Chapter 4

"Darling, Can you believe that our only babies all grown up? It seems like just yesterday we were bringing you home from hospital for the first time, and now she's moving from us forever! And she's barely even 18!" Mrs. Granger said to husband whom was carrying the last of the full cardboard boxes, past her to bring downstairs. She started dabbing the tears from the corners of her eyes. She was standing in Hermione's bare room. Her eyes were darting from the empty shelves above her bare desk that used to hold the porcelain dolls her Grandmum gave her every year for her birthday, to her book shelf that used to be so overflown with books there was a separate pile of books stacked 5 feet tall next to it.

Hermione rolled her eyes. She was currently bent over zipping up her last suitcase. "Mum, please, in the wizarding world Harry's and Ron's parents were married straight out of Hogwarts. Im just moving into a flat with my friends, that's all." As Hermione went to turn around, she saw her mum stifle a sob. "Oh Mum please don't cry, your going to get me started now!" she exclaimed as her voice choked up. She walked over to hug her mother. "Just pretend im leaving for another year at Hogwarts or something." She said as her Mum sniffled in her ear.

"It's not just that Hermione. You're a woman now. You've turned out to become quite a beautiful young lady. Just watch those boys you're living with." Her mom added with a smile as she pulled back to give her daughter a once over.

Hermione groaned, "Muuuuuuuuuuum you've got to be kidding me. I have much better to worry about than boys, ESPECIALLY Ron and Harry. You know, im starting my work at the Ministry of Magic come September."

"I know, honey, I know. I just worried! Last time I saw, oh which ones the red head. . .Oh Ron!. Yes, last time I saw you guys together in Diagon Alley before term last year, the boy couldn't take his eyes off of you! You know you're father used to look at me like that. . . " Mrs. Granger's voice trailed off with the last comment.

Hermione narrowed her eyes at her mum. 'What's she getting at?' she wondered, 'If she's worried about the way that Ron looks at me, it's a good thing she knows nothing about Voldemort and what happened in my years at school.' She sighed looked at her watch and spoke, "Can you help me take the rest down? They're going to be waiting for me at the Burrow."

Mrs. Granger and Hermione brought the last of the boxes down in the living room. After gathering everything together in the spot she was going to apparate from and making sure she had her wand in her coat pocket. She said one last goodbye to her parents.

"Alright Mum, Dad, The Weasley's don't have a phone, you know that, so ill be sending you an owl in the next couple of days telling you how im doing and I'll have the date of when we move into the flat for you so you guys can come visit after we're settled. Chances are it'll be Harry's snowy white one." Once again her mum's eyes began welling up with tears. Even Mr. Granger, who was standing next to her mum with Crookshanks in his arms looked melancholy. "Stop that please!" she exclaimed and she walked forward to hug and kiss them both.

After she finished with her mum, she took Crookshanks from her fathers arms. "Goodbye Daddy, I love you." She leaned forward and kissed his cheek. She walked over to her things and ended it with. "I'll talk to you soon!" And with a loud crack she was whizzing to the Weasleys.

She appeared in the living room and immediately put Crookshanks down on the couch. She heard the radio coming from the kitchen and Mrs. Weasley humming along with the Weird Sisters newest hit. "Hello? Mrs. Weasley?" she called out.

The humming stopped and Mrs. Weasley came running into the room. "Hermione, dear! So good to see you!" she said pulling her into a tight hug. "How's the family? Alright?" She asked.

"A little choked up at the thought of me living on my own but they're fine." she said.

"Oh I remember when Bill first moved out, I thought my heart was breaking. After all he was my first." She said getting a distant look in her eyes as if she was reliving the day in her head. Suddenly she snapped out of it, "Oh anyway, leave your things here dear, although you may want to grab a bathing suit, Ron and Harry are heading down to the lake now, and Ginny was waiting for you."

As if on cue Ginny came bounding in the room, her flaming red hair streaking behind her. "Oy Hermione!" she shrieked as the girls threw their arms around each other. "I'm so glad you're finally here! Ron's been going mad for like 3 days already, though don't tell him that its because he DESPERATELY wants you here, and Harry's so fantastic! He's been really cheerful since he got here and did I tell you how I missed you??" Ginny said all this is one breathe.

"Whoa Ginny, calm down. Let me get my bathing suit out and then we'll head down to the lake and you can tell me everything that I've missed." She said.

Minutes later the girls were on their way to the lake. The lake was about a 5 minute walk into the woods behind the Burrow. Hermione had never seen it before but then again she was never at the Weasley's house during the summer, only to Grimmauld Place. It was Hermione's turn to talk Ginny's ear off. She was telling her about her trip to New York.

"You had to see this building Ginny, it was massive! The Empire state building is 1,050 feet high and you can see the entire city from the 86th floor! It's fantastic! It was completed in 1931 and it was the largest building ever until the- Ginny! You call that a bathing suit?!" Ginny had pulled her tank top over her head to reveal a small black bikini.

"Yes, I have to do SOMETHING to make Harry forget about Luna and notice me!" she said with a wicked grin appearing on her face.

