Waiting and Hoping

Chapter 5

Breakfast the following morning was an uncomfortable affair. Mr and Mrs Weasley kept shooting her furtive looks as though they expected her to start crying again and Ron was not up yet to save her from the awkwardness.

"So what are your plans today Hermione?" asked Arthur kindly

"Well I'm working till 6, then I better go and sort out my house" she replied

"Surely you can take the day off, you need to sort things out…and catch up on your sleep" Molly added tentatively.

Hermione was saved having to reply by the arrival of Ron, looking sleepy, dishevelled and lets face it, thought Hermione, gorgeous. Hermione quashed that thought quickly, she did not deserve happiness.

"Morning" said Ron, They all replied and as Ron was reaching over to get a piece of toast he said quietly so that only Hermione could hear him "We need to talk".

Hermione looked at him, his eyes were filled with concern, she understood why, she had cried on his shoulders for over an hour, she felt the embarrassment wash over her.

Instead of replying to his cunningly disguised demand she looked at the clock, it was 8.15am.

"I really ought to be going, thank you so much for allowing me to stay"

"Hermione, you really should stay tonight, just in case" said Molly quickly

"No thank you Mrs Weasley"

"Hermione, I'll meet you for lunch, 1pm in the Leaky Cauldron" said Ron quickly, Hermione looked at him, she usually had lunch alone in her office,

"No, I really…" she began but Ron interrupted her

"Please Hermione?" she nodded slowly and flooed to the ministry.

The morning passed in a painfully slow fashion as Hermione completed all her objectives. Wild excuses ran through her head that she could tell Ron, but as lunchtime approached she had little choice but to floo to the Leaky Cauldron to meet him.

As she sat down on the table alone, she couldn't help thinking that by meeting Ron she was setting herself up for a fall, she had decided after the war to be alone and she wasn't planning on changing that decision. She was about to leave when she heard her name;

"Hermione!" It was Remus, Hermione gulped; she had yet to reply to his letter.

"Hermione, I thought it was you, how are you?" he asked, taking a seat,

"I'm fine thank you Remus, and yourself?" she replied politely

"Great thanks, it's so nice to see you out of the office for a change, you work to hard Hermione! I heard about your house, has Harry been in touch?"

"No, not yet, I was planning to call into his office after lunch" she replied, again politely,

Remus scowled

"Hermione why don't you come round for dinner tonight?"

"I'm sorry Remus but I really can't, I've got to sort out my house and bury Croo…" she stopped dead. She missed her beloved cat more than she ever thought she would.

"Harry told us about Crookshanks, I'm sorry I know how fond you were of him"

"It's stupid really, I know he was just a cat but he was always there for me you know, when things got too much I used to tell him and it made me feel better. I'll miss him" Hermione shook herself, shaking away the morbid thoughts

"Hermione, what happened to you?" Remus asked carefully, Hermione was surprised by the boldness of the question; no one had ever asked her before, preferring to dance around the issue. She opened her mouth to reply but was saved the bother of lying to him by the arrival of Ron.

"Hi guys, Sorry I'm late Hermione, Smith fell off his broom and we had to take him to St. Mungo's" he bent down and gave Hermione a polite kiss on the cheek, which broke her out of the pensive state that she had been in since she had seen him arrive. His hair was slightly tousled, and he had a bit of dirt on his face, which reminded Hermione of the first time she had met him, how he had changed, how they all had.

Again she quashed these thoughts quickly and gave Ron a slight smile, which he returned.

A/N Sorry for the delay but Britain is currently experiencing a heat wave, so I've been outside enjoying the sunshine while its here! I know it's a short chapter but I wanted to examine the relationship between Hermione and Remus and also introduce Hermione's feelings for Ron. Please r/r

Bye

Laura

xxx