Author's Note: This is an important chapter, so sorry it took this long to update. Thanks to those who reviewed in previous chapters and those who have already seen this chapter.
Chapter 4: Rain
After lunch Ron and Harry headed outside to play quidditch again, but about an hour later Harry came in alone. Mrs. Weasley asked where Ron was and Harry answered, "He's just outside thinking."
"Good lord, I hope he doesn't hurt himself!" Fred had just walked in and George was right behind him.
"Yeah, I saw him, his face is all screwed up," said George.
"But George, when is his face not screwed up? It's been that way as long as I can remember."
"Good point…"
"Well you two leave him alone, he must have something very important on his mind," Mrs. Weasley said.
"Oy! Leave us alone! We don't live here anymore!" George said indignantly.
"While that may be, I'm still your mother and that gives me license to be able to punish you for the rest of your lives, understand?" she asked in a threatening tone.
"Yes Mum," they answered together.
"Why are you two here anyway?" Hermione asked.
Fred answered this one, "you see we're not going to see Ginny until Christmas. We're going to be traveling for a few weeks looking for new," he paused, "ingredients for the shop."
"Sooo…we're giving her a present before she starts her 7th year," George said finishing his twin's sentence.
"What did you get her?" Hermione asked
"We're not about to tell you lot," Fred said.
"And why not?" Hermione asked.
George answered, "Because one of you will probably tell her! Now, if you'll excuse us…" and pop, they were gone. About five minutes later they all heard a scream that was unmistakably Ginny's. Everyone rushed upstairs, and on the way they heard another scream, they sped up. Mrs. Weasley had pushed herself ahead of everyone so that she reached the door first and barged through it. There they saw Ginny, Fred, and George.
Relieved that Ginny was alright, they sighed and then they saw that one of the thing that Ginny was holding, a letter. It was a familiar looking letter and she was also holding something else that they couldn't see. Hermione was the first one to catch her breath and speak, "Ginny, what's going on?"
Ginny said nothing she seemed too excited to even speak so she just gave Hermione the letter she was holding and she started hugging her two brothers.
Dear Miss Ginerva Weasley,
We are pleased to welcome you back for your…
It was just the standard Hogwarts letter, she shuffled the pages, a book list and…
Miss Weasley,
I am proud to personally request that you be Gryffindor's new quidditch captain…
Hermione had read this aloud and then said, "That's great Ginny, but I don't mean to be a downer or anything, but is that really worth screaming about?"
"No, not really, but this is!" Into everyone's plain view had come and amazing, brand new broom. They gathered around it, "it's the new Firebolt 1000, they actually found a way to better the original Firebolt," Ginny said proudly.
Harry reached out a hand to feel it, but Ginny's hand came out of nowhere and slapped him hard on the back of the hand. "Ow! That hurt! Look, it's beginning to swell!" not only that, but the outline of Ginny's hand was becoming visible. Rubbing his hand, Harry spoke again, "Did you two get it for her?" He nodded his head towards the twins.
"Yep," the answered together.
"How did you know she was going to get the letter, I've been waiting for that letter for a week now," Mrs. Weasley said.
"Well…" Fred said, "We have a very…uh…special relationship with the head mistress."
"Ah the memories of detention," George said, "You know, one time we got in trouble for…"
"George, we don't need to all remember that one, so let's go back to the point. Well our special relationship…"
"And some Wonder Witch products," George coughed.
"Came in handy. We managed to procure the information of Ginny being made quidditch captain, so we asked McGonagall…"
"Professor McGonagall boys," Mrs. Weasley interrupted.
"Mum, she's not our teacher anymore and we're not boys, we're grown men!" George said.
"Hey, hey, hey, back to MY story, ummm…where was I? Oh, right, so we asked McGonagall," Mrs. Weasley glared at him, "if we could have the letter instead of Ginny."
George puffed up and said, "Well of course she complied, so once we had the letter in hand we went out and got the broom and came here."
