Hermione jumped awake from one of the worst dreams she had ever had. She and Gisele were trapped in an enormous mansion with some psycho after them. All of the doors and windows were sealed shut and the guy had them cornered off in the ballroom. She woke up just as he lunged at them.
Hermione was in the extra bed in Ginny's room. The rest of that day had fazed over so quickly she could barely remember what everyone had done. Hermione grabbed her watch from the nightstand. It was only two in the morning. She set her watch back down and slowly got out of bed. She held onto the hem of her pajama pants so they wouldn't make swooshes across the floor and tiptoed out the room.
Hermione crossed the hall to Ron's room and quietly opened the door. Ron was on his back, asleep and making a faint gurgling sound. Hermione walked up to his bed and ever-so-silently crawled in next to him. She was careful not to wake him as she layed her head on his other pillow. Hermione was concentrating so hard on scrounging a little bit of covers with out making a noise that she didn't notice that the gurgling sound had stopped. Suddenly she felt a strong arm work its way across her stomach and stop as it held onto her side.
"You okay, love?" Ron whispered and turned on his side so he was facing her.
"Yeah, I just had a bad dream is all," she whispered back scooting closer to him.
"Need me to protect you?" he smiled cheekily.
"Please," Hermione pouted and wrapped up into him. Ron smiled and the two fell asleep easily within a minute.
"Ron dear, breakfast is ready and ……RONALD WEASLEY!" Mrs. Weasley screamed. "YOU GET YOUR BOTTOM OUT OF BED NOW AND GET DOWNSTAIRS!"
Ron snapped awake as his mom slammed the door. He rubbed his eyes. He had no clue what his mom was yelling about. Harry was already sitting up and Ron saw him suddenly widen his eyes. Ron looked next to him and realized what she was yelling about. Hermione was still in his bed. Ron muttered a set of curse words and got out of bed. Hermione sat up and yawned as Ron put on some pajama pants.
"Ron, what is going on?" she asked.
"I think Mum saw you in my bed and now she is waiting to yell at me downstairs," Ron said stonely. He walked out of his room and down the stairs. His mother was pacing back and forth in the living room.
"Ronald, what is your problem! Mr. And Mrs. Granger trust us and your just going to make it so you can never see your girlfriend again! You are way to young to even be doing that in the first place! Do you respect Hermione that little? I am just absolutely sick with you, Ron! Just wait till your father learns of this!" She began ranting as Ron entered the living room.
"MUM!" he interrupted. "Hermione and I didn't do anything, I swear."
"Please Ronald. Don't even try to lie your way out of this. I saw her in your bed," She snapped dangerously.
"No Mum, I'm not lying. Nothing happened, okay. Hermione had a nightmare and she came to my room to talk to me about it. It was real late and somehow we ended up falling asleep. Nothing beyond that went on!" Ron debated.
"Ronald! Do you swear on your life that you are telling the truth?" She asked pointing a round finger at him and poking him in the chest.
"Yes Mum, I swear. You could ask Hermione as well. Although, I'm sure she is too embarrassed to even come down here now," Ron said still not breaking eye contact with his mother.
"Well now, I suppose I should go apologize to her, and I'm sorry Ron. I didn't mean to jump to conclusions, but you know how you kids are these days. But, I want no more of that from now on. Next time, I will have to give you a punishment," Mrs. Weasley said before marching back up the stairs. She went straight to Ron's room and peaked in.
"Hermione, I just wanted to apologize for waking you and thinking the worst was going on…" Mrs. Weasley began explaining.
"Mrs. Weasley, honestly it's okay. You were just being a parent. I'm sorry for even making you worry. It was wrong of me to come to Ron's room," she explained staring at her clasped hands.
"Tell you what, let's just never mention it happened and that way there will be no more apologies and awkwardness," Mrs. Weasley said pulling her into a hug.
"Agreed," Hermione laughed. Mrs. Weasley hobbled back out of the room and down the stairs. Ron rushed back up and came into his room. "Ron, I'm sorry for getting you in trouble."
"Don't be," Ron smiled and plopped down onto his bed. "Sorry for waking you, Harry."
"S'okay. Gave me my morning excitement," Harry grinned pulling a pillow over his face. Hermione laughed an went back into Ginny's room to change.
"What was that about?" Ginny asked. She was already changed.
"I had a bad dream last night so I went into Ron's room. We fell asleep and your mum found us this morning. She thought we had been doing it or something and yelled at Ron. It's all sorted out now, though," Hermione yawned after she explained what happened. She pulled a shirt out of her trunk and replaced her night shirt with it. She put on some jeans and pulled her hair back.
"Did you and Ron do it?" Ginny asked. She was upset that she had missed the excitement once again.
