A/N: I'm back, did you miss me? Did you think I had abandoned this story? No! Never! He he, anyway, I know it's been forever since my last update but here it is at last. Warning, this is not going to be a very long chapter, but I need to set the problem for the next ones, that hopefully will be up sooner. Anyway, read, enjoy and plz plz plz REVIEW!

Disclaimer: If anyone thought I own the characters in this story or that I claim ownership over them I am very sorry to disappoint you!

The first summer of the rest of their lives

Chapter X: Problems in Paradise

Hermione woke up next morning feeling blissfully happy. She got out of bed with the idea of going over to the boys room and waking Ron in a way he would never expect her to; it was not like Hermione to do that sort of things, but she had rather enjoyed her newly found attitudeof the night before andthought thatit couldn't hurt to keep it, at least to have fun for a change.

She put on her bathrobe but didn't change out of her nightdress, and tiptoed out of the room so as not to wake up Ginny, who was sleeping with a goofy smile on her face. The brunette suspected they would have to have a long nice chat about what had happened while she was in the kitchen with Ron, but surely it could wait till later.

She walk down the hall thinking she would have to stir Harry too as most probably he would be deeply asleep; but when he reached the door, learnt that she was wrong. Four different voices could be heard inside the room. She didn't want to eavesdrop on her friends, but the sound of her own name caught her curiosity and the better of her.

"C'mon Ron, we have a right to know what happened with Hermione yesterday" Said Fred in an exasperated voce. 'How do they know something happened between us? Nobody but Harry and Ginny knew it was a date, right?" Thought Hermione confused.

"No you don't. It's none of your business what 'Mione and I did or didn't do yesterday" Ron's voice took Hermione out of her trance.

"It's too, besides if it hadn't been because we dared you to ask her out you would never have done it. So you should be thanking us if you got a nice long snogging session with our favorite brunette" Answered George.

"WHAT?" Hermione's yell made the four boys jump. She had entered the room and was red with fury,but her eyes were slowly feeling with tears "How could you do this to me Ron! Ask me out and make me believe you liked me just to win a stupid bet? That's too low, even for the insensitive whatnot you are!"

"Hermione, wait… it's not like that, you got it all wrong" Said Ron desperately and he walked towards where she was, trying to hug her.

"I don't want to see you ever again Ron, leave me alone!" And with that she left the room, tears running freely down her cheeks now.

Ron was about to run after her but Harry grabbed his arm. "Wait until she calms down mate, you won't be able to explainanything toher while she is in that state"

Hermione, meanwhile, had gone out of the house to the beach, and was now sitting by the shore, with her knees between her arms, crying her heart out.

"How can I've been so stupid" She thought, punching the sand in frustration. And to think that only half and hour ago she had been the happiest woman on earth. She kept on crying for who knows how long, hating Ronmore and more by the minute;until she heard someone calling her, it was a male's voice.

"Leave me alone, I've told you I don't want to see you again Ron."

"Hermione? I'm not Ron, what's wrong, why are you crying?" It was Stephen, he had sat next to her and had put a comforting arm around her shoulder.

"Oh, sorry Stephen… I'm fine, it's nothing" She said, hastily wiping the tears of her cheeks and trying to smile, but falling horribly.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to… but something is clearly bothering you. Don't worry, I'm sure everything will be fine though" He said consolingly. She rested her head on his shoulder and took some deep calming breath to stop herself from continue crying.

After a few silent minutes Hermione mumbled a quiet "thank you"

"You have nothing to thank me for" He answered, patting her head slightly. She smiled at him.

Unfortunately, Ron had decided that enough time had passes and that he needed to tell Hermione what hadreally happened, so he went to look for her and found her at the exact moment Stephen had his hand on her head and she was smiling.

"Well, I see you found comfort pretty quickly" Said Ron acidly, and without waiting for an explanation he turned and started walking fast towards the house.

"I don't see why you shouldcare" She shouted to his back, her eyes bright with tears again.