"You honestly got McGonagall to agree to that?" Harry asked in disbelief.
As though highly affronted, George said, "and why not?"
"Maybe because you two were the biggest pains in her ass besides Harry, Ron, and occasionally myself," Hermione interjected.
"Hermione! Please refrain from using that kind of language in my house," Mrs. Weasley said with a scandalized look on her face.
"Sorry Mrs. Weasley, I meant biggest pains in her but."
"That's a bit better."
"Just because we caused a little mischief here and there during our Hogwarts careers, I think we compensated for most of it after what we did to Umbridge. Good times…" Fred said drifting off in his reminiscing.
"Hey Mum, can I go try out my broom now?" Ginny pleaded.
"Well…"
Pleeeaaase?"
"I guess it wouldn't hurt," and without another word Ginny was out the door. As she was going down the stairs, she yelled, "Harry please bring your Firebolt!" over her shoulder. Harry figured she wanted to challenge his broom and his skills; he accepted the challenge and raced after her.
"Well, I'm not going to miss this, who's with me!" George said. Fred, George, and Hermione were next to leave, but they had the sense to apparate, and when Harry heard the cracks, he stopped, rolled his eyes and vanished with a crack too.
After the final crack, Mrs. Weasley said, "Oh, why not," and she disappeared also.
When everyone was outside Fred and George walked over to Ron, who still had that odd look on his face, and said, "HELLO!" in the same exact manner as they had done at the party the night before. Ron jerked his slouching stance and whipped around, wand out.
"Oh, it's just you two," he muttered with a relieved look on his face. He stuffed his wand back into his pants and added, "What's going on?"
"A broom race of some kind is shaping up," Fred answered.
"Between who and who and more importantly, what are they riding?" he inquired.
"It's Harry versus Ginny, Harry's riding his Firebolt and Ginny is riding her Firebolt 1000," George answered.
"A Firebolt 1000! How'd she get that?"
"We did," Fred said simply.
"You can afford that!"
"That and much, much more, we've had an extra flow of business with all the Hogwarts students home for the summer."
"And now that their letters are out, all of the ones who already came will be back and many, many more," George said finishing his brother's sentence.
"So why am I not holding a Firebolt 1000?" Ron asked indignantly.
"Because Ginny was just made quidditch captain Ron."
"Oh," he said some what quietly, it had once been his dream to be quidditch captain. He perked up and said, "That's great, I'm going to go congratulate her."
Fred answered, "Well that's going to be kind of difficult," he pointed upwards, "She's a bit out of reach." There was Ginny soaking up all the glory of her new broom and getting used to it.
"Ready or not here I come Ginny," Harry shouted up towards her.
"Around that big oak three times alright?" Ginny asked
"Sure, but what about a rounding and endpoint point?"
"Ummm…let's see…how about them," she pointed downward. "They can be both."
"I'm just going to go tell them so we don't scare them."
"Fine, but let's hurry this up, I want to beat you before that storm rolls in." she pointed to the east.
""It does look pretty bad, it's a good thing that we've got the fastest brooms ever made."
"You mean I do."
"We'll see about that."
When Harry was back in the air, Hermione shot up red sparks to signal them to get ready, thee seconds later she shot up green sparks. They were off!
It was a close race the entire way. They were neck n' neck, but back on the ground, Fred and George had their own commentary going on. "How is Harry keeping up with her?" George asked, completely in awe.
"Because Harry knows how to make his broom go faster than it's really supposed to, he has a knock for that," Fred answered.
"But surely you can only push a broom so far!" Hermione exclaimed incredulously as Harry and Ginny were finishing the second lap. Since they were starting the final lap, Hermione did one of those complicated little flicks of the wand and a yellow mist appeared to pose as a finish line.
"Hermione, Hermione, Hermione, when you've got so much natural talent and skill with something, you'd be surprised what can happen," George said.
"Hark who's talking! You yourself doubted two seconds ago!" Ron said.
