DISCLAIMER: The same as usual. Thanks J.K Rowling! I love you!

 

Author's note: Another one. Yes another of my R/H fics. Sequel to "Matters of the Heart", of course. My favourite POV ever. Ron's! Don't you just loooove him?Well, guys enjoy. Thanks Elanor, for being a fantastic beta-reader. You are great, I mean it.

 

 

BOYS AND GIRLS

By Abigail

 

 

Chapter One

Love It's just Outside My Door (Literally)

 

 

“Ron, what are you doing in there?”

 

“Just a second, Harry.”

 

Let’s see, let’s see… what’s missing?

 

He surveyed the bathroom quietly, not minding the impatient thumps Harry was giving to the door.

 

He spotted the little blue bottle his father had bought in some Muggle shop, saying that it was a sort of liquid which made Muggles smell good. It read: Eau de Cologne. He wondered if it worked on wizards as well. He could simply cast himself a well-smelling charm if only he was allowed to use magic outside of school. At least that was what Percy had done yesterday night, when he was going out with Penelope.

 

He grabbed the bottle with caution and slowly removed its cap.

 

Now, what am I supposed to do?

 

The bottle contained some sort of transparent liquid and had a weird, strong smell, that kind of reminded Ron of something.

 

It wasn’t a very pleasant smell, but he didn’t really mind. After all she had been a Muggle for more than half of her life. She surely liked this stuff.

 

He looked at the mirror in front of him and poured lots of Cologne into his striped T-Shirt.

 

Immediately he realized it didn’t work like this. Now he smelled like Hagrid had done that night they had visited him at his hut. The night he had tamed his hair with oil. Of course! Hagrid had said something about some Eau de Cologne.

 

Great. Now he smelled like Hagrid. He remembered the horrible grimace that had appeared through Hermione’s face that day at Hagrid’s (concerning the smell of course), and panicked.

 

He removed his shirt hurriedly and looked into the mirror.

 

"You're a mess!" the mirror told him, and Ron glared at it.

 

 

Think. You need help.

 

 

“Harry!”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Come in, please.”

 

“Ron, but…”

 

“I need help!”

 

“Er… Ron, what exactly do you mean by ‘help’?”

 

“Oh, Harry, just come in, please!”

 

The bathroom’s door burst open immediately and in came Harry.

 

“Close the door,” Ron whispered, waving a hand at him.

 

Harry stared in amazement. “Ron, Fred and George are out there, do you really want me to close the door, with both of us inside?”

 

Ron did some quick thinking before replying. “Alright, leave it open.”

 

“What’s wrong?” Harry asked standing beside him.

 

“Er… you know that thing… that Muggle thing called Eau de Cologne?”

 

“Sure.”

 

“Well,” Ron continued, raising the little blue bottle and showing it to Harry, “I had an accident with it.”

 

Harry looked at him without blinking. He breathed deeply a couple of times, surely trying his best not to laugh, then spoke, in a tiny voice. "What do you mean?”

 

“Well, I don’t know exactly how you’re supposed to use it. And I just… well…” he grabbed his soaked-with-Cologne shirt and handed it to Harry.

 

“Oh, it's okay," Harry said, shrugging.

 

“But it stinks. It smells like Hagrid when he was going out with Madame Maxime, or Olympe, if you prefer.”

 

“It doesn’t, Ron. It just…  it smells too much. If you use the right amount, you’ll smell fine.”

 

Ron nodded, taking mental note of everything Harry was saying. After all, it could be useful. “And what’s the right amount?”

 

“A little,” Harry replied briefly.

 

“Right, thanks.”

 

Harry nodded apprehensively, but didn’t move. Ron cleared his throat meaningfully.

 

“Oh, no Ron," Harry replied, shaking his head and grinning. "You are the one who has to go. I've been waiting for an hour."

 

Ron grimaced at him, and then left the bathroom, with the Eau de Cologne thingy in one hand, and his shirt in another.

 

He was about to climb the stairs when he heard Harry. "Don't try too hard, Ron. It's just Hermione. She knows how you really are!"

 

Ron felt himself going awfully red and just managed a tiny "Right, " before hurrying up the staircases.

 

Yes. Maybe Harry was right. Maybe he was trying way too hard. He just couldn't help it.

 

But this was the first time Hermione was going to see the new Ron. The Ron who knew who he felt.

 

He entered his nice, clean and shiny room (thanks to his and Harry's effort), and sat carefully on the bed, sighing.

 

It was so weird to know exactly how he felt. It was weird to know that the only reason he was mad at Vick- Viktor  was because he sort of thought, and it was still hard to admit to himself, that he had stolen his…girl.

 

He had been jealous all this time, without even noticing it. Jealous of a famous Quidditch player. Because he was nothing compared to Viktor Krum. Just… Ron.

