Okay, this chapter is longer than normal (but I think I only think that but in reality, it's normal) but I wanted to actually do to a cliffhanger. So… ha! Bwahahahaha! Eh you guys are gonna kill me .

She walked to the common room and stopped in front of it the painting, with tears still running down her face. Not being able to remember the password, she just waited for Harry or Ron to say it.

Ron muttered the password and refused to answer any of the Fat Lady's questions. They stepped into the Common Room to see Seamus, Neville and Dean sprawled across the floor finishing up a homework assignment they'd left off.

Hermione just walked towards the staircase to the boy's dorms. She wanted to be with Harry and Ron and not have questions to answer. Dumbledore said that they were excused from classes once again for 3 days if they needed it, and she just wanted to be with Harry and Ron. She could feel the stares of Seamus, Neville and Dean on her but tried her best to ignore them.

"You're all talking again then?" Seamus said after a moment.

Harry and Ron looked at each other and nodded.

"We won't bother you," Neville said as they made their way up to the dorm.

"So take care of each other," Seamus ordered and Dean nodded before they turned back to their homework, mumbling about the proper pronunciations of certain charms.

As soon as she was in the room, she collapsed on Ron's bed, staring out the window blankly. Unlike if Ron lost Ginny, it was like Hermione had lost a son. Since her brother was born, she had been the one that would comfort him when their parents fought, the one that cooked meals for them, the one that washed his clothes, made sure he took showers, set up every appointment, made sure he went to bed, comforted him when he had nightmares. He had looked to her like his real mother, and she looked to him almost as her son. He luckily always went to their aunt's house who took very good care of him when Hermione was gone but she couldn't look after him during the summer because her own kids came home from boarding schools. It was tearing her up, but she didn't want to show Harry because she was scared he would break down again.

Harry and Ron made their way into the room, Harry pausing long enough to close the door before joining Ron and Hermione on Ron's bed.

Hermione stared out of the window and slowly laid down on the bed. "I miss Ian…" she whispered softly.

Ron laid down beside her, Harry doing the same on her other side. "I know," the redhead murmured near her ear, lips brushing her jaw line. "I know."

She shuddered just slightly, not minding it. "My family was so messed up… the first word he said was calling me his mother. That is not normal, especially when I was only around him for like three months out of a year."

"Were you a mother to him?" Harry asked, his breath tickling the hair around her other ear.

She gave a small sigh of comfort. "Maybe… I mean, I did everything a mother is supposed to do for their child from making food to him, having him in my room when he was still a baby and waking up in the middle of the night, to comforting him when my father or mother yelled and sometimes when they hurt him for doing what any kid does." Slowly, she was realizing why he called her that and she closed her eyes.

"He was lucky to have you," Ron said with a small smile. "You can be a bit high strung, but you like to love people. So I'm sure you were good to him."

Tears slipped from her closed eyes. "I was so embarrassed… my father said my mother had had an affair, and said if I told anyone about Ian that I'd be in trouble. And even back then, he h-hurt me…" she whispered quietly as she tried to control herself from crying. She didn't want to because the feeling of never being able to stop was getting stronger and stronger.

Ron wrapped his arm around Hermione's waist and sighed softly. "He's a bastard, Hermione. And he'll get what he deserves some day."

"I was going to tell you about what he did during our fourth year. I don't know why I didn't… I guess I was just embarrassed or something," she murmured.

"You don't have to be embarrassed with us," Harry said. "You can tell us anything."

She smiled softly and opened her eyes. They were filled with some sadness but nowhere near as much as before. "I love you two so much," she whispered then closed her eyes, forgetting that she hadn't told Harry about how she loved both of them.

He didn't seem to find anything out of the ordinary with her comment, saying 'We love you, too' softly.

Ron decided he didn't know yet. Didn't know that Hermione meant more than just friendly love. It was something he'd tried not to think about, really. He didn't know what that meant for him and Harry if she was in love with both of them and he wasn't sure he was ready to know or wanted to know. So he just smiled and squeezed her softly. "Yeah, we love you too."

Hermione leaned and kissed Harry's lips for a moment, then Ron's as she then figured that Ron had told Harry at some point. "Good," she replied after she stopped kissing Ron.

Harry blinked, looked at Ron with wide eyes.

Ron just bit his lip and mouthed, 'We'll talk later.'

Harry nodded and sighed softly.

