If Ron had felt distracted and depressed earlier, it was nothing like he felt now. After seeing Hermione all dressed up and in the arms of McLaggen, he was really angry. The jealousy was getting the best of him. He wanted to tear McLaggen limb from limb, and frankly, he wouldn't mind ripping Lavender apart either.

To Lavender, it didn't seem to matter that he was in a horrible and foul mood. After a half hour, it seemed to dawn on her that while she kissed him, his lips remained motionless. Even when she tickled him in his 'tickle spot' (it's not like he told her were he was ticklish, she just seemed to find it after trying so hard) he couldn't even let a small giggle leave his mouth, nor did he have the heart to fake one. Lavender just seemed to try harder and kiss more fiercely. As she wrapped her arms tightly around him, she finally realized it was like she was kissing a corpse.

"Okay, what is wrong with you?" She said loudly and suddenly.

"What to you mean?" Ron said weakly, his thoughts focused elsewhere. "There's nothing wrong with me."

"I've been kissing you this whole time, and you have even moved. You haven't spoken for half an hour. You won't even smile!" She yelled.

Ron stared at her for a moment. Lavender was looking at him fiercely. She was quite pretty. But as he stared at her longer he realized she was not the girl he wanted to be with. They never did anything but snog, and the only talking they did was the horrible cry of 'Won-Won'. He never hung out with her except for probably the hour of so every night when they had a snog session. Hermione wasn't like that. Even though they weren't dating, Ron had a stronger connection with her. They laughed, talked, did homework together, hung out outside of class all the time, spent summers together, went on adventures to defeat Voldemort, and were just always there for each other. And yet Ron had let Hermione slip through his fingers just because he was jealous that she kissed Krum two years ago. He had proven his point, hadn't he? By dating Lavender, Hermione had become very jealous. But he realized it was a stupid thing to do. He had broken her heart. He had also ruined things for himself to, because by dating Lavender he could not date Hermione. And, if it was any constellation, his grades were falling because Hermione was there to help him, Harry was stressed because he had to divide his time between his two friends, and Ron was downright lonely and missed Hermione dearly.

"Ron? Ron, are you listening? What is wrong with you!?" She screamed.

Ron couldn't go on like this. He couldn't stay away from Hermione and he couldn't stay with Lavender. He paused for a moment, then said slowly, "You know what? There's nothing wrong with me today."Lavender snorted. "But there has been something wrong with me this past month."

"What do you mean, Won-Won?" She asked tenderly.

Ron hated to put it so harshly, but he had to be honest. "You."

Tears started to swell in Lavender's eyes. Ron hated breaking up with people. Well, actually he had never done it before, but this was what he expected and why he did hate it. "But why? Nothing's been wrong until today! Our relationship was going fine!"

Ron hated to put it so insensitively, but he was never a sensitive person. He didn't have the heart to try to cover how bad the truth sounded. "Nothing's been going right until today! I finally the realized the girl that I love is not the girl I've been snogging, it's the one I've been ignoring!"

Lavender's glum face twisted into a face of raging anger. "You don't mean that Hermione Granger, do you?" She shrieked.

"Yeah, actually I do!" Ron yelled. "I'm sorry, Lavender, but I can't date anyone else. I'm in love with her! I've loved her for a long time! You just caught me at a wrong time where I was mad at her! I let things go out of hand, and before I knew it, I had a new girlfriend! And sadly, it was the obsessive kind! I can't handle that! Lavender, there's someone out there for you, and it's not me."

Lavender held back the tears to let her anger out. She decided to start jeering at his 'lover' because she knew it would make Ron mad. "If you can love anyone in the world, you go for Granger?! She a obnoxious, annoying, a know-it-all, her only friends are guys, well, a guy, because you don't even talk to her anymore, making the reason for you dumping me all the more stupid, she does nothing but read, and she's ugly!"

"Don't you start on her! It's not her fault I love her!" Ron roared. Everyone around was staring. People were whispering about Ron, Lavender, and Hermione all through the common room.

"I KNEW they liked each other!" A fifth year said to her friend.

"Who's Hermione Granger?" A third year asked.

"That girl who was always hanging around Ron Weasley and Harry Potter. That is, until Ron started dating Lavender Brown. Now they're not on speaking terms. Which is pretty stupid because Ron just ruined a relationship for a girl that hates him at the moment." A seventh year explained.

