After a few days, the numbing shock of what happened started to wear off, leaving Hermione with overwhelming sadness. The Weasleys had offered to take her in, of course, and being she had no close relations, she agreed. Mrs. Weasley made all sorts of excuses for wanting her there; the house was too empty and too quiet with the twins gone, it'd be nice to have another girl in the house, and other stories, but Hermione knew the truth. They wanted to keep her safe.
Mr. Weasley came home that night and told them that everything had been resolved. The neighbors had their memories modified to think that the Grangers had moved, the few family members she had were told that it was a car crash. Hermione thought that to be odd, considering how long Harry had believed the same about his parents.
Living at the Weasleys was probably better for Hermione than she cared to admit to herself. She and Ginny kept busy, Ron was always asking for help with their summer homework, the twins Apparated in to show off new items for the joke shop, which was apparently going very well. Still, they respected her privacy and knew to let her be when she suddenly retreated to the room she and Ginny now shared. Recently, Ron had taken to following her up there, to "lend moral support," as he called it. She thought he simply wanted to be around her, or at least that's what she found herself wanting to think.
The only bad thing about living with the Weasleys was the dreams. That wasn't their fault of course, but Hermione found herself sleeping less and less, catnapping whenever she felt she had to. Ginny had noticed. She tried staying up whenever Hermione was, but it became to exhausting for her. The things she saw in her dreams frightened her too much to willingly return to sleep. Going to bed, seeing the Dark Mark over her house, it was all too much to handle. Once, when she accidentally fell asleep on the sofa, Ron woke her soon after and said that she had been crying in her sleep.
For all Ron's faults, he had been amazing through all this. He always seemed to be thinking about her, what she needed, what she wanted. It was different, but it was nice. A few times, she nodded off on the sofa and found herself leaning on his shoulder. He didn't seem to want her to move, and to be honest with herself, she didn't want to move, either. For some reason, sleeping near Ron or on his shoulder like that was the only time she could really rest.
About a week later, at three in the morning, Hermione decided to do the boldest thing she'd ever done. She made sure Ginny was asleep (you could always tell with Ginny, she had a very pronounced yet quiet snore) and then snuck into the hall. As quietly as she could, she made her way to Ron's room. She tiptoed in, shutting the door behind her. She could tell he was asleep, too, his snoring wasn't nearly as subtle as Ginny's. She hesitated for only a moment, then quickly crossed the room and crawled into bed with Ron. She felt him awake with a start, then, realizing who it was, he slipped his arm over her waist and they both fell into the best sleep they'd had in weeks.
After doing this every night for about a week, Ginny seemed to notice that Hermione was a little brighter.
"What's your secret?" she kept asking. "Are you sneaking Sleeping Potion behind our backs or what?"
"I don't know what it is," Hermione always replied, giving a sidelong glance at Ron. His ears turned a bit red. "I'm just sleeping better. Better than ever, actually."
She looked over in time to see Ron grinning. Something was beginning to happen with them, although neither of them had really expected it. Ginny glanced between the other two, shrugged, and left for the garden with her mother. The garden was very prosperous this summer, as Crookshanks had chased off all the gnomes.
That night at dinner, Ginny made another keen observation. Hermione was eating with her left hand. That's odd, she thought to herself, Hermione's right handed. With the pretense of retrieving her fork that she had just dropped (on purpose) she glanced under the table, just in time to see Ron and Hermione let go of each other's hands. With wide eyes, Ginny sat back up, trying her hardest not to laugh. Hermione was looking at her with pleading eyes, as though silently begging her not to say anything. Ginny responded with one of her scolding you-are-SO-telling-me-later looks, which Hermione understood.
Later that night, after everyone had gone to bed, Hermione confessed what she'd been doing. Ginny sat there dumbfounded for a bit, but quickly regained her voice.
"Don't worry," she said. "I'd never tell. I'm just glad my knucklehead of a brother can make you feel better."
"It's the weirdest thing,'' Hermione said, her eyes wide. "I'm to the point now where I can't sleep without him." Ginny got a quizzical look on her face.
"Has anything....else...happened?" she asked, knowing full well that she was on dangerous ground.
Hermione didn't respond right away. Ginny looked at her and noticed she was going about three shades of red.
"You have to tell me! I'm your best friend!" Ginny shouted as loud as she dared at that time of night.
"Alright, alright, don't wake up your mum and dad!" Hermione whispered back. "But you have to promise PROMISE not to say. We agreed not to tell anyone until we told Harry, and we're not even sure we're going to."
"But you have to tell him! He may be a boy but he's not that thick." Ginny said.
''We're still thinking on it," Hermione said, dodging the subject nicely. "Anyway, we've only kissed a few times and we've started holding hands a bit when we think no one's looking." Ginny was grinning from ear to ear.
