CHAPTER FOUR: A Complicated Friendship

There were only a few things in the wizarding world that terrified Harry, and during situations like the one he was in right now, Molly Weasley was one of them. He was in as much trouble as Ron, but because Ron was her son he was bearing the brunt of her temper. For the last ten minutes, they had been standing in the dining room area of Grimmauld Place listening to Mrs. Weasley lecture them about the stupidity of their actions.

"I thought that maybe you, Ronald Weasley had more sense then what you showed today," Mrs. Weasley was shouting at her son. "Alastor had the Aurors put in place for your protection and Harry's. It was beyond foolish for all of you to go sneaking off like you did. I'm going to have a talk with him, since the Aurors can't even seem to keep track of three teenagers. It's a wonder they're still able to keep all those prisoners in Azkaban."

Harry and Ron exchanged quick looks while Mrs. Weasley was distracted. If Ron's mum ever knew the truth, not only would their lives be over but so would Fred and George's.

Mrs. Weasley continued to shake her head in frustration. "And then running into that house like you did. What were you thinking? You didn't know what kind of dangers could have been in there."

"It's not Ron or Harry's fault, Mrs. Weasley. They were only following after me," Hermione spoke up in her friend's defense. She had been extremely quiet since returning to the house.

Mrs. Weasley's features softened considerably. "Hermione dear, I don't blame you. You reacted the way any of us would have. I'm just glad that you're all safe."

Upon entering the Granger home they had found Hermione's parents lying face down in the kitchen. They weren't dead, just unconscious. They had been hit with a stunning spell at close range. By the time the St. Mungo's medics had arrived, Harry and Ron had thoroughly searched the entire house and found no one, not even any evidence to suggest there had been an intruder, with the exception of the word 'Mudblood' painted across the outside of the front door. There were ways to use magic to detect if anyone else had entered the home recently, but that was beyond their capabilities. That would be a job for the Magical Law Enforcement Squad.

The Granger's had been revived upon reaching St. Mungo's and all the magical ailment tests performed showed that they had indeed just been stunned and that there shouldn't be any lasting effects. They were still being kept overnight to be on the safe side. The only thing they could remember about the intruders was they wore long dark robes and masks that hid their faces. Death Eaters had been in their home. That knowledge alone sickened Hermione almost as much as what had been done to her parents. She would never be able to think about her home again without picturing Death Eaters surrounding her defenseless parents in the kitchen and then cursing them for no other reason then because of who she was.

"It's late. Why don't you go upstairs and try to get some rest?" Mrs. Weasley was saying to Hermione. "I promise if Arthur calls with any news I'll wake you."

Hermione didn't look like she would be able to sleep, but she muttered a quiet goodnight to everyone before trudging up the stairs to her room.

Ron tried to follow after her, but his mother stopped him. "I think you boys should leave her alone for tonight. She's been through a horrible ordeal and should really get some rest. You can talk to her all you want in the morning."

After that she let them go, but not without giving Ron a look that said she wasn't through with him. In the morning he had a feeling he would be facing some pretty hefty punishment.

When he and Harry reached the second landing he was tempted to ignore his mother's request and knock on Hermione's door. He stopped himself when he saw there was no light coming from beneath her door. He didn't think she would be asleep, but she probably wasn't up for talking to anyone, so he followed Harry into his own room next to hers.

When he walked in, Harry was sitting on his cot against the wall, with his elbows on his knees, running his fingers through his hair.

Ron sat down on his own bed across from him. "You okay?"

Harry gave a short bitter laugh before straightening and facing him. "I'm great, except for the fact that I almost got Hermione's parents killed today."

Ron had known this was coming. "No one blames you. This wasn't your fault."

"I really wish everyone would stop saying that and let me take responsibility for once."

"Do you really want to be blamed for everything that goes wrong?" Ron asked him.

"I want to be held accountable for the things that are my fault," he said to him. "And what happened today never would have happened if Hermione wasn't connected to me."

Ron let out a snort. "Yeah, I'm sure that argument will hold up real well with her."

"You don't get it," said Harry frustrated. "Today was just a warning. Why else would they have left them alive when they could have just as easily killed them. Next time…"

"There won't be a next time, all right? The Order's already looking into locating them somewhere safe."

"It might not be enough."

"Would you stop talking like that?" Ron yelled at him, rapidly losing his temper. He stabbed an angry finger at the wall. "Hermione's right beside us and can probably hear every word your saying. She doesn't need to listen to this shit." He realized that by raising his voice she could probably hear him as well. "You've got to stop this whole guilt trip thing you're doing to yourself. Look at what it's doing to you. You're turning into this person I don't even know, and I'm not even sure I want to. I know you've been through hell," he said, letting his voice drop, "and I can't even begin to understand what you're going through by losing Sirius, but I'm your best friend and so is Hermione, so if you want to talk we'll listen."

