Hello everybody.
Sorry for the long long wait. We've been really busy.We apologiseif it's a bit short - but we're sure you'll agree it's a great little chappie nonetheless. Enjoy! And don't forget to review!

SPOILER -this may contain spoilers for half blood prince so read at your own risk

We'll in the time it took us to post this up, the new HP book came out. Of course both of us have already read it lol. What we wanted to know is,what would you prefer us to do? Acknowledge the fact Ron and Lavender went out for a while? And Harry and Ginny? Do u want us to make itas though it never happened, or that they're currently still broken up and perhaps may get together again in this fic? We will however,not beincluding the storyline with who died, and Hogwarts perhaps closing, because as u can imagine that would really screw this story up lol.

Chapter 8

Ron left the hospital wing later that morning, wondering vaguely where Hermione was. He was sure that wherever she was, she would be avoiding him. Ron sighed as he walked along the corridors, lost in thought. Having Hermione turn up at the Quidditch match had distracted him so much,that he hadgotten injured. All he could think about was what had happenedbetween them, and it made his head hurt pondering over it.

'She was...she was...dreaming about me,' he thought, blushing. He stuck his hands in his pockets and strode on, frowning. 'Why, though? She doesn't - she can't - like me, can she?' He stopped walking and leant against the wall, stressed and confused. 'I shouldn't be feeling like this. I should not be having feelings for her,' he thought. His eyes widened. Wait a minute - was he actually admitting that he had feelings for her?

"No," he thought uncertainly. Deep down, he knew otherwise, and it was quickly becoming hard to deny.

''But I can't be,' he thought. 'I just can't. Besides, as if Hermione would ever - feel that way - about me.' He sucked in his breath at the possibility. Hermione have feelings for him? Could she? Ron wondered. That dream was just that. A dream. Right? But first their almost - kiss, now this...Ron absentmindedly touched his lips as he thought about it. But the more he wrestled with the idea, the more confused he became, until he finally decided that the only way to know for sure was to talk to her about it. He bit his lip in anxiety. Should he?

Worried and apprehensive, he nervously resolved to find Hermione at lunch and talk to her about it.

Finding Hermione, however, proved more difficult than Ron had imagined. For one thing, Ron was incredibly nervous and none too keen on the confrontation, and for another, Hermione was avoiding him like the plague. She was at lunch however; no sooner had Ron sat down next to herthan she leapt up out of her seat and strode away, mumbling something about going up to the Owlery. Harry raised an eyebrow at Ron, who gave him his best 'Don't go there' look, before getting up himself and going to find her.

He saw her as he passed the library - she was standing against the wall, looking at nothing. Drawing a breath, he took the opportunity to come up next to her. His heart was pounding in his ears as he said, without looking at her, "Um - hi, Hermione."

Hermione almost jumped out of her skin. She blushed wildly and mumbled a barely audible "Hi" back. She started to walk away, desperate to be away from him, but Ron, anxious as he was, was determined. He cleared his throat.

"Hermione," he said carefully. "Um - I really need to talk to you." He could feel himself blushing.Hermione had stopped walking and was standing stiffly in front of him, fiddling with her bag strap, not looking at him.

"Right," was all she said. Ron wished she would look at him.

"Um, do you wanna, um, come for a - for a walk?" He stumbled awkwardly over the question and waited for her reply.

"I - I - ok." she said, looking at him, finally, and blushing.

They walked into the library in silence Hermione nervously glancing at him, Ron with his hands in his pockets, nervously wondering what to say. They stopped near the back and stood behind the shelf of weighty books, the silence in the room getting to them both. Hermione was the first to speak.

"You said you had to talk to me," she said quietly.

"Uh, yeah, right, okay," Ron replied. "Um..." he clenched his fist in embarrassment, wondering how best to phrase what he wanted to say, and decided on the direct approach. All this awkwardness was driving him nuts. He looked her straight in the eye, trying not to blush, and said,

"Look, Hermione, I want to talk to you about - about the dream thing." Hermione blanched. Ron saw this but continued, "I need to know...I need to know what it meant. I mean..." he trailed off, his face a brilliant red. Hermione flushed too and stuttered, "Ron, it was - it was - just - I, I didnt mean it, I - it was just a dream," she said lamely. She met his eye and blushed again, wishing fervently that he would look away. Ron asked her in a low voice, "So, it didn't - well, mean anything?"

Hermione answered haltingly, "No. N - no..." wondering uncomfortably whether that was the truth. She had never lied to Ron before. Then again, she had never dreamt about him before now, either.

