Love Found At Summer's End

It was a nice summer, early August day with a nice warm breeze. Everyone was happy on

such a wonderful day in the Weasley house; everyone but Ron. He spent this wonderful day, like almost everyday sense the summer holidays had begun, in his room, on his bed, starring up at the ceiling. "I just don't get it," he suddenly said out loud, "how can she like him? He's way too old for her! He's UGLY! I mean, what's he got that I don't got?" Ron had been saying this all summer long, expecting the answer to just fly through the window if he asked it enough times. He had stopped denying his fancying Hermione just last year when she went to the Yule Ball with Victor Krum. It was hard to admit to himself, but he did; he couldn't lie to himself forever, after all. Ron lay on his bed for another 5 minutes when suddenly a booming voice came buzzing in through his closed door.

"Ron!" came his mother's voice from downstairs.

"What?!" Ron yelled back, sitting up in frustration and rubbing his eyes hard at the sudden yank of bringing him back to reality.

"When are you going to get up and move around?"

"When school starts!" Ron hollered back, plopping back down on his most comfortable bed.

"Ronald Weasley! You have been up there all summer long, just lying there, doing nothing! Now, I want you to go out and get some fresh air!"

"Fine, I'll open my window!" said Ron, sitting up, yawning and stretching.

"Ron!"

"Alright, alright, I'll go out back for awhile!" Ron lazily picked himself up and dragged his body downstairs. When he finally reached the back yard, he didn't really know what to do. He had really spent all summer long in his room either finishing homework (A/N: I know, I know. He was bored okay?), writing letters to Harry or Hermione, or sleeping. He did, however, leave his room to eat and go to the bathroom, but those were reasonable excuses. "Now what?" he asked himself, sitting down on the grass and starring up at the sky expectantly.

"Ooooh Rrrroooonn?" came his sister's annoying singsong voice from behind him. Groaning, Ron looked up at his one year younger than him little sister Ginny. She had walked up next to him and had her hands behind her back, looking down at him in a sneaky sort of way.

"What?" he spat, not bothering to get up.

"Guess what I have?" Ginny said still in her singsong sort of way again.

"What?" he said again, trying to act nonchalantly and not very interested.

"Oh, just a certain letter, from a certain someone who you happen to know..."

"Is it from Her- I mean Harry?" he said, Ginny finally getting his full attention. This didn't go unnoticed. She grinned devilishly, brought an empty hand from behind her back and examined her nails thoughtfully. Ron narrowed his eyes; she ALWAYS did this. But, luckily, he knew just how to deal with a pain-in-the-butt little sister.

"Well, if you aren't going to tell me maybe it really isn't worth the knowing anyway...." Ginny stopped focusing on nails and throw Ron a rather nasty look.

"Oh, its worth it alright!"

"Nah, its okay, really. You probably don't even really have a letter...." Ron trailed off yet again, smiling inwardly; she was almost there, he could feel it.

"Oh yeah!?" she shouted angrily, taking her other hand from behind her back and holding an enveloped letter out, above Ron's head. "What do you call this!?"

"Ah, its probably just from someone I don't even know....maybe got the wrong the Ron Weasley-"

"Oh yeah, wouldn't you be surprised its from....." Ron grinned at her as she almost spilling the beans, but unfortunately, she had caught herself.

"Oh no you don't," she said in a soft, menacing whisper, "You thought you could trick me into saying 'Hermione' huh?" Ginny's face was full of pride and confidence...up until now. Her face immediately fell from its triumphant manner. She looked down at Ron's full-fledged smile and suddenly got angry and smacked herself hard on the forehead.

