Harry Potter and the Prophecy of the Strinx

Harry Potter and the Prophecy of the Strinx

By Moon Weasley

Chapter Five:

Admirers, love letters and Death Eaters

"Hey, that's a foul!" Ron bellowed furiously at George who'd just performed a very daring fly-by almost knocking the younger Weasley of his broom.

"Not even close!" George yelled back grinning cheekily while giving Fred a mid air high five.

"You'll have to handle rougher moves than that if you want to secure yourself a spot on the house team, ickle fickle Ronniekins!"

Ron in retaliation stuck out his tongue and made a rather rude hand gesture. The twins took no offence and laughed heartily while Hermione cried out "Ron!" in a shocked and outraged manner from her spot safely on the ground.

The whole Weasley family, including their guests, had ventured out into the garden to enjoying a friendly game of Quidditch. Seeing as it was such a lovely Sunday afternoon Mrs. Weasley had conjured up a row of comfortable sofas that she, her Great Aunt Betsy, Karen the cousin, Percy's girlfriend Penelope and Hermione was currently occupying, drinking iced pumpkin juice and watching as the rest played.

They had formed two teams, the first consisting of Fred and George as Chasers, Mr. Weasley as Keeper and Bill as Seeker and the second team consisting of Ron, Ginny and Charlie as chasers, Percy as Keeper and Harry as seeker. Harry's team had the advantage of three chasers but an even huger disadvantage with Percy as keeper. Harry felt it was probably safe to assume that Quidditch wasn't one of Percy's passions in life. His attempt at being sporty was so completely out of character it was hilarious. Harry suspected he only participated to impress Penelope, but so far he hadn't succeeded much. She was currently engrossed in a conversation with Great Aunt Betsy, and did to Harry's huge surprise actually look like she was enjoying it.

Harry had been unfortunate enough to let himself get trapped talking to her about the many uses of wool for an entire hour the other day something, which according to Ron was a topic quite representative for dear old Betsy's span of interests. Penelope was therefore in Harry's opinion either a very convincing actress or completely mental. Probably the last he thought sniggering. She was after all dating Percy.

To everyone's great surprise both Fred and George had put their names down to be considered new Captain for the Gryffindor house team this year. And it was a somewhat odd experience, witnessing the two pranksters take something seriously for a change. According to Ron they'd been practicing new moves and brushing up on their beaters technique at every opportunity all summer. And when they weren't outside flying or barricaded in their room inventing new hazardous Wheezes, they could be found huddled over Oliver Wood's old tactic books with a manic gleam in their eyes. Harry thought he'd never seen anything quite so scary, and he secretly hoped that one of the Chasers would be appointed Captain instead.

On a happier note Ron had decided to try out for the team as Keeper and Harry really hoped he would get it. It would be great having his best friend on the team too. Harry watched his friend as he flew by catching the Quaffle Ginny threw him, and had to admit that he was actually quite good on a broom. And so was Ginny, he noticed.

Harry had never seen Ginny play before. In fact he had never thought her to be the slightest bit interested in Quidditch. Pulling out of a steep dive Harry suddenly realised that he in all honesty didn't know much about her at all. Funny really, he reflected. He'd known Ginny since she was ten and in the last four years he'd hardly had a single normal exchange of words with her. And that was not for lack of trying on his part. So far he couldn't recall a single normal conversations between them something he blamed solely on Ginny's not so secret crush on him. Usually she would blush a deep shade of red whenever she saw him and was thus rendered speechless whenever he talked to her. Whenever he'd asked her something or just looked at her, Harry had usually been awarded with a squeal before she'd taken flight out of the room. Not exactly ideal conditions to form new friendships, Harry thought dryly.

It suddenly hit him that Ginny hadn't been acting like that at all since his arrival at The Burrow more than two weeks ago. No giggling, no staring and not so much as a teeny tiny blush as far as he could remember. Harry had always found it a bit awkward being around her knowing she had these feelings for him, and that awkwardness had for some reason vanished this summer. Realizing this Harry couldn't help but feel a little funny. Was he disappointed? Nah, he concluded, it would certainly be a relief not having her following him around like a lovesick puppy anymore.

He watched her swoop past Fred and score after performing a clever manoeuvre outsmarting him completely. "Way to go, Ginny!" Harry yelled giving her a very enthusiastic thumbs up.

They played for several hours and afterwards Harry's team had to endure being teased by the twins for losing miserably. Neither Ron nor Harry cared much one way or the other though. They both knew their loss had a lot to do with Percy's miserable keeper play as he'd only made one save during the entire game.

"I can't believe Percy's actually related to us," Ron complained while he and Harry were heading off to his room on Mrs. Weasley's orders to change into something less sweaty before dinner. "Have you ever met a greater sissy? Did you see how he dived out of the way to protect himself from the Quaffle?"

Ron did a striking imitation of Percy's leap to safety and Harry nearly wet himself from laughing so hard. Ron cracked a smile and bowed gracefully to his only spectator.

