"Harry! Come on, mate, we've gotta get down to breakfast!" Came the familiar voice of Harry's best friend from above him, which would probably explain that horrible shaking that he had slept through for a while thinking that it was just a minor earthquake or something. Opening his eyes, Harry was scared out of his wits to see his best friend barely inches away from his face, his face possessed looking and his eyes on fire.
"Hell, Ron, what are you so excited about?" He said, pushing Ron back a bit and swinging his legs over the side of his bed, which exposed his Gryffindor boxers that he usually slept in. Reaching for his glasses, he put them on and studied the room that he was sitting in, as Ron's room looked much more different in the morning instead of in the night. The usual Chudley Cannons paraphernalia was hanging on the walls, yet now it seemed to have been much more clean and tidy…as though with a purpose of impressing someone. With a sickening feeling, Harry remembered who exactly it was supposed to be impressing… which was affirmed by the smiling pictures of Hermione on the walls.
"Well…erm… mate, it's the day when we should be getting our letters. And Mione says that you're planning on going back now, she wouldn't tell me why… but we've gotta get down there and see them!" He said, rambling through his sock drawer and pulling out a pair of rather wooly puckish orange ones, matching the Cannons shirt he was wearing.
"I've never seen you so excited about going back to school." Harry said smugly, making his way over to his trunk that was sitting underneath the window. He pulled out one of his favorite shirts, one featuring the Falmouth Falcons in gray and white. A rather nice pair of jeans came out as well, and Harry started to put them on as Ron tried to defend himself.
"Well…mate… I just like Hogwarts, that's all. And it's not like I was particularly excited about traipsing through the country looking for horcruxes…" Ron said, although Harry knew immediately what was going on inside his friend's head. Get down there and see Hermione. Harry knew that Ron didn't exactly care where the trio went, as long as they were all together, but it made sense to him that Ron would be trying to go see Hermione as quickly as possible. Coming out his hair and then ruffling it back up about five times, all Harry could think of was getting down there and giving Ginny a quick peck on the cheek, and maybe a bit more than that after they were away from her parents. Finally settling for having his hair only half-messed, Harry took his wand and quickly cleaned his teeth, making sure that his breath smelled as perfect as he could get it to.
"So the wedding's next week, huh?" Harry said, finally breaking the silence that had followed Ron's lie. Looking over at his friend, he saw that he was going crazy trying to summon some flowers out of his mother's garden, which was about a hundred feet below the window.
"Yeah, it's next Friday. You ready to be an usher, Harry?" He said, moving aside as Harry walked to the window. Okay now, think. I've gotta do this in my head. Diffindo. Diffindo! DIFFINDO!" He thought, trying to do as he had been told and perform the spell in his mind instead of out loud. Looking down, he saw that his spell had worked to some degree; the stalks of the flowers looked about half-severed. DIFFINDO! DIFFINDO! DIFFINDO! He tried again, and finally they fell into a pile of roughly cut flowers. Accio. Up they came, about three feet that was, before they fell back down to the earth. Accio flowers. Five feet that time. Accio flowers! Accio flowers! Accio flowers! Although he wanted to be able to do this with ease, it took great strength just to get the flowers to rise a mere halfway to the window where Harry was standing. ACCIO FLOWERS! ACCIO FLOWERS! ACCIO FLOWERS! He thought, his mind straining so much that his face was purpling with the difficulty. Finally, his hand closed around a handful of lilies, the product of his great struggle. Handing them to Ron, he saw his friend's bewildered look.
"I didn't know that it was that hard to cut some flowers…sorry mate…" He said, pulling a blue ribbon off of his bedside table. Harry whipped the beads of sweat off of his forehead, looking strangely at the ribbon.
"I've gotta get to the point where I can do that sort of thing in my mind, as well as other hexes and curses. Why the hell do you have a hair ribbon?" He asked, his brow furrowing. Sure…from what Ginny had told him yesterday Ron and Hermione had been up here together for most of the summer, but Hermione wasn't exactly the type of girl who wore ribbons in her hair. Actually, Hermione wasn't the type of girl to wear anything in her hair, save maybe an elastic.
"It came off of one of the dresses mum made for Ginny. I've been tying them around flowers for Mione for a while now." He said, tying the ribbon into a rather lopsided bow. "Come on, we've gotta get down there." He said finally, leading Harry out the door.
"Hey, Hermy." Harry teased as the two finally got down to the ground floor of the Burrow, seeing Hermione yet no Ginny. Ron had his hand behind his back, shielding the flowers from Hermione's view, yet Hermione seemed to be expecting him to give it to her at any second. A scowl came across Hermione's face and she acted like she could have slapped him, watching as Ron doubled over in laughter.
"Well, I thank you, Messier Grawp. Only a complete idiot of a giant could come up with a name such as that for a girl. Good morning, Ronald." She said, smiling at him. Hermione was wearing a light blue top with a jean skirt, looking entirely different then the Hermione Harry had thought he had known. Then again, he was pretty sure that the Hermione he had known was a virgin, and that was the one thing different about Ron and Hermione now versus the end of the school year: they most obviously weren't. Trying to avoid any visuals, Harry went on with the conversation, deciding not to mull over it.
