MysticScribe's notes:

I am back after suffering from a severe Mary Sue panic attack – effusive thanks to Snitch for reading my overflowing fears. ; ) If you have read Hogwarts' Unofficial Archives, you already know by now that I'm borrowing without shame from my own stories. Tsstsstss, copying myself.

I'm bringing you here a long chapter that I wish to be worthy, with a lot of people leaving rooms and apocalyptic teenage angst: Harry and Ginny have a row, Ron and Harry have a talk about feelings cough and I put into Ginny's mouth words that I am sure a few R/Hr shippers out there would like to scream at the pages of book 6.

I wish you'll enjoy this.

Chapter 13

A Liar, a Gnome Thrower and a Thinker

After Ron's hasty exit from the bedroom, silence lingered as Hermione seemed to be struggling to regain her senses. Luz walked back with difficulty to the chair where she had dropped her cloak and she let herself fall on it. She held her head between her hands and massaged her temples with her burned fingers. She then put back her gloves and hesitantly rose up, looking already a little more steady on her feet. Tonks looked at her with an expectant face and the Bearer grudgingly said, «The Purity potion is working.» Snape sneered, «Of course, it's working. What were you expecting?»

The Potions Master casted a Scourgify with an irritated flick of his wand to clean the goblet and he dropped it in the worn travel bag. He then proceeded to gather the vials with great care and Harry saw him give a small bottle to Mrs Weasley who pocketed it with a silent thanks.

Thumping noises suddenly disrupted the quietness of the room. The sounds seemed to be coming from a room nearby. Harry looked at Ginny with dread: that was certainly not the ghoul in the attic. Bill pulled back a wisp of red hair behind his ear and sadly smiled, «I'll better check on Ron before he demolishes everything.»

Harry watched Bill firmly shake the Bearer's gloved hand and the young man turned away, bolting out of the room. Lupin rubbed his hands together, his eyes not leaving Hermione who was still blinking, looking completely out of it.

Harry jolted when Lupin turned to the Bearer with haste, «Is she healed? You cured her, didn't you?» The Bearer looked on the verge of irritation as she snapped back, « I told you. I'm not a Healer. But she should be fine. She's a fighter, that one.» Snape clasped shut his bag and he moved to the door. His dark eyes looked down on the young woman who was draping herself with her damp cloak, «I guess we'll be seeing a lot more of you

Luz studied Snape's stiff face and she said in a whisper, «Some of you more that others, I guess.» Snape snorted with disgust and his cloak flapped behind him as he went out the room without looking back.

« You' re ready, Luz? Think you can Disapparate?» asked a fidgety Tonks. The Auror nodded and glanced furtively again at Hermione. Harry watched the two women walk away and Lupin took a few steps towards Mrs Weasley, «I'm going with them, Molly. We have to, hum…» Lupin struggled with his words and he spitted out, « We have to deliver Luz safely. I'll be back in a few days. » Mrs Weasley sadly smiled and nodded as Lupin rushed out of the room.

The bedroom felt almost too big now without the people who had deserted it. Harry was kneeling beside the bed at Ginny's side. Mrs. Weasley was holding Hermione's hand and Harry realized that the loud thumps had stopped. Hermione's eyes wandered around and she feebly smiled to Mrs. Weasley who murmured, «That's my girl.» Harry tried to smile as Hermione's dark circled eyes grazed him: the Bearer had said she would be okay. Harry repeated the words in his head, like a magical incantation he was trying to learn.

She's okay. She's okay. Okay.

