This is my first fanfic ever, any reviews would be really appreciated.

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SUMMER

The Burrow was a wonderful place in the summer, at least most of the time. Today was not one of those days of bliss where he just got to enjoy his mum's cooking, take a nap, play quidditch and relax. No, today was the day his mum woke up early and nagged about the gnomes in the garden. She did give him really good food, but that was ruined by the twin's latest invention. Transfiguring one of their bloody new inventions to be hidden in his eggs!

"What in the bloody hell!" Ron screamed as his nose began to bleed uncontrollably onto his eggs and sausage.

"Bloody is right!" Fred managed to say as him and George laughed nonchalantly.

"That is enough from you two! You will fix your brother's nose immediately! Or by gully! And what have I told you about those jokes! ACCIO! ACCIO!" Molly screamed around the house looking for fake wands, order lists and mischievous inventions.

"What is this? Blood from hell!" Ron muttered angrily.

"Nosebleed Nougat!" said George, his voice filled with excitement.

"Here take this it's the antidote" said Fred.

Ron looked at his brother hesitantly but took the small pill. Soon his nosebleed was gone as he heard his mother trailing down the stairwell.

"Well now that you two gits ruined breakfast, I hope you have a great time with mum!" he said as he exited towards the garden to denogme. His day went from bad to worse, a gnome bit him and Ginny was snapping back at any attitude he gave her. As, he finally finished his tasks in the garden, he went to the kitchen made himself a sandwich and made a beeline for his room. After eating he sat there looking at his undone homework and wondering how his friends were doing when suddenly a white owl appeared fluttering through the window. "Hedwig!" Ron uttered with excitement as he grabbed the parchment and petted the owl.

Dear Ron,

I hope you are having fun this summer. My parents and I will be back in three weeks! It's been a great trip. We went to Spain, Greece and Russia, mostly visited ancient magic sites; some of those were brilliant. Mom and dad have kept their teaching nag as usual. She keeps making me practice defensive spells and dad started teaching me this skill called occlumency. It's hard. I also owled Hermione and she asked if you and I would want to come visit her house in the muggle world for week. She doesn't have an owl so she asked me to tell you. If you want to go you can use Hedwig to write her and plan everything out. She said when it's all set she'll send Hedwig back to tell me the details. The muggle world! It would be wicked to spend a week there! My mum and dad already said I could go as long as you go.

Harry

Yes! This was what he was waiting for all summer a chance at adventure and spending time with his friends and away from ruddy nosebleed nuggets. Not that he didn't love his mum, his dad and the rest of his family, but it was getting on his nerves to be the only one stuck at home when Harry travelled all over and Hermione went for a long holiday in France. He quickly took the owl to the kitchen to give it water and some treats.

"Mum?"

"Yes dear"

"Oh, you remember Hermione right? My friend from school"

"Your new friend this year"

"Yeah, well, she asked me AND Harry if wecangotohermugglehousefor a week"

"What was that?"

"If we could go to her muggle house for a week"

"Oh, but you haven't been here that long. Don't you want to spend the rest of the summer with us?"

"Yeah, but we wouldn't go this second. We will go when Harry gets back, the week before we have to go to Hogwarts. Then we can head to Mrs. Snape's bash the day before we all go to Hogwarts together"

"Are her parents ok with you staying there?"

"I reckon they are otherwise she wouldn't invite us" Ron said as he waited expectantly until his mom nodded in agreement.

"I'll owl her and tell her we're going!" Ron said beaming.

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So here he was on a Sunday three weeks later, completely drenched and looking ridiculous after finishing school shopping in Diagon Alley. They met Hermione and her parents at the Leaky Cauldron and after introductions and many reminders about being on-time to the Snapes Ron left with the Grangers. The only thing that had him uneasy now was that Harry wasn't there yet. The Snapes were delayed by making an unexpected stop in Norway for extra vacation days. So, Ron and Hermione got to wait for another three days while Harry was still abroad, where he had apparently ran into the Swansons.

"Bloody hard life for Snape one more trip for him" Ron said mockingly.

"Didn't you go to Egypt last summer?" said Hermione as they sat in the window seat by the kitchen staring at the pool.

