September went by so quickly that Hermione couldn't believe it was already October. Hermione's guilt at not telling Ginny who she really was increased when Ginny got special permission to go the mall to get Hermione a cake for her birthday. She, Elliot, Joshua, and a couple of other people had sang Happy Birthday to her while she was eating dinner. They had gone to the mall in the middle of September, along with nearly all of the teachers. When Ginny was looking at shoes, Hermione was embarrassed to see Ron buying boxers. He looked at her, gulped and jerked his head back to the counter where the lady was ringing him up. Ron hadn't talked to her since the incident on the second day, but Hermione occasionally saw him looking at her. His face would get red and he'd turn away.

Hermione had called Brian once, but he, along with Anita and Alex, had said that Hermione's idea on doing a story on the food was too boring, so she needed to find something better. "When's the next time you go to the mall?" asked Brian. "October 13th," said Hermione. "Good, we'll be there," said Brian, and he hung up, not even allowing Hermione to reply.

As October 13th approached, Hermione's classes were getting harder, but Hermione was easily keeping up with the work she had already done 7 years ago. Her teachers were becoming more strict and she had even fallen asleep twice in Mr. King's music class. Ginny seemed to be the only one able to stay awake. She took the notes carefully and allowed Hermione to borrow the ones she had missed. Ginny, Hermione realized, was very gifted in school, and would probably go on to a good college if she kept it up. Her and Elliot had begun dating a few weeks after she had told Hermione she liked him, and could always be seen making out in between classes. "We're not having sex," explained Ginny once she had pulled her lips away from Elliot as he had to go to class. "We just like eachother a lot," she said. Hermione didn't say anything.

Harry Potter had been rather sulky lately. The swarm of girls that were usually around him were no longer coming near him. Hermione had seen him push them away, but he had begun dating a girl named Cho, who was a junior. Cho was now always seen with him. Whenever Hermione saw them together Harry always seemed to be so distant from her, and Cho was nearly always crying, especially in the bathrooms in between classes. After a few days of seeing this, Hermione had finally asked Ginny what was going on. Ginny had explained to Hermione that Cho had once had a boyfriend named Henry and that he had died suddenly the previous year, leaving Cho heartbroken. "So then why is she dating Harry?" asked Hermione. "I don't know! And stop bothering me about stuff that isn't any of our business," she snapped, and stormed down the hall. Elliot and Ginny were now attached to the hip, but Ginny would always start kissing him when Harry and Cho walked by, to be responded by glares from Harry.

When October 13th came, Hermione woke up and dressed in casual jeans and a blue blouse. "So where are we going to go today, Gin?" she asked Ginny, whom was already dressed but putting on makeup. "Oh, Hermione, I'm sorry, I promised Elliot we'd walk around today," said Ginny. "Oh, that's okay," said Hermione, figuring she could just walk around by herself. Ginny looked mildly hurt. "I'm sorry, Hermione, but I promised him," said Ginny. "No, really, it's fine," said Hermione, although she was slightly hurt Ginny hadn't told her before.

They walked together down to the entrance hall, and Ginny drifted off to Elliot, who gave her a kiss straightaway. Ron was standing and directing students to the buses near the entrance. "Hermione!" said someone. Hermione turned. It was Joshua. "Good, I thought you were gone for a minute there," he said. Hermione just gave him a half smile as she continued to look at Ron. She knew he saw her but he was purposefully avoiding looking at her. She sat down on the bus 10 minutes laters with Joshua in the back of the bus behind Ginny and Elliot. Harry and Cho chose the seat next to Hermione and Joshua, and Ginny immediately grabbed the back of Elliots head and kissed him fiercely. The teachers, who were at the front, did not see them. Cho, who was talking about something her friend Marietta had said earlier, did not see Harry staring at Ginny until halfway through the bus ride. When she did see him she looked from him to Ginny and then punched his arm rather hard. "What?" asked Harry loudly. "Stop looking at her," said Cho. "I'm not," said Harry. Elliot did not hear, and neither did Joshua, but Hermione thought she saw Ginny smirk when her lips came off of Elliots for a mere second.