"Oh, I hate you!" she shouted at him in fury, throwing daggers at him with her eyes, "here, take your stupid letter!" She threw Hermione's letter at him and huffed off, muttering things that sounded suspiciously like "stupid prats" and "smart ass brothers". Feeling suddenly very proud of himself, Ron took the letter and noticed that it was, indeed from Hermione. Suddenly feeling even more high-spirited, Ron hurriedly ripped open the envelope addressed to him and read:

Dear Ron,

How has your summer been? Mine has been great! No, Ron, I didn't go to Bulgaria! My mum didn't like the idea of me traveling so far. So, they took me to the beach instead where I got my hair trimmed and slightly layered. Don't worry, I still look like me, and my hair's still remarkably pretty long... But, even though I didn't go to Bulgaria, it doesn't mean that Victor and I aren't friends. We write to each other every week or so to keep in touch. But anyway, that's not way I'm writing. You see, my parents are going away for a week, next week, to go on some sort of special vacation just for the two of them and they wanted to know where I would like to stay. Well, I told them that I would like to go and stay over at your house because I hadn't seen you all summer. So, what do you say? My parents said they would drop me off at your house if it were okay. Ask your parents if it's alright with them and owl me back with their response. See you soon, hopefully!

Love from,

Hermione

Ron looked up from the letter with great surprise. He was feeling a few different things right now. He wasn't too happy about Hermione still being "friends" with darling Vicky, but he was happy that she might be able to come over for a whole week. "She cut her hair?" Ron said, rereading the letter again. He pulled a shocked and disappointed face; he had loved her hair, even if he never told her so. But, he just shrugged and ran inside to the kitchen to see if his mum might possibly be there, which she was. Well, hell, she practically lived in that kitchen anyway.

"Hey mum! Can Hermione come over to our house next week to stay for a week while her parents go on vacation?" Ron said this all very fast. His mum looked up from her recipe books to her son with great shock at his sudden appearance.

"Excuse me? Could you possibly repeat that? Maybe a little slower this time?" she said, looking slightly irritated. Ron took in a deep breath.

"Can...Hermione....Come over here to stay....for a week next week while her parents....go on vacation?" Ron said this very slowly, annunciating every word as properly as possible. Mrs. Weasley looked slightly more irritated at her son's smartness, but didn't say anything about the matter.

"Why of course dear, I would love to see Hermione again. And besides, her coming over will give you the chance to actually do something, I suppose."

"Great, I'll go owl her back now!" Ron ran upstairs to start his letter back to Hermione immediately with the conclusion.

Hermione,

Of course you can come over next week for a whole week! My mum said it would be really great if you came over. And hey, what's this about you cutting your hair? I don't believe it; I just can't picture you with short hair. So, you didn't go to Bulgaria, huh? Well, your mum was right, it is indeed way too far away for you to be traveling, especially what with You Know Who being out and about. Well anyway, I'll see you next week then!

Ron

Rereading the letter over and over, he decided it would work and then tied it to Pig and sent him off. Thinking to himself, Ron came to a conclusion that if Hermione was allowed to show up looking different, than he was too. He suddenly felt the need to impress her. But, what was he to do? He had already gotten his hair cut once school had just been let out for the holidays...of course, his mum did that for him, not a professional...And then, it came to him. "Hey mum!" he called from upstairs in his room.

"Yes dear?" came Mrs. Weasley's rather irritated voice once more from the kitchen.

"Can I have one of those muggle muscles things? You know, the ones that make your muscles big and strong?" There was a long pause.

"Why would you want one of those?" His mother said, only this time sounding rather confused.

"Just, because…………" Ron trailed off, not really feeling like explaining it.

"Ron.....come down here to me," she said, sounding a little nervous. Well, nervous was defiantly how Ron felt himself, but he obeyed and went down the stairs to the kitchen. When he entered, he found his mum sitting in a kitchen table chair, looking through several different home cooking books. She seemed to be busy, but she immediately looked up when he had walked awkwardly into the rather small kitchen. She didn't look so frustrated now, but seemed to be very into her books nonetheless.

