A/N- Hi all! Welcome to the first installment of this 6th year fic. It might seem unusual to start it at this point, but hopefully all will become clear as the chapters progress. It won't be entirely back and forth, but usually it will alternate between Ron or Hermione's POV. Now I know some of you might be thinking 'another 6th year fic? Hasn't this been done to death?' but there's an aspect to this one that I haven't yet seen explored. Love it or hate it, please let me know what you think!

-Ashy

As always, I am not JKR, and do not own anything in this chapter.

The morning sun streaming through the thick velvet curtains turned his vision into the colour of his annual sweater. He groaned at the mewling of his alarm beside him. His hand reached out and pressed the button at the top.

With the noise now quieted, he placed his hands over his eyes and groaned again.

Then he remembered what day it was.

He shot up straight in bed, suddenly wide awake. Today was the day he would take his apparition test. Not that he was really looking forward to taking it; he had a sneaking feeling he was more likely to end up like Charlie rather than the twins. But it was a rare chance to head into Hogsmeade. And of course, you had to be 17 to take the test. Which meant that he had a few uninterrupted hours without his increasingly squid-like girlfriend to look forward to. It was a shame that Harry would still have to wait until the summer to take his, of course, but knowing Ron, they'd probably end up taking it together then.

Hermione kept telling him to think positively. That if he thought he was going to fail, he probably would. She pointed out that he had managed to make into the hoop a couple of times at their last lesson, and had apparated, if not to the correct spot, at last practice. It was all fine for her, though, wasn't it? Professor Twycroft was practically writing love letters about the perfection that was Hermione apparating. Ron also thought that she was perfection, but for different reasons.

His stomach went and knotted itself.

Today he would finally be able to spend some time with Hermione. The first proper time for them to hang out in months. His face stretched into a grin at the thought. As much as he was grateful at their renewed friendship, there was something about how carefree she became away from the school, free from the usual pile of books on her shoulder, that was special. He'd never tell Harry, but he'd secretly been glad the few times Harry had been sequestered in the castle during their early trips. That he'd been the one to share in her first Butterbeer. Maybe they'd be able to stop in at the Three Broomsticks after the test today. Maybe she'd get a bit of the foam at the top of her lip again, in that maddening way that made it difficult not to stare.

Buoyed by the thought, he bounded out of bed and got dressed to go down to breakfast.

Unusually, Ron was the one in the Common Room waiting for the other two. He tried to keep low down in a chair on the off chance that Lavender would decide to come down early for once. At this point, he was doing pretty much anything to avoid having to spend longer periods of time in her presence. When they'd started snogging, it had been pretty great. It felt like a sick sort of vindication to know that someone wanted him at least, and that now he probably had more experience than Hermione. Judging by Lavender's moans, and at the reluctantly impressed looks Parvati sometimes gave him, he reckoned he was better than Krum at any rate. Even though snogging was nice, and Lavender was absolutely gorgeous, Ron found himself quickly growing bored. Lavender insisted on going through his birth chart multiple times. Once, when his lips were becoming so chapped he didn't know what else to try, he'd attempted to teach her Chess. It had not gone well. Nor was she a particularly gifted conversationalist except when it came to gossip. This meant nothing to Ron, meaning that more often than not, he would initiate snogging in an effort to cover up their awkward silences.

He'd put an end to that as much as possible after he was poisoned. With Hermione back in his life, spending time with Lavender felt more and more like a chore. And he would rather de-gnome the garden every day for the rest of his life than have to put up with more of her nattering.

Rather than walk down to the Great Hall alone, he decided to try and wait for his two best friends. Hermione was almost always up early, so with any luck, they'd be able to walk down while Lavender was still drying her hair, or doing whatever the hell it was that most girls spent so much time doing.

'Morning,' a familiar voice said crisply. He jerked his head up at the sound. Hermione had her large bookbag strung over her shoulder, her hair pulled back into a plait. She was giving him a tight smile.

