Thanks for reviews and all, everyone. Sorry my chapters are so short. I'll try to make them longer if I can. I won't get much time to update until next week, when this semester is over. Now, I get to work on a research paper. Yay! --Summer : )

Chapter 5 The Morning After

Harry woke up in a stupor. For a minute, he couldn't remember where he was or why he felt like shit. Slowly pulling himself up, he gasped as his head throbbed painfully. The blurred guest room came into focus.

'That's where I am; I'm at Ron's.' he thought.

A large, nearly empty glass bottle stood on his nightstand, next to an old, wrinkled photo.

'And that's why I feel like shit.'

Holding his forehead, Harry squinted, holding the photo in his hand. A group shot of him, Ron, Hermione and Ginny came into focus. Perplexed, Harry just stared at the photo. Then he remembered. It was taken his 6th year. Ginny was smiling and had her arms around Harry, but she was dating Ben Brickle that year. It seemed like she was always dating someone; anyone but Harry.

Slowly, very slowly, Harry crawled out of bed. He took a long, steamy shower and tried to drive thoughts of unobtainable things out of his head. When he finished, he dressed quickly and, still holding his head, went downstairs.

Ginny met him at the foot of the stairs.

"Morning, Harry!" she chirped, smiling that big, bright smile of hers.

Harry raised his eyebrows.

"Hey, Ginny…how come you're so bloody happy this morning?" he groaned.

"Aww..." Ginny pouted, mocking him. "How come you're so bloody grouchy this morning?"

"I have a headache." Harry said, while thinking, 'Well, that's not a complete lie.'

"I'm sure Hermione can whip you up something for it." Ginny said.

Harry lay on the plump sofa in the parlor while Ginny looked for Hermione. A few moments later, she returned.

"I can't find her anywhere!" Ginny exclaimed. "Oh, well. I'll help you out the best I can. I could never get the hang of potions and such the way Hermione can. Now, turn on your stomach."

"Eh?"

"I said, turn on your stomach."

Warily, Harry flipped over on his stomach. Next thing he knew, Ginny was on top of him, straddling his back.

"What in the bloody hell are you doin', Gin?"

"Hush!"

Ginny stretched her arms and fingers and then began to massage Harry's temples. After a few moments of that, she slowly moved down to his neck.

"Is this ok?" she asked.

"It's….it's…something…" groaned Harry.

Ginny giggled. "I s'pose that means it's good."

She trailed her fingers down to his back and massaged him a little there. Harry was enjoying himself so immensely that he sighed contentedly and relaxed, letting Ginny work her magic of her own.

Hermione stretched her arms up toward the sky, reaching as far as she could. It was almost as if she could reach the stars that still clung to the early morning sky. Then, she stretched her legs. Taking in a deep breath of the crisp, faintly cool air, she began to jog down the dirt path. She had never been much of a physical activity person, but had really taken to jogging lately. It was nice out in the rural wizard community where the Weasleys lived. Everything was so quiet and full of a peace that was not often seen in the modern muggle world. Hermione was so intent on her progress that she didn't hear Ron calling her name for a good five minutes. She looked back and couldn't help but smile. He looked as though he had been trying to keep up with her. She slowed to a stop and turned to him. As he made his way to her, gasping, Hermione crossed her arms over her chest.

Ron tried to catch his breath as he walked toward Hermione.

'She looks amazing in those muggle clothes.' He thought.

She was wearing form-fitting black capris with white stripes up the sides of her legs and a white tee shirt. Her hair was falling out of her ponytail, so all the kinky, curly strands were down on her shoulders, wet from her workout. She had her arms crossed over her chest and looked angry. Ron loved it when she was angry. She had this passion that made her eyes fiery, like she felt the same way about him that he felt about her.

"What do you want, Ron?" she demanded as he reached her.

"I wanna talk to you about last night. Hermione, what the hell? I kiss you and then you just ignore it, like it never happened."

"Because, Ron, it shouldn't have happened. I know that it was just a mistake. We got caught up in the moment."

"But—"

"No buts, you don't have to explain—don't feel obligated, I understand it was a mistake."

"But Hermione—"

"Ron!" Hermione screamed. She sighed and held her head. "I'm going back to the house."

Hermione began to jog back to the house. Looking back, she saw Ron following her. When they got to the front door, she turned to him.

"Ron, there will never be anything between me and you."

Ron's face fell. "But I thought that's what you wanted…"

Hermione's breath caught. "Why would you think that?"

Ron didn't say anything.

Quietly, Hermione said, "That's not what I want. It will never happen."

With that she opened the door. Ron followed her into the parlor, grabbing her arm.

"Woah!" exclaimed Hermione as she saw Ginny and Harry on the sofa.

"Oh…dude, I so don't wanna see that." said Ron, covering his eyes. "My sister, that is not cool!"

Ginny blushed crimson but elegantly pulled herself off of Harry's back, tugging at her floral print dress.

"I was just giving him a massage!" she retorted. "He had a headache!"

"Yeah, ok." giggled Hermione. She ran up the stairs to her room. Ron sighed and went up his room.

"Thanks for the massage." said Harry, running his fingers through his disheveled hair.

"No problem." replied Ginny, still blushing a little. Then, she mumbled something about being busy and went up to her room.

On her big four poster bed, Hermione buried her face into her pillow. She felt bad about lying to Ron. She wanted him more than anything, but she couldn't tell him that. She knew that it just wasn't possible for him to care about her the same way she cared about him. She couldn't do that to him. She couldn't make him feel obligated to be with her. She loved him too much. A single tear fell down her cheek and she fell into an uneasy sleep.