Ron’s head was spinning even more than usual when he traveled by Floo Powder as he stumbled out of the dusty fireplace and into a furniture-deprived room. He shook his head, looked around, and was relieved to find that Hermione had arrived safely, although looking slightly green and sitting on her suitcase with her chin resting on her hand. She raised her eyebrows at him when she saw him, but then dropped them back down, as if even doing that would make her feel more sick.
Along with Hermione were Ginny, Fred, George, Lupin, and-
“Sirius!” Ron exclaimed, grinning. Sirius grinned back at him. Ron walked over to him and shook his hand. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, I have every right to be here, seeing as this is my house,” Sirius said, smiling.
Mrs. Weasley walked out of the fireplace next and straight up to Sirius and Lupin.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“Nothing at the moment,” Lupin told her. He looked older and wearier than they had seen him just a year ago.
“But Dumbledore wants all the Order members to be in close contact. He thought it best that you stay here for the rest of the holiday,” Sirius said. He too looked older, although his hair was a bit more tamed now.
“I absolutely agree,” Mrs. Weasley said. She looked from Sirius to Lupin and nodded.
“Why don’t we go downstairs and have something to eat? Then you can get yourselves settled in,” Lupin said.
Sirius led the way out the door and down the hallway.
“Is this a mansion, Sirius?” Fred asked, looking around in awe at the high ceilings and fancy doorknobs.
“Not much of one… it was my parent’s house. It needs a bit of cleaning up, though.”
Ron could see why as a spider scuttled up its web and behind a portrait. He moved away uncomfortably- he hated spiders.
They trudged along, dragging their suitcases against the carpeted floor. Ron decided to stop by his bedroom now instead of taking his trunk all the way back up the stairs. Hermione and Ginny, who also weren’t allowed to do magic outside of school, followed his lead.
“We’re fine, we’ll be down as soon as we’re done,” Hermione told Mrs. Weasley, who was worried that they wouldn’t be able to find their way to the dining room in the huge house.
Hermione and Ginny had already chosen their room a few minutes later, and Ron was too impatient to wait for them to come back out.
He dragged his suitcase along opened another door, revealing a cold and gloomy room with a high ceiling and twin beds. It was the best he could do. Ron pulled his trunk inside and set it next to the bed on the left. He pulled off his shoes, kicked them over to the wall, and fell back onto his bed, which felt like it was going to fall apart and was quite unappealing due to the moth-eaten sheets. Hoping he would never hit his head on the vicious looking metal headboard that was just an inch from him, he let out a deep sigh and glared up at the ceiling.
“Ron?” a small voice called quietly from the door. He held his head up and realized that Hermione was standing right in his doorway. Ginny was nowhere to be seen.
Ron grinned at her and sat up. She came in the room and looked around.
“Nice room,” Hermione said, grinning back at him. “Ours looks exactly the same.”
Ron shrugged. “No surprise. Where’s Ginny?”
“She went downstairs already.”
“Oh,” Ron said absentmindedly, looking around his new room more. There was a blank portrait hanging by the door on the other side of the room, although it sounded like someone was breathing from the other end.
“Ron,” Hermione said again, sitting down beside Ron on the bed. Ron turned to her and realized that she wasn’t very far from his face. A series of possibilities as to why Hermione would do this were now rushing through Ron’s brain.
“Yeah?” He gazed deeply into Hermione’s eyes. He resisted the urge to lean into her more.
“Could I talk to you about Harry?”
Oh.
Ron dropped his gaze from Hermione and got up from the bed and went to the door. He suddenly turned very irritable.
“What?” Hermione said suddenly, getting up and following him. She touched Ron’s shoulder and he felt sparks all along his arm. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I just have a stiff back,” Ron lied as he moved his arm away from her. He turned around to face her, his hand falling off the doorknob. “What about him?”
Hermione paused, her eyebrows raised, then said, “Do you think he’ll be mad when he finds out that we’re together without him?”
Ron paused also; thankful he was actually alone in a room with her. He knew it was selfish of himself to be rude to her when she just wanted to talk about Harry, but he couldn’t help but feel jealous.
“I don’t know,” Ron said, turning around again and exiting the room. Hermione walked behind him.
“You know his temper, Ron, he’ll take it all the wrong way,” she said.
“Yeah I know his temper but he’ll just have to deal with it, won’t he?” Ron snapped.
They started to go down the stairs.
“I mean, he’s barely heard from us all summer, right? I can just imagine him yelling at us…”
Ron didn’t answer her. He had continued to walk down the stairs, fuming, until his foot reached the basement floor. He saw the doors open to the dining room and heard people talking.
“Don’t you think so, Ron?” he heard Hermione ask behind him.
Ron stopped, his knuckles turning white as he held tightly onto the railing.
“Ron!”
Ron whipped around and found himself level with Hermione, their faces just two inches apart. He gazed into her eyes and wished he could have kissed her instead of being angry.
You have the most beautiful chocolate eyes…
“What, Ron?” Hermione said heatedly, although she was a bit surprised.
“If you’re so worried about Harry being mad at us, then you can be the one to go and comfort him!” Ron snarled, turning around again and leaving Hermione to stand on the stairs, her mouth hanging open.