Chapter 17
"What is this racket all about?" Harry opened the door wide, Gin peeping from behind his shoulder.
After the scene the both had witnessed there were a few moments of quiet before Harry's face broke into a huge grin and he said: "Finally!"
"What?" Ron said not entirely recovered yet.
" Hel-looooo! You were kissing Hermione!" Ginny said, face bearing the identical expression to Harry's.
"I wasn't kissing her. I was whispering in her mouth." In Harry's opinion Ron had never looked so red in his life.
Ron's brain was still not in complete working order after the kiss and so at first he thought he was seeing things. Ginny in Harry's room. He even chuckled a little. The picture, however stayed the same and if he hadn't got a huge brain damage from the kiss he and Hermione had just shared, it most definitely was Ginny standing there. He blinked. She was still standing there. He closed his eyes and opened them again. Nothing changed. Ginny stayed in focus.
"Hi Ron." She said shyly, realising that they were facing a fight.
Ron got up and pulled Hermione along.
"Would you care to explain what on earth you are doing here?" He asked in a deadly quiet voice. "While you're at it, you could also clarify the fact what you were doing in Harry's bedroom in the middle of the night."
"I-… We-…"
"You what?"
"We…we were playing chess." Ginny said and confronted Ron, looking him in the eye.
"Chess? Chess? You were playing chess?" Ron raised his brows in disbelief. "Would you care to share it in details?"
"No. No, I would not." Ginny was facing her furious brother bravely.
"Well, too bad. You're going to." He pushed past Harry and grabbed Ginnys wrist, pulling her into Harry's room. "I really don't want to think about what mom would say."
"Ron…" Harry started.
"You keep your nose out of it! Its non of you're business!"
"Come to think of it, it is." Harry said half-smiling about the comic situation.
"Oh don't worry! I will deal with you later!" And with that, he slammed the door shut.
Harry was dumbstruck. He looked at his shoes, turned round, looked at Hermione and again took interest in his footwear. To be quite exact, he was barefoot.
"I didn't know Ron had a little Molly Weasly hiding inside of him." He mumbled to himself.
"Yeah, neither did I." Hermione answered and the two burst out laughing.
"You want to go get some cocoa," Harry asked "'cause having seen the look in Ron's eyes I don't think I'll be seeing my room tonight."
"Sure. Why not." They strolled towards the spiral staircase. "And Harry, if I may ask just one thing."
"Yes?"
"What were you thinking? Ron looked as if he was going to hex you into next week!"
"I think he is going to do just that. After he is done hexing Ginny, that is." Harry chuckled as they reached the kitchen and started making the cocoa.
"I mean…Harry you know how Ron can get and you still couldn't wait dragging Ginny…"
"Hey! We were just playing chess!"
"Right." Hermione took interest of the Quiddich Weekly that still lay open on the counter.
"We were, not the contrary to what you were doing." Harry grinned, seeing Hermione's cheeks colour red with the memory.
"Well… that… we…it…I…" Were the few words Hermione managed to say.
"You two lay in the corridor making out. I understand perfectly." He grinned even broader.
Hermione tried to retain what was left of her composure. "It was just one kiss," she said studying the article that talked about the Cup that close, that Harry thought her nose must have touched the paper by that time.
"Oh come on Herm! Ginny and me weren't sure at first whether there was somebody out there or not, so we didn't come to the door right away, but when we did… Whoa! Well, let's just say that Ron's excuse failed miserably."
Hermione who had let her head drop on the Quiddich Weekly somewhere between Come on Herm! and Whoa! lifted he gaze to see Harry placing a huge mug of steaming cocoa in front of her and let it fall down on the counter again.
"How long have you known?" She muttered, cheek against the wooden surface, so that the words came out muffled.
"Since fourth year."
Her head snapped up. "No!"
"Yes."
"No!" She let her head down on her hands. "Were we really that obvious?"
"Yes. Still are." Harry sipped a little of his coca. "I said I knew since the fourth year, but I suspected since the third…or was it the second? I don't remember."
"Oh my god! And you never told us you knew…all those years."
"Well, for the two sophisticated people you are, the hints I gave you were more than obvious. You have to work it out yourselves, otherwise you'll always be needing a third party to solve your problems."
