When Ron came down for breakfast the next morning he saw Hermione sitting at the table along with Ginny and Harry.
"Morning." he said sleepily, sat down beside Hermione and began to eat.
"Good morning." they all answered him.
"We are planning on going to Diagon Alley today, Ron. The four of us. Are you in?" Ginny asked.
"Humm, okay." Ron said through a mouth full of food.
"Alright then. Let's go right after breakfast." Hermione insisted and they all nodded.
After they had finished breakfast they got ready and travelled to the Leaky Cauldron by floo powder. Once out of the pub they looked around. The street looked different. Many shops had closed down and there seemed to be more shops dealing with dark magic. It was probably because of Voldemort and the Death Eaters who had not been rare there as Fred and George had told them.But it was not that bad because everywhere you could see people opening new nice shops and the dark ones were as good as empty.
"Let's go to Gringotts first." said Ginny "I'll need some money for shopping."
"Yeah, okay. I need some money, too." said Harry and they all walked towards the bis white building at the end of the street.
Harry and Ginny were walking in front of Ron and Hermione holding hands. Ron shot glances at Hermione from time to time, thinking about taking her hand but not daring to.
They reached Gringotts and saw some goblins repairing a door which had obviously been extremely damaged some time ago. Maybe by an angry dragon… But nobody cared about the fact who they were and they got their money unharmed out of their vaults, the Weasley's vault as empty as always and Harry trying to hide his fortune as always.
Out on the street again Harry gripped Ron's arm and pulled him with him to walk a few steps behind Ginny and Hermione.
"Mate, I'd like to spend some time with Ginny… well, you know, alone." he said quietly and Ron shot him a glare.
"Don't talk about my sister like that." Ron said.
"I mean, you could be alone with Hermione, couldn't you? Wouldn't that be nice?"
"Harry, no! Don't leave me like this! I don't know what to say!"
"Then just kiss her." Harry smirked.
"Harry, no, please!"
But Harry had pulled Ginny by her hand into a nearby pub which looked exactly like Madame Puddifoots in Hogsmead.
"We'll meet at the Burrow!" he called over his shoulder and they vanished.
"Ginny said she wanted some alone time with Harry." Hermione said nervously. "I said it was okay with me. I can understand it."
She looked at him apologetically. "I hope you don't mind spending time with me alone."
If she knew.
"Oh, it's fine with me." said Ron and smiled.
She smiled back.
"Where do you want to go?" he asked and started to walk down the street beside her.
"Umm, I don't know. Where do you want to go?"
"I want to buy you something."
Ron was stunned by his courage. He had not expected himself to say something like that. But it felt good.
"Oh." Hermione said, blushed and then grinned. "What do you want to buy me?"
"Everything you like."
"I like books."
"Oh no, not a book."
"Why not?
"It's not really… personal, is it?"
"Okay, then you decide."
"Do you like jewellery?"
"Um, I don't usually wear it."
"Would you like to start it?"
"That depends…" she said flirtatiously.
Ron dared to grab her hand pulled her into a jewellery store. There were highly exaggerated things but Ron quickly found a beautiful silver bracelet with small round pendants.
"What do you think of this?" Ron said holding it in front of Hermione's eyes.
She gasped. "Ron, it's too expensive! You can't do this!"
"Do you like it?" Ron just asked.
"Well, yeah, but it's-"
"Then I'll buy it."
And he headed towards the counter.
"Ron, be sinsible! It's not worth it, it's too expensive."
"It's for you, Hermione. Don't worry about money, it's a present."
"Why do you do this?" she asked softly.
Ron blushed and looked at the floor.
"You don't have to do it to impress me. I already think-"
"Oh, look at that…" said a sneering voice from behind.
.-.-.-.
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saule-pleureur