"Has he calmed down about the cauldron thickness, then?" Harry asked as they continued the long climb to Ron's room. After leaving Hogwarts a year ago Percy had started working for the Ministry of Magic in the Department of International Cooperation. He had really put his heart into the work driving everyone crazy with his constant references to both his boss and his assignments. Ron grimaced as he pulled on a clean t-shirt and shook his head.

"Not really, you should have thought that the shocking revelations about Mr. Crouch would put a damper on his enthusiasm, but no such luck I'm afraid. He's just as smug an unbearable as always if not even more so. Would you believe that the death of Mr. Crouch actually got Percy a promotion?" Ron asked shaking his head. "The former Head Boy now has an even larger head if you catch my drift."

Harry nodded. Over the last couple of weeks he had noticed that Percy sometimes acted as though he considered himself to be more important and better than the rest of his family. On one or two occasions he'd even gone as far as to openly criticize his own father.

Ron sighed. "I guess we can't all be the same, you know. Just think about what it would be like if more of us were like the twins."

"Amen to that!" Harry replied.

* * *

They ate dinner in the garden again that evening, as there wasn't by far room for all of them in the kitchen. The table was filled with delicious and mouth-watering food and Harry secretly thanked his lucky stars he was here instead of Privet Drive. Aunt Petunia was about as generous with her food rations as Snape was with house points and more often than not did Harry leave the table feeling hungrier than when he sat down. The contrast to Mrs. Weasley's full plates and compulsory third helpings was therefore huge and certainly welcome.

Luckily the two warnings Hermione had gotten from the Improper Use of Magic Office hadn't been enough to expel her. Mr. Weasley had still pulled a favour with Mafalda Hopkirk and the most severe warning (for blasting the fireplace into pieces) had by now magically disappeared from the files in her office. Hermione had been delighted and Ron had taken great pleasure in pointing out that she'd so willingly had allowed his dad to break the Law on her account. They'd bickered about this for several days until Harry had lost patience with the topic and refused to spend time with either of them unless they stopped.

His threat had worked wonders and presently he, Ron and Hermione were happily discussing the upcoming trip to Diagon Alley. Hermione was almost halfway through alphabetically reciting which books they needed for next year when Mr. Weasley suddenly cleared his throat loudly so that he got everyone's attention.

"As many of you know, Percy here has been keeping in touch with an German boy named Max Strober that we all met on our holiday in Egypt a couple of years ago. Max has been very interested in taking parts of his wizarding education here in England seeing as his father is of British descent and he has been accepted as a seventh year exchange student at Hogwarts. He is arriving tomorrow and will be staying with us until school starts. I will be picking him up at Kings Cross station right after I've seen Aunt Betsy and Karen off."

Harry and Hermione were clearly the only ones who didn't know anything about this, and by the look on Hermione's face she was positively thrilled by the news.

"Which German Wizarding School is he attending," she asked Ron. "Grünerwald or Bratenburg?" Ron just shrugged signalling that he didn't know and didn't care either.

"Really, Ron," Hermione chastised disappointedly. "I surely expected you to be more interested in learning about these things. I mean it is not everyday you get to meet wizards our own age from other countries, now is it? He is clearly very interested in the British wizarding community to be going on an exchange program."

"Yeah, he is interested enough," Ron answered with a snort. "Just don't think his main interest is in the community or history, though."

Ron's mood had definitely taken a turn for the worse at the mention of Max, and Harry was very curious as to why. While Hermione gave Percy a very thorough third degree about Max Harry asked Ron about it.

"You'll see tomorrow," was Ron's short reply. "I swear if you don't see what I mean within five minutes, you'd better bloody go check those glasses of yours!!"

* * *

The next day passed without any extraordinary events taking place. That is with the exception of Great Aunt Betsy's embarrassing attempts at giving all the Weasleys a goodbye kiss. Fred and George fought bravely for the longest time, but in the end even they had to give in as she managed to corner them in the kitchen. They both looked utterly repulsed afterwards, but within the hour they had turned the incident into a joke with Fred doing a very convincing imitation of Betsy. The others however just held their breaths, closed their eyes and let her get it over with, and this was by far the wisest strategy Harry thought even if it wasn't as entertaining as the twins'.

For the remainder of the day they all entertained themselves in the garden, either just lying lazily underneath one of the big oak trees chatting about everything and nothing or playing a casual game of Gobstones. While watching Hermione and Ginny giggling madly over something in a magazine, Harry concluded that this by far had been his best summer ever. Despite the alarming half-prophecy made by Viktor Krum's grandmother, the resent killings by the Death Eaters and his ever-constant guilty conscious about Cedric Diggory, Harry almost shamefully had to admit he was having the time of his life. Somehow it was really difficult being too worried around the Weasleys and he was very grateful that they'd let him and Hermione stay for the remainder of the holiday.

He looked over at Ron who was gazing dreamily into the air and seemed to be far away in thoughts. Following his stare Harry wasn't the least bit surprised to see that he was looking at Hermione. To Harry's chagrin an opportunity to drop a hint or pursue the topic of Ron's obvious feelings for her hadn't yet presented itself. Recently Ron and Hermione had only had a couple of small rows (mostly about Ron's habit of using some of the nastier words in his vocabulary) and none of them had been about Viktor Krum. There had however been a few amusing incidents (such as the time when they'd both reached for the same piece of pie) that had resulted in some extremely red ears on Ron's part and deep blushes on Hermione's normally even-toned cheeks.

