A/N: Yes, I know, I'm a horrid person, stop throwing carrots at me! Just be grateful that I'm back, it's taken a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get to this stage, I've had GCSE's to deal with, and it's not over yet I'm afraid. Oh, and I don't own anything, and this chapter especially is set in modern day. So here it is, enjoy:

Ron's POV:

The next few weeks passed and we could all feel the great weight on our shoulders intensify. It came up to a day sometime in mid-Autumn, when we were all beginning to miss home comforts and our families. I took to listening to our small crackly radio, relishing in the comfort of the quiet crackling sound against the voice of a man called Chris Evans, to the obvious dismay of the other two.

"Ron, could you please turn that down? I'm trying to read," asked Hermione, her eyes skimming over the radio briefly before returning to her page. "But it's an interview with this welsh guy called Tom Jones, he sounds alright! I don't want to miss…" I began before she shouted; "Turn that bloody racket down or it goes out the tent and into the river! I'm trying to read Hog…" "Hogwarts: A History, yes I know, but you've read that a million times, whereas there is a high chance that I will never hear this again, so if you could just…" I began, before being interrupted again. "Just what? What do you want me to do, Ronald? Leave you alone?! You know what, fine, I'll leave you alone," she finished, before tugging her paperback under her arm and exiting the tent.

I, being stubborn, decided she could sort out her mood on her own, and went back to the Tom Jones interview. When that ended, I decided to swap to the Wizard Channel, which as if on cue, started my favourite Weird Sisters song, coincidentally the song that was playing when Hermione stopped dancing with Viktor Krum at the Yule Ball in their Fourth Year. The song was cut short, interrupted by the list of missing Witches, Wizards and Muggles that was too long to think about comfortably, lasting for ten whole minutes. When it reached the end I sighed with relief, glad that I didn't know too many of the names mentioned, and none of them belonged to my family. But still, poor old Christopher Smith, he used to run the ancient Muggle-style sweet shop in Ottery St Catchpole, I used to go there every week on a Tuesday. I remember it all so vividly; the glass jars overcrowding the wall shelves, filled to the brim with sweets of all shapes, sizes and colours: liquorice, flying saucers, and gobstoppers as big as your fist three times over! It was all a little boy of four could dream of, but now it was gone.

I came to the realisation that that could happen to anyone, that You Know Who could manipulate anything until he got what he wanted. I suddenly thought to my friends and family, people from Hogwarts, Harry, Hermione. No, surely not Hermione, she was mine, or would be if my heart had control over my mouth. I knew I had to go apologise to her, it was the right thing to do.

I stood straight away, a confused look gained from Harry, who through all this had been examining his Snitch, unaware of my revelation. Then I set out towards the great outdoors, all set on finding Hermione and apologising straight out, totally forgetting about the new Weird Sisters "magical" single that was apparently coming out to keep up the spirits of the Wizarding World. I couldn't lose her.

Hermione's POV:

"…You know what, fine, I'll leave you alone," I shouted at Ron, before storming out into the cold air, book under my arm, angry at his selfishness. It must have been around October time, because the leaves were still turning, and birds were still singing in the trees, despite the calm frost threatening to bite at any revealed flesh, but too weak to send shivers down my spine.

I looked up into the nearest tree that was still in our safe bubble. It looked good enough for a reading spot, so I raced forward, put my book between my teeth and began my ascent. I was up about five branches when one snapped under my feet. I swore under my breath, praying I wouldn't crash to the ground clumsily and die tragically. I told myself to cut the melodrama and get on with it; I had lived through my mini heart attack and I could safely move to the next branch.

I soon reached a large thick branch in a spot of sunlight where I could read undistracted and alone.

Oh, I always hated the description of the duel between Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin, why did friends have to fight? I then thought how their situation related so much to Ron and mines', apart from the fact that I'm pretty sure Gryffindor wasn't in love with Slytherin, or vice versa! Wait…no, I'm not in love with Ron, it's just a silly teenage girl crush, it will pass and nothing will come of it, what a stupid thing to think!