"Aww, my big brother and my best friend! How cute is that!" Ginny exclaimed before dissolving into quiet giggles.
Once she had composed herself, she told Hermione that she better get going.
"If you're not there, he may start to think you don't like him anymore!" she called at Hermione as she left the room. "And we wouldn't want that to happen, now would we?"
Hermione thought a moment and said, "No, we wouldn't want that at all." With that, she disappeared into the hall with a smile on her face, one of the first true smiles Ginny had seen since Hermione moved in.
******
Today was the day Hermione had been worried about for the last week. She could tell that Ron and Ginny were a bit nervous too, although they did their best to hide it. She had to give Ginny credit, she hadn't said a word about anything, even when she accidentally saw Ron give Hermione a quick kiss before he went out to practice on his Cleansweep. Today, however, would be a new challenge. Today, Harry was coming.
Mr. Weasley was going to collect him from his aunt and uncle's on his way home from the Ministry. Mrs. Weasly, whom Hermione was having trouble calling Molly, even though she requested it, was making a fantastic dinner. The twins would be joining them as well, and even though Fred and George didn't live there anymore, Hermione suspected that they knew something was up, just by the way they had been glancing at each other upon Apparating into a room where Ron and Hermione were.
Two days earlier, Ginny had sent Errol to Dean with a note breaking up with him. It just wasn't worth it, she told everyone, although she had told Hermione in confidence that it was because of Harry. The letter she had gotten back from Dean was very pleasant, saying that he had been thinking the same thing but was too shy to say it, so it was all for the best, but Hermione had a strange feeling that something would be said if Harry started dating a dorm-mate's ex-girlfriend.
When Hermione questioned Ginny's decision, Ginny simply said, "I'm not as over it as I thought I was. Something about being around him in the D.A. and everything that happened that night at the Department of Mysteries, I just couldn't stop the flood of feelings from rushing back."
Hermione definitely knew how she felt. She was getting to the point where everytime she was around Ron, she blushed. This had to have been a dead giveaway, but if Mrs. Wea- Molly hadn't noticed, Hermione was not going to bring it up.
Soon, the girls were in the kitchen, helping Molly prepare some of the best food they had seen. The twins had Apparated in early, so they and Ron were setting up a picnic table so they could eat under the stars. Quite often, one of them would sneak a look at the clock, to see if Mr. Weasley's hand had spun to traveling yet.
Then, at about five-thirty, everyone jumped as the hand spun to the spot they had been waiting for. They knew it would take longer than usual, as tonight, Harry and Mr. Weasley would be flying rather than Apparating, as Mr. Weasley usually did, but they also knew it would not take long. Everyone waited with baited breath as the hand finally spun around to home, and the sound of two people landing rung from the front yard.
"Harry!" Hermione cried as he enter, running to him and hugging him. For the first time she could remember, he hugged back with both arms, holding her as hard as he could. She almost started crying again, but the moment was broken with a few of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes fireworks lighting off. Ron crossed to Harry and hugged him as well, although much quicker than Hermione. Ginny hung back a bit until Harry looked at her and said "Well?" and she ran to him and hugged him.
"Oh Harry!" cried Fred and George together, lighting off more fireworks and showering everyone with Bubbling Confetti, one of their newest tricks. "You look just like we remember!" and with that, they ran over to him and practically plowed him out the front door.
They all went outside then, carrying Molly's excellent cooking with them. Ron and Hermione sat next to each other of course, leaving Ginny at the end next to Harry, which they both seemed oddly pleased with. After eating as much as they possibly could, Molly brought out dessert and they added even more to their stomachs, leaving them fit to burst. Fred and George entertained everyone for a while with some of their newest merchandise. Finally, close to eleven, Molly suggested they all head to bed before they fell over asleep at the table.
"Harry, you'll have your own room this summer," Molly told him. "Fred and George have offered you theirs."
"Alright," said Harry, slightly puzzled. They've had empty rooms before, he thought to himself, but I've still shared with Ron. He opened his mouth to ask why when Ginny kicked him under the table. She shook her head the tiniest bit, then handed him a note that said "I'll tell you later. Meet me in my room at 12 and bring your Invisiblity Cloak." He gave her the tiniest nod back, although he was still thoroughly confused.
She gave him one of the looks that scorch, and he wiped the expression off immediately. He wondered what could possibly be so important and so secretive. He sighed to himself, thinking he'd just have to wait and find out
A/N- Cliffhanger, right?? I cut this off at a different place than I had originally planned, so it may seem a bit abrupt when the next one starts, but if you look at it all together, it works! PS- Thanks for the reviews, I love you guys!!!