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Ok so here is chapter 7, hope u enjoy!

I arrived at school on Monday with hevay bags under my eyes due to the sleep I had been depriving myself of. For the remainder of the weekend, I had read and researched everything I could think of that could possibly explain the meanings of half blood and pure blood; having remembered at the last minute that I'd forgotten to ask Harry what specific type of being these bloodlines stemmed from.

I'd had absolutely no luck; and I was beginning to take this mystery as a personal insult- Hermione Granger rarely got stuck on things, yet here was something that I had not been able to come up with a logical justification for! It was infuriating. So, with an exceedingly short temper, I got through most of the morning without even paying any attention to what was going on around me.

But I began to perk up as lunch approached. As I trailed into the canteen with Pavarti and Padma, I began to wonder whether he was here today, and if he was, would he ask me to sit with him again...

To my astonishment I was not disappointed; no sooner had I started piling food onto my plate than Padma informed me of the following:

"Ron Weasley's staring at you Hermione, he's sitting on his own again today,"

I whipped my head up and glanced across the canteen; Ron was sat at the same small table where we'd first perched ourselves last friday. His eyes were fixed upon my own, and there was a mischevious grin plastered across his face.

"I guess this means you won't be sitting with us again today," commented Parvati, with a slight jealous edge to her tone.

"No no it's nothing personal," I assured her quickly, "Ron might want help with some Biology homework, I'll go and talk to him."

With that I walked slowly away from them and preceded with slight nervousness towards Ron. His cheeky grin seemed to widen as I got nearer.

"Nice to see you," he commented cheerfully as I sat down opposite him, "you seem to know me rather well, I didn't even have to come over and ask you this time,"

"You make me sound like some kind of pet dog!" I retorted, completely stung by the way he put it across.

"Suppose I did," he pondered, "sorry," he added sharply. I gave him a stiff nod to show him my almost forgiveness, and he began to change the subject.

"So, how was your hike up Stoatshead Hill? I can see you managed to come back in one piece."

"Oh yes," I replied anxiously, I had been hoping for an opportunity to inform Ron of the discussion between me and Harry, but hadn't quite worked out how to breach it. So instead I prolonged the flow of casual conversation.

"The weather was indeed very charming," I said with heavy sarcasm in my voice, "it was snowing."

"Oh yeah, I noticed that," smirked Ron; he appeared to understand my opinion of extreme weather conditions by the look on my face; damn, why could he read me so easily?

"Was it snowing where you were?" I asked curiously, remembering that he and his brothers had been away camping for the past couple of days.

"Pretty much," shrugged Ron, "but it didn't bother us too much, gave us an opportunity for some bloody good snowball fights actually!"

I flinched, "but...you must've frozen! I mean spending the weekend in a tent whilst enduring heavy snow! You're lucky you weren't trapped in it!"

"Yeah I guess we were," he mused cheerfully, "but hey, here I am, no cuts or grazes, and in fact, I'm willing to bet that I was a lot more comfortable than you were this weekend."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked suspiciously, "are you telling me you didn't really go camping and decided to cosy up inside a nice big hotel instead?"

Ron laughed, "we could've done," he admitted, "but I guess we were too stupid to think about how much more sensible it would've been to book into a hotel, besides, we still had all our usual home comforts whilst camping."

"Sounds like your home comforts are very limited then!" I announced, slightly put off.

"Oh no," smiled Ron, "I'm actually very fussy about my comfort; a comfortable bed, a kitchen, bathroom, they're all essentials to me having a good time away from home; and let me tell you I had an extremely good time this weekend! Even if the bathroom was a bit small..."

"You're having me on!" I threw at him, my temper had been short enough anyway this morning, but now Ron had just pulled it to the absolute maximum, "how could you have possibly had access to a bed, kitchen and bathroom whilst camping in the middle of a snowstorm! Just admit it, you didn't even camp anywhere! You were holed up in a nice cosy hotel or even at home in your nice warm bed!"

"Are you calling me a liar!" Ron snapped, clenching his fists as his temper too began to boil inside of him.

"Yes I am!" I hissed, "I'm sick of everything you kind of people say to me! I don't believe any of it's true! And I hope you rot in hell after you've suffered an extremely painful death!"

"Well I hope you do too! You know nothing!"he shot back at me. His face bright red and full of anger.

My cheeks red from the fury that bubbled within me, I stood up and stormed out of the canteen, leaving my untouched tray of food and a viciously angry Ron still sat at the table.

