Whatever It Takes

Disclaimer: Really? Me own Harry Potter? You must be kidding.

A/N: Thanks to wella, J17Kalbry, Mia, sculderxphile, padfootz babe, Julie, Nanda Weasley, hogwartsgirl52, and Lauren for reviewing!

Chapter 5

Harry was glad that he and Ron had finally unpacked. Mrs. Weasley, with a few tears, had done most of the work, of course.

"I'm leaving, Harry. You coming?" Ron asked from the door of Harry's room.

"Yeah, just let me grab my cloak." It was Hermione's first day of work, so they all agreed on meeting for lunch in Diagon Alley.

"It's really changed, hasn't it?" Ron asked in a low voice. The majority of the shops were now closed and there were people looking at them as they walked down the street.

Harry answered by placing his hood over his head and Ron followed. They entered the Leaky Cauldron and Tom took out his wand. Harry and Ron quickly lowered their hoods.

"Oh, it's only you two. Scared me, you did. I'm glad that you had your faces covered out there," he motioned with his head. "Especially you, Mr. Potter. Anyways, what will you have boys?"

Harry noticed that the pub was not empty. There were five or six people and Harry looked them all carefully over. He didn't want to take any risks.

"We're waiting for a friend," Ron explained.

"Ah…the miss? Is she coming by herself?" Ron nodded. "You wouldn't know how she's getting here would you? It can be dangerous…" Tom said.

"Probably apparating," Ron answered. Just then there were two "cracks!".

"Hello," Harry said and then glanced at the man behind her.

"Oh. This is my boss, Mr. Preston. He's just escorting me." Hermione explained.

Mr. Preston was a young man (quite young to be in a position of authority, Harry thought) with light brown hair. He nodded at Ron and Harry.

"Don't worry, I'm not staying. I just didn't think it was safe letting her come by herself."

"Yes. Thank you," Hermione said and he departed.

"So how was it?" Harry asked.

"Did you miss us?" Ron said cheekily.

"Fine. Not interesting at all. In fact, all I do is organize the incident reports and such. I saw your dad, by the way," she added to Ron, who replied with an, "Oh."

"So you two are finally settled in, are you?"

"Yes. You should come over and see," Harry said grinning.

After they ate, Harry, Ron, and Hermione flooed over to Grimmauld Place. They crept quietly in front of Sirius's mother's portrait and into the kitchen.

"There should be some butterbeers in here," Harry said and stuck his head into the ice box.

"So, when did you start seeing Mr. Preston?" Ron asked casually.

"Ron…," Hermione started, looking quite exasperated.

"No, seriously. When did it start?"

"Ron, he's my boss!"

"Yeah, and I can see why he hired you!" Ron yelled nastily. Hermione's jaw dropped. Harry then chose to stick his head back in the icebox. He didn't want to witness another fight.

"How dare you! You're just angry because you don't have a job!" Things were getting quite loud. Harry was glad that this argument hadn't occurred at Hogwarts, where more people would have witnessed it. Seriously, Ron and Hermione could be embarrassing at times. Harry hated how they always made him try to pick sides, which he just couldn't do and he hated when they weren't talking to each other. He always had to patch things together again.

"Oh, yeah. Look, I hear it all the time. From you, Ginny, everyone! I'm just stupid, alright? I'm a worthless piece of…"

"You're right. You are absolutely correct. You are! I don't even know why I let you drag me into these pointless con…" Hermione was cut off by something. Harry removed his head to make sure Ron hadn't hit her. What he saw was the exact opposite of what he had thought he would.

Ron was kissing Hermione. She looked quite off-guard. They broke and Ron swallowed.

"Sorry. Not the right time," Ron whispered and he walked through the swinging door that led to the dining room.

"Ron!" Hermione said and she followed him. Harry caught the swaying door and peered through a tiny crack.

"I'm sorry for what I said. I just…you're always talking about how horrible you are at everything and I just get sick of it. I-I can't understand why you can't see how wonderful you are," Hermione said sincerely. She lifted her hand to his cheek.

"You think I'm wonderful?"

Hermione nodded and Ron bent his head to where his lips met hers. Then, when they were hugging Ron saw Harry behind the door.

"I think we ought to go back," Ron said smiling.

A/N: Yay! I'm glad I got that part over! Now we can finally have some good Ron/Hermione-ness! Anyways, I hope that wasn't too cheesy (mequeen of cheese)…although it probably was. And I hope you can understand why Ron kissed Hermione when he did. It was his instinct. I mean, they obviously LOVE to argue with each other, and…well haven't you ever had a moment like that? When you just can't stop looking at that person? Ron wasn't paying attention to what she was saying at all! He just acted. Typical boy, but in this case, I thought it was sweet. And now they are finally, FINALLY together! Hooray!