 

He took a look at Harry's new watch  (a gift from Snuffles for his fifteen birthday), which was lying on the bedside table, and panicked again. Just half an hour. He went pink at the mere thought of it. Half an hour, and she would be here. For a whole week.

 

He jumped up and hurried over to his closet. He had to pick a new shirt. One that matched his beige pants. But how was he supposed to know which color matched beige?

 

He needed help again. But not from Harry. His friend had spent most of his life wearing Dudley's old clothes. What could he possibly know about clothes?

 

"Ginny!" He ran downstairs again, almost tripping over a pair of shoes laying at the bottom of the staircases. Damn! Who leaves shoes at the bottom of the stairs?

 

Immediately he realized those were his own shoes. He laughed quietly at himself.

 

"Gin!" he repeated between giggles.

 

"What's wrong?" Ginny's head popped out through a gap in her room's door. She looked quite scandilised.

 

"I need help," Ron replied.

 

She smiled. "From me?" she asked, looking a little startled.

 

"No, from Draco Malfoy," Ron said irritably. "It's about my clothes."

 

Ginny seemed totally delighted with the situation. "Awwww," she replied, tilting her head to one side, and looking at him with tenderness.

 

Ron looked away. "What does 'awwww' mean?"

 

"Nothing," Ginny said, coming out of her room. "C'mon." She grabbed his hand and steered him all the way to his room.

 

She forced him to sit on his bed and stood in front of his closet for about five minutes, throwing clothes out in every direction.

 

"Hey, be careful!" said Ron, running from side to side, picking up shirts and socks and pants from the floor.

 

"Since when do you care about your room or your clothes?" Ginny asked, not minding to look at him or to stop throwing things around.

 

Since I understood I like her. Since yesterday.

 

Ron didn't reply.  Instead, he glared at his sister's back and sat on the bed again.

 

Suddenly, his room's door slammed open. Both Ron and Ginny turned to look and saw Harry, standing in the doorway.

 

It took one look at Ginny for Harry to blush. And it took half a look at Harry for Ginny to blush. Ron simply grinned with delight.

 

"Er…" said Harry.

 

"Er…" said Ginny.

 

Ron fought back his giggles.

 

There was an umconfortable silence. Harry sat on Ron's bed, and Ginny continued her search for right clothes, her legs now trembling a bit.

 

"Here," she said after a while, handing Ron a red shirt. "It matches beige perfectly fine."

 

Ron took the red shirt and placed it on. "Thanks," he said.

 

Ginny smiled. A nervous smile. "Sure."

 

There was another uncomfortable silence.

 

"I guess I'll go now," Ginny said, her face still as red as her flaming hair.

 

She walked towards the door, but stopped and spoke, without even turning around. "Don't try too hard, Ron."

 

Ron went terribly red again and managed to say, "Right," in a muffled whisper.

 

Just then, they heard the sound of a car's approaching the Burrow's garden. Then it stopped and they heard familiar voices.

 

"Dad, help me with my trunk please."

 

"Sure, dear."

 

From Ron's lips came a low squeaky noise and he stood up violently.

 

"That's it, Hermione. I'll carry it, don't worry."

 

"Thanks, Dad."

 

There was silence, broken only by the low sound of footsteps approaching the house. Harry took a look out of the window, followed by Ron and then Ginny. If Hermione had looked up just then, she would have seen three heads peeking out of the tiny window.

 

For it was Hermione. The bushy hair was unmistakable.

 

The three Grangers stood in front of the door, talking quietly to each other.

 

Knock, knock, knock.

 

Ron let another squeaky noise escape from his mouth, before storming downstairs, not bothering to wait for Harry or Ginny.

 

He got to the door fairly quickly, and found his mother and the twins already there. Of course, the twins wouldn't miss and opotunity to see him embarrased.

 

Mrs. Weasley gave him a questioning look that Ron decided to ignore. Harry and Ginny jumped the last two steps and joined them.

 

Molly sighed and opened the door carefully.

 

Ron's heart sank horribly with emotion. There she was. Beaming at them all. No. Beaming at him.

 

"Hi!" she said. Her parents, who were standing behind her, waved, smiling.

 

"Come in," said Mrs. Weasley, standing aside.

 

They did as told, and Ron found himself face to face with her. "Wel- welcome," he blurted out.

 

"It's so good to see you!" Hermione exclaimed, thrusting her arms around his neck.

 

Ron looked at her in amezment, but reacted fairly quickly, and hugged her back.

 

"It's so good to see you too."

 

 

Author's note: As you can see, this is a chaptered story. Don't worry, the next chapter will be ready soon. It's about the whole week with Hermione at the Burrow. It changes POV, from Ron's to Ginny's to Harry's to Hermione's (of course). I hope you like it so far.