Hermione Granger entered the Burrow for the first time in nearly 5 years. he first thing she noticed, was that not much had changed. It contained almost all of the same furniture, all in the same places. She thought to herself that she could probably manuever her way through the entire house blindfolded and in the dark without bumping into anything.
Hermione, Ginny, and Mrs. Weasley all arrived together. Harry, Ron, and Mr. Weasley had a few more bits of business to attend to before they returned back to the Burrow, and Fred and George had to go back to their houses to pack before leaving early the next morning for a business meeting in Prague (the fake vomit capitol of the world, according to them). This was perfectly well and good to Hermione. The fewer people she had to talk to and meet with, the fewer she would have to fool. Sure, Mrs. Weasley hadn't recognized her, but she was used to the old Hermione. She had not spent enough time with he to be able to recognize her after all the changes she made, and five years of growing up. She could probably hide her identity from Mr. Weasley as well, if she was lucky, the twins would not have noticed either, but her heart was racing at the thought of seeing Harry and Ron again. She had known them for the past 12 years. She shared living quarters with them at school nine months annually. She had had almost every class with them. They were her best friends. If Ginny had recognized her, wouldn't they? Her only source of hope came from the fact that they were male. They were not as observant as Ginny was, especially not Ron. Maybe the makeup and clothes would fool them...maybe she could convince Mrs. Weasely to let her leave before they came home...
"Mum! Gin! We're home! We just gotta bring the luggage in," So much for that thought. A wave of panic swept through Hermione.
"I need to use your bathroom!" she exclaimed, and strted heading up the stairs leading to the bathroom.
Mrs. Weasely turned to her, a look of confusion on her face. "Of course dear. It's just up the stairs- third door on the right."
Hermione turned to look at Mrs. Weasely and Ginny, realizing her error. Julie Ranger should not have known where the Weasely's bathroom was. She let out a nervous chuckle, "Wow. Talk about feeling like you know a place. It's like deja vu or intuition or something." She then turned and ran up the stairs, into the bathroom, and hastily closed the door behind her. Her face was red from embarrassment and worry.
Oh my God! What am I going to do!?! What and I going to DO!?! Suddenly, words spoken by Ron to her their first year of school came back. "Are you a witch or aren't you?!"
"I'm a witch! I'm a witch who is now back in the wizarding world!" She exclaimed to herself. "A witch in the wizarding world who is talking to herself, but still a witch. So all I need," she continued to herself, pacing back and forth, "is to figure out some magic I can use to make them not be able to tell who I am...using only what is in this bathroom." She let out another nervous chuckled which turned into a whine of despair. Hermione scoured the entire bathroom, unfortunately finding nothing of use. Then an idea dawned on her. Fred and George's room. They must have something that changes their appearance or identity's. After all the trouble they've got in how could they not?
Silently and swiftly, Hermione opened the bathroom door, and opened the fourth door on the right which led to the twins former room. She would have to be quick or else Mrs. Wealey or Ginny might come up to see if she was okay.
"Alright," she said, again to herself, as she scoped out the room, "If I were a set of mischievous, red-haired twins, where would I hide everything I didn't want my mum to see?" Her eyes stopped on the half opened closet door. She walked over to it, and opened it the rest of the way. In the left hand corner there was a section of wall that had obviously been charmed at one point, but was statring to wear away now. "Bingo."
Reaching her hand through the false wall, she pulled out a small black box. "There has got to be more than this. It must be charmed." She bit her lip, deep in thought. "It couldn't be...I mean...well, I've got no other choice I guess," taking a deep breath, she then proclaimed, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good!" Suddenly, the little black box began to shake. Hermione dropped it and backed away, unsure about what was happening. Within seconds, the box had sprouted table legs and became a table filled with hundreds of novelty items. "Wow...I knew they were mischievous, but...wow." Hermione walked over to the table searching through the items. Invisible ink, disappearing flowers, reusable toilet paper. Finally, she came across a small bottle.
Lose a bet to some guy and never pay, and now your
dating his sister? Run over a man's dog and then realize
he's in charge of making your dinner? Well then you have
a problem on your hands...unless you have Ivan's Identity
Ilixer.
