Chapter 2

Hermione was lying in her sleeping bag, looking up at Ginny's dark ceiling, feeling immensely fed up. It wasn't that she didn't love staying with the Weasleys, who were like her second family, but the whole reason that she had come to the Burrow was to be with Harry and comfort him as a friend, and now that he wasn't arriving for weeks, Hermione wondered what she was going to do. She supposed that she'd spend much of her time with Ron, but seeing as they seemed to spend most of the time bickering about something or another, the idea of living in each other's pockets without Harry to keep them apart at the worst of times, didn't seem very heartening.

After a few minutes of thinking about this, Ginny entered her room, on the way back from the bathroom, and climbed into the bed opposite Hermione.

"Are you asleep?" she whispered, turning on her side to face the dark outline that was Hermione.

"Nope," Hermione replied.

"Are you okay? You've seemed kind of down since you heard about Harry not coming."

"Yeah, I just don't know whether Ron and I will be able to stand each other for two whole weeks without him."

"Ron'll love it," Ginny laughed. "He's really fond of you, you know Hermione."

Hermione smiled to herself as she heard this. She was very fond of Ron too, but not in the same way. She could never feel the way she wanted to feel with Ron – there was no thrill of excitement that you only get with someone new, someone you don't know, who might not be good for you. That impulsive risk is something that Hermione really wanted. Of course she was no expert on relationships, and had had little experience of any - the only person with which she'd ever had anything like what she imagined was Viktor, but that was never going to turn into anything real.

Ron offered her security and trust for sure, but that's what made him more like a brother to her, the same as Harry. She liked to have these brothers, as she'd always grown up as the only child in the family. She also didn't want to jeopardize this brotherly relationship with Ron, because she loved him too much for that.

For these reasons, she had always known that she didn't like Ron the way he wanted her to, and in time she hoped he would feel the same as her.

However, being here at the Burrow, she did feel like there was something crazy on its way, something unexpected. Maybe she felt this only because she craved it, but she couldn't help feeling excited. She felt so sure it was on its way. Glad that these thoughts had driven the feeling of boredom out of her mind, she drifted off to sleep with a tiny smile playing around her lips.