A Time to Love

Chapter Eight. Unresolved Sexual Tension

"Friendship often ends in love; but love in friendship - never."

--Charles Caleb Colton

The next day Ginny woke up relatively early for her day out with her mum. She was very excited about it. It had been a long time since they had had a chance to just sit down and talk. It used to be because there was always some other brother trying to get her attention and Ginny felt like she was always in a constant competition with her brothers. But now it was only her and Ron, so what was her excuse? She guessed maybe it could be blamed on the fact that she was getting older but that was still really no excuse. And she knew that with the way things are now, family was something really important.

She hurriedly got dressed and went downstairs for a quick breakfast. Of course Ron wasn't there so he would be entirely on his own to provide breakfast for Hermione today.

"Morning Mum!" she said as she bounded into the kitchen to her mother who was at the stove piling a batch of eggs and sausages onto a platter.

"Morning dear. Are you ready for our day out?"

"Yes," she said, feeling unusually giddy. She started shoveling her face with food, never before eating at such a ferocious pace.

"Good. Now when you're done go and wake your brother up. He really does need to stop sleeping in so late."

A few minutes later, Ginny left the kitchen, muttering, "Maybe it would help if he didn't have such a distraction."

"What distraction?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"What?" said Ginny, stopping dead in her tracks. She hadn't thought she said it that loudly but apparently she had. And this time she wasn't even trying to get Ron in trouble.

"You said it would help if he didn't have a distraction. What distraction are you talking about?" she asked with a hint of suspicion in her voice.

"Oh...um..you know..." she fumbled.

Mrs. Weasley raised an eyebrow.

"He keeps thinking about Hermione," she suddenly blurted. At least part of it was the absolute truth.

"And how she's missing and all that. He's thinking about her constantly. Can't shut up about her, really. Awfully worried." She knew was rambling, and horribly at that. Way to blow the whole thing up!

"Oh, I see. I knew he must have been handling it badly since he hasn't really talked about it. You haven't either, actually. In fact, I don't ever remember even talking to you two about it."

Ginny's heart felt like it literally dropped into the pit of her stomach. Why couldn't she just have kept her big mouth shut?

She decided to play it cool. "Fred and George told us a while ago. Why hadn't you thought to tell us, by the way? Don't you think we would have noticed when the letters stopped coming? As it is now we have to rely on the twins for news."

"I know dear, but Dumbledore thought it best if we didn't tell you because we didn't want to upset you."

"We're not little anymore, Mum. We can handle things better, especially now that we're involved in it too."

Mrs. Weasley smiled sadly. "I guess I'm just having a hard time accepting that my babies are growing up."

"I guess one day I'll have to go through the same thing with my kids," said Ginny.

"Oh please don't make me a grandmother so soon!" Mrs. Weasley said laughing.

Ginny laughed too. "You don't have to worry about that. I'll go get Ron up now."

"Okay Gin. By the way, have you thought of what you wanted as a gift?"

"Yeah, actually, I have. I want a snake."

***

Hermione was in hysterics. Oh, when she was done with Ron he would never hear then end of it!

It started when she woke up that morning in their usual position with his arm draped oh-so-casually around her waist. She let out a huge yawn and stretched and that caused him to stir slightly. Ron's hand was now resting on her most sensitive spot - on the side of her neck. She started giggling and that made him wake up.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked groggily.

"Nothing," she said, trying to regain her composure.

"You were laughing!"

"No I wasn't!"

"Yes you were! And you're still smiling now. Come on, Mione, just say it!"

His hand was right under her neck again and she couldn't help herself. She moved away from him and ended up laughing with her back against the wall.

"Hermione," he whined, drawing out her name nice and slow and pouting like a five year old that had been denied ice cream. "Tell me."

Hermione swallowed several laughs and turned back to him. "I was laughing at your hair."

"What's wrong with my hair?" he asked defensively.

"It's sticking up all over the place and looks like it hasn't been combed in days. In fact, it kind of looks like Harry's," she said matter-of-factly.

"Hey!" he said and she let out a laugh.

"That's not it though. My hair looks like this every morning. Ginny's been teasing me about it for years. And you've seen me every morning for weeks. So what really had you laughing?"

There was no way she would reveal to him that she was ticklish because once he found out he would abuse it forever. And not only was she ticklish on her neck but under her arms, stomach and feet too.

"I'm telling the truth, Ron, so take it or leave it," she said trying not to avoid his eyes. She hated lying, and especially to Ron or Harry.

Comprehension dawned on his face and Hermione felt the dread settle in her stomach. Had he figured it out?

"Now I get it! And you didn't have to hide it from me, you know? You could have just told me I had bad breath. I would have taken it like a man."

"I, uh, didn't want you to hurt your feelings," she said, going along with him. As long as he thought that was all she was hiding then that was fine with her.