Once free of that red headed person's piercing glare, I charged around the school, my temper ready to lash out at anyone who dared tried to speak to me. I looked like a mad woman; my bushy hair flew out behind me like waves of electricity, and my eyes were full of fire as I seethed over everything that had happened these past few days.

I had been told that there was another type of species that stemmed two bloodlines, one of which

was famous for its intent on killing anything that was not like itself. Furthermore, a particular person who I was trying very hard not to be interested in, supposedly carried the blood which was full of hate and murder, while another person I knew descended from the other bloodline...what did it mean!

"Hermione? Hermione?"

I started; I had taken refuge behind some lockers where in my mad rage I'd presumed no one would find me, but Seamus was now stood next to me, a hand on my shoulder and a worried expression on his face.

"Are you alright?"

I checked myself, my temper seemed to have calmed down in my few minutes of solitude, but something about my expression appeared to be scaring Seamus, so I attempted a smile.

"Thanks Seamus, um I'm fine, really, I just needed a bit of breathing space that's all."

"Was it Weasley?" he asked meaningfully, "I saw you get up and storm out of the canteen after somthing he'd said."

"No, no it wasn't Ron Weasley, well it was but...it doesn't matter Seamus, everything's fine, I'm fine. Now, would you please mind moving out the way so we can start heading towards Biology." I said quickly.

Seamus hurriedly obeyed and, still shooting curious glances at me, we made our way to Biology, where I sat myself down at our currently empty desk without looking at anyone; my temper was still balancing on the edge of control.

I didn't even look up when I heard the seat next to me move, and he certainly did nothing to try and catch my attention; and so the last few minutes of lunch proceeded in silence until the afternoon bell went, and Mr Snape came joyously bouncing into the room, excitement shining in his eyes.

"Right now class, everybody outside; I've got a real treat for you all today! We're going to be making an explosion!"

At his words, the rest of the class began talking animatedly about the prospect of a loud bang, while I inwardly flinched at the idea of such a horrible loud noise.

"I want you all to follow me in a nice organised line," shouted Snape, "in fact, I want you to pair up with the person sat next to you; because this is going to be a pretty extreme bang, I don't want anybody stood on their own in the course of the explosion, so come on now, pair up and form a line!"

The class hurried into two rather wonky shaped lines, everybody stood in a pair. Ron and I did not say anything to each other, but merely positioned ourselves amongst the others in the two different lines. I was beginning to feel nervous, I really did not like loud noises, they gave me such a fright, and after my breakdown at lunch, I wasn't sure I was in a fit mental state to be scared out of my wits this afternoon.

We followed Mr Snape out into a small clearing on the edge of the woods which sat next to the school. After ushering us all behind a safety barrier consisting of logs, Snape began to prepare the necessary ingredient needed for the explosion: rubidium . The class fell silent; there was no other word needed which would gaurantee a louder and more brutal explosion.

As we waited expectantly for the grevious loud bang, I felt my heart rate pick up and my breathing was starting to become very difficult to control; I glanced helplessly around me, everybody else was tensed for what would surely be a very noisy and vicous explosion, but no one appeared to be as stressed out as me! I started beating myself mentally: Get a grip, get a grip, it's only a loud noise, it's not going to hurt you, get a grip, get a grip...

"It's alright," murmered a soft voice next to my ear, "It'll be over soon."

I took a sharp intake of breath as I remembered who I was supposed to be standing next to. Then, suddenly, a vicous and roaring BANG filled the clearing, causing me to gasp and grab hold of the nearest thing to me. The sound was unbearably loud; it ripped at my ear drums and the impact forced me to scrunch my face up in a look of pain. Around me I could hear yells and squeals of shock as the noise flew past us, then there was nothing but a thick layer of dust coating the air, and jubilant yells of delight descended from those who quickly got over the shock.

"Yeah! Wahoo!"

"That was amazing!"

"Can we do it again sir?"

"Yeah please can we do it again sir!"

I glanced down at my hand to see what it was currently gripping onto, I noticed another warm hand, a hand which held mine comfortably and protectively within its own, as though it was always made to fit. I raised my eyeline, and instinctively jerked my hand away as my eyes came into contact with his.

I walked back to the classroom in total silence; everyone around me was joyfully recounting what they all referred to as "a well cool" explosion, but I was completely distracted....

