The next morning Ron, Harry, Hermione and Ginny came downstairs to find a table full of food for breakfast. Ginny was doing her best to hide the pain she was feeling in her stomach, and she must have been doing a good job, because no one seemed to notice anything.
Mr. Weasley, Percy, and Charlie had all left early for work, and Mrs. Weasley was frying some sausages on the stove. In the middle of the table were four envelopes, each with a Hogwarts crests on the front. Hermione and Ron’s envelopes were especially bulky.
There were the usual papers in the envelopes: list of books, ingredients, everything they had gotten since their first year. However, this time, there was also a letter explaining that all students would be returning to re-do the year they did not get a chance to complete, since it wasn’t properly completed the first time. Between the Death Eaters invading and teaching at Hogwarts, a wizarding war on the rise and people dying left, right and centre, there was hardly a chance to really learn anything that year. However, there would be new first-years coming, so there would be double the amount of first-years. There would even be a new room put into each house dormitory to accommodate the second set of first-years.
But Hermione and Ron’s envelopes contained something extra.
“I got Head Girl!” shrieked Hermione.
“I got Head Boy,” Ron groaned.
“Oh Ronny, that’s wonderful!” Mrs. Weasley exclaimed as she hugged her youngest son.
“Ge-rroff, mum,” came the strangled reply of the Weasley’s youngest boy.
“Oh, and you too, Hermione! It’s so wonderful that you’ll be Heads together!”
While the teenagers finished breakfast, Mrs. Weasley proceeded to tell them about the Heads at her third year at Hogwarts. There had been a Gryffindor girl with a Slytherin boy, and it was ‘horrendous’, as Mrs. Weasley put it.
After breakfast, Harry and Ginny stayed in the kitchen to help clean up. Ron and Hermione could be seen from the kitchen window, sitting side by side on the garden swing.
“You know this means you can’t pull pranks on the Slytherins or goof around in classes, Ron,” said Hermione.
“Why not?” asked Ron, groaning some more.
“You’re Head Boy, for Merlin’s sake, Ron! You have to be more responsible and set an example for the rest of the school.”
“All right, all right, whatever…”
“Dumbledore trusted you with this job Ron; you have to take it seriously.”
“I’ve always said Dumbledore’s off his rocker.”
After a few moments of silence, Hermione said, “Ron, I just realised something.”
“What’s that?”
“Dumbledore didn’t trust you with this job - McGonagall did.”
“Oh. Right.”
And they settled into a silence again, this time a slightly sadder one.
Meanwhile, Ginny and Harry had been put to work in the kitchen. They were chopping vegetables and peeling potatoes, while Mrs. Weasley was busy feeding the chickens.
“You know we could do this by magic, and it’d be a lot quicker,” said Harry. “And less painful,” he added as he cut himself again with the knife. Ginny just shrugged, and they both continued to do it without magic. Anyway, it’s an excuse to spend time with Ginny, thought Harry.
They went on like that for another quarter of an hour, not really saying anything. Suddenly, Ginny put down her knife and the potato she was currently working on.
“Harry, I don’t want us to go like this.”
“What do you mean?” Harry asked, suddenly nervous.
“It’s so awkward and weird between us, I don’t want it to be like that anymore.” And it was true; things were pretty awkward between them. Other than last night and now, they had never been in a room alone together since the start of summer. And they barely ever talked to each other if there weren’t other people around.
“Can’t we just be friends again?” she asked. Although this was not what she wanted, she wanted to be so much more than friends; but this was the first step.
Harry’s heart sank. She just wants to be friends. She probably has found someone else.
He forced a smile on to his face. “I’d like to be friends again.”
“Good,” she said, smiling.
Hermione and Ron had just finished their ‘Heads’ talk, and Hermione was just about to get up to leave, when Ron spoke again.
“Hermione, err, I was wondering if you wanted to take a walk…umm…with me? We’ve got about an hour before lunch, and the path to the Muggle village is nice, and pretty short. But if you’re tired, we could just wait ‘til after-” Hermione cut of Ron’s rambling.
“Sure, Ron, let’s go.”
Ron was right; the path to the village was very pretty. Hermione gazed up at the blue, cloudless sky, and then at the beautiful wild flowers growing on either side of the path.
They talked about nothing in particular. They mostly walked in silence, simply enjoying the fresh air and each other’s company.
