A/N: This is my first Harry Potter fic, so bear with me...it might be a little rough at first. Plus, Hermione doesn't show up until the next chapter. This one just kind of establishes things.

I don't own Harry Potter, the characters, etc.

Ginny got home from school like she did every day. Unlike other days, however, her brother was home sitting on the couch in the living room.

"Hey Ron. Don't you have class today?" Ginny asked. Her brother was in college and had a class this time every Wednesday and Friday.

"It got cancelled. Something about the teacher's kid being sick. How was school?"

"Good I guess. Harry and I stayed out of trouble…for the most part. Okay, so we almost got into a fight, but that SO wasn't our fault. This girl came up to us and said I'd fooled around with her and never called her back, but I don't even remember her so-"

"Ginny, I don't really care what you and your super-best-friend Harry get into at school. In fact, I'd rather not know."

"Well," Ginny said, "you asked me about that day. I figured you wanted to know everything."

"Yeah…speaking of school, how's that been going for you?"

Ginny looked at her brother. He was acting oddly. "Um, do you wanna know about school or don't you?"

"Yeah, I wanna know, just not about…that kind of stuff."

"Oh…alright." Ginny was a little taken aback by her brother's sudden concern in her school life. "Same old same old. I hate it; it hates me. Why do you care?"

Ron sighed heavily. "I'm just worried about you, that's all."

"What's going on? Are you dying or something?"

Ron rolled his eyes at his sister's question. "You're a dummy. I'm not dying." Ron was fumbling with a paper in his hands. "How are you doing in your classes?"

"Why?" Ginny asked warily.

"This is your progress report," Ron said, holding up the paper in his hands. "Look at it." Ron stood up and handed his sister the report.

Ginny opened it, read it, and sat on the couch in shock.

"How am I failing math and English?!"

"That's what I asked myself."

Ginny was speechless. She'd never failed a class before, let alone two. Sure, she wasn't anywhere close to being an all-star student, but she'd always managed to swing a C in all of her classes by the time progress reports came out. This wasn't a final report card, but it seemed she had quite a hole to dig herself out of.

"I just don't get it. This hasn't ever happened to me before. Shit Ron, it's my senior year. I need these classes to graduate."

Ron just shrugged and took a seat next to his sister. "You're just lucky I got my hands on this before Mom and Dad did. They would've flipped."

"Yeah," Ginny said, still kind of out of it. "Thanks Ron."

"Don't mention it. I couldn't let Mom kill the only sister I have. I mean, I almost lost you last year when mom caught you in her room with some girl-"

"I thought we weren't ever going to talk about that again."

"I'm sorry but that had to be the funniest moment I've ever witnessed! I didn't know that Mom's face could get that red. Jesus, it was redder than her hair! Plus, I mean, Mom was right about you being too young. You were only 16-" Ginny glared at her brother. "Geez, sorry. I'll shut up. So what're you gonna do about this?"

"I don't know," Ginny said. "Maybe I could run away and-"

"If you ran away you'd either die on the street or Mom would find you and you'd wish you had died on the street." Ron laughed at his own joke, but Ginny wasn't so amused.

"This isn't funny Ron! I'm really screwed!"

"Yeah, pretty much," Ron said, earning yet another glare from his younger sister. "Well it's true! How did this happen…you've never had trouble with your grades."

"I've always had trouble with math, you know that."

"True," Ron said," but you've never had trouble with English."

Ginny didn't want to tell Ron that she'd been skipping English for the past month to avoid running into her crazy ex-girlfriend. "I guess I just don't get it anymore, that's all."

"Well, you could always get a tutor. Maybe pull up your grades before the semester ends."

"Nah, I tried that. The kid tutoring me barely knew more than I did. It was obviously a teacher's form of detention."

Ron frowned in thought, then looked up and smiled. "I've got it!" he said, jumping to his feet.

Ginny jumped to her feet in response, surprised by her brother's excitement. "What do you mean?"

"I know exactly what to do for you."

"Great! What's the plan?"

"I'll get you a tutor," Ron said, seeming very proud of himself. Ginny looked at him like he was an idiot.

"Ron, you already had this idea about thirty seconds ago, remember? That isn't gonna work."

"No, a minute ago, I said you could find yourself a tutor. Now I'm suggesting I find you a tutor. And I know just the person. She's smart and she's short on cash. I met her in one of my classes."

"So…she's a college girl?" Ginny asked with a smile on her face.

"Yeah," Ron answered. "Why?"

"Is she cute?"

"Ginny!" Ron exclaimed." I know you love chasing skirts, but that's the last thing you should be thinking about!"

"Fine…but is she?"

"Ugh, forget it!" Ron snatched the progress report out of Ginny's hands. "I'll just take this to Mom and let her deal with it." Ron started to walk away, but Ginny grabbed his hand.

"Alright! I'll take things more seriously! I'll take your stupid tutor! Just please don't let Mom know! I'm begging you!"

Ron laughed and handed the progress report back to Ginny. "Okay. Trust me, you won't regret this. Hermione is amazing."

"Is that her name?" Ginny asked with a smile. "Sounds sexy."

"I swear Ginny, I'll tell mom-"

"God, I was just kidding. Learn to take a joke."

"Fine, just don't be an idiot around Hermione. She's serious about education."

"She sounds like a prude."

Ron patted his sister on the back. "I think that's exactly what you need right now." With that, Ron left the room.

Ginny sat back down on the bed and stared at the report in her hands. Ginny thought about just trying to fix her grades herself, but then she thought of the consequences if she failed. It was useless; she'd have to get a tutor.

"Maybe this tutor won't be so bad," Ginny said to herself. "I mean, there's an outside chance that she'll be a drop-dead-gorgeous lesbian with a thing for redheads." Ginny laughed at herself. "Yeah right. My brother set this all up. She's probably some unattractive bookworm that hasn't had a date in years. This is going to be hell."