Chapter 6

There was a rip, and then the sensation of the end of her bed falling off; when she opened her eyes, Hermione saw that Ginny had pulled the curtains open so that the room was bathed in gold, however she herself was in the looming shadow of Ginny who had leapt onto her bed, narrowly missing her feet, and was beaming down at her like the sun itself.

"Clear skies! You know what that means Hermione!" She grinned, yanking the quilt off Hermione and heaving her out of bed.

"Urgh … no actually …" She hung limp in Ginny's grasp to enable herself to flop back into the mass of pillows beneath her head. She then resorted to burying her head under the mass as a result of Ginny screeching "QUIDDITCH PRACTICE! OPTIMUM CONDITIONS!"

Ron was obviously up, and had seen the weather, as he too could be heard from the depths of the house hooting enthusiastically, "Fred! George! Get your brooms and let's GO!"

After about half an hour of torturous upheaval (i.e. having to give in to Ginny's tugs and pleads and leave her lovely warm nest), Hermione shuffled down to the kitchen and managed to grab a few pieces of toast before she was hurried out into the open by all four Quidditch-loving Weasleys.

"Why do I have to come? I don't play Quidditch." Hermione moaned whilst being shunted up a hill towards a large green field by Ron.

"Come on, we'll have a tournament. Nothing serious, you know, just for fun!"

"Really, Ron, my kind of fun is more-"

"Reading Hoggies: A History? For Merlin's sake Hermione, let us know when the wedding is …" Ron snorted at George's comment but still persisted at urging her to join in.

After Hermione had refused point blank to get on a broom, Ron knew it was a lost cause, and he teamed up with Ginny to play against his twin brothers while Hermione settled herself on the grass in a warming ray of sunshine.

It was over an hour before they stopped for a break; Fred was still suffering from a slight head-cold so he sat down next to Hermione while George agreed to take on his younger siblings alone.

"Your cold getting any better?" Asked Hermione, marking the page she was on and putting her book down.

"Yeah, I think I should be fine by tomorrow." He lay back leisurely in the sun's gentle rays, putting his hands behind his head and closing his eyes.

"Tomorrow? Oh of course, the opening. I hope it goes well." Hermione was sitting with her arms wrapped around her knees and was gazing across the field watching birds fluttering in the distance, beyond Ron's repetitively bobbing and swaying head.

"Cheers. You should come along. Support and all that, you know." Fred was now collecting daisies ready to make a chain.

"No, you don't need me there getting in the way …" she said; her reply was cut off by the thunderous call of Mrs Weasley: "Ron! Ginny! Fred! George! Hermione! LUNCH!"

The three sweaty red-faced members of the group trudged back to The Burrow, eagerly discussing their performances without so much as a backward glance at Fred and Hermione.

They, however, stayed where they were; the situation was too pleasant to abandon, and neither had particularly worked up much of an appetite, so they continued to sit in silence.

Then Fred said, "Are you seriously going to just read books until Harry gets here?"

"Well there's not much else to do."

"What's going to make such a difference when Harry gets here though? I mean, sure, he might want to talk about …. stuff and everything, but when he gets over it, he's just another Weasley really."

"It's just better with him here I suppose …" Hermione didn't want to admit that it was her and Ron alone without him that made her feel uncomfortable, and that Harry being present made it easier to be around him; after all, Fred was his brother, and she didn't mean to offend Ron in any way.

Fred didn't seem convinced by her simple answer. "Do you have a soft spot for Harry?"

Hermione looked at Fred; she expected to see a broad smirk or a devilish grin on his face, but to her utter surprise his face was completely serious.

"No I don't. I thought you might ask that." She said.

"Oh that's good." He said, and then he mumbled, without the intention of Hermione hearing, "'cause Ron's not the only one who'd be pissed off if that was the case.."

"What do you mean?" Hermione shot at him, this time, to his utter surprise.

"Oh … err … well, you know, Ginny's still pretty fond of Harry isn't she?" Fred attempted to answer casually, and to his relief, Hermione bought it.