"Well yeah, that was different, my brother lives there"

"But that's amazing! I've never been out of Europe!"

"Right, it was nice" Ron said giving her his best lop-sided grin. Suddenly, she felt nervous and a short silence followed.

"So, what do you want to do?" she said shyly.

"I don't know, I've never been to the muggle world"

"Well since it's raining and awful we can go to a movie. Mum and dad said they would drive us. We can swim in the pool tomorrow if it's nice out."

"Ok… that movie thing is where people move in a screen, right?"

Hermione smiled and proceeded to explain the concept of a movie. They had a quick dinner and headed to the theatre. The rest of the day was brilliant, that movie thing was kind of long but not bad.

After the movie though it was great! Hermione took him to a muggle sweet shop and a huge place with trainers, balls, shirts and all sorts of trinkets. She said it was a sport shop. The stuff in there was brilliant! Not that he could buy anything, but it was still brilliant. Hermione got a few chocolates, biscuits and other sweets and said he had to help her eat them. He quickly said he wouldn't. He didn't feel like taking her sweets, but she said she would bin it if he didn't help with eating them because her dentist parents wouldn't approve of all those. She was serious too! She even separated what she was going to eat and what she would bin. "Are you mad? You can't throw food away!" Ron said as he proceeded to eat the sweets.

The next day was one the weirdest days in Ron's life so far. Hermione's parents left for work after breakfast. Mrs. Granger's pancakes were quite good, but he still kind of missed mum's cooking. After they were home alone they decided to swim in the pool. Ron was so excited, a muggle pool! His dad would go crazy! He changed into his swimming trunks, ran to the back yard and jumped in. Hermione came down wrapped in a towel and found him gagging.

"Ron the water in the pool has chlorine so it might taste funny if you drink it by accident"

"Has what?"

"Chlorine, it's a chemical that keeps the pool clean, that's what you taste"

"It's disgusting!"

"Don't worry you get used to it after a bit"

She then dropped her towel and jumped in the pool. Hermione was wearing an unpretentious two-piece swimsuit that covered her significantly, but Ron's brain stopped. He was a fourteen-year old boy who had never seen a girl in anything but jeans, t-shirts, robes or uniforms. Well except for his sister, but she didn't count! "Merlin! She is in knickers! Blue knickers! Is she crazy! I can see her stomach and her legs and when did her chest get like that? That thing on her is way too tight! Put on a t-shirt!" He thought to himself.

"Are you ok?"

"Wh…Wh…What?" he stammered.

"Are you ok? You look like you are going to be sick"

"Yeah… yeah… fine" he squeaked as he began to swim to the other side of the pool. They swam for a while not getting too close to each other or talking much. Then Ron abruptly left saying something about the loo.

When he arrived at the loo all he could think about was Hermione in that swimsuit. He was breathing hard and suddenly noticed that a certain part of his body was aching and becoming hard. He was completely confused, this had never happened before. "What is this?" he whispered to himself as his hand instinctively moved to touch his newfound hardness. He really didn't know what he was doing, but he let instinct take over as he touched himself. It felt good. Suddenly a feeling of release took over him as a warm sticky liquid squirted out and spilled all over his trunks. Ron stood still for a moment enjoying the new sensation until he saw the mess.

"Bloody hell!" he exclaimed loudly.

"Ron, are you alright?"

"HERMIONE!"

"Yes, it's me. Are you ok? I heard you grunting and then you screamed some swear words" silence followed. "Ron?"

"I'm fine. I reckon that clorfine stuff just feels weird and I want to shower"

"Oh, alright, there are extra towels in the small closet next to the sink, help yourself."

"Right"

After his shower, and cleaning his trunks, Ron felt better, lighter in a way. That lasted until Hermione called him and he got completely tense. "Will she know what I just did? What was that about anyway? She's my mate, just like Harry, except all know-it-all-ish. Nothing to worry about" he thought as he went downstairs. She was in the kitchen ready with sandwiches for lunch. "Oh thank God she's dressed properly" he thought.

"Feeling better?"

"Yeah, that clorfine was weird, it was just a new thing that's all"

"Chlorine Ron, and well we don't have to swim in the pool again. We can watch TV or read. Have you finished all your summer homework?"

"umm… yeah yeah sure."

