The Cost of Friendship
Chapter Six
Back to Work
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Two loud cracks echoed around the hallway that leads to the Diagon Ally S.P.E.W office as Hermione and Ron apparated in at the exact same time. Both of them look equally angry but for different reasons. Ron stepped forward and headed towards the office door, Hermione hot on his heals. Neither one of them spoke as Ron pushed open the door and stormed in.
Ron did even take a moment to glance around the room when he started to yell at the top of his lungs. "Ginny Weasley how dare you talk to our bothers about me it has nothing to do with them now I'm…."
Hermione cut across him as she moved into the office, ignoring the strong smell of wet paint. "Harry you would not believe the place that mum is making me get married I have never seen anything so…"
Hermione turned to look at Ron and saw a shocked expression on every inch of his face. "Ron what are you…" Hermione didn't get a chance to finish as Ron covered his eyes and went running from the room, the door swinging wildly in his wake.
Hermione turned to see what could make Ron do such a thing and to her horror her question was answered. Lying on the floor, completely naked, in a rather compromising position were Harry and Ginny each were looking at Hermione with shock and embarrassment. Ginny was now frantically wrapping herself around Harry to avoid being seen any further while Harry was reaching for a pair of pants.
"I'm blind; I think I have officially gone blind." Hermione said numbly as she turned to leave.
Hermione had almost reached the door when she stopped. Her back still facing Harry and Ginny when she asked, "So what…were you two just painting and your clothes fell off?"
Harry who had managed to find his jeans and slip them back on and walked over to Hermione. "Sorry Hermione we haven't had a lot of alone time lately because of helping you and Ron with the wedding."
Ginny had found Harry's t-shirt, put it on and walked over and grabbed Harry's hand. "Were sorry Hermione but Harry asked me to move in with him and I just couldn't help myself." Ginny said grinning as Harry looked at her and smiled.
Hermione finally turned around, "You did Harry? That's great I'm happy for the both of you! But don't ever do that in one of my offices again." Hermione said she tried not to smile. "However I think Ron maybe half way across the country by now, I better go find him."
Ginny smiled slightly, "Good idea, I'm sure seeing his best mate and his sister doing…well I bet he's not happy."
Hermione turned to leave once more and stopped again. "Oh, I forgot why I came here in the first place. I saw the church today and it's really awful that and I wanted to tell you that the rest of the desks are coming in tomorrow." Hermione said then walked thru the open door and vanished.
The moment Hermione was gone; Ginny turned and fell into Harry's chest. "Oh my god I can't believe they both just walked in on us."
Harry gave a nervous laugh, "I know I can't either! Did you see Ron's face I thought he was going to feint. You know we should try to talk to him."
"No way, I'm not talking to him. I'm never going to look him in the eye again!" Ginny said as she wrapped her arms tighter around Harry. "My bother saw me naked; I have never been so embarrassed or freaked out."
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The next few days went by rather quickly. While Harry helped Ginny pack up her stuff Ron spent his day avoiding both of them. Hermione was still juggling work with S.P.E.W. and wedding plans. But to her delight Mrs. Weasley had offered to lend her an extra hand in the plans. Hermione however was still refusing to let Ron move in with her or do anything else with her until after the wedding. This meant that Ron had to live with Harry and Ginny until after the wedding, something he was not happy about.
"I just don't understand why I can't move in here now; I'm going to be moving in a month anyways…" Ron said huffily about a month before the wedding.
Hermione was standing with her hands on her hips looking on the verge of exploding. "For the hundredth time Ron, I can't have all of your stuff here when mum and dad stop by!"
"I can't live with them!" Ron said loudly as he pointed to Harry and Ginny were sitting on Hermione's couch tying up bags of candy for the wedding. Ron, who hadn't looked either of them in the eye for the past few weeks, wanted nothing more than to ignore their existence.
"Why, we have done everything we could to stay out of your way!" Ginny replied angrily. Ron ignored her and didn't respond.
