"Do me a favour, would you Harry? Could you get into You-Know-Who's mind again and reserve one Killing Curse in the name of Ron Weasley? Make sure you spell it right so there's no mistake, ok? R-O-N-"
"Oh shut up Ron, it's not that..." Harry couldn't finish the sentence. It was one of those rare instances where it really was that bad.
Ron groaned in agonised embarassment and pulled his pillow over his head.
"Listen, I'm sure if you just talked to Hermione then-"
"Oh no, no-no! There's no way I can even look at her now."
"Well, that's alright," Harry reasoned, thinking carefully, "If we just persuade her to wear the invisibilty cloak over her head for the rest of her life you'll be fine..."
With a cry of anguish the ginger head sunk into the pillow once more, but Harry could just about decipher "Oooeeeug! Whaa wosh I thinkib?"
Ron showed no sign of moving for a good few days at least, so with a defeated sigh Harry went downstairs.
Estranged relatives had fled shortly after the Wedding buffet had been demolished, and whilst their hearty appreciation had kept Mrs.Weasley satisfied at the time, the task of tidying was colossal. Every morning without fail, she could be seen tirelessly trying to persuade the army of Cherubs they needed to move away. What she hadn't bargined on was the fact the decorations had become quite accustomed to the garden, and were in no rush to leave. This problem continued for such a long time that Harry had been woken on several occasions by a tremendous BOOM which shook the house. This was often quickly followed by a golden statue soaring past Ron's window into the sky, Mrs.Weasley's voice triumphantly calling after it- "AHA! Take THAT!"
What had occured during the Wedding between Ron and Hermione had unspokenly become a subject of taboo. Everytime the topic was even touched upon Mr.Weasley would start talking of the magnificent way Charlie had managed to train his dragon to be so very obediant, or Ginny would (rather insincerly) comment on how very "...nice." Fleur looked.
All that remained now was to extract either Ron or Hermione from their rooms. Ginny had discovered on inspection that no less than one hundred and eighty five magical locking devices had been placed on Hermione's door, fourty nine of which had the ability to remove limbs if necessary. On the rare split-second occasions where Harry had spotted Hermione- such as when she apparated into the kitchen, grabbed her plate, and apparated away again- he had never seen her look worse. The only part of her face that could be spotted behind her matted hair was two puffy red bumps where her eyes had once been, the result of crying without rest for at least four days solid.
"But why is she crying?" Harry muttered to Ginny, as they tried to force the resillient swans into cages one evening, "He's kissed her, right? From what you've told me she likes him too, so why-" he finished with a bite of impatience, "are two of my best friends still not talking?".
Ginny, dodging several flapping wings in the process, gave a sigh that signalled to Harry having a small comprehension of girls was once more a disadvantage.
"Hermione has liked Ron for a very, very long time. However-" She stiffened her voice and added an accent that was identical to Hermione's, " 'He's my best friend- I couldn't, I mean is it such a good idea? Sometimes he can be so stupid, so ridiculous, but at the same time- oh, I just don't know- I can never tell whether he means it or whether he was just angry and wanted to get back at me!'" Ginny then proceded to mime hysterical sobs, exactly like those constantly emmiting from Hermione's room.
The concept was far too much for Harry, and he gazed at Ginny with his mouth hanging open in confusion for a moment-"Well that's just stupid! Ofcourse he meant it, or he wouldn't have done it, would he?"
Ginny sighed sympathetically again at Harry's lack of understanding, then added- "And there's the fact she's embarassed herself infront of hundreds of people, I suppose-"
"Well I kissed you infront of fifty, but you didn't burst into tears, did you?"
A ringing silence followed this statement. Harry looked quickly down at the ground, embarassment spreading hastily across his face.
Even without looking at her, Harry could tell she was smiling wistfully, "Ah- but that was because at the time I was more... agreeably engaged." she whispered.
Harry met her gaze, at which point the only thought occuring in his mind was- "You know, I'm sure if I asked Voldemort nicely he might, you know, overlook the fact we were together. With persuasion I'm sure he wouldn't murder her just because I'm in love with her..." His brain stopped momentarily, lingering with hope at this thought, then suddenly it exploded-"Hey- HANG ON -Harry- what was that? They'll be no "L" words spoken in my presence, thank you very much."
He gasped outwardly at his thoughts, and looked guiltily at Ginny incase she had somehow heard them. She was now however clutching her hand in pain, it appeared she'd been so distracted by their conversation a swan had taken upon itself the opportunity to gnaw at her wrist, and it was suprisingly effective. Ginny let go immediately, and the swan flew blindly into Harry's chest, knocking him flat.
The winded feeling he'd received was nothing compared to the effect that thought had produced, though.
With Ron still declaring he was going to go and live in the Dark Forest with Grawp, and Hermione barely being able to speak three words without bursting into tears, things weren't exactly peaceful at the Burrow. The situation was somewhat worsened therefore by the arrival of two howlers within the space of an hour, both addressed to Hermione.