'Good morning!' he replied, happy that it was her. He tried to surreptitiously glance behind her to see if Lavender was coming, but this didn't appear to be the case. Hermione rolled her eyes.

'Lavender's in the shower,' Hermione sighed. 'And if you were trying to hide, you'd be much better off hiding against the pillars. Your head sticks out so far above the top of the chair.'

'I wasn't hiding,' Ron scoffed, even as his ears turned red. 'I was catching up on sleep.'

'Were you able to?' Hermione asked, putting her bag down beside her as she settled into another armchair. 'I kept going over the instructions in my head.' She folded her hands in her lap. Ron knew that Hermione suffered from a terrible case of exam stress, but it surprised him to see that it extended to apparition.

'You've apparated loads of times,' Ron pointed out. 'Twycroft has already asked you to be his assistant next year, I bet.' From Hermione's blush, he could tell that he was right.

'Yes, but this is the most important one. I don't want to have to wait until the summer. It will make travelling so much easier.'

'Travelling?' Ron asked tightly, feeling a rock sink in his stomach. Had that bloody Bulgarian git asked her to visit him again? Would she go?

Hermione gave him a quizzical look. 'Yes, to your house. For Bill and Fleur's wedding?'

Ron immediately brightened. He had completely forgotten that Fleur had invited Harry and Hermione to the wedding. Thank Merlin. It was much better that she was travelling to come to his place. He was about to tell her this when Harry came padding down the stairs, stifling a yawn.

'Morning,' he said to the other two. 'Do we have something due in Transfiguration today?' Harry's eyes searched Hermione's who sighed as she picked up her bag.

'Harry, we have a foot of parchment due on differentiating between claws in animagi versus actual creatures. Don't tell me you haven't done it!'

Ron felt momentarily pleased. He'd finished his own essay last evening. Turns out that hiding out in the library gave him the opportunity to escape Lavender, who found the quiet of the place too 'unnerving', not to mention the added bonus of getting to watch Hermione when she wasn't looking.

Harry was spluttering a reply, when Ron heard a squeal coming down the stairs.

'Won-won!' Bugger, he thought. Lavender's hair, expertly curled came bouncing down the staircase. 'Perfect timing! We can head down to breakfast together!'

Ron looked to Harry for help, but he was hurriedly trying to get some sort of answer out of Hermione.

'Er, sure, Lavender.' He resigned himself to his fate, and shoved his hands into his pockets. They left the common room just in time for him to hear Hermione berating Harry for spending too much time trying to get Malfoy. This brought a smile to his face. Leave it to Hermione to continue to find reasons to continue to pester Harry.

'Why are you so happy?' Lavender asked, breaking him out of his reverie. Their footsteps echoed throughout the corridors as they made their way down. She had tucked her hand under his arm, uninvited, and Ron didn't really have the heart to get her to take it away. It wasn't as much fun bickering with Lavender as it was with Hermione. Lavender just got sulky.

Ron shrugged. 'I'm looking forward to getting out of the castle.'

'You feel that good about your test? I thought you said apparition wasn't going well.' Lavender looked at him skeptically.

'I've been doing alright the last few times!' Ron defended himself. Lavender had not born witness to his improvements over the last few practice sessions.

'Well the only good thing about you being gone to Hogsmeade so much is that you have plenty of time to get me a lovely Birthday present.' Lavender pouted. Ron blanched. He had absolutely not been spending his Hogsmeade time thinking of a present for Lavender. Honestly, he'd been hoping for weeks now that she would get the hint and just dump him. Would that finally be enough for her to do so? No birthday present?

Ron gave a non-committal noise and pressed on. He managed to dodge out of the way of Lavender wanting a "good-luck snog" by arguing that he felt queasy and watched her walk out on the way to Divination after breakfast with a sigh of relief. So long as he could avoid her before the exam itself, it might actually be okay.