"Thanks, but I don't really need to talk about Sirius," said Harry, stiffly.

"I think you do. Maybe you'd feel a whole lot better if you did, instead of pretending that it didn't happen."

"Maybe you should mind your own damn business," Harry snapped. Without another word he flopped down on his bed still dressed and turned on his side so his back was to Ron.

Ron threw himself down on his own bed in a similar fashion. He seemed to understand Harry less and less these days. He couldn't even begin to fathom what Harry was dealing with, not just with his godfather but with everything else going on. He just wished his friend stop being stubborn for two seconds and realize that he didn't have to go through any of it alone.

In the morning, Ron discovered just how right he was about his punishment. His mother had woken him and Harry up at exactly eight o'clock. Hermione was already gone by then. She and Tonks had left at the same time as his father, so they could arrive at St. Mungo's right at the start of visiting hours. Ron wished he could have gone with her – and it wasn't just so he could escape punishment.

His mother had wanted them to do some late spring cleaning to Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, which it really didn't need because he knew she had just given it a thorough tidying up two weeks earlier. She still found odd jobs for them to regardless, and being unable to use magic, made it twice as hard and twice as long. They spent the morning cleaning out the attic, which looked like it hadn't been touched since before Dumbledore was born. By having his sleep interrupted Ron was jus as grumpy as Harry. So to avoid snapping each other's heads off before the day was through, they only spoke when it was necessary.

By late afternoon, he was thoroughly exhausted, but he and Harry still had about half the furniture in the living room to move around. His mother had thought it would brighten up the room by changing the scenery. Of course that had nothing to do with it. She was just running out of chores to give them.

The front door opened around four, but Ron paid no attention to it as people came and went regularly at Phoenix headquarters. When he heard his mother's voice and another female's conversing, he quickly recognized it as Hermione's. By the time he poked his head around the corner, she was already taking the stairs up.

His mother saw him and asked, "all finished, Ron?"

"Almost," he lied and went back to helping Harry.

Another thirty minutes and they were finally done. Mrs. Weasley came to see how they faired, giving the room a thorough inspection before it got her approval.

"I still don't understand why Ginny couldn't give us a hand," Ron complained.

"She wasn't the one who broke all the rules we had in place for the summer," Mrs. Weasley was quick to remind him.

"Right, she just stays up in her room writing letters to that boyfriend of hers," he said in mild disgust.

"That Dean Thomas sounds like a nice boy. And he's a friend of yours, isn't he? I would have thought you'd be a little more happy that your sister was with someone you trust."

Ron rolled his eyes. "Are we done here?" It was going to take until dinnertime if she kept inspecting every inch of the room as she was currently doing.

After a moment's consideration, she turned to the both of them. "Yes, it looks fine," she told them. "Thank you for all your hard work today."

They trudged upstairs, sweaty and dirty, Ron agreeing to let Harry shower first because he wanted to check in on Hermione. He knocked on her door and after an extended pause, a voice said come in. He opened the door and found her scribbling furiously on a piece of parchment. She stopped when she saw him standing there.

"How are your parents?"

"They're fine," she replied. "The doctors want to keep them overnight again just as a precaution."

She tried to look happy, but he saw through it. "How are you doing?"

"Me? I'm fine, I just have a lot of work to get through in the next few days." She gestured to the open books on the desk in front of her.

Homework was the last thing that should be on her mind. "Why don't you take a break? The world's not going to end if you don't finish it all tonight."

"I can't. I don't know how long I'll be at St. Mungo's tomorrow." It was a lie. She would be at the wizarding hospital for a few hours at most. After that her parents were being taken to a safe house somewhere that only a handful of people knew about. She wasn't even allowed to know the location.

"What's really bothering you?" He asked perceptively.

She was tempted to yell at him that it was none of his business, but she didn't want to pick a fight with him. He was waiting patiently for her to speak, and she knew he wasn't going to leave until she confessed what was eating away at her. "They were attacked because I'm their daughter."

"Hermione, you can't really believe that," he said in response to that accusation on herself.

"It's the truth," she stated, unwaveringly. "And if I hadn't wasted time scolding you for wanting to sneak away from the Aurors, maybe we could have gotten there in time."

This was insane. She was beginning to sound as guilt-ridden as Harry. He wasn't going to make it through the year if they both kept this up. "You don't know that. Dad told me the head investigator said they could have been like that for hours." He refrained from saying that if they had gotten there earlier the situation could have ended up a lot worse.

"But they don't know that for sure," she insisted.

"You're going to drive yourself crazy doing this."