"I take you are upset because you had a fight with Ron" Hermione just nodded "Well, I'm sure you can work it out, you seamed perfectly fine yesterday" At this last words the girl gave a loud sob.

"No, I don't want to talk to him ever again, for all I care he could jump off a cliff and die."

"C'mon, don't mean that… He is your friend, and you'll see that in now time you two will be inseparable again."

"No, I will never forgive him, never!" Hermione repeated stubbornly.

"Listen, you need to calm down, do you want to go for a walk?"

"Yes, I want to be a far from him as possible" She answered standing up.

Back at the house, Ron returned to his bedroom slamming the door behind him. Fred, George and Harry were still there, waiting for him to come back with Hermione hand in hand. They were, however, unpleasantly surprised to see that not only Hermione wasn't with him, but that he looked ready to kill someone.

"Ron, what happened? Didn't you find her?" Asked Harry worried but cautionsly, in case Ron decided he could be a suitable victim.

"Oh, I found her all right" Answered his best friend, in such a calm voice that made the other three feel even more anxious.

"Then, why do you have that face? Was she still so upset that she wouldn't listen to what you had to say?"

"No, she wasn't upset… She was perfectly fine being hugged by Stephen Palmer" Ron replied still in that calm voice that it didn't go with his expression at all.

"WHAT?" Asked Harry and the twins together.

"What you've heard. She didn't seam to mind what had happened, on the contrary she was laughing at something that idiot had just said"

"Ron, I'm sure this is a misunderstanding… You know Hermione and that doesn't sound like her at all" Said Harry trying to make his friend realize what he had just said.

"Well, may be we didn't know her as well as we thought."

"Ron, don't be stupid… It doesn't make any sense. Go back out there and talk to her" Said Fred

"I've told you, she doesn't want to talk to me because she's having a blast with his new friend" George opened his mouth to say something but Ron interrupted him. "Ifshe would have wanted to sort things out, she could have come after me… But I don't see her here, do you?" As he was talking to three boys who clearly had no idea how a woman's mind works, any of them could come up with a good possible explanation of what was going on.

"For all I care, she can go and marry that idiot… It's none of my business what she does from now onwards"

Everybody present knew that was the biggest lie ever uttered by a wizard, but they also knew that it would be useless to try to convince Ron of anything until Hermione went back and told them what really happened.

TO BE CONTINUED…

A/N: Ok, that sucked… I know but I warned you! I just couldn't put the rest in this chapter because it would be endless. But I have a couple of things planned for the following chapters so please don't give up on this story… I promise to do my best in the next one… Anyway, as always, THANKS to me bellowed reviewers… you are the reason I sit in front of the computer and type… I LOVE YOU GUYS!

PS: By the way, could someone tell me what it means when in the story's summaries the author puts AU, cause I don't have the faintest idea what that is!

I AM EOWYN: I hope so too, can't wait for the two of them to be together, and to read t from our dear Mrs. Rowling (I know she's married but anyway) herself, cause our fanfics will be nothing compared to that LOL.

Dancerrdw: Thank you… sorry to disappoint you though, I'll try to update faster from now on, as I have a plot to disentangle again.

One With A Constant Sugar High: Hehehe I love fluff too, but usually reserve that for one-shots… I promise there will be more fluffiness at the end of this story, its inevitable you know.

Leigh: Well, there was just a taste of Ron's jealousy… there will be more! Jealous guys can be as cute as romantic ones, although things can get out of control…. (rolls its eyes). And yes, Harry is just the cutest… I wish I had him

suckr4romance81789: Thanx as always

Emma-Lynn: Wow! Thank you so much… Well, actually Ron hasn't asked Hermione to be his girlfriend yet, what he regrets terribly now as you can imagine… so, you'll have to wait to see what happens.

Syd: Thank you, I'm happy you like my fic so much… Don't worry I won't abandon it without finishing this story :o)