Harry Potter had been sleeping soundly until he heard voices coming from the downstairs landing. He grudgingly threw his legs over the side of the bed and pushed his glasses onto his vibrant green eyes. He unwillingly lifted himself off the bed and made his way downstairs, attempting to rub the sleep out of his eyes.

As he reached the bottom of the staircase he came face to face with a scene of reunion. Hermione had just arrived at the burrow. He watched as Mrs. Weasley came up and hugged her with Fred and George not far behind, each laying a hand on one of her shoulders. "Hello Hermione," they said simultaneously. Then there was Ginny, who came up and hugged her friend, and lastly Ron. Ron and Hermione stared into each other's eyes for a moment and then went to hug, their hug lingering longer then the rest.

"Where's Harry?" Hermione questioned after pulling away.

"Right here," Harry responded, a slight chuckle in his tone. She rushed up to hug him, and Harry could have sworn he saw Ginny digging her nails into her palms.

"Alright everyone, now that you are all up, how about we have breakfast?" Mrs. Weasley offered. Nodding their heads vigorously, they all made their way to the table. Hermione shared with everyone about her vacation with her parents, and Ron and Ginny in turn told her about how much they practiced Quidditch throughout the summer.

Harry on the other hand, had much more on his mind then vacations and Quidditch. All summer, he had not been able to shake the thoughts about the prophecy and Sirius's death out of his head. Every time he thought of Sirius he felt a lump rise in his throat, forbidding speech. Although he knew that there was no way that Sirius was coming back, he felt the fact extremely hard to accept. Ginny pulled him out of his thoughts by waving her hand in front of his face. "Earth to Harry," she pursued. Harry snapped back into the present. "

"Right sorry, zoned out for a second." He responded.

"You seem to be doing that a lot lately, come walk with me. Please. " She responded, pulling him out of his chair and out the door.

Their fast pace slowed, and Harry said, "I'm fine Ginny really."

"No you aren't. I can see it in your eyes that you are hurting. You really don't have to keep it all balled up inside. Ron and Hermione are always willing to listen when you need to let it out. I'm always willing to listen." Harry opened his mouth to respond, but she continued, "Harry, you always want to do it on your own, but you have so many people who are more then ready to help you through this tough time."

She abruptly stopped walking and he mirrored her. They stared at each other, his green eyes piercing into her blue ones. Suddenly he felt a tear slide down his cheek, others following suit. She pulled him into a hug and he clung to her, the tears now flowing freely.

Meanwhile, inside the house, Mrs. Weasley had sentenced Ron and Hermione to cleaning Ron's disastrous room. Hermione held up one of Ron's socks, which had been stuffed into the air vent.

"Ron, seriously, your hamper is about 3 feet away from here and you choose to shove it down the air vent?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe the hamper was full then." He retorted.

"Yeah right, I don't think any of these clothes on your floor have ever seen the inside of that hamper."

Ron chuckled and dove under his bed, returning with a water gun tucked under his forearm. "Hey look, my old water gun." He said.

Without realizing it, he accidently pulled the trigger and squirted Hermione.

"Ron!" She yelled, throwing a sandwich she had found on the floor at his face. They both burst out laughing.

"Oh, you will pay for that one," he threatened, and they began fighting over the water gun, both of them being squirted in the process. Eventually, the both ended up on the floor, Ron hovering over Hermione. "Told you so." He said breathlessly, and began to lean down to kiss her. But before he did, George burst open the door.

"Wow Ron, I've never seen you have so much fun cleaning." He chuckled. Ron jumped up and shot him a dirty look. George raised an eyebrow. "Anyway, Hermione, mum needs your help with something downstairs."

"A-alright." She stuttered and walked to the door, with one backward glance at Ron before exiting. Ron threw the gun at the wall.

Ron made his way downstairs with a haze of thought clouding his vision. He kept asking himself, was I really just going to kiss her? And in response his head screamed back, Yes you git, you fancy her!

As he was about to enter the kitchen Harry cornered him. "George just told me what happened upstairs! You fancy Hermione! Ginny told me so but I had been to thick to believe her." Harry told him.

"Oi! Does the whole household know about this! Leave it to George…" He trailed.

Harry clapped him on the shoulder.

"I hate to break it to you mate, but Hermione looks as flushed as ever, so good luck trying to deny what happened to your family."

Ron put his head in his hands. "Have you talked to her? Is she furious with me?" he questioned frantically.

"Nope. I haven't gotten a chance to talk to her yet. Ginny took that job and I talked to you first. You should probably ask her." Harry replied.

A landing above the boys, Hermione was pacing around the bedroom that she and Ginny were sharing. A million different thoughts were racing around inside her head. "He was going to kiss me Ginny! Ron was going to kiss ME!"

