Dirt

“Ron, hand me that weeder, will you?  I want to pull the dandelions over here by Mum’s rosebush.”

Ron Weasley looked up at Hermione with a bewildered look on his face.  “A what?” he asked, wrinkling his nose at her.  He squinted and glanced down at the garden tools in front of him.  “What’s a-”

“A weeder,” Hermione replied impatiently, pointing to the tool right by his knee.  “Honestly, haven’t you ever gardened?”

Ron shook his head.  “You think Mum would let me touch her precious garden?  The only thing I ever did to it was de-gnome it, but I doubt you have those here.”  He glanced around at the very Muggle-looking garden, which was far neater than the garden at the Burrow.  “She always uses a wand, anyway.  Why can’t we use our wands?”

Hermione frowned at him.  “This is a Muggle street, Ron.  The Ministry would have owls sent here in a second if you tried to use your wand.” 

Ron put down the tulip he was trying to squash into the ground and raised his eyebrows playfully.  “And how would you know about that, Hermione?”

She rolled her eyes and grabbed the trowel from him.  “Remember when Dobby visited Harry and levitated the cake?  An owl came just a few minutes later.  They’re very prompt when it comes to Muggles.”

“Oh.  So you never tried using magic over the summer?”  Ron looked disappointed.  Hermione glared at him.

“Of course not!” she said instantly.  Ron grinned as her cheeks started to turn red. 

“Really?” he asked.  “Or has Miss I-Follow-All-The-Rules Granger actually broken the law?” 

Hermione said nothing and busied herself with the rosebush.  Ron, now very curious, crawled over to her and put his head on her shoulder. 

“Is that a yes?” he asked teasingly. 

Still ignoring him, Hermione smoothed the soil around the rosebush, her cheeks flaming red now. 

“Aw, come on Hermione…” he said into her ear.  She said nothing, and stood.  Still ignoring him, she walked over to the plants that still needed to be put into the ground. 

Well, if she wouldn’t talk, he would have to try another approach.  Glancing at Hermione to make sure she wasn’t watching, he grabbed a handful of dirt and put his hand behind his back as she came back to the spot where she had been sitting.  Grinning, he threw the dirt.  Hermione shrieked and dropped her trowel, her hands instantly going to her face. 

“Ron!  You just got dirt all in my hair!” she said, though he could tell she was trying not to laugh.  She glared at him, crossed her arms, and turned away. 

Well if she was going to be like that…Ron turned the other way and tried to look like he was doing something.  He glanced back at her and found himself in a shower of dirt, a giggling Hermione watching him. 

“That wasn’t fair, my back was turned!” he protested, grabbing a fistful of dirt and flinging it at her.  A moment later, dirt flew all through the air, landing all over the two giggling teenagers.  Laughing so hard that tears streamed down her face, Hermione fell onto Ron’s lap and looked up at him with a grin on her face. 

“Well that was mature,” Hermione remarked.  “I suppose we should get back to planting.”  She sat up and started moving over to where she had laid the plants, but turned back to where Ron still sat. 

“You’ve got dirt on your nose, by the way,” she told him, “did you know?”

Glaring at her, Ron wiped his nose.  Some things never changed.