Charlie suddenly appeared in the garden and his words quickly brought everyone to attention.

"Dad's back from King's Cross," he announced excitedly. "Why don't you all come into the sitting room and give Max a real Weasley welcome!"

They all scrambled to their feet and headed for the house, although Ron seemed a bit reluctant. Trailing behind him Harry could hear him muttering and cursing as they walked.

"What did you say?" Harry asked him curious as to why Ron was acting like this. Surely it would be exciting having a German wizard visiting?

Shuffling his feet and kicking the rocks on the ground (only just missing a very confused and lost garden gnome in the process) Ron continued to curse looking grumpier with each step.

"The prat fancies Ginny," he finally revealed. Ron grimaced leaving no doubt that he didn't approve of this at all. "I mean the guy is three years older than her! It's almost like child molesting! Hermione and Krum all over again! I reckon she is the reason he wanted to come to England you know, but no one else seem to agree with me. Mum just laughed when I tried to persuade her to not let him stay here. Blind cow!"

Harry didn't know what to say to this at all. Suddenly he wasn't looking forward to meeting Max with the same enthusiasm as before. Could Ron be right about this? Did this Max character have a thing for Ginny?

There wasn't much time to dwell on the subject as they soon reached the sitting room. The room was crowed with red haired people and for a split second Harry wondered if Max too had this flashy hair colour, as he couldn't spot him in the throng. A soft and charming laughter however drove his attention to the back of the room and he quickly recognized it to belong to Ginny. She was standing there tossing her long hair back smiling at a tall boy with blond hair, strong jaw and deeply tanned skin. They were talking enthusiastically and Ginny seemed to be laughing at the boy's every word. Harry instantly felt his heart beating faster and something clutched in his stomach.

For some reason Ginny suddenly looked much older than he remembered her. He now noticed that she had grown over the summer and something about her posture also seemed different. Why hadn't he noticed this before? Ginny had always been just Ron's little sister to him, but it was now quite obvious to Harry that she wasn't a little girl anymore. And now she also had an admirer in this Max, Ron was clearly right about that. Max was definitely flirting; he was leaning over towards her and whispered something in her ear, touching her hand intimately. Not that Harry had much experience with these things but he had noticed Percy acting in a similar fashion towards Penelope now and then. Max Strober was flirting with Ginny and Harry didn't like it. He didn't like it one bit.

Oh my God, he silently exclaimed to him self. Was he jealous? Was he jealous because Ginny now seems to fancy Max over him? Why? He didn't like Ginny in that way, so why was his stomach acting as if there was something alive in there?

Confusion and something close to anger was flooding through Harry as he stood watching the exchange between Ginny and Max. He hoped dearly no one would notice his confusion and tried desperately to put on the most neutral facial expression he could muster. He turned to Ron who was staring at the couple on the other end of the room with a disapproving look.

"See what I mean," he whispered gloomily to Harry. "The guy is practically drooling all over my innocent, little sister and no one here seems to think it is inappropriate. I do not like that boy!" Harry just nodded in agreement to afraid to say anything, as he feared his voice wouldn't sound normal. Ron however was evidently pleased that at least Harry shared his point of view.

"We need to keep an eye on him from now on. Make sure he doesn't do anything to my sister, you now. And I mean anything. Agreed?" Ron looked him straight in the eye and Harry swallowed hard hoping his face didn't portray any of his confusion. He felt really warm, and crossed his fingers hoping that Ron wouldn't notice the telltale blush that for some reason now decorated his face.

"Agreed," he whispered back and Ron cracked a smile.

"Right then," he said happily. "I would like to see the guy who can outsmart The Boy Who Lived and his amazingly brilliant side kick. Ginny's welfare couldn't be in better hands!" Grinning like a he'd already eliminated the threat of Max, Ron grabbed hold of Harry's arm and started tugging him forward. "Well what are we waiting for? Let me introduce you to this looser."

And with that Ron dragged a reluctant Harry over to where his sister and the exchange student was standing and deliberately positioned himself between Ginny and Max. Max looked a bit offended by this but Ginny didn't even raise an eyebrow. Instead she clapped her hands excitedly and pulled Harry closer to her. Harry cursed silently as he felt the blush return full scale. Ginny however didn't take any notice of this.

"Oh Max, you haven't been introduced to Harry, have you? This is my brother Ron's best friend, Harry Potter. Harry, this is Max Strober."

Max lit up at the sound of Harry's name and stuck his hand out. Harry took it and shook his hand grudgingly. "Well, I never thought I'd one day meet the famous Harry Potter," Max said in fluent English, not so much as a trace of the stereotype broken stuttering Harry was expecting. "Pleased to meet you."

Max was tall, muscular and rather good looking, Harry had to admit, but he obviously seemed to be all too aware of this judging by the superior look on his face as he stared at Harry. Harry knew he couldn't compete with Max's physical appearance but he seldom met people who didn't felt honoured to make his acquaintance. Harry had never really gotten accustomed to all the attention he received wherever he went and could personally live without all the ado surrounding his person. Normally he'd therefore feel grateful when people didn't make big fuzz when meeting him. Max was clearly not especially flattered to meet Harry and his "pleased to meet you" was said in an almost mocking tone, which reminded Harry vividly of certain Slytherins he knew.