«It's over, Hermione. That awful dream of yours is over, » Ginny softly said. Hermione nodded, «I know. The voice told me so. » Harry frowned and covered her hand with his, «What voice? » His friend moved her head to him and her chapped lips stretched into a smile, as she looked at him with an almost radiant expression, «The voice behind the haze. It told me it was going to bear the dream and the fear for me. At first, I didn't want too, it seemed unfair to give that dream to somebody else, but…» Hermione took a sip of water from the glass Mrs. Weasley had brought to her and she swallowed, letting her head fall back on the pillow. «The voice was so soothing and it encouraged me to let it go, so I did it. » Hermione's eyes wandered again and she anxiously asked, «Where's Ron? »

Mrs Weasley shot a warning glance to Ginny who had already opened her mouth. The woman forced a contrived smile on her lips, «He's gone for a few minutes, dear. I'll bring you tea and cookies.»

OOOoooOOO

Downstairs, a discussion was raging.

Remus Lupin watched Tonks with a deep frown as she insisted, shaking her head in violent denial, «Snape, you are not coming with us. No way. Remus and I are the carriers here. Moody is waiting for us. Dumbledore wants her in Hogwarts tonight and he specifically asked me to advise you to go back to Spinner's End until he sends you an owl. I think he's expecting you to be contacted by the Death Eaters about her when her appointment will be publicized tomorrow. You don't need me to know the drill. »

Looking ill pleased, Snape crossed his arms in a cold defiant gesture, «I'm not sure you're qualified to give me orders, Nymphadora.» Lupin winced when he saw Tonks face the irritated Potions Master, her nose up in an aggressive stance he knew too well. Arthur Weasley was in the middle of this, trying to chasten them.

To his side, Luz mumbled, «I don't want to teach those bloody brats. What kind of dimwitted protection plan is that, anyway? I'll be out in the open. I won't be able to go back to Magical Secret Services after that. » Lupin turned to her and he said to her, perhaps more harshly he wanted to sound, «It is a good position. If you are near Dumbledore, you'll be protected, that's all. It's the best we can offer you. You don't have the choice. »

As Tonks vehemently repeated in the background, «Over my dead body, Snape! » Lupin watched with growing anxiety her hair morph into a short pink mohawk. Luz leaned towards Lupin. He got a whiff of mint as she inched towards him. Lupin pursed his lips with nervousness when she inquired, « You had that position once, right? » The man clenched his jaw and answered back with a frown, «Yes, I did.» The scarred woman looked him in the eye without kindness, « And why did you leave it? Ineptitude? The spoiled brats got your head?»

Lupin swallowed back a blistering remark and wryly snapped, «So you know, I was appreciated by the kids. No, lycanthropy drove me away from the school. That information got away and parents did not enjoy that small detail about a DADA professor teaching their kids. » To Lupin's surprise, Luz broke into inappropriately loud laughter. He shifted his weight from one foot to another and he waited for her to calm down. She rubbed her eyes and her broken voice quivered in an unpleasant mirth as she sniggered, « If the parents were afraid of you…I'll have to keep an eye out for a HitWizard when they will learn that a Bearer is teaching their precious kids. »

OOOoooOOO

When Harry woke up a few hours later, he did not have to retrieve his glasses to see that Ron's bed was empty and partially made, as usual. He quickly got dressed and was getting ready to go down the stairs. Mrs. Weasley' soft voice made him stop in his tracks.

«Arthur went with her at St.Mungo's, Bill. I'm sure everything will be fine. I'm so glad Fabiola had accepted to do this. It must not be enjoyable for her. » Bill's voice was a bit hoarse when he said slowly, « No, Mum, I don't think it is. But we did what was best for Hermione. » Harry heard a rumble in the kitchen and he jerked when Ginny's still damp hair brushed on his bare forearm as she pressed herself against him. She put a finger to her lips as she sat in the stairs.

Harry joined her and he heard Molly Weasley's voice again. This time, she seemed in pain.

«She said it was Dolohov who did that to Hermione. Dolohov, Bill.» Ginny grasped Harry's arm and he saw mist in her eyes while he heard downstairs the legs of a chair screeching on the floor.

