A:N/ Link to song for this chapter: http:/www.*you*tube.c*om/*watch?v=*cuKSOalgq*zs

Copy, paste and take out the stars.

To Be By Your Side

Chapter 14

Cold Shoulder

"For so bare is my heart

I can't hide

And so where does my heart belong

Now that I've found you

And seen behind those eyes

How can I carry on?"

Undenied – Portishead

The silence was deafening as Ron and Hermione did their patrols. They were walking with as much distance between them as possible and he was deliberately lagging behind her. Irritated by this, she had been chewing her lip for the past several minutes but was now forced to stop as she tasted a little blood. She wiped at her bottom lip and felt a slight stinging sensation. She ignored it and continued walking, keeping her eyes to the ground. It turned out ignoring the stinging sensation was far easier than ignoring Ron.

Technically, the only thing she had to ignore was his footsteps. But it was the fact she knew he was there which made it so difficult to ignore him. He was only a few feet away from her, still insistent on not talking to her. She refused to be the first one to speak, because she didn't think she had done anything wrong. Yes, she wasn't tutoring him anymore but that was his fault. He shouldn't have insinuated that she slept around.

Once again, she thought he had a lot of nerve accusing that of her, considering who he was currently going out with. Hermione knew her thoughts were unfair on Lavender since she was basing it all on rumours she had heard. But for the rumours to start, she must have done something to make them feasible, right? And she wasn't exactly discrete in public with her latest flavour of the month. It hardly left anything to the imagination.

Hermione suddenly felt the anger boiling up inside of her at Ron. While his accusation hurt, it infuriated her also. She had done nothing to ever make anyone think of her as some sort of a scarlet woman, let alone him. What was he basing it upon anyway? He had seen her and George in the middle of a deep kiss; that was all. She had walked in upon a far worse situation with him and Lavender the other day. They might as well have ditched their clothing since they were practically shagging anyway.

She ignored the churn in her stomach and the uncomfortable feeling in her chest and whipped herself around. He had apparently all ready been looking at her since his gaze didn't alter, but she thought nothing of it as she strode up to him. She glowered at him coldly and he looked mildly surprised at her sudden fury, but stopped walking.

"You have some nerve accusing me of being a tart considering what I saw you doing the other day!" She snapped, placing her hands on her hips. He blinked a few times perplexed until he remembered what she was referring to and his ears went a bright red. He didn't know how to respond and awkwardly shifted his feet so she continued, "What gives you the right to call me a hypocrite and then become one yourself?"

"Th-that's different!" He stammered, not being able to think of a better excuse while being put on the spot. If she had taken the time to look at his composure, she would have known he was lying. He wasn't the best at it, judging from his eyes that were refusing to look at her and his sweating palms. But since she wasn't in a patient state, she glared at him thinking it was the truth.

"How?" She snapped bitterly. He gave her a slightly cold look from her tone and his temper shot up.

"Well, it's not as if I'm the only person that's walked in on you two like that!" He retorted, only riling her up even more.

"Please enlighten me who else has then!" She barked, betting she could name at least twenty more people who had seen him and Lavender snogging.

"Malfoy!" He answered, quickly making her eyes widen. The night Draco witnessed one of her more private moments with George was virtually a distant memory. She couldn't believe after a few months it was still coming back to haunt her. It was embarrassing enough without the humiliation of everyone else knowing Draco had seen her like that. He actually hadn't seen anything too bad. It technically had only been an incredibly heavy make-out session that had gotten out of hand. She doubted she would have let it get any further then it had gotten, and she glanced at Ron.

Seeing him seething with anger, she became outraged. It was unbelievable of him to be acting this way towards her. It wasn't as if she planned on Draco walking in on her and George. Ron wasn't exactly being discrete about his relationship, since he seemed intent on letting the whole world know he was in one. She ignored the nagging thought in her brain that wondered what they did in private if they could do something that intimate for everyone to see.

"That's hardly fair! It was in private, and not out in the corridor where anyone could just walk past!" She pointed out.

"So you're admitting to what he said?" He asked in a dark tone. She had never been prone to physical violence before with Ron. Not that he had never infuriated her, it was blatant at times he could. But she had never been pushed to the point where she had to physically hold herself back from hitting him.

She refused to accept that he was opting to believe Draco Malfoy over her. The rage coursed through her veins and she crossed her arms beneath her chest.

"That depends on what he supposedly saw." She retorted heatedly, and saw Ron flinch from the tone. She couldn't care less though, if she was angry at him he was going to know about it.

His own anger dissipated slightly, no doubt from working out that her statement had been sarcastic as well as acidic. He awkwardly scratched behind his ear as his suspicions proved to be false.

He couldn't prevent his face from turning scarlet, not wishing to repeat how Draco had described their antics. Hermione managed to work out what Draco had said from Ron's bashful state and she couldn't prevent herself from blushing also.

"Of course not! I'd never do that!" She answered. She gave Ron a cold look, mildly hurt that he could think she'd treat sex so casually.

"So you haven't?" Ron asked before he could stop himself. Her eyes widened as it became apparent to her what she'd implied. Her instinctive response was to say no and snap at him about her personal beliefs about the matter. She stopped herself though and gave him an accusing look, unsure as to why he wanted to know in the first place. It was a rather invasive thing to ask of someone, not to mention a little peculiar when the other person involved was his brother.

"Why are you asking? Have you and Lavender?" She snapped, and saw his ears blend in with his hair. He glanced away from her intense gaze and stared fixatedly at the ground, suddenly fascinated by the stone. She shrewdly leered at him, unsure whether or not he was acting awkward because he was still a virgin or if he had actually had sex and didn't want to admit it.

