"Well, of course! The more, the merrier!" Mrs. Weasley replied, although there was a slight edge in her voice. Hermione expected that this was not about her mother's request, but about her comments about Ron's owl.
"Wonderful! Hermione, let's go exchange our money, then I can go back to my job. I'm sure Mrs. Weasley will take care of you. We brought her trunk. Tom at that pub is keeping an eye on it. Hermione also put some special sealing spell thingy on it so no one could break into it." She steered Hermione into the bank, exchanged her money, and 15 minutes later, she was gone.
"Do you see what I have to deal with now? She's completely impossible! And my father's worse! They think it's 'just a phase' and that I'm going to 'grow out of it'. They think I'm going to go to college in the Muggle world! As if! It never occurred to my parents that I'm going to succeed in the wizarding world! But I can't go against them until we graduate, or they will disown me."
The three friends went window-shopping, while Mrs. Weasley went off with Ginny to buy her dress robes and potion refills. They, too, filled all of their supply lists except their books, which they would buy with Mrs. Weasley at 2:00 p.m. in Flourish and Blotts. Hermione even found the most perfect thing for Harry for his birthday: a refiller kit for his Broomstick Repair Kit and a Bottle of Mood-Changing Ink. While wandering around, they came face-to-face with (in their opinion) the most hated student at Hogwarts: Draco Malfoy. Unfortunately, Malfoy couldn't say anything bad. He just kind of glanced at them, scowled, and never looked back.
But while roaming through the Joke Shop, they ran into one student that Hermione especially didn't want to see: Blaise Zabini. Ron immediately ran over to her and they began speaking rapidly over their summers, while Hermione sat watching them from a distance, glowering. Harry looked over and saw Hermione's expression.
"Aw, come on Herm. You know he's never going to fall for her."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Oh, yes you do. I can tell. . .you care about Ron, don't you?"
"Would I be likely to tell you, his best friend, who would be likely to tell him the first chance you get?"
Harry dropped the subject at that, but Hermione could tell that not only did he know, he was going to tell Ron, which was something that she did not want.
* * *
Later, after they had all grabbed their schoolbooks and traveled by Floo Powder back to the Burrow, they resumed their normal positions.
Hermione was in the windowsill, reading "An Advanced Guide to Transfiguration". Mrs. Weasley was cooking something that smelled scrumptious in the kitchen. Harry was polishing his Firebolt. Ron was playing Exploding Snap with Fred, George, and Ginny. But, Hermione could feel the vibes going between Harry and Ron. They kept looking secretly at each other, as if they were reading each other's minds. Hermione didn't like those looks, and she was getting incredibly suspicious.