Bill said softly, his voice being muffled by something, «Mum, I promise you, we'll get him. He will not take more from us. » Harry swallowed and saw Ginny wipe a tear as Mrs Weasley was saying something unintelligible as she was crying harder. Bill's soothing voice was heard again, « I know, I know, Mum. I know. I promise, it won't happen again. » Mrs Weasley retorted sharply, her voice broken by her tears, «Don't make promises you cannot honour, Bill. » Silence loomed in the kitchen and was only broken by Mrs Weasley's sniffing. Bill said with resolution in his voice, « I promise nobody will forget what Dolohov did, Mum.»

Harry circled Ginny's shoulders and her mouth brushed against his ear as she whispered, «That wizard…that Death Eater killed Mum's brothers. »

Harry said nothing: he kissed her forehead and her closed eyes. He tried to be as soothing as Bill as he offered his arms to her. Harry feverishly wished he would be able to do what was needed from him, someday, that would shield that wounded family forever.

OOOoooOOO

When Hermione came back to the Burrow an hour later, Mr. Weasley held her gently by the elbow so she could safely extirpate herself out of the fireplace. Mr Weasley looked immensely tired but he could not hide the relief that was creeping to his eyes. Ron did not condescend to lift his eyes up from his eggs.

Even if Hermione's face was gaunt, something in her mouth and in her posture made Harry breathe easier. She was back: she had on her face that serious, intense look that utterly made her Hermione. She briefly smiled to Mrs. Weasley, as she dusted her robes, « I'm clear. They did not found any residual of the hex. » Hermione pulled from her robes a small vial containing a turquoise syrupy liquid. « It's a fortifying potion. Ten drops in my morning pumpkin juice for a week should help me to regain the strength and the weight I lost. »

Mr. Weasley turned to his wife and said softly as he took off his glasses to rub his tired eyes, «The Healer said we should keep her home for a few days, so she can get plenty of sleep.» Harry winced as Hermione turned to Mr.Weasley with a pleading look on her face, «Mr. Weasley, you've been so good to me, but please, I'd like to leave for Hogwarts with everybody. I need to- » Mrs. Weasley interrupted her, raising a firm hand in the air, «We'll see that, Hermione. Now, you need to rest. » The woman bravely smiled and pulled Hermione to her, her hands slicking her bushy hair around her face. Ginny jumped to her feet and held Hermione in a bear embrace.

Harry saw Hermione's eyes tear up a bit before he brought her close to her in a short clumsy hug, inhaling the usual smell of ashes that lingered after a Flood. Ron lifted himself from the table and his mother gave him an incentive glare, as he was opening his mouth to say something. Everybody froze in the kitchen when Ron threw Hermione a disgusted look: without saying a word, he turned away and banged the door under Hermione's dumbfounded expression. «What did I do?» she wearily said, rubbing her stomach, as Ginny followed her brother out with the word "war" almost glittering on her forehead.

OOOoooOOO

«This is the stupidest idea I've ever heard. And I've heard a lot of dimwitted plans, believe me.»

Later that afternoon, Harry had hastily pulled Ginny into the broom cupboard. «Urgent meeting,» he had whispered in her ear as he was literally dragging her up the stairs. Her conniving smile had morphed into a derisive smirk as he was talking to her about his Plan.

Well, I have a plan, at least.

If Harry had survived almost unscathed to Ron and Hermione's fights through the years, this one was announcing itself as One for the Ages. To this hour, Ron had not talked to her nor he had not uttered two straight words to anybody else for that matter, metamorphosing himself into a growling, monosyllabic creature with a tempestuous temper, raising a ponder-worthy question in Harry's furious mind.

How is this very different from the usual Ron?

It seemed Ron had found solace by freeing Mrs. Weasley's overflowing garden of the gnomes that were munching on her carrots. Harry had found himself in the kitchen staring at the Weasleys' clock, hauled between his desire to see how Hermione was coping and to comfort Ron. He could not explain the feeling of slight panic he was experiencing, but it seemed to him he had to do something.

