Chapter 2 - Hermione
"She's been crying for days now," Mrs. Weasley whispered to me. "And it's not just now, either. Right after you three left, it was the worst. She wouldn't come out of her room, not even when I baked her favorite – lemon meringue pie!"
I gasped, "Not even for your lemon meringue pie?" I was incredulous; Ron's mum's lemon meringue was the best in the world! The lemon was just right, not too sweet, not too sour, the meringue had the perfect texture, and the best part, the crust… Oh, god, I could go on for hours…
"Nope," Molly replied. "But after a while, after a couple weeks, it got better, and by the time school started, she seemed fine.
"Well, she's had her ups and downs, according to Professor McGonagall, but it hasn't been this bad since… since the day you left."
"I'll try to console her," I reassured Molly, "I'll do my best."
I knocked on Ginny's door.
"Hello? Ginny? May I come in?" I creaked the old wooden door open and peeked in. I was greeted with an arctic glare from a pair of puffy, squinty, and red-from-crying eyes.
"Oh," she said. "It's you."
I sat down on her bed, and patted her knee, not knowing what words would comfort her, or why she was so angry.
"Want to talk about it, Gin?" I prodded.
But I had used the wrong name. Gin had been Harry's pet name for Ginny. Again, she gave me her best Ice Queen stare.
"Come on, Ginny, I can't help you if you won't tell me what you're feeling right now." That seemed to have done the trick.
With a sigh, the redhead spit out, "Anger."
"Well, that's a good start." I played the role of 'therapist' quite well, no?
"Stupidity. Hate. Annoyance. Betrayal. Jealousy."
"Anything else? Maybe sadness?"
"Yeah, sadness," she said quietly, "and I'm a bit flattered."
So this was going somewhere.
"And love?" I took a risk.
"No," she whispered, barely audibly, staring at the wall with a blank look on her face. She wouldn't even admit it to herself.