A/N: I was going to wait till Christmas and post this chapter because of timing in this story...but since you all loved the last chapter and can't wait to see if Hermione and Ron ever get back together, I thought I would give you all a head start! lol. Enjoy!
Oh...I would like to thank my Beta, "singergirl" for this chapter and the next to come! Thank you...
“Ron, Harry, wake up its Christmas!” Ginny shouted through the door and began to pound on it with her fist.
“Just ten more minutes,” Harry mumbled, sleepily.
“Have it your way then, but Mum said if you two don’t get up, she’ll throw your presents in the fireplace!” Ginny said as her footsteps faded down the hall.
“Ron, wake up,” Harry said swinging his feet to the side of the bed and stretching.
“Okay, I’m up,” Ron said yawning, and sat up stretching.
Harry threw a sweater over his t-shirt, and quickly jumped into a pair of pants, saying, “Come on Ron, before she does throw our presents in the fire.”
Ron put his pants on and picked up a shirt, and walked towards the door.
“Happy Christmas!” said Mr. Weasley, sitting on the couch watching as they came down the stairs, “Since the two of you finally came down everyone’s here. Now let’s begin!”
I watched sullenly as everyone rushed to open the neatly wrapped presents. I received loads of good candy from Harry and Ginny. I even got something from Fred and George, but I wasn’t going to touch it, because I didn’t want to go near anything that might scar me for life. I received the same maroon sweater I get every year, and even managed to give Mum a forced smile. Charlie and Chablis got me silver dragon claw gloves, which made me look muscular when I put them on, even though they were soft and light. Bill and Mae gave me a coin collection with coins from different countries, and they told me that the total value was ten Galleons.
“Hey, Ron you got one more,” said Bill, throwing a small package to him, watching his face as he looked at it.
Ron read the note on it, and his face just sank, as he put the package aside.
“Who was that from Ron?” Harry asked, putting his present from Ginny down, and catching the package easily as Ron tossed it to him.
“Ron, I’m so sorry,” he said after looking at it a moment, handing the present back.
“I’m not, why would she want something from her ex-boyfriend,” he said bitterly looking at the sent-back package.
Harry first broke the awkward silence between them, “Do you want to go and fly around for a while? I mean to clear your head.”
“Sure.” Ron said as they gathered their unwrapped gifts and went to go stash them upstairs.
We headed up to my room to put our presents away. I saw the book that Lucy gave me and hurriedly stashed it under my bed, before Harry could see it. A few minutes later, we were walking out to the shed where the brooms were. We flew around for a couple of hours, enjoying the fresh air, until we saw someone signaling us to come down. Ginny stood outside the house, waving at us, clutching a piece of parchment in her hand. Curious, we flew down to meet her.
“Hey Ron,” Ginny said walking up to him and Harry with her head hanging a little low, “here, I want you to read this.”
She handed him the parchment and walked over to Harry placing her head on his shoulder, as he stood there looking confused.
“Who’s the letter from Ginny?” Harry asked looking at Ron who was shaking as he looked at the letter in his hand.
“It’s…from Hermione,” Ron said, answering for her, looking at the familiar handwriting on the outside of the letter.
“Ron, I want you to read it, but don’t get mad because she has been writing to me,” said Ginny regretfully, “I just think you should know what’s been going on.”
I looked at the letter in my hand”hesitating a little, wondering what would be inside. I stood there, shaking, a part of me wanting to know what the letter says, the other part of me wanting to give it back to Ginny. Finally, I placed my broom on the ground, and opened the letter:
Ginny
Happy Christmas! I hope your holiday is going well. My parents and I are at an Orthodontist Convention right now, in Birmingham. We’ve been here for about three days. While I was attending a Medical Clinic Seminar, I met a nice young man there. His name is Max Bond and he’s a student at Exeter College. He’s working for his Doctoral Degree so he can become a Physician. He wants to take care of children, and it’s so sweet, they way he talks about them. Yesterday we went out to lunch, and I had a wonderful time. He’s so sweet and passionate about his work, which makes me feel closer to him. I don’t know if there will be anything between us. Tonight he’s taking me out somewhere, but it’s a surprise. Well, I hope the family is well; say Hello to Harry and Ron for me.
Hermione
I looked scanned the letter over again. She’s already interested in someone that’s not me. This can’t be happening, and so soon. I folded the letter trying not to look mad, angry, disappointed or furious.
Ron quickly shoved the letter back to his sister, “Nice to hear that she’s doing well,” he said, giving a forced smile.
“Oh Ron, I didn’t mean for this to happen, I’m so sorry,” Ginny said taking the letter from him.
“Well, I’ll say it again for the millionth time, I’m not sorry, so don’t feel bad for me.” He said, picking his broom again and flying off into the air.
So, she moved on, but why? I guess I pushed her to far away that I can’t get her back. Now she’s probably with that guy, making out. Not even thinking about me, and what I hope we had. I didn’t know how fast she could forget about me, I guess I didn’t mean that much to her.
