He Loves Her

"Who are you?"

Harry and Ron had been there only a day and Grace had taken a liking to asking Harry the same questions over and over, and was unlike Hermione in almost every way, except for the big bush of hair surrounding her face. She wasn't in love with school, she thought everything was risk-free and did it even if she knew it wasn't, and constantly wanted to play games. Harry, who had been thinking about Malfoy, turned his attention to the little girl pulling at the knee of his pants.

"You honestly can't remember?" he asked her. She shook her head, and he sighed.

"Harry."

"How old are you?"

"The same age as your sister, 15"

"Do you fancy her?"

He was a bit dumbstruck by the question but he came to his senses within a few seconds. Harry suddenly bent closer to the six-year-old's face and whispered.

"I like her as a friend, yes, but Ron over there loves her."

Grace's face suddenly lit up with a broad grin showing her tiny, square teeth.

"I like you Harry."

"That's nice," he said, "but you should start getting to know Ron. For all you know he might be part of your family one day, and then you'll be stuck with him. OK?"

She nodded and ran over to Ron, who was playing with the television. As long as she was at least ten feet away from him, he was satisfied, and Ron seemed to feel the same way ("Do you ever shut up?" Ron asked her).

The days of July passed uneventfully in a blur of scorching days, and heavy rain storms. Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting in the Granger's living room watching the television.

"Whoever invented this thing is bloody brilliant," Ron declared after having stared at the screen for hours each day. Hermione smirked, but Harry completely ignored Ron and was staring at his feet with a dead expression. Hermione sighed, and glanced at Ron who had also noticed Harry's unusual silence. This had been happening more often of late. He would lie in bed until one o'clock, and then lie on the couch the rest of the day staring into space. He just could not motivate himself to move, and do something productive. His lethargic actions caused some worry for his friends and other member of the Order.

Harry had had frequent visitors from the combination of aurors, witches, and wizards that formed the Order of the Pheonix. Molly Weasley stopped by everyday unable to stop worrying about the three of them. Tonks and Lupin had shown up together one day to play a game of exploding snap with Harry, Ron, Hermione, the Weasley twins, and Grace. Grace had immediately taken a liking to the game and had singed her fringe the first time they played. Mundungus Fletcher had even stopped by, much to Mr. and Mrs. Granger's disapproval. He had arrived around eleven-thirty at night, smelling strongly of ale, his hair unkempt and matted. He had said hello, and then had promptly fallen asleep sitting up. These regular visitors had proved to keep Harry's mind occupied for quite a long period of time, but not long enough for the lines that now creased his forehead to disappear. Since he had been at Hermione's house he had not even stepped outside the door, as if he were afraid something would happen to him, but Hermione and Ron sensed there was more behind his peculiar behaviour.

"Harry!" He jerked and looked at Ron through bleary eyes. "What's wrong, mate?" Harry just shook his head, and looked back down at the floor.

At that moment Mrs. Granger who had just gotten home from work, came into the living room. But because both Grangers worked Harry rarely saw them, but he thought that they were very nice people. Hermione resembled her mother in the slightest manner. All three Granger girls had the same hair, and their facial features were similar, but Hermione seemed somehow unlike the rest. Her smile was diverse, and it extended to her twinkling brown eyes, a trait of her father's.

"What would you like for dinner?" Mrs. Granger looked at the three of them.

"Whatever you cook will be fine, mum." Hermione agreed, and Ron nodded his head in agreement.

"All right, then. You sure you're okay, Harry?" Mrs. Granger frowned concernedly as Harry looked up.

"Yeah, I'm alright, thanks." Harry replied. Grace, who had just entered the room ran over to Harry and sat on his knees. He smiled at the young girl who seemed to be the only person Harry seemed to bother to pretend to be happy for.

"Grace, come help mommy with dinner." She held out her hand and Grace scampered off happily.

An uncomfortable silence filled the room until Hermione stood up and said,

"Let's go swimming!"

"WHAT!" Both Harry and Ron were looking at Hermione incredulously.

"Why not, we obviously need to get out of the house," she looked meaningfully at Harry before continuing, "It will be fun."

"You want us to go swimming when Lord Voldemort could be lurking on your doorstep just waiting for you to step outside?" Harry could not believe his ears.

"Yeah Hermione, what he said." Ron was still looking outraged.

"Oh come on you guys, get over it. It's the middle of the day, what's the likelihood of Voldemort showing up here?" He had to admit that Hermione had a point. 1623 Corner road was just as tame as privet drive, the houses with their perfect gardens, and green lawns.

"You'd have to ask the Order," Harry said slowly.

