Disclaimer: Somehow I doubt J.K. Rowling would ever write something like this.

A/N: While casting about for inspiration for "That Old House" this came up. Amazing how things like that work, yes? And while I know that many if not all of the characters (Harry and Ginny, mostly) are OOC, I tried to show why as best I could. (And as you can tell, I'm not feeling particularly charitable towards Ginny at the moment.)

Chapter One

Silverware clinked through the rather sleepy silence of the flat currently being shared by Harry, Ron, and Neville. The three girls (Hermione, Luna, and Ginny) sat across from said men, politely eating and politely ignoring the rather clumsy manners of their friends.

Hermione finally broke the silence.

"Harry."

Immediately, Ginny's gaze flashed to her current boyfriend, then snapped to his best friend, who ignored her warning scowl.

Harry looked up and swallowed his food.

"Yeah." he said, noncommittally. Hermione winced noticeably, and Ron, Neville, and Luna exchanged agitated glances. Lately (or if they were going to be frank, since Harry and Ginny had begun dating again), Harry had been uncharacteristically careless of Hermione's feelings and opinions.

Perhaps Ginny liked it that way, but Ron detested it, and bluntly, he detested the person Harry had become. He was rather cynical, cold, and, worst of all, rather lust-driven, and not, Ron suspected, just towards Ginny.

"Could you come to St. Mungo's on Thursday afternoon?" Hermione asked finally, her lip trapped under her teeth. "There's someone I'm working with who--"

"Sorry, Hermione, I'm busy." Harry cut across her. She flinched again, noticing, as everyone did, the rather hungry look he had cast at Ginny. Ron's fists were currently clutching the edge of the tabletop. "Besides, since when did St. Mungo's need my help? I'm useless at healing--"

"This wasn't about that." Hermione's words were carefully measured, although Ron could see the beginning of tears at the corners of her eyes. "Healing, I mean... sort of. I just thought--"

"He's busy, Hermione." Ginny said rather icily, and Hermione fell silent. Her cheeks were very flushed. "He told you."

"Yes." Hermione managed a very forced smile. "He did."

Something in Harry's impassive expression changed the smallest fraction when Hermione swiftly ducked her head, attempting to hide her tears.

"I mean." he said finally, with one of his (horribly, Luna thought almost angrily) soothing smiles. "There's nothing our Hermione can't handle."

Except for an egotistical, selfish git like you. Ron and Neville's faces were decided shades of scarlet.

"You flatter me." Hermione said quietly. "But Harry, we need help: your help."

"Don't lecture me, Hermione." Harry brushed her off, spearing a bit of ham on his fork. "I've helped as much as I can--"

"That's not true." Hermione said rather tersely. "And you know it's not."

The whole room tensed, until Ginny snapped, "Lay off him, will you, Hermione? Wasn't ending Voldemort enough for you?"

Hermione's lips thinned.

"Please." she said finally, in a very cold voice. "Just let Harry and I talk for a bit. Come outside, Harry?"

Harry laughed incredulously but followed her obediently.

Ron, Luna, and Neville glanced at each other, nodded, and then followed, wielding a pair of Extended Ears. Hermione finally turned to Harry, and in a much more pleading tone than before, said, "Harry, there are people who need you-- and not just to worship or to thank you, either. They need your smile-- your kindness--"

"Hermione, that's not my job." Harry said, shaking his head and smiling at her in a way that made Ron's skin crawl with disgust. "That's yours. I'm busy, too, you know that."

"But it is your job." Hermione said angrily, her cheeks burning. "It's mine and everyone else's; to look after people who are hurting-- to help when we can. Do something worthwhile when we have the chance--"

"Look, Hermione, I really am sorry." he said impatiently, "You know that I am."

Hermione's eyes flashed, and Harry took a step back as she glared at him.

"No, I don't." each word fell hard and cold upon their ears. "In fact, I'm not sure I'm talking to the right person, right now."

She searched his face one more time, her anger abating slightly as her voice softened in a painful sorrow that filled her eyes.

"I thought better of you." And that was all.

Harry's face and smile paled and faded as she turned and walked away, head erect despite the tears trickling down her cheeks, despite the anguish clearly displayed on her face.

He cursed softly under his breath.

His heart was hammering hard against his chest as he watched her small figure whirl around and disappear with a pop. He cursed again, running a hand through his hair. What did she want him to say? She knew he was busy; she knew he had dates and meetings to go to...

But Merlin-- the disappointment was almost unbearable. The hope dissolving in her soft, honey brown gaze as she examined his features as if they had just met for the first time.

Hermione had the uncanny ability of making him feel like a complete prat.

He shook himself. This was her problem, he reminded himself, not his, and it was unfair of her to expect that he could just drop everything to help her. It was only a second before he realized he had spoken out loud.

"No, it's not, you-- you complete-- you--" Ron's voice came from behind him, almost incoherent due to rage. Harry turned around and saw that Luna was desperately clutching Ron's arms in an attempt to keep Ron from jumping at him. "I can't believe you!"

