AN: I do not own anything hereinafter. – thanks in advance for reading! (oh and no, the fic has nothing to do with the Gin Blossoms song of the same title; I just borrowed the title. But that song is amazing.)

Hey Jealousy:

Hermione didn't like to think of herself as a jealous person. She had felt envious before, envious of Lavender and Ron. But Ron hadn't been hers at the time and she firmly believed in the logic that jealousy stemmed from mistrust, so as long as she had trust in her partner they'd be safe from the green eyed monster of jealousy – or was that envy? – at any rate Hermione didn't have to be jealous because Ron was hers.

She stared across her office at the slight discoloration on the far wall. She didn't have any reason to be jealous of the new Auror Ron was training. She didn't have any reason to be jealous of the sleek blonde hair, toothpaste commercial perfect smile, stylish dress, or anything else about perky perfect Penny. Hermione heard herself growl as she shoved back from her desk and stormed out of her office – the depositions on the Goblin Rights trial could wait. She stormed to Ron's office, through the glass windows she could see Penny leaning over the desk; her flirtations were blatant even from this distance. Hermione felt her anger flare; was this jealousy? This possessiveness and hostility?

"Hermione?"

She turned to smile at Harry, "Hi, Harry." She said – her voice normal despite her clenched fists.

"You okay?" He must have seen her tensed shoulders and gritted teeth.

"Fine."

Harry looked from Hermione to Ron's office to Penny and Hermione's clenched fist piecing the puzzle together.

"Do you have a problem with Penny working with Ron?" he asked bluntly.

"That's absurd. You're acting oddly Harry." She smiled as best as she could.

The clock in the corner of the hallway chimed noontime. "Oh, I'm late for lunch. Bye." She turned toward Ron's office as Harry shook his head and walked back to his own.

She knocked on the office door though normally she would have just walked in. She felt awkward but why? He was her fiancé. She had nothing to be jealous of. She was being irrational and shook herself to calm down. Hermione was a lot of things but irrational was not among them.

Ron opened the door. "'mione. Why didn't you just come in?" He kissed her quickly in that semi-formal way they always did at work. "Is it lunch time?"

It wasn't like Ron to forget a meal. Things were worse than she thought. Hermione nodded, not able to speak for some reason.

"You've met Penny?" Ron asked.

She extended her hand, "Not officially." She said finding her voice. "Hermione."

Penny shook Hermione's hand enthusiastically. "Of course! Ron's told me all about his fiancé!"

"I'm starving. Can we go to that Muggle restaurant with the breadsticks?" Ron asked as he grabbed his cloak.

"Avanti?" Hermione asked.

"That Italian place on Charing Cross Road?" Penny asked.

"Yea! You know it?" Ron asked.

"Yea! Mum and Dad used to take me there. It's amazing. Their breadsticks are the most delicious food."

"Penny's a Muggle Born too." Ron explained to Hermione.

Hermione nodded in acknowledgement of this fact.

"You okay babe? You're not usually this quiet." Ron said.

"Fine."

"Penny, you want to come with us?" Ron asked and Hermione snapped back from her quiet reverie.

He's inviting her to our lunch! ?

"Oh, well if you don't mind. I'd hate to be an imposition."

"Nah, it's fine. Right 'mione?"

No! It's not fine! She screamed in her head. Out loud she said, "Of course, please come. I forgot my scarf in my office. Meet you in the lobby?"

Hermione dashed off before either could respond but she didn't go to her office, she went straight to Harry's office instead.

"Harry! Are you busy?" she rushed to his desk, her tone frantic.

"Not really." He admitted; he had been levitating a piece of parchment around the room and it dropped to the desk with a whisper.

"Come to lunch with me, Ronald and Penny!"

"Sure. But why are you so panicked?"

"I need you to tell me if I'm being crazy! Penny's in love with Ron and he's going to realize he doesn't love me and leave me for her isn't he! ?" Hermione was near tears by the end of her explanation.

"I don't have to go eat with you to know you're talking crazy Hermione. Ron wouldn't leave you for all the gold in Gringotts." Harry said strongly as he grabbed his cloak.

"But he would leave me for Perky, Perfect Penny." Hermione argued.

"I seriously doubt that."