She looked at Harry when she felt that something was wrong. A glance at Ron told her he hadn't told Harry yet and she sighed, then looked at Harry with a nervous grin.

He raised an eyebrow. "What is it?" he asked, playing dumb.

She shook her head with a sigh and closed her eyes. If he wanted to pretend like he had no clue, then she wouldn't tell him about it.

He sighed again. "Look, it's just a bit weird, all right? You kiss me then Ron and I seem to be the only one who has no clue what it's about."

Hermione opened her eyes. "That's because I told Ron about it after we made up. But you were near ignoring me so I couldn't tell you about my feelings. And, to hopefully clear some of it up…" she didn't know that it would be this hard to tell him, but it was. "When I said 'I love you two so much,' I didn't mean in a friendship way."

He leaned up on his elbow to look down at her. "You mean, you're in love with both of us?"

She gave a small nod. "Yeah… and I'm sure because I've known it since last year."

He flopped back down beside her. "What do you… how is this supposed to… what do we do now?"

She shrugged. "I've thought it over and over and it seems the only way I can have the two things I want is for you two to be going out too," she responded. "Doubt that's going to happen." She actually had considered it more than once by the way Ron and Harry acted but she wasn't going to actually say that.

Green eyes met blue over Hermione's body.

"You mean… the three of us… together?" Ron said.

"Which means me and Ron would be together?" Harry continued.

Hermione gave a nod to each of their questions. After quickly contemplating if she should even mention it, she admitted, "You two do act more friendly than any best friends I've ever seen." And when Harry had been having the breakdown, it was shown again.

"Well, um…" Ron trailed off weakly and Harry didn't say anything at all. It was true. Seamus had teased them about it more than once, and more than once they'd rolled with it to make kissy faces at each other or hug always eliciting a laugh from their housemates. But they'd never taken it seriously… had they?

"And even today, it was proven. I mean… let's face it. If Neville was having a breakdown for some reason, Seamus would try and help but wouldn't be that… I don't know, friendly," she said.

"That's…" What to say to that? They looked at each other again, both flushing, before looking away.

Hermione looked from Ron to Harry back to Ron. "Maybe… I just shouldn't have said anything."

"No, it's okay," Ron rushed to assure her. "It's just, er, not something we've thought about."

Harry nodded. "You know, I guess we are friendlier than most friends. If that makes any sense."

Hermione gave a smile. "It does. Just, you're a lot friendlier. It's almost like… no, never mind," she said quickly as she cut herself off then looked up so she wouldn't have to look at their questioning eyes.

"Almost like what?" Harry prodded.

"Yeah, Hermione. What?"

"Er, well, um, sort of like, you two… I dunno. It was stupid." She saw their eyes and saw the look in them and sighed. "Fine. You act like you two like each other. And I don't mean friend wise. You… actually act like you two are going out. That's how friendly you two are."

Which was certainly something to think about. Did they like each other? Was there something there that 'just friends' didn't have?

"We'll think about it," Harry said finally, after staring at Ron so long his friend's ears had started to burn red.

Hermione blinked, surprised that he actually said that. She tried to think of something to say and just ended on a smile, but then tried to figure out what to say to break a very uneasy silence that surrounded them.

The three of them looked at each other, feeling awkward and embarrassed.

And then Ron snorted, trying to hold in a laugh.

Harry shot him a look that said distinctly, 'This is not funny' which made Ron snort again. Apparently Harry's exasperated sigh of, "Ron." was too much.

He buried his head in Hermione's shoulder, body shaking with silent laughs and the occasional snort.

Hermione blinked, having no clue why he was laughing. She sighed, just laying there and letting him laugh.

"Ron, now's really not the time…"

"It feels good," he said between chuckles. "You should try it."

Harry opened his mouth to reply but squealed instead when Ron's hand found it's way to the almost painfully ticklish spot just above his hips.

Hermione couldn't help but laugh at Harry's reaction to Ron's hand.

"Stop!" Harry said, his voice high-pitched and choked with giggles.

"Nah, this is fun," Ron said, waggling his eyebrows at Hermione.

Hermione looked at Ron then grinned, deciding in joining in and began to tickle the parallel spot above Harry's hips, as she could manage to reach it from her spot.

"Argh!" he yelped, rolling onto his back and laughing. "Oh… God… stop!" he said breathlessly. "This… sonotfair!" And then he was laughing too hard to say anything else, instead trying to evade the hands tickling him mercilessly.