Mixed feelings of relief and dread accompanied him throughout the morning. During Transfiguration he watched Hermione's plait swinging back and forth as she took copious notes. He wondered what it would look like when she apparated later. He daydreamed about the idea of apparating to her. Maybe that would be a better way to deliberate, or whatever the damn word was. Snape's insult kept ringing through his ears. Even though he had apparated already, the cruel taunt of 'the boy so solid' was causing him to second guess his own abilities. The Twins would never let it go if Ron didn't pass. They'd be laughing about this for ages. Not to mention the look of disappointment he could already picture on Hermione's face when he didn't get his certificate.

Before he knew it, Transfiguration was done. Hermione rushed off to an Arithmancy class, and Harry decided to spend another hour trying to crack the Room of Requirement. Ron thought briefly about accompanying him, but decided against it. Hermione had been on him about not encouraging Harry in this 'deviation from where he really needs to focus' and he was too worried about disturbing the fragility of their friendship to risk rocking it for Malfoy.

Instead, he went up to the common room and dashed off a letter to Mum.

She'd been pestering him since his poisoning to write more. He'd been trying his best, having seen how worried Mum and Dad had been while he'd been in the Hospital Wing. With Harry busy, he definitely had more time to pen a few lines about what was going on. He left some blank space at the end of the parchment, to hopefully write about his phenomenal Apparition triumph when they got back later that evening. Then he just stared out of the window, down at the grounds.

When lunch finally came around, he made his way to the Gryffindor table to see Harry sitting and looking cross, beside Hermione who had a plate of chicken and dumplings in front of her that looked untouched.

'How was Arithmancy?' he asked Hermione as he sat down on her other side. She looked up at him, eyes wide.

'Oh, fine.' Ron helped himself to some of the food in the middle. Hermione was picking at her thumb anxiously. 'Do you remember if Twycroft said anything about where the exam will be held?' She asked him quietly.

Ron chewed thoughtfully as he tried to recall. Vaguely he remembered Twycroft talking about it at the Three Broomsticks at their last practice session, but then Rosmerta hadn't laughed at his joke, and Hermione was looking flushed from the Butterbeer and the compliments and he'd stopped paying attention. 'Hogsmeade?'

Hermione rolled her eyes. 'Very helpful. I suppose it doesn't matter how long the distance is, right? You just have to apparate correctly?'

'Yeah, I feel like the Twins mentioned something about not having to go too far,' Ron told her as he took another bite. 'But then, they take the mickey out of me all the time, so that could be completely bollocks.'

She pursed her lips and frowned. He'd noticed that she'd been doing that a lot lately when he'd bring them up. He reckoned it had something to do with her not having siblings. She hadn't had anybody to rile her up as a kid.

Harry leaned over Hermione to talk to Ron. 'I spent the whole break up there, and I didn't see a single-'

'You used your break to do that?' Hermione admonished Harry. 'You should be catching up on your homework, or figuring out how to get that memory.' Harry leaned back, apparently not willing to risk a further argument with her. Ron thought this was very smart.

'Apparition Pamphlets!' Professor McGonagall said briskly, walking up the table passing out periwinkle pieces of parchment. Ron took his with a gulp. He did not relish this reminder of all the things that could go wrong. Judging from the look on Hermione's face, neither did she.

After lunch, where Hermione did not eat nearly enough in Ron's eyes, they made their way out to the courtyard. Harry plonked himself down in a sunny corner, and Ron was immeasurably grateful. It was much easier to hide from Lavender in corners. Half listening to Hermione continue to reprimand Harry for his Malfoy obsession, he tried to stem the rising panic inside of him. Merlin he hoped this would go well. He kept diving behind Hermione any time someone rounded the corner, desperately wishing not to see Lavender again before he had to leave.

Things became more interesting when someone came to drop off a note for Harry. Where he'd first assumed it was Dumbledore, Hermione's exclamation made it clear that it was coming from someone else. Once she finished reading it, she passed the note over to him. Slightly overeager, he allowed his hand to brush against hers as he took the parchment. Tingles erupted from the contact. Hermione didn't seem to notice, as she turned right back to talk to Harry.