"Now, what were you saying?" she said, looking down once again, skimming her finger down the column of recipes in one of the books that lay down in front of her, her eyes following her moving finger. Ron sat down in the chair opposite of her and shifted uncomfortably in it several times before speaking.

"I, was uh..." now that he actually had to sit in front of her and face her, he didn't really want to ask anymore. It was a stupid request....like they had the money for one of those things anyways. "Oh, never mind....it was stupid..."Ron started to get up, but Mrs. Weasley stuck her hand out, blocking him from taking another step.

"Sit."

Ron didn't need telling twice; he immediately took his seat back where he had sat. Her eyes weren't on her books anymore....they were burning right into him. "Ron, what's bothering you?" Ron was throughly taken aback.

"Oh, well..." How could he possibly tell his mother? "I just....I thought, maybe, if we could afford a....well, is there any possible way to get hold of some kind of muggle muscle machine of some sort?" Mrs. Weasley watched her youngest son in a kind of aw.

"A....a muggle-?...Why?" Ron really felt weird now. He suddenly felt himself go red slightly. Mrs. Weasley seemed to suddenly understand.

"Oooooh...." she trailed off, smiling knowingly at her son. This only caused Ron to redden even more deeply. Why did she have to do this to him? Why did she always know what he was thinking? "I see," she continued, casting him a rather sly look.

"Oh, just forget it!" Ron suddenly burst out, unable to take the embarrassment anymore and started to get up in a hurry again. Mrs. Weasley suddenly burst into hysterical laughter.

"Oh, Ron, please come back!" she said between deep breaths, "I'm sorry, I really am!" But she certainly didn't show it, for she then burst into another fit of uncontrollable giggles. Ron turned on his heal and gave her an apprehensive look, growing redder by the moment. He stood there for a second, waiting for the laughter to die down. But, every time Mrs. Weasley calmed down, she looked at Ron and then just started all over again. Ron had just about had enough of this torture and was about to turn to leave again but then suddenly the two people whom he really didn't want to see right now come thundering down the stairs. Ron rushed over to his mother to hurry and calm her down before the twins asked questions.

"Mum-please!" Ron pleaded, taking his seat opposite of her again and watched as Fred and George Weasley suddenly burst into the kitchen and looked around expectantly.

"Well?" Fred suddenly pipped up, "What's so funny? George and I could hear you laughing all the way up in our room over the sound of our explosions, didn't we, old boy?"

"Mm-hmm, indeed we did, good sir. And, if you ask me, that's saying something!" George nodded in agreement and straightening his back to make him look something somewhat of business like. Ron did not find this amusing in the least and wished nothing more than to have his no good excuse for brothers to just leave before his embarrassment reached a whole new level. Mrs. Weasley was finally able to calm herself down and looked at the twins.

"Oh....nothing...."she said, suddenly flipping the pages of her cook books, giving Ron little secretive looks in between each turn. Fred and George were not convinced.

"Oh, so that's how its gonna be, huh?" said George, offended, suddenly at his mum's side, Fred closely following.

"Yes," said Mrs. Weasely firmly. Ron suddenly felt a whole new wave of respect for his mother, thanking his lucky stars that his mum wouldn't stoop to actually telling the twins about her new discovery. The twins, however, weren't settling for this.

"Now, come on! If it was funny enough to make you laugh, mum, it should be a really holler for us! Come on, what harm can it do?!" Fred persisted, not knowing just how much harm it would actually really do. Ron suddenly felt like getting away...far, far away....But, before he could even move, George suddenly rounded on him.

"This has something to do with you," he said, blocking his way from the one escape he had to the security of his bedroom.

"N-no, it hasn't," he lied, fumbling on his words and looking down at his shoes. He could feel their gazes boring down on him.

"Uh huh...sure, Ron," Fred said, suddenly smiling in way Ron did not like at all.

"N-no, really, I haven't-"

"Ron, the quickest you tell us, the quickest the humiliation will pass....maybe," George added, grinning at him devilishly.

