Hermione arrived home that night via the Floo Network. She changed into pajamas and got into bed as soon as she walked out of her fireplace, and was looking forward to sleep. Unfortunately, her mind was not in agreement with her body. Her mind wanted to replay the scene by the lake and analyze it from every viewpoint. It wanted to examine her feelings for Ron, and her reasons for running away for a second time. She was split between logic and reason and her heart, and she did not know which one she should listen to. Both had been wrong before. It had been five years...maybe she was wrong...maybe the spell had worked...But before she could finish thinking her body one and she drifted into sleep.
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They reached the door at the end of the corridor. The small amount of light surrounding them came from a torch nearly twenty feet back, but to create their own light would draw to much attention.
"Last chance if you want to turn back," the dark-haired boy whispered, unsuccessfully trying to keep his voice steady. His friends shook their heads, they had come too far to turn back no matter how frightened they were. "Okay then. Here we go."
He turned to the door and pointed his wand at the rusty lock, "Alohomora." The lock clicked, and the door creaked open a few centimeters.
The three friends inhaled deeply in unison and with the black-haired boy leading the way, pushed the door open and stepped inside. As soon as they had all entered the door closed and locked on it's own, cause the girl who was closest to it, to jump in surprise. The redhead grabbed her hand, safety and comfort radiating off him.
The room was pitch black. "I suppose we should make some light now. We won't be able to do anything if we don't," the girl said. Each proceeded to say "Lumos," and three wand tips dimly illuminated the room. The could now see that the room was not a dungeon as they had assumed, but a lair. There were instruments in the room that could not be used for anything but torture, and at the far left hand side there was a cave-like opening. All three sets of eyes landed on it at the same time. That was where they had to go.
Wordlessly, all three headed towards the cavern. With each step the darkness increased and their wands gave off less light. Then came the scream and the hand being torn away from the redhead. "Hermione!" they boys yelled, running in the direction she had been pulled.
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Hermione's body shot up, once again gasping for breathe. Her body had broken into a cold sweat. She laid back down, hand on her chest, trying to steady her racing heart. This is getting old, she thought. She had been plagued with nightmares like these since she left. At first they had been a nightly occurrence, she had stopped sleeping for a short time after because she feared reliving the night in her dreams. Eventually, however, they started to subside. She'd have three days of nightmares a week, then two, then three. Soon it was odd for her to have them more then once a month. This, however, had been the second night in a row, and although she did not want to admit it, that worried her.
Looking over at the cock she saw it read 6:15. Might as well get up now. Doubt I'll be able to get back to sleep anyway.
Getting out of bed, she slipped on her slippers, wrapped her robe around her, grabbed the Daily Prophet on the window sill, and walked down the stairs to the kitchen. She turned on the coffee pot, and hearing the comforting sounds of the drippings, sat down at the table and looked at the paper. The first thing she noticed was that the "Where's Hermione" column was back on the front page. After making sure that everything else seemed to be normal she poured herself a cup of coffee and went back to her bedroom to get dressed for work.
She had been working for the past few years as a shop clerk at a thrift store. Not exactly a career she had envisioned herself in, but there was not much else in Juliet. Her first year there she had worked as a waitress at a local truck stop, but she soon found out she did not have the natural grace needed to balance three triple cheeseburgers, two orders of fries, an order of onion rings, a large slice of cherry cheese cake, and two diet sodas. And she had found that out the hard way- by spilling the order on a rather large and intimidating trucker who did not seem all to please to have his lunch covering his leather jacket.
What she had imagined for her was to be Healer at St. Mungo's, married to Ron Weasley, and having some red-haired children running around their Tudor house in Surrey. But a lot of things had changed, not the least of which was her future.
At the thought of Ron her mind once again drifted to the previous night. She had wanted so badly to kiss him, and she almost let herself- her brain had not kicked in until it was almost done, but she was glad it had. The feelings she had now were as good as imaginary. Her and Ron had never dated while at school. It was not until 7th year that they had admitted to themselves that they felt something between them, and it was on the night that they had admitted them to each other. Hermione smiled to herself, What is it about being in mortal peril that makes guys confess their feelings? They only had time for a short kiss before they had to go off into battle, and the rest was history. Right now her love for Ron was the same love she felt in her 7th year, but five years and all they went through can change a person. It was hard to stay away from him, but made it work by telling herself that they were no longer compatible, and that nothing would have worked out between then anyway. If they had kissed she could have been proven right, but she also could have been proven wrong. And she was not sure, if put in that situation, what she would do.
Shaking her head she drew herself out of her reverie and proceeded in changing her clothes, brushing her teeth, and doing her hair and make-up. It was only as she was about to walk out the door that she realized she was missing something.
"Where did I put my purse?" she asked out loud. She looked at the bench next to her door, which was where she usually left it, but it was not there. She then checked her bedroom, the kitchen, the bathroom, even the pantry, but it was nowhere to be found.
"How am I supposed to leave the house with out my keys or wallet?" she was extremely irritated. Just as she was about to check her bedroom for a second time she heard a tap at her window. Pig, Ron's tiny and over-exuberant owl, was at her kitchen window with a roll or parchment attached to his leg. She ran to the window, letting the owl in quickly- her neighbor would certainly ask questions if they saw an owl hovering at her window at 7:30 in the morning. Pig fluttered in and layed himself, apparently quite exhausted, on her table.