"Just, tell me if you think he's flirting with her. I've never been so irrational in my life! I can barely breathe."

"Just calm down 'mione." The pair met up with Ron and Penny.

"Hey Harry." Ron said, "Joining us?"

"Yea seems so."

"Mr. Potter." Penny smiled.

Harry still felt weird being addressed formally by his staff. "Ms. Sherwood."

"Shall we?" Hermione urged.

Ron took her hand in his as they left the Ministry, emerging into the Leaky Cauldron and walking to Charing Cross Road. Hermione felt the warmth of his hand in hers and tried to breathe. He loved her. She had no reason to be jealous. She trusted him. She loved him. Jealousy was unnecessary.

"Penny's dad is a poleseman." Ron said conversationally.

"Policeman." Penny corrected with a flirtatious giggle.

Hermione's grip on Ron's hand tightened until Ron actually let out a small 'ouch'.

"Sorry." Hermione muttered quickly, loosening her grip.

"Hello, welcome to Avanti's. Four today?"

"Yes."

"This way."

They followed the waitress to a booth in the corner and ordered drinks as they squeezed into the booth. Hermione sat next to Ron (perhaps a bit closer than she would have normally) while Harry and Penny sat on the opposite side.

"I'm going to eat so many breadsticks. I didn't realize how hungry I was." Ron said as he perused the menu.

"I like the mushroom ziti." Penny said not even bothering with the menu, her eyes fixed on Ron.

Hermione wasn't looking at the list of delicious pasta dishes either; she was glaring at Penny over the top of the menu, watching for any signs that Ron was going to be snatched away from her any second.

"The chicken Alfredo looks good, doesn't it Hermione." Harry said pointedly.

She looked up at him and he gave her a wide eyed look and a slight head nod that was clearly supposed to mean 'knock it off you look like a crazy person'. She sighed and dropped her eyes to the menu.

"You liked that chicken dish with the lemon we got last time right?" Ron asked Hermione.

"Yea. That's good." she put her menu down; glad to have a reason to not look at it any more.

"Know what I've just thought of?" Hermione said, "I didn't bring any Muggle money. I'll need to just pop over to Gringott's for a moment."

"I have money Hermione." Ron said, giving his fiancé an odd look. "I'm not going to let you pay for yourself."

Hermione smiled at him warmly. She loved him so much it hurt. But her ruse to let Harry observe Ron and Penny alone was now foiled.

"You're sweet." She said, leaning on his arm.

Ron blushed slightly. "You're being weird Hermione."

She sat up straight and blushed herself. She was being weird. Irrational. Jealous. It wasn't like her.

The waitress came and they placed their orders. Everything was going rather smoothly and Hermione thought she might, just might have imagined the flirtatious way Penny had been behaving; until Penny put her hand on Ron's across the table.

"How did you get that scar?" she asked looking at the thick red line across his right wrist.

"Oh. I don't remember. I have so many of them."

Penny's hand lingered on Ron's just a moment longer than was necessary before she let go. "I love hearing your stories. You're such an inspiration."

Hermione breathed deeply, trying not to explode. It was perfectly normal for people to pay Ron a compliment; he was a decorated war hero, people complimented him every day. But Hermione couldn't help feeling it was different with Penny. Penny did it in a flattering way whereas most people did it because they were genuinely impressed.

"I've been meaning to ask you Ron, are you free on Saturday? I know you love The Chudley Cannons and well there's a meet and greet with them and I got tickets; I thought you'd like to go with me."

Ron's face lit up instantly as though he'd just been told he was going to be on the team himself. "That's brilliant Pen! I'd love to go!"

"That does sound fun." Hermione said with forced pleasantness.

"You hate Quidditch babe." Ron said.

"I meant fun for you." She corrected.

"I love Quidditch. I've been a fan of the Chudley Cannons since I found out what Quidditch was. Orange is my favorite color. Well, anything ginger really." Penny laughed.

"I've been following them since I was born." Ron gushed.

As Penny and Ron got into a deep conversation about different players and various epic losses Hermione felt her control slipping away and she struggled to be reasonable. She wasn't the biggest fan of sports, and Penny was. It was okay that he had someone else who loved the Cannons to talk with. And anyone could have orange as a favorite color. It had nothing to do with Penny subliminally saying she liked Ron's hair. These thoughts invaded Hermione's rational head and she looked at Harry desperately but he shrugged kind of helplessly.

