

"What are you two…" Her eyes widened, "No! Don't even suggest it. I don't love Ron. I mean, I love him, because he's my friend, not because I want to spend the rest of my life with him. I mean, I'm not in love with him, so you can both stop looking at me like that. Right now!"

"Oh Hermione, don't get embarrassed," Parvati chided, "I don't blame you for feeling the way about Ron that you do. I mean, he wasn't a catch at all when we were at Hogwarts, but he's grown up so handsomely. And he's rich."

"I don't think a relationship with someone just because they're rich and handsome is a good thing, Parvati," Lavender remarked, glancing at Ron, "Although I'll even admit how good-looking he is."

The both giggled together and Hermione was reminded painfully of her school days.

"I think Ron's very nice to let you back into his life like this." Lavender said with a slight nod of her head that indicated, if the situation was different and had involved her, she would not have done the same.

"Oh, but he is nice. Very mature and sweet and funny," Parvati giggled. Hermione scowled. Was everyone in love with Ron?

"Harry on the other hand…" Lavender trailed off as The-Boy-Who-Lived danced past them, waving his hands around with a lampshade firmly planted on top of his head.

"Oh yes, Harry," Parvati sighed, "He's very unhappy."

"Alone."

"Depressed."

"He's selfish-"

"-rude-"

"-totally in love with himself-"

"-such an attention seeker-"

"Shut up!" Hermione hissed, jumping to her feet.

The room quietened dramatically and only light chatter could be heard coming from the corners of the room, where the other party guests were oblivious to what was going on merely ten meters away from them.

"Harry may not be perfect! Harry may be far from perfect-" Hermione began. Harry staggered over.

"I think I'm pretty close to perfect," he said sluggishly.

"Harry, not now," Hermione moaned, turning back to the girls, "I'm not going to sit down and let you say those things about him. He defeated Voldemort for Merlin's sake-"

Even though the Dark Lord had been killed nearly two decades ago, his name still sent an unpleasant shiver throughout the room. After all, memories of such evil times were hard to erase.

"-what more can you ask of him? He saved the world and in doing so, he saved your lives. What more can you ask of him," she said fiercely, surprising even herself with how loyal she still felt towards Harry. "You have to learn that sometimes people don't mean to be the way they are! Sometimes people can be selfish and horrible and unkind! You just have to either forgive them about it or deal with it. Like I'm sure people do with you!"

"Oh that is it!" Lavender stood up, "Parvati and I…well…I at least am not selfish and…and…people do not just deal with me!"

Parvati, on the other hand, reacted differently. She bit her bottom lip and hung her head.

"I'm sorry, Hermione, I didn't mean…I wasn't trying to make you think I-" She looked at Harry, "I am grateful for what you did Harry, truly I am."

Harry was suddenly surprisingly sober. He blinked quickly and shrugged as though what he had done was nothing.

"See what you've done? You've ruined the party," Lavender said angrily, "Just like you ruined everything else. I'm going."

She picked up her coat and bag and headed for the door with her nose in the air. She opened it and paused just before she stepped outside, turning around so she could say one more thing.

"If anyone has to deal with anyone Hermione Granger, it's you!"

Lavender slammed the door after her forcefully and Hermione jumped. The room remained quiet and only the sound of a clock ticking away in the background could be heard. Someone coughed.

"Come on guys," Ginny said in an overly cheerful voice, "Don't let this ruin the night. We've already seen Harry dance around naked and numerous people throw up! A little tiff is nothing."

A few people laughed and light chatter once again filled the room. Hermione felt miserable.

"Don't…don't worry about what Lavender and I said," Parvati ventured cautiously, "We're just a couple of silly girls who have nothing better to talk about. I don't mean to…it's just when I'm with Lavender, well, the bad side of me seems to come out quite willingly."

"No, it's okay. I needed a good telling off. I've had it too easy, coming back here, interrupting everything and getting away with it," Hermione muttered as she looked around the room. "Do you know where Harry went?"

"He…er, left I think. I'm not too sure…" Parvati sounded apologetic.

