COMPLICATED

Disclaimer: If I owned it, then it wouldn't be fanfic.
Warnings: The italicized words are from "Complicated" by Avril Lavigne. (Hence the title of the story.) This is a Ron/Hermione fic.
Spoilers: I don't know of one, but this is supposed to take place right after Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Also, I bare no ill will towards the character Harry Potter.

Chapter 1

You come over unannounced
Dressed up like you're something else

When Hermione Granger showed up at the Burrow one hot summer day, she was greeted in one of three ways: A.) A shout, which her friend Harry Potter emitted in surprise. "Hermione!" he said. He had known she was coming and had been preparing to hug her, but when he saw her, he suddenly lost his courage. After moments of gaping, his eyes shot to the floor, his ears went beet, and he swallowed hard. "H-hi!" he mumbled. Hermione had opened her mouth to reply when something else caught her attention. B.) A shriek. Or rather two high-pitched voices in unison. Molly and Ginny Weasley barely gave Hermione a chance to breathe as they enclosed her between their two bodies, hugging, kissing, and smoothering her hair. "You look adorable!" Molly commented. C.) A scream. This one was quite unexpected. Hermione struggled out of Molly and Ginny's grasp to find a very dismayed and surprised Ron Weasley, clutching a hand over his mouth.

"Hello, Ron!" she said to him, admitting a bit too much enthusiasm at the sight of him. He didn't notice as his eyes were focused intently on her hair. He completely ignored her greeting as he gave her one of his own. "What did you do?" he asked.

As little sisters were inclined to do, Ginny rolled her eyes. "Cut and straightened," she answered. "Seriously, Ron. Are you THAT densed?" She turned and smiled at Hermione.

Hermione returned the smile knowingly as she tucked a wandering strand behind her ear. She silently thanked Ginny. "Oh, it'll be curly by morning," she said, blushing quickly. Then she turned to Ron. "Like it?" she asked.

"No," he replied sharply before turning and walking away with a vengeance.

Ron avoided the subject by avoiding Hermione all day. Or was it Hermione who avoided the whole thing? The point is, neither caught a glimpse of the other until dinner, when all the occupants of the Burrow gathered around the table. Fred and George, Ron and Ginny's notorious twin older brothers, stopped by. They always did. Apparently, school hadn't taught them anything. They had never learned to cook and that was important for survival. Good thing they opted for an early graduation.

They chose to greet Hermione with A.), as George yelled out her name and Fred went with, "Your hair!" They both liked it, which was a bonus, but Hermione was still a bit upset by Ron's reaction. She forced a smile and sank into her seat at the table, hoping that everyone would drop the subject. Harry came in then, with Ron trailing after. And the subject was (Hermione sighed) dropped. Only briefly. For when Arthur, the father of Weasley children, came home from work a moment later, he came up with his own greeting. D.) Eyes widening. "Don't you look stunning!" he uttered.

"It looks horrible," Ron mumbled, clearly annoyed. He was one of the two people in the room at the moment who was absolutely bothered by the subject and wished everyone would leave it alone. "All choppy like that. Like she got run over by a centaur stampede." Hermione gasped. At the point, she was simply too surprised to tell Ron that centaurs do NOT stampede. They were far too intelligent for that kind of violence.

"Ronald Weasley!" went Molly, his mother. She wasn't the only one. Fred and George joined in with some good old-fashioned big brothering, Ginny frowned, Arthur gasped, and Harry looked out the window, blushing hard. He also squeezed his lips together and began practicing his whistling. The Boy Who Lived was clearly not the Boy Who Whistled At All as all he could get out was a loud sipping noise. Ron could still hear the sound as he marched up the stairs a few seconds later, a punishment for his rudeness.

X X X

"Sent to bed!" Ron exclaimed for the umpteenth time that night. No matter how much he was disturbed by Hermione's hair, the incident at dinner had peeved him more. Harry rolled his eyes and rolled over again. "That was so bloody embarassing."

"I bet Hermione was embarassed."

Ron didn't say anything in response. Harry supposed that Ron was surprised that he had said anything at all. Ron had probably thought that Harry had gone to bed, as he had been chatting nonstop for over an hour. By HIMSELF! All's well that ends well, Harry thought, glad that he had gotten Ron to shut up. Maybe he could just go to bed now. Maybe. His eyes were slowly closing when . . .

"I would be too, if I had to carry that head of hers around."

Good things never last. Harry rolled his eyes again and shifted his weight to the other side of the bed. "I don't see what the problem is, Ron," he said. "Hermione looks beautiful."

"But she's not supposed to!" Ron blurted suddenly. He apparently didn't mean for Harry to hear that statement. He took a deep breath and that was the end of the conversation.

About time, Harry thought. "Good night, Ron."