"Yeah." They sat there in silence for a moment, then...

Ron pounced on her and she squealed. He immediately went for her neck and she was done for.

"Ha ha!" he laughed. "Did you really think I hadn't noticed you were ticklish? But I gave you your chance to fess up and you didn't, so now you have to pay the consequences."

"Get - off - me!" she tried to say indignantly, though she had to admit that it was quite hard to sound menacing while she was squirming all over the bed like a flobberworm.

"What are you two doing?" said an astonished voice from the door. Ron immediately stopped tickling her and sat up. Hermione leaned around him to see Ginny at the door with a very surprised look on her face. Hermione realized that to anyone who had not been in the room with them for the past five minutes would take in Ron straddling Hermione around her waist and both of them with flushed faces and disheveled hair. In fact, they might even think...

"It's not what it looks like," Hermione assured her.

Ginny arched an eyebrow. "Oh really? Because I can think of a couple of things."

"I was tickling her," Ron explained.

"Well," she said with a wry smile. "That puts my mind at ease."

Hermione knew that she was still getting the wrong idea and as much as embarrassing as it was, she really couldn't blame her. After all, hadn't she been dreaming of quite similar things?

"No, Ginny --"

"You really don't have to explain. Besides, I know what Ron's tickle torture is like. I've been on the receiving end of it too many times to count."

"Did you come up here for a purpose?" Ron interrupted.

"Actually, yes. Mum said for you to come down for breakfast, you know, if you're up to it," she said slyly. Hermione threw herself back in the pillows.

"Good," said a quite oblivious Ron. "I'm starved." He jumped out of bed and headed for the door.

"Put a shirt on or you might catch cold!" Hermione called out to him.

"It's bloody summer, Mione! I'm not going to catch a cold."

Hermione got out of bed, went over to his bureau and pulled out the first shirt she saw (which happened to be a Chudley Cannons one almost identical to the one she was wearing) and threw it at him. As he caught the shirt she noticed that he was eyeing her bare calves and feet and she suddenly felt self-conscious. While the shirt would normally come around Ron's waist or so, it fell directly to right above her knees. Hardly revealing but too much for her. Hermione walked back to the bed and climbed into it while Ron pulled his shirt over his head with not one grumble coming out of his mouth.

Hoping the pink in her cheeks could be seen as exertion, she said, "Don't forget to bring me back some too."

Ron lifted his head up and shook it slightly. "I won't," he said and left.

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief and glanced over at Ginny, who had an amused smile on her face.

"What?" she asked defensively even though she really didn't have anything to get defensive about. Yet.

"Nothing," Ginny replied airily as she sat down and made herself at home on Ron's bed.

"Look, I know what you're thinking, but you're wrong. Ron and I are just friends and we always will be."

"Hermione, this is me - Ginny - you're talking to, okay? I've gotten to know you really well and I know Ron better than I know anyone else. Better yet, I can see what's right in front of me and I know you do too."

She decided to let down her defenses and confide in Ginny, the only female friend she had. "You're right. I know you are. It's just that sometimes I think that Ron might like me as more than a friend. But mostly he's just so clueless!"

"And that's never going to change," she said wisely. "You just have to learn to accept that and work with it. Otherwise you'll stay in the exact place you're in right now. By the way, where are you?"

Hermione let out a little short laugh. "I wish I fully knew. I know for sure that we're friends forever, that's a given. I know that I fancy him as more than a friend but what I don't know is what he feels for me. And I hate not knowing where I stand with him. That's why I like how it's so uncomplicated with Harry."

"Harry and uncomplicated in the same sentence?" Ginny snorted. "I never thought I'd see the day."

The girls erupted in silly giggles until Mrs. Weasley called for Ginny to leave for Diagon Alley.

"Want me to pick up anything for you?" she asked from the landing while Hermione stood leaning on the doorframe.

"Nah, I think I'll be okay. Can I borrow some of you clothes, though?"

"Help yourself. You don't want to give poor Ron a heart attack.

***

Ginny and Mrs. Weasley had already spent hours together. They had started the day off shopping for her and Ron's school things. Her Mum had mysteriously disappeared for a little and just when Ginny was starting to worry, she came back with a surprise for Ginny - a solid silver charm bracelet with a little green cat hanging off of it. After that they had lunch in the Leaky Cauldron and talked about any and everything. It felt good to connect and be close with her Mum again like she used to be when she was a little girl. Now they stepped into the Magical Menagerie and they were promptly greeted by the distinct smell of animals.

"Why is it that you want a snake?" Mrs. Weasley asked her daughter. "I would have thought that...well, never mind. It doesn't really matter."

Ginny knew her mother was almost about to bring up the incident that happened in her first year. All people had done was reassure her that it wasn't her fault but nobody had ever really talked about it with her and she felt that was part of the problem.