"Honestly, I haven't the-"

"Now, boys, leave him alone! Really, it was rude of me to laugh...I'm sorry Ron...but..." Mrs. Weasley was awfully close to laughing again, and he knew that there was no way out of it now.

"So, it does have something to do with our Ickle-Ronnikins!" Fred exclaimed triumphantly, "Do tell!"

"I won't," Ron muttered, glancing up at his mum to make sure she had a straight face. She did...sort of...she seemed to be fighting the urge to laugh. Ron reminded himself to dearly thank her for this whole thing...All he wanted was bigger, stronger, better looking muscles! Really, was that too much to ask for!? The twins exchanged glances and nodded in agreement.

"Okay Ron, you get off the hook now....but, just know, we will find out..." Fred said, walking backwards to the living room, not taking his eyes off of Ron.

"And sooner than you may think...."George continued, following the same melodrama crap Fred was dishing out and then soon disappeared back upstairs to their bedroom. Ron shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"Thanks, mum," he muttered indignantly, looking down at the table.

"Hey now, I said I was sorry," she said defensively, crossing her arms.

"Yeah, well, its too late now..."

"Look, Ron, if you really want this muggle muscle...thing, I suggest you go and snoop around your father's shed. Goodness knows he might have something of that sort in there..." Mrs. Weasley soon became her normal, stricter self and turned back to her cook books, looking slightly disgruntled at the thought of her husband's hobbies.

So, Ron got up, and headed for his dad's muggle museum where he would hopefully find what he was looking for.

~*~*~

Hermione sat in her room, finishing the last bit of homework at her desk that she had not gotten done while at the beach resort. Suddenly, Pig came flying through her open window and started whirling around her room. "Hey, come here you!" Hermione jumped up and grabbed the little bird in her two hands and glanced down at his "burden". Hermione suddenly felt a pang of excitement as she unattached Ron's reply from the overexcited little feather ball. She was really anxious to see Ron again....After reading his reply, Hermione couldn't help but smile. Grabbing a quill and parchment she wrote a letter back.

Ron,

Relax, Ron! I didn't really cut my hair necessarily! I just got a trim and a few layers...big deal. Now I don't want to hear one thing about Victor while I'm there okay? I'm going over to be with you and to have fun, so please, don't bring him up if you think we might start having a big old fuss again. Okay, well then, I will be over next Monday around 12:00 to 12:30 pm, alright with you? Okay, well, I'll see soon!

Love from,

Hermione

Hermione rolled up her letter and tied it to Pig. "Here you go," she said and let him out the window. Excitement flooding through her, Hermione opened her door and skipped down the stairs to go see her mother sitting in the living room...reading...

"Its okay for me to go and visit Ron! Oh, I can't wait!" she said, flinging herself onto the couch next to the armchair her mum was sitting in. She looked up from her book and smiled down at her.

"Ron... That's the small one in glasses with messy black hair, isn't it?" Mrs. Granger inquired, furrowing her brow in thought.

"No, that's Harry, mum," Hermione sighed, "Ron's the tall one with red hair and freckles..."

"Oh right, now I remember....Oh yes, that one," Her mum said, glancing back down at her book, The Wonderful World of Dentistry.

"...and those light blue, sparkling eyes...I just love his eyes...its seems like they can just pierce right through me, you know?" Hermione's mother looked down at Hermione, raising her eyebrows slightly.

"Oh?" she said, suddenly putting her book aside and looking intently down at her daughter.

"Mm-hmm...he is so tall too! Well, not like those American basketball players, but you know, he's taller than most....Do you know he hates his freckles!? Oh, I just don't get it, I simply LOVE his cute freckles...they make him special, you know?" Hermione looked up at her mum and saw her smiling back, almost... mischievously?

"What?" Hermione said, sitting up straight.

"Oh, honey, I know alright!" she replied slyly. Hermione furrowed her brow.