Ron frowned down at Hagrid's writing. The knowledge that Aaragog was dead was welcome. He hated that thing. Damn spiders. There were few people that Ron would willingly go into a spider's hollow for, and two of them were sitting right next to him. He argued that Aaragog was much better off dead, and shivered at the thought of those creepy, spindly legs reaching out for Hermione. She must have noticed, since she turned her head and frowned at him, gripping his arm slightly. Tingles again.

Merlin, he was lucky to have her in his life. Moments like these, so small, but it felt like she really saw him, that she was paying attention.

While he was thinking about the luck of having such wonderful friends, Harry was bemoaning the fact that he was still unable to get the memory from Slughorn. This gave Ron a sudden flash of inspiration.

He told Harry to use the Felix Felicis. Hermione beamed at him; Harry looked slightly put out. But Ron didn't care. It was worth it to see Hermione proud of him.

'Well done,' Hermione told him, gripping his arm once more. Ron smiled at her, but looked back at Harry who was looking off in the distance, deep in thought. Almost like he was imagining a different way to use the potion.

He was still half thinking about this when the bell rang. Then the nerves returned full force. Time to actually take the test. Hermione was gripping her pamphlet as though it were a life raft. They briefly said goodbye to Harry and began making their way to the front entrance, where the rest of the students taking the test were congregating.

In an effort to distract himself from the thoughts of the test, he thought back to the lucky potion.

'What would you do, if you had the Felix?' he asked Hermione, as they passed through the corridors.

She looked at him bewildered.

'What do you mean?'

'Come off it,' he told her, 'I'm sure the second Slughorn announced it as a prize you were ready to take it. We all know it should have gone to you.' Was it his imagination, or had Hermione's cheeks turned rosy at his comment?

'I suppose I haven't really thought about it.'

'Well, think about it,' he told her.

She paused, thoughtful as they walked.

'I'd use it to beat Voldemort,' she said, very quietly. Ron looked at her. 'If we knew we were lucky? That it was almost impossible to fail? If it meant beating that stupid prophecy?' She shook her head. They'd had a long discussion earlier in the summer about how upset she was that Harry was putting so much stock into divination for such an important thing. 'If it meant saving him?' Her voice shook as she finished, and Ron looked over in horror. He in no way had meant to make her cry. He swore internally.

'Sorry,' he said, feeling terrible. 'I didn't mean-'

'Oh don't worry,' Hermione replied with a shaky laugh, 'it doesn't take much these days.' She rubbed her eyes to dry off the tears.

They fell into an uneasy silence. Ron tried in vain to remember if he'd come across Hermione crying in the past while. No tears had been shed in her library haven while he was staring at her. She hadn't been blubbering at the table, or in the common room. Her Prefect tours were on a different schedule than his, so perhaps she'd been crying alongside Antony? That prat wouldn't notice a thing. It was amazing he'd gotten on with that pretty 5th year Ravenclaw at all.

'What would you do with it?' Hermione interrupted his attempts to remember the girl's name.

'Oh, er…well there was no way I would've gotten it, was there?' Ron argued. Hermione frowned at him, her eyes still a bit red from her earlier tears.

'That's not true. It could have just as easily been you who got the Prince's book. Harry got lucky.'

'Ironic,' Ron pointed out.

'Besides,' Hermione sniffed, seeming to ignore Ron's comment, 'I think if you had gotten that book you would be smarter about not using it.'

Ron gave a hollow laugh. 'No, I'd be too worried about you hexing my bits off.'

The words were out of his mouth and he felt dread run down his back. He cursed himself for saying it. What on earth had he been thinking?

'I would never do that,' Hermione said quietly. Ron looked at her from the corner of his eye and saw that she was blushing furiously. Well no doubt, it wasn't like Harry was going around making similar jokes.

