After they had laid the groundwork for a positive friendship the night before, Ron and Hermione found that they were able to not let change affect them. Instead the days went by quickly and before they knew it a week had gone by. A pattern formed between the two of them, they would get up earlier than the rest, go out for a walk then return to the kitchen where they would join the rest of the family for breakfast. The early starts had been annoying for Ron the first time Hermione had initiated it but after a few days he found that he valued the quiet time he got to spend with her.

One Tuesday morning Ron was up before Hermione, heading for the kitchen he made up some toast for the two of them. A few minutes later he heard a shuffling from behind him, turning around he saw Hermione standing in the doorway, her hair tied back in a French plait and wearing a t-shirt and jeans.

'Morning,' he smiled, 'toast?' he asked, walking towards her and handing her a slice.

'Thanks, are you ready?'

'As I'll ever be,' he replied, walking towards the door and opening it for her. He exited the kitchen behind her and they began to make their way down the drive towards the narrow country path that ran alongside the forest.

'So have you given any thought as to what training you're going to do once your old enough?'

'Auwworo twainnig,' Ron stated through a mouthful of toast after giving the question some thought.

Hermione turned to look at him, raising her eyebrows in distaste, 'Excuse me?'

Ron gulped and tried again, 'Aurora training, I've wanted to do it for a while now and it means I could continue to work with Harry. What about you?'

'I'm not sure, I was considering Healing but I keep wondering whether I should go for something which deals in the protection of house elves' rights.'

'Always the charitable, hardworking one!'

'Oh, I'm glad you acknowledge my talents as something more than just a waste of time now, Ronald!'

'Yes, well… I always did, I just never liked to admit it,' Ron admitted quietly and dismissively.

Hermione turned on him with an amused tone of voice, 'Oh really?'

'I do have a reputation to maintain you know!' he held his hands up and tried to make a good point in his defence, 'What do you think Dean, Seamus and the rest of them would think if I suddenly admitted that I didn't find the welfare of house elves quite as ridiculous as I made it out to be?'

'I suppose I'll have to forgive you seeing as I'm living under the same roof as you,' Hermione said simply, there was silence for a few seconds and Ron could tell that there was something else she wanted to say. Something in her voice had told him that there were a lot of things left unsaid in that conversation.

A minute and several steps later his thoughts were confirmed when Hermione continued with a tone of hurt in her voice which seemed to waver, 'but you made me feel like such an idiot! Like telling me that what I was doing was worthless and demeaning, do you know how that feels Ron?'

Ron walked alongside her, staring at her speechlessly as she continued to stare intently at the ground in front of her, his long legs finally finding it difficult to keep up with her increasing speed, 'and all so that you could put on a front for your friends! You're impossible, Ron Weasley!'

Her voice had now become a high-pitched shriek and she was fighting the tears forming in her eyes. Unable to control her emotions she picked up speed and ran off into the forest towards the lake. Ron stopped abruptly as Hermione had disappeared amongst the foliage, 'where in the name of Merlin did that come from?'

All he could do was stare bleakly into the forest with a look of bewilderment spread across his face; the cogs in his brain were working overtime and he still hadn't a clue how they'd managed to go from nice stroll to Hermione hating him for something he hadn't done in months! When he said he wanted things to go back to normal this wasn't quite what he had been asking for.

Once she had reached the lake, Hermione dropped to the ground and curled herself up in a ball, sobbing to herself. She'd forgotten how much Ron could get under her skin even if he wasn't trying to. Maybe things couldn't be different between the two of them; maybe this was the way it had to be. If he really liked her then he would never have tried to hurt her, annoy her or make her jealous. Not before and certainly not now!

This is just stupid Hermione! You wanted to make a fight, you had to make a fight to make yourself feel better about the situation between you and Ron. You never think of the other consequences, do you? For as smart as you act, you are completely clueless! What if you've blown it? Being Ron's sister was one way of being close to him without him suspecting anything. What if this argument has blown it? What if he doesn't come after you? What if he thinks he's gone back to being just the obnoxious, uncaring best friend?

