OK, first of all, I need to apologise for my darling little brother and his
best friend. I don't know what it was, but it wasn't nice and they posted
this story (under MY account! How do they even know my password?) and
consequently, I received some rather offended reviews. If any of those were
you or if you read the story and hated it/were offended by it, I'm very
sorry. I've changed my password too so it (hopefully) won't happen again. I
also need to apologise for the amount of time it's taken to come up with
this third chapter. I've been doing my work experience all week (snore) and
then waitressing the minute I get home (double snore) so I've been
exhausted and had no spare time. So here you go and thank you to all my
lovely reviewers, you make it all worthwhile!
Ron was sitting on his orange bedspread in a foul mood. It was raining so he couldn't go and play quidditch, and as a result, Harry had retreated to Ginny's room- yuk. What was there to do? He rolled over, staring unseeingly at Gregory Picknell, the best chaser of the Chudley Cannons, who was waving and grinning like a loon out of one of Ron's many posters. This got Ron thinking- what was he going to do after he left school? Admittedly, he'd got some pretty good grades in his OWLs, nowhere near as good as Hermione's obviously, but enough to get him into the ministry if he wanted. What did he want though? Well, actually, the only thing he'd ever wanted was to be a professional quidditch player, but what with Charlie being as good as any of the international beaters and Harry stealing the show at every match, he hadn't felt very inspired to do anything about it, much less look for possible openings and opportunities. He'd be laughed at. Well, not openly... but it would probably be exactly the same sort of thing as happened in fifth year, he'd just make a fool of himself in front of better opposition. Like Harry. Ron made a disgusted sound at himself.
'Don't be jealous, it's stupid to be jealous', he repeated this to himself. And when it did no good, he decided he needed to get out, raining or not. He picked his way across the mess that was his bedroom floor, prised the door open and shoved Crookshanks out of his way to get onto the landing. Crookshanks? But that meant...
'Hermione?!' Ron yelled down the stairs.
'She's down here Ron!' came Ginny's voice. 'Ususal room' Ron willed his heart to maintain a calm beat as he slid down the banisters. She was here. And about time too, someone to take his mind off the fact that his best mate and his sister were... yeah.
''RON!' someone threw themselves on to him, in a hug so tight it rivalled Mrs Weasley's! But from his six foot one height, Ron could see that this someone had... differences from how he remembered leaving Hermione at the barrier a month and a half ago.
'Hey 'mione! How've you been?'
'Oh, busy, you know', said Hermione, releasing him and stading back to look at him, beaming.
And Ron stared. And stared. And stared a little more.
'Her...mione?'
'Yes? Oh, let's get off the landing. Come talk to me while I unpack', and she ran back into the lilac room behind her. Ron followed, instinctively, in a kind of stupor, leaving the door open a crack.
'Hermione?' he managed to spurt out, 'I... what... I mean... what happened?' he managed to get out, and at Hermione's slightly put out look he added hastily,
'Not that it's anything bad or anything. It's just... you look a bit... err... different', he finished, lamely.
'Oh you know, a bit of exercise, and the weather in Spain was really nice, so I managed to get a bit of a tan', she muttered going slightly pink, and busying herself with her suitcase.
'A bit of a tan?' Ron muttered incredulously.
So Hermione looked a little different. She was still the same Hermione right? Well, from the slightly geeky but potentially good-looking girl Hermione had left 6th year as, she had blossomed into a stunning young woman... and in a pretty short time as well! She now stood at a perfect five foot eight, her hair had been straightened slightly so it didn't look un- natural but fell to her mid back in glossy chestnut waves. Her legs, long and tanned from a holiday in Alicante, were displayed by a denim skirt which rose to just above the knee. Her eyelashes had been curled and now framed her chocolatey eyes perfectly and she had the tiniest hint of blusher on her cheeks, emphasising her perfectly formed cheekbones.
'You look fantastic', Ron spurted out, immediately looking horrified with himself and clamping a hand over his mouth. He had always promised himself not to let his feelings for Hermione escape, he always assumed she was too good for him and it would ruin a perfectly good friendship if he did. However, this made him frustrated, when frustrated he got angry really quickly, when he was angry he argued with people, and it was usually Hermione he argued with. This didn't improve his mood much. But at least it meant she couldn't know that he liked her. But then, why had she got herself like this? It must be for someone else, he reckoned. He chanced this-
'So, what made you change? Who's the guy?' Yeah, that sounded alright. Then again... maybe it didn't...