"You haven't! School starts in a week Ron! What are you still missing?"

Once lunch was done Hermione practically forced Ron to do his essays. He still had Herbology, Transfiguration and Potions to finish. The next couple of days went fast in between watching the telly, playing chess and exploding snap and bickering about homework. She wouldn't let him look at her essays, even though she was all done!

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Then Harry finally arrived. His parents got the Granger's fireplace temporarily connected to the floo network and dropped him off.

"How was your summer?" he asked enthusiastically.

"Same as usual… denogming, quidditch, my brother's pranks, nothing new. But, mum is going barmy over Fred and George's business. Did you know that last year they were passing around order forms so people could get the stuff they make? Those puking things and they tried these new nosebleed nuggets things on me, I mean the idea is sort of brilliant, but not when you are bleeding on your ruddy eggs!"

"Ron! Language!"

"Yes mum"

"Some things never change" Harry snickered. "I don't want to know how you managed to be alone together this past three days without killing each other and I didn't know about Fred and George's lists. So how was your summer Hermione?"

"It's been good. We went to my parents' cabin in Argelès sur Mer in France. It was nice. Our cabin is in a quiet area close to the beach and far from tourists. Once we got back I got all my summer work done and then Ron and I went to a movie, swimming and just got to hang-out. How about you Harry? How was it like to travel all over? Did you learn loads of history from the magical sites? Did you really run into the Swansons?"

"Hermione bloody hell! One question at a time!"

"How many times! Language Ron!"

Harry laughed and began to speak. "It was alright travelling, but it was like being in class the entire time. Mum and dad really nagged about learning new things. I did learn loads of history of magic on those sites, not that it will be useful since dad says this history is too ancient to be taught in Binn's class. We did run into the Swansons in Norway. But, I don't think it was an accident since my parents and theirs seemed to be working on something."

"Did you really learn occlumency?" said an excited Hermione.

"Yeah, I'm not that good though. Dad says I need more discipline. But, it was awful because he had to do legilimency to teach me"

"Legilimency?" asked Ron confused.

"Legilimency is the ability to extract emotions and memories from another person's mind. Harry's dad had to use it to teach occlumency because occlumency is basically the ability to protect your thoughts from a legilimens. Wow Harry! There are very few people that are skilled occlumens or legilimens. You must be thrilled that your dad can teach you! That subject is not even taught at Hogwarts." Ron looked at her with an annoyed expression.

"It's ok. Except he read my thoughts about their office break-in, so we'll all be serving detention with him as soon as we get back" Harry said miserably.

"Well that's great! We're not even there and we got detention" yelped Ron.

"I'm sorry, but if it helps you won't get the brunt of it. I had extra lessons and no quidditch this summer as punishment and I was lucky they even let me come here after they found out. And my mum said she wants a one-on-one conversation with Hermione because she came up with the idea."

Hermione's face went pale and she looked to the ground. "What will my parents think? Detention even before I'm in school! And Professor Snape is so nice. She must hate me now" she thought.

"Hermione, it'll be ok, I bet she just wants to get the parchment back" said Ron in a soft voice.

"I'm sorry this is my fault, I should have gotten better at occlumency before my dad could see, it's just…" but Hermione interrupted.

"It's alright. I started the whole thing, so I deserve it. Plus it was worth it; otherwise we wouldn't have been able to help with the flower. Anyway, how was it like with the Swansons around and what else did you learn?"

"The Swansons were fine. Ely brought his girlfriend, Melinda, the Hufflepuff. I guess they are head boy and head girl this year. Those two spent most of their time in their own world. But, I didn't know Ella was an orphan and lived with Ely and his parents. Did she ever mention that before?" Ron and Hermione shook their heads to show they had no idea. "She went with me to the city and to all the magical sites when my parents were not around. Their parents were nice, but I reckon whatever they were working on with my parents was important and secret since they made the rest of us go away all the time for their meetings. Ely and Ella seemed to know what was going on. I tried asking more, but Ella said it was work and I shouldn't worry."

"Well your summer was really more exciting than ours. Got all cozy with one of the prettiest girls in school. Ella, huh?" said Ron lightheartedly. Hermione have him a nasty glare. "Why am I angry? He can think she's pretty. She actually is" she thought.