Then, the Plan had struck him like a bolt of lightening and Harry had towed Ginny upstairs. She was now looking at him with mock pity. He desperately wanted to be reassured about it.

It can work, I know it.

Ginny was not making this easier. Before Harry could stiffly retort something back, Ginny crossed her arms and shot him back a smile that was shining with irony, «How do you believe you'll convince him? » Harry snorted and crossed his arms too.

Be strong

He scornfully said, «It could have been a misunderstanding, isn't it? It's possible.» Ginny leaned against the wall and tugged her t-shirt on her waist, «Yeah, it's possible. But it's awfully lame.» As Ginny let out a brief bark of laughter, Harry clenched his fists, «It's not lame at all. What's your plan?» Ginny chuckled in a way that made Harry's blood run a little faster in his veins and she answered with a huge grin, «I've learn this summer I should not have plans for others than myself, Harry. Let them work out their differences.» She stood in front of him in silence and Harry stared at the lovely smirking girl in front of him.

Harry swallowed and he insisted, with increased stubbornness, «You talked to Ron this morning and obviously your thing did not work out. » Ginny sniggered as she pointed herself, «My thing?I told him he was a git and a prat and the most insensitive bloke that ever walked on this side of the wizarding -» but Harry interrupted her tirade.

He frowned with incredulity and he said, «Insensitive, Ginny? I can't believe you were that mean to him. She said Viktor. As in Ron-can't-stand-him Viktor.» Ginny blushed and a warning tone echoed in her voice, «She was coming out from this bloody dream where she was seeing you die! She could have screamed Harry, for the love of Merlin! Would I have left stomping like a Hippogriff?»

Harry shook his head and sneezed from the dust in the closet. He could feel heat rise up to his face and he retorted back, «He took care of her, you saw it, you were there! It was like he was slapped in the face. » Ginny's eyes were fiery but she said in a calm voice, « Are we fighting about this, Harry? Because if we are, you'll never see the end of it.»

But Harry bravely decided to crossed that boundary and he hissed, «That's always the problem with them. They get into danger or trouble and then they fight and they put everybody in the middle. I'm always stuck between them.» Ginny snapped back, «Well, don't go running in the middle of it. For all I know, Ron is alone in that fight, here. Hermione does not even know about this, doesn't she? You didn't dare to tell her, do you?»

Harry opened the door and abruptly turned to her, «And you didn't say a word to her either, as I understand it. So I'll talk to Ron, and you'll get a word with Hermione. This discussion is ending right now. » Harry ran down the stairs, not looking at Ginny who was mumbling an incongruous number of words that would have won her a lengthy speech from her mother.

OOOoooOOO

Harry's heart was pumping and he banged out of the Burrow, walking in long strides towards the garden.

Think fast

Ron was in the middle of the lavish garden: Harry could see his glowering red face and the ridiculous straw hat that was hiding his hair. Ron's t-shirt was drenched with sweat and Harry could see that his friend was working with rabid energy: the gnomes were flying with regularity in the air with loud protesting shrieks. Harry approached him and wisely held himself out of the trajectories of Ron's powerful throws.

Harry smiled with a palpable uneasiness, «Soooo… Ron. What's up?»

Ron did not answer. Harry watched his friend throw away a small shrieking creature with a mighty swing. Harry whistled between his teeth with appreciation, a hand above his eyes as his gaze followed the perfect arc of the gnome's unwilling flight. He tried to look debonair, «Wow, mate. Have you thought of training seriously for Gnome Throwing? Hermione told me once about a professional Thrower who won fifty Galleons in a competition -» Ron's unusually serious face silenced Harry for a minute.

