Disclaimer- I don't own any of it. And that's probably for the best.

Conversations

Hermione threw down her quill in a rare moment of rebellion. This paper was completely pointless! She closed her eyes for a moment and wished for Professor Lupin to magically appear and oust this pathetic clod of a DADA teacher. She stared down at her blank page and then at the other parchment full of notes. Her eyes then traitorously moved to linger on the orange-haired head that was facing away from her.

Ron was, as usual, playing chess. This time he was playing with his sister, who was the only one who could still keep Ron on his toes. At just-turned sixteen, Ron was the best wizard chess player at Hogwarts. If one didn't count Dumbledore… Tonight though, Ron didn't seem to have his mind entirely on the game. Hermione wondered if it was for the same reason she couldn't finish this report.

Harry looked over at his best friend staring fixedly at his other best friend and hid a grin. Now, he wasn't really the one to ask for relationship advice, but even he could tell those two were only prolonging the inevitable. He nudged Hermione gently.

"Staring isn't polite you know." Hermione jumped and turned to glare at him. "I'm just saying…"

To his great surprise, Hermione buried her head in her arms and whispered,

"I know, but sometimes I can't stop myself." Harry awkwardly rubbed her back in a hopefully comforting manner. He wondered, yet again, why she didn't just tell Ron and to his very great surprise found himself saying as much to her. "It's not hat simple," she moaned. "I want to tell him Harry, but…"

"But what?" He asked gently.

Hermione glanced around, then looked straight at Harry.

"I'm afraid of losing him. I'm afraid of ruining our friendship, of making things… weird between all three of us." She took a breath. "Most though… I'm afraid that he won't want me." She looked down at her pieces of parchment again, tears stinging in her eyes.

"Checkmate Ron," came Ginny's voice.

Harry gave an almost unnoticeable twitch, but Hermione caught it. Her well-honed mind jumped to the only logical conclusion.

"Am I to think that I'm not the only one at this table with romance problems?" Her voice was playful, but it couldn't hide the eagerness in her voice.

"Don't be silly," he answered too quickly. He gave himself away however, by his reaction to Ginny's laughter as Ron finally realized that he'd lost.

"You're totally out of it big brother 'o mine. Could it be you mind is… else where?" The implication was crystal clear and her voice was taunting without being cruel. Ginny knew exactly where her brother's mind was- the same place it had been since the beginning of summer. She dropped her voice, as she was well aware of Hermione not too far away. "Why don't you just tell her you dolt? Do you honestly think she'd turn you down? Boys!" Ginny rolled her eyes. Ron glared at her.

"I don't see you telling Harry about your feelings," Ron returned, a bit nastier than he had meant to be. To his surprise though, Ginny just laughed again.

"It's a totally different situation big brother 'o mine. For a number of reasons. One- Harry's known about my feelings since I was eleven years old." Her face lost some of its laughter. "Two- he's so far above me that there's no point. And three-" Her voice dropped even lower. "-he's too busy worrying about the safety of the wizarding world to date anyone, much less his best friend's silly little sister." There was so much self-loathing in the last statement that Ron reached out and touched her arm.

"I'm sorry Gin, I had… no idea."

"No one does Ron, except you and me and Hermione." Ginny managed to scrape up enough of a smile to reassure him that she wasn't going to slit her wrists tonight at any rate.

"Hermione?" Ginny's smile was real this time as she heard Ron's pitiful attempt at nonchalance.

"Of course. We're pretty close you know. There are things she can't tell the two of you. And well… I get a friend who is older, smarter, and wonderfully easy to tease."

"When did this start?" Ron was amazed, although he should have realized that these two were good friends and it certainly didn't bother him that Hermione was close to his family…

"We got really close after the Chamber of Secrets. You know Ron, she's really wonderful. She wanted to make sure that I didn't blame myself for the whole mess. We found out that we had a lot in common."

"I know she's wonderful." Ginny smiled at him.

"Harry that is not the point!" Hermione started pulling her books together.

"Hermione, keep your voice down!" Harry pleaded after a quick glance showed him that half the common room was now looking at them.

"Do you really think that ignoring her is going to keep her safe?" She asked in a harsh whisper.

"I don't want to give Voldemort anymore targets than I have to," he replied in a cold voice. "And if I thought I'd get away with it, I'd have pushed you and Ron away months ago. Both of you however, informed me in no uncertain terms that you wouldn't allow that." Harry practically glowered at her.

"Oh, poor baby, I'm so sorry I refused to let you cloak yourself in self-imposed isolation!"

"That doesn't mean however," Harry continued gamely, "that I need to add more people to a potential hit list. If I got her killed…" Hermione gripped his hand and felt him grip hers back. This really bothered him. Was he still feeling guilty from Cedric's death?

"Ron you can be so dense!"

"Ginny! Shut up!" Ron pulled her back into the chair she'd jumped up from. "Isn't it possible?"

"No, big brother 'o mine, it is not!" Ginny threw her arms wide. "How can you ever think that Harry and Hermione fancy each other? How stupid can you get? I mean, I know you're an idiot, but this! Ron! Are you totally blind!"

"Calm down Gin, what are you talking about?" Ginny ran a frustrated hand through her hair, destroying her neat ponytail.

"She given you so many signs! Are you telling me that you didn't get any of them?" Ron shrugged- lost.

"You are so stupid!" Ginny looked over at Hermione, Hermione looked over at Ginny, and they laughed- covering the distant echoes of their simultaneous cry. Harry and Ron just shrugged, Girls!