Stronger Together

2- The Chronicles of the Weasley House

Disclaimer: I want to truly embrace how Ron was supposed to be in the original books, so there will be strong language for the rest of the story. Hope you guys still like it
:( Anyway, enjoy!

The Burrow. August 10th. 10:00pm

The first night at the Burrow was filled with laughter, jokes, and everyone catching up with each other. Now they were all in the living room, sipping hot chocolate Mrs.Weasley had been so kind to make them. The twins were telling Hermione about Romania, and how Ron had embarrassed himself in front of one of the girl dragon keepers. Hermione laughed loudly and clutched her stomach as they got to the end of the story. Ginny was dozing off on the couch. Across from her, Ron was turning beet red next to Harry as the twins continued the story. Harry chuckled at certain points but as it was his fifth time hearing the story, it was getting quite boring.

Fred went on. "We told him he'd catch flies, but the poor bloke didn't listen—"

"—You two can't go one day without embarrassing me, can you? I'm going up to bed." Ron grumbled, interrupting his brother.

There was a silence as Ron stomped his way upstairs. Ginny had stayed asleep during his outburst, and was peacefully snoring on the couch. "Er, it's getting late. I should probably hit the sack too. Goodnight everyone." said Harry after a period of silence.

Then Hermione was alone with a sleeping Ginny, and the twins. Hermione decided to take everyone's mugs they had left out to put in the kitchen, while the twins carried Ginny up to her bedroom. She went back out to the living room after cleaning the mugs and putting them away. Everyone was upstairs, probably fast asleep but Hermione didn't find herself tired. She went upstairs to retrieve a book from her trunk and go back downstairs.

She sat on the sofa and curled up with a cup of tea to hopefully help her drift off to sleep. Crookshanks had situated himself at the opposite side of the sofa. Her familiar looked so comfortable, she wished she could will her body to do the same. The odds were not in her favor as it seemed. Shaking her head, she returned to her book— Hermione jumped when she heard the last stair creek, interrupting the silence.

She looked over to see who had made the noise. It was probably just Mrs.Weasley. She'd have a feeling that not everyone was in their rightful place. Hermione proceeded to close her book slowly, while still looking up to see who it was. Whoever it was was taking their special time. The person finally turned into the room. The figure was tall and hidden in the shadows so Hermione couldn't tell who it was. It wasn't Mrs.Weasley, probably not even a girl. The frame was too tall and square. Definitely not one of the twins, the person was too short. It wasn't Mr.Weasley either. So that left three people of who it could be. Percy, Ron, or Harry. Ron would only wake up for food, so couldn't be him. Probably Percy, he'd only want to come in here when he was sure everyone was asleep.

"Percy? If you'd like to be alone, I could leave.. I was just—" Hermione's tongue stumbled over her words.

"Hermione? I thought you'd gone up to bed. Sorry I'll just—" It was Harry.

"Oh! No, Harry, it's alright. You can stay, I should probably go to bed anyway." Hermione started to get up, disturbing Crookshanks.

"No, stay! I mean, only if you want to." Harry scratched the back of his neck, showing his nerves.

Hermione plopped back on the sofa, followed by Harry. A disgruntled looking Crookshanks walked his way over to an armchair, and continued his slumber there. The two sat in silence, both staring into the fireplace.

"So, why are you up?" Harry asked eventually.

"I'm just not very tired. What about you?"

"I was hungry." Harry shrugged. He held up an apple Hermione hadn't even realized he was carrying, and took a loud bite.