Chapter 3- Heartbreaks and unexpected matters

Mrs Weasley made four mugs of hot chocolate for the Dursleys and Harry. Uncle Vernon and Dudley stared at the drinks suspiciously. They did not trust witchcraft. Aunt Petunia sipped her drink carefully as her husband and son eyed at her warily. Harry excused himself and made his way towards Ron's room. There was the sound of a shriek from the room as he was about to open the door. "Ron! Keep that away! If you take that out once more, I'm going to hex you!"

Harry opened the door and found Hermione pointing her wand out at Ron who was grinning mischievously.

"Harry! Blimey! When did you appear? You passed your apparition test or something?" Ron stood up and straightened himself, he was holding onto a small crystal-like ball.

"What's that in your hand, Ron?" Harry peered nearer curiously to get a glimpse of it. "It's a thought-reader. Got it from Fred and George. I can read it people's thoughts with this ball. And our young Hermione here is against the usage of it, especially when I want to read her thoughts. She would just block her mind."

Harry snorted. His two friends were always bickering over small matters. But before he decided to switch topic, he asked Hermione, remembering what Ron had just said. "Hermione, when did you learn Occulemcy?" staring hard at her, she blushed and replied hastily. "I just learnt it from a friend."

Feeling weird that Hermione would know someone who knew Occulemcy, he continued questioning her. "Hogwarts doesn't teach students Occulemcy. I thought all the people around you were muggles." Hermione's face was a deeper red. "Fine, I learnt it from Viktor during the holidays." She promptly replied with a sigh. At this point, Ron's ears started to flare red. "Oh, still in contact with Vicky are you? I bet he's been studying loads of charms and spells so that you would ask him." Ron's voice was getting louder and louder.

Harry knew that Ron was maddened at the thought of Hermione hanging out with Viktor but he himself was not that against them. Before Hermione could reply, the famous twins- Fred and George apparated before them. Hermione screamed and grabbed hold of Ron while he shouted "bloody hell!" Harry laughed hysterically. This was just the normal Weasley routine he encountered during his stay here.

"Hey Harry, I could hear ickle-little Ronald screaming from downstairs. That's not a way to behave now, ickle Ronny." Fred was teasing Ron as he ears became the same colour as his hair. "George, Fred, heard from Ron that you guys invented some mind reader thing. Cool. So the shop must be really successful now." Harry grinned at the pair. However, both looked gloomy upon the compliment. "Business is blooming but the Ministry of Magic is sending more their people onto our doorsteps, trying to force us to work for them."

Ron plopped himself on the bed, sat cross-legged and folded his arms. Pursing his lips, he glared at Hermione. Looking away, Hermione changed the subject. Instead, she asked Harry brightly, "So how was your holiday Harry? We had a brilliant time. Guess who's getting married?" Hermione was grinning.

Harry looked puzzled for a while. "Fleur and Bill? They are getting married right?" Ron's eyes lit up upon Fleur's name. "Yea, she looked amazing in her wedding dress. Bill and her went to shop for her wedding gown and his tuxedo for the wedding. And she looked fabulous." Upon hearing this remark, it was Hermione's turn to look affronted. She snorted in disgust and stared out of the window stubbornly. Fred and George were sniggering. Apparently, they were used to both of them quarreling.

"Bill and Fleur are getting married, all right. But there's another couple getting married. Lupin and Tonks are getting married. It seems that when Tonks was nearly transferred over to Tasmania to hunt down the Dark Lord, Lupin was against it and proposed to her immediately." Harry was robbed of speech. He felt so happy for Professor Lupin and he knew how Tonks must have felt.

Then, Ron snorted. "Yea. And probably the next couple would be little Hermione and her precious Vicky." Hermione stared at him in horror. Tears ran down her cheeks as she ran out of the room. The four boys were shocked and silence was in the air. Fred broke the silence first. "Ron, err, I think you hurt Hermione. She was crying really badly."

Ron shifted uncomfortably before he sprinted out of the room.