'Stop it!' Hermione sobbed, 'he'll come after me, I know he will because he loves me like family and family look out for one another, family protect one another. They forgive each other. He'll come back!'

You have to go after her, Ron. She's upset, things must have obviously got on top of her, think about it! A chance to comfort her, be close to her… No! Stop it! You haven't thought like this for days, she's your sister for God's sake… But you can comfort her like a lover and still act like a caring brother, do it!

'Oh sod it,' Ron's heart won over and he went after Hermione to go and find her.

Hermione shivered; the cold morning breeze bounced off the lake and hit her with full force. She could feel goose bumps forming on her arms and shoulders, maybe he wasn't coming to find her, maybe he had given up on her. She curled herself tighter in a ball, she missed her parents, she missed the way things had been before, Ron's friendship was the one thing she had to hold on to and there was a good chance that that was now gone.

She was pulled from her thoughts as a patch of warmth formed on her cold arm, looking up cautiously she could see a blurred image of an individual with messy red hair. She chuckled in spite of herself, that really narrowed down the Weasley household, didn't it? She wanted to know who it was, whom she could cling to for comfort.

'I'm sorry.'

Ron.

Hermione jumped up and flung her arms around his neck, she embraced him tightly and buried her face in his shoulder as she began to cry again, 'no, I'm sorry Ron. I'm so sorry,' she blubbed. Ron knelt there in amazement and confusion for a moment before cautiously wrapping his arms around her torso, holding her close and comforting her.

As his shaking hand finally gained the courage to reach up and stroke her hair after a few moments of awkwardly holding the woman he loved so close to him, Hermione leaned back and looked him full in the face. Ron could see deep into her tear stained eyes and could see hurt, pain and fear. It hurt him to know that she felt that way, that there was nothing he could do to reverse events.

'I'm sorry I yelled at you,' Ron opened his mouth to speak, 'no, Ron, I need to tell someone and I know that you'll listen to me and hopefully not judge me. I was worried about my parents, I still am, things are getting on top of me and I needed to let out my anger. I remember the release I used to feel when we would argue over something trivial, like it cleared the air between us and gave us a fresh start. I needed to clear the slate to start again and you seemed to be the one person around when it happened,' Hermione took a deep breath, 'can you forgive me, Ron? I promise the anger wasn't meant to be directed at you.'

She looked at him pleadingly, 'and you came after me so that must could for something, mustn't it.'

Ron just chuckled as she finished her speech, 'you're a complex and confusing person Hermione Granger, if we didn't fight… well, let you have your monologue every so often… then we wouldn't be Ron and Hermione would we? Siblings or not!'

'Thank you,' Hermione laughed. Relieved, she hugged him again.

Ron and Hermione, Ron thought, that sounded good to say. Not Ron, Hermione and Harry; just the two of them. It felt good.

A moment later Hermione shivered involuntarily, 'you're cold,' Ron stated.

'Well done genius!' Hermione jested.

Sticking his tongue out at her playfully, Ron stood up and removed his jacket placing it around her shoulders before holding out his hands to her, 'come on, let's get back for breakfast.'

Hermione rolled her eyes and took his hands, he pulled her up to full height, 'Honestly, Ronald,' she said in mock exasperation, 'I bear my feelings to you and all you can think of is food! You have such a one track mind.'

At this statement Ron simply shrugged his shoulders and placed an arm around her shoulders, rubbing her arm to warm her up as they walked along beside the lake back towards the house.

I'm thinking of more things than you'd want to know, Hermione. Thoughts and feelings I dare not show you. Just accept me for what I can tell you and trust me on everything else.

Just as they wandered down the garden path to the kitchen door Fred emerged from the garage. He followed and watched as the two of them made their way into the kitchen, a shot of jealousy pierced him as he gazed at Ron's arm around Hermione's shoulders.

Stay away from her, she's not yours to possess. You're just her friend.