Disclaimer: I don't own anything. I think you should have realised by now that I'm not JK Rowling. C'mon.

Chapter 1

Apparating into The Burrow's garden was very simple for Hermione, as she had done it a fair few amount of times and was rarely not thinking about her friends and The Weasleys. Now that she was seventeen she was able to, and after practising several times, she could Apparate quickly and easily. Unlike Ron, who, after giving up on his second attempt, uses The Floo Network in frustration.

She stared up at the house and smiled. It wasn't like an ordinary house, but then again, nothing was ordinary in the wizarding world. It was extremely well hidden in a small village located in Devon, and despite the lack of modernity that most muggles owned, it was very welcoming and well… homely.

She staggered through the open front door, clutching her wand and heavy trunk hovering in front of her as she levitated it inside. Crookshanks trotted inside, greeting the house like an old friend, and curled up on the sofa. As usual, a pair of kitting needles were carefully working away on a mahogany scarf by the arm chair, whilst the dishes were being washed by invisible hands, scrubbing away at all the dirt. What with the size of the family, Molly Weasley could use all the extra hands possible, so resorted to charming the chores to do themselves.

Tip-toeing through the kithcen, Hermione noticed the clock which indicated the status of each member of the Weasley family and their whereabouts. Everyone except Bill, Charlie and Percy, whose faces were either on the 'travelling' or the 'work' phrase, were at home.

The wooden stairs which spiralled through and up to the highest floor in the house suddenly started to shake, and dust from the cracks tinted the air brown until it formed a perfect layer on the floor below. 'RONALD WEASLEY! I SPECIFICALLY TOLD YOU NOT TO RUN ON THE STAIRS!' Molly screeched, the footstops coming to a halt. 'Oh and Harry, darling, don't go too fast you might trip.' Hermione tried to stifle a laugh as she listenined to the bickering between Ron and his mother.

Suddenly Harry, who seemed to have escaped from Molly's wrath, appeared at the foot of the stairs, his eyes wide and staring. Hermione grinned and gave him a small wave, but was engulfed in a bone-crushing hug, his arms wrapping round her. He smelt like Harry, Harry Potter.

'Hermione? Hermione!' Ron's voice sounded behind him, and once again she found she wasn't able to speak as her mouth was muffled against Ron's woolly jumper. 'What are you doing here? We thought you weren't coming until the start of September?'

Hermione was due to arrive at The Burrow on the 5th of September, at the start of term, but after recieving the letter from McGonagall, she couldn't wait to tell the boys in person. 'Well, I missed all of you. And I have some good news!'

Ron glanced at Harry, 'Harry does too!'

By now the trio were all sitting in the living room on the sofas, under the warmth of the fireplace. Hermione stroked Crookshanks' ginger fur as she spoke, 'so, what is it? Any news on Vold—' Ron shot her a warning look, 'you-know-who?'

Harry shook his head, 'unfortunately not.' he paused and exchanged a look with Ron. 'I'm Head Boy!'

—

Hermione's jaw dropped. Did she just hear that right? That meant Harry and her were both Head boy and Head girl, they'd be sharing their own common room together!

Harry had an expectant look on his face, whereas Ron was staring at Hermione, completely puzzled. 'I'm Head Girl!'

Now it was their turn to be shocked. Both mouths opened and closed, and she laughed at the resemblance to a fish. 'That's amazing, 'Mione! So don't we have our own common room, and our own dorm?'

Hermione nodded and laughed, trying to ignore Ron's shifty eyes between the two of them. Their relationship had always been a touchy subject, but she figured that it wouldn't come between their's and Harry's.

Molly dropped her cup of Pumpkin Juice, she flicked her wand towards the cupboards and glasses flew out in all directions, filling up instantly with Firewhiskey. She cried, 'well, well, well. This calls for a celebration! Arthur? Fred! George! Ginny!'

—

A loud crash was to be heard outside, and Molly rushed to the window, Ginny following close behind. Athur peered out the door, his wand tight in his hand. He let out a sigh of relief. It was just The Order.

It turned out that the bang was Hagrid's motorbike crashing to the ground with full force, something which wasn't unusual when The Order arrived. Kingsley strolled in first, followed by Lupin and Tonks. Hagrid squeezed through the door, turning to Harry to give him a hug.

After settling down, Kingsley announced that he'd like to speak with Harry and Ron. 'there's something we need to discuss..' Molly looked at him expectantly, 'in private.' Hermione gathered her things, and rose out of her chair. Ron and Harry exchanged glances as Kingsley looked at her with sympathetic eyes, 'Hermione. We won't be needing you.'

'Oh..' she slowly sat down, chewing down on her lip and tucking a strand of hair behind her delicate ear. 'Oh, okay then.'

They were gone for a while, confined to a small room at the back of The Burrow which Molly had provided them. Hermione had resisted the urge to peek through the keyhole, or put her ear to the door.. but she knew that if it was private, it was private. Anyway, Ron would probably give in and tell her after no time.

A few minutes later, Hermione was pondering whether to go for a stroll into the depths of the tall grass just outside The Burrow or wait until the three came out. She didn't want to miss anything, of course.

The deep brown door clicked open and a determined Harry walked through, then Ron who was looking somewhat perplexed. Kingsley had joined the adults in the kitchen. Ron, who shot a worried look to Hermione, collapsed into the sofa and sunk down. Harry perched on the arm, his own sneaking round Ginny's waist.

'It's confidential.' Harry whispered solemnly after a few seconds of defeaning silence.

Hermione frowned, 'but—'

'No, Hermione.' he said firmly.

Ron looked up at her beneath his eyelashes. His ruffled red hair gave the impression that he'd been running his hands through it hours on end. A flawless smile which usually graced his face was nowhere to be seen as he spoke;

'It's completely confidential.'