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Clandestine

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Chapter Two: Making Up

Ginny found Hermione sitting in the bedroom they shared, staring out the window overlooking the front yard with tears streaming down her face. After Hermione stormed out of his room, Ron had gone down to ask Harry and Ginny for help. Leaving Harry and Ron to discuss what to do, Ginny searched for Hermione, eventually finding her in her room. Ginny made her way over to her Hermione, lending her a shoulder to cry on. After five long minutes, Hermione finally spoke.

"I don't get it! I have only been here for half an hour and we are already fighting!" Hermione said, while wiping tears from her eyes.

"Don't worry. I'm sure he will realize that he was being stupid and will come to apologize."

No sooner than Ginny said this did they hear a knock at the door. Ginny stood to open it, and allowed Harry and Ron into the room. Harry, realizing that Ron did not want to speak to Hermione with an audience present, motioned to Ginny that they should leave, shutting the door softly behind them. While Hermione stared down at the bed, picking at a loose piece of thread on her shirt, Ron moved to sit next to her.

"Listen," he said while placing his hand on top of hers. "I'm so sorry that I started a fight over something stupid. I know I could never be a famous Quidditch player, but I have been dreaming about it since I was a kid and it's hard to realise that you can't always get what you want. And I didn't mean what I said about you not being realistic about wanting to help house elves. I know it's something you love, and I just lost my temper."

Hermione could tell that Ron was being sincere. Whenever they got angry at one another, they both said things they didn't mean.

"I'm sorry too, Ron. It was wrong of me to say that you could never be a Quidditch player and I –"

"No," Ron said, interrupting her. "You were right."

"So are we okay now?" Hermione already knew that they were okay, but she felt that it was important to ask all the same.

"Of course," Ron said while pulling Hermione closer to him, giving her a kiss on top of her head.

"Can we come in now?"

Giggling, Hermione went to open the door, where Ginny and Harry were both standing.

"Were you two listening?"

"Of course we were. Harry was ready to intervene if you two didn't make up."

Everyone laughed and the four friends decided to make their way downstairs, where Mrs. Weasley was finishing cooking dinner, looking frazzled as Fred and George followed her around the kitchen.

"But mum, all it does is change the colour of the food! It doesn't change the taste or anything!" Fred said while sticking a small, colourful packet in front of his mothers face.

"No! Dinner is not a joke! We will be eating a normal dinner with normal coloured food!"

"New invention. It changes the colour of food every time you go to take a bite. Fred and George have been trying to get Mum to let them put it in the food for ages but she refuses to let them. They tried sneaking it into the food a few times but mum always catches them and she chases them around the house with a broom," Ron told Hermione.

While Fred continued to pester Mrs. Weasley, Hermione saw George move to a pot that was being stirred by a magic powered spoon, and drop the colourful packet into the pot. Mrs. Weasley turned, cast a suspicious glance towards George, and went to examine the pot. From what Hermione could see from where she was standing, the food in the pot appeared to be normal. Apparently, Mrs. Weasley did not see anything odd about the food either, because she went back to tending to the rest of the food.

Mrs. Weasley finished preparing the food shortly after George slipped the colour packet into the pot and everyone made their way to the yard, where tables were set up for supper.

Hermione forgot how wonderful Mrs. Weasleys cooking was, and as she began to smell the aromas of the food, she found that she was starving. She grabbed a piece of chicken, as well as potatoes and a piece of bread, and was about to take a bite when she heard Mrs. Weasley scream. Everyone except Hermione was laughing. Hermione stood up to see what was so funny when she saw that Mrs. Weasleys food had turned bright pink. Looking down at her own food, she saw that her food had turned a soft shade of lilac.

Apparently, every time Fred and George tried to use a colour packet in Mrs. Weasleys food, the food had changed colour instantly, causing them to get in trouble with their mother. This prompted them to create a colour packet that would not cause the food to change colours until the food was about to be eaten. After chasing Fred and George around the yard with a broom for nearly an hour, eventually causing the twins to apparate to a flat they had in London, Mrs. Weasley sent everyone off to bed, telling them that they would be going to Diagon Alley bright and early the next day.