I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER, OR ANY OF THE CHRACTERS.

Review? Pretty please?

Hermione skipped through the halls of Hogwarts, her arm in Harry's, laughing. They ran to the portrait, said the password, and skipped through the portrait hole, into the common room, laughing.

"Harry, mate, you carry on going round skipping, people are gonna start thinking your gay!" Fred shouted across the room.

"What like they think of you?" Harry shot back, grinning. Hermione burst into hysterics at the look of shock on Fred's face.

"Right 'Mione, I'm going to the dorms, I'll be back down in a minute." Harry said, after he'd got his breath back.

"Yeah, just, if you see Ron, tell him I'm looking for him, okay?" Hermione said, still breathless.

"Will do!" Harry called over his shoulder. Hermione settled down on the sofa in front of the fire, still trying to get her breath back.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang from upstairs, and the sound of feet running down the stairs. Suddenly, Harry flew back into the common room, his face red and his eyes mad.

"Hermione! Look Ron he's-" Harry started, then Ron flew into the room behind him.

"Don't you dare!" Ron's ears were red. A warning sign. Hermione looked at Harry, who was struggling to keep his temper, and then at Ron, who was looking guilty, but angry.

"Right. Calm down. Harry, what were you going to say?" Ron made to interrupt. "Ron, stop. I want to hear what Harry was going to say."
"Ron, was in the dorms. With Lavender." Harry glared at Ron.

"He what?" Hermione's smile dropped, and her knees went weak.

"'Mione it's not what you think!" Ron said.

"Really? Then what is it Ronald? Because from the sounds of it you were cheating!" Hermiones shock had faded, leaving only anger in it's place. Hermione crossed her arms. "Well?"

"Yeah Ron? What was it really?" Harry turned to glare at his former friend, his arms also crossed. This little incident had caused the whole room to look up from what they were doing to watch. The twins had stood up and moved to behind Harry and Hermione.

"Me and Lavender, we just had a one time thing. It was nothing." Ron said, his brown eyes looking big and sad. That might have worked, if Lavender wasn't stood in the doorway behind him.

"RON! How dare you? A one time thing? Didn't mean anything? You told me you loved me last week. You said you were going to leave the ugly bookworm for me!" Lavender shrieked her eyes filling with tears.

"How long Ron?" Hermione whispered. Ron looked from Lavender to Hermione. He had to make a choice.

"3 months." He said quietly. Then he turned to stand next to Lavender, and put his arm around her. "And she's right. I did say I loved her. And I did say I was going to leave you for her. So this is it. I'm breaking up with you. For Lavender." Lavender looked up at Ron with simpering eyes. Then she turned to smirk at Hermione.

"Why Ron?" Hermione tried not to let her voice break. This couldn't be happening.

"Because I have needs. And you just didn't fill them. You spend all of your time in the library, you walk around arm in arm with my best friend. And you're not as pretty as Lavender." He finished simply. Hermione gasped. And Harry started forwards angrily.

"Ron. How could you?! How dare you say something like that?" Harry demanded angrily. Within seconds his wand was pointed at Ron's throat.

"It's the truth. I'm not going to lie to save her feelings!" Ron said simply, his eyes flashing.

Hermione stepped back, and she walked into someone, then felt a pair of strong arms hold her still.

Harry growled. "Ron, you better fucking leave now, or I swear I will hex you from here into oblivion." He said, twitching his wand threateningly.

"Why are you defending her? Filthy little mudblood." Ron spat.

The effect in the room was instantaneous. Hermione gasped, Harry leapt at Ron, the twins began shouting obscenities, Ginny shrieked and tried to hex Ron whilst Lavender just stood there giggling. When Dean and Seamus finally managed to tear Harry away from Ron, Hermione managed to get a good look at what Harry had done to him. Ron was sporting a black eye, split lip and scratches down his face.

Lavender race to his side, trying to help him up and fussing over him. Ron got up and glared at Hermione. Hermione stared back stonily, trying hard not to cry. Lavender pulled on Ron's sleeve.

"Come on Won-Won. Lets get you to the Hospital Wing." She simpered.

As they left, Ron shouted something over his shoulder. "Mudblood."

It took Seamus and Dean to stop Harry jumping him again. The twins tensed behind her, but it was Ginny who managed to get him. She sent a perfect hex, which hit her brother in the back.

Ron spun around.

"You are no brother of ours." Ginny spat vehemently. The twins nodded. Ron stared at them for a few seconds, then spun around and stalked out. Hermione dropped to her knees, the tears leaking out of her eyes. Ginny dropped next to her, and Hermione could vaguely hear Harry shouting. It sounded like he was miles away.

" Hermione. 'Mione! Are you okay?" Ginny said worriedly. "Just ignore Ron. He's being a dick."

Hermione broke down. Sobbing, heartbreaking sobs. Everyone in the room was silent, and Hermione's sobs echoed round the walls. She stood up, tears streaming down her face, and sprinted from the room.

She remembered hearing someone call her name as she ran out the room, but she didn't turn around to see who it was. She just kept running. Through the winding halls, down the staircases and out the big oak doors, straight into the big, open grounds of Hogwarts.

The sky was clouded over, like rain was due. The air was cold, and Hermione didn't have her robes, but she didn't notice, just kept on running, until she reached the big oak. In her second year, she found the hollow oak tree, and she spent most of her days in there. She didn't use it again until her fourth year, when she used it to get away from the fear of Harry dying in the tournament. Now, she slid through narrow hole in the trunk, into the hollow in the tree, the bark forming a protective barrier from the outside world.

Then, she cried. Heart-wrenching, broken sobs racked her body. She wrapped her hands around her knees, and cried. Cried until she could cry no more.

What do you think? Review please?

Lot's of love to all who actually read this