I noticed another warm hand, a hand which held mine comfortably and protectively within its own, as though it was always made to fit. I raised my eyeline, and instinctively jerked my hand away as my eyes came into contact with his and a sudden jolt of electricity soared through me, along with a beautiful, powerful, unchanging emotion...

"Hermione! Oh Hermione! I just had to find you; guess what's just happened?"

I shook my head obliviously, "What?" I asked.

"Ok, I'm going to the summer ball with Dean! I did what you suggested, I asked him and took control!"

Suprise and happiness flowed through me on behalf of Padma,"oh well done Padma! I told you it could happen."

Padma sqealed and pulled me into a tight hug; over her shoulder, I caught sight of Parvati coming over to us. When she was within talking distance, she spoke pointedly to me.

"He isn't here Hermione, the Weasley's head off out of this school much quicker than any of us lot can manage."

"Um what makes you think I was waiting for him?" I asked dumbly, feeling totally caught out.

"Hermione, we all saw what happened in the canteen this lunchtime, and plus, why would anyone bother freezing themselves to death by standing next to their vehicle, gazing at the spot where he and his family normally park even when they know that it's already empty."

I didn't say anything, trust me to forget that Parvati's last lesson was in a room with a clear view of the parking lot. Fortunately, though, Padma was in too much of an excited state to be worried about my incident with Ron, and was now planning a trip out shopping for summer ball dresses. Luckily, this was also something Parvati could not help talking about.

"Oh we should so go shopping before all the good dresses get cleaned out," she said excitedly, "what about tomorrow night!"

"Well you know that's fine by me!" replied Padma, she turned to me, "will you come with us Hermione? I'm desperately gonna need your opinion on dresses seeing as it was down to you that I got my dance partner!"

"Oh um ok," I said a little shyly; shopping for dresses was really not an area of my expertise, but I desperately needed to get out and distract myself, so I put on an excited attitude.

Sirius was careful to inform me of being on my guard whilst out shopping with Pavarti and Padma, when I acquainted him with our plans at dinner that night:

"I'm not saying they're not nice girls sweet, but they can get a bit over the top, just have a nice time with them, and make sure y'eh don't do anything stupid."

Slightly amused by my father's lack of faith in my sensibility, I spent the rest of the evening immersed in homework, after which all I had to look forward to was another restless night's sleep...

School passed by at a suprisingly speedy rate on Tuesday; one small fact that particulary caught ahold of my attention, was Ron Weasley's unexpected abscene; something which continually pecked at the back of my mind throughout the whole day.

But I refused to let any confusing thoughts cloud my head as I, Parvati and Padma cruised towards the nearest shopping centre at the end of the school day. We were in the twins' bright blue porsche and Parvati turned the music up loud as we laughed and chatted about the things that were happening around us, and for a while I was completely oblivious to the things that had been dominating my mind recently.

Although, there was little hope of keeping my problems at bay for long; the twins both tried on at least fifteen dresses each before they finally declared their final choice; which meant that I spent most of the evening sat outside the changing rooms, attempting to fight off thinking about what he could be doing right now, and wishing I'd bought some extra work to do.

After selecting their dresses, Parvati and Padma both expressed a desire on finding the perfect pair of shoes to match. Not wanting to spend another two and a half hours hanging around the shoe department, I politetly excused myself by asking them where the nearest book store was.

"It's round the corner and down another two rows of shops," exclaimed Parvati, "do you want us to come with you?"

"No no, I can become quite emmersed when it comes to looking at books, as you probably already know," I stated honestly, "you two sort out which shoes you're going to get and how about I meet you at that restaurant we said we'd go to in about an hour?"

They both nodded eagerly, so I bid them goodbye and headed out of the dress shop in the direction that Parvati had pointed.

The book shop was indeed an enlightning place to be after being sat outside those changing rooms for hours; I browsed amongst the interesting volumes for ages and ended up purchasing a rather variable selection of novels.

Despite only being in the bookshop for just over half an hour, the streets were dark and devoid of people when I stepped back onto them. The change in atmosphere confused me, and I was virtually clueless with regards to which was the right direction to the restaurant. So, following my initiative, I headed back down to the end of the row and turned left; I walked in mismatched directions for about ten minutes until I noticed I was no longer surrounded by shops, but warehouse buildings. This meant I must've gone too far, so I turned around and began walking back towards the suprisingly distant flicker of streetlights.