'What do you mean? What? You think I did this because of some guy, is that what you think?' Hermione's voice started to rise in volume. 'Well, you know what Ron? Maybe I did it for me, to make me feel better. Think about that!' And she turned her back to him, busying herself with the first thing she picked out of her bag. Unfortunately, this happened to be her tampons and she shrieked, burst into tears and fell onto her bed.
'Hey, 'mione, I didn't mean it like that. It was just... a bit of a shock, that's all. I dunno...' Ron's voice tailed off and he sat down next to Hermione and put his arm round her. In truth, he didn't believe her. And this just made him feel even more jealous than before. Geez, first Harry, then Hermione, who'd be next? Maybe he should tell Hermione how he felt about her. Afetr all, there'd been that time in 4th year... with Krum. That had hurt. That had hurt him a lot. That was the only time he could remember crying, ever. God he loved her so much!
'I missed you, you know?' came Hermione's voice, muffled through Ron's t-shirt. 'All of you'. Her sniffled petered out and she raised a tear stained face to look at Ron's. 'I'm sorry', she said, wiping the tears from her cheeks, 'I've just had a bit of a rough time at home. Mum and... Mum and Dad are...' she broke into fresh sobs again.
'Shhh, it's okay', said Ron, wrapping his arms more tightly around her, wanting to take away all her pain.
'Ron, they're getting a divorce', she sniffed. Ok, so that would explain it. Not having taken the muggle studies OWL, Ron had wanted to try it out, so he took it up for a year last year. He hated it, but he still managed to learn the difference between a mobile phone and a mobile home, no matter how long it had taken to explain to him that people could talk into bits of plastic and be heard through another bit of plastic on the other side of the world.
'Oh 'mione, I'm sorry', and he meant it. They broke apart and she went very quiet, quiet enough to hear muffled footsteps walking down the corridor and then to hear the door creak further open. A head poked round the door, a messy-haired one.
'MIONE!' Harry shouted as he bounded over to give her a hug. 'I... what's wrong?' he asked as her saw her blotchy face. He turned to Ron, 'Great Ron, just great. She hasn't even been here five minutes! I'm kidding!' he added as he watched Ron's face turn to thunder.
'I'm okay Harry, really', Hermione said, her voice cracking slightly.
'Oh come on. You're obviously not'
'Um, mate, her... her parents are... going through a rough patch', Ron said gently, Hermione remaining as rigid as a board.
'Oh. Right. Oh 'mione, I'm so sorry'
'It's fine, really', and the room went very quiet as they all sat there, all at a complete loss at what to say.
Fred and George watched Ron follow Hermione into her room. A couple of months ago, and they'd have had no problem with this at all. But what with... the current situation. Mercifully, Ron had left the door open, just a crack, but enough to listen in at. They crept along the landing, carefully treading where they knew there was no creak (this was a little difficult as most of their house was just one big creak. And Fred and George weren't exactly the most graceful of people... let's just say that, had anyone been watching their progress along the landing, they'd have been admitted to St Mungo's 2 minutes later with suspected laughing curse upon them). Listening at the door, they heard their little brother, bungling as usual, trying not to make it really obvious that he fancied the pants off this girl and failing spectacularly.
'Hermione? I... what... I mean... what happened?'
Ouch. Ok, they really needed to give Ron a few lessons in 'how-not-to- make-a-fool-of-yourself-in-front-of-a-spectacularly-hot-girl-by- acciedentally-insulting-her'.
'What happened indeed', Fred muttered. 'Ouch, what was that for?!' as George elbowed his in the ribs.
'Keep it down, or we'll get found. And I want to hear him mess up in front of her for te umpteenth time. It's so much fun, and they make such good party jokes! Remember his 14th failed save in his second ever match?' and he made wild doggy paddles movements in mid-air. This time, it was his turn to get an elbow in the ribs.
'Ow! Okay now, shhh...'
'You look fantastic'
'I'll bloody say so', both twins muttered together, looking at each other quickly, turning equally fantastic shades of magenta and looking quickly away again, neither wanting to elaborate on that point.
They stood there for another few minutes, in highly uncomfortable positions leaning in towards the door but having to stay far enough away so they weren't noticed. And then...
'Divorce?' they whispered.
'What the hell is divorce?' Fred whispered.
'Dunno. Doesn't sound great though', George muttered back (neither had done muggle studies OWL or NEWT).