As Ron was filling the hole he had emptied with a spadeful of freshly tossed earth, Harry kicked a pebble with the tip of his sneaker. He studied his friend's face that looked more sunburned than irate. Harry decided he had waited enough. Pushing away from his mind Ginny's derisive smile, he went for it and lied with all the nerve he had, « I believe she said Vector

Ron looked down and flattened a small clump with a stomp of his earth-covered shoe. He did not utter a word and Harry believed his silence was a good omen. He was going to add on that but Ron abruptly lifted his head and Harry saw his eyes gleaming in his sweaty red face. Ron panted, «Vector

Harry swallowed and

Okay, thread lightly here, Potter

he tried to look nonchalant, as he said with a confident face, «Yeah, Ron. Vector. As in Hogwarts' Professor Vector. » Ron's eyes were almost steely when he repeated without expression, «Vector.» Harry nodded, thinking he had nailed the point. But when Ron opened his mouth again, it was to shout at him, «VECTOR? WHY IN THE BLOODY WIZARDING WORLD WOULD SHE SAY VECTOR? »

Good point

Harry stuttered a bit, « Er…You know her…she's obsessed about school and stuff. Seems logical to me.»

Somewhere, Ginny is laughing her head off

Ron shot back, «I'm not a Troll, you know. Bill tried to comfort me, can you imagine?» Ron winced with disgust and threw the shovel on the ground. « He gave me the three Bs.» Harry's mind went into overdrive and he chuckled as he understood, remembering a jab from Fred, « Oh yeah. I've heard about that one. The Big Brother Bill routine.»

Ron snorted and shook his head, « Yeah. He gave me the whole works: the serious face, the hand on the shoulder and everything. He tried to hug me, bloody hell. Don't try to fool me, Harry. I heard well. She said Viktor

Abort the plan, he's finally talking

Not wanting to directly answer to Ron, Harry pleaded, « Hermione asked for you when she finally came to her senses. She wanted to see you, Ron. If she knew how…nice and protective you were to her last night, she would have - » Ron took back the shovel and dug the earth in what seemed to be an unnecessary move to Harry. Ron's voice was raspy and pained when he said, « If she knew how nice I was to her… I'm a bloody stupid moronic idiot, mate. I thought that maybe if I…» Ron's voice trailed and he turned his back to Harry.

Harry bit his lips and watched Ron's back tense up as he was digging another random hole in the ground. Ron spoke again with a strangled voice, «Hermione saw Krum this summer.»

Harry gritted his teeth and ruffled his hair. He wanted to run back to Ginny and Hermione and shake the answers from them. He opened his mouth and uttered, «Well, mate, it's not a surprise to you, no? He's her…friend.» Ron turned to him and pointed a menacing finger to his glasses. «You hesitated here.»

Suddenly frustrated and feeling perfectly inadequate to shake his friend out of his misery, Harry shouted, «STOP THIS RUBBISH, RON! YOU'RE SEEING EVERYTHING WRONG!» They glared at each other and Ron pushed back his hat to wipe his forehead.

He spoke in a dull tone, « She went two weeks in Bulgaria before coming here. I learned about it when I used the felly tone - » Harry interrupted, «Telephone.» Ron shrugged and dug the earth with a renewed energy, «Bless you. The point is, she was visiting Vicky this summer. Her parents told me.» Ron's voice was gloomy as he kneeled to tear out a weed with abusive strength, «She never told me, mate. She hid it from me. She doesn't even know I'm aware of that. She acted so weird all summer.»

Harry had a choice: he could share Hermione's giggling reaction when he had told her that Ron fancied her, but that would implicate that he divulged something that Ron had not said with words but was oozing from his pores nevertheless.

Harry scratched his cheek and shrugged, « She was sick, mate. I don't believe she hid it from you. I think she kept silence on this. She knows how you react to him.» Ron did not show that he was listening to him.

Ron mumbled, «I tried to be nice with her this summer, you know. Treat her nicely. But there was the moment where I accidentally made her fall into the pound with all her clothes on. And there was also the time when the Bludger hit her right in the face and the time where…» Harry lifted a hand and miraculously concealed a smirk, «Okay, okay, Ron, I got the picture.»

