The Private Diary of Hermione Granger

August 1

The past two days at the Burrow have been fantastic. I saw Harry for the first time this summer. He has been doing well, for the most part. The Dursleys haven't been feeding him enough, though. He is very skinny. I looked at him today and realized how little he has changed since I first met him -like a slightly older version of his 11-year-old self.

The Weasleys are fine as well. Percy and Mr. Weasley have been spending most of their time at the Ministry, while Mrs. Weasley stays at home to cook and do other chores around the house. Fred and George are still up to their usual pranks. Ron has been practicing flying all summer so he can get a spot on the quidditch team along with Harry, Fred, and George. It seems like all he has talked about ever since I got here has been quidditch.

Life here at the Burrow is so much different than it is at home. First of all, with seven people living under one roof, the can become very messy (and sometimes very loud). Mrs. Weasley is almost always busy house cleaning. I imagine that all that work can probably get frustrating at times, which probably explains why she yells at the three boys quite a lot (Fred and George in particular, who half the time are up to no good).

One afternoon, Ron, Harry, and the twins were going out to play a game of quidditch. Ron had gotten a new broom over the summer (not as good as Harry's, but he was still very excited about it) and wanted to practice with him. They were just about to go out when Mrs. Weasley insisted that I go with them. I could tell that all four of them were surprised at her suggestion. Ron, in particular, did not like the idea.

"But Mum! Hermione doesn't want to play with us!"

"What do you mean she doesn't?" asked Mrs. Weasley, who was currently busy in the kitchen and sounding quite annoyed. "Have you even bothered to ask her?" Finally, Ron gave in. Actually, I didn't really want to go; I've never really enjoyed quidditch and didn't care much to learn how to play. But since Mrs. Weasley insisted I went ahead and went along with them anyway.

We played out in the large field adjacent to the Weasley's yard. I had a lot of fun playing with the boys, even though I could hardly keep myself on the broom, much less ride on it. Harry and Fred and George were very helpful. Harry let me use his broom. The twins were actually very patient with me. They guided me along low to the ground and made sure I was comfortable before I started flying on my own.

We spent the rest of the day in the field. It was probably the most fun I've ever had in my life. In fact, I found flying to be quite enjoyable, even though I was never really able to get my balance. Once I got too comfortable, however, and fell face first onto the ground and ended up with a mouthful of grass. But I was okay and got back on the broom. We all got a good laugh out of that one.

When they finally started to play a real game, I stood off to the side and watched. Ron had been staying out of the way of me and the other boys until that point. I guess he didn't think I was good enough to play with them.

Since quidditch is the only thing on the boy's minds, Ginny and I have spent a lot of time together this weekend. We've grown to be great friends over these past few years at Hogwarts, and she is one of my best friends, along with Harry and Ron. Even though she says she has gotten over her crush on Harry, I still think she likes him.

Yesterday, Mrs. Weasley asked Ginny to go outside and work on de-gnoming the garden. I came along with her to help and keep her company. Mrs. Weasley has a very large garden, which makes de-gnoming a very large task. Gnomes are very strange little creatures. They look kind of cute from a distance, but that changes after they start trying to eat your fingers. Ginny and I ran all over the garden for hours catching the little pests until we were literally out of breath.

We collapsed in the tall grass outside of the garden to catch our breath. That was when Ginny brought up the subject of Viktor Krum.

"Have you seen him?" she asked me.

"No. Not yet."

"Do you still like him?"

"I'm not really sure," I said.

"Come on! How can you not be sure? You either like him or you don't."

"I'll decide when I see him again." I could tell she wasn't satisfied with my answer, but I guess she knew that no matter how much she bothered me I would still be indecisive. But it is true. I really don't know about Viktor. I haven't seen him since the last day of school. He sends me an owl every so often, about once every two weeks. He talks a lot about quidditch. It seems to be his favorite subject. I try to write back to him but I can't think of anything to say. All of my letters are so dull and meaningless. I don't think we have anything at all in common. Things don't look very good right now for us.

I've written a lot tonight! But there has been a lot to write about. Tomorrow we're going to the museum. That should be very exciting.