So far Harry didn't like this Max much but he managed to return his greeting in a somewhat normal voice and he and Ron stood there for a couple of minutes (although it felt like an eternity) listening to Max go on and on about the German wizard school he attended, famous German Quidditch teams and how he had met the Weasley's in Egypt. Ron's dislike of Max was clearly matching Harry's by the look on his face, and they left the conversation as soon as an opportunity presented itself in the form of an overly excited Percy.

Well out of everyone's earshot Ron let out a loud "Ewwhh!" and made a face of utter repulsion. "He is such a suck-up! The guy is so false and full of himself he'll give Malfoy a serious run for his money."

They went outside and sat down under the tree again, both looking gloomy.

"For once I totally agree with you, Ron," Harry said and patted his friend on the back. "Not to worry, though. Gits like that never get the girl anyway. She's bound to find out what he's really like. Ginny is no fool after all." Harry said this in a surprisingly confident voice but didn't feel very confident at all.

Ron though didn't seem to notice this and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you're right. Ginny is a smart girl; she is a Weasley you know and brains do run in the family. Besides we two are going to help her come to that realization quickly aren't we?"

"Help who come to what realization?"

Neither of them had heard Hermione approaching, and the sound of her voice startled them both into a nervous jump.

"Nothing in particular," Ron muttered without looking at her. Hermione glanced from one to the other searchingly. They both steadfastly avoided her gaze.

"You two are up to something, I can tell." She placed her hands firmly on her hips and awarded them her most interrogating stare.

"You two look really gloomy," she continued. "You should think someone had nicked your Chocolate Frogs or something. And how come you're out here and not inside talking to Max? It's just amazing talking to someone from the German Wizarding community. I've read a fair bit about it, off course but the books only covers so much. From what I've heard so far, the schools in Germany hold an equal standard to Hogwarts and that is really saying a lot." She stopped to draw her breath and was about to continue on her appraisal of Max when Ron cut her off.

"Oh shut up about, Max, will you?" he snapped. His outburst made Hermione look honestly confused.

"Why?" she inquired. "Do you have anything against him? I can't for the life of me think what that should be. He's clearly very intelligent and to be honest I think he is quite taken with Ginny."

As she said this both boys' faces froze in an angry expression positively shooting daggers at her. Hermione suppressed a sudden urge to laugh. So that's what's bothering them, she thought. She should have known Ron would react like this towards any guy that showed even the faintest bit of interest in his little sister. That's actually rather sweet she admitted feeling her cheeks go slightly warm. He's obviously protective of the ones he cares about. Come to think of it Ron was always very protective of both her and Harry, so naturally he would react this way when his own sister was concerned. After all he'd more than once gotten into fights and arguments with Malfoy and his thugs because of offensive remarks they'd made about her.

Hermione's heart suddenly started beating faster as a possibility occurred to her. Could this mean that Ron actually cared for her? Like, really cared? Not just as a friend? She looked at him and met his eyes, but quickly looked away. Of course he cares for you, she told her self. Just not like that. There was no need for her to get worked up about something that just wasn't there.

She forced her attention away from Ron and instead looked at Harry. He had a similar look of anger on his face. That's funny, Hermione acknowledged. She'd never known Harry to care too much about who Ginny spent her time with, so why should this be any different? Unless, she thought and smiled inwardly, Harry had finally come around. That would be simply amazing! She let out a small laugh. This could possibly turn out to be a very interesting school year indeed, Hermione thought with a grin.

She decided not to push the matter at this point, and waved her arms in the air to signal that she wasn't going to take the discussion further. Both boys seemed pleased with this, and they spent the remainder of the evening playing chess and making lists of all the things they needed in Diagon Alley. At dinner that night Ron and Harry made a point of making sure that Ginny was seated between them so that Max wouldn't be sitting near her. Ginny looked as if she didn't care one way or the other, but Harry swore that Max looked more than a little disappointed. He kept giving him and Ron some less than friendly looks during the meal; they however chose to overlook this completely.

Something that was distinctly more difficult to overlook though was Hermione. She was giving him some rather funny looks from across the table, and Harry didn't quite know what to make of them. She smiled almost mischievously giving him an uneasy feeling that she somehow knew what was going on inside his head. Ron had also noticed these looks and he glanced questionably from Hermione to Harry. Harry decided to avoid meeting their eyes and felt his face turning red. He sure wasn't ready to tell anyone about these feelings. He wasn't even sure himself exactly what to make of all this. And besides, Hermione would probably tease him senseless and judging by Ron's reaction to Max' interest in Ginny, Harry sure wasn't willing to risk Ron's anger being directed at him.

Damn, why did this have to happen right now? Harry cursed to himself. As if he didn't have enough on his plate as it was? Harry shook his head depressingly. This promised to be a very difficult school year indeed.