I put down my book, thinking about what concoction I could make with my limited supply of ingredients when I realised I had no idea how to get down from my tree.

Luckily, Ron came out of the tent two minutes later, obviously looking for something else. Honestly, silly man, always loses things! I was about to ask what was up, freak him out a bit, when he started mumbling to himself. I tuned in just in time to hear my name and an apology, like he was trying to figure out how to say sorry. I was so shocked I completely forgot that I was hidden. "What brought this on?" He jumped about a foot in the air, swearing loudly before looking up with searching eyes into my neat little tree hideout. "Bloody hell Hermione! What you doing up there?" "You told me, basically, to shove off, so I did and somehow ended up in this tree." He looked up at me, bemused slightly, most likely by the fact that on a normal day I would never climb anything, never mind a tree!

He muffled a laugh, shaking his head. "You know, you can be pretty bonkers, Hermione Granger." I threw him a mock scowl. "So, you never answered my question. Why are you planning an apology?" "That wasn't the question," he responded, grinning. Then his grin faded as he continued; "I was just listening to the list of names on that bloody radio and it occurred to me that it could, theoretically, happen to anyone, and we don't know how many days we have left until we are found out or whatever. Therefore, I figured that now wasn't the time to be having petty arguments. So I'm sorry for being selfish and unreasonable."

"I'm sorry too, Ron," I replied. "It has been hard, and most likely it will get harder over the next couple of months, but I think, for Harry at least, we should stop acting like an old married couple and get on with it."

"Well said," he smiled. "Now, come down and I'll try and help with the dinner, just as an extra sorry."

"Believe me, Ronald, helping me with dinner would only add to the old married couple arguments we have been having. However, you could help me get down from this tree."

"Right, help you down. Right! Ummm, how do I do that exactly?"

Ron's POV:

I ran over in my head different plans to get her down from that blasted tree. I thought about climbing up there myself and guiding her down. Or maybe just staying up there with her, live in that tree forever and a day, all we'd need was each other. She's all that I need. Then I remembered about the bandages around my bad arm, so that plan went out the window. Okay, let's try something else.

"Hermione," I called up to her. "I want you to jump." "You want me to WHAT?! Are you trying to kill me?!" she called down, slightly outraged. "It's the only thing I can think of without climbing up and rescuing you, which I can't do thanks to my arm. Come on, you just trust me." She looked down at me. "I trust you," she replied. "Great! Right, you need to hang by your arms from that branch. Yes, good there you go!" I encouraged as she dangled from the tree. "Let go when I tell you to, alright Hermione? Okay, right, three…two…one…drop!"

She closed her eyes as she fell, no doubt waiting to crash to the ground, until her eyelashes fluttered open and she gasped as she found herself in mid-air. She looked down at me and my wand that was pointing at her.

"Oh, wow Ron! Well done! Something else clever, I'll have to start a list," she chuckled. "At least we know you can definitely pronounce Windargium Leviosa correctly now." "Shush you! Anyway, that lists going to get bloody long, my cleverness has been making a regular appearance lately," I grinned, folding my non-wand arm. "Ha Ha," she laughed sarcastically. "Now can I please get back on the ground?!" "Since you asked so nicely," I said.

Once she was safely back on the ground next to me, she collapsed on the floor, enjoying the rays of sunlight shining onto the ground. I joined her there, the feeling of Hermiones energy next to me more warming than the suns' rays. I moved my hand, bumping mine with hers, and she clasped it gently. "Thank you Ron," she whispered, nestling into my arm and closing her eyes. "Believe me," I said. "It's no problem."

So there we have it, the end of chapter 11! As if we're only on chapter 11 and I started this fic over a year ago! I need to sort that out! Anyway, hope you enjoyed it, I'll get some more material to you all soon. Don't forget to get in touch! xx

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