One month later, Ginny walked up stairs leading to the Fat Lady's portrait. She was about to say "dilligrout", but then she remembered that the password must have been changed. She looked around. There was no one coming. She might as well give it a try.

"Dilligrout?"

"I don't think so, dear," the Fat Lady replied. Ginny sighed. What was she going to do now? Stand outside until someone came?

"Hi!" Ginny turned around and saw Hermione walking towards her.

"Hi!" she replied, and gave her a hug as she drew nearer. "Do you know the new password?"

"Yeah, Dumbledore just gave it to me. Abstinence."

"You may now enter," the Fat Lady said, briskly.

The two girls entered the common room. "How was your Christmas?" Hermione asked.

"Could have been better, could have been worse. You?"

"Not bad, but Christmas Day was pretty bad though. My Uncle Jim drunk is ten times worse than when he's sober! And his daughter, Octavia, is even worse! She's my age and she's so stuck up! And she tells all these pointless, endless stories about herself that nobody cares about! Seriously! Everyone just tunes out whenever she starts off!"

Ginny laughed.

"And New Year's was depressing as well!" Hermione continued.

"Why?"

"Because all the people my age, and older come to that, were with someone that they were going out with."

"Oh. So who did you hang around with?"

"My mum and dad. So, all in all, a great Christmas! What about yours?"

"Well, Fred and George wouldn't stop teasing me about Dean, but to be fair, they did tease Ron about Lavender a lot more. But it was still really irritating!"

"Oh, that's a shame! Well, did Dean send you a Christmas present?"

"Yeah." From her pocket, Ginny deposited a thick, silver patterned bracelet and showed it to Hermione.

"Oh my goodness," Hermione said, nearly whispering.

"Yeah," Ginny said.

"It's awful!" Hermione cried.

"I know!" Ginny replied.

"Well," Hermione stuttered, evidently trying to look on the bright side. "I'm sure Dean thought it was arty!"

"Hermione, this is horrible! What if he insist that I wear it?"

"Then...just wear it. No one is going to even notice it on your wrist."

"I suppose so."

The two girls went up the girls' staircase. When Hermione got to her dormitory, Lavender and Parvati were already back. Lavender was sitting on Parvati's bed. She was laughing and her eyes were shining. She looked ecstatic about something or other. Hermione thought that some of the Christmas cheer hadn't completely left Lavender yet, but then she saw something around her neck as she doubled over, laughing.

Around Lavender's neck was a simple, yet beautiful, silver chain with a tiny, glass heart as a pendant.

"But seriously though," Lavender was saying, now quite solemn. "I really didn't think that he'd give me a Christmas present."

Hermione swept straight past Parvati and Lavender, dumped her bags and books on to her bed and started to brush her hair naturally, as if what they were talking about didn't affect her. But both Lavender and Parvati both knew that it did because Hermione never brushed her hair, on account of the fact that it made it even bushier. The idea of Hermione worrying about her appearance was actually anything but natural.

Parvati wondered whether she should go over to Hermione or just to let Lavender carry on hurting Hermione, now intentionally. She decided to take the easy way out, literally.

"I'm going to go and see who's back," Parvati said, and rushed out, leaving Lavender to trail off pathetically. Lavender looked over at Hermione, who was still "brushing her hair" with her back turned. With a sigh, Lavender got off her bed and began to unpack. She supposed that she would have to spend another night in her dormitory in silence.

The next morning, Ginny walked down to breakfast with Dean. She was desperately trying not to convert the conversation towards the hideous bracelet that Dean had given her.

"So, what did you do for Christmas?" Dean asked.

Oh no, Ginny thought. "It was alright. Fred and George kept teasing me mercilessly about you, of course, but that was expected. Anyway, I suppose Ron got it worse."

Dean laughed. "Oh yeah, how are Fred and George."

"Fine, I guess."

"It looks like they're doing well in their joke shop. I saw it when I went shopping in Diagon Alley. They're quite clever. U-No-Poo!"

Dean started laughing hysterically. At first, Ginny giggled uncertainly, but then she started to get a bit impatient.

"It's really not that funny," she said, irritably.