"What?" she asked again, folding her arms indignantly.

"On, nothing..." Mrs. Granger picked up her book again and flipped through a couple of pages, occasionally glancing up at Hermione with a small smile playing on her lips. Hermione simply frowned and went back up to her bedroom, confused....

~*~*~

"Aha!" Ron cried triumphantly. He had just found exactly what he was looking for. Obviously, his dad had got his hands on some sort of muscle machine that worked the abs and arms. Just what he was looking for! It looked like it may be too big to fit in his room though....

"Oh, I'll make room some how!" he said, and began to yank as hard as he possibly could. But, it wouldn't budge. Ron kept this up for about 5 minutes and soon came to the conclusion that this muggle contraption was stupid and he wanted nothing to do with it. He gave it a good hard frustrated kick and quickly turned to leave. However, he didn't make it very far. He had walked right into his father.

"D-dad? You're home?" Ron said, backing up slightly and taking a seat on the muscle machine's long, red bench.

"Yeah, but just for lunch," Mr. Weasley shrugged, looking down at his youngest boy in a confused way. "What are you doing in here, Ron?" Ron shrugged and looked at his lap.

"I don't know, mum said it would be okay if I could look around and see if I could find some sort of muggle muscle machine or something," he said, running his hands through his hair in frustration.

"Oh, I see," Mr. Weasley said, "So, did you find what you were looking for?"

"Yeah, but, this stupid piece of crap won't move! I swear, if I won't be able to tone up pumping iron on that thing, I will surely get buff from trying to get to move it!" Ron gave it a look of pure disgust. Mr. Weasley, however, chuckled and motioned for Ron to get off the contraption. Ron willingly stood up.

"I bet you would, Ron," Mr. Weasley pulled out his wand and pointed it the machine. He then turned and looked over at his rather bamboozled son. "It's a simple security charm, Ron my boy, I only use it to make sure nobody will steal my collection." Ron looked around his father's shed and then gave him a rather skeptical look. Mr Weasley, however, choose the ignore this and then raised his wand and said "Disembarko!" . Ron watched as his dad suddenly lifted the muggle machine slightly off the ground and then dropped it will a loud thud.

"Yes, well, I see it is still pretty heavy even without the charm...so, I suppose I could just charm it with a Lighter-then-Air spell, I suppose..." Mr. Weasley said scratching his head. So, he did. And Mr. Weasley and Ron effortlessly brought up to the house and into Ron's bedroom....Well, almost effortlessly; everyone kept opening their doors in the hallway and asking load upon loads of questions of what in the world was going on. Neither one really felt like answering at that very moment. When the two had finally gotten the thing up in Ron's bedroom, Ron had to move stuff and clean up a bit to get the thing to fit, but, some how, it fit in just fine. But, there wasn't much walking space left because of it's size.

"Okay Ron," Mr. Weasley said, taking a seat on Ron's bed once the muscle muggle thing had been put in its place, "why in the world did you want this thing? I know you're not exactly into the muggle things as I am, so I figure this must be pretty good." Ron shifted his weight from one foot to the next and let his eyes wonder out the window.

"I don't know..." he mumbled, not wanting to restart the little happenings that had gone on not too long ago downstairs, in the kitchen. "I just...wanted to tone up a bit is all..." Ron didn't look at his dad. He could feel his gaze burning into him, but refused to see the smirk he would surely be wearing.

"I see..."

Letting curiosity get the better of him, Ron chanced a look over at his dad. Sure enough, there he was, sitting on his bed, looking at Ron with an amused expression. Ron felt hot anger come over him again. Why did he always have to tell everyone why he did what he did!?

"What is wrong with you people?!" he demanded, stopping his foot, "All I want to do is get some proper muscles! Is that a crime or something?!"

"No," said Mr. Weasley, a gleam in his eye, "its just rather interesting that you suddenly decide to want to tone up a bit now, out of the blue. You never mentioned it before....." Ron could feel himself go red again; not out of anger, but embarrassment.