"Of course, but don't you think it will be fun," This time Harry nodded to give his assent.

"Harry, how could you do that to me?" Ron was clearly unimpressed by this plan.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, now grinning.

"You, you agreed with Hermione when you know it's a stupid idea!"
"Oh Ron, you just do not want to come because you're scared you are going to drown!" It was Hermione who spoke now.

"I-I am not sc-scared." Ron's voice had gone up in pitch several decibels, and Hermione's grin became even wider.

"Don't worry, surely Harry and I can teach poor Ron to swim without drowning."

"Shut up you two, when are we going to go?" Harry looked around noticing it was already four thirty p.m.

"Let's go now." Hermione replied

"NOW!" Ron bellowed, "Absolutely not! I refuse!"

Hermione strode over to Ron, seized his hand, which made him pause momentarily, walked over to Harry and dragged them both into the kitchen.

"Mom, is it okay if we go swimming?"

"Um, sure, have you talked to the Order?" Harry and Ron stared at her in disbelief.

"You know about the order?" Harry asked.

"Of course, you did not think I was going to let Dumbledore just leave you here without an explanation." Her eyes sparkled teasingly, and Harry wondered how much she knew, but she kept talking.

"Do Harry and Ron have swimsuits, because if they don't there is always your father's in his dresser upstairs?" Hermione turned towards the two of them inquiringly.

"I have my own here, but I don't know about Ron." Harry paused for Ron to answer, and he shook his head.

"Well they should fit," she looked Ron over in a quick appraisal. "Hermione, dear, go see if you can find them." Hermione walked towards her father's bedroom.

Grace who had heard the discussion was pulling on her mother's leg, and whining about how the world was unfair because everybody gets to do everything without her. Harry grinned, listening to her, and took pity on the furious girl, whose temper was as bad as her sister's.

"You can come with us, if you want. I don't mind, but your mom has to say okay."

"Oh Harry, that would be wonderful, thanks so much!" Harry blushed slightly to Ron's great amusement. Hermione dashed down the stairs, and they were off.

Several hours later the three of them along with Grace found themselves approaching the public outdoor pool. Ron, who was standing beside Harry, was muttering under his breath.

"This is such a bad idea. I am going to die, and my friends are in favour of this." Harry grinned hearing his words, and Hermione gave him a look that would frighten a bear away.

"Why don't you try it first before you decide it is such a bad idea." Her voice came out haughtier than usual, presumably because of the annoyance Ron was causing.

Ron and Harry went into the change rooms to get into the swimsuits then went out to join the girls. As Ron pulled off his shirt, Harry stared at his friend's arms and chest. Angry, red, purple-tinged scars wound his way across his skin, looking like a very complicated maze. Ron sensed Harry's stare, and he flushed red to the tips of his ears.

"How long have they been like that?" Harry breathed in an anxious voice.

"Every since the start of summer," Ron admitted sullenly.

"I reckon you should tell someone those aren't healing." Ron looked uncomfortable at Harry's assessment, so Harry dropped it, but he knew he wasn't about to forget the remains of Ron's fight in the Ministry of Magic. Feeling guilty all of the sudden he ducked his head. Ron knowing him for the last six years asaid bracingly,

"Mate, it's fine, let's go." Together they exited the changerooms into the bright sunshine of the afternoon.

Hermione was in a pale orange two-piece…and on her bellybutton was a silver stud, which seemed to startle Ron, as he gave a look of utter surprise.

"How long have you had that?" demanded Ron bewildered.

"What?"

"You have a bellybutton ring?"

"Oh yeah, you've never seen one have you?" A little smile played across her face.

"Yes I have, just not on you!"

"Right," she replied.

Grace, who had ignored their conversation, immediately ran to the edge of the pool and did a belly flop into the water, and Hermione left her thoughts behind.

"Grace! You can't go in the pool without me." Hermione dove in cleanly then swam over to the fast escaping Grace. Harry surveyed the pool. It was rectangular and the deep end was twelve feet. There were few other people in the pool, just an elderly lady who was doing lengths, and a mother and her son who were playing in the shallow end. Harry dipped his foot into the water to test the temperature, feeling awkward standing at the edge of the pool in his swimsuit. So taking a breath Harry jumped into the deep end and came to the surface a couple of meters away from the wall.

"Ron, come on. The water is beautiful." Hermione called to Ron who was still standing there looking as if this was the worst possible thing that could ever happen to him. Squaring his shoulders he walked over to the shallow end and stepped in. Somehow Ron's foot managed to slip on his way in and he slid under the water. A few seconds later he surfaced again coughing up water. Hermione and Harry were trying hard not to laugh, but were not succeeding.

