Author notes: I'm sorry I didn't post the second chapter soon enough, been busy over the weekend that it had slipped my mind. But here it is, for your enjoyment - would love to know what you think though.
=====================
Ron and I had been sitting beneath our favourite beech tree on the banks of the lake for nearly two hours. It was a lovely Saturday morning and he dragged me to do our revising in here instead of staying up at the common room. This might look a bit of a shock for others seeing us together again; but not for me nor for Harry. Our friendship runs far deeper than any petty love quarrel could ever destroy.
It was quite like pulling one's teeth going back to being friends again, for Ron and I, but we managed to do just that. It was not like we haven't really been arguing before we ever became an item. So things were getting back to normal - no more issues on love to tackle with, just Harry's safety. Ron and I were back to nonsense bickering, though.
'Sod this!' Ron threw the piece of parchment I had handed to him a while ago for him to study.
I eyed him scornfully and huffed, 'Ron, don't you dare throw it away! I've been working on it for days. In case you haven't noticed they weren't just for you.'
'Can't we have just one frigging ordinary Saturday without preparing for NEWTs?' he complained and then his eyes wandered to some sixth-year girls having a picnic. 'Where's Harry, anyway?' he added.
'He was called to Dumbledore's office while we were having breakfast, remember? I wonder why he hasn't come back since. I do hope nothing is amiss,' I replied worriedly. 'If it's not too much of a bother, hand me those Transfiguration notes will you?'
Ron then picked up the parchment that had rolled a bit farther from where we sat. However, his eyes had not left those giggling girls. 'Hermione, can we have a break from all this?' he asked motioning all the books scattered in front of me.
'If you want to go flirting, Ron,' I sighed, 'go ahead just don't blame me if you failed your exams.' I couldn't care less whatever it is you want to do with your life, Ronald Bilius Weasley.
He smiled and sat back beside me. 'I won't because I know that you'll go berating yourself first that I did badly.'
'Your just full of yourself, aren't you, Mr. Weasley?' I said haughtily. I went back to opening my Advance Arithmancy book and he just sat there studying me.
Suddenly his tone changed, 'Hermione - '
'Yes?'
'Do you think I'll find another girl as witty as you are?' he asked.
'Oh, Ron, there are some girls with a good head on their shoulder and crazy enough to fall in love with you,' I replied. All I got from him was a quizzical look. Daft. Daft. Daft. 'You know what? I think Luna was a bit taken by you,' I quipped.
'That's load of chuff!' said he indignantly. I raised my brows on him. 'She's Loony Lovegood for Merlin's sake! She's mad.'
'All the more better,' I snorted. Well, she follows him everywhere. I could smell that girl even if she's a mile from here. 'She's gone all gaga over you,' I added just to tease him.
'Ewww! Hermione, don't put imagines in my innocent head.' Innocent my arse!
I strained to find Harry if he was already at the grounds and probably had been looking for us. Ron did the same and his eyes turned shifty.
'Who are you looking for?' he asked. 'Is there someone you saw?' He looked all worried now.
'I - I think Luna's coming over,' I said just to give him some fright.
'No shite!' he cried and scampered to hide behind the tree trunk. 'Where?' he asked me softly, squirming. I just laughed my pants off at the hilarity of the expression on Ron's face. 'Stop that! You're just taking the mickey out of me, weren't you?' I still went on laughing, spirited that I finally got him good.
---oo0oo---
I laughed with her, finally conceding that what I did was actually funny. We're back to the good times, maybe even just for a while. Who would have the time to fool around when the magical world was at the grips of a mad man? For now, we will unwind because once Harry gets here from that meeting with Dumbledore, wheels will start turning all over again.
'And what about you, Hermione?' I asked her cryptically.
She stopped mid-laugh and thought for a second, all the while giving me a befuddled look. 'What do you mean what about me?'
'Come on, Hermione. You're a healthy young woman. Aren't you interested in any young men?' I retorted. She lowered her eyes; I have seen it, though I could sense that she tried to hide it desperately. My darling Hermione. She gathered her long forgotten books again on her lap. I chuckled a bit and said, 'Don't tell me you're still hung up on me.'
'Of course, not,' she snapped back. I know the answer to that full well.
'Who then catches your fancy?'
Hermione went back gathering all the parchments and sorting them all in one stack, pretending not to mind my prying. 'I don't have time for that,' she said haughtily. 'With all the dangers popping wherever we go. Harry always in some kind of trouble… Harry needs to train for you-know-what…' her voice trailed off, yet she continued mumbling.
I don't believe one jot of what she had said; or maybe she's just a bit daft. I little more coaxing could do wonders. 'What about Harry?'
Her head snapped at my direction so fast that I thought it was about to come apart from her neck. 'What's Harry got to do with this?'
'Ummm… I don't know. He's a nice looking bloke - maybe not as good looking as I am, but he'll do. Popular, has loads of galleons stashed away at the Gringotts bank, and he's the-boy-who-lived; he dated Cho, one of the prettiest girls in school. The downside is that there's a raving lunatic who's been dying to kill him. All in all, not a bad choice, I'd say,' I stressed my point. I saw the slight smile formed in her small lips.
'But he's our best friend,' she sighed.
'What about me? Just your housemate, then? You went out with me,' I said hotly.
She tutted and added, 'I went out with you because you were very persistent.'
'I'll refute that,' I responded, though a slight pang of hurt cut me with her reply. 'You couldn't resist my charm,' I said just to crack things up.
Hermione smiled widely and nodded, 'Yeah, you were annoyingly charming; badgering me for weeks really did it.' She again looked around as if searching for someone. 'There's some -'
'So, what about Harry?' I asked her again cutting her mid-sentence. Thought she could get away from it, didn't she?