"I don't feel well. I'm going to go back to work. Er, home." Hermione said suddenly mostly to Harry.

"Are you okay?" Ron asked, ignoring Penny's next sentence all together.

"I'm fine. See you later."

"Let me take you home 'mione. I can skive off the rest of the day." Ron said.

"Ron! You can't just skive off." Harry said.

"Kingsley won't care." Ron argued.

"But you're supposed to be setting an example for the trainee." Harry said.

"Oh. Right."

But Hermione felt better. She knew that if Ron was taking the time to care about her then he wasn't thinking about Penny, so that was okay. She didn't have to be worried.

"And we have to do that Antidote Seminar at three." Harry said.

Ron groaned.

"I can't wait to hear your lecture." Penny said in that sickly sweet tone.

"Oh, I forgot Kingsley asked me to go to that too." Hermione said suddenly. "I'll just have to suffer through the day."

"He did?" Harry asked.

Hermione gave him a pointed look and he caught on a beat too late. "Oh. Great." He said and Hermione looked anxious.

Ron looked between Harry and Hermione for a moment but seemed to decide not to comment. The check came and the group headed back to work. Harry slowed down to lag behind with Hermione as Ron and Penny went on ahead, continuing their conversation about whether the Cannons had a chance and just who could ever replace Grimshaw.

"I think you're barking Hermione." Harry said in a hushed voice.

"She was clearly flirting Harry!" Hermione hissed, "That hand grab was completely unnecessary. Please Harry, you have to train her; get her away from Ron."

"I'm going through my own training Hermione so I can officially take over the department. I don't have time to train someone."

"Harry -" Hermione began to argue but he cut her off.

"You're over reacting." He said firmly, with a tone that was clearly saying 'end of discussion'.

Hermione huffed but a part of her knew Harry was right.

Penny laughed at something Ron had said and his face lit up with his blush; his smile was dazzling.

"Does he blush like that when I say things?" Hermione asked in a whisper.

"Hermione!" Harry exploded so that Ron and Penny both looked back confused.

"Pestering him to talk to Kingsley about the Centaur Treaty." Hermione said, making her voice politely abashed.

Ron and Penny went back to talking and Harry continued in a quiet tone. "Hermione, Ron isn't the type to think girls like him, and he definitely would never think of leaving you. So even if Penny is flirting she's wasting her time."

Hermione took a deep breath and nodded as they stepped back into work. She felt slightly better after what Harry said. He was right of course; Ron wasn't flirting back so it wasn't like she had anything to worry about.

()()()

The seminar was dull and Hermione wished she hadn't made as though she was supposed to be there. She listened to Harry talk about how crucial it was to know your poisons and then Ron talked about antidotes, using the thrilling tale of his own experience with being poisoned as an example of how convenient bezoars' were.

The trainee's milled around after asking for more thrilling tales from the field. Hermione considered lingering but then thought she had better just get back to work.

"Ron! I had no idea you were poisoned!" she heard Penny's trilling voice. "That must have been so terrifying."

Hermione turned around to see Penny's hand on Ron's arm. Hermione didn't know what exactly was suddenly triggered in her but before her brain had come to any rational decisions her irrational side was out full force. She stormed up to Penny and slapped her hand away from Ron.

"Would you stop flirting with him? !" she raged.

"Hermione!" Ron admonished.

"He has a fiancé!" she continued on ignoring him.

"Hermione!" Ron said again, this time in a hushed voice; people were staring.

"You've been engaged for over a year and you still haven't set a date! Clearly his commitment isn't as solid as you think!" Penny said triumphantly.

Hermione could feel the primitive growl building in her throat, her face contorted into a snarl and then a primal scream of rage erupted from her lips as she attacked Penny. The girls were on the floor by the time Penny's shriek echoed around the boardroom. Hermione was ripping at Penny's hair, pulling at chunks of the shiny locks. Penny was beating her fists into Hermione's back, trying to injure her enough to get the upper-hand. A group of onlookers had gathered and were watching the two professionals cause a ruckus.

"Hermione!" Ron said, attempting to pull his fiancé off the other woman and getting kicked in the shin by a stray leg.