August 2

There have been more Death Eater attacks. It was on the WWN this morning. No muggles have been killed yet, but the occurrences of the raids have become more numerous. The most recent occurred at a children's soccer game just outside of London. Cornelius Fudge claims that the attacks are related in no way to each other, or to Voldemort. He was quoted saying, "We get issues like this all the time at the ministry. It is nothing unusual; people are just paying more attention now because of the incident at Hogwarts."

But I find that hard to believe. Fudge has revealed himself to be nothing but a coward earlier this year. Mr. Weasley didn't comment during breakfast. He probably has to deal with this type of thing a lot at work.

Today we went to the Museum of Merlin. It was very interesting. It was founded in the mid-1300's by the renowned Elfrida Clagg and the Ministry of Magic, and to this day has been a landmark of the wizarding world. The idea for building a massive museum to preserve and protect artifacts of the wizarding world originally came from a man named Horatio Baldwin, a historian whose life's work had been restoring ancient relics of the magical world to their original form. At first, the idea of such a project was rejected at once by the Ministry, and it took fifty years until the museum was actually built. It was originally named after Baldwin, but after about ten years of existence, its name was changed to the Museum of Merlin. The building has gone through many changes and expansions since then, and now hosts over 1000 exhibits. I found "The Famous Witches and Wizards of the Renaissance" to be particularly interesting.

When Mrs. Weasley told Ron we were going to spend half the day at a museum, he didn't protest, which I expected him to do. I looked at him, but I could tell he was trying to avoid my eyes. Maybe he feels bad about how he acted when we were flying the other day.

Harry, Ron, Ginny and I toured the galleries and exhibits together. I could tell that none of them were very interested in anything in the museum, and they were just doing this for me. It was nice.

Ron had the map (you needed one since the museum was so large; it showed your location and all the rooms and exhibits in the building). We were looking for ancient Egyptian magical relics when we kept "accidentally" ending up in the middle of the nude statues, which moved, just like magical paintings ("The map was upside down!" Ron said in his defense).

After touring the museum, we all went down to the Museum café to rest and get a bite to eat. After Ginny finished, Mrs. Weasley took her down to the gift shop, while nearby, Ron, Fred and George were trying to levitate knuts and sickles out of the fountain. That left Harry and me alone at the table togther.

"Harry," I said, "Have you noticed how Ron has been acting strangely around me lately?"

"Yes, of course. Everyone has," he said matter-of-factly.

"Why do you think...?"

"What? You don't know already? Ron has liked you for a long time now. Everyone knows that."

"Well, I didn't know."

Harry kind of laughed sarcastically and looked into my eyes, trying to read my expression. "Come, on. Don't tell me Hermione Granger, the smartest girl at Hogwarts, can't see what's been right under her nose for at least a year now? I mean, you have to have suspected something."

"No, not really. I've never looked at Ron that way. He's always been just a friend. You know what I mean. You feel the same way about me; we're just friends."

Harry shook his head, as if he still couldn't believe that I hadn't figured out how Ron felt about me before. "Well, aren't you going to tell him? You can tell it's driving him crazy. He doesn't really know how to talk to girls."

"He's always been able to talk to me before."

"That was before he felt this way about you. You have to say something to him. Don't leave him hanging."

"I'll say something to him when he asks me," I said, still adamant. "If he likes me enough, then he'll come and talk to me himself." I could tell that Harry was starting to get annoyed, so I changed the subject. "Harry. Have you been okay lately?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. Why?"

"It's just, you've seemed distracted lately. What's wrong? Don't worry; I wont tell anyone."

"Nothing's wrong. Nothing at all."

I know that Harry keeps things that are bothering him from other people most of the time, so I'm still not sure. "Do you ever think about You-know-who?"

He hesitated shortly. "Yes. I think about him a lot actually. I don't really want to. I just can't help it."

I could tell he was thinking about it right now. There was a troubled look on his face. But just then we were interrupted when Ron and the twins ran over to our table with a cloak full of coins. "You all watch after this. We think the guard spotted us." Across the room there was a creature that looked like a cross between a dwarf and a goblin in a uniform robe looking in our direction. The three Weasleys stuffed their treasure under the table quickly went in the direction of the gift shop to avoid being caught. Unfortunately, it was Mrs. Weasley that found them instead. There would probably be a great deal of scolding after we got back to the Burrow.

"If anything is bothering you, you can always tell me," I said.

"Sure." Harry smiled at me, but I could tell that he wasn't really happy. There is a lot on his mind right now.