Disclaimer: I don't have anything witty to put here. so no, its all JRK's
It'd been three days since they received the news that Hermione would be staying at the Burrow and in that time Harry had arrived. The two boys were in Ron's attic bedroom flicking lazily through old copies of "Which Broomstick?" they'd spent the day playing endless games of Chess and Quidditch and were both rather tired even though it was only around 8.30 pm.
"Pass us that one would you Harry" Ron asked indicating to a copy that lay discarded on Harry's bedside table, Harry chucked the magazine casually over to Ron not taking his eyes of the article he was reading, consequently the magazine hit Ron square in the face." Hey!" Ron yelled glaring at his best friend but it didn't have full effect because the corners of his mouth were turned up in a smile. The two of them burst into fits of laughter even though it wasn't really that funny. When both they had regained their composure Harry asked
"Do you know when Hermione will be here?"
"soon-ish" Ron had replied a little defensively. Harry smirked from behind his magazine
"What's that face for?"
"Oh, nothing" Harry replied his smirk getting wider. Then Ron gave him his tell-me-or-I'll-hex-you-look and Harry said
"look, don't you think its going to be the tiniest bit awkward with her staying here after everything that happened last year?" when Ron didn't reply Harry carried on " Let me give you an example of what could happen,…. It's the middle of the night, your thirsty-so is she…you meet up in the kitchen and you'll be like "Hi" and she'll be all "Hi…do you wanna kiss on the mouth??"
Ron snorted loudly at this because Harry had tried a high pitch imitation of Hermione's voice which sounded nothing like her.
A little annoyed Ron said "I'm gonna go and get my copy of 'The Cannons' from Ginny's room I think she stole it out of here yesterday"
He walked down the stairs towards Ginny's bedroom door and opened it swiftly not bothering to knock. When he saw who was in there he got the shock of his life. Hermione was standing in the center of the room in a pair of pink pajama bottoms on but she was midway through pulling her top over her head. When she saw Ron she stopped dead.
"Err…" he cleared his throat awkwardly, his cheeks burning "You're not Ginny."
"No. She's downstairs" a mortified Hermione croaked.
'We'll…. I'll go find her " but he made no attempt to move he just stared at her for a few seconds, Hermione inclined her head towards the door in a clear attempt to make him leave, an embarrassed Ron ran a hand through his fiery hair and mumbled a quick "err, right" and hastily left the room. When he turned around a smug Harry was standing in front of him "Well, that didn't take long!" Ron was too humiliated to reply and trudged back upstairs to his bedroom.
Tossing and turning in his bed Ron sighed, he hadn't been able to get to sleep even though he'd been so tired the night before. He checked his gold wrist watch and it told him that it was 6.00 am; rubbing his eyes sleepily he got out of bed careful not to wake anyone up and made his way downstairs.
Meanwhile Hermione rolled over in her bed, she hadn't had the greatest sleep, a certain red head had weaved in and out of her dreams and he'd confused her usually sharp and penetrative mind. She re-fastened a few of her pajama buttons that had come undone during the night, and glanced at her watch and it read 6.03 am. Feeling thirsty she tip-toed out of Ginny's room and made her way downstairs.
Reaching up into one of the top cupboards and grabbing a pack of Wizard O's he never saw her entering the kitchen and she didn't see him to begin with either as her eyes were still trying to get used to the gloom. When Ron had retrieved the cereal he stretched and leaned casually against the sideboard and he saw Hermione standing near the doorway, he couldn't believe how absolutely amazing she looked even at this time in the morning.
"Hi" he said softly but it still made her jump
"Hi, couldn't sleep?"
"No"
"Me neither"
"Do you want some?" Ron asked, picking up the box of Wizard O's and showing them to Hermione
"Yeah ok" she replied a small smile playing on her lips. She made her way over to where Ron was pouring out two bowls of sugary breakfast cereal; he smiled back to her before saying cheekily
"Nice pajama's" it was only then that she became conscious of all the little sheep sewn into the material of her pink nightclothes. "Seriously though, aren't you hot?" She shook her head in reply to his question and wrapped her arms around herself
"I get cold." Hermione leaned across him to fetch her bowl of cereal just as Ron did the same thing, their hands were entwined and their faces were inches apart, so much for taking things slow, he was so close to her he could feel her breathing and could smell her flowery scent…he leaned in towards her…
A bright light suddenly filled up the whole room and the pair jumped apart. A bleary eyed George stood at the doorway his wand held aloft.
"Hey" said Ron irritably "Put that light out"
"Sorry' said George cheerily and he surveyed the pair in front of him, both looked extremely uncomfortable. "You guys are up early, I hope I'm not…errr…. interrupting anything…"
"No, No. Its fine" they replied hastily. Hermione grabbed her cereal and made her way to the living room. When she left the room George looked at his youngest brother with a knowing smirk on his face.
Ron didn't see Hermione until later that morning, everyone was partaking in their morning routines of getting washed and dressed (Ginny had been able to use the shower first much to her delight!) and he was trying to kill time before his turn. He scanned his room once and cursed himself inwardly for reading all the magazines the night before. He decided the best thing he could do was go and wait on the landing until Ginny was finished. Still in his PJ'S he grabbed his towel and headed out of his room.
Leaning against the wall he rubbed a hand over his tired eyes and sighed heavily. After what seemed like an age Ginny came out of the bathroom wrapped in a soft white towel her hair was tied loosely in a messy bun
"About time!" Ron said exasperatedly
"Oh looks like someone got out of the wrong side of bed this morning"
"Ha! I wish! In order to get out of bed I would have actually have to slept in it first "
"Well you can try and calm yourself in the shower, I'm done now and as much as I like talking with one of my six aggressive and moody brothers, I'm freezing and I need to get dry."
Ginny half ran-half walked to get to her bedroom and had to grab on to the door frame with one hand (but keeping a firm grip on her towel with the other) to stop her self being knocked to floor by Hermione who was walking out of the room with her pink towel in her hand but she wasn't looking where she was going as she was in the middle of a huge yawn.
"Oh not you as well"
Ginny grumbled and made her way into her bedroom. Ron and Hermione both avoided each others eye it was awkward because of what happened-or what almost happened earlier that morning. In a desperate attempt of conversation Ron gestured to Hermione's towel
"Did you want to use the shower?"
She smiled obviously relived that they were no longer standing in silence
"Yeah but its fine, you can go first"
"No ladies first. I insist"
"And some people say chivalry's dead!" said Hermione in mock tones
"Well they obviously haven't met the Weasley's" Ron said grinning
"Yes Fred and George are the politest boys I have ever come across" she replied sarcastically
"So what time did you arrive yesterday? I thought you weren't supposed to be here until tomorrow"
"About 8.00 pm and I came early because I couldn't stand being around my parents any longer, they fight something awful!"
"What worse than us?" Ron said grinning, she smiled wryly back at him
"Are you sure its ok for me to use the shower?"
"Yeah go ahead its fine"
After that small act of kindness Ron felt oddly lighter and couldn't help but smile. Harry may have fought Voldemort more times than he cared to remember but he had no knowledge when it came to girls, there was no way it was going to be awkward with Hermione around.
What Ron didn't realize was just how wrong he was……
Thanks to the people who reviewed the last chapter-you made my day: D