Directions: Two drops on your tongue, and say the name
of the people (up to 4) who you wish to not know your identity.
Lasts 48 hours.
"Perfect." Hermione put two drops on her tongue, and said loudly, "Harry Potter, Ronald Weasely, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Weasely." She could only trick four, and since Ginny already knew, she figured it was no use to waste it on her. She put the bottle back, and as quick as the table appeared, it once again folded itself up and was a black box. After she put the box back where it came from she walked out into the hallway, bumping into Mrs. Weasely.
"Oh there you are dear. I just came to see if you were all right."
"Oh yes. I'm fine. I...um..I....accidently went to the third floor instead of the second, and got all turned around. You have a very large house. B-Beautiful also."
"Thank you dear. Yes, it is easy to get lost here." Mrs. Weasely smiled at her in a way that made Hermione feel terrible guilty about deceiving her. "Well, dinner is ready. You can come down and meet my husband and son and his friend. Now, I should let you know...my son is Ron Weasely and his friend is Harry Potter."
Hermione was unsure how she should react to this news. Hermione didn't care, but would Julie? She opted for an, "Oh my. Really? The Ron Weasely and Harry Potter?"
"Yes, yes. I thought it would be quite rude to through you into that situation without knowing. But they are wonderful boys, just like everyone else, so you can be sure to treat them that way. No extra-special treatment or anything."
Hermione almost laughed at the thought of herself giving them extra-special treatment. She was going to try her hardest to avoid them. After all, she didn't know how well the elixir had worked. "Don't worry Mrs. Weasey, I'm not easily star-stucked."
"Well after having been to New York, I can imagine you not being." Mrs. Weasely began leading Hermione down the stairs. "Doesn't George Clooney live there? He is so handsome."
Laughing, Hermione replied, "I believe he does. I've never met him...wouldn't mind it though..."
"Neither would I," Mrs. Weasely replied with a wink.
As they entered the kitche, everyone was seated around the table which was filled with delicious smelling food. "I would like to introduce you to Julie Ranger. She's a friend of Ginny's from The States." Smiles and hellos greeted her. "This is Arthur, my husband, my son Ron, and his best friend, Harry," pointing to each as she announced them. "You can have a seat next to Ron."
"Thanks," she said and smiled, though it was nervously.
The dinner went on for a few hours, not because of the eating as much as the talking. Talking about Dumbledore, about work, about the upcoming nuptials of Harry and Ginny, something which somehow did not entirely shock Hermione. They posed Hermione a few friendly questions, all but Ginny who apparently decided that if she wasn't going to say anything about Julie's true identity she would not say anything at all. Hermione answered all their questions, being truthful when she could, and lying when she could not.
After dinner, Mr. and Mrs. Weasely stayed into he kitchen to do the dishes and prepare dessert. Harry and Ginny decided to go for a short walk, and Hermione ended up in the living room with Ron, after being told by Mrs. Weasely that guests were not allowed to do manual labor.
They talked for a few minutes, only small talk, but Hermione could still feel the connection between them, and she was almost positive something as strong as she felt had to be felt by Ron as well. It was as if their souls were pouring into each other, though as far as Ron knew they had only known each other a few hours.
"Do you wanna go for a walk? We have this really pretty lake behind our house, and it's a bit stuffy in here. I want to walk off some of that food." He said this all very quickly, ears reddening, and seeming as though he was trying to give every excuse of why he wanted to walk with her other then the true reason. He had known her a few short hours, but it felt like it had been his entire life. Love was what he felt. Something he hadn't felt for anyone in five years. Not since...
"I'd love to." As much as she realized that going for a walk with him was a bad idea, she could not help it. Ron had been her best friend for 7 years. She missed talking to him, hearing him laughing, she even missed fighting with him. She longed to feel the special bond between them once again. The bond she had never felt so strongly with another human being. For the first time in 5 years, she yearned to scream out loud who she really was. But she couldn't. She couldn't.
A/N: Did you like? A little mini-cliffy there. Next chapter will be their walk. Review please. =)