*

From the other side of Ginny Ron was sitting feeling puzzled. Hermione and Harry were exchanging some rather funny looks, he noticed. Harry looked almost embarrassed and Ron could have sworn he'd just witness a blush on the legendary Potter's normally pale cheeks. He felt a sickening feeling in his stomach as an unwelcome thought entered his mind. Was there something going on between Harry and Hermione that he didn't know about? He hadn't noticed anything before, but these looks were very mysterious; almost as if they shared a secret he didn't know about. He suddenly felt very hostile towards Harry. Was his best friend hiding something from him? And did it involve Hermione?

All three went to bed that night pondering some very difficult questions.

* * * *

For the next couple of days the atmosphere between the three friends could best be described as a tad tense. Hermione continued to give Harry what she obviously thought was encouraging looks in order to coax him into telling her about the feelings she suspected he had towards Ginny.

Harry however wasn't even close to being sure of what he was feeling, and did his utmost to ignore her. Her continued staring did however make him blush slightly as he had an unnerving feeling that she could read his mind, and this in turn didn't go unnoticed by Ron. He again felt hurt because they didn't confide in him and despaired at the thought of his two best friends possibly having feelings for each other. Still he had to admit that Harry was an improvement from Vicky, but this didn't lift his spirits much.

So even though they wholeheartedly tried to act as if everything was normal, it was obvious to everyone around them that something was amiss. They continued to play Quidditch, chess and in Hermione's case read every book she could lay her hands on, but something just wasn't right. All three felt it, but as they were too embarrassed to actually talk about it they continued to tiptoe around each other exchanging pleasantries and acting very much like distant acquaintances instead of the tight-knitted trio they really were. The tension was almost unbearable, and to top it all off something happened the afternoon before their trip to Diagon Alley that didn't exactly improve matters much.

All three plus Max, Ginny and the twins were sitting in the living room being entertained by the twins' latest inventions (quills that amusingly wrote the opposite of what you intended and assorted pastries that for a short period turned random body parts into obscure objects) when it happened. Ron and Harry were both very much enjoying the sight of Max lying helplessly on the floor with his left leg momentarily replaced by a giant coat hanger while Hermione, wearing a huge frown, was trying to concentrate on one of her many books.

Just as Max' foot changed from coat hanger into an odd sort of corkscrew, a rather scabby looking owl swooped in through one of the open windows and promptly dropped a letter along with a small package in Hermione's lap. With a surprised and confused look she quickly opened the letter and read it. Her face split into a flattered smile before turning slightly pink and she hurriedly continued to open the package. It revealed a small blue box and a gasp escaped her mouth as she opened it.

"What is it?" Ron asked a mixture of curiosity and hostility detectable in his voice. "Who's it from? Your parents?"

Hermione hesitantly shook her head and got up from the chair heading for the door.

"Where are you going?" Ron too had gotten to his feet and was heading towards her. "Aren't you going to tell us who's sending you letters and gifts?"

He looked defiantly at Hermione and she could see that he wasn't going to let this go. She sighed deeply fearing another fight might be eminent. Past experience had shown that Ron's apparently had certain issues with regards to the sender, and Hermione very much doubted this posting would help matters.

"Believe me, you don't want to know," Hermione answered looking pleadingly at Ron. She tried to turn around to leave but before she could even move a foot Ron grabbed hold of her arm.

"It's from bloody fucking Krum, isn't it?"

The look he was giving her was filled with anger, and she could see his face turning redder by the second.

"Yes," was all she said. As she watched Ron struggle to keep his anger at bay (and failing miserably by the look of things) Hermione started to regret having told him the truth. But she hated the idea of lying even if it would prevent another fight with Ron. He really should learn to control that terrible temper of his anyway, she thought touchily.

Ron's face quickly turned from red to an alarming burgundy shade and Hermione knew he had a long way to go before he'd learn the subtle art of controlling his emotions. Harry, sensing the danger had reached his friends and tried to act as a human buffer in hope of preventing the inevitable. Ron however pushed him away.

"Let's see it then," he spat venomously. "The present, I mean. Come on Hermione, won't you show us what your boyfriend has sent you?"

Hermione had so far managed to keep a straight face, but her limit was now clearly up.

"For the thousandth time!" she screamed, "He is not my boyfriend!! Are you thick or something, because I seem to recall having explained this to you before! Obviously you are incompetent of receiving and saving this information in your peanut sized brain."

She stopped momentarily to draw her breath before she continued screaming. "Come to think of it, it doesn't surprise me one bit as I've had the huge misfortune of witnessing your pathetically poor academic abilities for the last four years!" Hermione was now equally as red as Ron, and Harry thought he'd never seen her look angrier.

Ron made a loud snorting sound at Hermione's outburst. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. We've all heard you claim that you're just "friends" with the git. But then small things happen to prove the opposite. Like for instant the fact that you went off to bloody Bulgaria for several weeks, not to mention that you keep receiving lengthy love letters by owl. And now, surprise surprise, small gifts appear on a common Thursday. How stupid do you actually think I am?" Their faces were now only inches away from each other and Harry crossed his fingers hoping they wouldn't resolve to physical measures.

"I think you are so stupid that there isn't a reliable way to measure it," Hermione replied ice dripping from her voice.

