AUTHOR NOTE: Well FINALLY Chapter 3… Sorry folks I've been away, overcoming some emotional turmoil and then working on my other fan fiction "A Drop of Eternal Sacrifice" which is nearly winding up to a close, though I've been saying that for ages so there'll still probably be quite a few chapters ha ha, and the sequel to it of course… but this fan fic is my side project and I like it, so you can be assured it'll be worked on, its just going to take me time to post chapters… I know I'm having a slow start here, but I think these bits are important so just bear with me =o) Take Care and I must say I was really surprised with the number of reviews I had, it felt really good and I thank you all for taking a moment to give me your opinions.
********************************************************************
Psychobabble
CHAPTER 3
" `ermione! `avn't you grown since last time we've seen each `ozer! Vell, perhaps you `avn't changed all that much, I mean, you still look zee same."
Hermione scowled at the half-Veela before her.
"What do you mean I `still look the same', why would I look any different?" She questioned angrily.
"Vell, you did make zee change for zee Yule Ball, I just thought perhaps you haff changed zee mind about looking…vell…zee way you do." Fleur stated offhandedly.
"What's wrong with the way I look?" Hermione questioned further, staring dangerously at the beautiful woman.
Fleur shrugged and busied herself with drying the dishes.
"You von't attract `im zat way you know?"
Hermione's heart gave a painful thud in her chest.
"I-I don't know what your talking about."
Fleur continued as if not even hearing Hermione speak.
"He likes you, you know? You `ad `is attention at zee Yule Ball, but `es not realizing `ow much you mean to `im yet."
"W-What? Who?" Hermione questioned, the scowl fading from her face.
"I see your `art is unsure of vat it wants `ermione, I `ope in time you'll find each ozzer." Fleur mused, as if she was talking to herself. "Zis ozer boy you like...he'z not right for you…forget about `im, `ell break your `art very quickly."
"Who?...Who are you talking about?"
Fleur smiled sweetly at Hermione, as though she was the most adorable innocent child.
"Zat, you'll `ave to figure out on your own sweet `art." She said, gently patting Hermione's cheek with her perfect hands before exiting the kitchen; leaving Hermione looking confused and more lost then she had ever felt.
`I shouldn't be here, why'd I come?' She thought, pushing open the front door, and marching across the front porch in frustration.
"Harry…" She whispered, staring out into the clear blue sky.
If only Harry was already there with her, she'd have a purpose, she'd be able to provide him with the comfort she was sure he needed; to fulfill her mission of mending his broken soul.
She settled herself on the porch swing; allowing the soft breeze to cradle her back and forth, her mind drifting to last summer.
"How do you think they'll announce prefects?" Ron questioned, running a wet rag along a dusty shelf.
"Mail, I suppose." She shrugged, thumbing through one of the Black families many Tomes'.
"Who do you think will get it?" He asked again.
"Could be anyone really…" She answered avoiding Ron's watching eyes.
"Mum thinks Harry will get one." He continued, his voice sounding slightly dejected.
"Well…I suppose he would have a good chance." She blushed, covering her face with her bushy hair, keeping her voice casual and even.
She felt Ron's stare as they stood through an awkward silence.
"I think I know who'll definitely be a prefect." He said softly.
"Oh?" She questioned nervously as he inched closer to her.
"Yeah." He said placing his hand on her shoulder.
A shiver swept up her spine.
"You'll get one Hermione, if you don't, I'll eat my boxer shorts."
Hermione grinned; it was times like these that she knew why she and Ron were best friends.
"That's sweet Ron, but I think there's a lot of people who deserve that badge." She stated honestly.
"You work hard to earn it…if you don't deserve it, I don't know who does."
"I'm not the only student who strives to do their best in school." Hermione chuckled; putting the book carefully back on the shelf Ron had finished cleaning.
"Yeah, but you're the smartest." He grinned.
She knew Ron caught her blush before she could cover her flushed cheeks with her bushy dark curls.
