Chapter 1- Summer, Alone

Ron gazed dismally across his bedroom, gloomily contemplating the wide expanse of boredom that was the remainder of his holiday. So far, his summer had been completely tedious. He had returned home to a very miserable household. His parents had been in two minds over whether it was a good idea to let Harry come to the Burrow at all that summer, and at the present time it was looking unlikely. Letters from Harry and Hermione were short, vague and full of blatantly false cheeriness. It was too dangerous to put too much detail into letters, but he had a feeling that they were no happier than he was. Especially Harry… he had a lot to deal with.

Hermione would be proud of him, though- he had done almost all of his homework, which perhaps showed just how bored he really was. He didn't even have any of his siblings to talk to- Ginny had gone to visit one of her school friends for a few weeks. His parents were too wrapped up in business for the Order to pay any more than cursory attention to him. He may as well not exist… and he still had over a month to go.

"So… are there many cute guys?" Chastity asked, with a flick of her hair and a snap of her chewing gum.

"Some, I guess," Hermione replied vaguely, shrugging her shoulders. She hated the summer holidays with a passion. Sure, compared to Harry she couldn't really complain, but given the choice between her present situation and swallowing an entire cauldron of Polyjuice Potion she would always choose the potion as the less painful option.

Her mother, in that delightfully naïve way that most parents of teenagers have, decided that, instead of moping around on her own for the entire holidays, perhaps she would like to see some of her old friends from the neighbourhood again? After all, they'd "all been the best of friends at primary school". Hermione didn't have the heart to correct her- she had only made friends with those girls because the other option was eating lunch alone for her entire school career. They had been perfectly friendly towards her, possibly because she was their ticket to perfect grades, but she had found them highly immature and irritating, and her friendship towards them had been build on necessity only. She hadn't argued with her parents though, and that was how she had come to be sitting in a neon pink bedroom on that sunny July morning, talking about boys with Chastity Thorpe.

Chastity's name was somewhat ironic- her two main preoccupations were boys and how to get them. She was Hermione's opposite in every way- her clothes were bright, her voice was loud and her IQ was low. She had bleach blonde hair, which she straightened to within an inch of its life, long fingernails which shone a radiant shade of orange and a different boyfriend for every day of the week. She irritated Hermione immensely with her constant gum popping and obsessive boy-related behavior.

"I always thought the guys at your school would be total nerdy-types," Chas whined in her high-pitched, nasal tone. Hermione raised her eyebrows. Nerdy? Chastity was ridiculously shallow- probably why she was one of the most popular girls in the neighbourhood. Anyone with half a brain was instantly under suspicion as a nerd, meaning that anyone who went to Hermione's supposed school, St Stephan's School for the Gifted, would almost certainly be classified as a first grade geek.

"Anyway, you have to come meet all the guys tomorrow," Chas continued to drone. "Things have changed so much since we last really spoke, Mi."

Mi. Possibly the one thing that irritated Hermione most about her "friends". She wanted to scream, "My name is Hermione! Her-mi-o-ne!" every time they said, "Oh, hey Mi!" or "See you later, Mi!" She hated that nickname.

"The twins'll be here at four, and Fliss is coming a little later. We can do our hair and make up and get all dolled up! It'll be so much fun!"

Hermione highly doubted this. She didn't think that she could deal with all four of her "friends" at once. The twins, Elizabeth and Victoria Ingram, or Liz and Vicki, were the second set of red haired twins that she knew, and there was no contest over whom she preferred. Fred and George may have been a bit immature and irresponsible at times, but they never meant any real harm and they were nice guys when it came down to it. Liz and Vicki, on the other hand, were bitchiness incarnated. Their pastimes included pointing, giggling smugly, and wearing twin looks of pure superiority. Hermione could practically feel them judging her when she spoke to them. It was fairly obvious that they had only ever been friends with her for two reasons- her association with Chas and Fliss and her ability to help them with their homework. There were very few people whom the twins respected, and she wasn't one of them. Chastity had won their admiration, largely because of her clique of large, aggressive boyfriends who had no qualms about beating the living daylights out of anyone who "messed with their bird". They also held some respect for Felicity Dawood, whose giant ego was surpassed in size only by her designer wardrobe.