But it was beginning to get late, and out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a rather rowdy looking group of young men hovering on the other side of the pavement. At first I thought they hadn't spotted me as I scooted hurriedly down the dangerously slippery pavement, but just when I thought I'd got by them undetected, they called out to me:

"Hey gorgeous! Where you off to in such a hurry?"

I ignored them and continued making my steady but swift way back towards the centre of town. But, when I reached the end of the pavement, I realised that what I had been walking towards hadn't been the area containing the shops; it was the centre of the warehouse industry. Shoot! I had gone further than I thought, But the most disheartening thought was the fact that in order to get back to where the shops were, it meant walking past that group of men again....I really was not very keen on that. But there was little else I could do unless I wanted to freeze to death in the middle of the workhouse industry, so steading myself with a deep breath, I began to head back in my previous direction; hoping that those boys wouldn't notice me this time...

I would've done better to stay where I was. The gang had switched to the opposite side of the pavement and were now stood directly in my intended path. Coming to an immediate and silent halt, I prayed that they hadn't heard me approaching; but, just as I was about to creep across to the other side of the road, I sensed somebody stood a couple of inches behind me. I flew round; it was the man who had called out to me, and he was now looking at me with a menacing and jubilous look on his face.

"There you are gorgeous! We were beginning to wonder where you'd got to. Come n' have some fun with us eh?"

Slowly, he began to approach me. I backed away, knowing full well that his cronies had positioned themselves right behind me and around me, so there was little or no way I could escape. The panic that I had tried to keep bottled was beginning to lose its lid, and I felt myself starting to shake rather violently whilst sweat dribbled down my forehead.

"Awww, it looks like she's cold!" jeered the man who was advancing towards me, "well perhaps we can warm you up sweetheart!"

"No!" I tried to yell, but my throat had gone completely dry with fear. From behind me, someone grabbed hold of my arms and held me tight against his body. I wriggled and strruggled as hard as I could, but the man who had been acting as spokesperson for his group took a firm hold of my face and slowly began pulling my lips to his.

"No!" I yelped frantically, "please no, no! NO!"

As my scream reverberated across the entire street, it was accompanied by the screeching of tyres as a car came flying round the corner, aiming directly for the group on the pavement. The men scattered; I was roughly pushed out of the arms which were previously restraining me and fell against the harsh brick wall belonging to a nearby warehouse. Out of the blue, gentler arms encircled me, and I felt myself being pulled back onto my feet with a gruff voice saying: " Go get in the car now."

I obeyed immediately, not even looking back to see whether the men had returned to challenge the person who had attempted to squash them into the wall. But, as I threw myself into the passenger side door, I caught sight of the gang cowering together a little bit further along the road; their attention appeared to be fixed on something in particular, but because the brightness of the car's headlights was blinding my vision of everything positioned close to me, I was unable to see whereabouts my saviour was. Then suddenly, I felt the whole car shudder as he plunged into the driver's seat and thrust the car forwards, again aiming for the now petrified group of men who were beginning to see sense and make a run for it. The car lurched backwards as it was thrown into a violent spin, causing me to let out a shriek of terror, and then we were speeding back down the empty road, quickly deserting the now silent street.

I did not look at him for a couple of minutes. I could tell his temper was fuming; his breathing was ragged due to his hardly clenched teeth, and his hands were balls of fists upon the steering wheel. Most of his face was obscured because of the dark confines of the car, but the part of it I could see looked almost dangerous, and I could hardly doubt the fear that mirrored within me as I remembered the looks on those men's faces when he stood before them...

"Are you alright?" he asked quite abruptly, his face still a mask of anger.

"Ye- yes," I stammered shakily, using my voice for the first time since I'd let out that scream.

"Did they hurt you?" he continued seriously.

"No, I don't think so," I checked myself for any cuts and bruises; the only thing that seemed to ache was my unfortunate right shoulder,it having suffered the hard impact after I was plunged into that wall.

"I should go back and rip their bloody heads off!" he hissed menacingly.

"No you shouldn't!" I replied, slightly disturbed.

Ron let out a frustrated breath, "Could you talk about something else!" he asked me desperately, "distract me so that I won't turn around."

I could hardly think of what to say to him, but then I noticed that he was driving at 60 mph without wearing a searbelt.

"Holy crow slow down!" I yelped loudly; the needle dropped down to 40, "and please could you put your seatbelt on."

Ron let out a quick short burst of laughter, "why don't you put your seatbelt on!" he said a little hysterically.

