A/N: I can't believe that I've finally updated on a Monday! Oh wait, that's because I'm vacation! I have another chapter done, and I'll be posting that tomorrow (I still have to change some stuff). By the way, if you haven't already, you should go ahead and check out stories from WeasleyIsMyKing540 and ScarletProphecy14 if you're interested in Romione and/or Drinny! They're both amazing authors! Anyways, thanks to WeasleyIsMyKing540, JeanAndBilius, HeRonLove, loverhr, fons19, and minecraftgraces for your amazing feedback like always! :D

As always, feedback is apprciated! :)

By the way, am I the only one crying that in the Beauty and the Beast remake that the beast isn't Rupert so he can be with Emma (Belle)? Just me? Alright.

Warnings: Swearing and a little adult situation. ;0

Disclaimer: If you haven't notcied already, I don't any of these characters! They all belong to the majestic J.K. Rowling!

Chapter 45 ~ Yet Another, Suspicion

"MERLIN'S BEARD!" came the ringing voices of Fred Weasley, who had just walked in Hermione sleeping right next to Ron on the couch in the living room in his strong arms.

"Bloody hell!" Ron yelped out, instantly sitting up along with Hermione.

"My oh my, sorry for walking in like that. It's quite coincidentally that I so happened to walk in into such intimate passion radiating from you two love bird," the twin teased them.

"Shut it, will you?" Ron pouted, as he stood from the couch. "You better not tell anyone about this or I'll be having you puke up slugs."

Hermione chuckled at the threat, remembering how Ron threw up slugs in their second year. Ron grinned with pride, as he heard Hermione laugh at his joke. It always felt great to hear his girlfriend laugh at his jokes.

"I swear to Merlin's name that I'll never tell anyone," Fred said to them, as he poured dark coffee in his mug. "I'm honestly glad that I've gotten front row seats to the extravagant show."

The couple rolled their eyes at the comment. After their awkward conversation, they went to get their breakfast ready, as they were to set up the table. It seemed abnormal for Molly to not wake up during this time. They supposed it was from all the stress, granted that she had yelled at the twins for their redundant action in apparating throughout the household.

At the stove was Ron who was preparing bacon and scrambled eggs, along with pancakes. He poured the mix on a pan and started to flip away, creating delectable golden brown pancakes that his own mother would be impressed about.

Hermione looked over at how concentrated Ron looked, when he cooked. She admired at how focused he could be. If only he did that during classes.

The brunette simply rolled her eyes at the thought, deciding to help Ron cook. She wanted some tips and tricks in cooking and what better way to learn it was from the son of a cook.

"Hey," she greeted him with a sweet smile, making him blush.

"Hey," he mumbled back, attempting to keep a low voice so Fred couldn't snoop the whole conversation out.

"I was wondering if you needed some help," Hermione offered to him.

His eyes lightened up at the offer, "S-Sure."

After laying the last piece of pancake on the stack of many others, he showed her how to whisk eggs. Hermione was in front of him, while Ron was at the back of her, holding her hand and arm, so he could dictate her in the motion in how to fully whisk an egg.

"So, like that?" Hermione attempted to do it on her own.

Their eyes met; he said with a smile, "No, like this."

He leaned in closer to her body, making them touch completely without any openings. It made Ron nervous that he would manage to get an erection and having Hermione feel it. That thought alone, made him sweat a bit more at the risk of embarrassing himself in front of his own girlfriend. Luckily, that didn't happen, though there was a time in their lesson where he almost lost it.

"It's funny that you're showing me a muggle activity," she pointed out, making them both smile. "Just like how I showed you how to pronounce Wingardium Leviosa, which is a magical thing."

"Don't get started on that incident," he joined in on the joke.

"Will the both of you just stay on task? I'm pretty sure mum's gonna come down here any minute," Fred grinned at them.

They both blushed and went back to cooking.

"The Order's already on their way in picking up Harry," Molly said to her children and Hermione who sat waiting in the livingroom. "It's going to take till midnight, until they're going to arrive, hopefully, safe and sound. Oh, how I'm so worried for their well-being."

Ron was happy to hear that his best mate was going to finally arrive. He sat next to his girlfriend to see her worried filled face, making him smile a bit.

"We're all worried, 'Mione," Ron whispered over to her, making her head turn to meet his crystal blue eyes.

Hermione spoke in response, "There's so much that could happen to them. What if they get injured? What'll happen?"

He sighed, "Just don't think of any of that. I know that my best mate is going to make it. Besides, we trusted the elite of the Order to go and fetch him."

She smiled, "This is why I love about you."

"This is also why I love about you," Ron gave her a lopsided grin, making her chuckle and punch him on the shoulders playfully.

Fred was at the corner with his twin, grinning at the two.

"Quite the show, eh?" George said over to Fred.

"You have no idea," Fred grinned, as he drank his cup of pumpkin juice.

"Outta the way, make way for him," came Moody's grouchy voice.

All heads turned to the opening door to see a mini crowd of the Order scramble around the narrow entrance. Ron spotted a teen with messy jet black hair make his way to the living room.

"HOW DARE STAINS OF HALF-BLOODS, BLOOD TRAITORS, AND-"

"Enough, mother!" came Sirius' booming voice.

It was the first person Harry saw and he gave his godfather a big bear hug, making Ron and Hermione smile at the sight. Harry spotted his best friends and embraced them briefly, though he broke it as soon as he could.

Ron and Hermione looked at each other with concern. They both knew that he would be angry with them for not replying to his letters and sending him any news about the whole Order. Hermione bit her inner cheek and went to sit at the couch, having Ron follow along with her.