She surprised him then by getting up and shutting the door to her room. What she was about to tell him, she didn't want anybody else to overhear. She sat down on her bed and folded her hands in her lap. "At the start of the summer your dad arranged it so I could meet with my parents for a few hours. I thought it was just so that I could be allowed to see them, but it was because they wanted to pull me out of Hogwarts." Ron did a sharp intake of breath but he remained silent so she could continue. "They knew everything that had happened during the school year. They may not have understood it all but the way they saw it was I would be in a lot of danger when I returned to Hogwarts in September."

Ron started pacing. He couldn't believe she hadn't mentioned anything before now. Maybe they could have done something, but with the new school year so close it might be too late. "So they pulled you out, just like that? How could you not say anything?"

"Ron, please let me finish," she said patiently. "They wanted to pull me out but they didn't because Dumbledore managed to talk them out of it. He assured them of my safety, but after what they've been through they may end up changing their minds."

Ron seated himself on the bed beside her, still in shock from her revelation. "But they didn't say anything about it when you visited them, right?"

"No."

"So then there's nothing to get worked up about. We'll start school in a few days and everything will be fine," he said as if that settled the matter.

"Everything's not fine, Ron," she said, staring down at her hands. "I should have been there to protect them. I should have said something to Dumbledore or your dad that they would be safer somewhere else."

"Hermione – "

"And don't tell me not to blame myself," she said, looking up at him, her eyes full of tears. "Because you don't know what's it like to walk into your own home and find your parents facedown and spend that split second thinking they're dead." The words flew out of her mouth before she could stop herself. She knew very well Ron had experienced a similar thing a few months back when Harry had that vision of his father. For a short time they hadn't known if he was dead or alive. "Ron, I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking."

He didn't look angry at all. "It's okay. I know I've said a lot more stupid things then that to you over the years," he said smiling slightly. She was wiping at her eyes and he knew he should probably do something to comfort her. He had always felt awkward around girls when they got emotional and never knew what he was supposed to say, and when he did say something it usually came out sounding all wrong. Not sure what else to do, he put his arm around her. She responded by moving closer and resting her head on his shoulder. It was the strangest sensation for Ron. For something he thought would be totally weird and awkward, having his arm around Hermione like that felt like the most natural thing in the world. He caught himself thinking about yesterday at the river and mentally kicked himself for it. He shouldn't even be thinking that right now, except he couldn't help it. He had wanted to kiss her for ages and he had blown his one chance to do so because he lost his nerve at the last second. He could face down Death Eaters in the Ministry of Magic but he couldn't even kiss the girl who knew him better than he knew himself.

Hermione felt his change in posture and removed her head from his shoulder. "What is it?" She could swear he was blushing.

"Maybe you should lie down for a bit before dinner," he said quickly. "You probably didn't sleep much last night."

"No, not really."

He stood up. "Well, I'll go now and I'll see you at dinner."

"You don't have to go."

His eyes widened for a split second while the implication of what she said sunk in. She looked just as stunned as him, and she didn't know what had come over her to even suggest that. She knew she must have been blushing horribly. Luckily her face was still red from crying so it didn't show.

She wasn't really aware of what was happening until it was too late to change any of it. Ron was lying on his back on top of the comforter beside her, and she on her side facing the direction away from him. She found herself hoping he would crack a joke or make some sarcastic remark that was so characteristic of him, anything that would ease the awkwardness she was feeling at having Ron lying on the same bed as her. But he was quiet, and the only sounds coming from him were his breathing. She closed her eyes realizing that of her own doing she had managed to make things between them a lot more complicated.

When Hermione awoke sometime later, something felt different then when she had first fallen asleep. It did not take her long to figure out what it was. When she looked down she saw Ron's arm draped around her waist. He must have fallen asleep too, at least that was the explanation she was sticking to for how has hand ended up where it was. She felt his breath on her neck every time he breathed. She closed her eyes. She was trying to think about why she shouldn't have let this happen, but it didn't take long for her mind to get sidetracked and think she was glad it had. She tried pushing those thoughts out of her head because no good could come from them, but it was hard when she was lying next to him as close as she was. It was all just really confusing everything that had happened in the last few days and the whole summer for that matter. It was not the first time she had come to the realization that things were changing between them. When she allowed herself, even for the briefest of seconds, to actually consider the possibility of what was happening it managed to both exhilarate and frighten her at the same time.

"Hermione, mum says dinner's ready," Ginny's voice sounded from outside her door.

Hermione felt her heart rate quicken. It wasn't as if they had been doing anything wrong, but the last thing she wanted was for Ginny to see them in their current positions. Yet as quickly as she tried untangling herself from Ron, it wasn't fast enough.

Ginny knocked and then slowly opened the door. "If you don't want to come down, I could bring something – whoa! Oh my god!"

Ron was fully awake then and he and Hermione scrambled to sit up.

