Disclaimer : I own nothing that has anything to do with Harry Potter, thank you for your time - that is all.

A/N : OoH! The chapter! This one's a long one guys! So you may wanna take a quick stop off at the kitchen and grab something to eat ... and get an extra comfy chair. So you don't hurt your butt! lol Nah, it's not really THAT long, but it is long. You've gotta get through the first half of this chapter with a smile on your face cuz the second half is all shocking and twisty! Ahaha! You guys are totally gonna hate me when you get about midway down! You're gonna be like NoO! Not again! Just hurry it up would you Lyssa! And I'll be all like NoO! Ahaha I'm gonna take my sweet time! Cuz I can! -Evil laugh-

Haha no no! Don't worry! It'll all fall into place soon! So here we go! Enjoy

Four Way Connection

The Burrow - Part Two

What Date?

Hermione's PoV

'Pass the salt, please,' Harry mutters under his breath as he reaches out to take the salt shaker from Ginny's hand.

I look around me and sigh happily to myself, taking in the sight around me. Harry and Ginny are sitting on one side of the Weasley breakfast table, Harry intensely watching his pancakes as he adds a dash of salt to his eggs. Ginny is pouring syrup all over her own stack of pancakes and eggs, I have never really understood why she likes syrup on her eggs ... I personally find it gross to even look at. Next to me Ron is stuffing his face with anything he can get on his fork.

I push my scrambled eggs around on my plate as I watch my three best friends. If someone came and peered in through the window right now they would see exactly what this all looked like; four friends sitting down to breakfast early this morning. They would not, however, see what happened yesterday. The night club, the drinking, the night we spent at the Leaky Cauldron. This is the way I prefer too look at things too.

'So? Any plans for this morning?' I ask with a smile.

Everyone looks up at me, as if they had forgotten we were all sitting together for breakfast instead of just them and their plates.

'Er ... did you have anything in mind?' Harry asks me, shrugging.

'Well I think Lavender's mum is sending someone over early this morning to pick her up,' Ginny says, watching me as she lifts her fork to her mouth.

Lavender is upstairs right now packing the last of her belongings. Every so often we hear a loud cry. I suspect that's Lavender every time she realizes she could match this pink top with that pair of pink pants.

'Yeah, I think so,' Harry nods his head, agreeing with Ginny. He does that a lot now, agree with Ginny.

'I suppose after we see her out we can always do something around the Burrow. Actually,' Ginny looks around, 'I think it could so with some cleaning. Mum's always scrubbing floors and washing windows but with her gone for two days now ... it's gotten rather dirty.'

I look around me, too, and notice the finger prints on the windows and the sweaters and socks sitting on the floor, which has a trail of muddy foot prints leading from the side door to the stairs.

Ron groans, 'You want us to do some cleaning during summer? When our parents are out and we've got the whole house to ourselves?'

'Yes, actually. I think that would be a great idea, Gin! It would be so rude to leave the house a mess for your parents to come back to,' I point out.

Harry shrugs, 'Whatever.'

'Well I guess we can sort out a few things once Lavender's gone,' Ron gives in.

'Great! It'll give us something to do this morning!' I beam as I dig into my plate of pancakes.

Everyone else follows suite although I can hear Ron mumble under his breath; something about being able to think of better ways to spend the morning.

Ever since yesterday Ron's been acting normal ... well normal for him. We spent last night at the Leaky Cauldron talking and laughing like we use to. He never explained himself, though and that's what is bothering me most. If he had nothing to hide, if he was telling me the truth why hadn't he explained himself? Why hadn't he told me why he had acted the way he had?

I shake my head. I don't want to think about the what ifs and the whys. It will make me go completely crazy if I do and I think it might be best if I just leave the past two days ... well, in the past.

'Pass the salt,' Harry asks again, watching his pancakes with the most serious expression on his face, his brow furrowed.

'Harry? What are you doing?' Ginny asks, turning to face him.

'It's nothing ... these pancakes. There so good. Who made em? They taste so ... light and fluffy!' He looks up and grins widely.

Ginny laughs and smiles back, 'That would be me. I have a special way with pancakes.'

Harry and Ron had overslept this morning so Ginny and I had come down to the kitchen to cook a big breakfast for everyone. I was in charge of the eggs and toast, while Ginny made the pancakes; she said it was her specialty.

They really were very good.

'Here, Harry. Try the eggs with some syrup on top,' she says brightly. Before he can answer, though, she's already pouring the thick syrup over the eggs.

'Oh, Gin! That's gross!' I crinkle my brow.

'They're actually not too bad, Mione,' Harry informs me as he takes a forkful of his.

'Okay, let's clear this stuff away and get ready for the day!' Ginny says brightly as she throws me an "I told you so" kind of look.

We all take our plates from the table and empty them into the trash, tossing the plates into the sink afterward.

'We're gonna go help Lavender pack up, you too go shower. Call us when you're done,' Ginny calls behind her as we rush up the stairs.

'Lav? Need any help?' I ask as I push open the door to Ginny's room.