She laughed softly at him and continued, not realizing that it was the first time in a long time all three were happy and laughing without remembering any of their problems.

It took a bit of maneuvering, and neither even noticed, but Harry finally managed to escape by rolling off the bed. He landed with a dramatic groan, counted to three, and sure enough…

"Shit, Harry! Are you all right?"

And he couldn't answer because, once again, he was laughing too hard.

Hermione leaned over the bed, looking at him with wide eyes then shot him a playful glare.

He grasped the edge of the bed and sat up, still laughing.

"Damn it, that's not funny," Ron said with a glare.

"You deserved it!" Harry announced, getting back on the bed.

Ron just stuck his tongue out and Harry reciprocated in kind with a smug smile.

She leaned back while gazing up at the two of them with a look that read, 'told you.' She had never seen any guy best friends tickling one another, but it wasn't that she minded it as it amused her to huge lengths.

Ron coughed slightly. "Okay, you're right."

Harry nodded, still smiling slightly.

Hermione smiled softly. "That was fun," she said with a smile. "And you… were incredibly amusing and are extremely ticklish," she said while gazing at Harry.

Harry snorted. "Yes, and I was terribly exploited," he said. "I can't help being ticklish."

Ron laughed. "It's fun to just threaten him, though," he said to her. "Try it some time. Just move your hand to the general area and he goes spare."

She chuckled. "Well, now I know what to do if you won't do something for me," she threatened softly. "And I wonder if you're ticklish," she inquired while looking at Ron.

He shook his head. "Course not. Ginny's extremely ticklish, though. So's Percy. So's Bill, for that matter." He lapsed into thought and Harry smirked.

"He's not, trust me. But, according to him, he just looooves having his ears nibbled on." He burst out laughing at the look Ron shot him. "Your words, not mine!" he yelled as Ron tickled him again.

Hermione couldn't help but burst out laughing also. "And… just wondering, how would you know?" she asked him as she stopped Ron's moving hands just so she could get a coherent answer.

He narrowed his eyes, still panting. "Hermione you pervy girl, you," he said. "Ron told me of course! We were having a real male discussion, you know, and got around to turn-ons and stuff." He glanced slyly at Ron. "He blushed redder than Neville when he told us about it."

She covered her mouth so she could control the laughs that threatened to burst out. "Y-You all actually… have discussions?!" she asked when she was able to stop laughing.

"Of course we do Hermione," Ron said, looking two parts shocked and one part affronted. "It's what proper blokes do. Talk about girls and Quidditch and girls."

"That's bloody great," she said as she sat up, still trying not to laugh. She had had a few discussions with the girls in her dorm, but they were simple ones about how far each girl had gotten and with whom, or how far they would like to get with different guys and never went as far as turn-ons. Suddenly, she looked at Ron with a hard stare. "And how exactly would you know that is a turn-on?" He had told her he had kissed only Lavender on the lips, and now she was wondering if he had lied.

He flushed. "Er, I didn't know… not really. So I made it up."

Harry let out a sharp laugh. "Are you bloody serious?"

"Well it's a good guess, isn't it? I know my body well enough to know my ears are sensitive."

Harry was positively rolling on the bed clutching his stomach now.

"For a second there, thought you lied to me…" she said with a small grin and then got an idea. She leaned forward and took a small bit of his ear into her mouth and nibbled just gently, wondering if he knew his body well enough or not. Every muscle in her body was terrified for some reason but she tried to ignore it.

Ron bit his lip and moaned softly.

Harry stopped laughing and looked up to see Hermione nibbling on Ron's ear, the red-head's eyes sliding closed.

"See?" he said softly. "I was right."

She continued for a moment then sat back with a smile. "I'll have to remember that little trick."

Ron nodded and looked at her. "Yeah, you will," he said huskily, which made Harry snort and shake his head in an affectionate way.

Hermione's cheeks flushed as she saw the result of her doing.

There was another awkward silence in which no one really knew what to say. Hermione's blush was adorable, and Ron's pupils were still dilated. Harry thought it was one of the cutest things he'd ever seen. In that strange way that was sexy at the same time.

She idly played with a strand of her hair with the blush still staining her cheeks as she tried to think of something, anything to say.

Harry and Ron didn't have anything to say either and settled back down on either side of Hermione, wrapping their arms around her.

