Title: The Golden Trio
Author: jltat
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Chapter 2: To the Burrow
Hermione awoke to the rays of sunlight hitting her face. Looking at the clock she groaned. 10:49am. She never slept in this late. At first she looked around and wasn't quite sure where she was but slowly, as sleep worked its way of of her system, she remembered the events of the night before.
Actually, her mind corrected, it was more like the events of earlier this morning, seeing as how you and Ron jumped the gun and barged into a flat at ungodly hours of the night. A flat, I might add, that you weren't even sure whose it was.
Hermione sighed. Her brain had been doing this to her lately; makings remarks like that at everything she did. It got old pretty quickly. She took a look around, at the place that Harry had been calling home for the past few months. Beside the bed was a small night table with a glass of water and a simple frame with a picture of what had to be Lily and James Potter on what had to have been their wedding day. There was a dresser on the far side of the room with a mirror and random personal items such as a razor, a comb, cologne-
...since when has Harry worn cologne?
His closet, with its doors wide open, was full of muggle clothes, but they didn't look like Dudley's old hand-me-downs any longer. Apparently, Harry had found time to get a new wardrobe. Taking one final look around the room as she walked through the door she noticed that the drapes around the window as well as the bedspread on the mattress was maroon with gold trimmings.
A Gryiffindor through and through, Hermione mused.
Stepping from the hallway into the kitchen, Hermione was hit with the smell of bacon and the sound of it sizzling in a frying pan. Her grumbling stomach was proof of her hunger.
"Morning, Hermione," Harry said with the skillet in his hand, "I made breakfast."
"Mornin' 'Ermine," Ron said with a mouthful of eggs. He was already at the table helping himself to the mountain of food Harry had cooked. There was eggs, sausages, bacon, pancakes, and french toast on separate plates on the table.
"You cooked all of this, Harry?" Hermione asked, looking incredulously up at him.
He merely shrugged, "Well, I suppose I can say that's the one good thing I learned from the Dursley's; how to cook. Anyway, sit down and eat before it gets cold."
Once Harry finished with what he was cooking, he also sat down at the table, helping himself to large portions of everything. Hermione watched him curiously in betweens forkfuls of food.
Well, at least he's eating a lot more now. I can't say he hasn't been taking care of himself. He looks healthy too. Maybe from all the working out.
Ohh, Miss Granger, if I didn't know better, I'd say you've been checking your best friend out.
Nuh-uh.
Hermione blushed. She had a traitorous mind.
After the three were finished eating, they sat there for a long time, not saying anything. What was there to say? Finally, when the silence became almost unbearable, Ron cleared his throat conspicuously and said, "So guys, wut'dya reckon we do today?"
"I was thinking we should all go back to the Burrow, I mean the rest of your family will probably be relieved to see Harry again, not to mention we both left in the middle of the night with not so much as a note left saying where we went."
Ron nodded in agreement while Harry looked slightly uncomfortable. Hermione was about to comment on it but then realized what he was thinking. Mrs. Weasley was going to kill him when he showed up. She almost laughed at the mental picture she had in her head but thought better of it.
***
"Harry!" Mrs. Weasley shouted as she, Ginny, and Fleur sighted the trio walking through the front door. She gave him one of her famous hugs and started off on how worried she was for him when he missed Bill's wedding and shot off a million questions concerning his whereabouts and his health ("your much to skinny Harry, have you been eating enough? Here let me make you something..").
"Mum, your embarrassing him," Ron said, smiling, "C'mon guys, let's go into the living room, it's too cramped in here with this many people."
"You got lucky mate, she didn't even yell at you for sneaking out last night," Harry whispered to Ron.
"Let's just hope she forgot about it, and is just happy we found you."
"Ron Weasley, don't think I forgot about you, young man, I was worried sick when I woke up this morning and you weren't in your room. We will have a talk later, mister."
Ron gulped. Harry laughed.
Once in the living room Ginny and Fleur each hugged Harry and gave him a peck on the cheek, both saying how glad they were to see him.
Hermione smiled slightly at a look Ginny and Harry shared. They seemed content with each other, even though they weren't going out. As the reast of the gang caught up, Hermione became lost in her thoughts.
She and Ron hadn't discussed their behaviors towards each other last school year but they made a silent agreement at Dumbledore's funeral to just drop the topic. Since then, it had been just like old times between the two, no jealousy, just friendly arguments and awkward silences.
Honestly, Hermione didn't even know how she felt towards the redhead anymore. At one point she did like him, but now, after all that had happened, maybe what she really needed was just a friend. She wasn't even sure what attracted her to him. Maybe it was the constant rows she found herself always in with him. Or maybe it was the fact that she was aware of his feelings towards her and she liked the thought of someone actually attracted her. It was too many "maybe's," too many "what-ifs" that she was not yet ready to confront. As for now, however, she would just chalk it up to hormones and leave it at that.
And sitting there, in the Burrow, with her two best friends by her side, it seemed almost as though there was no war, no danger looming over the horizon, just three best friends who didn't carry the weight of the world on their shoulders and were just spending time together over the summer for the simple reason of being in each others company, like best friends ought to.
If only, Hermione sighed.
A/N: ok, so i seemed to have made a major mistake in the last chapter that everyone caught but me. I realized after that i messed up the ages but i think those parts made the story flow better so i'm not even going to change it. Sorry. Something else that i should say before i forget is that i'm going to write Ginny (actually, i'm not even sure right now as to how important she is in this story) like JKR did in HBP because that would make her "in canon" or wut ever. Yea i no, blah, but just bear with me. It pains me to write it like that as much as it'll pain you guys to read it, i swear. So i'll be keeping the characters "in character" to HBP as much as i can, and not OoTP, where they are as different as night and day, in my opinion. I think that's all i needed to address, so ta-ta for now, and don't forget to review.