When they got to the mall, Elliot and Ginny were already off the bus before everyone else and they had disappeared into the crowd of students before Hermione and Joshua had gotten off. "So where do you wanna go?" he asked as they walked into the mall. "I have to go to the bathroom, I'll meet you back here," said Hermione honestly. She spotted a bathroom and walked quickly to it. When she got there, however, there was a sign on the door that said "Out of Order". "Shit!" she said loudly. She began to turn away, but just then the bathroom door opened up a little and a hand pulled her inside it. "What the hell?" she said as she was dragged into the bathroom. When she looked she saw that Brian, Alex, and Anita were all standing and looking at her. "You could've atleast given me a heads up," said Hermione. "We tried," said Brian. "Yeah, I tried calling your cell but you didn't answer," said Anita. "Never mind that, what are you doing here?" asked Hermione. "We need a story," said Brian. "If someone finds you our cover will be blown!" said Hermione.

"Look, we have this," said Alex, who was standing rather close to Brian. He held up a couple of wires. "What's that?" asked Hermione. "It's a camera," said Alex, and he handed her a small beautiful purple pin. "What's this for?" asked Hermione. "You wear it," said Brian. Hermione attached it to her shirt. It actually didn't look too bad. "Why?" asked Hermione, fidgeting with the pin. "So we can get a good story," said Brian. Hermione looked up. "So, you're going to be watching everything I do?" asked Hermione. "Not everything, you'll turn it off when you sleep," said Alex. "Look at this," said Anita. She picked up a bag and pulled out a laptop that was already on. She opened up the screen for Hermione to see. She could see Brian and Alex on it, waving to her. "What the hell?" she asked."We're just gonna watch and look for a good story," explained Brian, now beginning to pack everything up. "No, you know there's a such thing as an invasion of privacy," said Hermione. "Hermione, come on," said Brian. "When you go to the bathroom or get in the shower you can take it off," said Anita. Hermione considered for a moment. She didn't like the idea of having people see what she only was supposed to see, but then remembered this story could change her entire life. "Fine," she said. "Great!" said Brian, looking excited. Alex hugged him, and Brian pulled away from him quickly, looking rather red.

"Now, go, go, go, go," said Brian quickly. Hermione slipped out of the bathroom. There was no one around them so the other three came out, Alex grabbing the sign on the door. Hermione ran back in to pee and then met Joshua, who was waiting for her at a table sipping a coke. She just smiled at him. "Let's go find Ginny and Elliot," said Joshua. They searched for a half an hour and finally found them in the back of a store looking at clothes. "Oh, hey you guys, do you wanna go to the coffee shop down the mall, I hear its romantic," said Ginny, smiling back at Elliot. Hermione wasn't too pleased. Joshua had already dropped plenty of hints at Hermione and she wasn't sure she would enjoy him staring at her for another hour, but agreed anyway. They found the coffee shop and went inside. Ginny and Elliot found a table in the back and Hermione and Joshua sat at the table next to theirs. Hermione ordered a small coffee and sipped on it. The thought that Alex, Brian, and Anita were all seeing what she was seeing wasn't very comforting, but she did not mention it. "Nice pin," said Joshua, pointing to her chest. "Thanks," said Hermione.

November soon came, bringing along with it cold weather, which meant Hermione put away her summer clothes and brought out sweaters and jeans. Another surprising thing was that Ron was now back on speaking terms with Hermione. His class was now starting poetry, which was Hermione's favorite. On the first day of November, he gave them an assignment. "I want you to write poetry," he said. "About what?" asked Ashley. "Anything you want. Love, loss, hatred, death, anything. It'll be due tomorrow and you'll have to read it in front of the class if you want full credit," he said. Hermione worked nearly all night on the poem, and was very proud of herself when she had finished.

