The next day was uneventful, but necessary - homework needed to be done, sadly - according to Ron. They had all about woken up at about the same time, (1 in the afternoon,) and met down in the Common Room. Hermione was eager to catch up on her class-work and homework, while Ron on the other hand... was not thrilled to be catching up nor explain to Hermione the story of why he had been mysteriously absent for so long.

"What...?" Hermione asked hesitantly and apparently shocked that he had cared so much; that her disappearance affected him so much, "you did that... because of me?"

"Er- uh..." Ron blushed deeply.

The moment was tense between the two - even Harry could sense the awkwardness between them now. Hermione bit her lip and looked meekly at Ron, showing a different type of fear Harry had never seen her contain. Ron, like Hermione, became reproachful and conveniently seemed to have engrossed himself into a book that just happened to be covering his face at the moment.

He then quickly blurted out something that sounded like a combination of multiple words: "Let'sjustdoourhomework, okay?"

Hermione blushed in turn, and Harry could tell she was trying to suppress the rouge that was creeping up her face as she turned to talk to him. "Uh - ok, yes, erm - Harry."

Harry could tell that Ron and Hermione were determinedly not only looking at each other, but also greatly avoiding now talking to each other.

"Oh... uh... which notes do you want first?" Harry's lips stumbled upon the words, as he tried to break the awkward moment.

"Potions," Hermione replied.

Ron groaned and mumbled something along the lines of "Stupid git!"

Hermione and Harry exchanged bemused looks, and then in unison, stared at Ron to see if he would react any further as they exchanged class-work and homework assignments.

"How about Charms then, Harry?" Hermione asked, still looking questioningly at Ron.

"Easy for you to say!" Ron mumbled back, his face still hidden behind the book.

Harry and Hermione glanced at each other once more, and with great effort, attempted to suppress the laughter that was begging to come out. So naturally, Harry couldn't help but give it one more shot.

"History of Magic?"

Like before, Ron had something to say. "That guy is so boring that a drone of bees would be more interesting than him."

Giving way to temptation, they all burst out into laughter. Once the laughter had fully escaped Harry's mood, he gathered the notes and homework assignments Hermione had missed together and handed them to her, with Ron looking along beside her so that both could attempt to make up their work at the same time. Yet, since Ron was missing a shorter period of time, he needn't make up as much as Hermione, and so, just took the smaller amount of notes and homework assignments he needed until Hermione had caught up with him – which both of them had a feeling wouldn't be awhile; they had such a long haul of work to catch up on that they were lucky it was the weekend – as Ron gloomily deduced.

"Thank God it's the weekend," he proclaimed, "or else I might've gone insane with all of this work," he said, looking at the stack of parchment beside him.

Throughout the course of the day, Harry continued to stay with them... for he too had homework to do – not as much as they did, of course, but enough.

Hours later, Harry then broke the silence, "Ron?" he asked.

"What?" Ron said, looking up from his work.

"Since when do wizards believe in God?" Harry chuckled.

Ron laughed in return, "Bloody hell! Did I say that? Guess I've been hanging around my father too much."

They all laughed. "Well, it's about time for dinner guys, let's say we take a break and go down there," Harry said, more cheerful now that he had completed his homework, and that at least Hermione had returned, so Ron would be back to normal.

Hermione and Ron both nodded in agreement- they desperately needed a break that even Hermione admitted to. The pair then packed up their work and brought it up to their dormitories and joined up with Harry to go to the Great Hall.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione then left the Common Room in much relief and started walking down the hallways to the Great Hall. On they way there, they passed a group of chatty girls, and another, and another - Ron was the only one who saw a pattern here.

"What the bloody hell is going on?!"

"What do you mean, Ron?" Hermione asked.

"Well that's got to be the ... oh, fudge I lost count... Well anyway, the main point is, that there are a lot of chatty girls today."

Hermione looked at him like he was insane, "And that would be different from every other day... how?"

"I don't know Hermione, it just seems weird today."

"Yeah," Harry agreed.

"Really?" Hermione asked, pausing to think about what they had said. "Well, they are extra chatty today..." her words evaporating into the air, "I wonder what they are talking about..."

At this point, they had been right at the entrance of the Great Hall, which within a moment they had gone through to view a spectacle that only furthered their questions.

"What is going on?" Hermione asked with a voice of glazed curiosity.