Ron couldn't suppress a faint twinge of disappointment he felt on hearing that it meant nothing. "It shouldn't matter to me," he thought. "It's good that it meant nothing to her.'Wasn't it?'. His inner consciousness was not convinced. However, he concealed his feelings behind a mask of casual indifference. "Er - ok then," he said. "Glad that's settled."

The two stood there for a bit in silence, avoiding each other's gaze. Ron finally stirred up the courage to ask, "Um, Hermione, about the um, the um, when we, er, you know - " but he didn't get to finish his sentence.

"Nothing happened," Hermione said quickly, before pushing past him and almost running out of the library, glad that Ron could not see her now beet - red face.

Ron scruffed at the ground with his toe. "Nothing happened," he echoed, frowning. In the face of the evidence, however, he was more than inclined to think that something had.

As the feast was fast approaching the Gryffindor tower was soon buzzing with excitement. The question on many of the students minds was what to wear, and Harry almost fell over laughing at the sight of two second year girls screaming in anticipation over a Madam Malkin's catalogue. That wasn't to say that he, Hermione and Ron weren't excited themselves. Hermione in particular was at a loss for what to go as.

"It's hard," she protested when Harry laughed at her. "At this rate I may as well just come as a rock, at least it'll be easy."

"Take it easy, Hermione, we've got ages," Harry replied, flicking a piece of paper at the wall.

"Well, what are you going as?" Hermione asked tersely.

"A pirate... or some sort of swordsman, maybe,"Harry replied, uncertain.

"See? It's easy for you," Hermione said. Harry raised an eyebrow.

"It's really not that hard," he said. Slyly, he leant in and said, "Trying to impress anybody?"

Upon hearing this, Ron spun around and fixed her with a outraged face. "What, who are you trying to impress!" Harry, watching Ron's reaction, thought to himself, 'Who is he trying to kid, it's bloody obvious he's jealous.' Harry just shook his head at Ron's and Hermione's 'friendship'. He hadtried time and time again to get them to admit their feelings. The way they reacted to things would have been obvious to anyone else about their feelings for one another, particularly when they got in their jealous fits, however those two were just blind to one another's feelings.

"What? No, of course! It's just, it's hard finding something good to wear! What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing, nothing..." Harry replied. Hermione glared. She knew perfectly well what he was trying to do, but it wasn't going to work. She wasn't going to 'fess up to something that wasn't true.

"You always have to work me up" she said angrily. She strode out taking her pile of Magical Crime and Punishment homework with her. Picking up his quill, he muttered to himself,

"No, you just always take the bait."

Even Ron, still reeling somewhat from his last encounter with Hermione, was not impervious to the excitement that pervaded the castle. He spent several hours contemplating his costume, and once almost had to go to the hospital wing when he forgot how to reverse a balding spell. After that incident, he decided firmly that goblin was not the look for him.

Hermione may have not told Harry that she wasn't out to impress anyone, but for the first time when it came to the area he referred to 'Hermione's ' -which included anything to do with love or relationships - he had hit the nail right on the head, try as she might to deny it to herself . Whilst trying out different hairstyles for the the feast in the front of the mirror, she found herself tentatively wondering things like 'what would Ron think of this? ' which was enough to drive her mad.

Why do I care?" she asked herself. The inside of her head, judging from it's non-existant reply, didn't know. Hermione slumped over the sink and undid the charm, - which had styled her hair on the top of her head, a style that was popular in the 1800's - her stomach turning. This whole thing - whatever the hell it was - with Ron, was just getting too much.

She sighed. 'Back to the drawing board, I guess,' she said, before shoving the magical hair products back in her drawer and heading for the library. She wanted a little light reading to clear her head. 'Light reading' turned out to be a weighty tome on Transfiguration that had looked as though nobody ever read it, probably because it looked as nobody would be able to support its weight in getting it down from the high shelf. Hermione was fully immersed in the fifth chapter before she came across a picture of an ordinary robe being transfigured into a beautiful wedding dress. She stared at it for a moment. Abandoning the spell she had been analysing, she shut the book and put it back on the shelf. Mind working furiously, she headed back to her dormitory. The picture had given her an idea.

Ron furrowed his brow in annoyance. "Harry," he complained, "this whole costume thing is driving me nuts!" he sighed. "What do I go as?"

Harry grinned and looked up from the Quidditch manual he was perusing. "I don't know," he said. "What did you have in mind?"

"I don't have anything in mind, idiot, that's why I'm asking you." Ron snapped.

"Calm down. What about something- I dunno- Halloweeny? Like a zombie or a vampire or something." Ron looked thoughtful.

