Harry shook his head as he slowly sat up in bed, trying to shake the last remnants of a deep, dreamless sleep from his head. He had been able to ignore the pounding at the door to his flat, but the fact that there was now someone actually inside, moving around and possibly touching things was impossible to ignore.

Rising from his bed, he grabbed his wand and then sat silently, trying to perceive if the intruder was dangerous or not. He grinned when he heard the familiar voice.

"Harry? Harry, where the hell are you?" The bedroom door opened and Harry blinked stupidly as his eyes adjusted to the sudden stream of light. "Now don't tell me you were still asleep!" Ron exclaimed, covering the space from the door to the bed in long, lazy strides.

"I'm sorry mate, but I wasn't exactly expecting company at…one o'clock in the afternoon! Bloody hell, is that the time?" He looked at the clock as if trying to intimidate it into showing a much earlier time. "Er…Ron…" Harry started, turning his attention away from the clock and to his friend "Why are you here?"

Ron flushed at this question, and seemed reluctant to answer. "You see Harry…I had this dream, and it's been screwing with my head all day. I'm almost wishing that I had to work today"

Harry feigned horror "You! Ron Weasley! Wishing for work? This dream must have been a real kick in the arse, eh?" He grinned sloppily, still not totally awake. He sobered up right away when he saw the expression on his friend's face. "It was about her again, wasn't it?" Harry quickly shifted his pillow, making sure that no scraps of parchment were exposed.

Ron looked at Harry with what would have been a stoic expression if not for his eyes. His eyes were so full of pain and betrayal and the bitterness of abandonment that it almost hurt to look him in the eye.

"I need a drink" He said, his voice no more than a whisper. Harry rose and pulled on his pants, followed by a sweater. He said nothing, and disappeared into his bathroom. He walked out to his friend moments later, having been magically cleaned.

"Let's go get you that drink, mate"

Silently, the two men left the apartment.

---

I was sitting in Mallory's car, only half paying attention to the scenery. We had been driving around for twenty minutes, much longer than it should have taken to reach the restaurant.

"Mallory?" I asked suddenly "Where exactly are we going?" She looked over at me, her grin full of mischief.

"Oh…just some local dive. I figured that you needed something with a little less class. And honestly, I hate that restaurant that we always eat at. Oh look, we're here already." She pulled into a parking lot and I looked out the window. The place really was a dive. Posters of various beers plastering the door, and the shoddily boarded broken window fit the bill of the cliché bar where people go to drink their troubles away.

Which was exactly what I planned to do.

As we walked in, I looked around the bar, and immediately felt over-dressed. Under most circumstances, my crimson halter-top and knee-length black skirt would make me feel naked. But here, I found myself longing for Mallory's scandalous attire. When she shrugged off her long jacket, every man in the place eyed her hungrily. I sat down primly, trying to hide the fact that I was wearing ballet flats, and not a pair of towering stilettos.

Mallory turned to look at me. "Hermione! You're far too classy for this place!" she laughed, and stuck out her hand. I took it, and she pulled me up and dragged me to the bar. I took the opportunity to look around, having never been inside a place like this. When I was out with Mallory, I often felt like a nun from a cloister. A cloister in the Swiss Alps, with no outside contact at all. My thoughts of itchy black habits were interrupted by a sharp poke in the ribs.

"Any one in here catch your eye?" I looked at her, raising an eyebrow "Oh right, you're attached! Well, anyone in here look like my type?" I spun around in my seat and scanned the bar. Most of the men already had women hanging on their arms, and the others weren't even worth mentioning.

Then, the door opened and two very eligible bachelors walked into the bar.

I faced the bar, sitting rigidly on the stool. "No. There's no one worth looking at in here!" I chirped, trying to keep the panic from my voice. Mallory unceremoniously placed a bottle of beer in front of my face. I gripped it tightly with both hands, imagining it to be an anchor that prevented me from turning around.

"You have got to be kidding me. There has to be at least ONE decent looking man in this place!" She swivelled around before I could stop her.

