Forget Me Not (Draco/Hermione)

Chapter Three- Lonely Third

The day of September the First dawned cloudy and desolate. Hermione had barely crawled out of bed when Mrs Weasley was hammering on her bedroom door and calling her to breakfast. Bleary-eyed, she stumbled downstairs and straight into the arms of Ronald. 

"Morning, gorgeous," he called, his voice banging against her head like a drill. "Had to see you before you left!"

Hermione could barely squeak a reply when his lips smacked on hers. Feeling his lips pressed against hers forcefully, she retaliated. As his tongue poked through the gates that were her lips, her front teeth bit down on it. Hard.

"Ouch!" he screamed, his head snapping back and his face full of hurt and shock. "What the bloody hell was that for?"

"I'm- I'm sorry, Ron." The realisation of what she had done suddenly dawned on Hermione and her hands covered her mouth in shock. "Oh my god, Ron, I'm so sorry."

"Don't apologise, Hermione," Ginny was suddenly behind her and throwing her packed trunk into Ron's arms. "Nobody deserves a slimy tongue stuck down their throat first thing in the morning." She gave Ron a dirty look before helping herself to a bacon sandwich. 

"It's fine, Hermione," Ron smiled at her, his face back to his normal, soppy grin again. "I should have realised. Been up since five sorting out the books at the joke shop."

"You? Sorting out the books?" Hermione found it difficult to imagine Ron studying figures on a page especially at such an early time in the morning. Pulling a chair up next to Ginny, she too helped herself to a sandwich. It was warm and crispy, the bacon's juices slowly sinking into the white bread. She did not feel guilty about helping herself to another one. 

"It used to be... Fred's job. I mean, before he died and all. George would have done it but he's away looking for new joke wand producers at the moment." At this very moment, Mrs Weasley entered the kitchen and upon seeing her youngest son leaning against the work surface, she grabbed him up into a massive hug.

"Oh, Ronald!" she sighed, allowing him to catch his breath. "You coming to see us off then?"

"Of course, Mum," he grinned, snatching himself a bacon sandwich over Hermione's shoulder. "Wouldn't miss it for the world." 

"Good," she replied before pointing down the hallway. "Your father's at work and seeing as you're the only guy around today, I believe it's your job to pack the girls' trunks into Hermione's car."

Restless and bored, Hermione had enrolled for Muggle driving lessons at the local Muggle village. Whilst Harry duelled in Siberia and Ron apparently worked on finances (hard to believe), she managed to pass her test with flying colours and, using the money from her bank account, she bought a beautiful Volkswagen Beetle. This purchase had been a reckless thing for her to do seeing as she had hoped to pay for an apartment after her seventh year and plus as she could apparate, she didn't really need Muggle transport. But Beetle's reminded her of her mother's old car and the Weasleys had promised to look after it at the Burrow on the condition that Mr Weasley did not tinker with it.

Groaning, Ron left the kitchen and returned a moment later, struggling under the weight of Hermione's trunk. Ginny's laid beside the cooker, also heavily packed with books and clothes. Dragging both along with him, the women in the kitchen listened as he swore and moaned his way to the car.

"For Merlin's sake, Ronald," Mrs Weasley screamed after hearing Ron's third consecutive f-word. "Just use your wand!" 

After showering and changing into some boring Muggle jeans and a t-shirt, Hermione returned downstairs to find two Hogwarts owls waiting for them. Ginny was already reading her letter excitedly and handed Hermione hers without barely looking up from her own parchment. Hermione's eyes read the familiar scrawl quickly and she barely noticed the red and gold badge poking out from the envelope.