When Harry got upstairs, he found that Ron and Hermione were actually getting along. He had expected Ron to say something stupid, like always, about the amount of books Hermione had or about how heavy her trunk was. Ron never meant to start fights by pointing these things out to Hermione, it's just that he didn't understand how someone could read so much. Apparently, Ron was now learning how to keep his mouth shut. Harry was proud of his best mate for that and hoped that the endless bickering between the two would stop for good.
When Hermione saw Harry standing in the doorway, she asked "How was the garden? Was it really beautiful?"
"What?" asked Harry, but then remembering what Ginny had said, "Oh, yeah. It was great."
"Ron was just helping me unpack my trunk." said Hermione pointing at Ron. He was putting some of her books on a shelf by the bed.
"Did you put him under a spell or something?" asked Harry, still shocked that Ron was doing any kind of work. Ron never wanted to unpack his own trunk when they used to attend Hogwarts. Harry knew it was because he was helping Hermione and that Ron secretly fancied her, but she didn't know that and Harry wasn't going to be the one to tell her. Ron glared at Harry but then turned to put the last three books on the shelf.
"You know bloody well that I'm not under a spell, Harry!" Ron was clearly hurt by this accusation.
"I know that. It's just that, I'm not used to seeing you work is all. Unless, of course, your mum makes you." Harry could see that Ron understood. Ron also knew that Harry understood why he was helping Hermione.
"Well, I think I'm done here. Anyone up for a game o' Quidditch?" Ron was eager to get out of the house. He didn't want to stay in the same place as Hermione for longer than he could help it. He knew that he would say something stupid sooner or later.
"Sounds great! I've been dying to get out my broom." Harry and Ron left and Hermione went to find Ginny. She found Ginny in the kitchen helping Mrs. Weasley with some decorations for the party. She grabbed Ginny and pulled her out of the room.
"Hey Hermione! Is anything wrong?" Ginny was a little surprised that Hermione would pull her out of the room without even saying 'hello' to her mum.
"What was with you and Harry earlier? You know, the hug?" Hermione knew what it was all about, she just wanted to hear it from Ginny.
"Nothing. It was just a friendly hug. That's all." Ginny was trying to dodge the question entirely.
"A 'friendly hug'? Ginevra Weasly, I am your best friend and I was not born yesterday!" Hermione was getting a little irritated at the fact that one of her best friends did not trust her with her feelings. "'Friendly hugs' do not make your face turn red, as yours very well was."
Ginny was now worried that Hermione might just actually get her to tell the truth. Knowing that Hermione would figure it out sooner or later, Ginny decided to keep quiet. If she could only keep it a secret for a little longer, until she and Harry were ready to tell the family, then she could surprise them all at the same time. Besides, if Ron found out that Hermione knew first and didn't tell him, it might jeopardize their relationship, as fairly non-existent as it was.
"Well, yeah. You know that I like Harry. I went to give him a hug before I realized what I was doing." Ginny was dying to tell Hermione about the kiss, about the fact that Harry said he had his 'eye on her', but she couldn't. She had a hopeful expression on her face as she watched to see whether Hermione had but her rubbish of a lie.
"Don't you think for a second that I believe you, Ginevra Weasley. I'm apparently not going to get a straight answer from you so I just hope that you're not up to something." As she said this, Hermione left the room.
The next day was the graduation party. Everyone showed up, Fred and Angelina, George, Bill and Fleur, Charlie, Tonks and Lupin, Moody, even Neville came. He wasn't going to miss Ginny's graduation party. The only problem was that with Bill and Fleur, came Fleur' little sister, Gabrielle. It was, of course, known that Gabrielle fancied Harry. Fleur told them herself once that Harry was all that she could talk about. Ginny disliked the idea immediately.
"It's just that, everyone knows that she fancies you, Harry. It's not a big secret." Ginny had to complain to somebody, and since nobody knew about her and Harry, he seemed like the only she could talk to about it.
"Yes, but" began Harry, "the problem here is that I don't fancy her. You know who I fancy, and her name is not Gabrielle, it's Ginny." Harry kissed her on the forehead and held her close to his chest. They were in Ron's room because Ron was off playing Quidditch with Fred and George. Even Charlie joined in to make the sides even.