"I heard about Hermione coming over next week...." Mr. Weasley went on, a small smile visibly playing on his lips, "It would sure be nice to see her again..." Ron narrowed his eyes; what was he trying to pull out of him? Well, if he was trying to get Ron to say what he thought he wanted him to say, he surely wasn't going to say it.

"Yeah, well....I'll be talk'n to ya later then dad," he said, changing the subject as fast as possible. Mr. Weasley smiled, patted Ron on the back and left to get some lunch. Ron let out a low moan and flung himself back on his bed. It couldn't be THAT obvious, could it!?

Suddenly, a little ball of puff came zooming through his open window and went whizzing around in every direction, bouncing off the walls. Ron recognized the bird immediately as his own little feathery git, Pig. He reached up, grabbed him and detached Hermione's response from his leg.

Ron read it and smiled inwardly. Yes, Hermione was coming over on Monday! Then, Ron thought for a second and realized maybe that wasn't such a good thing.

"Wait, Monday?!" Ron reread the letter in horror. That only gave him less than a week to hurry up and get as toned up as humanly possible in a few days. Ron quickly threw the letter aside and began to work on his new muggle muscle machine, hoping to at least see some kind of results before the week was up.

~*~*~

"Hermione, are you ready to go!?" called Hermione's mum's voice from downstairs. In a not so usual manner for the Granger's, they had actually been running late that morning. Hermione had been fussing about her appearance all morning and her parents were wildly doing around the house, making sure nobody was forgetting anything. Hermione quickly checked over the last of her luggage to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything either. The week had gone by slowly (basically because all she did was finish up the last of her homework), but finally, it was the day to go over to Ron's house to stay for a whole week's worth.

"Yeah, hold on!" Hermione yelled back, zipping up her luggage. She hoped she wasn't forgetting anything. She didn't need to bring her school trunk or school stuff because she was only staying for a week, after all. Crookshanks was going to be cat-watched by her Aunt Ellen, a women who simply LOVED cats, so she didn't have to bring him either.

"Hermione!"

"I'm coming!" Hermione's parents were as eager to go as she was. They had a flight to catch to go over their vacation spot, and they surely didn't want to miss it. In Hermione's opinion, her parents had plenty of time, for they were taking the evening flight, but her parents obviously didn't and seemed to want to drop off their little darling only child as quickly as possible. Hermione quickly grabbed her belongings and rushed downstairs, where her parents were already putting their coats on.

"You ready?" Her dad asked, helping Mrs. Granger into her coat. Hermione nodded, put her suitcase into the trunk of the car, and got into the back seat behind her parents. Her parents got in the car and quickly put their seatbelts on, started the car and went off. Getting bored quickly, Hermione's thoughts began to wonder as she lazily looked out of her window.

"I wonder if he's changed at all over the summer?...." Hermione thought, "I wonder if I've changed?....." Hermione patted down her hair and pushed it over her shoulder. She hadn't cut it that short at all. In fact, Hermione would be surprised if Ron would have even noticed at all if she hadn't of told him already. Sure, she got a few layers put in as well, but nothing serious. She hadn't dyed it or permed it or major stuff like that. It was still as big, brown and bushy as ever.

She then looked down at her clothes. She had been able to get some new clothes over the summer while she was at the beach resort. She had gotten two pairs of new shorts, a pair of slightly flared blue jeans and a few shirts. She was wearing one of the new pairs of shorts and a rather purposely tight, butterfly tank top. She was also wearing her beach shoes that she had gotten there as well. They were a pair of stylish black flip flops that she was rather attached to.