"Haven't you heard of knocking?" Ron growled at her.

"I did knock," she said innocently.

"Did you think to wait for a response before barging in?"

"I can't believe this." She had to cover her mouth with her hand to keep from laughing.

"Ginny, get out!" Ron roared at her, jumping to his feet.

Hermione moved faster then him, making it to his sister before he could throw her out. "What you walked in on – what you saw – it's nothing. We both fell asleep," she tried to explain.

"I could see that," she said, grinning at the two of them.

Ron's eyes blazed. "Ginny, I swear – "

"Please don't say anything," Hermione cut him off. Ron yelling at her was not going to make the situation any better. She was going to have to do the best job at damage control that she could. "It's not what it looked like. We really did just fall asleep and we weren't like that when we started off." She gave the younger girl a pleading look.

Ginny sighed. "All right, fine, I'll keep my mouth shut – for you." She shot Ron a dirty look, which he returned.

"Thank you," Hermione said, and she meant it. If this got out there would be too many embarrassing questions.

Ginny left her room and Hermione was thinking that it would be a good idea for her and Ron to do the same.

"I don't know how you're so calm about this. She knows better then to just walk in like that," he was trying to sound angry but he was just as embarrassed as she was.

"We should probably go down. Your mum's going to start wondering where we are." She was having trouble looking at him. All she could think about was Ginny walking in on them.

They walked down together and found the only two seats left at the table were side by side. Ron shot his sister a menacing glare, but she just grinned behind her napkin, finding the whole situation rather hilarious. Hermione was glad someone did because that was the longest dinner she ever had to sit through. She and Ron kept bumping arms and knocking things over, that even Harry started giving them strange looks. Ginny just sat back, thoroughly enjoying the scene unfolding in front of her.

Much later in the evening Hermione went looking for Harry. The last place she expected to find him was where he actually happened to be. He was in Buckbeack's room, sitting against the wall and tossing dead rats from a bag to the hippogriff. He stopped when he saw her and Buckbeak turned as well to see what had made his supply of food stop.

"Ron said you're parents are being released tomorrow," he said, while Buckbeack went over to her so she could pet him.

She was starting to feel like some foolish schoolgirl who would lose her head every time Ron's name was mentioned. That definitely was not a good sign. If this kept up, she would be giggling and gossiping with Lavender and Parvati in no time.

"I'm going to visit them tomorrow before they leave." She could not bring herself to sent away. It seemed too cruel of a thing to say, even when it was exactly what was happening. "You could come with me."

He ran a hand through his unruly hair. "That's all right. I think I'll just stay here in case Mrs. Weasley thinks up any other chores for Ron and me to do."

"Harry, I don't hold you responsible for what happened," she said, unwilling to tip toe around what was obviously weighing heavily on his mind. "And as soon as you stop blaming yourself, I'll stop blaming myself."

He felt stupid for not considering that she felt responsible for the attack on her parents. He had been too absorbed in his own guilt to notice. Some best friend he was.

"Harry?" She was staring at him, still waiting for his answer.

He slowly nodded his head, giving her the response she was looking for so she would leave him alone.

She smiled brightly in return. "I'm sorry you and Ron got stuck doing all that work today. I should have been here to help."

"Don't worry about it," he said dismissively, and started throwing rats for Buckbeack again. "I'm sure there was nothing more Ron wanted than to be dragged out of bed early three days before summer vacation is over."

Hermione giggled, a rare sight indeed. The tension was gone and the air was finally cleared between them. She hated fighting with Harry because a lot of the times it was much more serious then anything she fought with Ron about.

"I think I'm going to turn in," she said to him. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Harry's voice called to her when she was almost back out in the hall. "If you still want me to come along with you tomorrow, I will."

"Of course I do," she told him, giving him a reassuring smile before leaving. She walked down the hall and was almost to her room when she ran into the person she had been avoiding since dinner.

"You going to bed?" Ron said, his gaze not quite meeting hers.

She nodded. "I think I might read a bit first."

It was his turn to nod.

"I asked Harry to come with me tomorrow," she said before any impending awkward silence could set in. "I think it would be good for him, so that he can really see my parents are okay. You should come too," she suggested.

"Just go with Harry. I'll stay here and do homework."

She knew he was completely unserious about the last part. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

Not really sure what else to say, she said goodnight and turned to enter her room.

"Ginny's not going to say anything, is she?"

He looked rather worried, so she eased his fears. "No, I don't think so."

"Even if she did, it didn't mean anything."

"No, of course it didn't," she said in mutual agreement. She said goodnight again and walked in her room, thinking how relieved she was that they had both decided falling asleep together had meant nothing. In the back of her mind, however, even though they had both said it was nothing, it was most definitely something – at least to her.