After they got all of Harry's luggage to Ron's room, Ron kissed Hermione a goodnight, before he went to be confronted by his best mate.

The Weasley sat on his bed gingerly, awaiting for Harry to go mental at him. As Harry entered the room, the atmosphere suddenly turned unwelcomingly chilling. He avoided any eye contact with Ron at any cost. Harry went to sit on his own bed, looking down at the ground.

The awkward rift of silence got onto Ron's neves, so he decided to speak out, "Hey."

Harry looked up at him with stern emerald green eyes that reminded Ron of how Professor McGonagall would stare at him all the time.

"Why didn't you guys send any letters to me? Why didn't you tell me about the Order?" he huffed.

"It was Dumbledore's orders," Ron replied, feeling guilty. "We wanted to write back to you over the break, we promise."

Harry scoffed and went under his blankets and faced himself away from Ron's sheepish face. The youngest son of the Weasleys sighed out and went to lay on his bed. He and Hermione knew that this would happen. Of course they felt horrible that they couldn't write to Harry and check on him and how he was doing.

After all, the Dark Lord had returned.

Harry woke up from yet another bad dream. The constant paranoia of falling asleep started to bother him to the point where he faced insomnia. He would have dreams about Ron losing control, ultimately killing off Hermione and him in the end. Was that suppose to foretell something?

The-Boy-Who-Lived looked to see the bed next to him was empty. His eyes wondered around frantically to find his best mate, scared to where he ran off to or what he was up to. Then, he spotted him looking over a mirror on his study desk. Harry took cover, but enough to see him.

Ron was breathing heavily, as he looked at himself. He looked absolutely ragged from the lack of sleep. There were evident bags under his eyes, giving off an unpleasant vibe to himself.

Harry could've sworn he was imagining things. His best mate's eyes were flashing scarlet red, making him remember about the graveyard incident from fourth year, when he faced Voldemort himself. What was happening to Ron?

"Shit," Ron breathed out, banging him hands on the desk, making a some sort of locket fall off it with a clink.

The Weasley picked it up looked at it with intent. His eyes softened at the sight. Harry had a quizzical look on his face, curious to see what was on the half heart locket. Ron placed it back on his desk and went off to take a shower.

The boy with jet black hair tiptoed to his best friend's desk to take a peek of the locket. He lifted it off from the wooden desk to see a picture of Hermione smiling sweetly, as she did a small wave. Harry grinned at the sight. He should've known that Ron would have something like this to calm him down.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, mate?" came Ron's alarming voice.

Harry quickly placed the necklace down and faced his best mate who had a towel around his neck.

"I was just-"

"Snooping around," Ron smirked, knowing that he had caught him red handed.

His reached for his necklace and looked at it and breathed out, "The only person that could keep me sane."

"And the one you've fancy for quite a while," Harry added, with a proud grin.

Ron's ears heated up at the comment. Should he tell Harry that he and Hermione were a couple now? He shunned the decision, deciding to ask Hermione first. She knew the perfect timing. Of course she did.

"I guess I'll see you downstairs then," Ron said to him, heading out to the shower.

Harry was left behind closed doors, as he thought about the conversation he just had with Ron.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S FINALLY PROCLAIMED HIS LOVE TO THAT MUDBLOOD!?" Voldemort yelled at Fenrir.

"I sensed him and his lil' lady have already kissed, my Lord," Fenrir responded, trying to keep his cool.

"I didn't expect that insecure blood traitor to kiss her already," the snake like man said. "How strange."

"Indeed it is, my Lord," the ruthless werewolf agreed.

"Do me a favor, will you?" he stopped pacing back and forth.

"And what will that be?" Fenrir asked, curious to know his objective.

"Do whatever you can to break them apart!" Voldemort said to him in a demanding voice. "I've even gotten you something to assist you with this deed."

The werewolf just simply sneered at the object, already planning out who his victim was going to be.

"Come on, Hermione! Get your nose out of that book of yours and join a game of Exploding Snaps!" Ron begged her with literal puppy eyes.

Hermione glared at him for a second and resumed back to reading to taking writing notes done about the book she was currently reading. She sat outside, leaning against the willow tree that had just started to grow back it's leaves and fitful colors. She had planned for this day to be a day of relaxing and here was her boyfriend ruining her laid out plans for today.

"What are you reading?" Ron tried taking a peek of the book title.

Acting quick on her feet, she hid the book away from him. She didn't want him to know that she was reading about how dangerous werewolves are. Hermione had just been reported by Harry at how his eyes would flashing red for a bit and then go back to normal. That was something that Hermione obviously choose to investigate on to the deeper meaning. She knew from past experiences that red eyes were a big no-no. Though, she needed to know the cause for the abnormal behavior happening to Ron.

"You mustn't," she mumbled to him, making him frown.

"Oh, come on! We just had a bloody talk about keeping secrets," he snarled. "Just let me see the damn book title!"

"Will you stop being noisy for once!?" Hermione shrieked, not willing to give him the book.

"Just show me what you're so interested on!"

"No!"

Hermione run away from him, heading back to the room she shared with Ginny. She huffed out in anger at how noisy her boyfriend could really be.

What she didn't know was that she had missed an opportunity to see his eyes glowing an eerie, scarlet red.

A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Much is to come in their fifth year. Though, I don't think it can top what had happened in their fourth year... or can it? Anyways, I'll be seeing you guys tomorrow! Stay safe, pal and have a great day! :D