Harry smirked, though he felt rather shaken. The rage-- hatred-- in Ron's blue eyes cut him to the core. Neville, too, was looking at him with little more than cool disdain.

"I remember a time when you would drop everything to help her." Neville spoke finally, in a cold, icy voice Harry had never heard him use before. The smirk slid off his face as he frowned. "When you would die for her-- have you forgotten the dreams, Harry?"

Harry's guards went up.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." he lied impassively.

Neville's face whitened.

"You would scream for her in your sleep, do you remember? You would scream and beg for him to 'take me, take me instead, just stop it, don't hurt her--"

Harry forced a laugh.

"I still don't know what you're talking about." Harry said.

"And she would always come, wouldn't she, Harry?" Neville spoke softly, and there was such open hostility coursing through his voice that the hairs stood up on the back of his neck. "She would always come and stay beside you, always listen, always wipe away your tears with a damp cloth..."

Then his voice hardened.

"And this is how you repay her for staying by you, even when she was certain it was a trap-- do you remember the Department of Mysteries? She could have died there, but she made it--"

"Nev, don't be dramatic, it's just one thing that I have to miss. Is that a crime?"

But this isn't just one thing." Luna spoke; pushing Ron behind her and speaking in the angriest tone he had ever heard her use. "This is a year's worth of indifference, condescension, and yes, even cruelty. She used to be your best friend. She still is, at least she's stayed by you. You've just-- cast her off."

"Yeah." Ron said with a derisive laugh. "She won't just sleep around with you and make you pretty babies. She'll actually make you feel, right? I never thought I'd say this to you, Potter, but you have to be the worst coward there ever was."

"I have not been cruel to her! And I am not a coward." Harry spat, "Listen, Weasley, I think I'm the one who had to comfort her when you ran off--"

Ron snorted.

"You were a different person, then." he said scornfully, "That Harry was in love with her."

Luna's eyes widened, but Ron and Neville snickered.

"I was not in love with her!"

"Come on, Hermione..." Harry whispered, just barely grazing her damp cheek with a finger. "I'm here, we're together... come on..."

And he couldn't help but think that she was--

Harry stopped the memory in its tracks, but not before the word beautiful crossed his mind. He glared at the three.

"You know what, I can't have this conversation." Luna said finally, and everyone was startled to see tears spilling down her cheeks. "Not here, not now-- I have to go find Hermione."

"Luna." Ron's voice softened, and he reached out to gently grasp her hand. She spun away.

"This is all wrong!"

And she whirled around, and Disapparated.

"Hermione?"

Ron reached out and shook his sleeping friend. Her eyes fluttered open, and she gasped softly. "Did you take your potions?"

She shook her head.

"It's rather distracting." she put a hand to her side, closing her eyes as a spasm of pain crossed her face. Ron bit the inside of his cheek and grit his teeth.

He was going to kill Harry James Potter for doing this to her.

"Hermione, come on." and before she could protest, he swept her up in his arms and took her to her room, laying her on the bed. He slipped into her neat little bathroom and mechanically measured out designated amounts of about a dozen potions.

Then, he placed them on a tray and took them to her bedside table.

"I don't know what happened to him, Ron." Hermione burst out, as she slammed the first empty cup onto the tabletop. "I used to admire him-- care about him--"

"Love him?" Ron said softly, and she flinched. He had a feeling that it wasn't her side that was causing it.

Then she bowed her head.

"I always loved him, Ron, you know that." she whispered, as she lifted the third cup to her lips. "It's just--" and she pulled a face as she set that one down, "I'm not sure I-- do anymore. Oh, what am I saying?"

"It's okay." he said quietly, as she drained another potion. "He's just changed, and I think we all know why."

"I wish it didn't have to be her, for your sake." Hermione said earnestly, making Ron offer a wan smile.

"Yeah, well, Ginny usually got her way anyway." he said dryly. "I just thought Harry was more of a man than to spend his time meekly letting her get her way with him."

As Hermione reluctantly drank her way through the remaining eight cups, Ron watched her intently.

"Hermione..." he began slowly (he didn't wish to hurt her) "did you ever... wonder if you and him..."

"Occasionally." Hermione admitted with a weak smile. "All I knew was that I loved him.... and really, I wasn't sure how, anyway. Was it sisterly love? I didn't know, I'd never had a sibling. Or did I love him romantically? How would I know, I'd never fallen in love before."

He shrugged.

"Come on, you know everything, admit it." he teased gently, prompting a small but genuine smile.

"By the way, Ron." she said, after a moment. "You don't need to worry about Luna."

He blushed to the roots of his hair, making her grin.

"You reckon so?"

"Oh, Ron," she said, lightly, "I know everything, remember?"

"How could I forget?"

She laughed, but it wasn't a real laugh. It never was, anymore.