He drove us to the main car park, where on arrival, I caught sight of Parvati and Padma making their way back to their car. Without looking back to see what Ron was doing, I quickly jumped out of the Ford and headed over towards them, calling their names as I did so.

"Hermione!" they both yelped in suprise and relief as I stopped in front of them, "where on earth were you? We've been so worried!"

"Oh sorry I'm afraid that's my fault," cut in Ron, who I hadn't noticed get out of the car and follow me, "Hermione and I bumped into each other and just got talking, I'm really sorry I made her miss her dinner with you."

The twins and I stared at Ron with opened mouthed expressions for a couple of minutes. Since when had he become so gallant and charming? I caught sight of Padma's expression out of the corner of my eye; her eyes were fixed upon Ron, and the exact same question was written across her features.

"Um well..." began Parvati, with a curious glance towards me, "I guess that clears things up um, listen we're really sorry Hermione, but we spent ages waiting for you and we were really hungry so we decided to have something to eat whilst you weren't there." she looked at me rather guiltily.

"Oh...it's ok," I said reassuringly, "I'm not very hungry anyway."

As though on cue, my stomach let out a huge rumble which Ron, who subsequently raised his eyebrows at me, and I, responding to him with a forceful glare, most definetely heard.

Parvati brightened up a little, "Ok, so does that mean you're all ready to head off home?"

I was just about to relunctantly nod, when Ron quickly decided to say: "Um listen, I'm not too sure that Hermione's eaten something solid for a while," he looked pointedly at me, "would it be an idea if I took her off for something to eat and dropped her back home later?"

I was really not very happy that Ron had put this whole statement towards Parvati without even checking to see if it was alright with me first! And to top it off, I was particularly offended by Parvati's motherly- like answer:

"Well yes I don't see why that would be a problem; she probably needs some good food in her. But make sure you don't drop her off too late, it is a school day tomorrow."

"No probs," smiled Ron, causing Parvati to let out a nervous giggle before talking to me.

"We'll catch you later then Hermione, um ring us if you think you might need some help with anything," she looked at me suggestively. I let out a small smile and waved.

"See you tomorrow Hermione," grinned Padma, as she forcibly slammed the right hand door, and the car began to scoot off onto the main road.

We stood in silence for a couple of minutes, then Ron turned to face me.

"So,"he began, "where would you like to go?"

"Nowhere," I replied stubbornly, "I said I was not hungry."

"Oh come on Hermione," he groaned tiredly, "I'm just trying to help you here."

"Well I don't need your help!" I said forcibly, "if you fancy something to eat, you go and have something to eat."

"Look, if it weren't for me, you've been made mince meat out of those disgusting perverts!" he spat as the look of pure anger returned to his face "the least you could do me in return for saving you is to come and have some dinner with me."

The breath hitched in my throat; Ron had asked me to have dinner with him; I knew he didn't mean anything suggestively by it, but oh how my heart wished he would!

The murderous expression was still etched across his face as he waited for me to respond. I breathed slowly out.

"Look, ok I'll come and eat something with you. But before we go anywhere, please could you try and replace that look on your face; it's scaring me."

Ron looked at me worriedly, then his face relaxed into a calm, warming smile; I could hardly take my eyes off him.

"Upwards an onwards," he said cheerfully. I smiled and the two of us began heading for the nearest restaurant, where I was completely and utterly astonished by the amount Ron was able to eat.

"Aren't you even full yet!" I exclaimed as he tucked into a huge pudding with the appearance of a person who'd been left to starve for the last few days.

Ron shrugged and said simply, "I'm a bloke aren't I? Got more room inside me than you."

"Well you won't do for much longer! Your stomach looks about ready to burst!" I said worriedly.

Ron rolled his eyes and silently finished his portion, after which he immediately began to look at me very inquisitively.

I blushed and bit my lip nervously, "what is it?" I asked him.

"I'm suprised," he said simply.

"About what?"

"About why you haven't bombarded me with at least 101 questions since I saved you earlier this evening."

I looked down into my lap, "Oh...um well...I wasn't planning on ruining your dinner by throwing half a dozen questions at you all at once, but since we're now finished..."

"Oh I see," smiled Ron, "You wanted me to be in a better mood so you wouldn't have to worry about me flying off the handle when you ask me something I don't like. "

"Well I have read that the majority of males are crabbier if they haven't got any food inside of them, and plus I want you to be absolutely truthful when it comes to answering me."