And then they heard footsteps coming up the stairs.
'Harry', George whispered, and they quickly crept away, before they were caught eavesdropping. Once they were back in their room, they sat on their beds, each wondering different things but on the same subject. How were they going to survive the summer with a babe and their little brother in the same house? Much less, a girl every one of them was going to try and get...
Ron was sitting on his orange bedspread in a foul mood. It was raining so he couldn't go and play quidditch, and as a result, Harry had retreated to Ginny's room- yuk. What was there to do? He rolled over, staring unseeingly at Gregory Picknell, the best chaser of the Chudley Cannons, who was waving and grinning like a loon out of one of Ron's many posters. This got Ron thinking- what was he going to do after he left school? Admittedly, he'd got some pretty good grades in his OWLs, nowhere near as good as Hermione's obviously, but enough to get him into the ministry if he wanted. What did he want though? Well, actually, the only thing he'd ever wanted was to be a professional quidditch player, but what with Charlie being as good as any of the international beaters and Harry stealing the show at every match, he hadn't felt very inspired to do anything about it, much less look for possible openings and opportunities. He'd be laughed at. Well, not openly... but it would probably be exactly the same sort of thing as happened in fifth year, he'd just make a fool of himself in front of better opposition. Like Harry. Ron made a disgusted sound at himself.
'Don't be jealous, it's stupid to be jealous', he repeated this to himself. And when it did no good, he decided he needed to get out, raining or not. He picked his way across the mess that was his bedroom floor, prised the door open and shoved Crookshanks out of his way to get onto the landing. Crookshanks? But that meant...
'Hermione?!' Ron yelled down the stairs.
'She's down here Ron!' came Ginny's voice. 'Ususal room' Ron willed his heart to maintain a calm beat as he slid down the banisters. She was here. And about time too, someone to take his mind off the fact that his best mate and his sister were... yeah.
''RON!' someone threw themselves on to him, in a hug so tight it rivalled Mrs Weasley's! But from his six foot one height, Ron could see that this someone had... differences from how he remembered leaving Hermione at the barrier a month and a half ago.
'Hey 'mione! How've you been?'
'Oh, busy, you know', said Hermione, releasing him and stading back to look at him, beaming.
And Ron stared. And stared. And stared a little more.
'Her...mione?'
'Yes? Oh, let's get off the landing. Come talk to me while I unpack', and she ran back into the lilac room behind her. Ron followed, instinctively, in a kind of stupor, leaving the door open a crack.
'Hermione?' he managed to spurt out, 'I... what... I mean... what happened?' he managed to get out, and at Hermione's slightly put out look he added hastily,
'Not that it's anything bad or anything. It's just... you look a bit... err... different', he finished, lamely.
'Oh you know, a bit of exercise, and the weather in Spain was really nice, so I managed to get a bit of a tan', she muttered going slightly pink, and busying herself with her suitcase.
'A bit of a tan?' Ron muttered incredulously.
So Hermione looked a little different. She was still the same Hermione right? Well, from the slightly geeky but potentially good-looking girl Hermione had left 6th year as, she had blossomed into a stunning young woman... and in a pretty short time as well! She now stood at a perfect five foot eight, her hair had been straightened slightly so it didn't look un- natural but fell to her mid back in glossy chestnut waves. Her legs, long and tanned from a holiday in Alicante, were displayed by a denim skirt which rose to just above the knee. Her eyelashes had been curled and now framed her chocolatey eyes perfectly and she had the tiniest hint of blusher on her cheeks, emphasising her perfectly formed cheekbones.
'You look fantastic', Ron spurted out, immediately looking horrified with himself and clamping a hand over his mouth. He had always promised himself not to let his feelings for Hermione escape, he always assumed she was too good for him and it would ruin a perfectly good friendship if he did. However, this made him frustrated, when frustrated he got angry really quickly, when he was angry he argued with people, and it was usually Hermione he argued with. This didn't improve his mood much. But at least it meant she couldn't know that he liked her. But then, why had she got herself like this? It must be for someone else, he reckoned. He chanced this-
'So, what made you change? Who's the guy?' Yeah, that sounded alright. Then again... maybe it didn't...
'What do you mean? What? You think I did this because of some guy, is that what you think?' Hermione's voice started to rise in volume. 'Well, you know what Ron? Maybe I did it for me, to make me feel better. Think about that!' And she turned her back to him, busying herself with the first thing she picked out of her bag. Unfortunately, this happened to be her tampons and she shrieked, burst into tears and fell onto her bed.