"Oh look they're coming around the tree!" Mrs. Weasley said excitedly, even she had gotten into the race.
In a flurry of dust and leaves the two racers whooshed across the finish line. "And it looks like we have a winner!" Fred said patting Harry and Ginny on the backs. "But the important thing is that you know that you're both winners," he said in a mocking tone.
"Yes, yes, but who won?" Ginny asked exasperatedly.
"Well according to the two of us…you know I could just stop here and have you wait for the update, but…Harry won!" George said. "He actually won! Well done Harry."
"WHAT! How the hell did he beat me!"
"Ginny!" Mrs. Weasley cut in.
"I have a new AND better broom!" Ginny was screaming in total shock.
"Ginny, you weren't using your broom in the right way. Don't you remember in my second year when I used my Nimbus 2000 to get past Malfoy to grab the snitch?"
"Yeah…"
"Well, I just did the same thing to you."
"Awwww…that is soooo…wrong!" Ginny said scandalized.
"No, I just used my skill and experience to its full potential."
Ginny stuck her tongue out at him, turned on her heel and stormed into the house, her Firebolt 1000 still in hand. "If it makes you feel any better, you did really well for your first time on a new broom!" Harry yelled after her. All they heard was the door slam.
"Don't worry about it Harry, she's been short with everyone lately," Hermione said trying to comfort the slightly confused Harry.
"Oh my goodness! I completely forgot about dinner!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed.
"Do you need help Mrs. Weasley?" Hermione asked.
"YES! Thank you Hermione! You are a life saver!" and they both bustled inside next leaving the boys alone.
Fred was the first one to speak, "well we have to go, we've been away from the shop long enough."
"Yeah, tell Mum we said good bye," George finished, and with a crack, they were gone.
"You want to go inside and play some chess?" Harry asked.
"No, I think I'll stay out here a little while longer," Ron answered.
"Alright, are you sure you're okay though?"
"Actually, I think there's something I need you to do for me."
"Sure, anything."
"Well we did it, we got dinner on the table," Mrs. Weasley said as she placed the final dish on the table. "Harry would you mind calling Ron in?"
"No problem Mrs. Weasley," Harry answered, and he headed outside. "Ron! You're mum wants you to come inside for dinner."
"Now?"
"Yes now."
"But…"
"It's okay, you can still do it after dinner."
"Okay," Ron answered glumly, giving in to his rumbling stomach.
Once inside, Ron was so deep in thought that for once he hardly ate anything even though he was extremely hungry. What little he did eat was still shoveled into his mouth at a record breaking speed. Once he finished, he rushed outside.
"He's been acting so weird lately," Hermione said.
"But…" Harry started.
"Even more weird than usual," she finished. "Oh look, it's starting to rain," she commented.
"Oh no! Ron is out there! He'll get soaked through," Mrs. Weasley said worriedly.
"He probably won't even notice it," Harry muttered.
"Still looking worried, Mrs. Weasley said, "Someone should go out and get him," she looked at Harry.
"Sorry Mrs. Weasley, I can't I've got to go apologize to Ginny for beating her," he replied.
"Why should you have to apologize for winning," Hermione asked.
"So she'll talk to me again."
Mrs. Weasley looked at Hermione, "I guess I'll do it, Hermione said answering Mrs. Weasley's look. She opened the back door and yelled, "RON!" he didn't even flinch.
"Well I could have done that," Mrs. Weasley said under her breath.
Hermione tried again, "RON!" There was still no response, "RONALD BILIUS WEASLEY!" nothing. She sighed, she knew what she had to do, and with a quick look back inside she sprinted to where Ron was.
"Ron, you do know it's raining right?"
"Huh, oh you're here! Uh…why?"
"Because you're Mum wants you to come inside."
"Oh right," Hermione was pretty sure she heard disappointment in her voice. "Ummm…Hermione can I talk to you about something?"
"Now? Ron, it's pouring out here!"
