DICLAIMER- Not mine, J.K Rowling's.


Daisy

"He loves me, he loves me not, he loves me, he loves me not..." Hermione sighed. "Why do I bother with such childish things?"

Hermione sat in the garden of the Burrow absentmindedly pulling daisies from the grass. She wistfully glanced over towards the lake where her two friends were splashing each other and generally having fun.

Normally Hermione would sit and read a book, but today she just couldn't seem to concentrate.

It was the summer before their final year at Hogwarts and Hermione's thoughts kept drifting into the future. Where would they all be in just a few years time?

Her reverie was broken by drips of water falling onto her upper torso. Looking up she saw a looming redhead with a mischievous grin.

"Hi Ron...can I help you?"

"Well you could join us down in the lake." Ron stated seriously, though the glint remained in his eyes.

"I don't really feel like it." She replied while returning her gaze to the daisy in her hand.

"I'm sorry but that's the wrong answer." Ron stated in a game show voice.

Hermione mentally slapped herself for introducing him to television.

"Look Ron, I'm perfectly happy sitting here thinking about... well sitting here."

"Right. You look so happy. I can just feel the happy vibes."

"So I'm not happy as such, but I'm content with sitting here."

That didn't seem to be the right answer either as Ron pulled her up from the grass quickly lifting her to carry her down to the lake as she kicked and screamed the whole way.

"RONALD WEASLEY! PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT!" She screeched at the top of her lungs.

He was about to. He really was. But it felt so good her being in his arms...

"OW! What was that for?" He asked her as he was forced to set her down on the ground. She replaced her shoe to her foot, after checking it for damage from Ron's head.

"You deserved it. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go back to the grass." Hermione said defiantly as she began to march back up the bank.

"Actually I do mind." He said as he grabbed her around the waist, swinging her round so that her feet were dangling above the water's edge.

He awaited her to tell him to "PUT ME DOWN!" before casually dropping her in the lake. The water was just shallow enough for her to be able to stand.

"ROOOOOOONNNNNN!" She bellowed much like Mrs Weasley.

"This isn't going to be good." Harry grimaced as he swam over to the shallow end and quickly hoisted himself out of the lake. He gave Ron an 'I'll see you later – if you survive' look as he walked into the house.

Ron turned around to see a very bothered Hermione standing on her tiptoes, a finger pointed at his chest.

"You are so dead." She said in a very low and threatening tone.

Ron gulped.

"I can't believe you would drop me in the lake, fully clothed no less!"

"Would you prefer to go skinny dipping?" Ron asked with a small smile before realising that he had long since over stepped the mark. His smile soon dropped down into a terrified stare as Hermione gave him a look that could kill the dark lord himself.

Hermione simply shook her head and walked up to the Burrow before locking herself in Ginny's room.

"Good going mate." Harry said as Ron stormed into the kitchen.

"Well how was I meant to know that she would get so mad? It's only a bit of water...no harm done."

"I don't think she sees it that way."

"I would have actually killed you if you'd done that to me." Ginny said as she finished drying the breakfast dishes.

Ron groaned whilst dropping his head onto his cross arms. Ginny pulled up a chair beside him at the table and reassuringly rubbed his back.

"She'll get over it. Once she's changed into dry clothes and got all the lake gunk out of her hair."

Harry stifled a laugh. The look on Hermione's face was priceless. That added to the fact that she looked like something from a swamp made it the funniest thing he'd seen in ages.

Hermione sat in her room, brushing through her newly washed hair.

"I can't believe he would drop me in the lake. I had no idea how disgusting it was...eugh. But even if it wasn't disgusting, what's the point in dropping me fully clothed into a lake?"

"Perhaps it was humorous?" Ginny questioned from the doorway.

"Yeah...so funny my sides are hurting."

"Well we all know my brother has no brains. He just didn't think about the consequences of dropping you in the lake. Any excuse to just touch you is enough."

"Yeah, no brains at all. Of course I'm going to be mad after being dropped into the lake...it really is disgusting..."

"Uh huh." Ginny nodded as she listened to Hermione ramble on about everything until she finally stopped and looked up at her.

"Touch me? Why would he want to touch me?"

Ginny shook her head. For someone so smart Hermione really was dumb.

"Oh I don't know... do you ever just want to touch someone? Just being one step closer to them makes your heart flutter. Being in their arms makes your insides melt..." Ginny said with a mischievous smile. She could see Hermione glance towards the window. A rosy tint was rising to her cheeks.

"Never. Boys are just stupid." Hermione said matter-of-factly though she was still had a far-off look on her face.

"So if someone who you might be mad at came up right now and placed his strong arms around you, you wouldn't feel a thing?"

Hermione's eyes fluttered as she returned to looking at things around the room. A small smile was twitching on her lips as she thought of being held by him. She sighed.

"I knew it! You love Ron!" Ginny squealed as she ran over to sit beside her friend.

"GIN! Not so loud!"

"So you admit it? You love him?"

"Love? Love is really big Gin. I'm not sure I could say love."

"What do you feel then?" Ginny asked, eyes wide, mouth twitching.

"I don't know...it's hard to describe. I guess I want to be with him all the time and when he's there I want to talk to him...even though all we do is fight. When he had his arms around me it felt great; I didn't want him to let me go ever. But he threw me in the lake, drowning all those happy feelings and any hope that we could ever be more than just friends. Not that I mind being just friends..."

"First off Ron loves you. Secondly you love him."

Hermione looked at her friend sceptically. She might just be able to convince herself that she loved Ron cause the thought of spending eternity with him didn't make her want to go to lock herself in the Astronomy Tower, but him love her? Ha! Impossible! Ron loves pretty girls, like Fleur. She could never be one of those. 'And who would want to be? All looks and no brains. If he doesn't love me for me then I don't want him to love me. Why can't he love me?'Seeing the forlorn look on Hermione's face Ginny took it upon herself to smack some sense into her brother... 'Oh...smacking would be nice!' Ginny thought to herself as he hugged her friend.

After "speaking" to Ron she found that angle was a dead cause.

"Who ever thought there were so many ways to grunt?"

"Oh there are loads of ways to grunt, right Gred?"

"OH YEAH... you can hmm, or grr or mutter.."

"Or grumble, and then there's the classic..."

"Oomph." Fred and George said together.

"Thanks for that guys...you're so much help."

"Fred and George, reporting for duty. How can we be of assistance?" The twins said together as they

saluted their little sibling.

"It's freaky when you do that...but you can help me knock some sense into our darling brother."

"Percy?" George asked with a confused face.

"NO! Ron!" Ginny said as she dropped down onto a chair in the kitchen.

"Oh yeah...he needs some sense knocked into him..."

"...A lot of sense." George finished.

"So, have can you come up with a plan?" Ginny asked. She was pleased to see her brothers nod enthusiastically.