"As if! All I got was detention and sitting around for six days in Norway while my parents had secret meetings and Estella Swanson treated me like her kid brother when we went around magical sites. Then I had to stand Malfoy around."

"Malfoy?" Ron and Hermione said at the same time.

"Yeah, that was the weirdest part of the whole time in Norway. Draco Malfoy and his mum showed up on the last two days and stayed in all the meetings with my parents and the Swansons. Then I overheard that after the tasks were done Draco would move in with them"

"What?" they both spat.

"I dunno, that's what I overheard, once whatever needs to be done is done he's moving in with the Swansons and his mum is going away somewhere."

"I wonder if this has anything to do with how he looked after Christmas holiday last year. Remember? He was all beat up. And he might have spent time with Estella in Slytherin" said Hermione.

"What are you on about? I know Malfoy is an arse, but Estella was nice to us last year, she helped us with the flower and you can't prove that she spent time with him. Plus of course she would see him in Slytherin, it's not as if we can avoid every Gryffindor when we're in the common room" said Ron.

"No I can't prove it, but you can't prove that she didn't spend time with him either. Plus it's suspicious don't you think, her knowing so much about what's going on all the time. She seems to be around whenever there is trouble and now Malfoy is going to be living with her and Ely. And you are only questioning me because you think she's pretty."

"You just don't like her because she knew something you didn't and then the amulets worked!"

"That is ridiculous! I never said I didn't like her!"

"No you only accused her of being in lead with Malfoy"

"Alright you two! We don't know what's happening with Malfoy, maybe it does have something to do with being beat up last year. But, whatever it is, it can't be good, remember his dad is in the Black Hand and he sent the attacks last year. But, it doesn't make sense for Ella to be involved because she was helping us and making sure their plan failed last year"

"So you are on her side too even though she's a Slytherin?"

"Hermione, there are no sides, but so far she doesn't seem like she would do anything bad. But, I think I have some idea of how we can find out more in the future"

"Really, how?" said Hermione.

"My birthday presents, I'll show you and I can share them with you!" With that Harry ran up to his trunk. He came back and showed them a cloak and something that looked like a glass spinning top.

"Is that a sneakoscope?" asked Hermione.

"Yes! And this is an invisibility cloak. Mum said she had a good friend that died in the war and left it to her as inheritance. We can use these to follow Malfoy and see what he's up to."

"I don't get it" said Hermione.

"What do you mean? We can use the sneakoscope to detect people we don't trust and the cloak…"

"No, that's not what I mean. I mean I don't get why your parents would give you that after we broke in their office. They have to know you are suspicious of those meetings and that you would use these to figure things out. Why would they let you have these?"

"Mum said that she wanted me to have the cloak in case I ran into danger and needed to hide. I reckon the sneakoscope would be useful to figure out if there was danger too"

"Why would you be in danger?" asked Hermione.

They continued wondering the meaning of Harry's new gifts and the expeditions he had taken this summer. Most of the magical sites had legends of ancient magical powers related to them. Hermione insisted that the Swansons were involved and that they should keep an eye on them. Finally they broke off that topic and the fear of the Black Hand when Hermione's parents came back from work.

The rest of the week went by quickly. Hermione insisted on getting more information on the Black Hand and the Swansons, but the boys were occupied with other activities. They really liked watching the telly and exploring all the muggle things in the house, and not one night passed without playing wizard chess and exploding snap with Mr. and Mrs. Granger who found the magical games fascinating. Harry burned a hole in his bed covers when he found an iron and tried to work it and Ron got the microwave to blow up when he put a spoon in with his plate to warm up leftovers. Mrs. Snape kindly fixed all of it with a simple "reparo" when she picked them up for the Snape bash.

The party at the Snapes was a success with the Weasleys, Grangers, Swansons and a few other of Mr. and Mrs. Snapes' friends in attendance. Lily made delicious pot-roast and potatoes and Molly brought the best homemade tarts. Mr. Wesley spent the entire time with the Grangers asking all sorts of questions about the muggle world and sharing butter beer with them. They lighted fireworks once it got dark and then all the guests departed. Harry, Ron and Hermione would see each other at King Cross the next day to return to Hogwarts.

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