"I know…but it's important and well…you're the only one here…"
"I'd be more than happy to talk about inside…"
"I know, but we, I mean, I need to talk about it right here, right now."
"But Ron…"
In one swift movement he stood up and grabbed her hands, "Hermione if don't say what I need to say now, I will never be able to even try saying it again," he looked into her eyes and let go of her hands, it seemed too awkward.
"I guess it wouldn't hurt…"
"Thanks Hermione," they looked into each others eyes again, she broke the connection and Ron took it as a signal to speak. "Hermione, it may seem odd to you, but what I need to about is you…and a little bit about me."
"Oh, she looked a little taken aback, "alright."
He breathed in deeply and began, "Hermione, I don't know if you know this, but I love you."
"Ginny was right!" she said under her breath.
"What did you say?"
"What? Oh, nothing, please continue."
"Oh right, ummm…I love you not just as a friend or a sister, but I actually love you, love you. I love the way you talk, the way you laugh, the way you smile," she smiled and blushed.
"Really?"
"Really. I loved watching you study in school or reading. I love when you were correcting my papers and your nose scrunched up when you found a mistake," she giggled, he smiled. "I love all the little things about you and all the big things, and those in between. Hermione, are you crying?"
"Yes I am because I'm a little surprised actually."
"Oh," he answered softly, "well…why?"
"Mostly because of things that happened in school. There were three essential things that make me think this way. In fourth year you didn't ask me to the Yule Ball."
"Yes I did."
"Yes, but you did as a last resort."
"That's not true, you see I was beginning to really like you back then and I was too nervous to ask you in time. When I saw you with Krum, I wanted to die! You looked gorgeous, but I knew that Krum didn't see all of you. He only saw that you were cute and figured you were smart since you spent a lot of time in the library."
Hermione didn't answer right away, but when she did speak, she said, "Well, what about in sixth year and your Lavender Brown fling? Before you two started going out, I thought you were finally going to ask me out," she said the last part quietly.
"That was so dumb of me and I regret it. Every time I kissed Lavender , I wished it were you. I had resorted to dating Lavender because I was tired of being the only one who had never been kissed! I was tired of being made fun of. I barely knew her and she barely knew me."
She thought about what he said before answering and then said, "What about seventh year. You completely ignored me most of the time."
"We were both busy helping Harry and you were under a lot of stress, I was trying desperately to keep Harry in high spirits. I didn't want to also have the guilt of breaking your heart."
"Awww…that's so sweet."
"Hermione, we've been through a lot together, but there are some things that I've dreamed of that…" his voice drifted off.
"Me too…" there were no longer any words needed for them, Hermione kissed him gently on the lips. Ron felt a surge of energy and emotion run through him, the kiss deepened. Hermione was welcoming in things that she had never felt before. Then Ron picked her up unexpectedly, his quidditch muscles came in handy. He started to spin her around slowly, and even though it was still raining they were both in heaven.
They broke apart, "Ron," she smiled, "we just kissed."
"I know," he kissed her again, "you know, I've never been so happy."
"We've never been so wet either."
"Yeah, we better get inside," he laughed.
Mrs. Weasley was still in the kitchen when Ron and Hermione burst through the door, soaking wet, hugging and kissing each other. Then Harry and Ginny burst in too. They had been watching the whole thing from a window.
"Finally! But you could have done it a bit sooner you know," Harry said.
"Leave us alone," Ron replied. Even though he was a bit mad at Harry, he couldn't stop smiling and neither could Hermione.
Ginny spoke up next, "See Hermione? I told you!"
"Yes, you did, BUT, I told you that I didn't need any potion."
"What potion?" Ron asked confused. "You know what, I don't even care." They kissed gently again.
"You know it's nice together and all, but must you display it so much in front of us?" Ginny asked.
"Yeah, get a room," Harry added
"Just like I told Fred and George, leave them alone," Mrs. Weasley said grinning slightly herself.