"Hey."
Hermione jumped slightly. Looking up, she saw Ron towering over her.
"Hey." She answered.
"Urrm…can I-mind if I…sit down?"
She nodded, scooting over to make more room.
"Thanks." He said simply.
"You're welcome." She replied softly.
"So…err…how's spew?"
"It's not spew Ron, its S.P.E.W." She frowned.
"Right…sorry." He apologized sadly.
She sighed; putting her feet up on the cushion of the porch swing, and wrapping her arms around her knees.
"It's, not going as well as I had hoped, I honestly thought I'd have more people interested by now… maybe I should just give up on the whole idea."
"Yeah…maybe you should."
Hermione felt her heart sink. She had wrongly depended on Ron to give her words of inspiration, something that would renew her faith in the cause she was fighting a losing battle with.
But Ron was just being honest. Perhaps she had genuinely thought that her dedication to S.P.E.W. had changed his mind on how house-elves should be treated.
"Hope I'm not interrupting something important." Ginny beamed, throwing Hermione a quick glance, raising her eyebrows in a teasing manner.
"No, you're not." Hermione said rather acidly. She hadn't meant it to come out quite as harsh, but Ginny was starting to annoy her somewhat.
"What're you two up to?" Ginny questioned, giving Ron a little nudge.
Ron flushed, his ears burning a shade of deep red.
"I was-I was just about to ask Hermione if she wanted to give me a hand with the garden gnomes." Ron mumbled, fidgeting his feet.
"Degnoming? How romantic!" Ginny teased with a laugh.
Hermione rolled her eyes, while Ron looked away in a different direction.
"Say, how about you take Hermione down to the river for a swim?" Ginny questioned with a soft smile.
"Oh…well," Ron started.
"And I'll take care of the degnoming." Ginny added.
"You-You would?" Ron asked looking rather taken aback.
"Sure, Luna's coming over for a bit, so she'll give me a hand…she likes degnoming." Ginny shrugged, looking quite pleased with herself.
"Wow, thanks Ginny, so…what do you say Hermione?" Ron asked Hermione excitedly, rocking the porch swing with a foot.
She looked from Ginny to Ron; he looked so excited, his blue eyes gleaming with a sense of hope. They were talking again and maybe, just maybe they wouldn't have to fight so much if they could patch things up somehow, how could she say no?
"Well,"
"Come on, it'll be fun, and when Harry comes we could all go together." Ron persisted.
"Only under one condition." She stated seriously.
Ron's face fell slightly as he looked at Hermione with a hint of confusion.
"And what's that?" He asked.
Ginny looked as though she was going to burst with laughter at any moment.
Hermione gave her a half smile, knowing Ginny felt the sarcasm in her tone of voice, and perhaps even knew what she was going to say.
"Last one in the water's a rotten squid."
And with that she raced into the Weasley home, up the stairs, changing and furiously grabbing whatever she needed before racing back down.
Huffing and puffing she grinned madly when she realized she had beat Ron back down to the porch; as if on cue she saw him dashing down the staircase in his swimming trunks.
"Where's the river?" She questioned making her way down the porch.
"I'm not telling, if I do, I might be the rotten squid."
"That's cheating." She protested.
"You can't always be a fair winner you know?" He said.
"How does that work?"
"Well, competing against you is difficult, unless its chess… I need some advantage, even if it isn't exactly fair."
She laughed.
"Oh Ron."
He carried their things along the winding forest paths. They were mostly silent for much of the walk but it was a content silence, neither one of them feeling uncomfortable, and occasionally they would bring up a random topic or event.
He asked her how her summer was, and she elaborated on some aspects, but for the most part she tried to leave her worries about Harry out of the conversation. She wasn't quite sure why she chose not to, maybe it was the look in his eyes when she mentioned Harry's name, or maybe it was just that he already knew what she was going through; after all, he also worried about Harry and his future, though, she knew not quite to the extent she did.
