A/N-thanks for the review!I hope you like this chapter...and please keep reviewing. And I was really upset when they killed him too.

Unexpected Encounters

Hermione leaned over her Transfiguration homework. They were beginning to study how to transfigure small body parts. Fortunately for them, McGonagall wouldn't let them practice on each other until they had become sufficient enough to not make any drastic errors. Becoming sufficient meant learning the history, thus leading to the mountain of homework she had assigned.

(a)Give three precautions that should be taken before performing this kind of spell and (b) give two situations where it would be needed.

Hermione sighed. It's not that it was particularly hard, it's just that McGonagall had given them a list of similar questions that took up an entire foot of parchment paper. Luckily it wasn't due for 3 days, but Hermione wasn't one to procrastinate.

She had just finished question 4 when Harry, Ron, and the rest of the Quidditch team entered the common room. She looked up from her homework and nearly dropped her quill.

Ron and Harry had, at sometime during practice, taken their shirts off and were currently soaked from something she could only assume was rain. Her immediate thought was sweat, but she looked at the soaking Ginny and realized that she couldn't've sweated that much, no matter what the temperature.

"Ra-" her voice caught so she cleared her throat and tried again. "Raining hard?"

"Like you wouldn't believe." Ron flopped down in a chair in front of the fireplace and hung his red Quidditch robe in front of the fire in an attempt to dry it out.

"Yeah, well Ron and I decided that keeping our robes on was just slowing us down so we figured we were better off without them."

Hermione stared at both of them with a slightly open mouth. She had always known Harry was destined to be a slightly more muscular type, but she didn't expect Ron to have become as built as he did over the summer. She vaguely remembered him telling her that Fred and George had helped him practice during the summer, but she didn't know how much it really helped.

"Yeah," Ron turned his face away from the heat as he began talking, "but we had to stop practice early cause some of the girls were getting distracted." He gave a pointed look at Ginny, who promptly began blushing.

"I was not, Ron!" she said defensively. "I was just-rusty." She sat down next to Hermione with a small 'harrumph.' Since Umbridge left, Harry was allowed to play on the team again, and that gave Ginny the option to take the empty chaser position. It being her first practice in the new position, she was still getting settled in.

"Yeah, I don't really know what you two are talking about." Hermione added, finally closing her mouth.

Ron raised his eyebrows at her.

"I don't!"

"Don't what?" Harry inquired.

"Don't know what you're talking about."

"What were we talking about?" Ron asked, enjoying the sight of Hermione blushing.

"Talking about-about your bodies!"

"Ah, so you did notice something."

"No! That's what I'm trying to tell you, I didn't notice!"

"Then why did you bring it up? We didn't." Harry looked at Ron. "I don't think we did, did we?"

"Nope, sure didn't." By this time both boys were grinning.

"I-I. Ugh!" Hermione slammed her books and stormed off to her dorm. She threw her hands up in the air as she walked.

Ron and Harry both burst out laughing and began congratulating each other on successfully irritating Hermione on only their third day back. Ginny just sighed and made her way to her dorm as well, muttering something about a shower.

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As Hermione walked into her dorm, she was suddenly sorry for having left so quickly. She couldn't deny the fact that she hadn't noticed how much Harry and Ron had matured. Ron was no longer gangly thanks to the fact that he had grown into his body over the course of the summer. They had both also tanned very nicely. Hermione sat in her bed thinking about the two when there was a knock at her door.

"Er, come in."

Ginny poked her head in from behind the door. "Can I come in for a bit?" she was clad in a dark blue bathrobe and had a towel on her head.

"Oh yeah, sure." Hermione moved over to make room for Ginny on her bed. "What's up?"

"Nothing really. It's just it's still kind of early and everyone's still downstairs. Well except you. So I thought I'd come in here. You know. To talk. About some things."

Hermione raised her eyebrows. Ginny was acting unusually jittery; she had never acted uncomfortable around Hermione before. "Okay…so what do you need to talk about?"

"Well I don't need to talk, it's just I think that I should. I mean. er-" Ginny turned a deep shade of red, a quality that was found in most of the Weaselys.

Hermione laughed. "Ginny, relax. Just tell me."

Ginny took a deep breath, "IthinkIlikeHarry," she said in a rush. As soon as she finished she flinched and added, "Again."

"Aw, Ginny, that's great!"

"Really?"

"Yeah, what? Did you think I'd have a problem with it?"

"Well, sorta. Maybe. I don't know, I mean I wasn't sure if something was going on between you two."

Hermione scoffed. "What would give you that idea?"

"Well, I mean I saw how you looked at him, you know, downstairs."

"Trust me, they're my best friends, nothing could ever happen with them"

Ginny paused. "Well I was just talking about Harry…not both of them."

"Oh, well right. I know, I was just clarifying in case you were wondering."

Ginny's eyes narrowed slightly. "You have a thing for Ron don't you!"

Hermione sputtered. "I absolutely do not! Ron? No. I mean, yes, he did look a bit dashing down there, but I'd never consider our relationship to be anything more than platonic." Hermione took a breath. "And besides, you're the one that has a thing for Harry so don't change the subject."

Ginny blushed again, but then smiled. "You don't think he'd go for me, would you? I mean, I know that he didn't before, when I liked him the first time." Ginny cringed slightly as she reminisced. "But it's like this time it different. I don't know what it was, but when I saw him flying around…there was something about him that just brought all those feelings back."

"It wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that he didn't have a shirt on would it?" Hermione grinned mischievously.

"Do you think they're still down there?" Ginny answered, avoiding the question.

Hermione tilted her head slightly. "I'll go down and find out. Go get changed and I'll come and get you if he is."

"Thanks!" Ginny smiled widely as she flounced off the bed and walked out the door with a defined bounce in her step.

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Hermione crept down the staircase, ducking low to make sure no one could see her until she wanted them to. She carefully peered over the railing into the common room, seeing a head of red hair but no Harry.

Hermione pursed her lips and turned on her toes, intent on returning to her dorm. She took a step forward without realizing that she still had a foot planted on and untied shoelace. Her step forward turned into a step back as she tumbled down the stair case and landed with a loud, "Umph."

"Holy crap, Hermione are you okay!" Ron was by her side in a second, taking her hand in his. Several students echoed the same question, lingering behind Ron with worried looks on their faces.

Hermione raised her free hand and gingerly touched the back of her head. "Yeah, I think I just bumped it."

Ron's eyebrows were etched in concern. "Here, let's get you over to a couch or something."

Hermione let herself be handled by Ron who easily lifted her and brought her over to a nearby couch. He set her down gently and fluffed a pillow behind her head.

"Are you okay? You took quite a spill," Katie Bell commented from behind Ron's head.

"Yeah, lucky you didn't break anything," Ron gave Hermione a quick once over before returning his gaze to her face.

"Yeah…lucky," Hermione responded distractedly.

Ron raised an eyebrow, "Hm, why don't you just rest here for a little bit, I'll get you some ice for your head, okay?"

"Uh, yeah. Ice, quick thinking Ron."

Ron grinned as he stood up and winked, "I'm always on my toes."

Hermione's eyes followed Ron's back as he retreated out of the common room. As she did, she was plagued with the strange wish that he hadn't left her side.