Hermione and Ginny had been back at Hogwarts for nearly three weeks, which meant it had been over a month since Ginny declared that she only wanted to be friends. It was probably one of the most difficult trials of Hermione's life. Many of the other challenges Hermione had faced had some textbook solution that Hermione could pull out of the archive of her memory of all of the books she had read. There were not any books to explain away hers or Ginny's feelings. There was not some published witch or wizard that could tell Hermione what to do specifically to make Ginny choose her. Hermione was playing the waiting game, and it sucked.

In the meantime, Hermione did her best to keep herself distracted. She was head girl this year, which meant she had a lot of responsibilities in the castle, and she also got her own room and bathroom. It was nice seeing as no matter how polite all the girls were in her year about her coming out, Hermione still suspected sharing a room with them might have been a tad bit awkward. Ginny would stop by Hermione's room occasionally for a quiet place to study or help with her homework, but she would always sit across the room as far as she could get from Hermione. It was driving Hermione crazy. It took everything she had not to let thoughts of Ginny take over her.

One afternoon in that third week at Hogwarts, Hermione was walking down a nearly empty corridor, trying to push thoughts of Ginny out of her head. She was staring sullenly at the ground, clutching a pile of books when she ran head on into another student walking the opposite direction.

"I'm sorry—"

"Oh no, it was my fault—"

"Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine."

The chorus of apologies between the two continued as they gathered up the books that had flown from Hermione's arms upon collision. The other person who turned out to be a girl from Hufflepuff house handed Hermione the last of her fallen books. When Hermione looked up, her breath nearly caught in her throat. This girl was gorgeous. Hermione was not even sure gorgeous was a strong enough word. She was literally breath taking. She was tall, a few inches taller than Hermione. Her hair was long and blonde and fell effortlessly straight around her shoulders. Her skin was tan from what Hermione guessed was hours in the sun during some sport or another. Her eyes were a color in between a blue and a green, and she had the most perfect shaped lips that curled into an equally as perfect smile as she met Hermione's eyes.

"You'd be surprised how often this happens to me," the girl said, "I really should start paying attention to where I'm going."

Hermione smiled back at her, "Oh don't be silly. You're hardly to blame. I wasn't even paying the slightest bit of attention."

"My name's Alexa," the tall girl said, reaching a hand out to Hermione.

Hermione shook it with a little bit of a blush hinting on her cheeks, "I'm Hermione."

Alexa giggled, "It's a bit hard not to know who you are, Hermione." Hermione blushed even harder. "Where are you headed?"

"Just to the library. I usually do my studying and homework in my room, but I'm getting a bit stir crazy."
"How about I join you? I need to get a head start on a potions essay anyway," Alexa grabbed half of the stack of Hermione's books, "This way both of us can make sure the other doesn't trample over any poor unsuspecting first years." Hermione let out a small laugh and the two girls continued down the corridor.

When they got to the library, the two girls spread out at one of the tables in a quiet corner. After Alexa found the books that she needed for her potions essay, the two sat relatively silent as they did their work. Hermione looked up from her transfigurations textbook to study the girl across from her. This girl was definitely the type that did not go unnoticed. How is it that Hermione had never seen her before?

"Alexa, what year are you?" Hermione asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"Seventh," the girl said simply.
"Really?" Hermione asked, shocked, "I don't mean to be rude, but how come I don't recognize you?"

Alexa looked up from the parchment she was scribbling notes on and smiled a smile that made Hermione's stomach do a tiny flip. "I was homeschooled before. My parents are a bit paranoid. They always said that Voldemort wasn't gone for good, that he'd be back. When Harry Potter started here, they were convinced that it meant bad things were going to happen at this school."

"Well they wouldn't be wrong there," Hermione said with a grumble.

Alexa let out a small laugh, "So I've heard. Now though, they seem pretty convinced that the threat is gone, so they said I could come here for my last year if I wanted to."

"Do you like it?"

Alexa smiled in a way that seemed to Hermione to be flirty, "I'm starting to." Hermione's cheeks were starting to burn with a blush she thought could only be elicited by one girl. Alexa was proving that assumption to be wrong.

As if she sensed some of her power over Hermione waning, Ginny came barreling around one of the library stacks, "Bloody hell, Hermione, I've been looking everywhere for—who's this?" Ginny stopped abruptly to stare at Alexa with an eyebrow raised.

Hermione shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "Ginny, this is Alexa. She's a seventh year that was homeschooled up until this term. Alexa, this is my friend Ginny."