'Humor me,' Hermione cleared her throat and went on, 'What would you do with Felix? Other than win a Quidditch match?'

Ron looked at her, surprised that she had made a joke about that. He'd been right pissed when she thought he needed that potion to win. She'd apologized profusely for it while he was in the Hospital Wing, although he couldn't be entirely sure that wasn't because he'd almost died.

'Not fair,' he told her, lifting up a tapestry for them so they could sneak down another floor more easily, 'anything I say now that's not "defeating You-Know-Who" is going to make me look like a tosser.'

Hermione laughed as she went under his outstretched arm with ease.

'But if that didn't need to be an option, what would you do?'

Ron thought for a moment. He knew exactly what he'd like to do. Tell Lavender to get lost, for one, then probably pull rank with Antony, head down presumably to do Prefect Duties with Hermione, but instead pull her into the prefect's bathroom, where they'd-

He swallowed hard, feeling blood rushing south.

'Win the next Quidditch cup?' he said hoarsely, praying Hermione wouldn't probe too deeply into his answer. She frowned at him, brow creasing as she opened her mouth to retort.

'Miss Granger! I am brimming with excitement to see you succeed this afternoon!'

They'd made it to the Entrance Hall. Professor Twycroft was beaming at Hermione, his whispy hair standing in all directions. Hermione smiled and went over to speak with him, leaving Ron alone in the growing throng of Sixth Years. He let out a sigh. Already he was off to a great start on this last afternoon with just Hermione. He'd made her cry, and then made her suspicious when he couldn't give a decent answer to her question. All he'd had to do was come up with a convincing lie when he asked the damn question.

Now all he was faced with was the looming exam. His stomach sank further.

Justin Finch-Fletchley grinned at him.

'Feeling alright?' he asked Ron. Ron shrugged. 'Same,' Justin agreed, looking out over the sea of students. 'I wasn't even this nervous for my driving test.'

'You can drive?' Ron asked in surprise. Justin nodded.

'Most muggles can.' Ron didn't know this. He wasn't even sure if Hermione knew how to drive.

Ron was about to respond when the entrance doors opened. Filch was yelling at them about contraband, and Twycroft was demanding that people stick together and not try and wander off too far. Before he knew it, Justin was being pulled by some other Hufflepuffs, leaving Ron to shuffle out alone.

'Oi!' Seamus clapped his shoulder as they made their way out towards the distant gates. 'You ready for the afterparty?'

'There's an afterparty?' Ron asked, hardly surprised that Seamus was the one to know about it.

'Of course! Afternoon of freedom? Time to get a bit drunk and have some fun!' Seamus grinned up at Ron, using his hand to shield his eyes from the weak sunlight. Ron gave a short laugh.

'Besides, we've got nothing else to celebrate at the moment,' Dean added, having heard the conversation and joining the stride of the other two.

'Where is this party then?' Ron asked. Seamus laughed at his question.

'Hog's Head of course! We're of age! Time to celebrate with some Firewhisky!'

'You are still a student,' Hermione said, coming up to join the little group. Ron felt his heart race suddenly. Even watching her frowning at Seamus made him feel queasy. 'And as a sixth year, you are supposed to provide a good example to the younger students-'

'Ah Granger, live a little!' Seamus told her, throwing his arm around her shoulders. Ron fought hard to keep from pulling it off. 'Who's really going to be looking at me as a prime example to live up to? I blew up my exploding snap deck last week and I wasn't even playing!'

Dean laughed in acknowledgement. Ron remembered breaking from hiding from Lavender long enough to see Seamus' eyebrows smoking as Dean tried to pat out the flames. Hermione had gone to comfort some first years who were frightened by the sound. Seemingly indifferent to Hermione's cold glare, Seamus pressed on. 'It's just a little Firewhisky, and we could all do with a break. Especially you.'