'Yes. What about Harry?' a deep voice piped in.
---oo0oo---
I've been looking forward to revising today. Shocking as it may be (I'm not Hermione), but I do feel that I need to catch up on a lot of things related to school stuff. Let's just say that I have been running around like a chicken without a head these days (as Hermione had bluntly put it).
She was right on that part - as always. Most of the time, I'm stumped with little things, all because I did not bother to listen to our classes. One good example was the incident three weeks ago at the Forbidden Forest with Neville. He was bleeding profusely from a wide gash he received from a spell that ricocheted his way; not thinking properly, I grabbed a few leaves from a plant in front of us and used it as some sort of remedy. It didn't do a lot of good, as Neville's hand had swollen at big as Grawp's leg. I didn't know that I used leaves of Arnica Montana, which couldn't do any harm to Muggles, but has some serious repercussions if used on a wizard or a witch.
'Stupid thing to do simply because you did not pay attention in Herbology,' Hermione muttered when we brought Neville to the infirmary. I just ignored her remark because I know she's right. Why would they let that thing grow in a place full of magical people anyway? I was only glad that Madam Pomfrey was able to fix Neville's problem in a jiffy.
So now, I am paying attention - to everything.
After my meeting with Dumbledore, I went straight to the Gryffindor tower and was surprised that Ron and Hermione were not in the common room, as I had expected. I then decided to take my books, notes and parchments from my trunk up at the dormitory and proceeded to the library; surely, Hermione coaxed Ron to study there. They weren't there either; I've searched every nook and cranny of that place, and I even got some heavy glares from Madam Pince.
I cursed myself as I went back up to the tower to get my map to use it in finding them instead. Then a thought hit me when a group of wet second-year boys passed me by; stupid me, they could have went out to that tree by the lake. I turned my heels and headed to the school grounds.
They were indeed there. I could see Hermione's unruly hair dancing with the wind. They looked like they were just talking and not really studying. A small lump had lodged on my throat and the thing I've been hoping not to happen again played in my mind. Did they get back together? Are they again a couple? Ron and Hermione only went back to civility after that raucous at the Forbidden Forest three weeks ago.
There's only one way to know. I took the invisibility cloak I would normally hide in my robe's right pocket (I only started this little habit when the school began this year). I wrapped it around me after making sure that no one could have possibly seen me. I have been using this cloak as a gauge of how much I have grown up over the years. Before, it could hold the three of us; now, it could barely cover me.
I walked slowly towards them - more like zigzagged my way through - avoiding kids who had been loitering about all because of the fair weather.
'You couldn't resist my charm,' I heard Ron said as I got near the beech tree. My stomach churned after hearing those words; he's flirting with her again.
'Yeah, you were annoyingly charming; badgering me for weeks really did it,' Hermione answered. Her head turned toward the place where I stood, so I tried to move around softly.
'So, what about Harry?' Ron asked which baffled me on my track. Had they been talking about me all along? Well, I'm used to it now.
I gathered all my strength to find my voice and repeated Ron's question as my interest had been awakened. 'Yes. What about Harry?' I said.
Ron's head went spinning when he heard me. 'Who's there?' he said with quacking voice.
Hermione, on the other hand, stared directly in front of her and said in an exaggerated and exasperated tone, 'Harry, take off that the cloak.' Sometimes I felt like this young woman had Mad-Eye Moody's eye; she could see through me.
I took off the cloak, naturally and dumped all my things beside her.
'How could you tell?' Ron asked, also bewildered at Hermione's keen sense.
She waved her hand, as if to say it was nothing, 'I don't know. I could simply feel him.' Ron and I exchanged a look and he simply shrugged at me.
'You've been talking about me?' I said.
'Not really - just now. Well, I pointed out to Ron that Luna is crazy about him,' she said, 'and he thought it was all rubbish.'
'Yes, it is,' Ron snapped back eyeing me again for some help.
'She's right, Ron. Everyone could tell that she's been mooning over you since our fifth year,' I said with a slight smile.
'No! She's just some crazy, derange sixth-year… No. No. No. That's just mad!' he sputtered. 'What about you, Hermione?'
I turned to her instead. She huffed and blew wisps of her hair that got to her eyes. 'How many times do I have to tell you, Ron that I'm not going out with anyone?' So they aren't back together.
'I don't care if you've turned into a recluse, Hermione,' Ron snorted. 'I want to know if you're mooning over someone.' His gaze suddenly turned to me.
Perplexed at Ron's audacity to ask Hermione directly, I lowered my eyes and stared at the books waiting to be opened, all the while waiting for Hermione's response.
'Why don't we go back to studying then?' Hermione said indignantly. 'We have wasted so much time. Should we start with Potions?'
'I don't have Potions,' Ron bellowed.
'Transfiguration then,' she said.
Ron's face cringed. 'I just read it, remember?'
'All right, Charms it is,' Hermione said and handed us parchments with her notes on it.
The three of us became silent and began reading Hermione's notes for Charms. My eyes were simply scanning through the words and not a thing could get inside my head. I looked at Ron and he seemed a bit fidgety. I turned to Hermione and she looked like she was in deep thought reading the huge book in front of her, so I went back to the notes in front of me.
I then heard Ron cleared his throat. 'What about you, Harry? Are you mooning over someone?' he had said.
Hermione's head snapped up from her book and I could see her gaping at Ron. I didn't know what to do, so I simply glared at him.
'Harry, what was your meeting with Dumbledore this morning all about?' I heard Hermione interjected.
Two difficult questions, but I chose to answer Hermione's instead.
=====================
A/N : Thanks to my wonderful beta readers AustenLover and Raven.