Through The Years (Ron and Hermione Short Stories)

The Trouble with Cleaning-Part 1

A two part story during the beginning of their fifth year...

Pale sunlight filtered in through the grime-filled windows at number twelve Grimmauld place, waking Hermione from her peaceful sleep. She lay in bed for a few moments, staring across the room to where Ginny slept. Finally she hoisted herself out of bed and commenced getting dressed. She threw on a pair of jeans, a light blue shirt, and quickly brushed through her ever-bushy hair. Hermione sighed, checking the clock on the wall, it was almost eight o'clock and Ginny was still asleep.

"Come on Ginny, get up. We have to go down to breakfast soon." Hermione gently shook her red-haired friend awake.

"Alright Hermione, quit shaking." Ginny sleepily pushed Hermione's hand away and dragged herself out of bed.

Hermione sat on her bed and waited while Ginny got dressed.

"Today should be interesting." Ginny smirked, glancing over at Hermione.

"And why is that?" answered Hermione cautiously. Ginny was wearing a look similar to the twins when they were brewing some sort of unpleasant plan.

"Mum said something about having a full house-cleaning day."

"So," Hermione looked slightly puzzled. "There's nothing interesting about that, we do it all the time."

"I'm almost positive that Ron will try, at least once, to get you on your own in the same room as him today." Ginny grinned at the flush that crept into Hermione's cheeks.

"Ginny, you know Ron doesn't do things like that." retorted Hermione, rather hastier than she meant to.

"We'll see." smiled Ginny, as she and Hermione made their way down to the kitchen.

As they walked into the brightly lit dining area, they noticed that breakfast was already on the table, courtesy of Mrs. Weasley, who was vigorously using her wand to scrub some dirty dishes. Fred, George, and Ron were already hard at work devouring the heavenly smelling meal. Ron paused from his ferocious breakfast-eating long enough to give Hermione a large smile as she walked in and sat down next to him. She stubbornly avoided the smirk Ginny shot her way.

"How did you sleep last night?" asked Hermione politely, reaching for a piece of toast.

Ron stopped chewing long enough to answer, "Pretty well. You?"

"As well as anyone can in this dump I suppose." she sighed, taking a sip of pumpkin juice.

"That's one thing we'll be working on today." smiled Mrs. Weasley, coming over and sitting down next to George. "This dump, as you rightly called it, is going to need quite a bit of work if we want to tidy it up before Harry gets here tomorrow."

Ron promptly choked on his juice. "What! Harry's coming tomorrow and you didn't bother to tell us until now?"

"Sorry dear, I only just found out this morning and I wanted everyone to be here when I told you." smiled Mrs. Weasley apologetically.

"It's great that Harry's coming to stay," said Hermione lightly, "It'll be nice for him to get away from his aunt and uncle's house."

"Yes." nodded Mrs. Weasley in agreement, "Especially after having been attacked by those Dementors."

Ron choked on his juice again.

"You know Ron, you should really try swallowing once in a while." smiled Fred, as Hermione pounded Ron soundly on the back, "It tastes much better that way."

Ron chose to ignore Fred, "Dementors! He was attacked! Is he alright? What happened?"

Mrs. Weasley, with a look of concern on her face, answered her youngest son. "From what I heard, Mundungus Fletcher left his post early, and while he was gone Harry and his cousin were attacked by two of those foul creatures. They are both fine, although your father said Harry is going to be put on trial at the Ministry of Magic for the use of underage magic. Which is completely absurd." Mrs. Weasley huffed angrily. "What else was he supposed to do? Die?"