"Dang, Hermione, I thought that you would be protecting Grawp from the terrible injustice of the stereotype of being considered of less intelligence then promoting it…what ever happened to the Society for the Protection of Idiot Giants? Spig, Spug, and Spew need their leader…" He said, ducking as Hermione literally swung at him that time. Ron seemed to be noticing that Hermione was in less than a joking mood, because he pulled the flowers out from behind his back with a flourish, bowing to her.
"Good morning, Hermione m'love. How's my sweet girl this fine day?" He said, taking a step closer to her and handing her the flowers, giving her a quick kiss. Harry, now thoroughly disgusted at the sight of his two friends kissing, sidestepped to the right, making his way into the kitchen where Molly was standing, cooking the food.
"Hullo, Mrs. Weasley." Harry said, smiling at the sweet woman. She barely looked up from her cooking as she gave a pleasant smile, pointing with her spatula out the window where Ginny had stood waiting the day before.
"Good morning, Harry dear. Ginny's out in the garden, she said for me to send you out there when you come down, breakfast isn't going to be for a while. Run along now, she seemed rather excited that you see the new gazebo that Bill and Charlie put up for the wedding." She said merrily, and Harry didn't have to be told twice. Pulling open the old door and strolling down the walk, Harry looked around for some sign of a gazebo. Eventually spotting it over on the far side of the lawn, Harry cut through the tall grass for it, accidentally stepping on a gnome or two while he went. Apologizing as the little things cursed and squealed at him, Harry chuckled and walked on, finally reaching the woodwork gazebo. It was closed on the five sides facing the house, giving a great deal of privacy, and then as Harry walked around it he saw that on each side there were two panels of trellis like wood, and then the final panel of the gazebo was open so as to be the door. Walking through it, he made his way up the two steps to where Ginny was sitting on a wicker sofa, her feet tucked under her black mini skirt that Harry had no idea how Ginny had gotten past her parents in, as she was their only daughter after all. That and the fact that she was wearing a white spaghetti-strap shirt, he wondered how she had made it out of the house at all. Her hair was as straight as he had ever remembered it today, draping down elegantly and without anything holding it back.
"Hey, Harry. I see you made it past the love birds alright." She said, setting down the book that she had been reading. Harry took a quick glance at the cover, seeing the title How to Be a Good Junior Bridesmaid he laughed, taking a step towards her.
"Worried about the big wedding, are we?" He asked, stopping two feet or so in front of the bench. She looked so pretty and innocent, her hair blowing a bit as a bit of wind came through the trellis sides of the gazebo. They were so alone…
"No, I'm afraid of Fleur's reaction if I mess one thing up. You saw those velas at the World Cup, they're not exactly the sweetest of beings." She said, her eyes looking up at his. Slowly but surely he took another step closer to her, now just barely away from those lips he wanted to posses.
"I'm sure you'll do fine. After all, you are a very good girl, aren't you?" He said, bending down and kissing her lightly, just glad to be able to do so without the whole of the Weasley brother clan out to kill him. He felt her wrap her arms around him, bringing him down towards her, where he came into contact with the area of the sofa there beside her, feeling her press up against him. She was so close, their tongues were completely pressed together now that he had opened his mouth on her, it all seemed to blur together in his head. Slowly he wrapped an arm around her torso, pulling her tiny frame even closer to his as he stuck his hand under her shirt, feeling the soft skin underneath, hearing her gasp between kisses. Starting to work her shirt off slowly, he got as far as to right below her bra line before he heard two voices that he absolutely did not want to hear.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TWO DOING?" Came Ron's words, as Hermione half shrieked out of surprise. Harry bolted off of Ginny, sitting on the other side of the sofa with his hand over his face, wondering how they had been that careless. Ginny was pulling down her shirt, a look of pure fury on her face at her brother's hypocrisy. Hermione was clinging to Ron's arm, muttering something into his ear in an attempt to calm him down as he tried to charge at Harry, who was just about to die out of the pure embarrassment of the situation.
"We were, big brother, making out, and thank you very much." Ginny said as she stood up, red fury rushing onto her face as she glared at her brother. Harry took his hand off of his own features, watching as she started to yell at her brother. Here Ron cut in, his own face red as though he was going to kill Harry right then and there…
"You weren't just making out, you two were about to have sex, which would explain why your shirt was halfway up your front, little sister." He retorted, breaking free of Hermione's grasp. She ran after him, pleading that he was over reacting, and here Ron surprised him. Instead of going for Harry, Ron turned on Ginny.
"You are such a slut…why do you keep on being that way around my friends? First Dean, then Harry…"
"Well, if you paid any attention, Ron, you might have noticed that I was like that with Dean to get Harry's attention, as I told him early in the summer. And if you noticed anything more, you might not be so mad about the two of us having sex, seeing as you and Hermione are doing it at a level where it's three times a day, or are you so naïve that you don't even know where your own dick is going…" She said, and Harry watched Hermione gasp at what Ginny had said, which was something that made Ron stop and sputter right there.