"That's okay, I'll find him. Thanks." Hermione smiled slightly and left the dining room. She hoped she hadn't offended Harry with what she had said. Surely she hadn't? It wasn't anything bad, in fact, it had all been good…hadn't it?

"Harry?" Hermione called out, "Are you…here somewhere?"

She opened one of the doors in the hallway and smiled to herself. Asleep in their beds were Morgan and Paige, the latter snoring away loudly.

Unable to help herself, she walked over to them. They really were beautiful children, and she wasn't just saying that because they were hers. Their hair was by far their best feature. It wasn't the ginger colour of all of the other Weasley's; it was more of a deep, dark red.

"Mum?" Morgan shuffled in his bed.

"Yes, dear?" Hermione said, neither surprised nor amazed at how natural she was able to talk to them.

"You got here late," Morgan yawned, "Dad made us go to bed and we couldn't stay up."

"I'm sorry about that." She paused. "I got you two some presents."

"Really?" he said eagerly. "You know…Paige doesn't really care for presents. I think it would be best if you gave them both to me."

"Oh is that so?" She laughed quietly, "Nice try mister, now go back to sleep. Otherwise you'll be too tired in the morning to open your own gift."

"But I'm not tired at all." He yawned again. "Okay, fine."

"I'll see you later." She began to walk out of the bedroom door when her son's muffled voice stopped her.

"You won't be gone long, will you?"

"I wouldn't want to be," Hermione said sincerely. "I'll see you again soon."

"…'Kay."

She shut the door carefully and frowned to herself. It still didn't make any sense at all. Wasn't she supposed to be unattached to the twins? Feel nothing for them and not care if she did or did not see them anytime soon? What was happening to her?

Movement out of the corner of her eye distracted her from her musings and Hermione turned to see what it was.

Harry. She could make out his silhouette, sitting on the back steps, with his shoulders slumped. Worriedly, she made her way directly to him.

"Came out here for a bit more dancing?" Hermione wondered, feeling humour might be the best approach.

"Ha ha." Harry said sarcastically. Okay, maybe not.

She sat down next to him, "Are you okay?"

"I s'pose so."

"You seem to be abnormally sober all of a sudden."

"Ah well, I threw up remember?" Harry grinned sheepishly, "And plus, I only ever drink enough to make me tipsy, the rest is all for fun."

"You think it's fun to dance around nake-"

"Anyway," he interrupted her, "What are you doing out here?"

Hermione shot him a look; "I just talked to Morgan for a bit…and plus, I'm pretty sure no one minds. It's not like I was exactly wanted at this party."

"Nah, that's not true, I wanted you to come."

"Thanks, Harry."

They smiled at each other and without hesitation, Hermione leant her head against his shoulder. It seemed like the natural thing to do, she'd always been that comfortable with him when they were at school. And it didn't matter if Hermione hadn't seen him in years; he was still her best friend.

"I've missed you all, you know," she said quietly.

"You should have come to visit," he replied.

"I wanted too, but I don't know."

"Ginny knew you wouldn't," Harry paused, "She said that you'd probably write at first and then that'd stop. And that you'd promise to visit us and would always be too busy too or something."

Hermione frowned.

"You guys could have visited me too you know!"

"Hey!" He shifted uneasily. "You were the one that moved away - more like ran away - we weren't going to be the ones to make the first move!"

"I was not running." She removed her head and looked at him fiercely.

"It looked like running to me!" Harry told her. "You were doing something I never thought you would do, and that was to take the easy way out."

Hermione looked down and sighed. He was right. It was the reason she had come back, after all. Because she had chosen the easy path, which wasn't right at all.

"I'm sorry about that," she whispered.

"You left us all," he said quietly.

"I'm sorry," she repeated.

Harry sighed, "We all do stupid things."

Hermione laughed and put her head back on his shoulder. "So how long have you been the party clown?"

"It'd be going on about five…no, seven years now," All mirth left his voice. "It's nothing to be proud of."

"I guess not."