The first, which Harry was quite shocked hadn't arrived sooner, was predictably from Fleur- who, although Bill had calmed herdown considerably, was still fuming that so much attention had been stolen from her. After over half an hour of violent French words being screamed at Hermione's door ("C'ETAIS ABOMINABLE!") the red envelope finally burst into flames, and everyone removed their hands from their ears in relief.
The second was more of a suprise, and it's arrival brought with it great curiousity from more than Harry. As it landed by Hermione's door Harry heard several creaks from the stairs below, and looked down to see Fred, George, Mrs.Weasley and even the neighbour who attended to the garden leaning casually aganist the banister as if they did it everyday.
"Hermione?" Ginny called, speaking directly into the door, "Bad news- you've got another-" but it had opened before she could even finish the sentence.
The familiar awkward voice of Viktor Krum filled the room, and within seconds Hermione had scrambled off her bed and released all of her locks with considerable speed so she could poke her head out of the door to listen. The last time they had seen Krum was his hasty departure from the Burrow directly after the wedding, without a single word to anyone. Despite the fact the Howler was loud, it was by no means angry, and Harry listened along with everyone intently at what Krum had to say.
"Hallo Hermininny... I hav been vanting to speak vith you, but I know the only vay you vill listen is if you haff no choice- you haff not replied to my letter. I repeat to you: it is clear you are not happy vith what happened- I am still offering you the chance to live vith me- do not be afraid to anger the ginger boy vith brown spots covering his face, I know he cannot mean to you anything, or you vud not haff run away after... I vill speak no more of it. I vill be vaiting for your decision. Viktor."
As it crumpled into a pile upon the floor, Harry watched the paper twist in complete shock. Hermione... live with Krum?
"Well. That's it then, really, isn't it?" The voice was a deadly cool. Harry jumped in shock and turned to see Ron, who had appeared from his bedroom somewhere throughout the Howler.
"I wouldn't want Hermione to be scared of me or my brown spots now would I?" He indicated to his freckles dismissively. Hermione, who Ron was deliberately gazing in the opposite direction from, let out a strange whimper, and stepped forward. Ron began talking again before she could progress any further.
"Oh well. Who knows? With his Quidditch ability, and her brains, they should create such a superhuman child to even outdo your fame, Harry. Don't think I'll bother attending the Christening though, I wouldn't want to infect it with freckles or anything..." Ron's voice cracked, and he turned quickly into his room, slamming his door behind him.
Harry went almost automatically towards the door to comfort him, but he was beaten to it. To his suprise, he was shoved forcefully out the way by Hermione, who with blazing eyes stood infront of the door and screamed, "PROPELLETUS!".
With an immense creak Ron's door unhinged itself and slammed ungraciously onto the floor. Ron stood, mouth open in astonishment directly facing Hermione's livid face.
"Want to know something, Ron?" She began, failing miserably to keep her voice collected, "I don't often send a pack of flesh-eating canaries to attack someone. Nor do I steal my friend's invisibility cloak to visit any random person who's just been poisoned in the early hours of the morning, every day for about two weeks."
Harry thought now was perhaps not the best time to reproach Hermione was stealing his things, although he was feeling fairly annoyed at the fact she had.
"I especially -" Hermione continued, her voicing raising to an even higher pitch, " don't stop doing homework that has to be in the next morning just to go and watch any old person practice at a game I utterly loath! So do you honestly think, that I would go and live somewhere where I would be forced to stop torturing myself in these ways? Because you see, based on that evidence I- Idon't think I could."
The tears which Hermione had done so well to contain now came flooding silently down her cheeks, and she started to walk slowly back into her room, stopping only to softly call down the stairs-
"Mrs.Weasley?"
There was a pause, until a shaken reply drifted up the stairs- "Er- yes, dear?"
"I'm very sorry about the door."
"Oh! Don't worry, it needed... replacing..."
Ron, who hadn't said a word, brushed past Harry and situated himself in Percy's old room, complete with brand-new door to slam.
"Well- that was effective." Ginny said simply, rolling her eyes at the fact they were once again facing two firmly shut doors. "Harry, I don't think I can take much more of this- the desire to Bat-bogey hex both of them is growing stronger day by day..."
"In which case," said Harry, a grin spreading across his face, "We may have to speed things up a little..."
Well, that was fairly boring. BUT hopefully the next one should be better, however I start school again tommorow GROAN and therefore couldn't writeChapter(...8 is it? Gosh!)tonight, as it's now 1am and I have still yet to write 2 essays and one 2-page monologue that has to be learned off by heart and performed tommorow morning. Well, it's my own fault, I've had six weeks... but still! This is so much more fun!
Yet again I praise yee, reviewers of joy! I've had a rotten day and it cheered me up so much with all the support you've given me- I therefore apologise this chapter's kind of lame, but it needed to be put in, in order to get to the last bit... I think theres only 1 or 2 chapters to go now... hmmm.
Thanks so much again, I promise when I'm done with this cafaffle (thats an interesting word...) I'll return the favour.
Have a fantastic day,
cinnamonturkey x