"Yes Hermione, that was established the first time you said it," Ginny said laughing. She continued, "You are obviously happy that he was going to, why don't you just tell him that that instead of reiterating the fact that my brother was going to kiss you to me."

Hermione looked torn. "Well there is a big problem with that, you see- what if it was just in the spur of the moment and he really doesn't have feelings for me?"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Believe me, he does. He has talked non-stop about you all summer long. All I ever heard was: 'Hermione said, Remember the time when Hermione did this? I wonder how Hermione's vacation was?' It was pretty annoying."

Hermione beamed up at her. "He really did that all summer?"

"Yes, now tell you what. Lets get the boys and go flying for a while. Maybe practice a little quidditch."

"But I don't have a broom with me."

"Ah, naive little Hermione. I think I certain redhead downstairs does have his broom and would be more then happy to put you on the back of his." She said, a sinister smile plastered on her face.

Hermione opened her mouth to protest but Ginny was already running downstairs.

"Ginny wait!"

Hermione made her way downstairs to find Ginny asking Ron and Harry about flying. She looked up at Ron who was nodding. He caught her eye and they both blushed.

"Hey Ron, Hermione doesn't have a broom with her. Do you mind if she rides with you?" Ginny asked with mock innocence. Harry seemed to take notice of this "innocence" and sniggered.

"Yeah okay. So lets get started then." Ron and Hermione began to make their way outside, and Harry followed behind with Ginny.

"You are very clever you know." He whispered in her ear.

"I know." She said laughing.

They made their way outside and the wind began to whip at their exposed skin. Ron noticed Hermione give a shudder and shrugged out of his sweatshirt.

"Here Hermione, take it you need it more then I do."

"Are you sure?"

He smiled and nodded, holding it out once more, and Hermione graciously took it.

They all made their way over to the shed and gathered their brooms. Harry and Ginny both gracefully rose up into the air and Harry began to chase her. Ron and Hermione could hear her distantly laughing.

Ron clambered up onto his broom. "You coming?" he asked her.

"Its ok, you know." She told him.

He looked at her quizzically. "I really don't have to ride on the back, I will probably slow you down." She told him.

"Hermione, you are as light as a feather, you won't slow me down. If you do not want to ride its ok-"

"No!" She exclaimed. "I mean- I do want to ride with you." She finished, while blushing. He smiled at her. "Well alright then. Hop on."

He reached back and pulled her on behind him, placing her hands around his waist. They were both blushing profusely.

"Ready?" he questioned. She nodded and he rose up into the air. They raced around the orchid. Hermione was laughing and telling Ron to slow down, and Ron responded to by saying, "Are you kidding? If anything we are going faster!"

Before they knew it they had flown out far from the burrow, making it look like a speck in the distance. They landed, both laughing. "So wouldn't you say I am quite the flying companion?" he asked jokingly. "Right you are Ronald Weasley," she responded. They stared at one another and began to lean in to kiss, but were interrupted by a rustle in the bushes.

"Really George?" Ron asked exasperetly, and Hermione sighed. They heard a low growl coming from the depths of the bushes. Hermione grabbed onto Ron's arm, and he pulled his wand out. "Who's there?" he called out.

"If this is a joke it is not funny!" Hermione yelled. When no answer came, a shared look of fear spread across their features. Another growl erupted, and out from the bushes emerged Fenrir Greyback, followed closely by Bellatrix Lestrange. Ron forced Hermione behind him.

"W-what are y-you d-doing here?" he spluttered, his wand shaking.

"Why we are on a mission for the dark lord, he needs us to collect a little incentive for Mr. Harry Potter." Greyback said with an added chuckle.

"Can we just get on with the torture and stop with all this talking?" Bellatrix asked, boredom clear in her tone. After hearing the word torture, Ron more forcefully placed Hermione behind him.

"Oh, don't even bother hiding her, she is not the one the dark lord wants. He-" but before Greyback had finished, Bellatrix was shouting, "CRUCIO!" and Ron fell to the ground writhing in pain. His screams pierced the once serene summer air, and he was thrashing as if being suffocated. As Hermione took one glance at him tears began to cascade down her wind burned cheeks. She could not contain shouts of her own and began to plead frantically with the evil witch before her.

"STOP IT! STOP IT! LEAVE HIM ALONE! LET HIM GO PLEASE!" Hermione shouted while sobbing. She picked up Ron's wand from the ground, for she did not have hers, and attempted to aim a curse at Bellatrix. But before she was able to utter the spell, Greyback had used expelliarmus at her and now all Hermione could think of to do was plead. "STOP TORTURING HIM PLEASE! I'LL DO ANYTHING!"

Bellatrix just laughed at her, grabbing hold of Ron and Greyback while he prepared to apparate. Hermione did the only thing she could think of and grabbed on tight and apparated with them.

What did you think? I plan to actually update this story every week, unlike my other stories, which I will hopefully be updating soon as well. Please review