"Ginny, of course not! Why would we do it in you house with your parents like down the hall?" Hermione laughed.
"I don't know, Ron's pretty daft like that sometimes," Ginny grinned. "Hey, do you want to go to Diagon Alley today? We could shop."
"Sure, I'd love to," Hermione said leaving Ginny's room. The two girls went down the hall to Ron's. "Hey, you guys want to go to Diagon Alley?"
"Yeah!" Harry said muffled by the pillow that was still over his face. They were both already dressed, just still trying to sleep some in their beds. The girls laughed and ran down stairs to grab some breakfast.
"The Leakey Cauldron," Hermione shouted. The four of them were instantly rushed off in green flames. The ground came with a sudden thud and all of them fell over each other getting even more soot on them from the dirty floor.
"Oh! Look at how many there are of you. Have no fear, I'll clean you right up. Scourgify!" An old plump witch rushed right over to the four of them and cast the spell on Ron first. Ron was instantly removed of black soot and dust. She then moved over to the remaining three until all of them were clean.
"Thank you," Hermione said sweetly and the four of them headed out of the Leaky Cauldron and into the room with the passage way to Diagon Alley. Harry tapped the bricks with his wand and they unfolded to reveal the long, curved streets of Diagon Alley.
"Do you guys want to split up?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah! How about Hermione and I go off for a bit while Ron and Harry go off. We will meet up at Gringotts in about two hours. Then we can split up into couples," Ginny said excitedly.
"Sounds like you've thought of this before, Gin," Ron said sarcastically.
"We will see you boys later," Hermione laughed and grabbed Ginny's arm. She pulled her down the street. "You want to got to Madame Malkin's? We can get new dress robes. I heard Lavender saying we would need them for this next year."
"I don't think I would have enough," Ginny said quietly as they came up to the store.
"Don't worry about it, Gin. Your birthday is coming up soon. Consider it just an early present," Hermione said and pulled her into the store. Immediately a short woman dressed in mauve walked over to them smiling.
"Hello there, ladies. What can I do for you today?" she asked.
"We were wanting some new dress robes," Hermione said smiling. Madame Malkin's face brightened and she escorted them over to stand on two stools. She took out her measuring tape and began taking the girls measurements. "Do you have any suggestions for colors?"
"Hmmm, oh yes well I was thinking a nice red for you and a turquoise color for the red head. Bright striking colors are covering the pages of Witch Weekly," Madame Malkin replied while still concentrating on writing the measurements on a pad. She suddenly hopped up from her seat and rushed over to a curtained room. She came out with two long robes. "Now you two just slip these on please."
Hermione and Ginny pulled them over their heads. They were both way too long at the bottom and a bit large in the middle. Madame Malkin began with Ginny's. She started pinning bits at the end and on the side and she went over to Hermione and did the same. "Ah, there we are. Now go look in the mirror and tell me if you are pleased or not."
The two girls walked over to the mirror. Madame Malkin was right, the colors did look perfect on them. These would totally stand them out form the rest. "I love it." They said in unison. Madame Malkin giggled with joy and took out her wand. She said some confusing spell and the robes immediately were fixed where the pins were in place. The girls pulled the robes off and handed them over to Madame Malkin. She brought them over to the register and Hermione paid.
"Hermione, honestly I owe you big time," Ginny said laughing and swinging her bag happily as the walked out of the store.
"Ginny please, you don't owe me a thing. Is there something you wanted to get?" Hermione asked as they went around another corner.
"Well now I want to get some jewelry to wear with this robe," Ginny grinned and stopped suddenly outside of a small jewelry store. "Those are really pretty."
Ginny pointed at a bunch of silver bangle bracelets. She ran inside the store and Hermione followed. "Those are really cute Ginny. They have them in Gold! I'm going to get some too."
Hermione picked up a bunch of gold ones and put them on her wrist. "We will be twins," she laughed. Ginny grinned and the two purchased their bracelets at the counter. They stuck the small bag inside their larger bag.
Before the two knew it, two hours had ended. They were waiting outside of Gringotts for about ten minutes before Harry and Ron finally showed up. "Where have you two been?" Ginny asked.
"Sorry we lost track of time. We were in the Quidditch store," Harry apologized. "You ready Ginny?"
Harry and Ginny headed back down the street Harry and Ron had come from. Ron grabbed Hermione's hand and they walked down the opposite way. "What did you buy?" Hermione asked.
"Just some new quidditch gloves. My old ones finally tore to pieces. They had been threatening to do it for about a year now," Ron said looking in his bag. "What did you get?"
"Just some bracelets and a new dress robe," Hermione smiled. She was pleased with the robe she had gotten. "Where are we going to go?"
