NO REVIEWS! NOT ONE!! :( this makes me sad. just to let you know this is just the into, plot will 'thicken' CONSIDERABLY

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Hermione's POV

"Hermione..? Hermione? HERMIONE!"

"What?" I asked the red headed girl sitting opposite me. I had been happily daydreaming before Ginny Weasly had interrupted me. She was my best friend at Hogwarts, but although we went through all the motions of friendship, in my heart of hearts I knew we weren't that close. To be honest, she was only my best friend because she was my only friend.

Ginny looked sympathetic. "Thinking about Ron?" she said knowingly, nodding her head in a most infuriating fashion.

I fought to keep the look of disgust off my face. "No!" I said quickly. She raised her eyebrows – it was clear she didn't believe me. "No…" I repeated more thoughtfully, my voice trailing off into oblivion to join the broken pieces of my heart. In truth, if she knew who I'd really been thinking about, I doubted she would be so 'understanding'.

She leant in towards me, and I mentally prepared myself for the speech that I knew was to come. Even though it irritated me beyond belief, I usually managed to shut off my ears. Block her out. Go to my happy place.

"Look, Hermione…" she began, as I sank into a stupor, "I know it wasn't my best moment, but to be fair what could I do. I was facing expulsion, and surely, surely it's easier on Mum in the long run to have at least one of her children succeed. It must have been pretty hard on her when Percy got carted off to Azkaban, I don't think any of us could have even suspected that he could turn to the dark side, not with his upbringing… but I digress. What I'm saying is that it's better for me to have the education, because with Ron's brain power I doubt he'd even graduate. And I think I should be allowed that opportunity so that I can fully make use of it, rather than have it wasted by a dumb ass such as my brother."

I could see hundreds of things wrong with this, but not being in the mood for arguing, I simply said "And the fact that it was YOUR used condom means nothing to you?"

Here she got defensive, and her face attained a rather unattractive pink sheen. "Well, he didn't have to walk in on me and Dean, did he! And it's hardly my fault that Filch walked in just as Dean and I had got our robes back on! And of course he couldn't deny it when I went all teary, and scared and claimed I'd just discovered a gay sex-fest! We both know he'd been looking for an excuse to expel Ron for years!" I looked up sharply from where I'd been staring at the table. It wasn't as if I had really cared for Ron. I didn't dislike him exactly… I nothing-ed him.

I stared at her calculatingly. "You know what, Ginny?"

"What?" she replied blankly.

"You are remarkably Slytherin sometimes." Ginny got up, and flounced out of the compartment.

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