Hermione's POV - Just her thoughts

Hermione was feeling particularly sulky that night. She was avoiding everybody because she has spent too much time in the past few months in company. She needed some time alone, time to sit in a lonely corner in the Gryffindor common room, to think.

That afternoon with Viktor went how she had planned it. The taste of his pumpkin juice from lunch still lingered in her mouth. The sweet, sweet words that he had murmured to her still echoed in her head. Her waist still tingled from where his hands had rested.

So, why, she asked herself, was she in such a bad mood?

She knew the answer to that already. He was leaving her at Hogwarts at the end of the school year. And there was no way that she could go with him. She was not going to give up school for a boy. He would be free to go anywhere in the world because he no longer had an education to work on. Probably be surrounded by women wherever he goes, Hermione thought grumpily.

Sure, she was happy for him. He was going on a world tour with the Bulgarian National Quidditch team in August, but that meant that she couldn't even hope for him to visit her at Hogwarts. She feared him ending it. Because she had only known him for a short while, and she had known the other boys at Hogwarts forever. They had never shown any sort of romantic interest in her for three and a half years and she doubted that they could suddenly change their minds about her. They had had plenty of time to do that even before Viktor came.

How she wished that she could go to Bulgaria with Viktor. She craved the knowledge about the country's wizarding history, and, just as importantly, she craved more time with her... boyfriend. But her parents would never allow it. She barely got away with staying at Ron's house over the summer; the fact that Ginny was there was a huge help to make her parents see sense. What was the problem with Ron anyway? Whenever Viktor was around or even mentioned, Ron would scowl and be angry for a day. She wondered if he could be... but no, there was no way...

"Hermione?"

Her gaze snapped upwards (she had been glowering at The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 4 for quite a while) and Harry came into focus.

"Oh! Hello Harry. You're up late," she said.

"So are you," he pointed out. "We have Herbology tomorrow morning, you'd better go to bed."

He helped her to pack up her heavy textbooks and piles of parchment, and after they bade each other goodnight and began to walk up the opposite staircases, Harry turned around. "Are you OK, Hermione?"

"Me? Oh, oh yes. I'm fine." She forced a smile.

But in truth, she really had no idea.