They sat together in silence, and for Hermione it was the happiest she had been in a while. Just to be with someone she knew and that knew her. It was a nice rest from how hectic her life had been back in America.

"Who do you think I am?" Harry said suddenly, startling her.

"You're Harry," she replied gently.

"I know," He frowned, "But why am I just The-Boy-Who-Lived to everyone else?"

"I don't think you are, I think you're The-Drunken-Fool to everyone else."

Harry laughed, "Hermione, I mean it."

"So do I," She laughed too, and hugged him. "You'll always be Harry to me, and as long as you're who you truly are to the people that matter to you, then that should do. Just don't be the person I saw when we out to dinner, because that wasn't you. It was some drunken stranger who deserved a good kick in the-"

"What the bloody hell are you two doing?" An angry voice demanded.

Hermione and Harry pulled away from each other and turned around to find a very red-faced Ron Weasley.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked in confusion.

"This!" Ron pointed at them, "Both of you…are you…are…you…"

She nearly burst out laughing. Ron thought that she and Harry…well, it wouldn't be the first time. Hermione opened her mouth to correct him when Harry jumped in first.

"So what if we are, Ron?" he challenged.

"So what if you…" Ron's voice dropped dramatically, "You are?"

Hermione looked over at Harry in confusion and he winked at her briefly. She didn't know what he was playing at.

"I thought you came back to get to know Morgan and Paige!" Ron snapped at Hermione.

"I did!" She replied, "Harry and I-"

But she was cut off as Harry grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet, "Excuse me Ron, we're going to go and have a quick private snog."

Hermione gaped. Had he just said what she thought he had?

"You…together…snog…what…" Ron spluttered, his facing going redder.

"I'm sorry mate, didn't quite catch that," Harry grinned, "Do you have a problem with me being madly in love with Hermione?"

So that was it! Harry was trying to get Ron to admit he had feelings for her. It was an awful thing to do, but Hermione was too busy watching Ron's reaction to listen to her conscience.

"I have no problem with it," Ron said quietly, refusing to meet either of his friend's gazes. "People are asking where you are…so, just go back to the party."

"Come on, babe." Harry told Hermione, gripping her tightly. He led her inside and when they were out of hearing range, she pulled him over to the front door for some privacy.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" she hissed.

Harry grinned, "Well my friend, I'm going to get you back together with the love of your life."

"How? By pretending we're going out?"

"Yup."

"Ron will guess! He'll know something is up!"

Harry rolled his eyes, "Ron's too thick to guess anything."

"You can't anyway!" Hermione argued, "He's going out with Caddie! Remember?"

"Yeah, right," Harry snorted, "She's just a replacement for you. I know it, Ron knows it, everyone knows it."

"Then why is he with her?" she said matter-of-factly.

"Because, you know what Ron is like, he doesn't realize things until they're right in his face. He doesn't know yet that he doesn't like her and that he still loves you."

"But Harry," she said slowly, "That's an horrid thing to do, you can't play with his feelings like that-"

"We're not going to play with them, we're just going to make them obvious to him. Listen, it's a good plan. We'll pretend to go out and it'll drive him mad-"

"No, it'll drive me mad with guilt. I don't want to do that to him! Plus, he doesn't love me anymore."

Harry gave her an impatient look; "It's the right thing to do in the long term. Because he does love you."

"No, he broke up with me in our seventh year! Do you have any idea how long ago that was? No one harbours feelings for another person for eleven years!" Hermione said angrily.

"Don't you?"

"I don't know," She bit her bottom lip, "I did think about Ron sometimes when I was in America, but I didn't really realize that I loved him still until I saw him. But that's different. I didn't break up with him; he broke up with me. So-"

"You were going to America for years," Harry snapped, "What? Did you expect him to wait for you?"

Knowing he was voicing the truth, Hermione looked away. Should she go through with it then? Her brain said no, because it wasn't the right thing to do. But her heart knew it wasn't the case. If she didn't try to get Ron now, she would go on with her life loving him and wondering what could have been. Because you can't make yourself fall out of love with someone, it doesn't work like that.