He asked about her family, she told him about how uneasy they felt about letting her go back after last years events, and that she was frightened that something may happen to them, he reassured her that Dumbledore would have her home protected; she knew it would be true, especially since she was so close to Harry.
"So what about Bulgaria?" Ron questioned, breaking the eye-contact.
"Huh?"
"Well you didn't get a chance to go last year, I thought you said you would this summer." He said shifting the bag he carried to his other shoulder.
"If you're asking if I went, I didn't."
"Why not?"
"Does it matter?" She asked wondering where this was going.
"Just curious I guess." He said, though she sensed there was more then just curiosity behind his questions.
"I wasn't well enough Ron, not after what happened at the Ministry."
"Let's say you were well enough, would you go then?"
"… I-I'd go… why wouldn't I?"
Ron let out an exasperated sigh.
"You wouldn't have gone Hermione, just like you hadn't the summer Harry had to go to the Ministry hearing." He concluded.
"Are you implying something?" She asked hastily, creasing her forehead.
"Listen, never mind, let's just forget it okay?"
"You're the one who brought it up." She reminded.
"I know… I shouldn't have, let's just have some fun, we're almost there."
Normally she might have added wood to the fire, but she really didn't want another argument, so she quickly agreed.
Ron was jealous; she really didn't know how to feel about that since the day she realized where his anger towards Krum was coming from. It was a mixed emotion where at certain moments she liked that he felt such strong emotions for her, it felt good to be wanted, and she felt pretty then. Yet, at other times it made her furious; it was none of his business who she liked, who she was seeing and what she did with them. Besides, if he really liked her so much, why didn't he just go ahead and do something about it?
Ron broke out into a run before Hermione could guess that the Otter River was just up ahead, he dropped their things at the edge and launched himself into the cool water.
"Ha, rotten squid!" He announced pointing at Hermione who shook her head.
"Yes, well, you only beat me because you cheated." She stated.
"You mean I got my shirt wet for nothing?" He asked stripping it off and discarding it near their things.
Hermione felt her heart jump slightly.
Ron wasn't the long, skinny, gangly boy anymore. He wasn't athletically toned, but he had some muscle to him; she couldn't help but feel nervous when it was her turn.
She carefully undid the button and zipper of her shorts with shaky hands and slid them down her smooth legs.
Ron stared, making her blush slightly.
She crossed her arms and took a hold of each side of her tank top near her hips and pulled it up over her head in one smooth motion.
Ron's mouth fell open slightly.
She cleared her throat uncomfortably, portending not to notice. Shivering slightly at the look he was giving her, she swept up her messy tangle into a neat bun and hastily launched herself into the water a slight distance away from Ron.
"N-nice b-bikini." Ron commented; his ears and face turning a Quaffle red.
"Thanks." She murmured awkwardly, turning her head in order to hide her heavy blush; she couldn't help but wonder what exactly he really wanted to comment on, it surely wasn't really her swim suit choice.
They swam around for a while, the current seemed to be pretty even and wasn't difficult to manage against, Ron was quiet and she followed his example.
When she finally decided to sit in the sunshine on the shore in order to warm up, she noticed he followed her.
She spread her towel out on the sandy bank.
"Cold?" He finally asked.
"Yeah, a bit." She answered honestly.
Ron fidgeted with the bag he brought with him and pulled out a thermos and a canteen.
"Tea?" He questioned again. "I also have some pumpkin juice if you don't want something hot."
Hermione smiled shyly.
"Tea." She decided, wondering if Ron had really prepared all of this.
They allowed the hot sun to dry them before Hermione slipped her tank top, shorts and shoes on, and they slowly made their way back to The Burrow.
"Hello Ronald!" Luna called waving her arms from the garden as Ron and Hermione approached the Weasley's home.
"Oh, ah, Hi Luna." Ron answered, looking as though he wished she hadn't noticed them.
"Hello Hermione." Luna called out again; though not quite as enthusiastically.
"Hi Luna." Hermione greeted pleasantly.
