Chapter 2: Reunion

Disclaimer: I am still not British, a billionaire, or actually published on something that isn't the internet. So obviously I am not J.K. Rowling and do not own Harry Potter. Otherwise, why the heck would I be writing on fanfiction? So yeah, read, enjoy, review!

"Ronald, would you please get down here! I need you to de-gnome the garden before the girls get here!" Mrs. Weasley shouted.

"Be down in a second, mum!" Ron yelled down from his room at the top of the burrow. Ron was in his blindingly orange bedroom slouched over his desk hurriedly writing a letter to Harry:

Harry,

Sucks about your cousin's diet, man. I got mum to make you up a care package full of actual food which is the package that's attached to the letter. She's afraid you're going to be a bag of bones when she sees you again. Well, a skinnier bag of bones than you usually are. By the way, dad got tickets the Quidditch World Cup. Bulgaria vs. Ireland, man! Viktor freakin' Krum is gonna be playing! So ask your aunt and uncle if you can come and we'll pick you up on the 2nd if they say yes. And if they don't we'll come pick you up on the 2nd anyway. Gotta go though. Beaubatons students get out today so Ginny and Mione are coming home which means Mum is going on a bloody cleaning spree and dragging the rest of into it. Hermione is staying for the rest of the summer so you'll get to see her when we pick you up. Send Pig back with your response.

From,

Ron

"RONALD BILLIUS WEASLEY! IF YOU DO NOT GET YOUR LAZY BUTT DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT, I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL HAVE NO QUALMS ABOUT THROWING YOU OVER MY KNEE LIKE YOU WERE A FIVE YEAR OLD! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME! I HAVE BEEN CALLING YOU FOR THE PAST TWENTY MINUTES!"

"Yes, mum! Coming down the stairs as we speak," Ron responded quickly as he scurried around his bed to get to the hyperactive owl he had obtained from Sirius Black who he and Harry had freed during the last school year.

"Pig, can you calm down long enough for me to tie this letter to your leg!" Ron said in a frazzled tone, "Thank you! Now take this to Harry. No distractions this time, please. Just take it straight to Harry." Ron stayed just long enough to see Pig fly out of the small window of his room before he sprinted down the many stairs the Burrow contained. He almost ran directly into his mother who was busily sprinting around the house to make sure the entire Burrow was all in order. Or at least as in order as the Burrow could possibly be in.

"Mum why do we have to clean this much? It's only Mione and Gin coming," Ron complained to his mother. As soon as he said it, he realized that he made a mistake in saying that. His mother slowly turned around, her eyes glinted with a slight manicness to them that scared the living daylights out of Ron in that instant. You-know-who, basilisk, convicted serial killers, no problem. His mother in a rage was possibly one of the scariest things he'd ever seen.

"Why are we cleaning so much? Why, you ask?," Mrs. Weasley stated, her voice slowly gaining in volume and intensity, "Because not only are your sister and Hermione coming but so is Beaubaton's headmistress and Professor Dumbledore so as to discuss the arrangements for next year, as well as Hermione's parents. So if you would like us to seem like a bunch of slovenly pigs in front of the heads of two of the most prominent wizarding schools across Europe and your best friend's parents we can stop cleaning. Is that how you would like the family to look like? Tell me Ronald. Is it?"

Able to sense the sticky situation he put himself in, Ronald swallowing, responded to his mother while walking slowly toward the kitchen door, "I'll be de-gnoming the lawn if you need me!"

"That's what I thought," Mrs. Weasley said before collapsing into the rickety wooden kitchen chair. All of the cleaning was basically done at this point besides for the gnomes in the garden which Ron was taking care of at that point. She was finally able to sit down and relax after three days of getting the house in order for the meeting with the two headmasters. After they left, Hermione's parents would be staying for a family barbeque and then depart leaving Hermione to stay with the Weasley for the rest of the summer while they attended a dental conference in Australia. Such a sweet girl that Hermione is, Mrs. Weasley thought. Molly Weasley couldn't help but think about the positive impact the young girl had on both Ronald and Ginny. Ever since Ron had befriended Hermione and Harry in his first year, Ron had changed. He became brighter and more confident. She knew that being the youngest boy of seven children could be difficult at times for him, especially with how successful her children were turning out to be, including him. Too bad he couldn't see it himself. She and Arthur made sure to treat all of them equally and have no favorites, but she could tell that he sometimes felt overshadowed by his older brothers. But ever since those two had come into his life, she could tell he felt less like he was being overshadowed or he was at least able to manage the feelings better now. She remembered two years ago when her family was in Diagon Alley two years before with the Grangers when it was announced that Bill had been offered a promotion:

"Hermione, I'm fine really. Ecstatic actually," Ron said bitterly to Hermione. But Hermione had known better than that. Ron had sneakily left the table just minutes before when Mrs. Weasley had announced the news and how proud she was of her eldest son. They were eating lunch in the Leaky Cauldron with the Grangers after a long morning of shopping. No one had noticed Ron's departure. Except, of course, Hermione.

"Ron I know you better than that. What's the issue? And I swear to god if you tell me 'Oh it's nothing,' I swear to god I will slap you upside the head so hard your brain will spin."

"Really Mione, it's nothing I can't handle on my own,"Ron replied, a small smile forming on his face.

"Mmhmm and I don't like books," Hermione said bossily, turning Ron towards her, "Now sit down on those iffy looking crates with me and tell me what's really going on with you. Come on, I'm one of your best friends, you can tell me anything. You know that, don't you?"

"Of course I do. It's just that it's slightly embarrassing."

"We've been entangled in Devil's Snare together at age twelve. I've seen you been shut up by a plant because it thought you were whining too loudly. I think we're past the point of embarrassing statements holding our conversations back."

"True, true," Ron laughed, "Fine, I'll tell you but no judgement! It's just that... Ugh! First of let me just say that I am extremely proud of my brother Bill and he deserves that promotion more than anyone else. I'm not jealous, I swear. I'm... okay I'm a little jealous. But the thing is, is that every time, I come even close to impressing my family, someone just always has to overshadow me and I know that sounds like a prat thing to think and I know that but-"

Hermione cut him off, saying in a placating voice, "I know, I know. I'm sure it's hard having five older sibling to live up to and the expectations that comes with that. You may think that you're overshadowed, but you have to know that you're extremely special in your own way and none of your brothers, no matter what they accomplish, can take that away from you."

"You really think that, Mione?" Ron softly said while lifting his head to meet her eyes.

"Do you honestly think I would say that if I didn't believe it?" Hermione questioned.

"No, I guess not," Ron said.

"Good. Now let's head back inside. I think there's some butterbeer waiting for us to finish up," Hermione said with a smile on her face, while leading Ron back inside the pub.

Mrs. Weasley couldn't help but look back upon that memory with a certain fondness. She had never seen Ronald open up to someone like that. But shortly after, she was pulled out of her reverie, when Ron called in from the garden, "Hey mum they just entered the wards now. They'll probably be here within the next ten minutes. I'm gonna take a quick shower and I'll be back in five."

When Ron rushed down the stairs a few minutes later, shaking his long, wet hair out, he looked around his living room for the group that was expected right then. As he searched through the first floor of the burrow, he finally found them, well at least part of them standing outside of his kitchen.

One of the girls looked up and said with a bright smile across her face, "Long time no see, Weasley."

Ron responded, shock permeated both his brain and his voice, "Mione? Is that you?"

Hope you all like it. I know it's going kind of slow but that's kind of the point. It's going slow and steady just like Ron and Hermione. Review please!