"I'm not sure I can promise you on that one."

"Why? Don't you think I've seen and heard enough to be owed a little honesty?"

"It's not that. it...it's just...it's too dangerous for you to know too much!"

"Why?!" I said exasperatedly, "I'm completely confused by the way you speak to me! Why is it so dangerous for me to know something about you?"

Ron let out a deep, stressful breath and looked me straight in the eyes.

"Please don't force me Hermione," he begged seriously, "many who have known about people like me have ended up in mortal danger because of it, and I don't think I could bear it if anything like that happened to you."

The breath caught in my throat; I struggled to regain my flow of oxygen before I said in reply to him: "What do you mean by sayng "people like me"? Are you referring to the fact that you are a pure blood?"

A deep frown spread across Ron's face, "how did you know about that?" he asked suspiciously.

I felt a sense of acheivement in outdoing him with regards to the extent of my knowledge, "I was talking to a friend who lives on the other side of town, and he told me some of the myths that he's acquainted with."

"Did he know anything else apart from the myths defining the pure bloods and the half bloods?"

I shook my head. Ron let out an exasperated sigh, and then suddenly, for a reason unbeknowest to me, he let the barriers down:

"So," he started quickly, " I'm guessing you probably wanna know how I knew whereabouts you were when those guys started harrassing you,"

I nodded earnestly, "how did you manage to arrive at just the right moment?"

Ron glanced down into his lap, he seemed to be thinking about how best to answer me.

"No lies," I reminded him.

"No lies," he repeated, looking back up at me. He let out another low sigh, "Ok, the reason I knew where you were tonight," he began quickly, "was because I was following you; I followed you and your friends from the moment you left school and ever since you arrived here," he looked at me guiltily, "I was doing my best to lie low in case you needed my help for any reason, I used the minds of other people to keep a close eye on you, and then I saw the memories of those disgusting twats down in the middle of the warehouse district, and I knew that I had to rescue you."

He kept his eyes fixed on me as he came to the end of his confession. I was completely lost for words; Ron had been following me! Following me ever since I had set foot out of school in the earliy hours of this afternoon! I felt like I could do nothing but stare at him in confusion, although it wasn't long before I found my voice:

"Why?" I asked bewilderdly. Ron blushed slightly before he answered me.

"Because you're a bit of a klutz," he smiled nervously, "you've got into more accidents than the whole of Ottery St Catchpole put together."

My mouth fell open in response to his offensive comment, "I'm not that clumsy!" I said in my defense, "I know I've got into situations which most people wouldn't experience throughout their entire lives, but that doesn't mean to say it's all my fault!"

"Did I say it was?" said Ron gently, "all I meant was that you've ended up in a lot of situations which have nearly resulted in a fatality," his face seemed to lose some of its colour as he said the last word, "but that doesn't mean to say it's definetely gonna happen again, not unless I'm around anyway," he added coyly.

I turned my face away to hide my smile, "you said... that you were able to find me by viewing the memories of other people," I said a little dumbfoundly.

"Yeah I did," he admitted a bit shamefully.

"How?" I asked curiously.

"Well...there's a sort of method that I can use, which would allow me to read every mind of every peson sitting in this restaurant right now- including yours."

Slight panic began to overwhelm me for a few seconds, "does that mean you're able to see everything I'm thinking right now?"

"No," Ron shook his head, "it'll only work when I choose it to. Right now I'm as oblivious to what's going in everyone else's mind as you are." he smiled softly at me.

But I was still slightly on edge, "have you ever tried to read my mind before?"

"No, I would never be that rude. The only time I would ever read people's minds is if someone is in danger or if a specific person particularly rubs me up the wrong way."

I relaxed a little, still trying to take in the fact that Ron had the capability to read people's minds. Silence proceeded between us for a couple of minutes as we both went over what had just been said; my mind was a whirlpool of confusion and wonder; so much had been unravelled yet there was still loads more that was left to be said.

"Hermione," said Ron gently.

I looked up at him; he could not have been more kinder to me this evening, and I knew this moment would stay etched into my mind for a very long time.

"Yes," I said quietly.

"I'm...I'm sorry for everything that I've said to you this evening; I know it must be really difficult for you to try and believe...and um I feel terrible for burdening it on you-"

I held up my hand to silence him, "please don't blame yourself," I begged softly, "I wanted to know these things; and although I can hardly deny the fact that they've given me quite a shock," I laughed nervously, "I know I feel better off now that I understand to a certain extent."