"Your judgement has obviously been tainted by that odious prig- oops! - you insist upon dating…" She scanned the room, and my fear of her recognizing Ron and Harry from my photo album increased. My heart leapt to my throat and my pulse quickened as I attempted to distract her.

"Mall…I uh, I think that we should be going. I do have a, uh, a date tonight, you know!" She turned and looked at me like I had suddenly sprouted another head.

"Leave? You haven't even had one drink! As for your date- screw that! John needs a good kick in the pants once in a while to remind him that you are the master of the relationship. Now drink up and…hell-lo…what do we have here?"

I looked at the direction she was currently staring and my fears were confirmed. Man-Eater Mallory was currently eyeing up my two best friends. Former best friends. Perhaps I could sneak away without her noticing. Maybe I could convince her that she was drunk out of her mind and she was hallucinating. Maybe I could-

"Hermione! Are those the two gorgeous lads from your scrapbook?" It was too late. "Damn! If that isn't a coincidence! You have to go and talk to them! Patch things up! Maybe introduce me to that fit red head" I felt my insides churn and my face flushed with a sudden burst at anger at Mallory. How dare she try to sink her claws into Ron? Cooling off a little bit, I looked over at the counter. Her bottle was empty.

I sighed and opened my mouth to protest, and also to get her to quiet down, when she grabbed my shoulders and pulled me from my stool. "You can't go over there looking like that! Your shoes! Horrible, absolutely horrible!" she leaned over and began removing her own stilettos from her own feet. "Take mine. They're much sexier. 'Mione…are you…are you wearing a… a bra with that top?" she whispered, a little too loud for my tastes. Several men perked up at this and watched us intensely. I reddened under their stares.

Oblivious to them, Mallory pulled me into an awkward sort of embrace. I squawked when she reached under my shirt and began fumbling with the clasp of my bra.

"Mallory!" I hissed into her ear "Leave. My bra. Alone." My hissing went unnoticed as she managed to undo the clasp. Without any straps, my bra fell to the floor. I hurriedly kicked it under the bar stool and crossed my arms, my face as red as any Weasley's.

"Babe" she slurred (I was shocked at how quickly she had managed to get drunk) "Just trust me, 'kay?"

"Mallory!" I hissed once more, sounding rather like a snake "I am a 'C' cup! My boobs are not going to stay up on their own!"

"That's good, babe, that's good! That's the way boy like 'em…bouncy…" She stumbled back into the counter. "Now…go get 'em, babe…knock 'em dead, honey…" She looked at me and briefly made eye contact. Mallory was once an aspiring actress, before she got pregnant. Now I could see why. She was perfectly sober. She was trying to embarrass me into leaving her, to go and see the boys.

Her plan was working.

Afraid of what else she would do, I slipped on the stilettos and hobbled my way across the bar. I felt awkward at first. The shoes made me feel at least seven feet tall. I had never been a short girl, and I usually preferred flat shoes that kept me firmly on the ground at my height of five feet, eleven inches. Mallory was a short girl, and wore the tallest shoes possible. Her feet were also a good size and a half smaller than mine.

As more and more men turned to look at me, this tall, gangly thing making her way on shaky legs across the bar, I slowly gained confidence. I even uncrossed my arms, hoping to mesmerize Harry and Ron with my breasts and somehow make them forgive me. Or forget that I had ever existed and thing that I was just some chick in a backwoods bar.

All of my confidence disappeared as soon as I faced them. I noticed that they had both grown even more since I had last seen them. I was able to look Harry in the eye with the stilettos on, and Ron towered over me. I thought briefly of John, who would always have to look up to meet my gaze, with him being a full two inches shorter.

I had always been strangely drawn to tall men.

"H-Harry!" I sputtered "Ron!" I looked at them both with what I hoped was a cheery smile.

"You" Harry started, his tone harsh and unfriendly "What are you doing here?" He glared at me and my smile faltered.

"Hermione!" Ron looked up, tearing his eyes away from my chest "You…you look good. You've grown up." He glanced down at my chest once again and I cleared my throat. He looked at me sheepishly, knowing full well that he had been caught.

