Yes, the dreaded Author's Note: I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update, I've been super busy with my school play I just finished, but I'll just let you enjoy (hopefully) chapter 3.
Chapter 3: Ewww…!
"Ginny! Get your ass up here now!" Hermione screamed from the top of the staircase.
"Why, what did I do?" Ginny screamed back.
"Both of you shut up and yell at each other in a room WITH a silencing charm!" Mrs. Weasley yelled over both of them.
"FINE!" they yelled together. Ginny scurried up the stairs to her room, there she found Hermione tapping her foot with her hands behind her back.
"Ummm…Hermione, what's behind your back?" Ginny asked, a bit scared, her wand was over on her bed, which was on the other side of the room. Hermione first pulled out her wand, Ginny stepped back, but Hermione pointed it towards the door. The silencing charm Mrs. Weasley had requested was cast. Then she withdrew her other arm and unfolded her clenched hand, and inside it was a small, purple bottle.
Hermione's foot had stopped tapping, but on her face, she managed to pull an adorable face with the cutsie voice to go with it. She shook the bottle a little and said, "you know Ginny, this looks an awful lot like the LaVeritisirum we saw in Fred and George's shop."
"Hermione, I can explain…"
"Ginny!" Hermione cut her off, the cutsie voice was gone, "I asked you not to get this potion. I don't want to force Ron to fall in love with me!
"And I told you that we don't have to do that! He ALREADY LOVES YOU!" Hermione blushed.
"Yeah, but I still don't want you to use it! I don't want to hurt him, you saw the possible side effects on the bottle! And if Ron ever found out, he would turn me away and you know it!"
"But the beauty of it is, is that Ron won't find out. We can both keep a secret, and besides, he's too thick to figure something like that out."
"Don't say that!"
"How many times have you called him thick!"
Okay, well I was angry at him then."
"Uh huh, yeah whatever."
"Look, just promise me you won't use it on Ron," Hermione pleaded.
"Hermione, I can't do that," Ginny answered, looking at her feet.
"Fine, I'll just have to hide this from you so that you can't use it!"
"Hermione that's not fair, he's my brother, it's okay if I do something to him!"
"No Ginny it's not, this conversation is over," and with that she stormed out.
HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP
Ron and Harry were hovering outside about 10 feet above the ground tossing a beat up, old quaffle around. Harry was talking about possible ways to get Ron and Hermione together. Ron wasn't, listening though, he was thinking about possible ways too, he was so distracted, that he was only just able to catch the quaffle. It almost caught him in the face a couple of times. "Ron? Ron, did you hear me?" Harry asked.
"Huh? Oh no, I didn't, sorry mate," Ron said slightly ashamed.
"I said, I wonder what Hermione is yelling about in there."
"Let's go find out, I just hope she's not mad at me."
"Ron, why would she be mad at you?"
"I don't know, it's Hermione!" Ron answered as they dismounted and headed into the kitchen, still clutching their brooms. They had just gotten in the door in time to see Ginny's hair whipping out of site and her pounding feet heading up the stairs. "Mum, what's going on?"
"I'm not exactly sure dear, but Hermione is not happy. Oh, and don't try to find out why, I told Hermione to put a silencing charm on the door," Mrs. Weasley said. Ron and Harry looked at each other, they sometimes wondered if Mrs. Weasley was a legilimens because they had both been thinking of eavesdropping on the girls.
"Fine we won't eavesdrop, promise," Ron said.
Out of no where Harry asked, "Mrs. Weasley, are there any cauldron cakes left?"
"No Harry, we ran out of those yesterday, you ate the last one," Mrs. Weasley answered, very confused.
"Oh right, well then can Ron and I pick up some sweets from Honeydukes?"
"I suppose so…"
"Great, we won't take long, promise, I'll even get you something special. Come on Ron," he said pulling Ron back outside.
"Thank you?" Mrs. Weasley said calling after them.
"Harry what was that about?" Ron inquired.
"I needed some way to get away from her without her being suspicious," Harry answered with a mischievous look in his eyes.
"You mean you're going to go spy on them anyway?"
"Duh! Okay, I'm going to go and hover right below the window, there's no silencing charm on that!"
"These are one of the times when I'm glad you're my friend. Good luck Harry, I'll meet you in Honeydukes, you can probably find me eating all the free samples."
"See ya soon," Harry said chuckling, and with that Harry mounted his Firebolt and kicked off. By the time Harry got in hearing distance of the girls' conversation, he heard Ginny say, "the beauty of it is, is that Ron won't find out." Harry was thoroughly confused, but kept listening anyway. Once he heard, "look, just promise me you won't use it on Ron," he dropped a little. What were they going to use on Ron? When Harry went back to the window, Ginny and Hermione had left, but he glimpsed Hermione coming back in putting something in her old school trunk and locking it. Harry flew to the broom shed, still thinking hard, put his firebolt away, then apparated to Hogsmede.