Hermione looked back at Harry and sighed in defeat.

"I want to know," she said, "If there's a chance he loves me I want to know, so I'll let you go through with this. But, if Ron gets hurt, I'm going to blame you. I've already hurt him enough, I don't want to anymore."

"Very well then," Harry smiled, "Let's get this show on the road."

He grabbed her hand again and together they walked back to the party.

"And it occurred to the both of you that you're madly in love just recently?" Ginny wondered, perking up an eyebrow and looking very unimpressed.

"Yep," said Harry. "Don't know how I couldn't have noticed my feelings before."

"Yes, that is interesting." Ginny gave Hermione a look, causing her to turn away and flush.

"Well, the heart is a funny thing." Harry said brightly.

"I suppose so," Ginny frowned, "But playing with my brother's feelings isn't."

Hermione wanted to die. Ginny knew. Of course she did, she wasn't as thick as Ron was. She wasn't going to believe her two friends had falling suddenly in love.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Harry shot back, his left eye twitching.

Ginny shook her head, closed her eyes and sighed.

"Don't overdo it you two," She said shortly, "I love the both of you - yes, even you Hermione, despite not having seen you in years - but I love my family more than anything. If you hurt Ron or hurt Caddie I'll be furious. Because Ron's my brother and Caddie is a nice girl. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to talk to my fiance."

Ginny stalked away towards the corner where Dean was standing and Harry turned to Hermione, grinning slightly.

"Always bright that one, I should have known she'd pick up on it."

"We should of known everyone but Ron would pick up on it! We can't go through with this, if Ron finds out, he'll hate me! Let alone conceive the fact he still loves me…" Hermione sighed. "I should have known better than to agree to this stupid plan."

"Stupid plan?" Harry said, taking her comment as a personal insult, "Don't you want him to realize how he really feels?"

If didn't matter how badly she wanted to know if Ron still loved her, she didn't want to run around, flirting with Harry in order to make him jealous. Something was concerning her more, the relationship she had with the twins.

Hermione had been questioning it constantly in the back of her mind, and suddenly, it seemed like the most important thing in the world. She needed to know why she loved them and why they mattered to her.

"You know Harry," Hermione considered, "I do, I really do. But I don't need to know now. So I'll see you later. Merry Christmas."

She pushed herself up and kissed him on the cheek before pulling back and smiling at his baffled expression.

In somewhat of a daze, she made her way to the front door where she gathered her coat and hat. But just as she placed her hand on the doorknob, someone grabbed her arm.

"You're leaving without saying good-bye?"

It was Ginny.

"I'm in a bit of a hurry actually, I'll explain it all to you later," Hermione paused for a moment. "If you'd like to get together for tea or something?"

Ginny retracted her arm; "You're a mystery to me Hermione Granger. One minute you're trying to drive my brother mad by pretending to be in love with Harry, and the next you're running away without any explanation at all."

"Is that a yes?"

"That's a yes. I'll owl you." She smiled.

"Tell everyone Merry Christmas for me, and say sorry to Ron." Hermione smiled once, opened the door, and found herself nearly swept off her feet by a blistering cold wind. She immediately longed for the inside warmth of the Weasley household.

But her mind was dead set on doing something, and when that happened, Hermione always went through with it.

She was going to get to the bottom of why the Disattachment Spell had failed, because it seemed like it had, and then she was going to work out everything with Ron.

Firstly however, she needed to find a library.

!!!

A/N: Okay, I know what most of you are thinking, "What the bloody hell is up with this chapter? IT SUCKED!"

And at this moment, I'm willing to agree with you. But if you'll bear with me, it will get better. I lost my inspiration for a while back there, but I've found it again so…yes…er, be patient?

The twins are coming up a lot more, as is much Ron/Hermione goodness…which I know has been kind of lacking!

And for the person who asked, you pronounce Caddie like Cay-dee.

Okay then. Please review, I'm sure the criticism will help!

Until next time! Stay cool guys!