"I know, but nobody else knows that. What if Gabrielle tries to snog you or something? You can't exactly say 'I'm sorry, Gabrielle, but the only girl I feel like snogging is Ginny.'"
"Why not? Everyone is going to find out sooner or later anyway. Why not tell them during the party?" Harry had a point, but as much as she wanted to tell everyone, now was not the time.
"I'm just not ready. I want to wait for the right time. I don't want to tell everyone just because Gabrielle is here. She'll be gone tomorrow, so we can wait until it's the right moment."
"Okay, Gin. So what do I do if she wants to snog me, huh?" Harry asked with a raised brow.
"You turn her down nicely and try to avoid her for the rest of the day." Harry laughed at this and kissed Ginny on the forehead again. They walked out of the room and joined everyone else in the backyard.
The Quidditch game was now over since Fred and George kicked Charlie and Ron's butts. Everyone was talking to one another, groups of people all over the yard. Harry could see Ron and Hermione off to the side with Neville talking about what they have all been doing since they last spent time together at Hogwarts. Harry went over to join them while Ginny was called in the opposite direction by Bill and Fleur. She tried to pretend she couldn't hear them but it was no use. It wasn't exactly easy to ignore Phlegm.
By the time Harry joined in the conversation with Ron, Hermione and Neville, Mrs. Weasley started tapping her spoon on her wine glass.
"Excuse me, everyone. My husband would like to make a toast." Mr. Weasley stepped up and started to speak.
"I have watched four others of my children graduate, seeing as Fred and George decided to skip half a year, but none of that now, and I am now happy to see that my youngest and only daughter has now graduated. It seems like..." Mr. Weasley's voice began to blend with the background as Harry's eyes fell upon Ginny. He had completely forgotten all about Mr. Weasley's toast until he heard, "...and with this, I toast you." A bunch of glasses started clinking together and music started playing. Harry went to ask Ginny to dance when Gabrielle cut in front of him.
"Excuse me. I was just about to..."
"...dance wiz me." Gabrielle finished while pulling him close and putting her head on his shoulder. Harry looked over at Ginny, but she was already dancing with Neville.
Meanwhile, Ron was thinking about what had happened the previous day in the Burrow. Hermione was reading, as usual, and Ron could not stop staring at her. He was playing Wizard's chess against himself, jinxing the other pieces to move by themselves, and would pretend to be carefully thinking about his next move whenever Hermione looked at him. The others were all off doing other things at the time and, therefore, there were no witnesses.
While thinking about this moment, Ron was again staring at Hermione. He was so busy daydreaming that he did not realize he was staring.
"Ron. Ron. RON! Are you okay? You've been staring for nearly five minutes." Brought back by these words, Ron's face suddenly became a deep shade of red.
"I'm fine. I was just thinking, that's all." Hermione looked at Ron, confused by this, and decided that she would find out what was really going on. She was already lied to once by a Weasley this week, she wouldn't let Ron lie to her too.
"Are you sure?" she asked
"Yeah. I'm sure." Ron said. He wasn't exactly lying. He was, in fact, thinking. She just didn't know what about.
"So what were you thinking about that had you staring at me for nearly five minutes?" asked Hermione, hoping Ron would tell her.
"Well, it's not exactly something I can tell you, Hermione. It's kind of a, um...well, it's a secret." Ron looked away, hoping Hermione would drop it. Unfortunately, he had no such luck.
"Ronald Weasley! I thought we were friends. If you can't trust me, then I'll leave." Hermione turned to leave, but Ron grabbed her arm.
"Fine, I'll tell you." Ron took a moment to think about how he would tell Hermione. He hadn't planned on telling her he fancied her, not yet anyway.
"Well, what is it?" Hermione asked questioningly.
"Well, it's just...I...oh it's no use. I can't tell you. It's just too hard." Hermione looked at him with wondering eyes.
"Come on, Ronald. You can tell me. We've been friends fo eight years. If that doesn't say that you can trust me, then I don't know what does." Hermione was now looking very hurt. Another of her best friends was trying to brush her off. What was the world coming to?
"That's exactly it. We have been friends. Somewhere between our third and fourth year, I, well I took to fancying you. And that fancy turned to love. What I am trying to say is, I love you, Hermione."