Hermione glared at him with more intensity. Ron swallowed hard. He knew Hermione well enough to know to back off, but he doubted Seamus did. Dean seemed to have a similar idea as he began to slow his pace to create some distance between himself and Hermione.

'Excuse me?'

'Don't get me wrong, Granger,' Seamus continued who evidently seemed to have some kind of death wish, 'it's not that we don't love your dedication to your studies, but at some point you've gotta let your hair down and let loose.' With the hand that was still around her shoulders, he tugged at her plait. Ron gulped audibly. The waves of fury coming off of Hermione were palpable.

'Firstly, I do not need Firewhisky to let loose,' Hermione hissed at Seamus, forcibly removing his arm from around her. Seamus seemed surprised by the vitriol. 'And secondly, I am a Prefect, which means that I have a certain decorum to maintain. We have been given permission to be in Hogsmeade very generously from Professor Dumbledore, and I do not want to take that for granted. So you'll forgive me if I don't join you at the Hog's Head.'

Seamus put his hands up defensively.

'Whoa, whoa, okay, sorry.' He didn't sound particularly sorry. 'Just trying to keep the mood light.' He motioned to Dean with his head, and they sped past Hermione.

'See you around Ron,' Dean told him.

He could just make out Seamus mumbling something about time of the month, and he gulped again. He prayed that Hermione hadn't heard him.

'You're planning on going, then?' Hermione rounded on Ron, tendrils escaping around her hairline.

Ron felt his face grow warm.

'I wasn't actually,' he told her gently, wanting to avoid a row. 'I don't trust Seamus and anything with the word fire in it.'

In spite of herself, Hermione let out a laugh. This seemed to surprise them both.

They continued walking down the path. Most of the other students seemed to be avoiding them, which suited Ron just fine. He enjoyed standing so close to her, armed with the knowledge that if he moved his hand an inch, he would graze hers. It was a game he'd played a lot with himself back when they used to do Prefect's rounds together. He knew it was a bit silly, because it wasn't as if he hadn't held her hand before. It was still a point of pride that she'd allowed him to squeeze hers when Madame Pomfrey was taking care of her chest injury last year. And even when he'd woken up in the Hospital wing, she'd been there, clutching his. Yet even with all this, there was a thrill in the idea of taking her hand in a non-life or death scenario.

'I'm fun, right?' Hermione turned on him again, and he was surprised to see that her eyes were sad.

'What?' he asked bewildered.

'You've seen me "let my hair down" like Seamus said?' Hermione used air quotes, rolling her eyes as she did so.

It wasn't like Hermione to feel insecure like this.

'Oh,' Ron said, swallowing hard. Hearing her say that made him picture her undoing her plait at night, hair cascading over the pillow, lips parting as she beckoned him to come to her…

'I take it that's a no,' Hermione huffed. She looked put out and crossed her arms over her chest.

'What?' Ron asked again, trying to rid his mind of the images he had. She's still your best mate, he tried to remind himself, as he often did when these fantasies came unbidden into his brain.

'It's not my fault someone has to take responsibility for everything,' Hermione continued quietly, arms crossed yet more tightly.

'You're plenty of fun,' Ron told her. She gave him a look. 'No, really! I mean, you played Quidditch with us all summer, even though Ginny and Harry kept taking the mickey out of you, and you're usually up for exploding snap, or chess, or-'

'Never mind,' Hermione said, putting an end to the discussion. 'It doesn't matter anyway. We should be focusing on the test.'

'Which you'll pass with flying colours,' Ron murmured, feeling like once again he'd failed at trying to make Hermione feel better. 'Unlike me.' She gave him a withering look.

There was a cold breeze coming off the mountains, and he saw Hermione shiver. He cursed that he hadn't even bothered to bring his own cloak, so it wasn't like he could offer her his.

'If only you had a jar,' he pointed out. She glanced back at him, bewildered. 'For the flames. You look cold,' he added, unhelpfully.

'Just a bit nervous,' she retorted, running her hands over her arms.