"Yes, well I bought a brand new bathing suit in New York. You have to see the fashion stuff they have there. And im not even into the stuff. I bought some muggle magazines, remind me to lend them to you, you might enjoy them." As she said this the boys came into view and her jaw dropped.

Harry was splashing around the lake and Ron stood just outside of it, sopping wet. His long red hair was pushed out of his face and it revealed him laughing at something Harry had said. Hermione could only stare as she looked at Ron in his bright Orange bathing suit. All she can say is him running all those laps Quidditch practice really paid off. She must have been staring for a good amount of time because Ginny was waving her hands in front of her face.

"Hello? Earth to Hermione, are you there?" Ginny said laughing.

"Hmm? What?" she said snapping back to reality.

"You were totally staring at my prat of a brother!" she exclaimed.

"Rubbish I wasn't staring at him! I was trying to remember my next fact about the Empire State Building!" she said making a quick excuse.

"Yeah that would have been nice if we weren't done talking about that 5 minutes ago! Oy Ron! Harry! Look who I found!" She yelled at them as she took off in a jog towards the lake.

If she could have done it, she would have kicked herself. 'C'mon Hermione, get real now. This is your best friend. Yeah! Best friend that I dream about marrying! She looked up from the ground and she saw Ron was making his way towards her. 'Stop stop keep cool, he's walking over. What's wrong with me this is Ron!' "Hello Ron." she said to him as he approached. 'God where did that stomach come from? Where was I. Look at his spots! They're even on his chest, how cute! How cute? Ew Hermione, when did you turn into such a girl.' She thought

"Hermione! How are you? It's about time you got here!" He started to go in for a hug but then she could practically see his insecurities take the best of him cause he extended a hand instead.

"I'm good Ron! I've missed you all terribly though!" Hermione grabbed his hand and then thought 'why the heck not' and pulled him into a proper hug. His body was cold from the lake water and it felt incredible on her skin as it was already burning. She pulled away and looked at his face. "Is it possible that in the few short weeks we've been away from each other, that you've changed?"

She saw the tips of his ears go red with embarrassment. "Im not sure what you mean Hermione." He said breaking eye contact.

"Hermione! Come on Ron, give me a chance to say hello!" Harry said practically pushing Ron out of the way.

Harry wrapped his arms all the way around Hermione's body, soaking her with the water that was still all over him since he just got out of the lake.

"Harry please you're soaking me!" She said this laughing and she made no attempt at breaking apart from him. She gave him a short kiss on the cheek and he released her.

Then Ron made the mistake of asking her how New York was. Next thing you knew they were making their way down, closer to the lake and Hermione was turning into a human tour book, giving the height, maximum human capacity and a detailed description about the Empire State Building.

Hermione took a seat on a towel laid out by Ginny, next to her. "- from the 86th floor! It's simply breath taking!" she finished. Hermione turned to Ron and he was smiling at her and Harry answered back.

"That sounds fantastic Hermione! Aren't you sweating, yet? It must be at least 90 degrees out here!" he said eyeing the tank top and shorts she was wearing.

"Hold off a minute, I just sat down!" but she started peeling the clothes off her body.

"Hermione! You call that a bathing suit?!" Ron exclaimed

"My mum bought it for me at Saks Fifth Avenue. It's a fantastic store! Very similar to Harrod's over in London. It's very popular in New York city. Why? What's wrong with it?" she said looking down. She had bought a really pretty bikini. It was white with different colored polka dots on it. She tried it on at her mums request. She had never worn a bikini before but her mum insisted on her to enjoy what she's got while she's still got it. So she picked up one that revealed the least but the problem is that a bikini is a bikini. . .

"But you're practically naked!" he said pointing at her. She watched his entire face turn red and felt her own rapidly change colors as well. The thought of Ron seeing her naked was enough to embarrass themselves silly and send Ginny and Harry into giggles.

"Have you LOOKED at the bathing suit your sisters wearing?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

Ron and Harry turned to Ginny and noticed the small bathing suit that just barely covered her body. Harry must've just noticed cause he eyes nearly bugged out but Ron waved a dismissive hand at her.

"I've given up on this one. You should hear what the guys in the Gryffindor rooms have said about this one when they were all hanging out." He said.

Ginny jumped to her feet and gave Ron a shove. "Hey! Take that back that's not true! I've only dated 2 Gryffindor's and they would NEVER say things about me!"

"Yeah that's what you think, Imagine, me your brother, trying to turn my ear from all the talk." He said getting heated.

"You LIAR! How dare you say that! Your lucky I don't have my wand with me!" Ginny stormed towards Ron as if she were going to shove him again or hit him.

"Oh stop bickering guys!" Harry shouted. "It's not worth it." He grabbed Ginny's arm and pulled her towards the lake. "Come on Gin lets swim and cool down." Harry gave Hermione a look that said "thank god I don't have any real siblings!" Hermione nodded back at him in agreement.

Ron sat down in a huff on the towel Ginny had put down for her self moments go and put on the famous Ron Weasley Pout on his upper lip.