'Hey, 'mione, I didn't mean it like that. It was just... a bit of a shock, that's all. I dunno...' Ron's voice tailed off and he sat down next to Hermione and put his arm round her. In truth, he didn't believe her. And this just made him feel even more jealous than before. Geez, first Harry, then Hermione, who'd be next? Maybe he should tell Hermione how he felt about her. Afetr all, there'd been that time in 4th year... with Krum. That had hurt. That had hurt him a lot. That was the only time he could remember crying, ever. God he loved her so much!
'I missed you, you know?' came Hermione's voice, muffled through Ron's t-shirt. 'All of you'. Her sniffled petered out and she raised a tear stained face to look at Ron's. 'I'm sorry', she said, wiping the tears from her cheeks, 'I've just had a bit of a rough time at home. Mum and... Mum and Dad are...' she broke into fresh sobs again.
'Shhh, it's okay', said Ron, wrapping his arms more tightly around her, wanting to take away all her pain.
'Ron, they're getting a divorce', she sniffed. Ok, so that would explain it. Not having taken the muggle studies OWL, Ron had wanted to try it out, so he took it up for a year last year. He hated it, but he still managed to learn the difference between a mobile phone and a mobile home, no matter how long it had taken to explain to him that people could talk into bits of plastic and be heard through another bit of plastic on the other side of the world.
'Oh 'mione, I'm sorry', and he meant it. They broke apart and she went very quiet, quiet enough to hear muffled footsteps walking down the corridor and then to hear the door creak further open. A head poked round the door, a messy-haired one.
'MIONE!' Harry shouted as he bounded over to give her a hug. 'I... what's wrong?' he asked as her saw her blotchy face. He turned to Ron, 'Great Ron, just great. She hasn't even been here five minutes! I'm kidding!' he added as he watched Ron's face turn to thunder.
'I'm okay Harry, really', Hermione said, her voice cracking slightly.
'Oh come on. You're obviously not'
'Um, mate, her... her parents are... going through a rough patch', Ron said gently, Hermione remaining as rigid as a board.
'Oh. Right. Oh 'mione, I'm so sorry'
'It's fine, really', and the room went very quiet as they all sat there, all at a complete loss at what to say.
Fred and George watched Ron follow Hermione into her room. A couple of months ago, and they'd have had no problem with this at all. But what with... the current situation. Mercifully, Ron had left the door open, just a crack, but enough to listen in at. They crept along the landing, carefully treading where they knew there was no creak (this was a little difficult as most of their house was just one big creak. And Fred and George weren't exactly the most graceful of people... let's just say that, had anyone been watching their progress along the landing, they'd have been admitted to St Mungo's 2 minutes later with suspected laughing curse upon them). Listening at the door, they heard their little brother, bungling as usual, trying not to make it really obvious that he fancied the pants off this girl and failing spectacularly.
'Hermione? I... what... I mean... what happened?'
Ouch. Ok, they really needed to give Ron a few lessons in 'how-not-to- make-a-fool-of-yourself-in-front-of-a-spectacularly-hot-girl-by- acciedentally-insulting-her'.
'What happened indeed', Fred muttered. 'Ouch, what was that for?!' as George elbowed his in the ribs.
'Keep it down, or we'll get found. And I want to hear him mess up in front of her for te umpteenth time. It's so much fun, and they make such good party jokes! Remember his 14th failed save in his second ever match?' and he made wild doggy paddles movements in mid-air. This time, it was his turn to get an elbow in the ribs.
'Ow! Okay now, shhh...'
'You look fantastic'
'I'll bloody say so', both twins muttered together, looking at each other quickly, turning equally fantastic shades of magenta and looking quickly away again, neither wanting to elaborate on that point.
They stood there for another few minutes, in highly uncomfortable positions leaning in towards the door but having to stay far enough away so they weren't noticed. And then...
'Divorce?' they whispered.
'What the hell is divorce?' Fred whispered.
'Dunno. Doesn't sound great though', George muttered back (neither had done muggle studies OWL or NEWT).
And then they heard footsteps coming up the stairs.
'Harry', George whispered, and they quickly crept away, before they were caught eavesdropping. Once they were back in their room, they sat on their beds, each wondering different things but on the same subject. How were they going to survive the summer with a babe and their little brother in the same house? Much less, a girl every one of them was going to try and get...