Harry didn't want to do it, but he really had no choice. "I'll stun you both if you don't stop!" he shouted.

"Tell this crazy woman to get off of me!" Penny shouted, her nails gouging at Hermione's neck.

"Leave. My. Man. Alone!"

Ron finally jerked Hermione away before Harry had to resort to stunning.

Hermione had scratches on the side of her neck that were bleeding and her face red from anger and exertion but Penny was far worse off, her nose was bloody and it seemed a small chunk of hair was actually missing from her scalp.

"You crazy bitch." Penny said as Harry helped her stand.

Hermione lunged but Ron had her around the middle, holding her back, arms flailing.

"Hermione! Calm down babe."

Hermione stopped struggling and resorted to glaring at Penny.

"Nothing to see everyone," Harry said, realizing there was still quite a crowd. No one moved.

"Go back to work now!" Kingsley ordered and the crowd scampered. "Harry, take Ms. Sherwood to the hospital."

Harry took Penny by the arm and led her away from the scene. She was limping slightly and Hermione smiled to herself; looks like that kick had been well placed after all.

"Hermione, you care to explain yourself?" Kingsley asked.

Hermione suddenly felt very hot with shame. She had been completely stupid and made a fool of herself. She opened her mouth to speak but felt tears streaming down her face and she choked on her tongue.

"I think she needs to get these scratches looked at." Ron said, "Can't she talk to you later?"

Hermione was so grateful toward Ron. Kingsley nodded, "Come see me before you leave today."

Hermione nodded and allowed Ron to lead her away. He didn't take her to hospital though, he took her to her office and sat her down on the chaise she had in the corner. He kneeled down in front of her, holding her hands and attempting to look in her eyes but she kept looking at the floor, not ready to meet his eyes.

"What the bloody hell was that about?"

Hermione didn't answer, Ron wiped her tears with his thumb and she finally looked at him. "I couldn't…" she began, "I couldn't stand the thought of someone else having you."

Ron looked perplexed for a moment so she continued. "Penny. She's been flirting with you for weeks and… well I just couldn't take it anymore. I was so terrified you would fall in love with her and forget about me and… I was just so jealous."

Ron chuckled softly, holding Hermione's face in his hands, forcing her eyes to meet his. "You're completely mental. I love you Hermione Granger."

Hermione felt extremely foolish. She knew she had been illogical and she knew she had blown the whole situation out of proportion.

"I can't believe you tackled her." He said with a smile and Hermione gave a nervous laugh. "You're feisty."

"Well, she was trying to steal you away!"

"Hermione, the imperious curse couldn't take me away from you."

Hermione looked earnestly at Ron, begging him to read the insecurities in her eyes and to erase them. He pulled her into his warm embrace and as her eyes closed in contentment she felt this was how she knew he would always be hers. This immense comfort she got from a touch, the assurance in a gesture.

"I'm sorry I freaked out." She said shyly.

"It was kind of hot." He smirked, which made her smile.

"I hope I don't get fired."

"Kingsley won't fire you. Come on, let's go talk to him and then we'll go home."

Hermione allowed herself to be led out of the office to Kingsley's. Ron offered to go in with her but she knew she had to deal with it alone. After a long lecture on proper office behavior and the stipulation that she would be under close observation for a week Hermione was allowed to leave. She leaned on Ron as they left work early, waving goodbye to Harry.

"So a week with observation huh? That's rough."

"Well at least he didn't fire me. And I deserved it. I was completely barbaric." Hermione admitted.

"I still say it was kind of hot; you fighting for me." His eyes twinkled mischievously as he looked down at her. Hermione blushed but didn't respond.

"May twentieth." Ron said suddenly.

"What's May twentieth?"

"Our wedding date." When Hermione continued to look perplexed Ron continued, "You see, Penny said something that bothered me. She asked why we hadn't set a date; and she had a point. Why hadn't we? Well work and being busy of course, but I think it's time. I like May twentieth. What do you think?"

Hermione beamed up at him. "It's perfect."

Hermione knew she would have to deal with the feeling of unease and jealousy, and that there would be more Penny's… for that matter there was no guarantee Penny would give up. But she could bear it. Ron loved her and that was all that mattered… jealousy really was a useless emotion.