"Snakes and Ladders." Harry spoke clearly in the direction of the clear sphere in his hand. "I've always wanted to play that one," he continued, this time to Ginny, who was sitting across from him at the little table they were seated at. "All of Dudley's old books that I read mentioned games I wanted to play but never got the chance to." Harry suddenly clamed up, realising how pathetic he must sound to Ginny. He focused instead on watching the sphere rise up from his hand and hover over the card table. He could see a tiny version of the game Snakes and Ladders appear in the centre, growing bigger and bigger until suddenly it ... came out of the ball, and fell gently onto its place. Ginny and Harry shared a look of surprise and amazement. Two pieces, one red and one green, were at the start of the board game, and a dice appeared at the centre of the board. The board itself was a mess of snakes (with blinking, sleepy eyes) and ladders (different colours, moving around the board), with multicoloured squares. Harry grinned, and offered the dice for Ginny to go first. Accepting the dice, she rolled a six, and the pawn (red) moved six spaces, the squares changing colours every time it hit a new one. The sixth turned red, and there was a ladder heading up to the third row, towards the end.

Ginny grinned, and handed the dice over to Harry, who only got a three. With Ginny far in the lead, the game continued.

Ron and Hermione left alone to their own devices (the other Weasleys had gone about their own business), Ron was continually teasing Hermione about everything and nothing, just for the sake of conversation. Or argument, as the couple never seemed able to not bicker for hours on end. Finally, exhausted in their arguing, they relapsed into a friendly silence, watching the game of Snakes and Ladders with only slight interest. Until....

"Ron, why do you keep mentioning Viktor?"

Ron's happy thoughts on beating her in arguments froze.

"Wh-wh-what?"

"Why do you keep sneering about Viktor?"

"Krum? I don't sneer! I just..." Ron, who was red, blustered worse than Percy. Hermione simply watched him, her brown eyes holding an amount of curiosity and steadiness. Finally, Ron stopped blustering and looked down at his hands.

"Fourth Year was the worst year for me. Harry was mad at me, I was mad at Harry, and you... you went off and kept talking to Viktor and Harry, leaving me alone. I guess... Viktor is the reason I recognised something about myself I didn't know. " Ron was definitely not returning Hermione's gaze, and kept looking down at his hands. He also repeatedly muttered in his head, 'please don't ask me what, please don't ask me what'.

Hermione thought for a bit on what he had said, then asked the unevitable question,

"What?"

Damn.

Ron tried to look innocent, to put her off. "What what?"

Hermione frowned at this obviousness. "What did you discover about yourself?"

Damn, damn, damn! He answered, "oh, it's not important anymore..." in a vague way, then tried to turn the conversation away. "Do you think the Cannons will get further this year? I know that Bulgaria..." Oops. Ron grimaced, and Hermione pounced on the opening Ron had unintentionally given her.

"Yes, Bulgaria will do well, Viktor is continuing to play. I know about the figurine, Ron. I saw you buy it, and Harry told me about it missing an arm. Why did you destroy it?" Hermione kept her face impassive, but couldn't help the glimmer of laughter in her eyes, knowing that Ron was struggling with something. Finally, Ron's face flushed redder than she had ever seen before, and stood up abruptly, grabbed her arm, and dragged her out of the room.

"Ron, what?-"

"Just shut up a minute." Then, realising what he was doing, Ron closed his eyes a bit, slowing down his rapid stride, to which Hermione was just managing to keep up to. Finally, they made it outside to the calm evening air. Ron's normal colouring was slowly returning, the pink fading from his face, though not his ears. Hermione made as if to sit down on the porch steps, but Ron shook his head, nodding towards the window that they could see through at Harry and Ginny laughing at a move that one of them had made.

"Over there, by that tree. It's my favourite place." Ron still had a hold of her hand, and had not realised it yet. Hermione said nothing, but allowed herself to be towed to the place.

"Now. Any question you like. I'll answer them." Ron was decidedly not looking at her, but Hermione knew his attention was completely focused on her. She nodded, then tugged at his hand, motioning for them to sit down.

"Better to be comfortable, we might be out here for a while. First question. Why did you break the Krum figurine?"

"I didn't like the way Harry was against him, and, more importantly, I didn't like the way you always kept talking to him and paying him more attention than me."

Hermione thought the answer over. "You were jealous?"

"Immensely so."

"Are you still jealous?"

"Less, now that he is gone, and I know that Harry is more interested in my sister." Then a look of concern came over his face. "But if he hurts her, I will probably beat him to ap pulp."

Hermione shook her head, smiling. "You older brother types must have real tough lives. You're allowed to crush over any girl, to do wild crazy pranks, but the girl, the youngest especially, cannot. How Ginny survives, I don't know."

"Oh, you've never been on the receiving end of her hexes and jinxes. They're powerful."

Hermione laughed at that. Then what Ron had said hit her. "Wait... you were jealous of Harry? Really? Because of me?"

This time Ron had to look at her. She was flushed, and her eyes shone in amazement. "Yeah, I guess you could say that." Heat flooded his face for the umpteenth time that night.

"You like me then?" Hermione suddenly realised that it was a very important, yet slightly redundant question.

Ron grinned, a flash of while in the darkness of the tree's shadow. "Yeah, you could say that too."

Hermione nearly went limp with relief, even though she knew deep down already the truth. "What are you going to do about it?"

Ron shrugged. "I was hoping you could tell me. You're the know-it-all, after all."

They both grinned at each other, and they both realised nothing need more to be said.

The Weasley twins, in all their adult dignity, stifled their mouths to cover their laughter. Careful not to let the branches shake, they sat back and grinned. Below them, their brother and Hermione were sitting silently, Ron's arms around Hermione, Hermione leaning against him, him leaning against the trunk. Since they had completely mastered apparition, they disappeared with a faint pop, not the loud crack from before, and reappeared in their apartment, releasing the laughter they had been holding in.

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A/N: Okay. I really needed something to do, and I realised that I hadn't finished this chapter. So I did. big proud grin

ElizabethMM: First of all, well, no, I'm not against divorce. It just happens way too often. But I know a divorce JUDGE! Muahaha. Sorry. How about we share it? I write it, and make love to it, and you review and make love to it? Well, ish. bork

NAy: thanks girl! So what if your sister reads it? Unless ... well, it might do her good? Maybe..... but if she's over eleven, I think she can handle it. No novel yet, but tons of ideas. ;)

Only two new reviewers. Wow. Please read and review, criticism is good, flames are accepted, and compliments are always welcome!! (I have friends that keep my ego down)

Chapter seven will come... sometime. Maybe not the best chapter was this, but I needed something else to happen. And something evil will happen, it won't be full of fluff. I think. :D

sea