"Aw, poor Pig," Hermione said, petting him on the head. She got him a dish of water and a slice of turkey from her fridge, and then unhooked the letter from his leg.
Dear Julie, the letter began, I noticed just after you left that your purse was left in my bedroom. I'm not sure how it got there...strange isnt it? Well, I thought I'd let you know so that you didn't drive yourself crazy looking for it. You can use the Floo Network to come over here anytime and pick it up- no need to call ahead, someone is always home. Guess we'll see you sooner then we expected. -Ginny
"That brat stole my purse!" shouted Hermione to Pig, who in return only stared at her blankly. "She wanted to make sure I had to come back to there house again. Oh, that brat!" Hermione was infuriated. She had no choice, everything was in her purse- her car keys, house keys, credit cards, money, visa papers.
As soon as Pig left she called her boss and told her that she'd be missing work once again due to a family emergency. Her boss was not to thrilled, but Hermione was her only worker and she needed her.
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"Ron! Ron, where are you? Ron!" Ginny had apparated herself to Ron's apartment. "There you are. What are you doing?" She finally went into Ron's bedroom and turned on his light. Ron was in his bed.
He sat up when she turned on the light and groggily (and irritably) replied, "Silly me, I was sleeping. What a funny thing to do at 6:30 in the morning."
"Har, Har, Har. Your wit has always impressed me Ron," his sister remarked sarcastically.
"What the hell are you doing here at this time, Gin?" Ron was only now able to squint his eyes open. They were still sensitive to the light.
"I need a favor from my absolute favorite brother."
"Should have guessed. And you couldn't wait to ask me this favor till- oh, I don't know, noon- because?"
"Because it could be to late then."
"What could be to late? Is everything all right?" Ron asked, worried.
"Yes, yes. Everything is fine."
"Oh, well in that case I'm still annoyed. What's the favor?"
"I need you to spend the day at the Burrow and wait for Julie to come pick up her purse."
"What?"
"She left her purse at the Burrow last night, and I owled her right away to tell her. She's most likely going to pick it up today, but I don't know what time because I told her she could come anytime without telling us first."
"Why would you say that?"
"Because usually someone is always home. But then I realized that I promised I would go over the wedding menu today with the planner, Harry and dad have work, and mum is going to be at Millie's all day. And I thought that since your just on call today that you could hang around the house and wait for her. I'm betting she'll come early so she can still get to work today, so you'll only have to be at the house a few hours max."
"I don't know, Gin. I had some important stuff I wanted to get to today."
"Of course you did, Ron," Ginny said in a tone that told him she did not believe him, but she did not want to get him mad before he said yes. "But I'm your little and only sister, and you love me, and you would do anything for me, right?" She gave him one of her famous smiles, which he was sometimes immune to, being her brother and all, but every so often...
"Fine, I'll do it. But if I get paged-"
"You'll have to go. I understand completely." She went over to his bed and hugged him, saying, "Your the best brother ever, Ron!"
"Either that or the biggest sucker."
"Well, either way, I have to get to the wedding planner. She hates it when I'm late, to which I say, it's only giving her more money. But whatever. You should probably get dressed. You should be at the house by 7:30."
"7:30! Bu-"
"Bye, Ron!" And in a flash of green and a loud 'pop' she was gone.
"7:30..." Ron continued to grumble as he got out of bed and began to dress.
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Back at the Burrow, Ginny was conversing with Harry's head in the fire.
"So what are you plans for today," he asked her.
"Oh, I don't know, shopping maybe. Might go try on my dress again," she said smiling.
"That's the third time this week. I think it still fits," he laughed.
"I know, but I love seeing it. It's gorgeous! Wanna meet for lunch?"
"Well, I was actually gonna see if Ron wanted to-"
"No. He can't."
"Why not?"
"He's gonna be here. Julie left her purse last night and he's gonna come over in a few minutes to wait for her to pick it up."
"Why aren't you doing that?"
Ginny shrugged and tried to look innocent, "He offered."
"Gin, I know Ron, and I know he would never offer to do anything that required him to be out of bed before noon."
"Maybe he likes her?" Harry's head gave her a look, and she broke. "Well, I ask him to because I think they should date. They're PERFECT for each other-"
"Gin-" Harry rubbed his temples.
"He needs to start dating. He hasn't had a second date in five years. Five years!"
"Ginny, he's a grown man. He doesn't need his sister stetting him up with her friends."
"Maybe that's exactly what he does need. Besides, I know Julie really, really well. And I know they are meant for each other." I also know that Ron needs to realize who she is or nothing is going to change, she thought.
"Well, when this blows up in your face, I'm not gonna say I thought it was a good idea- cause I don't."
"Well, then when it goes perfectly and they fall in love don't take credit for it either," Ginny replied stubbornly.
"I have to go. I love you," he said sincerely.
"I love you to," she said, just as sincerely. And then, he was gone.
A few minutes later Ron arrived, and Ginny left. I don't care what I have to do to get them to spend time together, but Ron will know who she is, was her last thought as she closed the door behind her.
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A/N: Wow this is one of my longer chapters! About four pages! Hopefully, it will sustain you for awhile because I doubt I'll be able to post for awhile...maybe a few weeks...Vacation ends tomorrow, and it's hard to write during the school week. Then next weekend I have a retreat I need to go on. I'm not sure how many chapters are left, but I'm thinking at least 4-6. Who knows though? Thanks ahead of time for new reviews =) love you!