"Hey, Potter!" Malfoy called. Harry was heading back to Hogwarts. He had gone to Hogsmeade with Seamus and Dean for a little, but he began to grow wary of people staring at him and scorning him for being an illegal champion. As if he had anything to do with it!

"What, Malfoy?" Harry said through gritted teeth. He was not in a good mood. His first legal trip to Hogwarts was not as fun as he had anticipated.

"Guess who I caught Weasley locking lips with?" He smiled mischievously.

"Which one? Fred or George?" Harry sighed. Why was this of any importance to him? Fred and George were always surrounded by various girls.

"Think younger."

"Ginny?"

"Think male." He rolled his eyes.

"Younger than Fred and George...but a male..." Harry gasped. "You didn't see...Ron...SNOGGING SOMEONE?!"

"Why yes I did...and guess who?! Hermione Granger!" He sneered.

Harry didn't know how to react to all this. He supposed he should be proud of Ron...but at the same time, Hermione Granger, with her big teeth and bushy brown hair, was no Fleur Delacour. Then he remembered he and Ron weren't talking at the moment and he felt...replaced. Jealous, even, of Hermione Granger. Lately, while Harry either third-wheeled Dean or Seamus or lagged along with Neville, Ron and Hermione walked the halls together, talking and laughing. It was odd, seeing Ron so happy with someone he had complained about for three years. It was odd to see him so happy with someone than Harry, much less a GIRL.

"Well that's..."

"Pathetic, isn't it?" Malfoy scoffed. "You know who I think is the ugliest girl in the school?"

"Winky the house elf?" Crabbe suggested.

"No. But good one, Crabbe. Obscure, actually. But I'd say it's that Hermione Granger. But it works, because with Weasley's awkward body, disgusting flaming red hair, and stupid completion, they make quite a good ugly couple." Malfoy said casually.

Harry wasn't friends with Hermione Granger. They were merely acquaintances. At the moment, he wasn't friends with Ron either. But he didn't like his worst enemy calling his ex-best friend and his...girlfriend? Snogging Partner? Lover? Friend with benefits? Whatever Ron wanted to call Hermione, it didn't matter. If she was important to Ron, than she was important to Harry.

"Even if Ron and Hermione were the ugliest people on the planet," Harry said through gritted teeth, pointing his wand at Malfoy threateningly, "They wouldn't be even half as ugly as your soul."

Malfoy stuttered, thinking of something clever to say, before saying, "Oh, hello Professor Flitwick!"

Harry lowered his wand while Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle gave an obnoxiously cheery wave to Flitwick before running off.

"Guess I walked in at the wrong time, eh, Potter?" Flitwick chuckled, and Harry laughed.

"Well, if anyone asks, I may deny it, because you're an obnoxious know-it-all," Ron teased said as they reached the Great Hall, "But I had a lot of fun today."

"If anyone says I saw you hanging with Ron Weasley," Hermione began, a playful smile on her lips, "I'd say it simply couldn't be. Because I don't like you. But that's really just because you proved to me I haven't really had fun the past three years. You showed me what fun is."

Ron and Hermione stood in the middle of the Great Hall, grinning like idiots until they realized it was time to part ways.

"Well, see you in Transfiguration, I guess." Ron said. "Bye, Hermione."

"Bye, Ron." She said. Hermione headed over to the Ravenclaw table, where she propped open a book an ate alone. Ron walked right past Harry at the Gryffindor table and sat next to his brothers, but was basically ignored as the twins flirted tirelessly with the Quidditch girls.

"You know, Ron, if you really we might be able to put a good word in for you and Katie Bell." Fred whispered. "I mean, she fancies George, but I think he fancies Alicia. And I got Angelina, so we can do a triple Weasley date!"

"Ha-ha, thanks, but no thanks. Hand her off to Lee or something, I'm good." Ron responded.

"Ron, we are HANDING you older women, and you're denying them?!" George asked.

"I'm not really interested in a set up. Take both of them if you'd like George, it wouldn't be the first time." Ron said. It was odd. Fred and George could get almost any non-Slytherin girl in the school, and Ron had always been jealous. Now, here they were handing him the attractive Katie Bell. Ron knew this was a big deal for his relationship with his older brothers; they finally felt him worthy of joining their group dates, and even wanted to set him up with a friend of theirs. But for some reason, he didn't want to.

"Alright, you're loss." George shrugged, then stood up, and put one arm around Alicia, the other around Katie. "Did I ever tell you about the time Fred and I wrestled the Giant Squid?" He grinned, and the girls giggled.

George cocked his head to Fred, and he added, "Yeah, it's quite a tale." Fred said, standing up to leave the Great Hall, and motioning Angelina to follow suit. Ron groaned. Everything seemed so easy for them. Girls in various years and houses were always throwing themselves at the twins, but yet Fred and George always maintained their solid friendships with Angelina, Alicia, and Katie, the girls they seemed to want the most. Didn't the saying go, 'the best realtionships come out of friendships?'. Well, Ron didn't have any female friends...he barely had female aquaintances for than matter. Except Hermione. He almost forgot about his newly formed friendship with Hermione! Was it true girls and guys could actually be friends? Or did they have to fall for each other at some point? And hypothetically, if he DID for some STRANGE reason SOMEHOW fall for HERMIONE GRANGER...there could be many problems. What if they broke up? What if they weren't friends anymore. Ron couldn't afford loosing friends at the moment. It was all too risky, even hypothetically.

But, hypothetically, what if he got everything he wanted?