Ginny got up and walked over to Ron, "Will you look me in the eye and tell me what your deal is?" Ron continued to look away from her.
"Ron, look at your sister. You are an adult and you know what adults do in a relationship." Hermione said.
Ron mumbled so low that he was barely audible.
"What did you say?" Ginny asked.
"I said, that is the problem." Ron replied.
"What's the problem?" Hermione asked.
Ron turned around, looked at Harry with a fire in his eyes and said, "The problem is that everyone is getting more than I am!" Ron ran from the room and slammed the front door causing a picture to fall from the wall and shatter.
Harry's eyes grew wide, Hermione looked completely embarrassed and Ginny was fighting back laughter as she said, "So that's what eating him…he's jealous and hard up!" Ginny started to laugh so hard she fell on the floor holding her side.
Harry looked to Hermione, horror still stretched across his face and said. "I think I better go find Ron."
Hermione who was looking in every direction but at Harry said, "No, I think this is something I need to deal with." She picked up her wand, fixed her picture and walked out the front door. Ginny continued to giggle and snort as Harry tried to hide his blush in his cheeks.
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"Ron, are you in here?" Hermione called slowly as she found her way through Ron's dark apartment.
"Ron if you're in here I'm going to turn the lights on before I break something." Hermione said. She waited for a reply and when none came she flicked her wand and the living area was illuminated.
Hermione found Ron sitting on the window seal looking down at a dark alley way. He didn't budge an inch when the light turned on but continued to stare outside. Hermione walked over to the kitchen table and picked up a chair then walked it over beside Ron and sat down. She crossed her legs and sat back, looking intently at Ron who seemed determined not to acknowledge her.
"Are you not going to even look at me?" Hermione asked. Ron didn't budge. "Well fine, I'll talk and you can listen. I think your being a right prat about this. You need to apologize to Harry; none of this is his fault. I'm sorry you saw your sister with him but they have walked in on us and didn't cause this much fuss. If you're mad, be mad at me I guess, though I wish you wouldn't."
"I'm not mad at you." Ron said softly, still not looking at Hermione.
"Okay then what's wrong?" Hermione asked.
"I feel left out." Ron replied.
"Feel left out of what?"
"Of everything, the wedding, work, my family, Harry…everything." Ron said sadly. "Everyone is so busy that they don't have time for me. Harry constantly is glued to my sister. You are always off doing wedding things not letting me help while I sit at S.P.E.W. alone. I have to wear dad's old dress robes and no one cares that I don't want to. I just feel left out."
"Oh Ron, I'm sorry I didn't mean to leave you out of anything, I guess I thought you wouldn't be interested in helping with the wedding. As for everyone else I guess you just need to tell them how you feel." Hermione said.
"Oh yeah like I'm going to tell Harry that I'm sitting here upset because he's not spending time with me anymore." Ron said.
"Yes you should, Harry has no idea how you feel. He's involved with Ginny, people get a bit goofy over the people they love, you should no that." Hermione said.
Ron smiled slightly as Hermione went on, "As for the dress robes I'm sorry but I think you would hurt your parent's feelings if you don't ware them. It's only one day and weddings are not for the bride and groom, there for the families."
"Fine, but there is still one more thing." Ron said.
"What's that?"
"The person I miss most is you, I never see you and when I do you're too busy to pay attention to me." Ron said, this time looking her directly in her eyes.
Hermione smiled and said, "Were together right now." She then shocked Ron by throwing her arms around him and kissing him passionately.
Ron pushed away and said, "Careful Hermione, we don't want to break any of your rules."
"Right, well I'll just go then" Hermione said and made to get up just as Ron pulled on her jean pocked and made her fall back into him, landing on his lap. Hermione gave him a mischievous grin and continued to kiss him more roughly. Before long they were on the floor, garments gone and lights turned back off, Ron was finally getting the attention he wanted.
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A/N: Yes, another short one, and I do apologize for the long delay but I wasn't getting many reviews and I had major writers block. Anywho…enjoy!