Her thoughts then drifted to how her mum had reacted to Hermione's little description of Ron. Why had she looked at her like that?....Was she insinuating that Hermione felt more for Ron than just a good friend? More than just a REALLY good friend? More than just a stunningly cute friend that she just couldn't get her mind off of all summer long?....Hermione sat, stunned at her own thoughts. How could she have missed it before? She couldn't....but she did. It had suddenly become obvious to her that she had been fancying Ron for over 4 years now, but had never really thought about it before. It didn't really surprise her that she actually LIKED him liked him, even though she was embarrassed to believe it, he was, after all, a real cutie...and funny and cool. Sure, he got on her nerves a lot, and they didn't always agree on everything, but hey, opposites attract, do they not? Now that she had finally figured out what her feelings had meant, how in the world was she suppose to face Ron now? Hermione began to shift nervously in her seat.

In what seemed like no time at all, her parents suddenly were pulling up to The Burrow in Ottery St. Catchpole. The car came to a sudden halt and Hermione suddenly lost her ability to move. She then decided that she defiantly WASN'T going to leave this seat!

"Okay, we're here!" Mr. Granger said over his shoulder, smiling at Hermione. Hermione gave him a weak smile back and undid her seatbelt. What if Ron didn't like how Hermione had changed her appearance? Mildly changed, but changed nonetheless. She didn't know what she'd do if he made some wise cracks about her new look. She then suddenly felt a wave of indignant anger sweep over her. He wouldn't DARE make fun of her! But...what if he did? Hermione folded her arms and inwardly refused to move out of her seat.

"Hermione?" she heard her mum say, now turned in her seat to get a better at Hermione, "Aren't you going to get out and get your stuff?" Hermione thought for a moment. She knew she couldn't stay in this seat forever. She had to face Ron. She had to somehow get the idea across to him that she liked him...It was that thought that finalized her decision; she wasn't going to get out of that car even for the Queen of France. How in the world was she going to tell Ron she liked him?! It was laughable. Ron would no doubt freeze and walk away, stunned and horrified at the very thought. She knew she wouldn't be able to live with that...maybe she didn't have to tell him?...Maybe she'll just settle for good friends, like they are now, and not have to worry about losing his most valuable friendship....

"Hermione!" Hermione's mum was now standing outside her door, opening it forcefully. "Are you coming or not?!" Hermione jumped and nodded feebly in defeat. She suddenly felt stupid; it was a feeling Hermione wasn't use to and didn't want to be getting use to anytime soon. Her mum stood up straight and held the door open wide as Hermione slowly got out of the car. She saw that her dad was now getting her suitcase out of the trunk for her.

"Here you are, Hun," he said, handing it to her. Hermione took it and turned to face her home for the next week. Taking a deep breath, she put one foot in front of the other and began walking toward the front door....

~*~*~

Ron had been pumping iron for a whole week now. True, a whole week isn't long enough for some major results, but you could surely tell there was something different about him. All he had been doing in all his spare time was lifting weights. What else was he to do? He would also be seen doing sit ups, push ups and other stuff like that around the house.

Well, in no time at all, the Weasley twins kept their promise and put the pieces together about Ron's little situation. So, naturally, the whole house knew everything. It had turned into the almighty joke of all time as far as the whole Weasley house was concerned, in which Ron couldn't leave his room without getting bombarded with a least one two many wise cracks about it. This only made Ron feel even more queasy about Hermione's arrival, regardless that he kept telling his family that he defiantly DID NOT fancy Hermione; even though he knew he truly did.

His mum even felt so bad about her helping with the spilling of the beans, she went out and got him some "new" clothes from the secondhand clothes shop. Ron appreciated this widely, even if the clothes weren't necessarily new. His "new" clothes weren't so bad, actually. They even fit him and everything. She had gotten him what she hoped was in style. She got him two pairs of rather baggy pants; one black and one dark blue and some plain green and blue t-shirts. Sure, the clothes were obviously used, but Ron appreciated them and greatly thanked his mum for her caring-ness. His "new" green and blue t-shirts were actually what Ron had wanted. They, in a way, showed his newly grown, semi-mature muscles. Ron still felt bad that he hadn't thought of using the machine before when it was right in his own dad's garage, but was glad he did eventually do it. It was only now that he realized how bad he had needed it.

