Disclaimer: See chap. 1

Chapter Three

Ghostly beings clenched their hands across Hermione's neck. A soft groan emitted through her voice against the tramping walls of her throat.

"Ron . . ."

A thick fog clouded her eyes as she slowly suffocated on the hardwood floor. With her elbows outstretched, she retracted herself, trying to press herself up. Her feeble attempts were useless; her arms were still shaking too dramatically to hold herself.

What the hell is wrong with me? Get up! Get up! An invisible force pressed her harder to the ground.

The door shot open hard, allowing a cool breeze to hit her body, now covered in sweat. Two sets of feet ran across the room. One of them stopped short in front of Hermione, and the other jumped to the embracing pair in the corner.

"Hermione? Hermione, are you okay?" Ron's voice whispered in her ear.

"Wu-What?" She attempted painfully to move on her side.

"Its okay, Baby. We're going to take you down stairs."

Hermione turned her loosening neck slowly. Ron looked down at her and rubbed her arm gently.

"What? What's going on?"

Lupin's face appeared next to Ron. "Hermione? Are you okay? Don't worry it's just a boggart. I got rid of it."

"Oh my god." She breathed in and out. Just a boggart. Just a boggart.

She felt stupid. All this and it was only a boggart. She forced her eyes shut to stop tears of ultimate relief.

"Can you get up?" Lupin asked.

She attempted again to gain her strength. "I-I don't know." She couldn't. She still felt shaken.

"It's okay. I got you." Ron lifted her up swiftly in his arms and stood up.

Back down stairs, everyone grouped up in a large crowd around the front steps.

Ron carried Hermione down the stairs, Lupin walked slowly behind, with a long white table.

"Oh my, Hermione! Are you alright?" cried Mrs. Weasley.

"She's fine, Mom." Ron reassured her.

"Ron and I came across the table in the attic, unfortunately many of the pieces were stored around everywhere, and well, it just took us awhile to find the remaining broken pieces." Lupin explained. "Hermione must have come up looking for us and ran into that boggart upstairs. She may have twisted her ankle."

Mrs. Weasley's face flushed. "Oh my, Hermione. I'm so sorry. I know how you feel. Damn those boggarts."

"Don't worry; I'll be sure to take care of it after dinner." said Lupin.

"Oh, right." Mrs. Weasley suddenly remembered the food. "Right, well, lets get that table outside. Ron, you can put Hermione down on the coach, we'll give her time to rest for a bit."

Ron nodded and carried her to the living room.

Ron carried Hermione through the crowd and placed her gently on the plush coach in the deserted living room. He leaned down next to her and kissed her lightly on the forehead.

"You sure you're okay?" his nervousness showed through his voice. No matter how much he tried to act calm and collected; Hermione knew him better then that.

Hermione nodded her head slowly. "I think I'll be okay. I ju-just can't stop shaking." She grinned slightly to show she wasn't in too much pain.

At that point Ron moved to the other side of the coach and examined her ankles.

"Well, your ankles are fine. You didn't sprain it like Lupin thought."

Hermione knew already she never sprained her ankle. The pain that shot through her didn't feel physical enough to be a body injury. It felt more like something chilly went through her body, suffocating her from the inside out.

"Do you think we should take you to a healer or anything?" He placed his hand on her arm, and lifted her upper body slightly, sitting next to her and placing her in his lap.

The warm feeling from him pressed through Hermione's skin. It comforted her. She could start settling her breathing, as long as she knew Ron was here and not in the arms of anyone else.

"Hermione?"

She looked up. "I love you."

He smiled back and kissed her tenderly. "I love you too . . . baby."

Hermione cringed slightly. Pet names always sounded weird to Hermione, especially coming out of Ron's mouth. It seemed out of touch with the Ron she always knew. Maybe he forced himself to say it, to show her he did love her. Oh well, she found it cute none the less.

The moon was clearly visibly in the dark, star-filled sky before they heard any news on Ginny's progress home. Ginny had made it clear to her mother acouple of weeks ago that she wished to meet the parents of her boyfriend first before her parents met him, and that they didn't need to bother to pick her up at the train-station. She had it covered. This still didn't, however, comfort Mrs. Weasley any further.

Everyone gathered in the dark, dusky gardens when an owl swooped through towards Mr. Weasley.

"News on Ginny." He said, reading diligently.

Bill, Charlie, Fred, George, and Ron looked up. "What does it say?" They all asked. They were all naturally overprotective of their little sister.

"Says she's on her way, she'll be here any minute." Fred jerked the parchment out of his father's hand as he finished reading it.

The hand Ron was holding Hermione's hand in clenched tightly into a fist. Hermione's fingers went in danger of turning purple.

"Ron . . . Ron, it's going to be okay." She reassured. Ron didn't listen; he still worried who Ginny would bring home with her. "You're going to worry too much over it," she said, "and then it's going to turn out to be nobody to worry about like Colin, or someone like that."

"If it is Colin . . . I'll still beat his head in."

A pop sounded outside, on the other side of the house, moments later.

Anxiety sprung on Mrs. Weasley's face. She quickly stood up and raced across the lawn to be sure everything was set up properly.

Everyone else turned to the far corner of the lawn where a charming little stone walk went through a small garden and provided a route from the front of the house to the back.

Ginny's conspicuous red hair appeared around the wall, her plaid cloak covered her skinny figure. Every person in the yard stood awestruck at her.

Her hand stuck out from the flowing cloak, almost floating away from her. This sight however wasn't what amazed the inhabitants around her. They were much more interested in what (perhaps 'who' being a better word) was on the other end of her arm.

Hermione, out of instinct, restrained Ron by his arm.

Ginny revealed her new boyfriend with an innocent smile. Draco Malfoy looked around the yard, and tightened his grip on her hand.