When he watched his friend wipe his face with his t-shirt, Harry's stomach tightened. He understood what Ron was saying. He had tried to be nice to Cho Chang - with disturbing results. Wanting to be helpful, Harry said, «You shouldn't be nice, Ron. You should be yourself

Ron's head shot up and he snapped, «And what does that mean?» Harry was on the verge of shouting again but he caught a glimpse of mischief in the eyes of his friend. Harry grumbled, «Shove it, Ron. I'm trying to help you. » Ron fell back into a brooding silence and Harry silently watched him scourge the perfect rows of Mrs Weasley's garden.

OOOoooOOO

«I said Viktor

Completely abashed, Hermione repeated the three words for what seemed to her the umpteenth time. Ginny patiently replied with a quiet voice for the umpteenth time, «Yes, Hermione, you did

Hermione pushed herself away from the opened window in Ginny's bedroom, the one that was directly above the garden. Sounds of Ron shouting had lead her to eavesdrop the conversation that unfolded outside and she could not avoid being an unwilling witness to Harry's pitiful attempts to patch things up.

He's such a lousy liar – Vector

She snorted.

How pathetic is that? Nobody in his right mind would have believed that

Hermione rubbed her eyes, mortified.

«Since you will have to appear sooner or later in front of Ron's own paranoid version of the Wizengamot, I strongly suggest you plead temporary insanity, » calmly advised Ginny who was sitting on the floor. Hermione watched her dangle a straw in front of Crookshanks' avid paws. Ginny raised her eyebrows to her, « I mean, do you want me to do something about this? He's my brother, Hermione. I know all about his embarrassing stuff. I could blackowl him to get him to talk to you again.»

Hermione could not hide a frown before registering that her friend was gently mocking her.

« Ginny, don't make it worse. Please. I think it's bad enough the way it is. By the way, I was insane,» slipped Hermione between her teeth. «I was so dazed when I woke up I thought your Mum was Madam Pomfrey. I thought I was in Hogwarts. » Hermione cautiously sat on her bed while clutching her hands and she reproached her, «You should have told me. I could not understand why he was so standoff-ish this morning. When I asked Harry, he turned his head like this and he said, » Hermione did a startling impression of Harry's choppy diction when he was nervous, « Well…you know Ron. He was…worried about you. He's...a…an… emotive bloke. It goes right to his… head

Ginny's warm laughter fused at the impromptu impersonation. « Harry said that? My, he's definitely the undisputed champion of understatements. Ron's head blows up each time it's about you and Viktor. It's a miracle he can still hold his thoughts together. » Ginny sat on the bed right beside her and she lightly slapped her friend's knee. Hermione felt her cheeks turning red and she flatly said, correcting her friend, «Ginny, you know that there is no such thing as "Viktor and me". I told you all about it.»

Ginny leaned back and supported herself on her elbows, as she chuckled, « Yeah, you told me about the way he kissed you this summer and his weird fondling habits.» She rolled her eyes and Hermione could not hide a smirk before Ginny spoke again, « Let me give you a friendly word of advice: never say that to Ron, even if you're tempted to do so when you'll be married with him for years and you're pregnant with your tenth child. There will never be a safe moment for sharing this. He'll buy himself a one-way ticket to St. Mungo's psychiatric ward.»

Profoundly annoyed by Ginny's ludicrous allusions, Hermione brooded in silence and she shrugged as she let herself fall on her back besides her friend who was indulging into ridiculous mirth about this.

Married with Ron - Good Lord

Fred and George, I command, leave this poor girl's mind and body right now

She feigned detachment as she looked at the ceiling.

Of course, she already knew what Ginny was bringing up. She knew about that darn immature male wizards' rivalry – she had read all about it in She and He: An Essay on Comparative Psychology of Witches and Wizards under Seventeen written by those two specialists, what was their names? –

I have enough material to write a sequel to that book

I should owl them

Hermione hated the idea she was some kind of a territory that had to be won. It was enough to make her resent Viktor and Ron.