Today was the day in which Hermione would be coming over and Ron couldn't have been more nervous about it. He had been fussing about in room, looking at the mirror all morning, insisting that his hair was torturing him on purpose because it had suddenly decided to not to go where it was suppose to be. Getting frustrated and angry, he flung his door open and marched downstairs to get a bit of breakfast. To his great displeasure, Ginny and Fred and George were all there watching him as his entered and took a seat at the table. Each of them kept giving him sly and mischievous looks over their plates.

"Here you are, dear," his mum said, putting a plate of eggs and bacon in front of him. Ron quickly picked up his fork and thanked his mum. Before diving into his eggs, he looked up and saw Ginny looking at him intently, obviously trying to get his attention by irritating him. She was doing her job well, you could say.

"What?" he asked, clearly annoyed. Ginny's smile widened considerably and she crossed her arms.

"You look nice today..." she said, looking at his clothes and hair, not bothering to hide her smirk. Ron's appearance showed that he had defiantly put quite a bit into it. His clothes were nice and clean, his hair, though not perfect as he would like it to be, looked considerably better than its normal tousle. "This wouldn't have anything to do with our dear Miss Hermione Granger coming over today would it?" Ron felt himself going red again but held his head high.

"Yes, as a matter of fact," he said nonchalantly, diving his fork into his eggs and began eating. Fred, George and Ginny all looked at each other, knowing looks written all over their faces.

"Oh Ron, just admit you like her already!" Fred suddenly burst out.

"I won't, because I don't," Ron replied, not taking his focus off his eggs. All three of then snorted with laughter.

"Okay Ron, whatever!" George said, taking a big bite of his bacon. Ron chose to ignore this comment and didn't look up at them for the rest of their family breakfast time.

At 12:15 pm, Ron was about to go insane. He was sitting in the living room, flipping the channels on the new television his dad just got from a muggle store. There was absolutely nothing on and every time someone passed through the room they gave Ron a smirk and said something smart like "waiting for your love?" or "oh, is little Ronnikins nervous about seeing his girlfriend?". These people mostly just consisted of Ginny, Fred and George, but they made it count. He could only hope and pray all this nonsense would stop before Hermione came over...he shuddered at the thought of Fred and George singing "Ron and Hermione, sitting in a tree..." all through the house when she walked through the door.

Twenty minutes later, Ron had turned off the awful telly and was sitting in the armchair, tapping his foot impatiently. She was late....ten whole stinking minutes late from the time ranges Hermione had given. "Why is she late?!" Ron impatiently yelled through his head. Being late only caused him more horrible thoughts and embarrassment from his whole stinking family. Getting fed up, Ron got up to go upstairs, but he didn't get very far for at that very moment there was a soft knock at the door.

~*~*~

"Oh God, I can't do this," Hermione thought, walking up the short amount of steps leading up to the front door that she hadn't seen for a long time. When she had reached the last step and found herself right in front of the Weasley's door, she felt that sudden familiar wave of uneasiness fulfill her. She realized that she must have been standing there for some time now for her parents, who were standing well behind her, were starting to make impatient noises. She raised her hand slowly up to the door, balled it to get ready to knock, but left it midair. She stayed like this for yet another good while and finally her dad had had just about enough.

"Hermione, what is with you?! You act like you don't want to be here!"

"Oh, no, daddy, I do," Hermione said in surprise, whirling around to face her parents, "I'm just...nervous." She then looked down at her feet, feeling herself going red.

"Oh, Hun, there is nothing to be nervous about," he mum spoke up, coming forward and hugging Hermione tightly. "These people are your friends. I'm sure they will be happy to see you again!" Hermione smiled slightly and decided to just get the hard part over with. She reached out and knocked lightly on the door.