Afternoon
As Hermione quickly departed from the kitchen and upstairs, her face grew steadily redder at each stair she climbed. 'Why did I say that? Why did I say THAT?' was the phrase running repeatedly through her mind. 'He's not going to talk to me now, Hermione; you know how embarrassed he gets! What have I done!'
As Hermione stepped into Ginny's room she stopped dead in her tracks. There on Ginny's bed was Ginny and Dean- kissing!
"Oh My Merlin! What are you doing?" Screeched Hermione. "Dean, Get off her!" She said tugging at his sleeve.
"Mione! He's just arrived … we were just … um … saying Hello."
"Saying Hello?" Repeated Hermione, dumbfounded. "Ron's going to kill you!" Said Hermione, finally. She then picked up her bag of party decorations and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind her. When she was out of sight of the door, she shuddered. "Ewww"
Hermione ran down the stairs where at the bottom step, she came face to face with Ron who she had so nearly ran into. "Um … Hi!" Muttered Ron. Hermione was still struggling to find anything to say. Several seconds had passed until she finally muttered without pausing for breath "Dean and Ginny are in her room kissing on her bed and I told them that you're going to kill them because I think it's gross" Hermione sighed for breath, and watched as Ron comprehended what she had just revealed. "They are WHAT?" Bellowed Ron. Hermione clasped her hand over her ear, "Ron, I think I was over reacting; let's leave them, eh? Come and help me put up these", gesturing to the bag in her free hand. Ron took a deep sigh, saw the pleading look in Hermione's eyes, his heart seemed to melt and finally said "… OK" Hermione beamed at him and proceeded to drag him outside.
"Ok, Ron … pay attention, you can kill Dean later, I'll even help you if you help me with this." Hermione joked grinning at him, he grinned back, "OK, OK, what would you like me to do?" Ron asked as he struggled to prise about five fairies out of the box of seeds, which they were shoving into their mouths greedily. Hermione sighed and muttered a hex, pointing her wand at the fairies that had now tried to bite Ron's fingers. The fairies instantly dropped onto the bouncy green grass under their feet.
"Fanks" Ron mumbled, his index finger shoved in his mouth where he was sucking on the blood to try and stem the flow.
Hermione smiled slightly at him. "Well, you're taller than me, so if you could place about ten of these candles on the branches of those two birch trees. Then when you've done that you can plant as many of these rose seeds as you can around the garden, ok? And while you're doing that, I'll be mowing the lawn and trying to persuade these darn fairies to fly inside this garden only, and not to go disappearing."
"Ok, but how can you 'mow' a lawn? That's a muggle thing isn't it?"
"Yes, but I found a lawn mower in your Dad's shed last summer, it should still be there, it just means I'll be cutting the grass with a big machine"
Over an hour later, the garden was looking stunning. The trees were glinting in the candle light, the fairies were playing in the air about seven foot above the ground and the roses were illuminated in the starlight from the early stars in the sky. Hermione had just finished putting the mower in the shed when she tripped on tampered with toaster and into Ron's arms; he caught her and twisted her around. He looked tired but happy, while Hermione was covered in grass stains and a few battle wounds from the aggressive fairies. They stared into each other's eyes, Ron was aware of Hermione's heat on his hands and Hermione was aware of Ron's large hands on the small of her back. Then Fred's voice brought them back down to earth with a bump, "Oi! You two! Get inside, Mum wants George and me to set up the tables, the foods nearly ready and she thinks you might want to go and get changed."
"Oh, OK. Thanks Fred." Yelled back Ron, not really thanking Fred as Ron swore he couldn't have timed that little announcement at a worse time. Ron sighed and slowly removed his hands from Hermione's waist. They both automatically felt disappointment, but hid it well.
Hermione recovered quickly and stood up straight. "Party Time!" Ron laughed at her enthusiasm. "What are you wearing tonight?" Hermione asked Ron as they made their way up the garden.
"Dunno yet, whatever's in my wardrobe, I suppose." Hermione looked like she was struggling to resist rolling her eyes. Ron noticed and shook his head and laughed quietly. "What are you wearing then? Something outstanding and sure to shame me into the ground, I expect." This time, Hermione laughed, Ron's hand twitched nervously at the sound of her beautiful, sweet laughter.
"You'll just have to wait and see won't you …" Hermione flicked her hair over her shoulder and skipped through the back door to make her way upstairs. Ron's heart gave a little beat of excitement.
A/N: Ah wow, I haven't written a chapter for this story in about a year! I didn't like where it was going, but according to my reviews, some of you do, and that's what matters most to me. So this is for you, enjoy!