"Oh yeah, right …." She muttered, looking at her feet.

After another thoughtful silence, Fred said, "Why don't we fly for a bit? It's better without the others throwing quaffles left right and centre." He stood up, looking expectantly at Hermione.

"I don't like flying." She replied, bluntly.

"Why? 'Cause you can't do it?" He asked, this time a very Fred-like grin appearing on his face.

"No!" She exclaimed, playfully chucking a fistful of grass at him, but his reflexes were too good and she missed.

"Ha!" Fred cried with glee. "Pathetic, Granger!" And with that, he threw an even bigger clump of grass in her face before running off to the broom shed, with her hot on his heels.

"I'm sure you're Malfoy in disguise, having drunk Polyjuice Potion or something!" She was calling, and when she was near enough, Fred seized her around the middle and pushed her onto his now-hovering broomstick with himself clambering on behind her. He then kicked off from the ground with an ear-splitting scream from Hermione.

"FRED! GET ME DOWN!" She yelled as they soared over the field and through the tree tops of a nearby wood, but what Fred couldn't see was the broad grin on her face and the bright sparkle in her eye; she was definitely enjoying it despite her desperate pleas for it to stop.

"Are you okay?" Fred breathed in her ear, apparently believing her false cries of fear."We can go lower if you want." And with that, the broom nose-dived slightly to decrease their height; Fred hastily put an arm around Hermione's waist at the sound of another cry of panic as she leaned back into him to prevent herself from toppling forwards, and with his other hand, Fred steered them around the edge of the field.

After about half an hour, Fred felt Hermione loosen up considerably, and she even offered to steer the broom herself.

"See, I knew you could do it!" He said into her ear; the warmth of his breath ironically gave her goose bumps.

"Yeah! But don't let go!" She added quickly, as she felt him loosen his grip around her.

Once he had a firm hold of her again, and she felt confident enough, Fred urged Hermione to go higher but they were soon met by the reappearance of Ron, Ginny and George.

"Hermione!" Ginny exclaimed, seeing Hermione zooming around above them with a huge smile on her face.

"What are you two doing out here? Why didn't you come to lunch?" Asked Ron, with a slightly disgruntled look on his face at the sight of the pair of them.

"Well I'm actually getting quite a meal out of Hermione's hair …" Called Fred, clearly getting mouthfuls of Hermione's bushy mane blown into his mouth as his head was right behind hers.

Everyone laughed at this except Ron, who just flew off to the two large oak trees that acted as goalposts in their Quidditch practices and tournaments, his eyes narrowed in the direction of Fred.

Assuming that the others wanted to resume their game, Hermione steered the broom down to the ground to safely get off and out of the way, but Fred objected.

"Why don't we play? Come on, you're confident enough to fly now aren't you?"

"Err … I don't know Fred, I've never played Quidditch before …" She replied reluctantly.

"We'll both be the beater." He summoned a beater's club from the broom shed, ignoring her reply, and gave it to her to hold.

"What do I do?" She cried, apparently slightly intimidated by the huge bludger that was soaring above their heads.

"Just hit it!" Laughed Fred. "Keep one hand on the club and one hand on the broom."

She did as he told her, and felt her stomach fall out beneath her when he placed his hand over hers on the club.

Hermione let out a whimper as the bludger was approaching at what seemed to be a tremendous speed, and Fred yelled, "SWING!"

As they both did so, the bludger went soaring in the opposite direction and no-one could stop what happened next; Ron was awaiting George's attempt at a goal, and right in it's line of fire (although Ron stupidly didn't notice this), the bludger rocketed face on at him, and with a dull crunch, a whine and a thud, they all looked round to see Ron in a heap on the ground, with his broomstick snapped in two.

A/N: I know there have been some requests for more action and progress in their relationship, but don't be put off because as soon as Harry arrives, things will start to get crazy! Please tell me what you think!

Thanks x