Ron's expression relaxed slightly but he still maintained a solemnly serious expression as he spoke to me again:

"Hermione I...I know I've been a complete arse towards you but...I don't think I have anymore strength to try and stay away from you..."

I stared deep into his beautiful eyes as the meaning of what he said swept through me, "then please don't," I whispered, my voice begging with him...

The journey home was mostly in silence; Ron turned the heater on, but after a while it began to get a bit uncomfortable.

"I think I'm warm enough now," I assured him quietly, and reached out my hand to switch off the heater; but Ron's hand had moved towards it too, and as our fingers collided, I felt the familiar jolt of electricity soar through me, causing me to gasp and look up at him; the expression on his face was mirroring my own- had he felt it too?

We were heading in a direction which passed the police station, but as we approached it, I noticed there were a hefty number of active police cars patrolling the area, and Sirius' car was still residing in the middle of the car park.

"What is going on?" I asked worriedly.

"Dunno," said Ron, who slowed the speed at which we were travelling and approached the police station with caution.

"My dad's still here,"I pointed out to him, "would you mind pulling in?"

Ron began to head into the station car park, at which point he caught sight of something:

"Merlin! That's my dad's car; what the hell's he doing here?"

I guessed that if Ron's dad was present at the police station, then something serious had happened. We headed towards the main entrance, and then saw him walking slowly out of the double glass doors in the direction of an awaiting ambulance.

"Dad!" Ron called, and both of us hurried towards him.

"Ron," acknowledged a tired looking Mr Weasley, "what are you doing here?"

"We were just on our way back from the shopping centre, why are you here?"

Mr Weasley did not say anything at first, but looked at me and Ron with an expression of great concern.

"There's been a terrible incident,"he finally began, "Hermione, it involved one of your father's closest friends, Remus Lupin, I think it would be advisable if you go to him and show him your safe; I'm afraid he's rather distraught."

"Ok," I said quickly, but before I left them, I asked Mr Weasley, "do you know what was the cause of his death sir?"

"I think I'll leave that to your father to explain to you as and when he chooses," he replied gravely; as he said this his eyes made contact with Ron, and I thought I saw a flash of understanding flicker across Ron's face, but I couldn't be too sure.

"I'd better go in then," I said conclusively; I turned to Ron and gave him my thanks for everything he'd done for me this evening; he did not say anything in response, but merely nodded his head and gave me a small smile; he suddenly seemed rather troubled.

Sirius was relieved to see me as I walked into his darkened private office.

"Hermione! Thank god you're ok sweet!" he pulled me into a rib-crashing hug.

"Yes dad I'm ok," I looked up at him worriedly, "how are you doing?"

"Oh I've been better," he sniffed, "S'pose it just came as a huge shock that's all; it could've been anybody."

"Do you have any idea how it happened?" I asked tentatively, "Ron's dad said it was a terrible incident."

"Yeah yeah it was," grunted Sirius, "we found him out by the woods; and he appeared to be lookin' alright, no cuts no bruises, the docs' haven't even been able to specify the cause of death; apart from telling us that he was as cold as a block of ice n' his face had a look of terror on it! But how?" Sirius' voice gave out and he covered his face in his hands, the memory of his friend too clear to try and bear.

I patted his back gently as he sobbed into his hands; I had no other idea of how to comfort him, and another interesting issue was how on earth could a person become so scared that their heart just gave out? As this was the point that my father had been implying.

Sirius slowly regained his composure and raised his head back upwards; he looked at me with such sad swollen eyes that I felt my own eyes well up just from his expression.

"I'm so sorry for you dad," I whispered hoarsely. Sirius patted my hand which was placed on his shoulder.

"You're a good girl you are, n' you look absolutely shattered."

I smiled tiredly at him.

"Come on," he said, with an attempt at normality, "let's go home."

We headed out of the police station, where Remus Lupin's body was now being loaded into the back of the awaiting ambulance. As I tried not to notice a pair of unnaturally pale feet poking out of the plastic sheet, it hit me.

Images from the last few weeks were speedily flashing across my mind: the way he got over to me so fast, how he stopped the truck with a single stick of wood, the ability to do things beyond people's imagination such as reading minds, the uniqueness of the blood that runs in his veins...goodness!

I knew what Ron Weasley was.