"He didn't ruin anything, that relationship was never good from the start. And obviously, if Hermione isn't talking to him she's jealous, meaning she likes him." A fourth year stated.

"You're right! You're right!" Lavender screamed. "It isn't Hermione's fault you love her, and it's technically its own punishment! I feel sorry for her! Ron Weasley, now that I think about it I've never been so happy to break up with you! You did nothing to keep this relationship going! And you were never a good boyfriend!"

"Yeah, well, I never liked you!" Ron said, and stormed off to his room. The anger was slowly leaving him, and he felt calm and relieved. Breaking up with Lavender felt like taking a weight off his chest. Lavender, on the other hand, ran up to her room crying, and Parvati shortly followed her.

* * *

Cormac McLaggen was a strong and strapping Gryffindor seventh year. If his muscular body was enough, he had the face of a model. He had gorgeous light brown hair to go with it. But Hermione shortly learned not even his good looks could cover up Cormac's obnoxious, rude, and arrogant personality.

"So, I take it you don't like Weasley?" Was the only question he asked her. "Which is weird; because I kind of thought you use to be friends. Katie Bell even had talks that you two were going out." Cormac noted.

Hermione took a deep breath. "No. I don't like him. Yes, we used to be friends, but not anymore. Something happened between us. We had a big fight, and haven't talked for weeks."

Hermione's feelings for Ron were like a layer cake. On the top you had the freshly iced layer of hatred, (because of Ron's new love life), after you got through that there was a thin layer of friendship (which was thin only because Hermione thought that they deserved to be more than friends), and when you ate your way through that you found the deep, rich, delicious flavor of love. But she didn't tell Cormac that, of course.

"Oh, good, because I don't like him either. I mean, I definitely should have gotten the spot as Keeper…" And from then on, all Cormac talked about was Quidditch and himself, which Hermione realized were now two of her least favorite subjects.

After almost kissing him under the mistletoe, Hermione desperately tried to get away by saying she had to go to the bathroom. She had thoughts about leaving, but what if Ron spotted her, and knew she had a bad time? She told herself that she couldn't let Cormac ruin her night, and she would just have to try to stay away from him.

* * *

Ron lay in his bed, pondering his thoughts. His anger towards Lavender was short-lived, and seemed to melt away quickly as a sensation of relief and freedom filled him. But there was still an empty pit in his stomach that wasn't satisfied. And still, the anger towards Hermione and McLaggen grew. And then he noticed the truth. He had broken up with Lavender for a girl that hated him at the moment. Not that being rid of Lavender wasn't a prize itself, but Hermione did still not now how he felt about her. And, with a sickening feeling in his stomach, Ron realized that Hermione was one of the only Gryffindors that didn't know. He had let slip that he loved her a fair few times to Lavender, and their argument was very loud, meaning about a fourth of the school knew about his secret desire for Hermione. And, like in every school wizard or not, Ron knew gossip spread like wildfire. If he didn't tell her himself, surely Hermione would find out about his feelings from a great number of people. So, he realized what he had to do was tell her how he felt. But how? The next morning, everyone would be going home on the Hogwarts Express on Christmas Break, and because Ron and Hermione were mad at each other, Hermione was not spending Christmas at the Weasleys'. She would hear the rumors, because obviously that's all everyone will be talking about on the train, and not be able to confront him until they were back at school, which would be even more awkward. If only she was in the common room right now, or the library. No, she had to be at Slughorn's Christmas Party. The party he wasn't invited to.

Suddenly the wheels seemed to turn in Ron's head. What if he went to the party? He could sneak in, grab Hermione, tell her how he felt, she would admit that she too had an undying love for him, they would kiss and all would end well, the past month forgotten. Technically, he wouldn't be sneaking in, because he was invited and never said no, Hermione just assumed that while he was dating Lavender he was unavailable. Yes, that could be his excuse. But, just for precautions he would hide.

Ron rummaged through his truck. Surely, he wanted to look presentable and impress Hermione. At the very bottom he found the pair of dress robes Fred and George had given him a year ago, the reason unknown. Not that he was complaining, it was much better than the ghastly ones he used to own. After he put them on he attempted to fix his hair, and he laughed at how stupid and embarrassed he felt but realized it would not make as big of a fool of himself as he did earlier.

"This is it." He said, and took a deep breath before sneaking out the portrait hole.