The next day in class, Ron mentioned the poems. "Now, who would like to share first?" he asked to the 13 students. They all sank down deeper into their seats. Hermione, deciding to be the brave one, raised her hand. Ron looked at her. "Ah, Hermione, go ahead," he said. Hermione stood up and grabbed the piece of notebook paper she had written her poem on. "I call this poem 'Without You'," she said, and began to read as the entire class stared at her.

Without you, the city falls asleep softly,
Without you, the color disappears slowly,
Without you, the trees forget the wind,
Without you, the night is chagrined.

Without you, my music does not amaze,
Without you, my hours are days,
Without you, my heart gets bored,
Without you, my steps are too heavy and not labored.

Without you, my thoughts prevent me from going to bed,
Without you, I do not distinguish the horizon ahead,
Without you, there are no heavens,
Without you, the time forgets its reasons.

Without you, I am afraid of the next day not chosen,
Without you, the haze conceals the splendid ocean,
Without you, I do not figure or picture anything pleasant,
Without you, I am wondering this question at this moment...

My love, where are you hidden?
Without you, my happiness is forbidden,
My heart without you, is not at all replete,
My life without you, is so incomplete...

Hermione looked up from the paper. The entire class, even Ron, was staring as though mesmerized by her. Hermione sat back down in her seat. Ron was still staring at her with his mouth slightly open. He suddenly spoke. "Any comments?" he asked to the class. Alyssa said, "I thought it was really pretty." One of the twins said "She's a pro" loudly. "Well, yes, it would certainly seem that way," said Ron. He walked around to his desk and sat down in the chair. "Please pass your poems forward," Ron said, leaning back in his chair. He had an odd look on his face, as though just realizing something, but Hermione did not know what. The class passed their poems forward.

The bell rang and everyone left except Hermione, Ron had motioned her forward. He got up from his chair and led her into his office. There were a few bags on the floor next to his desk that looked to be filled with sweets and soda. He had a bookcase standing against a wall near the door and looked through it before finding what he wanted. He pulled out a large book. "Here," he said, handing the book to her. Hermione looked at it. It was a book of poems called Classic Poetry. "I want you to have it," said Ron, walking to his desk and sitting on it. "What? No, I mean, I can't, it's yours," said Hermione. "No, I want you to have it," he said, walking behind his desk and sitting in his chair. "Ron, I wanted to talk about what happened, you know the second day," said Hermione. Hermione couldn't believe it had been nearly 2 months since it had happened. Ron looked down. "It was nothing, I just, I don't know," said Ron, trying to find the right words. "Here I'll get the door for you," he said. He was walking rather closely to his desk, and he suddenly tripped over a bag of sweets. He tried to grab Hermione for support, but he instead only fell on her hard, the book flying out of her hands. "Ouch," said Hermione in deep pain. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry," said Ron, his face becoming red. He was using his hands to hold himself off her body, and jumped up off her quickly. She got up and picked up her book and he opened the door for her.

"Well, I guess I'll go," said Hermione. "Read that book, I know you'll love the poetry in it," he said nervously, kicking the bag of sweets in frustration. Hermione smiled back at him and left the office, stopping for a minute outside the door, she had the strong urge to run back into his office and throw him on the bed, but had to hold it back as she walked back to her room, a dreamy look upon her face. Ginny was not in the room, so Hermione finished up all of her homework for the week, and then sat on her bed thinking. At about 7 Ginny came in. "Where were you?" asked Hermione. "With Elliot," said Ginny. "You two weren't...?" asked Hermione. "No, I told you I'm a virgin," said Ginny. "I know, just keep it that way until you find the one, remember," said Hermione. "I'm not a baby, I know what I'm doing," said Ginny. "So I guess kissing Elliot everytime Harry's around wouldn't be considered babyish?" asked Hermione. Ginny looked angry and went into their bathroom, slamming the door behind her. Hermione did not see her the rest of the night.

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Hey guys, I hope you liked it. That poem was by JDFreesoul on a Poems site. I just thought it was really good. Thanks for reading.