She had been sick this summer with that awful hex that had made her feel not as sharp as she would have expected herself to be. What troubled her the most were not the physical effects of it: she could easily explain them. Her loosing weight from the spell disturbed Ron and Harry way too much but what can you expect when one is avoiding to get some sleep because of a horrible dream? It was eating her from the inside.

What secretly worried Hermione about her condition was that she felt her mind was not as solid and resourceful as she wanted it to be. She had memory losses and her mind would turn blank when she tried to remember complicated spells she had read only a few months ago; that made her freak out. She was feeling not much more in control right now, even if the cloud that enshrouded her mind had disappeared.

The undeniable proof about her brain being affected by the spell happened when she arrived at the Burrow. She willingly accepted Ginny's awful, disastrous plan to try to soften her thunderous friendship with Ron.

« First, » had commanded Ginny, « put an end to the foolish fights. »

That resolution had lasted two whole hours.

«Then, » had said Ginny, her finger raised in the air, «tone down the lectures, listen to him with an open face, banter a bit…you know, friendly flirting. »

Flirt? What do you mean, flirt?

Like bat my eyelashes? No way.

Look what happened, Ginny.

Ron took it as a war declaration.

«Finally, smile to him, » had added Ginny, slightly insisting on the word for a reason Hermione could not comprehend.

Well, he became downright paranoid.

What did I do wrong?

Now, Ron was hurt and angry with her because she grumbled something while she was half conscious after what seemed to be an powerful, terrifying act of magic, if she trusted Harry and Ginny's pale faces when she woke up. Ron was infuriating, really: she could have said she had failed Ancient Runes and he would have opened a mildly interested eye. She said Viktor – two mere syllables - and the world as they knew it was coming to an end.

Initially, Hermione had refused to admit to herself that she could maybe prefer the one of those two g –er, boys - who had the distressing habit of barking at her while expressing his feelings by fighting with her. However, something happened in Bulgaria; Hermione had felt the hex wake up. She had to seize herself not to leave early and to run back to the Burrow. She had the irrational feeling she would be safe only if she was back at the Burrow. Nowhere else, not even at Hogwarts. Or in St. Mungo's.

Suddenly, Hermione had not being able to stop herself from imagining what Ron thought of what happened at the Ministry, even though Viktor was really sweet and encouraging with the Quidditch lessons.

Ron would have ridiculed me

Ron and her did not have the chance to talk much about the fight last spring and Ron was surprisingly capable of analyzing the possible contingencies of events – well, he had surprised her in the past. With a vague excitement she could not explain, she had finally indulged by sending him an owl one day with the uttermost caution, not saying where she was.

Hermione thought that her parents blew everything up by saying to him she was visiting Viktor: she understood now Ron's stiff welcome.

Hermione had felt an overwhelming urge to see Ron, to talk to him, to evacuate what happened in the Department of Mystery where they had fought. She could not share what she went through with Viktor. Only Ron – not even Harry - could bring her what she needed at that time.

Closure about all this.

A plan, maybe

A line of action

We've been sharing the same things; the same events, the same fears, and our concerns for the same endangered friend

Ron and I have been sharing so much for almost six years now

These thoughts made her close her eyes as warmth heated up her face. Hermione would have never acknowledged it last year but she was beginning to understand, perhaps a bit against herself, that Ron and her had much more in common than what could meet the eye.

In the last weeks, she had made herself drunk silly, boldly asking Harry if Ron liked her. Hermione was expecting him to say in a choppy voice, «What… are you… talking about?» but when he answered with a sincere – drunken but sincere - seriousness that Ron fancied her, she had been embarrassed beyond belief and the whiff of triumph she had felt was nothing to be reassured about.

Talk about things you're not ready to acknowledge.

But could Harry have lied about this?