"I guess you're right, but I just can't stand it! He loves me, he hates me, he flirts with me, he rejects me, he almost admits how he feels, then screws everything up!" She took a sip of her hot cocoa too fast and almost spat it in Harry's face, before gulping it down.
"Why won't you just tell him?"
"Me? Tell him?" She asked in awe. "I have given him enough hints on the subject, that kiss being the biggest one, so if he doesn't see it now, I'll just have to talk to MacGonagall about having his N.E.W.T.s removed! If he is stupid enough not to notice that I love him…" Her voice faded suddenly and she stared into the face of her best friend, horror struck.
Harry smiled at her. "You said it, not me."
"I know I said it! Coming from you it'd be disgusting!" She snapped and shook her head violently.
"Enough of me and Ron! You want to tell me what you and Ginny were doing in your bedroom?" She had a wicked grin covering her face as she said this.
Now it was Harry's turn to change colour. (A/N: By that I mean his face!)
"As I said before, we were playing chess." Harry said confidently.
"As I said before: RIGHT!" She gulped down more of the cocoa and started drawing patterns on the counter. " Are you sure there was nothing but chess going on in there?" She asked casually, trying hard not to grin.
"As much as I would have wished for something to happen, nothing happened, honestly."
"Why did you hire Gin in the first place? You must have known she wouldn't qualify as cook." Harry didn't say anything, but kept staring in his mug. "You still like her, don't you?" Hermione asked in a serious voice. She was pretty convinced Harry wasn't going to admit it, as he had said nothing for a few minutes.
"No. I'm in love with her."
Hermione stared at him, mouth hanging open.
"What?" Harry laughed. "Just because Ron has trouble getting the words out, when it comes to you, it doesn't mean that I do."
"Well, I hope she's still alive after Ron's done with her."
"Me too."
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Hermione didn't remember when she had gone to bed, but when she woke up, it was nine o'clock. She took a shower, put on her jeans and dark blue sweatshirt and headed down to breakfast. As she walked down the stairs, she pictured different ways to say good morning to the various figures, she imagined, would be sitting at the table. There was the one where Ron scooped her into his arms and the one where they all sat unhappily, but neither of them prepared her for what was coming.
She stepped into the dining room, where Harry and Ginny were chatting merrily and Ron was filling in one of his reports (A/N: See! I'm not hopeless! After five I think it was five reviews I can write reports! Yay!), drinking coffee. She stood in the doorway silently, almost waiting for Ron to notice her. Harry and Ginny were too absorbed playing footsie under the table and laughing at each other's silly jokes. Young love! Hermione thought to herself as she declared "Morning!" in a happy tone.
Harry and Gin stopped laughing for a moment, said morning back to her and continued as if nothing had happened. But it was not their behaviour that upset her. It was Ron's. When she had greeted him in a happy sort of voice he had not even lifted his head to look at her, but kept filling out his report and almost grunted "Morning," back at her.
She sat down, reached for a piece of toast and started buttering it. Harry and Gin weren't paying attention and she couldn't really blame them. It looked as if the two had just survived a shipwreck and were the only survivors on a deserted island.
"I hope you weren't too hard on her."
"Oh no, I wasn't" he replied sarcastically.
"She is a grown-up and capable of making her own decisions, you know."
"She told me the exact same thing last night!"
"And you left her alone, just like that? No nagging whatsoever?"
Ron's head jerked up from the report. "I didn't nag on her!" One of his eyes seemed a little bluish.
"Ron! Did you and Harry have a fight! I can't believe you two!"
Ron quickly glanced in Ginny and Harry's direction. "Keep it down, will ya?" But Hermione was far from quiet when she said: "Harry smacked you! I can't believe him!"
"It was Gin." Ron murmured to himself.
"What! Come again? Little Ginerva Weasly gave you a black eye?" Hermione almost fell off her chair, laughing.
"Well, I must admit she had the perfect right to do so." He said reluctantly.
"When did this happen?" Asked a somewhat calmer Hermione, still sending Ginny unconvinced looks.
"Right after I had yelled at her for bitching around with Harry." Ron said bitterly.
"You didn't!" Exclaimed Hermione; hardly believing that Ron could come up with something that cruel. Then again she did believe it, remembering what he had said about her when they were in their first year.
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