"I was thinking we could go visit Fred and George for a bit and then go get some ice cream," Ron said before abruptly stopping and staring straight ahead, as if he just saw an alien. Hermione looked ahead. There was a tall red headed boy staring in the window of Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes. Hermione could hear him muttering something not pleasant under his breath as he stared in the window. Ron's face was slowly turning red and he stormed up to the store.
"What are you doing here, traitor?" Ron snapped angrily looking like his head would explode it was turning so red.
"Ronald, are you dating Hermione?" Percy asked looking Ron up and down before turning to Hermione.
"That's none of your business considering we aren't even family," Ron said. Anger licked every word he said.
"Well, I see the twins miraculously pulled off their pathetic trick store," Percy said waving a hand at the store.
"It's not pathetic. It's very popular and they are doing incredibly well for themselves, making lots of money. They have rave reviews all over the daily prophet. You're an avid reader of that newspaper, you should know," Ron said. His fists balling in anger.
"Whatever you say baby brother. Have a nice day," Percy said and started to walk off. Ron glared and shoved him down on the ground.
"Same to you," he spat and went into the twins store. He marched behind the counter and behind the curtain that led to the twins workshop, still pulling Hermione along with him.
"Ron, Hermione, good to see you," George grinned. He was in front of a large cauldron and had on a pair of goggles.
"What made you red as a fire, Ron?" Fred asked. He was in the corner chopping something up with enormous gloves on.
"We ran into Percy outside your store," Hermione said for him taking a seat on couch along the wall. The twins made a sort of gagging sound and stopped whatever they were doing.
"What was he doing here?" George said angrily pulling off his goggles.
"He was looking in your window and muttering some ugly stuff. I guess he just wanted to look in or something. Ron and him got in a row and Ron pushed him down before we came in here," Hermione spoke for him again. Ron still looked to angry to speak. He sat next to Hermione and Hermione slowly scratched his back to try and calm him down.
"I would have done more than pushed him. I would have brought him straight back here and shoved his face in our cauldron filled with erupting eggs. He would have volcanoes sprouting out of his nostrils that wouldn't go away until the volcanoes became dormant," Fred explained and threw his gloves on the table. Ron grinned slightly and sighed.
"How dare he even call me baby brother. I mean he shouldn't even consider us being related to him with what he did to us," Ron groaned.
"Who knows what goes through his mind. He was always a bit loony," George said and pulled out two small boxes. "Here, we were going to mail them, but I guess we don't have to. One is for you and the other is Ginny's."
He handed them to Ron and Ron put them in his bag. "I guess we should head out," Ron sighed. Hermione nodded. She stood and gave the twins hugs and Ron shook their hands.
"Are you going to tell your mum?" Hermione asked as they left the store.
"Are you kidding? She'd have a fit knowing that he was around us," Ron laughed. "Let's just skip the ice cream and go straight to the Leaky Cauldron. We will run late if we don't head out now."
The two walked along the long street once again, chatting about things that would come to their mind. As they approached the Leaky Cauldron, they could see smoke coming through the door. They ran quickly to the door and pushed it open to see what happened. There was a large crowd cornering off the fireplace.
"Hemrione!" Ginny called and grabbed the two of them. She pulled them over to where her and Harry were. Hermione could now see what everyone was looking at but she still wasn't quite sure. There was something on the ground that looked like a pile of rags with an gingery head sticking out. The fireplace was completely smashed in and ruined like something had exploded. The pile got up off the ground and the four could see that it was Mundungus Fletcher.
"What's Dung doing here?" Ron asked pulling to the head of the crowd. Mundungus spotted them and wobbled over to the four.
"'ello you lot. Weasley's would you tell the twins I couldn't make it to their shop. I ought'a get out of 'ere fore some worker for the ministry comes. I was delivering a case of Erumpent fluid. Guess it leaked an right when I got 'ere it exploded. Thankful I wasn't 'urt I am. See you," Mundungus Fletcher apparated before any of them could get a word out.
"Alright! Alright! Clear out. No one will be using this fireplace tonight," Tom came yelling and swatting people away.
"What! Aw Mum'll be pissed. We can't even get in touch with her to tell her!" Ron began yelling.
"I guess we will just have to get a room," Ginny sighed and made her was up to the counter. She pushed her way to the front. "Two rooms please."
"Sure thing," Tom said and handed Ginny two keys. Ginny came back and handed Harry a key.
"I guess it would be best to split up by boys and girls," Ginny said.
"Yeah, don't want to risk anything else with mum," Ron grinned. The four of them went up the stairs and found their rooms. Hermione and Ginny transfigured their clothes into nightclothes and fell asleep the best they could with the train coming by every hour outside.