And there was the "bring me to bed" thing. Hermione winced as she remembered in a blur Ron helping her to her room and how he literally had to struggle with her so she would finally let go of him.

At least, she could pretend she did not remember that. Maybe that was the only defence for the Viktor incident.

Ron, I swear, I truly don't remember

But why would I even bother – he's the one all worked out by this

It's not like I had control or something

When it's about Viktor, Ron is insane

Ginny looked at her intently and jittered, the mattress squeaking under her, «Okay, Hermione. You said Viktor. Ron is not amused. Just tell him that you -» But Hermione was ruefully asking, «Did Ron act as Harry said he did?»

Ginny heaved a dramatic sigh and she retorted, «Hermione, come on. You were not awaking up and we were so worried about you. Ron refused to leave your bedside. He sat up to you with a face I never saw on him before. What you have said is said. I truly believe that it's no big deal. Stop whipping yourself senseless with this. He's going to pass his anger getting rid of the gnomes and when he'll be exhausted, you'll just grab him by the collar and talk to him. I may lend you my cupboard if you wish. It's a great place to sort things out.»

Hermione unconvincingly smiled at Ginny who jumped to her feet and scooped Crookshanks from the floor. The red-haired teen smiled but her voice was serious as she said, « Look, Hermione: Ron will willingly believe any rubbish rumoured about you if he thinks you fancy some bloke. I mean, some other bloke than himself. He's acting really possessive when it's about you, Viktor or not.» Ginny slowly stroke the cat and Hermione heard Crookshanks purring in a low, contented meow.

Hermione spoke back the most logical thing that came to her mind, « He's possessive when it's about you too.» Ginny's mouth gaped and her voice was harsh when she shot back, «Hermione, for the love of Merlin. These are not the same feelings at all and don't even try to convince me you believe that.»

As Hermione was trying to think about all the possible buts, Ginny spoke again with unusual intensity, «You guys really need to get this out of your system. You're my friend and as disturbing the idea of you willingly snogging my brother may be, you two are killing me. Stop thinking and do something, bloody hell. Life is too short to wait for it to happen. But what you really need now is rest.» Hermione could not find anything to say.

Me kissing Ron

It's disturbing to you

Imagine how disturbing it is to me

After exchanging a soulful look with Ginny who went out the bedroom holding and still stroking an ecstatic Crookshanks, Hermione brushed her hand against her stomach under her shirt and felt with the tip of her finger the small crescent shape mark now etched in her skin.

Hermione sat up on the bed and she lowered her hand to the floor next to her trunk she had started to fill up. She grabbed a heavy, leather bound album. Hermione dropped it off on her lap and she brushed the tip of her fingers on the leather, opening mechanically the album to a page she had looked at for a long time this summer.

On that magical picture Bill had taken, before considerably lesser happy moments, Ron had a bright smile on his face, his eyes squinting from the lights glowing in the stadium and one of his alarming long arms was circling Harry's shoulders. Harry was laughing and adjusting his glasses with one hand, waving cheerfully. Hermione looked at her own relaxed, smiling face as she was squeezing up to Ron to be in the picture. They were wearing those obnoxious rosettes from the Quidditch World Cup.

She had never realized it before, but it occurred to her this summer that on this picture Ron was leaning against her, his head tilted towards her. Hermione brushed her lower lip with two fingers. She could not imagine going back to Hogwarts without speaking to Ron.

She glimpsed at the picture a last time and she closed it with determination.

But I can talk to him or scream at him

I can do that, no problem

Hermione reflected with growing trouble that her two biggest challenges were to find exactly the words to say and to ask herself if she really wanted to say them.

I'll have to think about that.

Hermione is falling back into old patterns, as you may see. I hope I captured her ambivalence towards Ron and Ginny's no-nonsense attitude.

Chapter 14 will bring them to Hogwarts with mystery, of course teenage pathos and –gasp - jalousy.

To be continued.