This Summer is Different

By Yellownotepaper

Chapter Two

Ginny didn't wait for a reply. Her mind still had not registered Harry asking her out, and she forgot that he liked her more than she liked him. Grabbing Harry's bony wrist, she literally pulled him up every flight of stairs, practically flying. At last, they reached the aged, battered attic door. As Ginny slowly creaked it open, Harry was awed by the pure amount of stuff the Weasleys had piled inside. Late afternoon sunlight was streaming through the window, reflecting off the dust that had collected on the boxes and crates that were scattered about. Harry was captivated by all of the things that were actually his... Picking up his once-prized-possession, the Firebolt, he rubbed his fingers over the numerous cracks and stains in the wood, again reminded of how old they had all become.

"Are you gonna help me or what?" Ginny asked impatiently, pulling him out of the pit he was mentally wallowing in.

"Yeah, of course! Sorry." She giggled and started to plod through the endless mounds of papers. She finally reached a few of the crates containing their childhood belongings (Harry and Hermione had nowhere else to put their own things, so they had contributed to the Weasley's mess) and handed one to Harry. Instead of actually cleaning the attic, Harry helped her take the boxes down to Ron's room. Much easier.

"Knock, Knock!" He shouted through the door, once they had set all of the boxes in the hallway.

"Coming!" Hermione yelled back, giggling. A few seconds later, the door clicked open and Hermione greeted them, quickly buttoning up her shirt. Leaving them to drag the crates along themselves, she retreated to the bed. She and Ron began to kiss and tickle each other playfully.

"Now, now, not in front of Ginny!" Harry exclaimed sarcastically, while setting the last of the boxes on the ancient wooden floor.

"Ha ha, very funny," Ginny rolled her eyes and plopped down next to the crates. Hermione pushed Ron away and sat up.

"What's in those?" She asked curiously.

"Hey!" Ron whispered, and began tickling her again. She laughed, but pushed his hands away again.

"Ron, stop it!"

"ANYWAYS, it's all this old stuff from Hogwarts..." Hermione grabbed Ron's lanky arms and pulled him over to the cardboard boxes, kneeling over them eagerly. They started to sort it all into piles, 'oo'ing and 'aah'ing occasionally, when Ron found something of interest.

"Hermione KRUM?" He blurted, surprised.

"Oh... 4th year... definitely."

"I remember that!" Harry exclaimed.

"Oh, I don't know how I could've gone out with him," Hermione whined unhappily. Ginny laughed, remembering how completely ugly Viktor Krum had been. "But, at least I don't have it written all over instead of my lessons!"

"Oh, so I missed a few History classes."

"Thank God it wasn't Potions! Snape would've obliterated you!" Ron said seriously.

"Ron! You're such a prat sometimes!" Hermione said, smacking him on the arm.

"Ow." She rolled her eyes and kissed him lightly on the cheek.

"So, how are you coming along?" Ginny asked, breaking the silence.

"Oh... well, it's going to be a long five months..." She replied, rubbing her stomach affectionately. Ron crawled up behind her and put his arms around her neck, happily peering over her shoulder at all of the things from his childhood.

"Are you going to send it to Hogwarts?" Harry wondered.

"Of course! However, don't call the baby an it... That sounds unnatural."

"Any names picked out yet?"

"Robbie," Ron whispered softly, and nuzzled his fiancée's cheek.

"If it's a boy, Mr. Hopeful!" Hermione said incredulously. "If it's a girl... we were actually thinking Eden."

"Bet you can't wait until the big day..." Ginny ventured.

"Hermione Weasley." At the sound of her voice, Hermione's face lit up elatedly. "Oh, that's right... Ron and I wanted to talk to you two about something..." She grabbed Ron's hand for reassurance, and then continued in a casual manner.

"Ginny... would you like to be Robbie's godmother, and the maid of honor in our wedding?"

"Oh. My. God..." Ginny squealed, hardly believing her ears. "Thank you soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much!" She was ecstatic, almost knocking the wind out of Hermione with her solid hug.

"Easy does it, Ginny." Hermione said. "Careful of the baby!" She acted in an offhand manner, but Ginny could see she was positively beaming. "Harry's already agreed to be godfather!" Hermione continued, trying not to burst into happy tears. "I'm sorry...I'm just so excited!" She let out a small squeal, and Ron began to rub her back soothingly. He hadn't said anything for a while, but Harry could tell that his friend was also about ready to explode from excitement.

"I'm so happy for you guys!" Harry said, smiling genuinely. "Umm... I'm just curious. Who did you get to be the best man?" For a few moments, Ron sat stolidly and stared at Harry, taken aback.

"Harry, you didn't think I'd get someone else to be best man, did you? You've been my best friend for 17 years!" Ron cried.

"Well... you didn't say anything..." Harry replied, embarrassed.

"I'm sorry, I thought you would know!" Ron exclaimed, grinning.

During their conversation, Ginny had been busily sorting through crates and thinking about how much fun the wedding would be. As she was placing some textbooks back in one of the boxes, a small, folded up piece of paper slipped out of "Hogwarts, A History" and fell to the floor. She picked it up, ignoring the others' conversation. On the cover, "To Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, and any assorted Weasleys" was written in formal script. She slowly unfolded it, being careful not to tear the aged yellow paper any more than it already was. It read:

Dearest Hogwarts' graduate of 1985, how nice it is to "speak" to you again. I'll bet you did not know that I owned an invisibility cloak, did you? Anyhow, this letter is somewhat of a warning. I just wanted to let you know that, to at least give you a chance. After all, it is the gentlemanly thing to do.

Yours,

Ginny squinted down at the letter, confused. It seemed to just end in the middle of the paragraph... and who had sent it?

"Er... Ginny?" Hermione said. "You haven't said anything for awhile."

"Look." All four peered down at the torn, crumbling paper.

"It's probably some stupid prank," Harry said dismissively.

"Probably that bastard Malfoy..." Ron muttered, earning a dirty look from Hermione.

"What?" he said, his face blank. Hermione rolled her eyes and kissed him, cutting off the sentence he was about to say. After a few more moments of discussion, (or in Ron and Hermione's case, snogging),they shrugged it off and returned to their memories once more.

They finally drifted off to sleep hours later, when Ron and Harry were beginning to "rest their eyes" while the girls were happily chatting about how great the summer would be. Soon enough, Hermione and her future husband were snugly curled up in Ron's ancient Chudley Canons themed bed, and Harry and Ginny slept uncomfortably on the cold, wooden floor.

A:N/There you go. Another chappie. silence I have…erm…nothing to say now. Terribly sorry. Oh, and hi Nicole, Rachel, Melany, and ppl from t-girls!

Erin