"A vampire- there's an idea..." he muttered

"Dracula," said Harry

"Who?" Ron asked confused.

"Dracula, he's a fictional vampire in the Muggle world, very well known," Harry explained.

"Oh." Ron's expression of puzzlement lifted. "Ok, tell me some more about this Dracula person."

Hermione sifted through the contents of her wardrobe, looking for anything remotely bride like among the school robes and jeans. So far not much luck. Hermione had considered transfiguring one of her robes, however she was already going to add some 'adjustments' to the wedding dress, so she decided to leave the magic for that part.

Hermione plodded through the piles of clothing, muttering to herself. "Jeans...shirt...scarf...hat, I don't remember having that...nothing white...nup...oh!" Her hands had alighted upon the outfit her mother had bought her for her last Christmas. She had never worn it before- it was a little too feminine for her liking- but it was perfect for the costume. She held it up to herself in the mirror, a white lace top and matching skirt that flowed down to her feet.

Hermione laid the outfit on her bed and put the rest of the clothes back in her wardrobe. She eyed the lacy fabric and realised something. The veil. She thought aloud, "I need a veil, but I wouldn't have anything remotely resembling a veil. Looks like I'll have to use magic for this bit. Hmm- what can I use?" She racked her brains for an idea. Wandering over to the bathroom, she glanced at a towel hanging next to the shower, and raised an eyebrow. Grabbing her wand, she picked up the towel and grinned.

Having seemed to get every little bit of information Harry had on Dracula, Ron finally was satisfied. Already thinking of ways to make his costume come alive, he headed back to his dormitory. Deciding to shower before getting into bed, he walked into the bathroom he shared with Hermione. He guessed Hermione was busy reading or doing homework or something.

Hermione had just finished transfiguring the veil when she heard a door slam shut and then her door to the bathroom shut and lock. She assumed Ron was having a shower. Distracted, she dropped her wand and it rolled under her bed. Sighing she got down on her knees to retrieve it when she spotted something . "Eww, yuck! For God's sake Ron, can't you make sure Roger (AN: for those who forgot this is Ron's pet chameleon) keeps to your room when he wishes to go to the toilet? Gross!" Careful to avoid the mess, she grabbed her wand and cleaned it up.

After a while she heard the bathroom door unlock and Ron's side door open. Walking into the bathroom to prepare for bed, she spotted the mess Ron had left. There were towels on the floor and water all the place. Already annoyed at Ron's lack of control over his pet, she marched over to the door to his bedroom and knocked.

Ron had decided to change in his bedroom. He had put on his pants already buthe was grabbing his shirt when he heard the knock. "What is it?" he yelled, assuming she was going to tell him through the door rather then open it. However, he thought wrong. Hermione opened the door with a yank and spotted him topless. Blushing and embarrassed, but still furious, she simply turned around and started to yell at him.

"RON, THE BATHROOM IS A MESS! I'm not your maid or anything you know! You have to clean up! And keep Roger out of my room!" Even though he couldn't see her face, he knew she was pretty mad.

"God, Hermione, I was going to clean it up after I was done getting dressed in peace and quiet." Hermione blushed again at this but she was not going to back down. Ron had to learn to clean his mess especially now they were sharing the bathroom. "Why do you always have to overreact."

"Overreact!" This was obviously the wrong thing to say as Ron soon realised. "Overreacting am I? Ah, your so lazy and messy you just don't even realise cause your so used to living like that."

"What! I do not live in a mess. And that's my bathroom too so you can't tell me what I can and can't do in it!"

She yelled in exasperation. "Ron, you're so annoying! You're being stupid, it's our bathroom so that means weboth have toclean it!"

"Hermione, I'm not being stupid, you are! Your totally blowing this out of PORPORTION!" Ron was starting to get madder, and his ears were turning red. Hermione glowered darkly at him from her spot near the door, completely forgetting her embarrassment at seeing him topless. She turned around.

"FINE, be a idiot and live in a PIGSTY. I'm NOT going to clean up after you!" She walked out the door, slamming it shut behind her. Furious, Ron wrenched his shirt over his head.

"FINE, DON'T, I wasn't asking you to!" he yelled after her. He heard her yell again in frustration and slam her door shut. Throwing himself into bed in a foul mood, it took a while before he finally relaxed, and was calm enough to let sleep overcome him.

Well, that's it for now! Hope you all enjoyed it. Please review (no flames) - your opinions are what help us to keep writing and we value your input! Don't forget to tell us whether you want the events of HP #6 to impact on our storyline. Hopefully the next installment will be on its way soon. Thanks: )