Ron was about to point out that she had no reason to be worried, when he realized they'd already made it to the village.

'Alphabetical order please!' Twycroft's whisps of hair were blowing wildly in the wind as he called out. Ron felt his shoulders sag. He'd thought they'd at least get to stand and wait together. Chancing a glance at Hermione, he saw her biting her lip and looking put out.

'You're going to be brilliant,' he told her.

'So will you,' she replied forcefully. 'There is no reason at all you won't pass this with flying colours.'

Ron nodded at her. Then to his surprise, Hermione reached out and squeezed his hands.

'I'll wait for you?' Her eyes looked up at his and he was suddenly unable to speak. He settled for a stiff nod.

They stood together for a moment before someone budged him with their shoulder. Hermione immediately dropped his hands as though scalded.

'Sorry Weasley,' came the suave voice of Terry Boot. He didn't sound particularly apologetic. 'I think A-M is meeting a little closer to Zonko's. You coming Hermione?'

'Oh, er, sure.' Was it just him, or had Hermione's cheeks turned faintly pink? 'Bye, Ron,' she added over her shoulder as Terry led her over to another group.

Ron stood there, slightly bewildered. When had Terry become friendly with Hermione? Speaking of, how come Ron was still Weasley, but Terry was on a first name basis with her?

'Sorry about earlier,' Dean Thomas came up and stood next to him. 'Hope she wasn't too angry.'

Ron shook his head. 'Nah, she's just got exam stress.'

Dean chuckled at him. 'Mental that one.'

Ron was too preoccupied pondering about Terry to correct him. He tried desperately to remember any gossip that Lavender had told him about the dark-haired Ravenclaw. Wasn't he dating Padma? There was a vague recollection there, as though Lavender was worried he still held a torch for the Patil twin. Like he ever had. But hadn't they been going steady for a while? Was that the case?

He looked to the other group of students, hoping to catch a glimpse of her. Hermione was directly after Goyle, but was chatting with Antony, Seamus and Justin in front of him. Ron wished his last name was closer to hers, so that he didn't have to worry about her being left alone with Goyle. As if she'd noticed his gaze, Hermione turned her head and made eye contact. She gave him a little smile which warmed his heart.

Dean made small talk with him about the latest Quidditch tallies while they waited to take the test. Every once in a while, Ron would glance over to where he could see how the breeze was making her plait grow messier by the minute. Soon enough it was her turn to apparate.

'Seems like Wood's actually been doing a great job with Puddlemere,' Dean was saying, but Ron stopped listening, watching Hermione's graceful pirouette and praying that her nerves wouldn't cause her to splinch herself. He needn't have worried. She disappeared from view, no part of her left. Ron blew out his breath.

'I know! I was as surprised as you. But it's not like the Cannons have ever been top of the league, eh?'

Now it was just time to think about his own turn. Luckily it appeared that Dean was also starting to worry as they grew silent together.

The rock in his stomach grew larger with each student to go ahead. When it finally came time for Dean to go, Ron clapped him on the shoulder and wished him luck.

With Dean gone, he suddenly thought back to the way Terry had whisked Hermione away. Would Terry be waiting there too? Or would Hermione not even remember that she'd promised to wait for him? The image of the two of them cozied up in the Three Broomsticks, probably laughing about how solid he was, entered his brain. He shook his head furiously to try and dislodge it.

'Mr. Weasley!' Twycroft's assistant for this year, a 7th year Ravenclaw with amber eyes called him up. With a gulp, he stepped up to the small marker.

'Your destination will be outside the post office. Do you know the location?' Ron nodded. He'd often accompanied Hermione there to send an owl to her parents.

'Whenever you're ready.'

Ron took out his wand and took a deep breath. He tried to think of the three D's, but all he could think about was Hermione, hopefully waiting for him at the other end. Spinning in place, he felt like all his insides were squeezing together. Please Merlin, let this go well.

There was a small pop at the other end, and he was too scared to open his eyes.