"Really," Ron answered. "Then I guess you won't mind me checking out your innocent little gift" And with that he grabbed the box from her hands and tore it open. His face fell and Harry could tell that the content of the box had left him more disappointed and sad than angry.

"Well," he started and lifted the object up so that everyone could see. It was a beautiful ring, and by the looks of it a very expensive one too. Ron just looked at Hermione with a very hurt and disappointed gaze and handed her the ring back.

"With that I rest my case. That ring has boyfriend written all over it in flashy gold letters. Why don't you just admit it?"

Hermione looked fit to burst. Harry hadn't seen such an inflated look since he accidentally blew up Aunt Marge two years ago.

"Sometimes I wish you'd never saved me from that troll, Ronald Weasley," Hermione said frostily with an unnatural calmness to her voice. "Because I hate disliking people, and you sometimes make it impossible for me to find anything worth liking in you. And in case you were wondering, yes this is one of those times."

The air seemed to freeze for a moment and Harry was certain the temperature in the living room had dropped ten degrees at Hermione's words. No one blinked, swallowed or even breathed for a long time. Finally Ron broke the tension. He'd been staring at Hermione since her last words escaped her mouth but suddenly turned away from her and ran out of the house.

"Ron, where are you going?" Harry yelled after him, but by now Ron's head was just a small red dot on the horizon.

"Great," Harry said looking at the people in the living room. "Just great."

Ginny rushed towards Hermione and the girls left the room without another word. Suddenly Max started to laugh. "That was quite a show! Do they do that sort of thing often? Extremely entertaining, I must say. Wouldn't miss the next fight for the world, even though I can't see how anything can top this one." He flopped down on the couch and continued sniggering.

"Oh shut the fuck up!" Harry and the twins yelled in unison.

* * *

Ron was running fast. His heart was pounding harder and faster than ever, and his vision was blurred. But he didn't stop. He couldn't stop. He had to put as much distance between him and The Burrow as possible.

He ran past the stream, crossed a large field and suddenly found himself in an unknown part of the forest surrounding Ottery St. Catchpole. He stopped dead by a large oak and leaned against it, panting and wiping away both sweat and tears.

Seeing the ring Krum had sent Hermione had made something inside him snap. She had told him numerous times that there was nothing more than friendship between her and the Bulgarian, and he'd finally been inclined to believe her. Especially since she hadn't even mentioned him once since the fight they had the day she and Harry arrived. The last couple of days had been very confusing indeed with all the strange looks she and Harry had exchanged, and trying to figure out what that was all about had made Ron completely forget about Viktor Krum.

But now he had sent her a ring. That's what you send your girlfriend, wasn't it? Percy had given one to Penny on her birthday and you just didn't go around handing out expensive jewellery to every girl you met, now did you? It had to mean there was something more going on between them than Hermione had let on. And then there were the things she'd said. Those hurt even more than knowing she had a relationship with Krum. Hermione not liking him, not wanting to be his friend was something he couldn't bear.

Ron cursed loudly and picked up some rocks and threw them violently at the tree, making them bounce right back and almost hit him. He didn't care however and continued. The thing that frustrated him the most was that he didn't really know why this business with Krum made him so mad. Harry was Hermione's friend too, but he'd hardly heard him say anything about this ever. If there was anyone that should feel mad about her running of to such Slytherin-friendly people, it was Harry. After all Durmstrang students were widely known for their association with dark arts and Death Eaters, and everybody knew that the Death Eaters were out to get Harry.

This made absolutely no sense whatsoever, and that was partly why he'd run out of the house in the first place. Ron realized that he'd overreacted but couldn't help it at the time. Still cursing he sat down with his back against the tree and buried his head in his hands. He knew that he had to go back and apologize to Hermione - again. He just needed a moment to collect himself before he headed back to face the inevitable.

It was while raking through his mind trying to conjure up a reasonable apology to Hermione he first became aware of the sound. From somewhere behind him Ron distinctly heard what sounded suspiciously like clattering of branches breaking and leaves rustling. He didn't even have time to turn his head before a couple of strong hands forcefully grabbed hold of him and something black was shoved over his face.

He struggled without knowing with who or how many while desperately trying to reach his wand. Kicking frenziedly in every direction Ron hit something and heard a man cry out in pain. "God damn!" the man hissed angrily. "Knock him out before he does some real damage." Ron felt something hard hit him in the back of his head and then everything went black.

* *

Back at The Burrow the rest of the Weasleys had come storming into the living room after the massive quarrel between Ron and Hermione. Hermione was currently in tears up in Ginny's room with Ginny and Penny doing their best to calm her down, but so far without much luck.

Mrs. Weasley had conducted a thorough interrogation of Harry and the twins in order to understand what had made the two friends bite their heads of like that.

She was now sitting on the sofa shaking her head.

"That boy," she said with despair. "He's too temperamental for his own good." She sighed. "I suppose he gets that from me, I'm a bit of a hot-head myself, but I always hoped he would grow out of it in the end."

Mr. Weasley went over to her and put his arms around his wife. "Not to worry though, dear. I'm sure he'll be back soon. You know it's almost dinnertime and I've never known Ron to voluntarily miss a meal."

