Chapter 2

What did it mean?

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Hermione started pacing her apartment, lightly chewing at the tip of her fingernails. "What was that about?" She wondered. "It's been a long time since I felt like that.. I mean it's Ron! Ron, my best friend for 11 years. Ron, the boy who's like a brother to me. I can't do this to my self again"

She just couldn't figure out why she was having feelings for Ron. Or why she silently giggled when she looked at his chest, with that black shirt.

"Oh, he looked good in that shirt." She said aloud.

"Did he?" came Ginny's voice from the other side of the living room.

Hermione jumped and turned around. "I didn't hear you come in Ginny." She said breathing faster now.

"So, you thought Ron looked good did you?" Ginny smiled. "Well he thought the same of you."

"What?" said Hermione.

"Yeah, after you left, he came back to the table and asked me if you had cut your hair. And of course I said no. Then he said you looked good tonight."

"He was just being nice." Said Hermione with a slight smile.

"Whatever you have to tell yourself to remain in denial." Giggled Ginny as she walked to her bedroom. "Good night."

Hermione just stood there in a daze. Not wanting to believe anything. "Ginny is just being silly." She told herself. She walked over to her bedroom and lay down on the bed without bothering to change, and stared at the ceiling. After what seemed like hours she finally drifted off to sleep.

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"O, hello Ron!" said Hermione with a smile as she looked up.

Ron had just walked in the front door of the S.P.E.W. office and the bell on the door rang with a little tinkle. The office was located above Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions and was very small. There were only 3 desks and a small round table on one wall with about 5 short stools around it. Hermione's desk was right in front and was covered in stacks of papers, folders and photographs of moving house elves. A few of the photos had large red, stamped letters that read "Freed", while other's were not marked but contained blue post-it's that had their owners information written on it.

Ginny's desk was in the back and up against the only window in the office. Hers was slightly less cluttered but had three different telephones resting on it, while several owl cages stood empty behind the desk. The third desk was shoved in a corner and it was empty except for a small potted plant and some parchment scrolls.

"Hey, Hermione! I'm ready to work." Said Ron, with a smile.

"Great! I have set you up a temporary desk back there in the corner; there is ink and quills in the upper drawer. Here is your list." She handed him a stack of 12 rolls of parchment, each about 20 feet in length.

"These are the name of people we still need to contact. Here is a sample letter of what to write on your desk. Just copy that letter and address the envelopes. If you put them on Ginny's desk she will send them out when our owls get back. Any questions?"

"Well…no…but this is going to take forever Hermione!" said Ron looking overwhelmed.

"I know Ron…I'm sorry. But you don't have to do them all today. There's no hurry or anything." She said as if more time was going to make his job any easier.

With that, Ron dropped the contents of his arms on the far desk and tried to arrange the desk to his liking. He pulled out the ink and quill and started to scribble. Hermione sat there and stared at his back for awhile, until she had to shake herself back to her senses and go back to work herself.

They worked in quite, for almost an hour. The only sound coming from the wireless sitting on Ginny's desk.

"Hey, Hermione?" asked Ron.

Hermione jumped because she had be concentrating so hard.

"Yeah?" she said back.

"Where is Ginny anyway?" he said turning his chair to look at Hermione.

"O, she is out on a personal visit with a S.P.E.W. supporter. She and Harry left around noon today."

"Harry? Does he work for S.P.E.W.?" asked Ron.

"Well…no, only when Ginny asks him too." Said Hermione giggling. "Of course he does his Auror training with you, but he goes on trips with Ginny every now and then."

"O yeah? He's never told me about that. We don't really see each other much during training." Said Ron smiling as well.

"Yeah…Ginny is waiting for him to ask her out again but he hasn't yet. I keep telling her to just do it herself but she is just as shy as him." Said Hermione slightly hiding her eyes from Ron.

"Well, I'd rather Ginny dated Harry than some random loser, maybe I'll just give Harry a little push in the right direction." Said Ron with a evil grin.

"Hey Hermione, I almost forgot to ask you. You haven't been over to my place in awhile. You want to come home with me?" he paused. "I mean for dinner, that is."

"Oh." Said Hermione, slightly surprised. "Um, sure. I just have a few more things to do here."

"That's fine. I'll just keep working until you're done." Said Ron with excitement in his voice.

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Once Hermione had finished all her work, Ron walked out of the office, waited for her to find her wand and lock the door. They then proceeded down the stairs that led to Madam Malkin's, said a quick goodnight to Madam Malkin herself and headed out of the shop.

It was a bright and sunny day again, and being that it was only two weeks until Hogwarts students went back to school the streets of Diagon Alley were packed.

They choose to make a quick stop into Fred and George's shop before heading to Ron's apartment. When they entered they saw Fred and Neville talking at the front counter. While George was ringing up orders from the herds of Hogwarts students now in their shop.

"Hey guys!" Ron called from behind the counter.

"Hey Neville." Ron yelled as he pushed his way up to him.

"Busy today?" Said Hermione following Ron.

"Hey Neville, are you enjoying working here? I hope Fred and Gorge have been good to you." Ron said, eyeing his brothers.

"No, it's been great! Just really crazy with all the Hogwarts students." Neville said.

"Well, Hermione and I are off to get some dinner, I just wanted to see how your first week was going here, Have fun!" Ron said.

"No, you have fun Ron." Said Neville, as he smiled and winked at Ron. Hermione pretended not to notice. But she turned her head away from Ron because her cheeks were suddenly flush.

Ron grabbed Hermione's hand and starting walking to the front door. Hermione's stomach suddenly did a back flip, but she did not let go. They made their way through the many students in the shop and finally made their way outside. When they got out the door, Ron suddenly realized that he still had Hermione's hand and quickly let go.

"I…um…yeah…are you ready to go Hermione." Said Ron in a nervous voice.

"Yeah, let's go." said Hermione, acting as if nothing had happened.