"Harry…I'm here because I want to talk to you boys! Well, I suppose that you're not really boys anymore, you've grown up as well, well, obviously, as you're both much taller, and you look older…oh what a stupid thing to say, of course you two are older! I'm older! So naturally you two would have aged the exact same as I have…" I realised that my speech was lacking a point. "So…er- what have to been up to?"

"What makes you think that you can just march up here, looking all fancy, and just act like nothing happened!" Harry shouted, clearly enraged "You expect to just waltz back into our lives like everything is fine? Like it's allll good between us? Well it's not, Hermione, so stop pretending like it is!"

His accusations did nothing other than anger me. "It's not entirely my fault! You never even tried to owl me! Don't you even start with that 'I didn't know where you were' crap, Hedwig's a bloody smart owl, she'd find me!"

"You said that you didn't want to be contacted!" Harry was holding so firmly to his glass that I was afraid it might burst.

"Since when did you ever do as you were told, Harry Potter!" I retorted.

Harry did not respond. He only glared at me, his face twisted into an ugly stare of hatred. He then raised his glass, and splashed it in my face.

Ron gaped, and then followed Harry out of the door, turning once to look apologetically at me.

---

"Well…that could have been…better…" A suddenly sober Mallory stated as we walked out of the bar. " Look 'Mione, I'm sorry, okay? I just wanted to help make things right between you three. I guess I was wrong. Please, just say you forgive me?"

"I forgive you" I said, without emotion. A sudden burst of cold reminded me of my current braless state. "Crap. Mallory, I left my bra in the bar. I'm going to run and get it. Start the car, okay?" I scurried away before she could make any move to stop me.

---

Ron followed Harry wordlessly. He did not even attempt to make Harry speak, unless he wanted his friend to lash out at him as well. A sudden movement caught his eye, and he turned around. Hermione was walking back into the bar.

"Harry- I uh, I think I left something in there. I'll be right back." Harry grunted a reply, knowing full well that his foolish friend had left nothing in the bar.

---

I grabbed my bra with ever- reddening cheeks, and walked out of the door with my head down, trying my best to ignore the guffaws coming from inside. In the parking lot, Mallory was sitting in her car, no doubt feeling rotten for something that was not even remotely her fault. Feeling guilt crash over me for placing the blame on her, I quickened my pace.

Until two strong arms grabbed my shoulders and pulled me into the shadows.

Too scared to even scream, I resisted only mildly against my captor. Images of rape and murder and dismemberment flashed through my mind until I saw the familiar face.

"Ron!" I cried, throwing my arms around him, pleased beyond words that he was not a harbinger of my imminent doom. "What are you doing here?"

He did not answer me. Instead, he crushed his lips to mine in a kiss that evoked all of the passion of our youth. The kisses we had shared in empty classrooms paled in comparison to this. This kiss was even better than make-up sex between myself and John.

In our kiss we confessed to each other all of our innermost thoughts and feelings. I could taste his hurt, his loneliness, and his disbelief that it really was Hermione Granger that he was kissing.

All too suddenly, he pulled away. "Nice to see you again, Hermione." He stated gruffly, and walked away.

I walked back to Mallory's car in a daze. Not even the steady dripping of Harry's drink on my shoulder from my hair could bring me down. I smiled softly and ran a finger over my lips, hoping and praying that that encounter in the shadows had not been a dream.

---

"Why do you do this to yourself, mate?" Harry asked when Ron slipped wordlessly into the car.

"Because, Harry, I still love her"

Harry shook his head. "That girl's going to be the death of you. Come on, I'll take you to a strip club somewhere. Help you get your mind onto other girls"

Ron looked out of the window, only mumbling his reply "Harry…I don't want strippers. I want Hermione…" He sighed, and touched his mouth, hoping, and praying that the kiss had not been a dream.

---

Any & all errors will be corrected in the morning tomorrow- it is now four in the morning and I have stayed up all night writing this up and I am TIRED.

Enjoy, and gooood-night!