Hey you guys! This is chapter #3 …….. Enjoy!

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Ginny came rushing up to me in our room two days before the dance.

"Hermione, I can't do this!" she said, looking tearful. I looked at her like she was out of her mind, though I was almost sure I knew what she was talking about.

"I can't go to the dance with a total stranger!" she sobbed. I think we both thought that I was going to shake her by the shoulders and make her go to the dance.

"Ginny, you have to! This guy is perfect, and he already thinks you are going with him!" I told her angrily.

"Well, it's not so much that I don't want to go meet this guy at all, but I'm scared that he won't be what I expect!" Now I knew she was crazy.

"So that's why you take a chance! What if this guy turns out to be your true love or something, or somebody that you already like?" I said, trying not to give too much away, but at the same time trying to make her see that she might enjoy going with her mystery date.

"Well, I thought about that too. What if you went for me?" she asked hopefully.

"WHAT?" I exploded. "First, you make me write to him, now you want me to on your date for you!" I was yelling, and should have thought before doing so. For all I knew, someone could be listening in on our conversation. Well, my part of the conversation anyway.

"That's not what I mean, 'Mione." Ginny said quietly. "I'm not trying to use you; I thought you would know me better than that."

"Well, that is sure what it feels like!" I told her, still upset, but not yelling anymore. "Did it ever occur to you that I already have a date? You know, with my BOYFRIEND?"

"Yeah, I know, and I am so sorry Hermione, I just thought that, well I mean, you guys have been fighting anyway, I thought maybe it would give you an excuse to ….you know."

"Give me an excuse to what?" I asked angered even more at the thought of what I thought she was implying.

"Well, I guess not go with Ron." She said timidly, looking at me with her eyes. They were shiny, and I could tell if I said one more harsh word to her that she would be crying.

"And why wouldn't I want to go to the dance with my own boyfriend?" I asked. I was trying to control my voice, both for her and our friendships sake.

"Come on; you have been complaining about Ron nonstop for more than a week now."

"Well, he's been acting worse than ever. He chews with his mouth open, he interrupts into my conversations, he insults me…." I kept making my list. When I finally stopped, Ginny was still looking at me like, "So what?"

"He is a guy. Guys are idiots; he is probably going through some kind of stage. He'll get over it and be back to his old self in no time. In the mean time, he needs a little wake up call that you aren't going to be around forever. Say, maybe not going with him to a dance?" she said mischievously.

"You are wrong." I said back playfully.

"So, you'll do it then?" she said, her entire face lighting up.

"Yeah, I guess so. Everybody says we should be sisters anyway." But I could shake the feeling that I was happy. Like if I didn't have a boyfriend, that I would be glad that Harry was going to be my date. Wow, what is wrong with me?

I was used to seeing the owl by this time, so I was expecting to see it when it came this morning.

Dear Harry,

Alas, I cannot meet you in the courtyard as you had wished. I may however meet you in the Great Hall next to the punch bowl and glass windows.

I await your reply, so write back in a hurry my darling!

Lots of love from the bottom of my heart,

Your Secret Admirer

Well, this was interesting.

I was so happy. Hermione and I had worked out a plan that would be perfect. She would go in and pretend to be me. Once she figured out whom my mystery date was, she would come back out and tell me. If I liked him, I would go back in. If not, well Hermione would be wearing a mask, so no one would be any the wiser. We would just act like none of it had ever happened. Hermione seemed pretty confident that I would like whoever it was. It was almost as if she knew who my date would be………..

I had been acting even worse towards Hermione lately, and I could tell she was getting very aggravated at me. Boy was she going to be surprised! I could barely conceal my glee. It made me feel good to know that, for once I would be able to do something for her. At least I hoped I would. I wasn't really worried about it, but something else had come up. But I was determined to be there for Hermione, whatever it took. And nothing was going to get in my way.

I felt so bad that I was doing this to Ron. But I was doing it for Ginny. And what she had said was sticking in my head.

Maybe he needs a wake up call that you won't be around forever…..

I tried to shake the thought from my head, and tell myself that it wasn't the reason for me doing this.

"Ron, may I talk to you for a second," I asked him. I had found him in the common room pigging out on a bunch of chocolate frogs.

"Sure," he said, spewing bits of chocolate as he spoke. I began to pull at his hand, trying to lead him away, to anywhere but the common room, where people could hear us.

"Why are we leaving?" he said pulling back.

"Well, I needed to talk to you…" I mumbled really feeling like this was going to be horrible.

"We can talk right here," he said, sitting back down in his chair. "I'm already comfortable."

"You are so stubborn!" I said, immediately getting fired up. This was the last straw of him being rude to me.

"So?" he said, smirking slightly. "Isn't that what you love about me?" He began making really obnoxious kissing noises.

"Ugh! You are a pig Ronald Weasly, and I will not be seen with the likes of you at the dance!" Why had he changed so much? He was disgusting and I couldn't stand to be around him, or with him, for one more minute. "You do all these horrid things and now this! I can't stand you!" I told him, tears welling up in my eyes. "You are never kind or sweet, or any other thing that a boyfriend should be!"

"I-I didn't m-mean to make y-you upset. I just t-thought that-"

"Well, I don't care what you thought. You were different once upon a time Ron, but now? No girl except Lavender could stand to be with you." Ron looked like I had slapped him in the face.

"Aw, come on Hermione," he said gently. "Let me make it up to you. At the dance. I know I've been rude, but please try to be understanding and forgive me. I can be kind and sweet and all that. Can you give me another chance?" I studied him for a moment.

"No," I said quietly. "I can't. I gave you too many chances. You'll act different for a while, but it's not because you mean it. It is because you don't want to make me mad."

"That's not true," he said, obviously hurt. "I would do it because I can be that way, and because even if I wasn't that way, I would try to improve, because I care about you."

"I don't think you could. I can't do this anymore." I was as upset about this as he was, but I couldn't make this work.

"Can't or won't?" he said, quoting Sweet Home Alabama, a muggle movie that we had watched together several times.

"I'm sorry Ron." I told him. I hadn't wanted it to end like this. Maybe I hadn't wanted it to end at all, but it would never work. I wanted a caring, loving boyfriend, and he couldn't be that.

"So this means we're over then?" he asked flatly. No emotion, just a question that was simply stated.

"Yeah, I guess so." I told him, not sure what else to say. I thought that he would just walk off and that would be then end of it, but I was wrong.

"Well guess what?" he said to me smugly. "I don't need you anyway. I have another date to the dance." I don't even remember how I got there, but the next thing I knew, I was on my bed in my room, crying.

So what did you guys think? Sorry to leave ya hanging like that…anyways…thanks for all the great reviews! I hope you guys liked this chapter, its my favorite one that I've written, and I hope to make the next chapter even better!