Unlike the other three girls, who all attended the local comprehensive and gained average to abysmal marks, Fliss's presence graced the halls of Northcliffe School for Girls, and despite her regularly poor test scores she always seemed to have straight As on her report card. This was probably absolutely nothing to do with her father's substantial donations to the school.

Hermione and Fliss had known each other since the age of five, when they had attended ballet lessons together, and they had actually been quite good friends until Hermione's departure to "St Stephan's". Time had turned Fliss into a vain, if fairly harmless, snob, who was totally dependant on daddy's credit card. Hermione wasn't too enamored with the adolescent version of her childhood friend, but she was most fond of her out of the whole group, mainly because she refused to address her as "Mi".

Chas was still droning on, but Hermione had stopped listening and was resigning herself to her fate- she wasn't going to make it out of the holidays alive.

"There's a letter for you on the kitchen table," his mother greeted him as he passed her on the stairs. "Looks like Hermione's handwriting. And will you please comb your hair?"

Ron walked into the kitchen and picked up the letter, flattening his hair with his hand. He peeled it open and read:

Dear Ron,

Would you like to come to stay at my house for a couple of weeks? If so, come at about five o clock on Friday- the address is at the bottom. I'm sure you'll be able to find your way there- send me a letter if you can't and we'll come collect you.

Write back as soon as you have an answer-

Love Hermione

P.S- Hope to see you soon… I'm bored speechless!

Ron's heart did a little dance. Spend a few weeks alone at Hermione's? With Hermione? Alone? He told himself to stop being stupid- it was only Hermione after all. He had to stop thinking about her in that way. It had been made pretty clear to him on several occasions that Hermione didn't like him in that way- and he didn't like her like that either, of course. It was just his mind having a laugh at his expense.

He went to find his mother, who agreed that getting out of the house would do him "a world of good." He walked back to the kitchen with a smile on his face and wrote a reply-

Hey Hermione!

My mum says I can come! I'll be there at the right time- Flooing in won't freak your parents out, right?

Looking forward to seeing you soon,

Ron paused. What should he sign as? Should he put "love"? "Yours sincerely"? Or a simple, "Ron"? He checked to see what Hermione had written- love. Not in that way, idiot! his brain yelled at his heart. Just as a friend. In the same way you love her, remember? Still, maybe it was best just to put

From Ron

He surveyed the letter quickly, before folding it up and addressing it. He tied it to Pig's leg, with some difficulty, before watching it fly off into the cloudless blue sky.

Hermione sat at her desk, cup of tea next to her and her quill hovering over her History of Magic essay. She had managed to get out of another afternoon with the "girls" by claiming homework. She had met up with the "boys" the night before, having been dolled up to within an inch of her life by Chas, Fliss and their giant makeup bags. She had to say she was unimpressed. Nine guys, nine names and the same vacant, blank expression on all of their "tough, manly" faces. The exception was Jake, the tenth guy who was, thankfully, far less bland. He was fairly attractive, with a tall, slim body and a head of mad dark curls, and he was very nice to her. That didn't stop him from being insensitive, though- he had no manners, and he was pretty nasty towards Chas. She suspected he was only nice to her because she didn't know him very well. He wasn't a patch on Ron…

Hermione felt herself blush. She didn't want to go down that road again. Ron didn't feel that way about her, and he never would. When he looked into her eyes, he didn't see her soul. All he saw were eyes. When they passed in the hall, she was sure her smile didn't turn his stomach to jelly as his did to her. All he saw was Hermione, grinning like an idiot. He didn't love her. And she didn't love him, either. She would stop being such a fool and she would move on.

Pig gave a hoot from the windowsill, causing Hermione's quill to skirt across the page. She walked over, took the reply from Pig's leg, tore it open and read it, before sitting down, a wide smile plastered across her face. A fortnight, just her and Ron. Alone.