She swept her hands against one another and made her way over to them, looking dreamily towards Ron.
"Unfortunately I can't stay Ronald, I'm going on a trip with my daddy. We'll be looking for the Manticore, there's rumors its hiding out in the vast New Zealand forests."
Hermione rolled her eyes and resisted the urge to give Luna Lovegood a thorough lecture on the difference between Mythological creatures and reality.
"Uhhh, right, sure…I guess, I'll urm, see you in school then Luna." Ron stuttered looking at the door to their home as if planning a beeline for it.
"Come on Luna, I'll walk you home." Ginny said while chucking the last garden gnome from the yard. "See you later Hermione."
"Bye Ronald, have a good summer. Bye Hermione." Luna chanted.
Ron waved goodbye awkwardly before he and Hermione made their way back to the house.
"That's completely barbaric." Hermione stated under her breath.
"What is?"
"Hurling those gnomes from the garden like that." She answered with a tone of voice Ron recognized well; it was the same tone she had when S.P.E.W was created.
"Oh no, don't you start that now, those gnomes are a menace, they're pests!" Ron barked, pushing the front door of his home open.
"Yes well, isn't there a kinder way of removing them from the garden?"
"Yeah, poisoning them out."
"Ron that's not funny."
"I wasn't being funny!"
Hermione scowled furiously. Pushing past him, she reached for her books before losing herself within piles of homework.
The evening began to settle over the Burrow when Hermione's mind began to drift from her task back to Harry again. He would be arriving tomorrow, she hoped it would be in the morning, but since he would be with Dumbledore it might be late afternoon by the time they arrive.
Ron poked his head around the doorway to the living room where she sat curled up in an armchair.
"Hermione?"
She didn't look at him; she was still upset at the way Ron acted when she tried to sympathize with those garden gnomes.
She recalled their conversation earlier.
"So…err…how's spew?"
"It's, not going as well as I had hoped, I honestly thought I'd have more people interested by now… maybe I should just give up on the whole idea."
"Yeah…maybe you should."
He would never understand.
"Hermione, I thought maybe, we could, err, play some chess?"
"I don't feel like it Ron." She answered, pulling her book closer in an effort to make it look like she was working diligently on her homework.
"You've been at it for hours, come on, I'm getting tired of beating Ginny."
"So you're looking for a new victim?" She said hastily.
"Err, not really, I just don't want to argue…like we promised." He confessed shyly.
She raised her eyes and stared at him. He was really trying; it was true they were still arguing, but here he was trying to make things better.
"Okay." She said softly when he turned his back.
"What?" he spun around.
"I'll come play some chess."
He smiled and waited for her to close her books.
She glanced up into his face for a moment, gave him a soft smile and brushed past him.
Ron beat her at Wizard's Chess three times; she hadn't a single win before Ginny decided to have another round with Ron.
When Ginny finally managed a win, they all decided it was time for bed.
"Goodnight everyone." Molly said happily, giving them each a tight squeeze and a kiss on the cheek.
Hermione ascended the stairs after Ron who seemed to be walking extra slow, he turned around abruptly at the top when Ginny left for her room; it was so sudden she nearly ran right into him.
"Listen, I know this is a weird time to talk about this but, have you read the Daily Prophet?"
She looked sadly into his blue eyes and nodded.
"How they think there's a prophecy?"
She nodded again.
"You think it's true, what they're writing?" Ron questioned, taking hold on her wrists gently.
"I don't know Ron." She answered feeling herself choke. "Do you, do you think Dumbledore's doing something with Harry because of the prophecy?"
"I was wondering that, yeah." Ron answered, though he seemed to reflect a kind of excitement in his eyes rather than worry; almost as though he wished he was part of the adventure himself.
"I-I'm tired Ron, I'm going to go to bed." She said avoiding his eyes and gently pulling her hands free from his grip.
"Goodnight Hermione." He whispered as she disappeared into Ginny's room.
-->