When Harry walked into Honeydukes, he wasn't quite sure what to tell Ron. Then, out of nowhere Ron slid beside Harry and asked, "So what did they say?"
"Ummm…I'm not entirely sure, I came into the conversation at the wrong time, none of it made much sense." This was partially true, Harry didn't know exactly what the girls had been talking about, but he didn't say anything about the thing Hermione had put into the trunk.
"Oh well, it was a good try. Well, since we're here, let's get that dessert we promised and maybe some drinks too," Ron said, a note of disappointment in his voice. As Ron and Harry worked their way through the shelves of delectable treats, they picked out their favorites, and some new treats that caught their eyes. When they exited Honeydukes they were laden with sweets.
Harry and Ron managed to squeeze through to the bar without dropping any of the sweets in the Three Broomsticks. They ordered their drinks from Madam Rosmerta, and once they had their drinks they headed to a side street and disapparated.
They apparated right outside the kitchen door and headed inside. Immediately Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, and Hermione relieved them of their burdens.
"Thanks," said an immensely grateful Ron.
"No problem," Ginny replied. As soon as the packages had been removed form in front of them, they could see and feel the tension between Ginny and Hermione. Harry sort of knew why they were mad at each other, but Ron was due less as per usual.
There wasn't silence in the room for long, once the Shepard's pie Mrs. Weasley had prepared was finished, the Weasley was flooded with people. Remus and Tonks, who are still dating, Bill and Fleur, who are just past the one year mark, Kingsley, Fred and George, and their "serious" girlfriends, Charlie, and Mr. Weasley, he was just coming home from work. There were so many people that Harry and Ron had set up tables outside, it was their turn to have a table feud. Harry was winning until Mrs. Weasley told them to act their age and put the tables right. Harry and Ron's trip to Honeydukes had paid off. There were so many people that Fred and George stepped out for a minute to grab a couple boxes of firewhiskey. Everyone except Ginny indulged themselves, even Hermione and Mrs. Weasley had a glass each.
Ron being Ron had been looking forward to this ever since the day he had turned 17. Ron indulged a bit too much, Harry figured he might as well have a good laugh since Ron was so drunk. "Ron, why did the chicken cross the road?"
"How the hell should I know?"
"To get to the other side."
"To get to the other side? OH, to get to the other side!" Ron burst out laughing. Fred and George, who had gotten firewhiskey for this exact purpose, burst out laughing too. Then, unexpectedly, Ron stopped laughing and his head hit his plate with a loud "thunk".
Mrs. Weasley, still giggling said, "is he all right?" Harry got on eyelevel with him and looked him over.
"He's fine Mrs. Weasley," Harry answered. He was soon bored with Ron, so he turned towards Ginny and Hermione who were deep in conversation. Ginny had figured since Hermione had some alcohol in her, that maybe she could convince her to let her use the potion. She had no such luck though.
"Ginny, I've only had one glass of firewhiskey, I'm not drunk.
"Please Hermione! It's for both of your own good!"
"No Ginny," she turned around and almost bumped into Harry who looked as though he were trying to get into the conversation. "Oh hey Harry, what's up?"
"Oh nothing, it's just I was trying to get in someone's conversation seeing as how my drinking partner is knocked out."
"Oh no! Is he okay? I didn't even notice because Ginny was heckling me."
"About what?"
"There's a potion she wants me to use on someone and I won't let her."
"Is that why you two were so mad at each other earlier?"
"Yes, Harry if I tell you where the potion is, will you please promise to keep it safe for me? I know I can trust you."
"Sure Hermione, why don't you tell me now so that I can sneak up and get it later."
"Harry, I never said it was upstairs," Hermione said with a suspicious look on her face.
"Oh, I just assumed…"
"Oh, okay, look it's in my trunk and all you have to do is tap it three times with your wand and it will appear on top of my copy of Hogwarts, A History."
"Got it Hermione," Harry answered.
Ginny had started listening to this conversation, realized what they were talking about, and once Hermione finished giving instructions, she yelled, "HA!" and rushed towards the door leading inside.
"Harry GO!" Hermione yelled. Harry apparated to Ginny's room and was relieved to see that Ginny hadn't gotten there yet. He followed Hermione's instructions and the little purple bottle off of Hermione's old, beaten up copy of Hogwarts, A History and apparated back to the back yard. "Did you get it?" Hermione asked anxiously.
Panting, Harry answered, "got it right here Hermione."
"Great! Now, could you please put it somewhere where Ginny won't find it."
