"Harry" Ron called "Calm down Hermione. She's about to hex me."
"Why would she do that?" He asked, although knowing their relationship, it could be a number of reasons.
"RONALD!!" Hermione yelled from the common room "Get out of your dorm and stop hiding like a coward!"
Harry left the dorm and went to see what happened. "What are your going to hex Ron for?"
"Remember when he said he was going to ' 'make sure everyone knew about us'?" Hermione asked
"So what if the other students know. They probably have suspected it for a while now anyway."
Hermione blushed a little, but she wasn't any less upset at the situation. "He didn't just tell the school, he told the whole wizarding world."
"How would he be able to do that?" Harry asked
"Rita Skeeter has been here before. She made an article about us dating when I hugged you at the first task. No one believed it because they know Rita is known for her lies."
"So...what changed?"
"Well, Ron decided to tell her that we are 'so in love' and that we 'spend every waking hour together'." Hermione said crossing her arms
"C'mon Harry. You know it's true!" Ron said
"How could we be so in love at 14? And we always have spent all our time together. But 'every waking hour' just makes it sound creepy." Harry said
"Fine" Ron relented "Do you want me to apologize?"
"Yes!" Harry and Hermione said in unison
"Well, I'm not! I'm glad everyone knows about the two of you!"
"Ronald, my parents get the Daily Prophet delivered to the house. They won't know that this is all one big exaggeration!"
"Merlin, Hermione, that's genius!" Ron said "Harry can stay at your house for the summer!"
"He sure wouldn't want to spend time with you this summer after what you've done!"
"Alright, I'll owl mum then!" Ron said "She'll be upset that your not staying at the burrow, but she'd understand."
"Ron, summer is like 5 months away." Harry said
"Not all of us are procrastinators." Ron said on his way up to his room.
***
***
Hermione sat in her dormitory, alone. It was only six o'clock, so the other girls wouldn't be there for a while.
She counted on this, because she'd have to phone her mum to explain about her and Harry. Hermione was the brightest witch of her age, so she was able to charm an old phone she brought with her to school to work inside school grounds.
She dialed her house phone, and took a deep breath. Her mum picked up around 2 rings in.
"Hermione, how have you been!" She heard her mother say "Are you alright, you've never used the phone before."
"Yeah, mum, I'm fine." Hermione said, anxiously biting her lower lip. "I just wanted to know if you saw the daily prophet yet."
"Oh is this about that boy?!" Her mother asked with excitement "Which one is he again, Harry or Ron?"
"Harry." She replied immediately. The thought of her and Ron was too strange for her.
"The one from the books?" Her mother asked
"Uh, Yeah—"
"I remember when I first got you those books. When you read about him your eyes lit up. I don't know if you remember this, but you said if he could be a great wizard raised in the muggle world; so could you."
"Mum, I was a kid." Hermione blushed
"And you still are" she reminded her daughter "But not too young of a kid to invite her boyfriend over for the summer holidays?" Hermione's mother asked a little unsure "I know how much you try to get him out of his home with his aunt and uncle, so—"
"Yes! Mum, I would love that-He would love that-we both would." Hermione stumbles on her words
"Alright then. Let me know what the two of you decide."
After the phone call was over, parts of it had still stuck in her head. The fact that he gave her the confidence to even come to Hogwarts to begin with. And that her mother was inviting him over for the whole summer.
She knew that in that moment, she loved him as much as she could for being so young. She always has, and these past years have grown stronger as they've matured.
