Prelude

A/N: This is a short cookie set between the events of HBP and the start of Harry Potter and the Circle's End, http://fanfiction.portkey.org/story/4941 . You might want to read that, first. Thanks as usual to Lady Starlight for her work on his cookie, and indeed for this one, the title as well.
*********************The Burrow***************************

Sometime in that lost 2 weeks

Hermione slammed the door behind her, and started to paw through the bag set on a cot next to Ginny's bed. A set of books flipped onto her cot, they expanded as they hit the sheets, followed by a pair of Barbie-sized tops, and a small jar of Kneazle treats, before she found the jeans she had been looking for and enlarged them back to their normal size. Hermione skinned out of the soaked khaki shorts she had on, not bothering to turn when the door opened behind her.

"I wasn't finished with you, Hermione," Ginny snarled and slammed the door, as Hermione looked down mournfully at the now-ruined shorts with a large, red stain covering one side. She glanced down at herself, finding her favorite, emerald-green knickers soaked though as well, though they did not seem to be stained, so she just dried them with a spell and pulled on her jeans, hopping once to settle them on her hips.

"Honestly, Ginny, I don't give a damn right now, about anything you might say," Hermione replied darkly, and replaced her things into her knapsack, the same one she had kept packed since she returned from Hogwarts, and cinched the top. Hermione slowly turned around, vanishing the shorts with a flick of her wand, and crossed her arms as she looked down on the redhead, "I am leaving, and in a couple of days, I am going to go get Harry, from that hellhole he stays in every year...I suppose that we will be back for Bill's wedding...but at the moment, I am seriously considering suggesting to Harry that we skip it..."

"And of course he'll listen to his favorite little bookworm..." Ginny growled, standing in the middle of the closed door, "Tell me, Hermione...how long did it take you to get Harry to dump me...how many of your famous little late-night conversations did it take?"

"We haven't had those in a while," Hermione whispered to herself, biting her lip for an instant and looking away, not catching the slightly triumphant look on Ginny's face. "None, Ginevra," Hermione shot back in a more heated tone, "I can't help it if you couldn't keep him...maybe he decided that he needed someone with half a brain cell that worked, instead of one that could only think of half-arsed snogging attempts, and lame Quidditch plays. Maybe someone who can cast a ward instead of one whose only skill at charms is the glamour she uses to hide freckles." Ginny let out a soft howl and her hand flashed to her back pocket, only to freeze as she glanced up to find Hermione's wand already pointed back at a spot between her eyes, "You've already accidentally ruined my favorite shorts, Ginny, now what? Going to try that Bat-Bogey Hex on me? Harry broke up with you for his own reasons...I had nothing to do with them..."

"Sure..." Ginny spat, "you tell me how to go about getting Harry, but that was all a trick wasn't it...just so he'd break up with me and get me out of the way of the great Hermione Granger...." Ginny's eyes sparkled with fury, "Then what, you thought you'd swoop in and pick up the pieces of his broken heart? And if there is nothing going on, then why aren't I going with you, I know you three are up to something?" Ginny's glare ratcheted up a notch, and Hermione shouldered her backpack, and started for the door that Ginny currently guarded.

Ginny did not move and Hermione sighed tiredly, "Just move, Ginny," Hermione said softly. "I don't want to cause a fight."

Ginny stepped out of the way, letting Hermione pass, "Are you at least going to give my brother a good shag before you trade him in for Harry?" Hermione's shoulders squared, and she stopped, before looking back at Ginny for one long, silent moment, "Harry did me, anyway..."

"Bullocks, Ginny," Hermione replied evenly, with such an air of utter certainty that Ginny blinked at her wordlessly for a solid minute.

"How do you know?" Ginny spat, glaring at Hermione, who matched her look for look. "Why do you know anything about Harry and my relationship..."

"Because unlike his supposed girlfriend, I know Harry, you bloody..." Hermione took a breath, swallowing the insult, instead she smirked slightly, "Because I know, that if he had, he wouldn't have been the one breaking up...he isn't as casual as you about his heart..." Hermione spun on her heel, and left her with her jaw dropped,

She stepped down the stairs and bounced back a step as a large, solidly-built wall suddenly filled her path. "Ron," Hermione greeted.

"Bloody hell, Hermione," Ron half-growled and half-moaned, "you're leaving already, you just got here this morning." He smirked slightly and reached for her, "We could have spent these weeks having so much more fun..."

Hermione batted away his arms before they could settle around her waist, "I'm leaving, Ron, before I do something I regret...I'm going back to my parents for a couple of days and do a touch of research...and think about things, before we spring Harry from his captors."

"You've been with them since you left Hogwarts," Ron replied quickly, his voice starting to rise. I'm your..."

"At the moment, Ronald, you are in my way," Hermione snapped, then took a quick breath, "The remainder, I am seriously starting to have second doubts about..."

"I'm your boyfriend, they are just your parents, Hermione," Ron retorted, and reached for her again, and again she batted away his arms. She slipped by him to the center of the living room, and looked about, cataloging everything in sight.

"At the moment, Ronald, you aren't...we'll see how I feel about it after I get back..." she looked around, "In fact, I will go get Harry in two days hence...why don't you just stay here and concentrate on stuffing your face." Ron reached for her a third time, and with a soft POP she was gone, leaving behind a faint odor of brimstone behind that nonetheless filled the room.

An instant after Hermione left, the door behind him opened, and Luna slipped in, a pack slung over her shoulder, and dressed much as Hermione had been, in a pair of jeans with the right knee torn out, and a dark blue t-shirt with a bronze eagle on one breast that just reached her waist. She paused as she found Ron staring into space, "Ronald, are you alright? You do know that you have an infestation of Heliopaths, don't you notice the Brimstone smell...I suppose that I will just have to live with it, since Daddy is gone..."

Ron turned and looked at her, having forgotten totally that Luna was staying here until after the wedding, "Wha..." he answered, his mouth still hanging slightly slack.

"Heliopaths," Luna replied patiently, shrugging, "Tall creatures made of stone with hands and heads of flame...They usually only infest volcanic caves, they could be an issue in the house, I would really get in touch with an elemental manipulator, I think that Daddy has one's owl address, I can floo back to the house and get it..."

"Um...no, that's alright, Luna, I think we will be fine," Ron replied, still slightly distracted.

"Alright," Luna watched as Ron still looked vaguely preoccupied, she looked towards the empty spot where Ron had stared, her eyes going even more distant for an instant, "You had another row with Hermione, didn't you, Ronald?" He looked at her suddenly, his eyes wide with shock, "The forces are out of balance, auras are imbalanced, collapsed in on themselves..." She smiled brightly, "I am staying in Ginny's room, I assume?" Ron just nodded, his throat suddenly not working as she reached up and swept a loose blonde lock out of her eyes as she looked up at him. She gave him a shy smile as he watched her walk past him, and he took a breath, watching as the young witch walked past him, and started up the stairs.

Despite himself, his eyes locked on her from behind, on the bare stripe of skin that was exposed as her shirt rode up slightly as she climbed the stairs, then down a few inches to take in the fit of her jeans. She turned back as she got halfway to the second floor, and a brief smile flicked unnoticed across her lips. Ron looked up at her face, a slightly guilty look vanished quickly and Luna bit her lower lip. "Ronald...Ron, if you need to talk, I'll be here."

Luna turned and rapidly vanished up the stairs, leaving an odd look on Ron's face as he continued to look up the stairs, before turning and walking towards the kitchen and supper or what ever meal he could get at this hour.



A/N: Ok there you go, a bit to tide you over until I get where I can post chapter 49 to Circle.

Built by Text2Html