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RECAP: Ron, Hermione and Harry made small talk for a while, avoiding the subject of the recent fight. Harry suddenly made a choking sound. Ron and Hermione turned to see Ginny entering the Great Hall. She caught sight of Harry however, and turned abruptly and left again.
"Uh oh," thought Hermione.
Harry's face fell, and he pushed his plate away. Ron and Hermione exchanged looks, and Ron placed a comforting hand on Hermione's knee.
"Harry," he said, "Um… listen, about Ginny… seriously, she'll come around ok? Give her a bit of time."
Harry just nodded miserably, and Hermione patted his shoulder sympathetically.
That weekend was a bad one. Harry and Ginny were still not speaking to each other, and Ron and Hermione were in despair about the way they both were so upset. Hermione had tried talking to Ginny several times, trying to convince her to talk to Harry, but Ginny had flat out refused to speak to him again. Harry had wandered around miserably the whole of Saturday, and had spent all of Sunday flying on his Firebolt outside.
It was Sunday night, and Ron and Hermione were sitting on the couch in the Head common room, gazing miserably into the fire, in silence.
"This sucks," said Ron, finally.
Hermione turned to look at him, a bit of hurt in her eyes.
"No, not this," said Ron, hastily, "This situation, between Harry and Ginny."
Hermione sighed, and said, "Yeah, this is just… just so awful! Why are they both being such idiots?"
Just then Harry entered to common room, looking completely disheveled and wind swept. He saw the couple curled up together, and his face flushed.
"Am I interrupting something?" he asked, tentatively.
"Um… no," said Hermione, "Actually, we were talking about you, Harry. Come sit down"
Harry dragged his feet up to the couch and sank down onto one end of it.
"Look Harry, I… Hermione hates seeing both of you like this," started Ron.
A look of anger flashed past Harry's face.
"So tell me what I'm supposed to do then? She's refusing to speak to me!" he retorted.
"Harry, Ron's not very good at this kind of stuff, you know that," said Hermione, hurriedly, "I understand that Ginny's not making it easy, and we're willing to help you."
Harry looked at her, a look of gratitude now on his face. Ron nodded vigorously, giving Harry a what-she-said look. Harry smiled at his two friends, feeling slightly more cheerful.
THE NEXT DAY
Hermione awoke at exactly 6:30 and started getting her bag ready for the classes they were having that day. She heard a thumping from outside her room, and opened her door curiously. Harry was stomping out of his door, in his pajamas.
"Hey," he said, seeing her.
"Harry, you're up early!" she exclaimed.
"Yeah, well, I didn't really sleep much," he muttered.
"Oh Harry, don't worry, everything will be all right, you'll see!" said Hermione, sympathetically.
The two of them got dressed and made their way down to breakfast. On entering the Great Hall, they saw Ron and Ginny sitting together on the Gryffindor table. Ginny looked up and saw the two of them. Ron followed her gaze, and immediately put a warning hand on her shoulder. Harry and Hermione approached the table, and sat down.
"Good Morning Ron, Ginny," said Hermione, brightly.
"G'morning," said Ginny, concentrating on her pancakes.
"Good Morning, Ginny," said Harry, willing her to reply.
Ginny looked up at him, and their eyes met briefly, before her gaze dropped back down to her plate.
"Good Morning," she said stiffly.
Ron and Hermione exchanged looks of triumph.
"Step one," mouthed Ron, to Hermione, who grinned back at him.
The four hurried over their breakfast, and then started leaving to their respective classes. Harry and Ron had a free period first thing, Hermione had Arithmancy, and Ginny had Care of Magical Creatures.
Harry and Ron headed out to the grounds, and were strolling around the lake. Not 15 minutes had passed, when Ginny came running up to them, suddenly. She stopped to catch her breath, and then opened her mouth to explain.
"Care of Magical Creatures is cancelled! Can you believe it? Hagrid must be sick or something," she said, her eyes on Ron, but they flicked to Harry every now and then.