"Look, you nutters, I don't know what you see in this swimming thing but I really don't like it, so I am just going to get out now, and you two can continue flailing around and swallowing bucketfuls of water." He stomped off huffily, which was rather difficult as the water came up above his knees.

"Harry," Hermione called to him, "watch Grace for me, and I am going to see if I can get Ron back in the pool." Harry nodded, and swam over to Grace who was happily blowing bubbles in the water.

He could hear Hermione in the distance.

"Ron, come on, it is really quite easy."

"I'm sure it is for you, in fact. You were probably born knowing how to swim."

"I was not, it's called I learned when I was younger."

"Yeah, but you know how to do everything perfectly."

"That is not true, you just don't try." Hermione was now sounding insulted.

"Oh, I don't try! Did you not just see me get in the pool?" Ron was gesticulating madly and managed to lose his balance and crash back into the water.

"Yes, but you gave up way too soon, you are never going to get anywhere that way." Their argument lasted another five minutes before Ron gave in and re-entered the pool.

Grace was now playing with Harry's hair twisting it into spikes to see how long they would stay in.

"Why do they always fight?" Harry looked down at Grace, realizing she too had been listening to Ron and Hermione.

"I have no idea." Harry had often wondered the same thing.

"If he becomes her girlfriend, I think I might move out, too much yelling for me." Harry laughed out loud in surprise.

"Where are you going to move to?" Harry pulled Grace out of the water and threw her into the air. She splashed back into the pool spraying water over Harry.

"I don't know." She replied once she caught her breath.

"Well, you tell me before you move out, okay? She nodded and went back to blowing bubbles. If only life was as simple as it had been when he was six years old he thought longingly. His thoughts drifted to Sirius as they often did, and he wondered what it would have been like to live with his Godfather. A painful lump wedged itself in his throat. More than anything, Harry wished that Sirius was here now. He could imagine him tossing Grace around, and wrestling with Ron. He shook himself out of his reverie, and concentrated on Grace who was walking away from him.

"Harry, look, Ron is swimming." Harry looked over to where Grace was pointing and saw that she was almost correct. Trying to swim would be a better description of Ron's actions. He would push off from the wall, kick his legs, and flail his arms before beginning to sink. Soon after, Hermione would swim over and yank his head out of the water murmuring words of encouragement. Harry went over to watch the two of them, who were so intent on their attempts at swimming that they did not notice they had an audience. Suddenly Harry got the feeling that they were being watched. He glanced around the pool seeing no one, but he still could not shake his unease. He wished for his wand which was sitting on the side of the pool in his pants. Harry sighed and turned back to Ron and Hermione, but he was still uncomfortable. Swinging around again he saw two heads poke around the edge of a tree trunk. Harry's heart started racing, but then he noticed the red hair and sighed in relief.

It was only Fred and George, though why they were hiding behind a tree Harry had no idea. Seeing that Harry had noticed the two of them, they put a finger to their lips, signaling him and Grace to keep quiet, then they stealthily clambered into the pool and swam over to Ron.

"Look George, our brother is obviously enjoying this little swimming lesson a bit too much, if you know what I mean." Fred grinned evilly. Ron stopped trying to swim, and turned a deep red before swimming over to Fred to pound the tar out of him, as Ron so charmingly put it. Ron had unknowingly walked into a trap. While he had been yelling at Fred, George had crept around Ron, and now he was directly behind him. Yanking the waist of his swimsuit he shoved an ice cube down his shorts. Ron jumped about five feet.

"WHAT IN THE HELL IS BLOODY WRONG WITH THE TWO OF YOU!"

Ron was furiously trying to get the ice out, without looking like a fool, a feat which he was failing miserably. Fred and George were doubled over with laughter, and everyone else was laughing along with them.

"I knew swimming wasn't a good idea." Ron once again stomped out of the pool.

"No, don't go Ron. You were doing much better." Hermione begged.

"Do I hear you correctly, fair lady. Our dear Ronnikins has learned how to swim?" George said putting on a fake accent.

"Miracles do happen." Fred replied.

Ron, however did not think that this was very funny and grabbing his stuff he strode into the change room, and several minutes later they all got out.

