A/N Thanks for your reviews guys, especially AshAnana coz I appreciate constructive criticism and her review now lets me say…
PLZ READ…For anyone and everyone reading this story…this is an AU fic and the characters are quite different from the books coz they're how I imagine they'd be if they grew up in a non-magical environment in London Most changes in character will be explained along the way. E.g. Ron changed a lot in year 10 when he finally realised how to talk to girls… it worked but it got to his head and he became slightly too sure of himself when it came to girls.
Other explanations of character changes will hopefully be coming up…
On with the story…
With the help of Ginny and Luna, Ron managed to sneak past Lavender without her noticing. Once they got outside, it was about six o' clock and the sky was already dark. Hermione looked at the long, empty suburb road and missed the constantly busy streets around her Central London home. She started to dread the long walk home but figured if she got started on it then, she might've gotten home in time to catch her mum before she left for work, to get some money. She still needed to buy herself some dinner.
She saw a bus stop half-way down the street. She could vaguely make out the number 13 on the small plate next to the bus stop indicating the number 13 bus would be arriving soon. She thanked god because that was one of only two buses that arrived close to her house.
"Laters guys." She said, giving a small wave.
"Aren't you coming with us to the chicken shop?" Luna asked, pulling her shoulder-length hair into a loose side pony-tail.
"Nah. Can't be bothered. Plus, I've got no money."
"Ohhhh….no no no no no. You are not gonna go home alone in these empty streets. I don't trust rich people." Ginny ordered matter-of-factly.
"I'll be fine. Ginny."
"No, you won't. Besides, Ron wanted to go home himself, didn'tcha?" Ginny smiled cheekily at Ron.
"You what?" He sounded almost ludicrous.
"Go on. You don't want Hermione getting kidnapped by some lonely truck driver now do you?" Ginny shoved Ron towards Hermione.
"Who says?" Ron moaned.
"We do. Now go already." Luna said, giving Ron another push.
Luna was definitely an oddball and received a lot of unwanted attention from her classmates at school. When she first arrived at St. Christopher's she didn't have anybody to call a friend but she'd gotten on Ginny's good side when she had told Draco Malfoy, the official bad-boy of their year to go suck on some turtles. This was of course after he had called her "Loony Luna". From this point onwards, Ginny had made sure that Luna received the positive appreciation she deserved for her strange and creative sense of humour. Hermione, Harry and Ron were soon to follow in Ginny's footsteps in befriending Luna. Ron's relationship with her however was slightly forced, as it was widely known that Luna had a rather bizarre soft spot for him and his blunt character, which was not greatly appreciated on his part.
"Ginny, Luna, seriously…thanks for your concern. You're true friends and all but I think I'd be safe from many different kinds of deaths is Ron didn't come with me!" Hermione said, shoving Ron back towards the other two.
"Oi! Do you mind! Can you people stop using me as your personal human-size tennis ball!" Ron brushed off his hooded jacket as though brushing off invisible specks of dust.
"Both of you shut up and get over yourselves. Hermione, you'll be safer this way. Remember, there are still giant rats running around the city after that chemical waste leak in the Isle of Dogs. And Ron, you're going to go unless you want me to zap you with my 'Electrojoker'. They might say it doesn't really electrocute you but you know as well as I do that it's been proven to cause brain damage. Now go home before any of those rats come along." Luna said all this in a very serious tone. As well as having a bizarre soft spot for Ron, it was also widely known that Luna believed in the extremely bizarre articles her father wrote for his magazine, 'The Quibbler'. It was another factor in her long list of quirky traits.
"Took the words right out of my mouth, Luna. Well, maybe not exactly right out of my mouth, but it was along the same lines." Ginny said, her face holding an amused grin directed at Luna. The two girls then began to continue their reasonably short walk to the Chicken Shop to their right. "Bye!" Ginny and Luna threw over their shoulder in a mocking sing-song voice. Much to their annoyance, Ron and Hermione distinctly heard it and knew they would not be able to stop the girls.
"Can you believe them!" Hermione screeched, throwing her arms into the air with frustration.
"Hey, you're the lucky one here. You get to walk home with me! What about me? Did they not put one single thought towards me!"
"Would you shut up you self-centred, vain twat?" Hermione moaned, momentarily closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath to regain some energy for the long night ahead.
"Aaah. How sweet. I love you too Mione." He sniggered with a smirk upon his face.
Hermione rolled her eyes and groaned helplessly. This was not how she imagined she would be spending her journey home. She turned on her heels silently and made her way to the 13 bus stop. She could no longer stand this pointless bickering.
"Where you goin'?" Ron asked innocently, as he watched Hermione turn and head down the road.
"Where do you think?" She grumbled quietly.
"Huh?" Ron's face screwed up, looking dumbfounded. All he heard was a word that sounded like 'Whedoofin'.
"I said where do you think? To get home, I'll need to get a bus. And to get a bus, I'll need to get to a bus stop. Therefore, I am going to the bus stop." She made sure to pronounce every syllable, rather patronisingly.
"We. We need to get to the bus stop. If you hadn't noticed yet I'm stuck with you. And don't you patronise me, missy."
Hermione suddenly stopped on the pavement, a good five metres away from Ron and turned to look at him impatiently.
Ron, slightly taken aback, simply looked right back at her, a bit weary of her next move.
"Well are you going to keep me waiting for the next century or accompany me in walking to the bus stop, oh All-charismatic One?" Hermione drawled tiredly.
"Firstly, I would never keep you of all people waiting that long Mione. Secondly, I would love to accompany you. And thirdly, just for the record…I love it when you call me that." Ron grinned impishly as he walked towards Hermione. He relaxed again, knowing he was safe from another attack…at least for a little while.
When he reached Hermione, he looked down at her to find a small smile resting on her lips. Since entering their last year of secondary school, Ron had reached more than a foot taller than Hermione. Hermione didn't like the fact that he could now look down at her, as it no longer allowed her to easily stick her nose up in the air at him in a pompous manner.
"You know Ron, you will never cease to amaze me with your ego." Hermione stated matter-of-factly in a sweet and innocent tone of voice.
"I promise I will never cease to amaze you Mione." Ron grinned cheekily as he threw an arm over her shoulder, walking towards the bus stop.
Hermione laughed and gave him a playful punch.
"Ow! You're too aggressive, woman." Ron moaned. Hermione rolled her eyes at him and the two then continued silently on their way to the bus stop.
A/N Soz it took so long to update guys….my dad cut off computer access for me for a week as punishment. Hmph! I'll try to make it quicker next time.