"Oh, but it is!" Dean insisted, tears now rolling down his face. Ginny gave an exasperated sigh and started quickening her pace. Dean was so shocked at her reaction that he didn't even call after her.

Hermione stared down at her bowl of cornflakes. She had been looking at it for about half an hour now, she realised. Suddenly the chilly dregs of corn mush didn't look very tempting to her now. Then, she heard a sharp voice calling her name.

"Hermione!" She looked up and saw Harry staring at her. "Can you please pass the sugar?" he asked.

"Oh," Hermione said, vaguely. "Yeah, sure." Suddenly, Ginny came and sat beside Hermione and shook the bench as she did so. She got a cup of tea and began rapping a teaspoon against the mug impatiently.

"Are you alright, Ginny?" Ron asked.

"Yes," she said, fiercely. "Why?"

"Nothing," Ron said, quickly. "It's just that you look kind of...tense. And you're kind of flushed too."

"Am I?" Ginny hastily put her hand up to her left cheek. It was burning, and sh could tell that it must be red. Great, she thought to herself. Just what I need...crimson cheeks.

"So, how was your Christmas, Hermione?" Harry asked, eager to start any conversation.

"It was alright," Hermione replied. "Pretty quiet, except for New Years obviously, but, you know."

"Have you guys seen Seamus anywhere?" Ron suddenly asked.

"Yeah," Ginny replied. "I saw him on my way down. He was by the Lake."

"OK," Ron said. He got up abruptly, and left the Great Hall.

"What was that about?" Ginny asked.

"No idea," said Harry.

Ron strolled down to the Lake. At first, he couldn't see Seamus and he asumed that he must have left since Ginny saw him, but then he saw him at the edge of the Lake. Ron walked over to him.

Seamus didn't seem to sense Ron behind him, so Ron cleared his throat. Seamus wheeled around. He had a hopeful looking expression on his face. But that look soon changed to disappointment and hurt at the sight of seeing Ron.

"What do you want, Weasley?" he said, roughly. Ron winced. Seamus never called him Weasley.

"Errm," he muttered. "I just really wanted to say..well, I just wanted to say I'm sorry, really."

"Sorry for what?" he asked, distantly. Seamus had now begun skimming stones, and he wasn't even looking at Ron.

"Well, I'm sorry for hurting you. And going out with Lavender."

Seamus dropped the stones and turned around to face Ron.

"Why did you do it?" he asked. He didn't sound rough anymore. He now sounded small and hurt. Something Ron had never seen on Seamus before.

"I..I...well, I dunno, really. I suppose it's just the fact that someone like Lavender actually wanted to go out with me. It just seemed really unreal. It...just...it was quite hard to believe it could actually be true."

Seamus nodded. He could see that it had taken a lot of strength and courage for Ron to muster up, and for that, he respected him.

"Then I realised," Ron continued. "I realised that it was so hard to believe because...it wasn't true."

Now Seamus looked confused. "What?" he asked.

"Lavender doesn't like me," Ron explained. "She likes you. I know she still has feelings for you Seamus. I know. But, that doesn't really matter to me because I don't really like her, either. It was wrong of me to go out with her when clearly, you and her are made for each other."

Seamus smiled.

"I'm going to break it off with Lavender," Ron said, firmly. Now Seamus looked shocked.

"Ron, mate, you don't have to do that."

"Yes, I do. You clearly like her a lot and to be honest, I don't really have any feelings for her. That's partly why I feel so bloody stupid right now. So, I'm going to do it as soon as I can. Then, she'll be all yours."

Thanks, Ron. Thanks a lot."

"It's no problem."

"You know, Ron, Hermione actually really loves you."

This completely caught Ron off-guard and his ears started to turn red. This was such an un-Seamus thing to say. Seamus saw Ron's shocked expression and chuckled.

"I'm not actually just saying that, Ron. She's been miserable ever since you went out with Lavender. She really loves you."

"Yeah, well, I'll deal with that when I've solved the Lavender problem."

Seamus knew that Ron cared a lot more than he let on, and he could tell that he loved Hermione too. But, he decided not to say anything. He found playing matchmaker a rather tedious job.

"Ron. Thanks again."

"It's alright, mate. Don't worry about it." They both thought it a bit too feminine to hug each other, so they simply shook hands demurely.