Ron's horrid mood lasted for the last days of July, and he refused to speak to either of the twins when they showed up. In fact, he refrained from doing anything that even involved being near the twins, due to sheer humiliation. It seemed their little prank had gone right to Ron, and watching him sulk around the house with red ears, Harry wondered when it would rub off. In the mean time, Harry enjoyed Fred and George's company along with Hermione's little sister. They all had fun teaching her how to play wizard chess, while whiling away the time it took for Ron to come to his senses. She was quite good—in fact she could have given Ron a run for his money. So Harry wasted much time doing that or watching Hermione read through a dozen books a day. The only time Harry caught her not reading was on the last day of July. It was noon, and Fred and George weren't there due to their joke shop duties. An owl from the Daily Prophet flew in through the window and hooted impatiently. Harry grabbed the paper and paid the owl, watching for a few seconds as the owl soared into the morning. Scanning the paper there was one article that caught his eye.

DECREE FOR THE REASONABLE RESTRICTION OF UNDERAGE SORCERY HAS BEEN LIFTED

Due to the ever increasing danger caused by the resurrection of You-know-who the Ministry of Magic has decided that students will be in grave danger for the coming weeks if they are unable to protect themselves from magical occurrences. For this reason we have decided that the students may do magic henceforth in protection of others and self defense. Parents, we urge you strongly to monitor the usage of magic in your home by anyone under the age of eighteen. Any abuse of this privilege will result in the suspension and possible expulsion from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. For a full list of spells deemed unnecessary by the Ministry of Magic, which will result in expulsion turn to page sixteen of the Daily Prophet.

Wishing you all a very happy, and safe holiday,

Yours Sincerely,

Mafalda Hopkirk

Improper Use of Magic Office

Ministry of Magic

Shortly after reading the article Harry heard Ron and Hermione muttering quietly as they came down the stairs.

"…so who's coming?"

"I don't know but apparently they have it all covered, and remember, don't say a word!"

"OK, O-"

"Hi, Harry!" Hermione said in a much too cheery voice. She wore a fake smile, and Harry gave her a disapproving look.

"Who's coming where?" he asked. Hermione flushed and looked to Ron. Harry followed suit, and bore his eyes into Ron.

"Erm, nowhere…actually…"Ron hesitated.

"…actually we were just going to see a movie. Do you want to come?

"We were?" whispered Ron into Hermione's ear. She notably stamped on Ron's foot.

"Oh right," Ron said, cottoning on.

"Well fine then, if you don't want to tell me what you two are up to. Have you seen this article?" Harry pointed to the Daily Prophet and Hermione promptly picked it up to start reading.

"Wow, I can't believe they're lifting the Decree. They have never done that before," said Hermione in an awe-filled voice.

"Is anyone going to fill me in or are you just going to leave me hanging." Ron was impatiently waiting for the news.

"They lifted the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction for Underage Sorcery."

"About time, I've been waiting my whole life for this moment, no more doing dishes without magic." Ron was looking very pleased, and Harry grinned in his direction.

"Ron, please, if doing the dishes is all that concerns you at the moment you need a reality check. They aren't doing this to make your life easier, it's because since Voldemort is back we are always in danger, and you're happy about that." Hermione had her hands on her hips.

"Well, uh, yeah I guess that isn't right, but come on Hermione you always use magic at school, aren't you just a bit happy that now you can do it at home too?" Ron raised his eyebrows expectantly, as Hermione struggled to hide a smile.

"Well, I suppose so," and that was the end of the conversation.

Hermione proceeded making lunch, and Ron picked up a muggle catalogue and started flipping through it. Ron's mood seemed to have magically vanished, but he looked a little nervous.

"Where were you all morning, Harry?" asked Hermione.

Glad for the sudden change of topic, he answered.

"Oh, nowhere…just thinking." He had done a lot of thinking, but he wasn't about to pour out his soul to them. Truthfully, he had thought about everything. His mind reeled over the death of Sirius and Kingsley. He tried to sort out what his feelings toward Malfoy were now. He thought about what it would be like, being trapped in the middle of the war, and he wrestled with the meaning of the prophecy. By the end he felt lost, shameful, hated, and confused. He needed to let it all go. He needed to tell someone about everything. He felt as if he was on the verge of exploding, and though knowing this, he still wasn't about to tell Ron or Hermione or anyone else for that matter. He wasn't ready.

Ron had now put down the catalogue, and looked as if he was struggling to answer a very hard test question.

"Hermione, er, how exactly do we watch the movie with no magic?"

Harry snorted and Hermione burst into a fit of laughter, not giggling, but raw laughter. Harry walked over to Ron, patted him on the back, and thought to himself : only Ron, only Ron.

A/N:

I know Ron probably knows how to swim, but I wasn't thinking clearly when I wrote this, but it was sooo cute... anways, I left it, sorry if it is too far from canon. Anyways, please, please, please review!

Cheers! Antonia