About halfway there, Ron took hold of Hermione’s hand and held it in his own. Hermione blushed, but didn’t pull away. By the time they reached the Muggle village, it was almost lunch time, so they headed back at a much quicker pace.
After the awkward silence that followed their becoming of friends again, Harry and Ginny began to feel more at ease with each other. They talked about nothing and everything. They talked about returning to Hogwarts, their futures, and their favourite flavour of Berty Bott’s Every Flavour Beans.
By one o’clock, Harry and Ginny had finished cutting and peeling the vegetables, and Ron and Hermione had just returned.
“Where have you two been?” Harry asked as all four of them were setting the table for lunch.
“Just taking a walk,” replied Ron vaguely, as Hermione turned slightly pink, remembering how her hand had not left Ron’s until they reached the back garden of the Burrow. Ginny gave Harry a knowing smile when Hermione and Ron weren’t looking.
Lunch was a quiet affair, other than Ron and Hermione’s occasional bickering.
“Ron, stop stuffing so much food into your mouth at once,” Hermione said in a stern voice.
“Uhm ‘ungre,” replied Ron with a mouth full of mashed potatoes.
“That’s fine, Ron, but that doesn’t mean you have to forget your manners.”
‘Er-my-o-nee, -op “elling “e “at -o “o” Ron struggled to say, now working on swallowing his chicken.
“Oh, Ron, that was disgusting, I didn’t even understand what you said,” replied a nauseated Hermione.
“He said ‘Hermione, stop telling me what to do’,” said Harry matter-of-factly. Ginny and Hermione gaped at him.
“You understood that?” asked Ginny, half amazed, half disgusted.
…………Dinner was somewhat of a special occasion that night. All the Weasleys gathered at the Burrow to eat. Bill and Fleur came, Charlie of course, Fred and George came, along with their girlfriends, Angelina and Alicia; Percy and his girlfriend, Penelope Clearwater arrived shortly after the twins.
Halfway through dinner, Percy and Penelope stood up.
“We have an announcement to make.” Percy said over the loud chatter at the table. A few moments later and the talking died down, and Percy continued. “Penelope and I have found a flat near London that we want to buy. It’s nothing fancy, and not too expensive, but we really like it.” Percy said. He was holding Penelope’s hand and they both looked really happy.
There was a surprised silence before all the talking started all at once again.
“Oh Percy! That’s wonderful news! We must go see it as soon as possible! When are you moving out?!” exclaimed Mrs. Weasley, she was almost crying from the sadness of another Weasley child leaving her nest; of coarse she was also delighted to see Percy all grown up, moving out, and possibly falling in love.
“Yes! He’s finally moving out!” exclaimed Ron, earning himself a stern look from his father.
After rolling her eyes at Ron, Penelope answered, “We’re planning to move out by the end of the year.”
“We were hoping Mum and Dad could come take a look at it before we buy it,” added Percy.
…………………………..After dinner was cleared away, everyone sat in the living room, talking and laughing. Only Percy and Penelope seemed to have disappeared, but no one took much notice.
Harry, Ron and Hermione were telling everyone about their journey hunting down the Horcruxes. Harry went upstairs to get the Golden Snitch, which had held the Resurrection Stone. But on the landing before his destination, he saw Percy and Penelope in Percy’s room. As he got closer, he realised they were snogging passionately. Harry was so shocked he couldn’t move.
He watched as Percy pushed Penelope against the wall, and pulled his lips away to plant kisses on her chin, neck and collarbone. Harry had never seen strict, prim-and-proper, rule-abiding Percy act this way. He watched as Percy slid his hands under Penelope’s shirt, causing Penelope to let out a soft moan, which snapped Harry out of his shock. He hurried up to Ron’s room, got the Snitch and went back downstairs without looking back at Percy’s room.
After everyone had looked at the Snitch, Fred and George started entertaining everyone with jokes.
“I just realised Penelope and Percy are gone. Where did they go?” asked Hermione quietly so that only Harry and Ron could here.
“You don’t want to know,” replied Harry, and he gave her an ‘I’ll tell you later’ look.
The rest of the evening passed by pleasantly and loudly, as most Weasley gatherings do.
Lying in bed that night, Harry imagined doing with Ginny what he’d seen Percy and Penelope doing. With the last miserable thought that he probably never had a chance with her again, Harry fell asleep.