First of all, I'd like to say thank you to the people who have read this...a few friends and only one person on here that has reviewed :( I will keep writing for you though, Anna! Hopefully you continue to enjoy it! Secondly, I know that it's very common for Arthur Weasley to be the Minister...but I DON'T CARE! It's MY story and I can do that if I want! (I'm sorry...didn't mean to shout, but that would make me happy, not that it will ever happen). Anyhow, sorry for the short rant...please enjoy :)!

Harry's Realization

Harry spent most of breakfast staring at Hermione, which everyone but him seemed to notice. Ron and Ginny just grinned at each other, and Mrs.Weasley wondered what was going on.

"Arthur was so sorry he couldn't be here for your arrival, Harry, dear, but there was some rather serious business at the office he had to attend to," Mrs. Weasley explained. "He's been rather busy at the Ministry lately, what with being elected Minister and all, and Percy's been trying to keep up as his assistant," she said with a notable amount of pride in her voice.

Harry recalled the paper clipping from the Daily Prophet Ron had sent him about a month earlier depicting the ceremony, and had especially relished Lucius Malfoy's expression in the crowd as he watched. The only regret Harry had was not being able to be there for it.

"Yeah," piped in Ron, "Fred and George are sorry they aren't here too, but they're way too busy with Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes to take any time off. They said if you don't stop in on our first Hogsmeade trip to say hello, they'll test out all their new Skiving Snackboxes on you!"

Harry remembered the Snackboxes' rough drafts all too well (the nosebleeds that didn't end and so forth) and made up his mind that the twin's store would be the first place he would go in Hogsmeade.

"Maybe we could all go together," suggested Hermione. "It seems like it's been such a long time since we last saw one another, and I think we could all do with a little fun." She chose that moment to smile at Harry, and he suddenly felt his heart would rip through his shirt it was pounding so hard.

He was glad when Mrs. Weasley declared breakfast was over, and the girls got up to help her clear the table. When Hermione walked out with their empty plates and Harry felt both relieved and disappointed, what had been bothering him since arriving at the Burrow finally hit him! Harry didn't know what had come over him, but he was pretty sure that somehow, he had managed to fall for Hermione. Hermione! His best friend, the one he could talk to like no other person, and the girl who Harry also suspected was the object of his other best friend's affections, though Ron would never admit it.

He needed to talk to Ron.