"Oh I wouldn't worry about Hagrid," said Ron, "Anyway, I just remembered Hermione was saying something about not having time to get something from the Charms classroom. I'd better go see what it was, cos' I think she expects fetching things for her to be a boyfriend duty or something."
Saying so, Ron turned on his heel, and started heading back towards the castle. This left Harry and Ginny alone together, with an increasing amount of awkwardness between them. Harry coughed once or twice, willing himself to say something. Ginny was just staring stonily across the lake.
"Ginny, I'm sorry," blurted out Harry, suddenly.
Ginny turned to look at him, her face expressionless, but her eyes dancing with anticipation.
"Ginny," said Harry again, stepping closer to her, "Look, you were absolutely right about it all. I shouldn't have even though about putting my name in for the Dating Auction…"
He was cut off however by a choking sound from Ginny.
"Harry, stop," she said, her eyes filling with tears, "You're wrong, it was me who was wrong! How could I accuse you of… of… "
Ginny started sobbing, and Harry immediately wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer. Ginny wiped her eyes quickly and lifted her head up.
"I'm so, so sorry, Harry," she whispered, "I was just so… so scared that I'd lose you… I didn't think, I didn't mean any of it, really…"
"Shh…" said Harry, stroking her hair. Ginny rested her head on his chest, and wrapped her arms around him too.
"This was a rather ridiculous fight, wasn't it?" said Harry lightly.
"But it's over," said Ginny firmly, and reached up and planted a kiss right onto his lips.
4 HOURS LATER
Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione were sitting at the Gryffindor table, digging into their lunch.
"See," said Hermione, "I knew you two wouldn't be able to last more than a weekend!"
Ginny grinned sheepishly, and exchanged a look with Harry, who squeezed her hand under the table.
The meal passed easily enough, and soon the four were back in classes. The next class for Hermione, Harry and Ron was Transfiguration, and they headed towards it, after bidding Ginny goodbye.
Professor McGonagall walked into the class and everyone rushed to sit down at heir seats.
"Good afternoon class," said Professor McGonagall briskly, "today, we will be working on the Protean charm in groups."
She went around the classroom, putting people into groups of three. Harry and Ron found themselves with Neville, and Hermione was with Parvati and Lavender.
The assignment was to practice the Protean charm within the group, but as Hermione had already mastered it (the Galleons for the DA had the Protean charm on them), she merely tried to help Parvati and Lavender. The two girls were having trouble concentrating so after a while Hermione merely gave up.
"So Hermione," began Parvati, "How's it going with Ron?"
Hermione looked up sharply.
"Oh no," she thought, "they're going into gossip mode."
"Um… good…" she said, deciding it would be the safest answer.
"So, like, have you guys got to second base yet?" asked Lavender, leaning forward.
"Huh?" asked Hermione.
"Second base? You know, the one that comes after first base and before third?" said Parvati, impatiently.
"Don't tell me you don't know what second base is," said Lavender, smirking.
Hermione blushed.
"Well… um," she said awkwardly.
"Lavender, don't be so mean!" said Parvati, who was clearly enjoying herself, "Hermione, first base is like kissing and stuff, and second is like when you get to the upper body fondling,"
"What?" started Hermione, "Upper body fondling?"
"Um, like yeah! Hello, you're 16, don't tell me that upper body fondling is too much for you! Legally, you'd be able to have sex in a couple of months!" said Lavender.
Hermione's face went even redder.
"What… what…" she managed to stutter out, "But, me and Ron…"
"Um, Hermione, Ron's a 16 year old boy. He has needs, you know!" said Parvati.
Hermione stood up suddenly.
"I need to go to the bathroom," she said weakly, and hurried out of the door, after muttering an excuse to Professor McGonagall.
Parvati turned to Lavender in surprise and said, "Gosh, maybe we were a bit hard on her,"
"Hello, she should know these this things! I can't believe they haven't had a sex talk yet!"
"Yeah, she really is clueless! So we'll have to help her, I mean, how on earth is she going to keep Ron if she carries on like this?"
AN: Well, well, well… is this is a surprise twist or what? Don't forget to review and tell me what you think!