"Well, we're…you're…y'all're…" He said, trying to get something out.
"Lemme guess, Ron. I'm too young." She said, just about to smack him then and there. Harry knew what was happening, and he exchanged a look with Hermione that said quite plainly Here they go again. Harry stood up and sidestepped past the rowing siblings, walking with Hermione who seemed to be as glad to get out of there as he was. Halfway up to the house, Hermione, her face bright pink, broke the silence.
"It's not that often, really it's not… Ginny's just exaggerating so as to make Ron see some sense. I don't think he had his head on straight, you two were fine in what you were doing… we were planning on having sex there, too… It's just because of the fact that it's his younger sister…" She said, pleading with him. Harry looked back at the gazebo from which he could still hear an occasional shout, but couldn't make out any of what they were saying, and turned back to Hermione.
"Yeah, well…let's not have the Weasley adults knowing any of this." He said plainly, finally reaching the house as they walked on. As soon as they made it up there they sat down on a half wall holding up one of Mrs. Weasley's gardens, staring down at the gazebo. Finally, two red topped figures made their way out of it, the one with the flowing hair before the one with just a hint of red compared to the first.
"Oh boy, here they are on their way…" Hermione said, looking rather anxious. Harry watched the figures make their way closer and closer, obviously not saying anything to each other. Finally, as Ginny disappeared behind the last of the hills leading up to where they were sitting just outside of the house, Harry stood up to greet her. Hermione did the same for Ron, and the two made their way to their particular love interest hastily, each kissing their own before turning to glare at each other.
"I'm sorry, Harry. Let's go inside before Ron decides that we're standing too close to each…" She started, not finishing because of a line of four owls shooting past them into the kitchen window. Instantly, all the drama of earlier faded quickly in their heads as they ran inside after the letters, the thoughts of head boy and girl floating into their brains.
Yet it wasn't head boy/girl that came to the forefront first, instead it was what fell out of Ginny's envelope that made the quartet gawk in awe. Harry stared at her as she read the note attached to the shiny badge, unbelievingness spreading on her face the entire while.
"Dear Miss Weasley, I am pleased to inform you that in light of the female Gryffindor Prefect leaving Hogwarts this past year early due to the situation of the war around us that you have been selected as Gryffindor Prefect. Because of this…" Ginny's voice trailed off, her eyes growing wider than ever. "MUM, DAD, I'M A PREFECT!" She yelled, trying to get the point across to them that she expected something just as good as what Ron had gotten when he had become a prefect, only better. Molly, who was still over by the stove, came shuffling over, while Arthur ran out of the bathroom, his face only half shaved, to see what his daughter clasped in her hands. As they praised her ceaselessly, Harry, Hermione, and Ron opened their envelopes, unknowing what they would find there. Hermione slid her contents out first, a look of sheer disappointment crossing her face as all that came out was her school list, her letter, and a note about her prefect duties. Ron did the same, the results yielding the exact same as those that Hermione had gotten. Last to slide their contents out was Harry, who instead of just the Quidditch captain badge that he was sure he would be getting back that year had two badges, one with the letters "HB" printed on it. He grew silent, suddenly from his laughter at what Ginny was saying about snogging prefects and stared at this new badge, his eyes growing wide.
"What's wrong, Harry?" Ginny said, leaning forewords to see what was sitting on the table in front of him. "Oh, Harry! Oh my, oh my, oh my, Harry! You got it!" Ginny said, kissing him quickly on the cheek. "Mum, dad, look…Harry's head boy! Oh, Harry!" She said, flinging her arms around him as he sat there. "McGonagall must have known that you would come back…oh Harry!" She said quickly, as Ron and Hermione leaned over to see the badge in front of him.
"Good one, mate. You deserve it more than anyone." Ron said, Hermione rambling on the same as Ginny. Harry still couldn't move, the fact that in front of him was a badge denoting the same honor that his father had received was sitting in front of him, meant for him, waiting for him to put it on his shirt.
"Oh, we'll have to go get these from Diagon soon; everyone will be clearing these lists out quick! Flourish and Blotts didn't order a lot of books this year since they didn't expect a lot of students to return to school if there's not Dumbledore, so we better do it today. Ron, Ginny, could you bear to ask your brothers for money? I'd like to get Ginny and Harry something nice for what they've gotten. She said, obviously thinking of what she could get the pair.
"Oh, Mrs. Weasley, you don't have to get anything for me, honest you don't." Harry said quickly, falling out of his silence at the thought of her buying him anything. It wasn't just that he didn't want her spending money on him, it was also the fact that he really didn't need anything, especially if he was going to leave school in the middle of the year to hunt Horcruxes. "Or at least let me pay for Ron and Ginny, I've got the money to do that." He said, and he could tell that her nod was reluctant.
"Alright, you can pay for them, but you two don't ask for anything expensive, Harry you are so sweet!" She said, hugging him from behind. "We'll go to Diagon first thing after breakfast, and then tonight I'll invite the Order over and we'll have a party. Now, who wants breakfast?" She said, bustling back to the stove while Harry gave Ginny a secretive wink.