Anywhere but in Between

I only own the plot. Thank you again to all the reviewers and their fabulous words of encouragement. I really can't tell you what they mean to me. Please, please, please, keep them coming! I really like this chapter, so I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed having Fred and George make an appearance.

Chapter 9 – Face the Music

Hermione was in a right state. She had been ever since Terry had walked into the bookstore. When he had told her about running into Ron outside, she had started visibly shaking to the point where Terry had expressed his concern.

This isn't how she had wanted things to go. She had been planning on telling Ron about Terry later, after their visit to the twins and a stop at the Burrow. She figured that after a day with his family, he might me more accepting of the concept.

He'd been over-protective and irrational for years when it came to her, and in all honesty, it had been really nice to know that someone cared about her so much that no one was good enough for her in his eyes. Of course, she couldn't tell him that. Usually she criticized him for his barbaric attitude and irrational comments, but it was all a façade.

In all honesty, it made her heart flutter crazily every time he so much as scowled at another guy where she was concerned.

She pushed through the door of Fred and George's shop, only taking a small moment to appreciate the number of customers they were entertaining at the time. Her focus was centered completely around one thing.

She needed to find Ron and explain why she had lied to him.

She knew that was what was making her so nervous. In all the years they had known each other, they had been oddly honest with each other. They almost had to be, since they had so much to deal with regarding keeping Harry safe and happy. She knew that her lie this morning would be viewed as a betrayal on her part, and the last thing she ever wanted him to think was that she'd betray him.

Her eyes caught a flash of red, and she ducked around a small child holding a fake wand up to his mother. Once clear, she saw Ron leaning against the register counter, talking to George.

Rather, George was talking, and Ron was standing there, his arms folded across his chest, looking petulant and disregarding.

George saw her first. He stopped, mid-sentence, and he grinned widely.

"Hey there, pretty lady. I heard you're sneaking around on my brother," he said playfully, earning him a withering glare from Ron.

"Sod off, George," Ron growled, not meeting her eyes or even acknowledging her presence.

Hermione, all too used to the twins' incessant teasing about her and Ron's relationship, didn't rise to the bait.

"Ron, can I talk to you?" she asked hesitantly. Ron kept his face trained away from hers, and George raised his eyebrows.

"Ooohhh, is this going to be one of your delicious yelling matches? I haven't seen one of these in years!" he exclaimed. "Fred, get over here! You're going to miss all the fun!"

Hermione sighed. "It will be no such thing, George, and I'll thank you to stay out of our affairs."

"So you admit it?" George asked, grinning devilishly. "You're having an affair?"

"Honestly, George," Hermione started.

Ron finally turned to face her. "No, I think you have that backwards," he said coldly. "Honestly, Hermione."

Hermione met his eyes, and she could see how much she had insulted him by lying to him this morning. She felt awful, and she didn't know if she could explain to him why she had done it. "Ron, I'm sorry I lied to you. I just didn't know how to tell you about Terry without it turning into a big thing."

"So it was better to lie straight to my face and then have me find out on the street, looking like a world class fool because I didn't know what the bloody hell he was going on about?" Ron spat, the anger in his face mirrored in his tone.

"How was I supposed to know that he'd be here today?" Hermione asked desperately, throwing her hands up. "I was going to tell you about him later on tonight, after we got back from your parents' house."

"Why wait? Why didn't you tell me about him when you were first asked out?" Ron argued, drawing the attention of a young girl the next aisle over. "Isn't that what best friends do?"

Hermione started to feel the old frustrations coming to the surface. She had gone through this once or twice at school and had never figured out quite how to deal with it.

She stared straight at him. "I didn't tell you for this exact reason. I didn't want you to get all –"she trailed off, searching for the right word.

"Jealous?"

Hermione whipped her head around to glare at George, who was leaning toward them on his elbows, watching the two of them with glee.

"Shove off George," she growled, shooting daggers at him with her eyes. This only caused George to grin even wider.

"Sorry, sweetheart. My shop and all," he said cheekily.

