August

August 8th 1998

The air was sweet and warm as I walked out of breakfast with Hermione. She was practically bouncing on her toes and we walked through the grounds. As it transpires, she had conveniently forgotten to tell me that Ron was arriving today.

"Hermione, could you be still for one minute? I know you are excited but I think you are disturbing the worms down there!" I asked, rubbing my eyes.

I was very tired having unable to sleep for a few hours, owing to a rather attractive specimen named Draco Malfoy. I couldn't stop thinking about him and it had hindered my sleep schedule, which was very rarely- and not all gratefully-disturbed.

"I am not excited...at all." She said, not very convincingly.

I laughed and pretended to believe her, as we approached the boar flanked gates. There we waited for Ron, Hermione babbling about him. But I didn't mind that, it was nice to see her happy. She really cares for Ron and her spirits always seemed a little bit more lifted when he was around. I don't think he realised it, but he didn't need to. They made each other happy and that was all that mattered.

A few minutes later there was a faint popping sound and Ron apparated next to Hermione. She let out a sigh of relief- not forgetting the splinching incident from a while ago- and hugged him tightly, causing him to almost drop his bag as he wrapped his arms around her and smiled at me over her shoulder.

"So, Ron, how have things been at the shop?"

"Oh, great, really great. It's nice to see George getting happier again, which is great considering everything that has happened. He's getting back on his feet- he loves working on new things. Keeping the legacy going.

"Mum is really proud as well, really proud. That means the world to us, creating new things and having support. It's fantastic. Really good."

"Any new products coming out soon? Any new ones being developed?" Hermione enquired.

"Um...lots. I can't say much at the moment, top secret you see. But yeah, a lot of stuff. It's going to be great, and in time for the Christmas holidays hopefully."

I grinned at him as we made our way through the castle and up the ever-changing staircases, heading towards the common room. When we arrived, Ron went and dumped his bags in the dormitory (I highly doubted he would be spending much time in there anyway).

He returned and we all sat down in the common room, draped over various armchairs and perching on squishy sofas, along with Ginny, Luna, Dean, Seamus, Parvati and Neville, who were all asking Ron lots of questions.

"So what's it like? Sharing an apartment with George? And living in London?" asked Neville, who seemed to be very interested, evidently planning to move there after this month.

"Um...it's fun. Living so close to work- if you can call it that- and working with my brother. But it certainly has it's challenges, spending that much time with a person, but we get on alright."

Ginny laughed at this, knowing what it was like to live with both of them. We all continued talking but I found myself getting a bit distracted.

I knew I would have to tell him, about me and Draco. I really was scared about it, as they didn't have the best past. We had all formed a truce though, and despite that, I wasn't sure if he would be thrilled with the idea. Hopefully he would see the best in the situation and even he had some concerns, I wouldn't let him express them to my boyfriend. I didn't want Draco upset, but I still had to respect Ron's opinion, he was like a brother to me.

We headed off to the Great Hall, Ginny and Luna splitting off to sit with their friends. I sat in between Ron and Dean, eating my salad and pork chops quickly.