"You always ruin everything!"

I was alone in my dark dormitory, the sounds of the dance filtering up through the thick stone floors. My dress robes lay in a crumpled heap at the foot of my bed, and I felt too resentful of the night's end to care for them properly.

My slip was silky and soft against my legs as I shifted over the covers of my four-poster. I lazily waved my wand to draw the curtains closed, one of the first spells I learned to do non-verbally. I knew Ron and Harry would only roll their eyes if I told them of my attempts at non-verbal wand work.

I whispered a spell and thought of Ginny one floor below. I had seen her head up several minutes before I wobbled to the stairs, and she had been smiling from her night with Neville.

"Gin?" I whispered.

"Hermione!"

"Oh, Ginny," I started, dissolving into tears again.

"What did he do?" she demanded. "Ron is such a prat, really."

"He just said some of the most awful things about me and about Viktor…"

"Maybe if he wanted you to go to the dance with him he should have stopped wiping his boogers on his sleeve by first year," Ginny said. I managed a watery smile.

"Why do I try to help him and Harry. I should stop sharing my history notes with them."

"That'll show 'em," was Ginny's sarcastic remark.

"Gin…" I said softly. "Honestly. And Harry can be just as bad as Ron. Boys turn so silly over things like dances," I started strong but my finish left me teary. Stupid Ron.

"Don't they have brains when they're around girls?"

"Somehow they manage around me just fine."

"Don't you sound bitter."

"No I do not sound bitter, Ginny, so you can just drop it."

There were some moments of silence.

"Did you at least have fun with Neville, then?"

"When he wasn't stepping all over my feet, yes."

"Well that's good," I started, when Ginny started sniffing. "Harry's oblivious, Gin. Really. Don't start crying on me Ginny, I'm doing enough for both of us."

There were voices on the stairs.

"Shh, wait. Lavender and Parvati are back."

"Okay, I'll see you at breakfast?"

"Yeah, 'night."

"'Night".

I kissed Krum in the library the next week. His dark eyes glowed hot as he pressed into me, towered over me. One of his arms was curled around my waist and the other was on the back of my neck. I was struck suddenly by the fact he was four years older than me. And that if kissing was always like this, I'd have to do it more often.

The image of Ron kissing me like this flashed through my mind just then and I moaned into the mouth that was against mine. All of the blood in my body rushed into my head.

"Hermyown," he rumbled against me. His voice was deeper from..what?

"Ah, Viktor, that was…that was wow…"

His normal scowl shifted into a smirk for a moment. "Wow is good, yes?"

"Wow is great," I whispered, feeling desperately shy. "I, er, have class in ten minutes."

I saw Ron's back first as I ran to Charms. His shoulders were broad, the shape of the muscles making a valley between his shoulder blades. I'm glad Hogwarts stopped making robes mandatory during the school day, not that uniforms were much better, but Ron always made even the sweater vests look good. His red hair turned gold at the bottom, curling against the nape of his neck. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, his freckles like flecks of bronze on his skin.

"Hermione!" I heard Harry call.

"Wait for me!" I shouted down the corridor.

Ron turned around. His eyes were stone. I stopped running, breathing a little hard. I walked the rest of the way. I breezed past Ron, and put a hand on Harry's arm.

"Did you do the assignment Flitwick set for us?" I asked him.

"Where were you?" Ron asked from behind us.

I sat at the desk, Ron sliding in beside me, too close, too close, too close.

"I was in the library, with Viktor."

I was looking at my open book in front of me. Next to it I saw his fist clench.

The class passed in silence.