"Oh Ron take that silly pout off your face!" In actuality she found it quite adorable. Looking at his lip made her wonder what it would feel like to kiss it. ' Please, please get a grip of yourself today!' She pleaded with herself. "You know you down right exaggerated. The guys would never talk that way about your sister. Especially in front of you." She simply stated as she pulled out sun block from her bag.

"Yeah well with the way she acts, I wouldn't be surprised if they did! A scarlet woman my sister is" He muttered under his breath. He became fixated on Hermione as she lathered the sun block into her arms, legs, neck and face. He leaned forward and grabbed the bottle from her side. "What's this stuff do? What does "spiff" 30 mean?" He asked curiously as he examined the bottle.

"Honestly Ronald, even a troll could figure that out." She said hotly.

"That's bullocks! You know-" Ron started but Hermione interrupted him.

"Alright alright, fine. . ." she cut in remembering her letter to him stating that the two should put an end to their rows. She explained to him what the purpose of sun block was and when she offered it to him, he laughed said something about "muggle superstitions".

"Suit yourself." she said eyeing his very pink shoulders.

Her attention was brought to Harry and Ginny in the water. It was incredible how much the two of them as a couple looked like Harry's own parents. Hermione smiled at the sight before her. Harry was trying to teach Ginny how to properly float on her back. It didn't look like Ginny was getting the hang of it and she heard Harry say, "No, no. Watch me closely. You've got to really kick off the ground or you're going to sink." He demonstrated exactly what he said and sure enough he was floating gracefully on his back. "See Gin? Piece of Cake!" but Harry took a mouth full of water on his last word cause Ginny up pushed him under the water.

Hermione laughed at them. She was so into what was going on in the lake that she only just heard what Ron was talking to her.

"Did you hear what I said?" Ron asked, touching her arm.

Ron looked at her forearm where his large hand was gently holding it. She brought her eyes to his and he repeated himself.

"I really missed you 'Mione. It hasn't been the same without you the past couple of weeks." He said quietly.

She felt her stomach swarm with butterfly's. He had never said anything like that to her before. 'Where did the insensitive prat go?' she couldn't help but wonder. And when he called her 'Mione it never failed to make her heart swell. It was something he started around 6th year. She never questioned why he shortened her name but he was the only one to ever call her that and it was an unspoken, known thing that only Ron was allowed to call her that. It was that year that Hermione realized she really, truly fell for Ron.

For what felt like the millionth time that day her face heated up. She was beginning to feel like Ron now. He was the one that always got embarrassed. She was almost positive his face was also turning red. The problem was she couldn't tell though cause his entire body was steadily turning red from the sun. 'Oh Ronald, why don't you just listen to me.' She sighed.

"Come on. Lets go down in the lake." She suggested.

So Ron and Hermione joined Ginny in the cool water. Over the next 45 minutes the group of friends were completely re-acquainted as they shared their every minute apart from the past few weeks.

"Harry, im glad you took my advice. I bet you anything that your uncle is kicking himself for how he reacted to you thanking him." She said in her know-it-all voice.

The voice caused Ron to roll his eyes behind Hermione's back.

"Don't roll your eyes Ronald!" She yelled turning around to face him.

"What? I did not! How did you know?" Ron stammered amazed.

"Don't you think I know you two by now? When Harry makes that face I know you have either rolled your eyes or mouthed know-it-all at him!"

Just as Hermione really got heated the show ended cause someone from the other side of the lake called out their names.

"Harry!? Ronald, Ginny, Hermione!" called an excited and familiarly dreamy voice.

They turned around and saw Harry's ex-girlfriend, Luna Lovegood. Ron Hermione and Ginny became friends with Luna at the end of 5th year and even more so during her and Harry's year and a half relationship that lasted from beginning of 6th year till mid 7th year. To Ron, Finny and Hermione the break up by that time was inevitable. They had simply grown too close and the strain of both Voldemort and NEWTS had been too much for Harry to handle. It was rough but both of them, Hermione remembered, but it never seized to amaze her how good of friends they remained.

Hermione watched as Harry got out and pulled Luna into a huge hug. Ron, Ginny and herself followed to greet her.

"I thought I heard voices coming from here!" she said with her eyes as wide as usual. "I was setting up traps for moon sprites in my yard when I heard you guys." she said with over exaggerated excitement.

Minutes later Harry and Luna were talking privately, Ron had started snoring on his towel and Hermione was engrossed in a book she pulled out from her bag.

So when Harry turned his complete attention from Ginny to Luna and Ron and Hermione started doing their own things, no one noticed Ginny walk back towards the Burrow with tears in her eyes.

Authors Note: Well there's chapter 4! I got a bit carried away but none the less i hope you enjoy. Thanks to Tara ive got some brilliant ideas for the coming chapters! And I dont mean to make Ginny come off slutty or anything but I just think shes the kind of girl who knows what she wants and will do anything to get it. And if she did anyway, that was for you Laura. So as usual please review!! I wont know what to do next if you dont let me know what you think. Oh and might i add how hard it was to be writing about 90 degree sunny days in the middle of a blizzard here in NY!