They all smiled at this remark. Feeling confident that Ron would soon skulk back into the house with his tail between his legs, they all agreed to a play a game of exploding snap while Mrs. Weasley returned to the kitchen.

Two hours later however dinner was more than ready but still there was no sign of Ron. Harry was starting to feel as though something was terribly wrong and told Charlie so. They were just in the middle of airing their concern to Mr. Weasley when Hermione entered the room. Her eyes were puffy from crying and her hair was looking bushier than ever. Her eyes darted around the room, obviously searching for Ron's familiar face. When she didn't find him she turned to Harry.

"Where's Ron?" she asked in a shaky voice.

"He's not back yet," Harry answered silently, fearing her reaction.

Hermione went absolutely hysterical and started crying again. "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!" she chanted over and over. "It's dinnertime and he's not back. My God, something must have happened to him. He'd never voluntarily miss a meal!!" She flung herself around Harry's neck nearly throwing him of balance and sobbed loudly into his chest.

"I think maybe we should go out looking for him," Charlie said to his father. "I don't think there's anything wrong with Ron besides hurt pride and a bad case of stubbornness, but he shouldn't be acting like this. The poor girl here is positively cracking up."

Mr. Weasley agreed and so they split up in pairs and began searching for Ron's hideout. An hour later they all returned to The Burrow without Ron, and now Mrs. Weasley joined in on Hermione's panic. The fact that Ron's arm on the grandfather clock in the living room was positioned right between "travelling" and "mortal peril" didn't help matters much either. The atmosphere had never been tenser in The Burrow.

* * *

Just a few kilometres away Ron was waking up with a pounding headache. For a split second he wondered why he couldn't see anything but then he remembered. Someone had grabbed him, put some sort of cloth over his head and knocked him out. He was currently lying on the ground and he could hear someone talking in hushed voices not far away. The back of his head was throbbing something awful and wincing Ron moved to touch what promised to be an impressively sized bump.

Attempting to move made him aware of the fact that his hands were tied behind his back. Cursing silently Ron began to noiselessly wriggle and writhe in hope of escaping the bloody rope. Surprisingly it loosened almost immediately and Ron mentally whooped. Carefully he reached for his pocket. If he could only get his wand out without them noticing, maybe he would be able to escape.

He froze as one of the men raised his voice. "So you are sure that this is the Weasley boy?" Ron heard him ask.

"Yeah," another voice replied. "Well, at least it's a Weasley, the red hair and abundance of freckles is a dead giveaway. I'm sure we've got the right one, though. Fits the description we got to a tee, doesn't he?"

"Good, that will please our master. Harry Potter is sure to try to rescue his best friend, isn't he? And then we'll trap him."

The man laughed a disgusting and drawling laughter, which reminded Ron intensely of a certain Malfoy he knew. He had to get out of here, and that fast! There was no way these Death Eaters (he was sure that was what they were) were going to use him as bait to get to Harry. Over his dead body!

He slowly put his hand into the pocket and felt his fingers clutch around his wand. Good, they hadn't taken that away from him. Stupid prats, Ron thought thankfully. Careful now, Weasley he told himself. Don't make any sudden moves. To his surprise he also felt something else in his pocket, and judging by the shape of it, it was a Dungbomb. Brilliant, that would create the diversion he needed, Ron thought happily.

He listened intently to the men for a moment trying to get an idea how many they were and the distance between them and him. He concluded that there were at least three men, but he couldn't be quite sure. He needed to have a peek at them before he threw the bomb. He couldn't afford to fail with that throw. Slowly Ron eased his hand up to his face and began tearing the cloth away. He finally managed to sneak a look underneath the fabric covering his face and after adjusting to the light Ron could see that there were in fact four people holding him captured. They all had their backs against him and he couldn't see any of their faces. Too bad, he thought. He would've loved to turn all of them in to the Ministry.

Ron carefully glanced around to determine the best way to escape, but ended up picking a direction at random as he had absolutely no idea which way would lead home. He drew his breath and tried to get his nerves under control. Here goes nothing, he muttered quietly, and on a silent count of three he tore the rest of the cloth from his face, reached for the Dungbomb and threw it at the men with all his power. Seconds later it exploded covering the Death Eaters in a cloud of smoke.

Ron heard them scream out in surprise and disgust as the smell hit them, but he didn't stay to watch. Instead he quickly got up and immediately swayed and staggered as all the blood had drained from his feet and the bump on his head hurt like hell. He quickly grabbed hold of a tree and tried to collect his balance. He couldn't afford to stick around here for much longer!

A loud yell brought his every muscle to attention and he twirled around to see one of the men heading towards him. He reacted on impulse, raised his wand at the man and yelled "Patrificus Totalus". A split second later the man froze dead and fell to the ground.

He ran as fast as he could. His balance wasn't fully restored he noticed because every now and then he stumbled and almost fell flat on his face. Behind him Ron could hear angry voices yelling and swearing, and judging by the sound level of their yells they weren't far behind now. Ron ran straight through bushes praying he wouldn't step into a rabbit holes or other obstacles. He was now completely exhausted and prayed he soon would exit the forest. If he didn't reach the end soon, he would be captured again for sure.

