From Bad to Worse to Wonderful

"Oof," Hermione grunted. She opened her eyes and looked around blearily. Crookshanks, her large, ginger cat, who had apparently grown tired of sitting on the shelf above her bed, was staring at her calmly as he groomed his paws from his position on Hermione's chest. The bushy-haired girl groaned and unceremoniously discarded the nuisance of a cat on the floor. She rolled over, fully intending to stare blankly at the opposite wall until she fell asleep again, hoping to get back to her dream. It had been such a good dream....

Any hope she had for such a thing to occur was depleted, however, when she rolled a little too far, and-

"YAH!" Hermione fell over the edge of her bed and onto the floor. She groaned in a way that was very uncharacteristic of her and stood up again with very little grace. She made her way towards her bedroom door, mumbling under her breath about "stupid bed-makers". Needless to say, she was not at all a morning person.

As went down the hall towards the kitchen for breakfast, she wondered when the house had become so drafty. She shivered and looked down at her feet.

Something else caught her attention.

She stopped dead in her tracks. She was wearing nothing but her undergarments. Memories of the previous night came to her.

She had just gotten home from the vacation with her family in Majorca at 2:00 a.m. She had been so tired that, rather than changing into her pyjamas, she had simply taken off her clothes (she didn't want to wrinkle them!) and gone to bed. And she had gotten up without thinking about it....

Slowly, she remembered that her parents were not the other occupants of the house. Her cousin, Adam, and his parents had stayed the night rather than try to make it home. They had carpooled to the airport, as the gas prices had been going up, and it was a long drive from their remote neighbourhood. They would be staying for the rest of the week, just visiting.

As she turned to go back to her room, cheeks burning in embarrassment for her slip-up, she noticed with horror that she was not alone. She squeezed her eyes shut, hoping when she opened them, she would realise that it had all been a dream. She opened them. No such luck.

Sitting at the kitchen table, a bowl of cereal in front of him, was her cousin, Adam. He was staring at her with his eyebrows raised in shock, and was that... amusement? She opened her mouth to speak, but he beat her to it.

"So are you putting on this show for my amusement or is this a normal thing for you?" he asked her with a teasing smile. "Because if it's the former, I'm going to have to inform your friend Mr. Weasley about this. " To Hermione's of utter shock and dismay, he admitted, "I heard you mumbling in your sleep last week. 'I love you Ronald Weasley'. I'm surprised you didn't wake to my fits of laughter."

Hermione's worst nightmare had come true. She turned on her heel and sprinted to her bedroom, shutting the door and locking it. She hastily put on a t-shirt and a pair of jeans and picked up a book to read. She couldn't go back out there for awhile.

Sometime around noon, when Hermione's stomach began protesting to her skipping breakfast, she emerged from her room and made her way to the dining room. Adam and the rest of her family was there as well, eating lunch. She avoided the mischievous gaze of her cousin and ate quietly. Unfortunately for her, this was noticed by her mother.

"You're awfully quiet today, Hermione. Are you feeling alright?" Dr. Granger asked. Hermione nodded her head. "I'm fine mum," she answered quickly.

"Maybe she needs some air. Those clothes sure can be suffocating, can't they, dear cousin?" said Adam, fighting to keep a straight face. Everyone but Hermione shot a questioning glance at Adam. She quickly excused herself and retreated back into her room. Moments later, she heard noisy laughter coming from the dining room. She groaned. She had NOT wanted other people to know about that.

Just as Hermione had settled into her desk chair to read, she heard tapping coming from the direction of the window. Pig was running repeatedly into her window. She hurried over to him and let him in.

"Hello, Pig. Will you stay here and wait for my reply?" Hermione asked the bird. She wondered momentarily if he could understand her. The bird, rather than answer her, zoomed around her head, making her dizzy.

Hermione snatched him impatiently out of the air and snatched the letter tied to his leg. She sat down at her desk to read the letter. She couldn't help a smile when she saw the usual short letter and familiar handwriting of Ron Weasley. The letter read:

Dear Hermione,

I hope you have a nice holiday in Majorca. I'm sorry this letter is so late. All is well here. Please owl me back.

Ron

Hermione took out a piece of parchment and began her own letter. Finished, it said:

Dear Ron,

I hope you are having a good holiday. I just got back from Majorca. It was nice, but it's really good to be home. Well, the part about being home is good. I'm actually having a rather bad day. I'll spare you the details.

Don't worry about your response being late. At least you responded. That's more than can be said about Harry.

There's not really much to do around here now that my homework is finished. My cousin is here for the week with his parents, but he's starting to get on my nerves. Once again, I won't put you through reading about it.

Anyway, I hope to be seeing you again soon.

Love,

Hermione

She sealed the letter and gave it to Pig, who zoomed around her head once more before darting out the window. The next few letters to and from Ron came in such rapid succession that it was like Instant Messaging in the Muggle World. Very little happened of value in between.

Response from Ron: You finished your homework already? You are such a nerd, Hermione.

Response from Hermione: If I'm a nerd, you're a procrastinator.

Ron: Know-it-all.

Hermione: Ignoramus.

Ron: What?

Hermione: Exactly.

Ron: Whatever.

Hermione: What, can't think of anything to say to that?

Ron: No. I love you.

Hermione: What? Ron, that's just cruel.

Ron: I'm serious.

Hermione: Really?

Ron: Yeah.

Hermione: In that case... me too.

Ron: Really?

Hermione: Yeah.

Ron: Oh. Well, good night, Hermione.

Hermione: Good night, Ron.

That night, both Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger slept very soundly. Until Crookshanks jumped on Hermione again. And Fred and George let a niffler loose in Ron's room.

The next day, Adam noticed Hermione's cheerfulness, and he smiled.