Hermione scowled deeply, feeling her blood rushing to the surface. Fighting one Weasley was strenuous enough. She couldn't take on two of them right now.

"You always get so protective, and although I appreciate your concern, I'm a grown up, and I can make my own decisions regarding my life," she said, refocusing the full extent of her attention back onto Ron. He was still glaring at her, and his arms were folded over his chest.

"What?" she asked exasperatedly.

"Did he ask you out again?" he asked coldly, "because next time he'll definitely bring you orchids. You know, seeing as how they're your favorite."

Hermione glared back at him. "What is it with you? Do you want me to be alone and unhappy for the rest of my life?"

"You never felt alone or unhappy before," he said quickly. "What's changed?"

"I don't know!" bellowed Hermione, drawing stares from the small group of customers at the rear of the store. "I just want something more than what I have now, that's all! I don't want to go straight from one year to another and experience the same things over and over. I've never dated anyone before, and if you want honesty, Ron, then I'll give you honesty! I had fun, and besides hanging out with you, that is something that has been severely lacking in my life recently!"

Ron rocked back a bit on his heels, as if she had physically slapped him. Just when Hermione was sure he'd come back at her louder and angrier than she'd gone at him, she saw an oddly accepting look come into his eyes.

"Fine," he said flatly.

Hermione stared at him for a moment, not quite sure she had heard him correctly.

"What?" she asked, her eyebrows raised in surprise.

"What?!" George echoed incredulously. Hermione and Ron both turned to face him, and he looked utterly amazed. "You mean, you're just going to let her – "

"I'm not going to let her do anything," Ron interrupted in a quiet voice. "She's right. She's allowed to live her own life, and if she wants to date Terry, then she dates Terry."

George gaped at his younger brother, then stalked off, muttering incoherently under his breath.

Hermione and Ron were left alone for the first time since their argument had begun, and Hermione had even less of an idea of what to say now than she did when it started.

Ron was considering her carefully, all of the anger now gone out of his eyes. "Hermione, I'm sorry that you felt that you had to lie to me, but I think I understand why you did. I didn't realize that my protectiveness bothered you so much, and the last thing I want is for you to be unhappy because you think I'll be mad at you for going after what you want."

Hermione's whole body seized up, and she suddenly felt like she was about to burst into tears. Ron had always had this way of making her feel such a varying spectrum of emotions all at once that she didn't know whether she was coming or going. For him to even think that she would ever feel that way about him made her heart ache, and she rushed to refute the claim.

"I know that you want me to be happy, Ron. Your protectiveness is just your way of letting me know that you're keeping an eye out for me, and I appreciate it more than you'll ever know," she said quietly. "I promise I'll never lie to you like I did today. It was wrong of me, and I'm sorry."

Ron gave her a small smile, although she noted that it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Just as long as you know that if Terry even looks at you the wrong way, you'll see protective like you've never seen it before."

Hermione smiled in return. "I wouldn't expect any less."

She stepped toward him and put her arms around his neck for a quick hug. "Thank you," she said when she was close to his ear.

"Your welcome," he answered. She realized that he wasn't exactly hugging her back, his arms loose around her waist, but she decided to take what she could get while she could. He had forgiven her, and was actually looking at the situation maturely and fairly. She smiled, thinking that it was a very strange thing indeed, when one's best friend decides to grow up.

"KISS HER!"

Hermione and Ron separated and looked over at the front of the store, where Fred was standing on a ladder, watching the two of them with an amused expression on his face. A moment later George approached him, spoke to him with a disapproving look on his face, and marched away.

Fred looked appalled, and glared at Ron from his perch on the ladder.

"You stupid git," he yelled, causing several of his patrons to glance at each other, wondering if every Saturday at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes was as eventful as this one.

Ginny read and reread the letter Hermione had sent to her and shook her head as her eyes slid over the words. She couldn't get over the fact that her friend was actually dating someone.

Not that she thought that Hermione dating was so far-fetched. She had always wondered at the boys' intelligence at Hogwarts, because Hermione had been pretty, smart, talented, funny and kind all through school, and none of them had ever approached her.