“Ron, wait up!” Harry shouted trying to catch up to Ron flying away from the Burrow.
Ron slowed down as Harry came up behind him, “What do you want Harry?” he said not really interested in having a conversation.
“I just wanted to see how you’re doing,” Harry said, looking at Ron who wouldn’t look him in the eye.
“I’m just peachy,” he said, trying to seem happy, “No, really, how do you think I feel?”
“Well, I don’t know. I just wanted to know if you want to talk,” he said, worried.
“Right now, Harry I don’t really want to talk, my ex-girlfriend is probably off with that Max guy, making out and she’s probably thinking if I should drop dead or something.” he said sarcastically, and couldn’t help letting out a tear.
“So…you still love her?”
He quickly wiped his face, “Yeah, I still do.”
“Well I have an idea, about how we can get her back,” he said rubbing his hands together eagerly.
“You do? So, what do we do then?” he said grinning.
“First I suggest we get down from here, and then go and ask Fred and George if we can work at their shop tomorrow.”
“What? Work at Fred and George’s shop? Are you feeling okay Harry?” he said questioning his comment.
“Yeah, I think I know what I’m doing, come on.” He said flying back to the Burrow with Ron at his tail.
We both landed on the ground by the shed, and put our brooms away. As we walked back to the Burrow, we discussed how were going to use the money, that we’ll earn if we work, to get back Hermione. I think it should work, since with Harry setting his mind on something, I know that he’s going to find a way to make it right.
“Mum, where are Fred and George?” Ron called, entering the living room with Harry trailing behind.
“Who called for us?” asked Fred, coming down the stairs, with George behind him.
“Look Ron is back from his flight,” bellowed George, as they came into the living room.
“So what’s up?” Fred asked.
“Can we go in my room? I need to ask for a favor,” Ron said, nodding towards the stairs.
“So, what is it that you want to talk to us about?” George asked following Harry with Fred behind him.
“Well Harry and I have an idea in mind,” Ron said opening the door to his room. “And, well, I need a big favor,” trying not to sound desperate.
“What, you need something from us?” George said in shock.
“Really, what could it be?” Fred said taking a seat on Harry’s bed. Ron closed the door and pulled out his wand and placed a silencing charm on it.
“I guess it must be serious since he placed a charm on the door,” said George looking over at Fred, confused.
“Well, I want to become your ‘Lab Rat’ for a small fee.” Ron said, bracing himself for what might happen.
Fred and George looked at each other, but didn’t speak; they just gave each other different looks and then nodded.
“Well we discussed it,” said Fred standing up from Harry’s bed.
“What do you mean you discussed it? You didn’t say anything,” said Harry, puzzled.
“Harry, just because we didn’t say anything doesn’t mean we don’t know what the other person is thinking.” George said tapping his head.
“Well, if Ronniekins wants to become a ‘lab rat’ that can be arranged.” said Fred, grinning widely.
“I don’t want to do anything that might kill me,” said Ron, scared of what he might have just put himself into.
“No, we won’t kill you, we promise.” said Fred lifting his right hand,
“But what can we do experiments, with you, most of them need two people” He said turning his attention to Harry.
Harry just froze at his glance, “Er…fine, I’ll help since this was my idea.”
“Great,” said George, “We’ll start tomorrow, but we won’t get our shipping in till Friday, so I guess you’ll have to do manual labor,”
“Fine by me,” said Ron, “So what is it we have to do?”
“Both of you have to restock our shelves and clean up around the shop.” said Fred.
“Okay, but what about payment?” Harry demanded.
“Hold on, we’re getting there,” said Fred looking over at George who nodded, “We have decided to pay you both eight Galleons each for every experiment tested on you, with our supervision of course. Also we’ll pay you both fifty Sickles a day for stocking and cleaning up. Do we have a deal?”
Fred stuck out his hand to Ron, but Ron wasn’t finished, “I want to get paid fifteen Galleons for each experiment, and get fifty Sickles everyday for cleaning.”
“You drive a hard bargain Ron,” said George, “Alright you’ll get fifteen Galleons for testing every experiment, and fifty Sickles for cleaning.”
Fred shook Ron’s hand, as George did the same with Harry.
“No word about this to Mum?” Ron asked, needing reassurance.
“Are you mad, if she found out that her little Head Boy has been doing experiments with our stuff, she’ll do more than kill us, she might even disown us,” said Fred mockingly.
“No worse, she might take our picture off the Weasley clock downstairs,” added George as they left his room.
“Harry you better be sure about this,” said Ron, lying on his bed thinking over what they just did.
“I can’t believe I just sacrificed myself to Fred and George, I don’t even want to think of what they might experiment on us.” Harry said, sitting wearily on the side of his bed.
“Same here.” he sighed closing his eyes.
A/N: Hope you all like it...can you feel the anticipation rising for what I'm about to have planned! lol. SUFFER till I return!