"Nice to meet you," Alexa reached out a hand for Ginny to shake, but instead of taking it, Ginny pulled out a chair and sat down at the table next to Hermione. She was staring at the Hufflepuff girl with intense eyes. Hermione could feel the nervous knots forming in her stomach, which was ridiculous. She had just met Alexa, and Ginny had made it very clear that she and Hermione were just friends.

"Homeschooled, huh? Must mean you don't have many friends," Ginny stated plainly, eyes still fixed on Alexa.

"Ginny!" Hermione exclaimed, shocked that Ginny could be so rude to a girl she just met.

Alexa shifted in her chair. Hermione could tell she was uncomfortable in the situation. Hermione only hoped that she knew that she was not the problem, and that Ginny's behavior was caused by a backlog of other things. "Uhm, I don't really. I'm still getting to know people," her eyes flashed to Hermione for a quick second, and Hermione could see the blush form in Alexa's cheeks.

"So no boyfriend, then? Not even back home?"

"Ginny! Honestly!" Hermione exclaimed, again.

"Uh, no," Alexa's blush was completely obvious at this point, "I tend to enjoy the company of girls."

"How convenient," Ginny said venomously.

"Excuse us," Hermione said as she got up, grabbed Ginny by the arm and pulled her away from the table, "Just what do you think you're doing?"

Ginny crossed her arms over her chest and pursed her lips, "Getting to know your new friend."

"By being completely rude and insufferable?"

"Oh, come on, Hermione," Ginny exasperated, throwing her hands up. "I could see the way that girl was looking at you. She was practically undressing you with her eyes."

Hermione was fuming, "Whatever she was or wasn't doing is of no concern to you, which is a choice, need I remind you, that you made yourself," Hermione was now mirroring Ginny's original stance. "You don't just get to waltz into a room and harass everyone who makes you jealous, when you made it very clear that you and I are just friends."

Ginny looked hurt. If Hermione had not been so angry and frustrated with the girl, she might have been sorry. At the moment though, Hermione was annoyed and irritated with Ginny's childish behavior. It was reminding her of Ron, which was not a quality that Hermione found attractive on Ginny. She was not about to put up with it.

"Why were you looking for me?" Hermione asked, remembering why Ginny had shown up in the library in the first place.

"Just forget it," Ginny huffed out before turning on her heel and high tailing it out of the library.

Alexa still looked uncomfortable when Hermione returned to the table, "Ex-girlfriend?" she asked.

"No, not really. It never got that far," Hermione could feel a fist tightening around her heart. She let out a long, heavy sigh, "It's all very complicated."

"I won't make you get into it," Alexa said before smiling at Hermione and then returning her attention back to her homework.

Starting that day and much to Ginny's displeasure, Hermione and Alexa started spending a lot of time together. Hermione was learning so much about the new girl. Alexa was from a very progressive wizarding family. Her mother was a muggle so she understood a lot about Hermione's upbringing, which was never the case with Ginny. Her father, however, was a wizard. How the two managed to stay together was a mystery to Hermione, but it was very admirable. It also turned out that Alexa was an excellent quidditch player. She even made the Hufflepuff team as a chaser. Ginny had not enjoyed that news too much.

"You're coming to my game tonight, right?" Alexa asked. They were sitting outside by the lake. It was still warm enough to do some studying outside during the day. Hermione had her back up against a tree, and Alexa was sitting cross-legged a few feet away.

Hermione looked up from her book and smiled, "Of course I'll be there. You're playing Gryffindor."

The other girl smiled and moved across the grass so that she was sitting shoulder to shoulder with Hermione. Alexa had to slouch down a bit for them to be level. Her face was now close to Hermione's, and Hermione could feel her pulse starting to speed up. "You'll route for me won't you?" she asked, "Even if it is in a silent no one else knows kind of way?"

"If I'm silent, how will you know I'm routing for you?" Hermione asked, giving the girl a sly smile. Part of her wanted to pull away from the closeness, but another part of her was being drawn in. She did not know at this point which one would win.

Alexa gave her the same sly smile right back, "Judging by how the next few seconds go, I think I'll be able to wager a guess."
"What do you me—?" Hermione was cut off by Alexa's lips being pressed firmly against hers. They felt as perfect as they looked. It did not take long for Hermione to realize what was going on and kiss her back. It was nice, and Hermione found herself smiling when the kiss ended.

"I'll see you at the game, Hermione," Alexa said as she stood up, smiling from ear to ear. That was all she said before turning to walk back to the castle. It was not long after the girl started walking away that Hermione's stomach started to tighten and a feeling of guilt washed over her. The part of her that wanted to pull away from Alexa moments before was now making her feel like she had just cheated on Ginny. Hermione just rested her face in her hands and let out another heavy sigh, then began to gather her things so she could head up to the castle for dinner before the quidditch match that evening.