Giving a sigh of comfort, the blush finally left. She grabbed them gently and pulled them close to her so she could nuzzle into both of them at the same time.

A week later Gryffindor Tower was a decidedly happier place to live. Everyone who knew Harry, Ron and Hermione had suffered under their thundercloud for the three weeks they weren't all talking. Now they were once again the trio everyone knew and loved. Or, maybe not. There were changes in them that Seamus, Dean, Neville and Ginny had noticed. Even Luna Lovegood and Colin Creevy had asked about it.

Hermione was eating some eggs and bacon, while she read over a book she had gotten from the library. Even if her study habits had been cut in almost half, she still read as much, if not more.

Ron groaned as he sat next to her. "Ah, Hermione. No reading at breakfast. Lunch maybe, since Harry and I still have a Transfiguration assignment to finish."

Looking up from her book, she smiled some and put the book away. "Fine." She continued to eat some until she finally grabbed her hair and pulled it back, and put it into a sloppy ponytail. In the month that had passed, it had grown long enough where she could put it back into a ponytail. And the length was starting to annoy her so she always brought a hair tie with her, even though she usually left it down.

"So, our first Hogsmeade weekend's coming up. What do you guys wanna do?" Ron asked, chewing on a piece of bacon.

Harry shrugged, his mouth full and looked to Hermione for an answer.

Hermione looked at both of them and then also shrugged. "Maybe go visit your brothers? See how they're doing?"

Ron nodded but the voice that answered wasn't his. "Great idea." The three looked across at Seamus who was grinning at them.

"We're out of dungbombs, aren't we Neville? So you can just pick some up for us."

"Oh, well, I could use some more Skiving Snackboxes, I'm all out," Neville added sheepishly.

"Yeah, and I've been meaning to try out those new Tattoo You quills. I think I want something a bit patriotic. You know, for the first Quidditch match of the season," Dean said.

Hermione rolled her eyes but smiled some. She still found most of the items mean, rude and should be banned from existing but did laugh when someone switched the normal soap for Frog Spawn Soap on Pansy the year before, giving her skin similar to a frog's for a week, and sometimes had found it funny when other pranks had been pulled too.

"Shall we make a list?" Seamus asked with a huge grin.

Harry and Ron rolled their eyes. "Fine," Ron said. "Don't see why you can't do it yourselves, though."

She gave a nod then took a drink of some juice.

"Well, you guys will already be there, so is there really any reason for us to go out of our way?" Seamus asked. "Besides, you're good friends and we're taking advantage."

"And you're all just lazy," she said simply with a raised brow and a small teasing grin.

"That too," Seamus admitted and Neville and Dean nodded in agreement.

Ron rolled his eyes. "We ought to say no, but we're too nice for our own good." he said. "So give the list to Harry."

"Why me?" Harry asked with raised eyebrows.

"I'll lose it. You know how I am," Ron said simply.

"Harry might lose it to. I'll take it. Along with the money that you're going to give us to pay for everything," she said, wanting to make it clear that she wasn't going to pay for anything out of her own pocket since she was probably poorer than Ron at the moment.

"Right. In the meantime we'd better get ready for class. Breakfast's almost over." The three boys rose and waved good-bye.

"See you later, kiddies," Seamus said with a teasing wink.

"Bloody wanker," Ron muttered under his breath when he was gone.

Hermione, Ron and Harry made their way towards Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes with a bag pretty full of money, and a list in which half of the items were strictly banned from Hogwarts. "I can not believe we're actually getting everything for them," Hermione said under her breath and sighed as she grabbed the doorknob.

"It's out of the sheer goodness of our hearts Hermione," Ron said. "If we weren't such upstanding citizens we would take the money and run."

Harry snorted and fended off the backhanded swat to his stomach, grabbing Ron's wrist and sticking his tongue out at him.

"Sure," Hermione said as she opened the door to the shop. About ready to walk in, she froze in place with wide eyes as she saw Fred and George making out rather forcefully.

"What is it?" Harry asked, trying to peer around her shoulder. "Oh."

"What?" Ron said before sighing and pushing his two practically frozen friends into the shop and quickly closing the door. "You two should really be more careful," he said. "Look, you've gone and scarred Harry and Hermione for life."

Fred broke the kiss and grinned while trying to catch his breath.

