A/N: Sorry I've been taking so long with my writing, but here is the next chapter!

By the way, cakesniffer, iluvloui and I will be away next week so don't expect anything then!

-P.M.

Chapter Five – A Secret uncovered

After dinner and desert, Hermione never wanted to see food ever again. The thought of the piece of chocolate cake she had just eaten made her feel nauseous.

Hermione walked out of the kitchen and into the living room. The room was darker than when she had been there earlier. The sun had turned in for the night and the moon had come out. She lowered herself into the nearest armchair and thought of all the nice people she had met.

She had met Crystelle, Fluer and Bill's 4-year-old daughter and Percy's pregnant wife, Dayna. Angelina Johnson was now married to Fred and Katie Bell married George. She didn't know if Charlie had a wife, or if she just wasn't present.

Hermione surveyed the room. Her eyes fell upon the Weasley's special clock. Instead of numbers around the face they said things like 'home', 'traveling' and her least favorite: 'mortal peril'. Instead of three slender hands indicating the hour, minute and second were eight hands with a picture of each Weasley (Fred and George shared one).

"Gosh, I'm stuffed!" Ginny had entered, obviously over whelmed by the amount of food she had basically inhaled. Ginny was about to say something when Mrs. Weasley stuck her head in the doorway.

"Ginny, dear, will you help me clean up in here, it's a bit messy…" She asked. "Sure Mum," answered Ginny, getting up from her seat. Then she added in an undertone to Hermione: "I don't see why she won't just clean it with magic, really, it's not that hard…"

Then she turned to Hermione. "Will you go and get Ron? I think he's upstairs in his bedroom. You remember where that is, don't you?" Hermione nodded and walked up the stairs.

She finally reached her old friend's bedroom door and knocked. "Ron? Your mothers looking for you!" There was no answer. Hermione knocked again. No reply. She pushed open the door.

A fluffy brown ball whizzed passed her head and upended a box filled with papers. "Pig!" Hermione cried, recognizing Ron's vibrant little owl. She returned the owl to his cage.

Ron's room looked almost exactly the same. Ron's Chudley Cannons bedspread lay on top of his mattress. On the backboard of his bed were magazine clippings saying things like: New Keeper for the Chudley Cannons. Along with the article was a picture of Ron himself, his ears as red as ever.

Once Pig was safely back in his cage with some food, she walked over to his desk and picked up the upturned box of papers. She picked up the papers without looking at them (it would be rude to do so) until an envelope caught her eye.

Her name and address were written on the front in Ron's messy scrawl. That wasn't the only letter addressed to her; there were three others after that, all in Ron's handwriting. Hermione was confused: why were they all addressed to her?

After a few minutes of thinking she tore the first one open. They were addressed to her, it wouldn't be rude to open them, right?

Hermione,

Hi. It's Ron Weasley. How are you? I haven't seen you in a while…

She quickly scanned the rest of the note. Ron had basically wrote that same thing about five times now. She was about to throw the letter aside, until a very interesting sentence caught her eye.

I like you a lot, Hermione, I really do.

-Ron

Hermione's brain started to ache. She took no notice to the tactless way the letter was written. Ron? Love her? She shoved he letters to the bottom of the box and hurried back down stairs. All the way down she told herself how stupid she had been to budge into people's private business.

She sat herself into the same armchair as before. The living room was still empty. Sounds of talking and clanging forks and knives echoed from the kitchen.

A feeling erupted inside her stomach that she didn't like. She felt as if she was surfing on clouds…or on a wild roller coaster. The only other time she had felt this feeling was when… oh no, she fretted, do I love Ron?

Her fretful thoughts were interrupted by Ginny entering the room once more. "Did ya find Ron?" Hermione jumped. She had totally forgotten the task she had been given. At that moment Ron entered from the hall.

"Hey." He looked over at the two girls, with his eyes lingering on Hermione for a second longer. "Ron, Mum is looking for you. Where have you been?" Ginny told him.

It seemed so odd to Hermione that Ginny and Ron were so relaxed, not caring about anything at the moment when Hermione sat there, mixed up in her own thoughts and feelings.

"Outside," Ron answered, "watching Crystelle catch fireflies she's very good at it." Make sure she doesn't go anywhere near the gnomes, they'd scare the crap out of her." Ginny warned. He nodded and walked through the kitchen door.

Ginny turned to her friend. "Having a good time – what's wrong Hermione?"

Even though the girls hadn't seen each other in years, Hermione knew that the trust between them had not vanished.

Hermione planned out her words carefully. She couldn't come up with a good way to ask Ginny so she blurted it out. "Does Ron love me?" Ginny looked up from the thread she was pulling out of her skirt. "What makes you say that?" Ginny's brown eyes did not meet Hermione's. Hermione gave her friend a knowing look.

Ginny looked around as if expecting to see the whole family pressing their noses against the cold glass of the window. She beckoned Hermione closer. "How did you know?" Ginny whispered, her whisper barely audible. "When-." Ginny cut her off. "Wait! Let's go up to my room…more private…"

The two girls walked up the stairs and into Ginny's room. Unlike Ron's room, Ginny's room had been totally redone. The walls had been painted a light pink with a lime green border around the top. Posters and pictures hung on the walls.

"So how do you know all this?" asked Ginny. Hermione felt like a criminal being questioned by a menacing detective. She didn't want to admit she had looked through Ron's stuff, but it was addressed to her so… "Well…" Hermione started slowly, thinking hard. Then, without warning, she launched into the story, including every detail. Ginny listened intently and didn't interrupt once.

When Hermione had finished and took a deep breath she said: "I'm guessing those letters weren't meant to be sent." Yeah, I think I figured that out! "All at once?" Ginny pondered some more. "Knowing Ron, I guess he wrote them at different times but was just to shy to send any of them." That did sound like something Ron would do.

Hermione's watch beeped. The digital numbers told her it was eleven o'clock. "When did it get so late?" She exclaimed as she jumped up from her seat next to Ginny.

"Happy Birthday, take care." Hermione told her friend. Ginny looked her in the eye.

"Don't mention what you know to Ron." Don't worry. I won't." Hermione reassured her friend.

A/N: Sorry that chapter took so long! Yesterday I completed the story in my notebook, but now the problem is getting it all posted!