'Oh, hey. Are you guys done with breakfast?' Lavender smiles, folding up a pair of shorts and tossing them into her bag.

'Yeah, there's still some left, we saved you some pancakes if you're still hungry. They're down on the table,' Ginny sits on her bed.

'Here, just help me fold all of this.' She points to the mess of clothes next to Ginny.

The two start folding and I walk into the bathroom across the hall from her bedroom. I sigh as I look around at all of the make-up products lying by the sink and all over the counter. 'I'll get all of this,' I yell through the open door.

Form where I stand I can see into Ginny's room. 'Great! Thanks, Mione. Take this.' Lavender throws a make-up bag through the doors and I catch it.

I pick up the lipsticks and lie them flat on the counter as I look around, trying to find all of their caps.

'So?' I seem Lavender give Ginny a look, 'Mione?'

'Yeah?' I say absentmindedly as I get down on my knees to look under the cabinets for a few of the lipstick lids.

'You and Ron?' Lavender says innocently as she folds up another pair shorts.

I find two more caps and get back up, placing them on their respective tubes of lipstick. I throw all of them into the bag Lavender threw me and move on to the different blushes, closing them all and placing them in the bag after the lipsticks.

When I don't answer she sighs and continues, 'Are you too ... you know?' She raises an eyebrow mischievously.

'No, of course not,' I turn the lid of an eyeliner pen tighter and put it in the bag, 'We're friends though.' I add.

Lavender grumbles something under her breath and Ginny says something to her quietly, so only she can hear.

'Do you still like him?' Ginny's voice came.

I throw a brush, used to wipe some product onto your face, 'Nope.'

'Seriously?'

I stop to think. Do I like Ron? Do I still like him after everything he did? He's my friend, I know that much. 'No ... I really don't think I like him anymore. I mean,' I place a few more brushes into the bag, 'How can I? He lied and ... the whole Lovegood situation.' I remind them.

'Yeah but, Mione, you've liked Ron for so long! Even after all of the other completely stupid things he's done to you in the past,' Ginny points out.

'Yes, but this time he really did it, didn't he. I mean, he never even explained why he did any of that and ...' I trail off.

I shake my head and get back to the mess of make-up that only Lavender could produce. I find a mascara wand in the sink and look around, trying to find it's cap.

'You can't give up, Mione,' Lavender says in a voice that, even without looking up at her, I can tell she's got her fist in the air.

'I haven't given up, I've just grown up,' I explain as I get back down on my hands and knees to try and find the lid. 'It was just a silly little school girl crush, I'm completely over it. I've grown up.'

'No, Mione. What I felt for Harry was just a school girl crush ... but then again, look where that's ended up.' She smiles but continues, 'What you have for Ron is like ...' She tries to find the right word.

'Love?' Lavender supplies.

'Yeah!' Ginny agrees.

'I don't love Ron. We're just friends now, and that's the way I want it to be.' I jump up triumphantly, the lid in hand.

As I twist it on I smile. I really am over Ron. I only want us to be friends. After everything that happened in the past few days I realized I'm not really in love with Ron at all, I just love being his friend. I'm completely over him! I grin.

'It's really a shame, Hermione. I always wanted you as a sister-in-law,' Ginny says sadly, a small smile on her face.

I zip the make-up bag back up and walk into her room again, 'Oh, please,' I duck at the pillow she throws over to me.

'Done?' Lavender puts out a hand to take the bag. I hand it out and move to the bed.

'All set?'

'Yeah. Shall we move downstairs? My mum should be sending my cousin over any minute now,' Lavender tells us.

We all rush down the stairs, Lavender holding her make-up bag and Ginny and I struggling with her bag of clothes behind her.

The three of us collapse on the sofa in the living room in front of the fire place. 'So I'll see you all in about a week, right? At Hogwarts?' Lavender says brightly.

'Yeah,' we both mumble, huffing a bit from the walk down the stairs.

'Lav, you leaving?' Ron and Harry walk down the stairs, hair still dripping wet.

'Yeah, don't miss me too much!' Lavender laughs.

The two come to join us in the living room. Harry squishes in next to Ginny, and Ron comes to stand by my side of the sofa.

We all sit there as Harry and Ginny talk quietly to each other, feeling a little uncomfortable all the while. But then there is a honk outside the Burrow and we all rush to the window.

Lavender's cousin is sitting in a beat up old car outside the house, waving frantically at us.

'She's part Muggle,' Lavender explains as she grabs her make-up bag off of the sofa, pointing to the bag of clothes and then to Ron. 'Her poor dad got a big scare after their wedding. She didn't think it was something important enough to mention before they got married. Anyway! I'll see you all in a few days, back at Hogwarts.'

She walks out the door and motions for Ron to follow her out. He trails behind her and tosses the bag into the car, moves to the front and says something to Lavender's cousin, probably a hello, and then walks back towards us.

Lavender rolls her window down and waves us goodbye as her cousin drives out of sight.