And just when Ron was certain that he couldn't run another minute, the forest disappeared and he found himself out in a large field. He could see houses up ahead and felt a huge wave of relief. The Death Eaters would never risk following him into populated areas, he was sure of it. He had made it!

He slowed down a bit and not long after he collapsed on the road he knew headed back to The Burrow. He just needed to get his breath back, he thought happily, and then he could go home. Dinner surely would be ready by now...

* * *

While Ron was escaping the Death Eaters, the atmosphere at The Burrow had changed from sheer panic to extreme worry and Mr. Weasley was preparing to apparate to The Ministry for help in the search for his son. Mrs. Weasley had turned an alarming shade of white, which made her numerous freckles even more visible than usual. Harry was pacing impatiently up and down the living room, trying hard to hatch out a plan to find Ron, but so far nothing useful had come to mind.

He looked over at Hermione who by now had stopped crying. For the last half hour she hadn't said a word and she looked as if she'd lost all hope of ever seeing Ron again. She was just staring into the fireplace, hardly even blinking. Harry was almost as worried about her as for Ron at this point. Hermione was a realist; he knew that much after hanging out with her on a daily basis the last four years. She always searched for logical explanations and had a natural ability to always look on the bright side. This silence was therefore scary. She looked as if she had started the mourning process already, and Harry wondered how he could make her snap out of it.

He sat down beside her and took her hand in his. She didn't react at all.

"Hermione," Harry began, "I am really worried about you. It's not like you to sit like this not saying a word. For goodness sake, you haven't even suggested a single book we should look up in to find ways of locating him. This is really out of character for you." He tried to give her an encouraging smile. Finally she looked at him, and for a moment he thought she was smiling back. But instead she started crying again.

"It's all entirely my fault," she managed to choke out between tears. "If I hadn't become friends with Viktor this never would have happened. He really isn't that fun to be around anyway." She wiped away a tear before she continued. "I never told you this but I was really bored while visiting him in Bulgaria. The whole time I kept wishing that you and Ron were there with me. Viktor really is almost as stiff and fuzzy about rules as Percy."

"Well," Harry said squeezing her hand comfortably. "Maybe you should tell Ron this when he comes back?"

She looked at Harry with eyes filled with terror and fright.

"What if he never comes back?" Her voice was shaking and Harry didn't know what to say to this. He refused to consider that option. After what happened to Cedric at the Triwizard tournament, he had sworn he never wanted to lose a friend again. This couldn't be happening again, and not to Ron.

Mr. Weasley was just saying goodbye to his wife when the front door burst open and an exhausted and bloody Ron appeared in the opening. Hermione let out a loud scream of pure joy and ran over to him and threw her hands around his neck. Mrs. Weasley started to cry and Harry too hurried over to greet his friend.

It took Mr. Weasley and Bill several minutes to remove Hermione and his mother from Ron's neck, but finally they were all comfortably seated in the sitting room and Ron started to tell them about what'd happened in the forest. As the story progressed the looks on everyone's faces clearly showed both fear and anger. After Mrs. Weasley had cleaned Ron's cut on the head, Mr. Weasley brought him, Percy and Bill with him to the Ministry by Floo powder to report the attack. A short while later several Aurors appeared outside The Burrow and after having put up an arsenal of protective wards on the house they continued to search the forest. Apart from the remnants of a fire they returned hours later empty-handed and none the wiser about who the culprits had been.

Later when Ron had returned and the boys were lying in their beds, he told Harry that he strongly suspected Crabbe and Goyle senior to be two of the Death Eaters kidnapping him. They made a pact to get Draco Malfoy and his cronies back double for this as soon as they returned to school.

Ron fell asleep almost immediately (Mrs. Weasley had cleverly slipped him a sleeping potion) but Harry lay awake for some time thinking about the events of the day. Ron had been lucky to escape he thought and intrinsically knew that this was only the beginning. Voldemort was clearly gaining power quickly, and his grudge against Harry was by no means diminished over the summer. Harry hated the fact that Voldemort's hate for him put the people he cared about in danger. This was a constant worry to him, and he felt really guilty about it, even though he knew he couldn't stop Ron and Hermione being his friends even if he tried. And even though this obviously put their lives in jeopardy it was also somewhat reassuring. I am really lucky to have friends like this. Just hope they'll live to tell their children about this someday. And with that he drifted of to an uneasy sleep.

In Ginny's room Hermione too was lying awake staring up at the ceiling. Today had been one of the worst days in her life. Never had she felt so totally and utterly paralysed with fear. Sure Harry and Ron had been in great danger before, but never had that affected her in a manner such as this. The thought of Ron being hurt or possibly dead had hit her so hard it had been difficult just to breath. What she only had suspected earlier was now crystal clear to her: She was in love with the git.

Oh my wand, Hermione thought despairingly. She really did fancied one of her best friends! How on earth was she going to deal with this on top of everything else? Between the impending OWL tests, the looming danger of Voldemort and a hopeless crush on one of her best friends fifth year was definitely shaping up to be a very difficult school year indeed!