Then again, her best friends had been Harry and Ron.

Ginny smiled, thinking of Harry's reaction to the over-attentive waiter the other night at dinner, and wondering what he would think when he found out.

She could just imagine what her brother had to say about the subject.

She laughed to herself, glad at least to be away from home for this turn of events. She had been through enough of Ron's dark moods when Hermione and Viktor Krum had carried on a friendship when they'd been in school. She didn't think she could handle any more mornings of Ron sitting moodily at the breakfast table and snapping at anyone who asked him what was wrong.

Truth be told, she'd always kind of assumed that Hermione would get wise to her brother and the two of them would live happily – well - live something ever after.

She shared her thoughts with Harry when they met for lunch.

"Wait, who did she say she was seeing?" Harry asked, his brow furrowed.

"Terry Boot. Come to think of it, it makes perfect sense," Ginny commented. "They are so alike, and from what I remember, he was nice-looking. Add to that the whole doctor thing –"

"But what about Ron?" Harry asked, and Ginny's eyes met his in shared understanding.

She smiled. "My thoughts exactly."

"Hmm." Harry got a faraway look for a moment, before he shrugged. "Well, I guess they'll figure things out eventually. Maybe this is good. Kind of give Ron something to think about."

Ginny laughed, and Harry's eyes focused on her once again.

"What?" he asked, still not used to the overall sense of well-being he got whenever she laughed like she was now.

"Nothing. It's just funny to think that even you could see what was going on. You used to be so clueless," she said, still giggling.

Harry didn't know whether to be amused or insulted. He didn't think he was that thick.

"Not when it came to singing Valentine's cards," he said levelly, enjoying the slight and brief flush it brought to her cheeks. The next instant, however, it was gone.

"Please," she said, waving her hand. "I was eleven and you were a bloody celebrity."

"Oh," he said, trying to stay with the teasing tone of the mood, but finding that it bothered him, very slightly, that she had been able to brush aside her childhood crush so easily.

A thoughtful smile replaced her giggles, and then she met his eyes. "You know, this would probably be a good time to start writing to Ron again. I mean, he's going to need someone to be in denial with, and you have all those years of experience with it already."

Harry hadn't thought about that. Ron had never really come out and talked to him about everything concerning Hermione and the complicated feelings he had for her, but he told Harry enough in the way he acted and the snide comments he let drop from time to time. He was sure that if he wrote Ron right now, the response letter would be filled with news of Hermione, but in random, sporadic scrawlings of the many ways in which she infuriated him.

All of a sudden, he missed his best mate very much.

He blamed it solely on Ginny, who was now watching him carefully. Ever since he'd been spending more and more time with her, thoughts of home and his friends infiltrated almost every one of his waking thoughts. He found himself wondering if he really could go home and have everything be alright.

"Okay," he said.

"Okay, what?" asked Ginny, looking confused. Harry breathed in and came to terms with his decision. He was ready to go home, at least for a good, long visit.

"Okay, I'll go to Bill and Fleur's wedding with you."

The words circled in the air around them, neither of them saying anything right away. He saw the smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, but to her credit, she did not turn it into anything else.

Instead, her eyes lit up and the most incredibly peaceful look came over her face.

"Okay," she said, her voice clear and strong.

Harry smiled at her, which she returned gladly, and Harry knew that he had made the right decision.

Now all he had to do was find the courage he'd need to go home. He had explaining to do to everyone he'd left, and he had questions that he would need to find answers for. He'd have to dredge up some of what had happened to make him go away, and he'd have to be ready for however they would welcome him back.

Ginny turned her attention to the menu sitting across her plate, but her hand reached out to cover his for the briefest of moments.

Suddenly, Harry was ready for it. He was ready to go home.

Please read and review. I really enjoy hearing what you guys have to say. Also, please let me know if there is anything I should change, or add, or whatever, to get this going. I am thinking that the next chapter will skip ahead a bit. I'm anxious for Harry to get home...