We all flop back into the sofa. 'It'll be a lot quieter with her gone,' Ron mumbles and Ginny hits him in the head, 'Well it's true.'

'Alright, let's get to in then. We've got a ton of cleaning up to do. That bathroom as more foundation and blush on the counters then I even thought possible,' I say, standing up.

Everyone else slowly gets to their feet and Ginny says, 'Alright. How about we start off down here. The kitchen and living room need some attention. We should probably clean the windows off and get all that left over food off of the tables. Harry and I can do that.' Then she turns to Ron and I, 'How about you two pick up all of these clothes and set everything back in order,' she looks pointedly at the picture frame hanging off center on the wall in front of her.

We all nod and get to work. This might take awhile.

I grab a basket from the broom cupboard and place it in the middle of the room, 'We can stuff all of these clothes in here and then wash them later.'

We silently get to work. Ron and I move around the room, hunched over, picking up odd socks and a few left shoes, placing them all in the basket as we go. 'Why did someone take off one sock and leave it on the couch?' I wonder aloud as I throw it into the basket.

'Nope, I have the other one,' Ron smiles, lifting up a hand which holds a sock.

'Sorry!' Ginny grins from the kitchen as she wrings out a cloth, getting ready to wash the windows. 'I wanted to try on a pair of Lavender's new sandals ...'

'Right, of course. Why didn't I think of that?' I mumble to myself.

'So? How shall we spend our lovely afternoon? A nice walk around the backyard? It's pretty big. Maybe we could go explore that weird forest in the back,' Ginny rambles as she wipes away the finger prints from the window. 'We could always go swimming again, its warm today. We could just hang out inside though,' she says when she sees the look on my face at the mention of swimming.

'I say we have a nice quiet evening at home,' Harry suggests. He's clearing off the table from breakfast.

'Yeah, nice and calm,' Ron grumbles.

We all fall silent as we continue working. The living room is getting better, you can now see the floor and most of the clothes are sitting in the over filled basket in the center of the room. I move on to the pictures. I take one of the socks we removed from the floor and I begin dusting a bit, straightening pictures whenever I pass a crooked one.

A loud crash comes from the kitchen, 'Gin! Are you alright?' Ron, Harry, and I rush over to her. She was getting down from the counter she had been sitting on, cleaning the window above the sink. When she stepped down from it she tripped over a bucket that was sitting beneath her, filled with water.

Ginny is lying on the floor in a puddle of water. 'Ow,' she says as we go to pick her up.

Harry tries his best to keep his laughter in as he pulls Ginny to a sitting position but once she's up she takes the sopping wet clothe which fell out of the bucket when she upturned it and throws it at Harry.

'Gin!' he says with a look of shock.

'That'll teach you to laugh at me,' she grins evilly.

Without another word he moves over to the sink and takes the hoes from its place and turns the water on full blast, spraying Ginny and me. She shrieks and I jump. The water is cold.

'Harry!' Ginny yells, grinning madly. She moves over to the bottle of liquid soap and points it at him.

'Okay ... Gin, just put the bottle down and nobody gets hurt,' Harry says; point the hoes at Ron now.

'Oh I don't think so, Harry,' Ginny laughs and squishes the soap all over Harry, spraying yellow goo all over him.

Harry laughs and turns the water on, full blast again, giving Ron a mouth full of water.

Before I can say anything we're all in the middle of a huge water and soap fight, spraying water and yellow soap all over each other. Although I can't help myself, it's all too much fun; I grab the soap bottle from Ginny and spray it all over her.

We're all laughing and shrieking, trying to get away from whoever is after us, falling and slipping over the soap on the floor.

A little while later we all collapse on the floor of water and soap, soaking wet and laughing.

'Okay, I think it's safe to say I won.' Ginny says, giggling and wiping yellow goop away from her mouth.

'Ha! You wish, I completely won that one, sorry Gin,' Harry grins.

We all give in to the laughter which becomes contagious, making us laugh even harder.

After lying on the floor for over fifteen minutes, shivering and laughing, a tap on the window scares us all half to death. This only made us laugh more hard, at our stupidness.

'I'll get it,' Ginny says, pushing herself up, only to fall back on Harry after slipping on soap. She tries again and this time makes it all the way up and over to the window. Her brow furrows, 'An owl.' She states.

She throws open the window as we all continue laughing quietly. 'It's for you, Hermione,' she tosses the piece of parchment onto my stomach.

We all stop laughing and sit up the best we can. I open the letter up, wondering who it could be. My mum and dad probably weren't writing, I had only been her a few days, they wouldn't have already wanted to check up on me.

'Who's it from?' Ginny moves over and takes the letter from my hand as I finish reading it to myself.

'Jess,' I say, a little disbelievingly.

'The guy from the book store?' Ginny questions as she flips over the letter, eyeing it strangely.

'Yeah.'

'What does he want?' Ginny asks, reading the letter.

'That date a promised him,' I tell her, my eyebrows furrowed.

Ron scares me, I had forgotten Harry and him were here. He asks, 'What date?'