In case you couldn't figure out the math from before, I own nothing. Please review, I'll give you a cookie! (::)

There had been many explosions in the halls of Hogwarts in the past. Some from spells gone awry, some from the inevitable student duels, and a great many were caused by Fred and George themselves letting off various Filibuster Fireworks and things of their own creation. None of these, however, even compared to the incredible feat of combustion currently going on outside the Gryffindor common room.

The whole castle shook. The noise was nearly unbearable, growing in intensity as it reverberated through the halls. Ron wouldn't have been at all surprised if the people in Hogsmead could hear it. Thousands of multicolored lights exploded from it, bouncing off the walls in a dizzying phantasm of swirling colors, moving and expanding down the corridor at a tremendous rate.

The sheer force of the explosion knocked Hermione and Ron to the ground in a heap of limbs and robes, slamming the portrait shut behind them. Stunned, and a large bit embarrassed, Ron picked himself up off of the ground... or rather, off of Hermione who was laying on the ground gasping. She had, after all had the wind knocked out of her. Ron pulled her to her feet, and she stumbled forward as the explosive let off yet another round of fireworks in the hall outside.

"What the bloody hell is going on down here?" Harry asked, coming down the dormitory stairs. Ron and Hermione jumped apart, Ron blushing beet red.

"Err, well, we...uh....," Ron fumbled inarticulately.

"The fat lady fell asleep and we couldn't get back in, so Ron decided to try to wake her up by setting off some fireworks that the twins sent him," Hermione supplied. After a minute, she added, "Really, a bad idea, in retrospect."

"Hey, it worked, didn't it?" Ron said, a bit more harshly than he intended.

"Oh, it was just bloody brilliant Ron, really smashing," Hermione retorted.

"You agreed to it!"

"I never said it was a good idea!"

"It's not like we got caught!"

"Oh Ron, you great blithering idiot! Hermione shouted, completely unaware of the crowd of people disturbed be the explosion that was now gathering in the common room. (A/N has anyone besides me noticed that Ron and Hermione never seem to notice that half of Gryffindor Tower always seems to be listening to their arguments?)

"What?" he returned, affronted.

"Just because we haven't been caught yet doesn't mean we won't be! The fat lady will be able to tell Filch or one of the professors that we were there. Do you really think we'll get away with this?"

"Well just maybe you should have thought of that before you let me light the firework!"

"Oh, so this is my fault now, for letting you set the bloody thing off! You are unbelievable, Ronald Weasley!" With that, Hermione turned on her heal and stalked off to her dormitory, leaving Ron sputtering in the common room.

"Tough luck mate," Harry said.

"Gee, thanks Harry. That's helpful," Ron replied sarcastically.

"Hey, no need to start with me too," Harry answered defensively.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to, I just.... err, she's so aggravating! I save her from Filch, and this is the thanks I get."

"Well, not meaning to take sides or anything," Harry began, choosing to ignore the glare he was getting from Ron, "but lighting off something Fred and George sent you, in the middle of the night, without reading the fine print first is not exactly the smartest thing to do. I mean, it was from your brothers, and their not exactly known for small explosions."

"Yeah, but, what else was I supposed to do. We couldn't very well stay out all night."

"I don't know what to tell you."

"I just hope that Hermione doesn't stay mad at me. It wasn't really my fault, I mean she..." Ron was cut of as a very angry Professor McGonagall came in through the portrait hole in her tartan dressing gown, holding the now spent firework in her hand. Her expression was set and her lips were pressed thinner than anything Harry had seen before. After a precursory look around the room, she spoke, her voice trembling in rage.

"Somebody go fetch Miss Granger. And then, perhaps the two of you can tell me what, exactly, is the meaning of this!" She said the last part looking straight at Ron, holding out the used explosive.

"Errr..." was all that Ron could manage.

What will become of our dear Ron and Hermione? What horrible punishment lies in store? Will Hermione ever forgive Ron? All this and more, so stay tuned until next time!