"What… Ron… but… you knew?" Hermione asked after she regained her composure.

Ron rolled his eyes. "Yeah. I had the… pleasure of walking in them making out over the summer." He walked over to his brothers and slapped them both on the back of the head.

"Ow, shit little brother what was that for?" George asked with a smirk.

"For corrupting poor innocents."

"Ah, but its what we do best."

Fred grinned. "Of course."

"But… you're brothers! Twin brothers!" Hermione said, not sure if she was disgusted or entranced.

"Well spotted, Hermione," George teased.

Harry blinked slowly and then shook his head. "Why did I not see this coming?" he wondered aloud.

She just sighed and looked away, trying not to figure out what she thought about the situation.

Fred looked at her pocket, which was bulging some with the money. "What do you need?" he asked, wanting to get the money. He wasn't a Malfoy but he had learned in the little less than a year and a half how important money was.

"We've got a list," Ron said, grabbing it from the still shocked Hermione. "Apparently we're taking requests now."

"Ah, my little brother, the Hogwarts Middle Man," which made Harry laugh so hard he snorted and apparently he didn't care because he was practically doubled over.

Hermione took out the money, trying not to laugh. Placing the bag on the counter, she watched as Fred grabbed the list from Ron and began to read over it.

"You're going to have a bit of difficulty bringing this all back," he said with a small grin. His voice was a bit soft though, and he was feeling slightly dizzy.

George looked over at him, concerned. "You should sit down. I told you a hot and heavy snog session in the middle of the day when you're sick wouldn't do anyone any good." He sighed, took the list and ushered his twin into a comfortable and safe chair, one of the few items in the store that wasn't charmed.

Fred sat in the chair, giving a sigh. "I'm fine. Just a bit dizzy. I'm not sick," he said.

Hermione looked at Fred with a blink then furrowed her brow in concern when he began to cough badly.

George rolled his eyes. "Not sick, he says. As soon as we close up I'm taking him to the apothecary to get him checked out. In the meantime, I'll take care of this list for you three," he said.

"I'm not sick. You're not taking me anywhere," Fred muttered after he finished coughing.

Hermione looked at Ron.

"You're an idiot," Ron said, shaking his head.

"I'll second that," George said, going about the store and picking up the items. "Anyway, how's school been for you lot? Heard a rumor that you've had it rough."

"Understatement of the year," Harry said, examining the different patterns for the Tattoo You Quills.

"Yeah," Hermione said quietly as she looked around the store for anything that she could use.

"What exactly happened?" Fred asked after another coughing bout.

Hermione was luckily in an isle at the time and was glad no one could see her as she bit her lower lip and then busied herself in expecting an Ever-Bashing Boomerangs.

Ron sighed. "Lots of bullshit happened," he said. "Maybe we'll tell you about it someday. When you're older."

Fred looked at Ron with a look that read, 'We're older than you' and was about ready to say it to before he had another coughing fit for a few moments and groaned in pain. His throat was killing him but he was trying not to show it.

George looked at his brother and sighed. "You know, that's it. Come on." He walked over to grab him by the arm. He yanked him out of the chair and propelled him toward the door. "You three watch things for us, okay? And grab whatever else you need, and one thing each, on the house. I'm taking this one for something to help that damned throat of his."

Fred sighed, trudging behind him.

Hermione looked at Ron and Harry then leaned against the wall. "Great…" she murmured, not really wanting to spend that long there. She wanted to get more quills and ink before the day was over, and hoped the two would be back soon.

"You could go get your quills and things if you wanted," Harry said. "We can take care of things here."

"If they don't come back in a few minutes, I will," she replied as she leaned against the wall. About ten minutes finally passed, and she stood, going towards the door and opening it. Her eyes widened as soon as she opened it and she slammed it closed and slowly backed away, eyes still wide. Shouts and screams were suddenly sounding from out in the road as Death Eaters ran throughout the streets, grabbing students and stunning others.

"What is it?" Harry asked, glancing out of one of the windows and cursing.

"What?" Ron asked.

"Is there a back room?" Harry asked, grabbing Hermione's hand and edging them away from the door.

Ron nodded.

"Death Eaters. All over. We need to get in there."

Um… hope you guys didn't mind the pairing. And… argh. Why do I think I now have to reasons to die? Oh, because I do! Cliffhanger and a usually hated and shunned pairing! Oh well! Now that you've read, review!