"What now, I jus…"
"Yes now! Now GO!" Hermione gave him a slight push. Harry, not wanting to make Hermione any angrier, apparated to his and Ron's room. He hid it in his school trunk too, but instead it was in another pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks. He did not examine it at all because he wanted some more firewhiskey or butterbeer, and possibly another treacle tart before he had to drag Ron upstairs.
When Harry was back outside, Ginny was back and she was giving him a look worthy of Malfoy, it was a look of pure loathing. Harry ignored it, grabbed an unopened firewhiskey out of George's hand and sat next to the still unconscious Ron. Luckily for him, a tray of treacle tarts appeared right in front of him, he looked down the table towards the smiling Mrs. Weasley and thanked her, and then he dug in.
Around midnight Mrs. Weasley sent Ginny up to bed, "but Mum, I'm the only one who's underage now, why can't I just stay with everyone else?"
"No, now get to bed!" an impatient Mrs. Weasley answered. Ginny stomped upstairs, she had had a really bad day, Hermione hadn't let her use the potion when the time would have been perfect, Harry had gotten the potion before her, and now she had to go to bed before everyone else.
Too soon, everyone else was getting ready to go home. Before Fred and George handed to their flats with their girlfriends, Fred leaned next to Ron and yelled in his ear, "Wake UP!"
Ron jerked awake, there were the remnants of uneaten mashed potatoes on his face, "huh? Whazagoinon?" His eyes were a classic firewhiskey red and they were extremely puffy.
"Nothing Ron, go back to sleep," said Harry.
"No! At least let me clean him up and get him in a real bed so that you three can't torture him anymore," Hermione said unexpectedly. Everyone turned around and stared at her. "What? I have the right to be concerned don't I?" Fred, George, and Harry lifted an eyebrow simultaneously. "Forget you guys, I'm going to do it!" then she did exactly what she said she was going to do. She took her own napkin and wiped Ron's face, then with a pop, they were both gone.
"Well, I know she's happy right now," said Fred slyly.
"Leave them alone," Mrs. Weasley said, she wanted just as much as anyone else to see Ron and Hermione together.
Meanwhile, up in Ron's room, Hermione levitated the once again unconscious Ron onto his bed. Her heart was pounding, she was lifting Ron onto his bed. As she eased him down onto his pillows, Ron woke up and vomited spectacularly all over his bed sheets and pillows, just as Hermione had set him down. "Ewww…Ron!"
It sounded like Ron mumbled, "sorry," as Hermione levitated him back off of the bed, down the hall and into the bathroom. Then it hit her, "oh my God, he needs a shower! I should get Mrs. Weasley, she could do this, he was her son, but it is Ron, and what wouldn't I give just to see Ron without a shirt on. No Hermione, NO! That is wrong, sick and wrong! I'm going to go get Mrs. Weasley…wait a minute though…I can't leave Ron by himself, he could hurt himself in this state! Come on Hermione! Think! You were top of your class at Hogwarts! That's it, I'll charm him clean!
Once Hermione had him cleaned him up, she took him back to his room and put him back on his newly cleaned bed. Then she pointed her wand at him and whispered "innervate," Ron's eyes fluttered. "Ron, I'm going leave, but I'm putting a trash can next to your bed in case you need to…well, you know…" Ron grunted in assent. "I'm going now…" but she heard a loud snore and knew that Ron was long gone by now.
When Hermione aparrated into the backyard, Mrs. Weasley shoved some dishes in her hands saying, "thanks so much for helping Ron, but would please help clean up out here too? Our little get-together turned into quite a party…thanks so much dear," and she bustled away.
By the time Hermione crawled into bed at 1:30, she was exhausted, but of course, that wasn't the end of it, "Hermione, Hermione, wake up!" Ginny said. Hermione groaned. Then she felt someone tugging her sheets and poking her, "I said get up!"
"Nooo…Ginny leave me alone, can't we talk about this in the morning?"
"NO, no get up!"
"Ginny, I will hex you, let me sleep! I promise we will talk tomorrow."
"You mean later…"
She groaned again, "yes, whatever, just let me sleep," she whined.
"Fine, but it's only because you're really tired." Hermione was fast asleep within minutes. All too soon Ginny was shaking her awake again.
"Ginny, I told you let me sleep!" Hermione said groggily.
"I did, Mum wants you to eat some lunch before 1:30."
"But it was 1:30 2 minutes ago."
"Yeah, 1:30 am to you, I'm talking about 1:30 pm.
"Oh, well…if I have tooo…"
"Yes you do, so get up." Hermione slowly got dressed and headed downstairs for some lunch. She looked outside the kitchen window and thought that it might actually be a nice day, it was nice and sunny out.