"No, it's alright, Mum. I want a snake because I guess I feel a little connected with them. Don't worry," she said at her Mum's slightly scared look. "I'm not about to become friends with the Slytherins, or anything like that. I just like snakes, that's all."

Her mother smiled warmly. "Well, that's alright then. Just pick something out so we can get out of here. I've never quite been fond of the smell of animals."

Ginny wrinkled her nose. "Neither have I."

"My name is Madame Walsh. Can I help you?" the owner, a tall thin woman with light blond hair, came over to them and asked.

"Yes, can we look at snakes?" Mrs. Weasley asked politely.

"Certainly."

Madame Walsh showed them over to a large tank that held a rather large assortment of snakes; short, long, small, large, light, dark... There were so many that Ginny didn't know where to start.

"Any kind in particular?" the Madame Walsh asked.

"No, I just..." she broke off when she saw one lone snake in the corner by itself. The thing about it that caught her eye was not its length or thickness, for it was neither too thick or thin, nor was it too long or short - what held her was that just a moment ago it had been a slightly brownish color and now it was decidedly green.

"Oh yes," the Madame Walsh said when she saw what Ginny was looking at. "Few people ever notice how she changes color. She's a special one."

Ginny smiled. "That's the one I want," she announced.

"Are you sure?" Mrs. Weasley asked somewhat skeptically.

"Positive!"

"Alright then..."

Mrs. Weasley and Madame Walsh walked back up to the front of the store and appeared to be haggling prices while Ginny picked up her new pet snake and held her close. She could almost feel the connection opening between the two of them.

"I'll have to name you, won't I?" she cooed to it. A list of names ran through her mind but she finally settle on Mackenzie. She was always fond of the name and thought it was perfect for her snake.

A sense of relief suddenly registered within her, but she really felt no reason to be relieved. Why was that?

***

Ron was positively nervous. He was absolutely alone with Hermione and he had no idea what to do. He felt clumsy and on-edge and the worst part about it was he couldn't let her know it, lest she get too suspicious.

"What do you want to do?" he asked her.

"I don't know," she said and shrugged.

They were sitting on a couch in the living room. He had to admit that the freedom that they had for the next couple of hours would feel good. For once he wouldn't have to hide out in his room or be extra quiet whenever someone passed by. It wasn't the first time he had been alone with Hermione but at least other people had been in the house. That still didn't explain why he felt so nervous. It wasn't like he was expecting anything to happen. Was he?

"Chess?"

Hermione groaned. "Uh, not again. If I have to play chess one more time I swear I'll jump out the window."

"I didn't think you minded so much."

"Maybe I wouldn't if it weren't for the fact that I lose every single time..."

"You're playing with the master. What can you expect?" he said smugly. She just rolled her eyes.

They fell silent. They had nothing more to say. Ron had to admit, it was awkward. Every time a conversation topic ran through his head he dismissed it as being too lame, too risqué, or something she wouldn't know about. Normally the hours flew by with them but today there was some of what he had to call unresolved tension. And the worst part about it was that he had the sinking feeling that it was wholly on his part.

Oh, this is bad, thought Hermione. Very bad!

It was one thing to be alone with Ron in his room with other people in the house. It was another thing entirely to be completely alone with him. To her, Halloween couldn't come soon enough; she knew there was not another boy in the world she would rather kiss.

Thinking about Halloween put a blush to her cheeks. If Ron ever guessed that her feelings for him were more than platonic and he didn't want to be her friend anymore, how would she go on? Painful as it would be, she could deal if he didn't like her the way she liked him. But to cut him out of her life completely...not acceptable. Luckily for her Ron was on the clueless side. She just didn't want to put any (accurate) ideas into his head.

It took all of the self-control she possessed for her to not read into Ron suggestion of them kissing. All she would be doing was setting herself up for an unnecessary disappointment.

"What're we going to do about Harry?" he asked suddenly.

"I don't know," she replied. "It was awful of us not to clue him in and I feel terrible about it. He won't like us keeping things from him two summers in a row. And I think he let us off easy compared to what he's going to do to us now."

"Maybe Ginny could take care of it for us. After all..."

"Don't say it, Ron. She apologized and it's over with not. And besides, it's not up to her to fix the mess that we made."

"But that's just it; how do we fix it? And I think he may be coming tomorrow?"

Hermione head popped up in surprise. "Why do you figure that?"

"Because I heard Mum and Dad talking about bringing him here for his birthday and since Ginny hasn't had her celebration yet and his birthday is in two days I think Mum'll do a joint one. It'll be just like her to do something like that," Ron said.

"Harry won't take it too well that we were here together not thinking about him. How do we tell him we just forgot to tell him something this big?"

"Simple - we just tell it like it is and hope Harry can accept it."