His grumbled response of, "None of your business," did nothing to help either. Instead of trying to work out if he and Lavender had already had sex in the short period of two weeks that they'd been together, Hermione put an end to the argument.

"Exactly, so it's not any of your business what I've done either." She stated defiantly, and promptly whipped back around to continue patrolling. It took a few moments for her to hear Ron begin to walk again and expected him to lag behind like he had been. However, he actually hurried up so they were walking side by side.

The awkward silence was brewing again and Ron ran a hand through his hair, contemplating if he should break it with what he desperately wanted to say. In the end the tension in the air got to him and he said, "I don't think you're a tart."

He closed his eyes and sucked in a breath, sensing that she wouldn't accept his attempt at apologising.

"Then why did you say it?" She spat spitefully. She didn't want to show how she had believed what he said and how extensively it had hurt her. To discover that he hadn't even meant it was humiliating when she thought back to the amount of tears she had shed from it.

"I don't know." He sighed truthfully. She glanced at him and saw regret was written all over his features. She looked away again and gritted her teeth.

"So you deliberately said something to hurt me and you didn't even mean it!" She said furiously with her voice rising. He mentally kicked himself and ran a hand through his hair.

"No, I mean-I don't- I didn't mean it like that. I just sort of said it without thinking." He tried to explain and she threw him a bitter look. Seeing such a look from her he quickly continued, "I'm really sorry I said it, since you're nothing like that. I take it back."

"And that makes it all right? I'll take your word that you don't mean it now, but you must have meant it then. What if I did the same to you? I doubt you would be forgiving me now. What makes you think I should forgive you?" She barked, and he clenched his fist with his temper building.

"Because, I bloody well didn't mean it then! I don't know why I said it, I wasn't thinking! I don't see why I'm suddenly getting all the blame when your boyfriend was the one who said it first." He retorted.

"What makes you think I let him get away with it?" She replied simply.

Despite her and George's decision to talk more, neither of them had spoken to eachother since they made that decision. None of them had really had the time, or it appeared that way. She wasn't blind and knew he was deliberately avoiding her in order to prevent the serious conversation.

She had hoped from their mutual decision to talk more that the cracks in their relationship would start to mend back into solidarity. It seemed to have done the opposite as the cracks were now rupturing them into a state of destruction. That was hardly letting George 'get away with it' like Ron assumed.

Not wishing to spill the details about her relationship though, she hastily snapped, "Lord knows if you think I'm a tart, what must you think of your so called 'girlfriend'?"

She knew it was a low blow but she couldn't have prevented herself from saying it any longer. She had been dying to say it to him ever since she discovered about their 'relationship'. She bit her bottom lip, knowing the impending rage that was about to consume him and briefly closed her eyes. She was shocked to be met with silence.

She hesitantly opened her eyes and looked over at him. He was awkwardly scratching behind his ear again with the tips of them practically glowing red. She loosened her teeth on her lip and blinked a few times perplexed. If she knew Ron at all, she knew he would always protect those he cared about. Yet here he was, acting as if he thought it himself.

He must have sensed her staring since he glanced at her and shrugged his shoulders casually. Hermione knitted her eyebrows, giving him a look of disbelief.

"You actually think that about her, don't you?" She asked calmly, and he shrugged his shoulders again.

"Well she's been around a bit, it's no secret." He replied simply. She could scarcely believe what she was hearing.

"Charming to know how much self-respect you have to be with someone you think that of." She snapped.

"What difference does it make to you if I'm with someone I think that of?" He said unsurely. He wasn't sure why but he was getting the feeling she was slightly jealous. He pushed down the hopeful feeling he got from it, knowing he shouldn't take pleasure in it. He didn't believe it anyway. She'd never be jealous of Lavender of all people. He seriously doubted she would ever have any romantic feeling for him in order to become jealous. After all, he was nothing compared to her.

"Because I thought you weren't like that!" She declared, voicing a recurring thought of hers.

"Like what?" He asked, genuinely curious about her answer. It might give him some insight as to why she said she was disappointed in him the last time they'd spoken. He didn't enjoy knowing she felt that way towards him.

"Like only being in a relationship because you want to sleep with them." She answered, and his anger shot up to boiling point. She really had no idea why he was with Lavender if she was going to accuse him of something so false. He thought with her intelligence she would have managed to work it out for herself, it was painstakingly obvious to him why he was with Lavender. Since she hadn't managed to work it out for herself, he indulged in her accusation. He couldn't deny how relieved he was she didn't know the true reason. There was no chance he would have been able to live it down if she did know.

"Why do you care so bloody much? It's my life, I can shag whoever I want." He stated. Her jaw dropped. He admitted to it. He had slept with Lavender.

She couldn't take it and ran away from him. She'd never experienced welling up while feeling nauseated before and quickly decided she never wanted to experience it again. She robotically made her way back to the common room, not sure whether she had imagined Ron calling after her or not, and found she didn't particularly care.

She walked through the portrait hole trying not to focus on the graphic images unconsciously forming in her mind. She fought to shut them out but found it impossible to do so. She desperately wanted to rid herself of the words now permanently implanted in her memory and refused to think about it for another second. She glanced around the common room and caught sight of Ginny, appearing as though she just came in from Quidditch practice. She took one look at Hermione and sighed, taking her hair out of a ponytail.

"Unfortunately, I know exactly who is responsible for the state you're in." Ginny remarked with a small sympathetic smile. She shook her hair out and made her way over to Hermione.

"It's not George." Hermione stated, crossing her arms irritably. She clenched her fists and dug her nails into her skin as a particularly unpleasant image of a euphoric Lavender flashed in her head. She must have visibly flinched as well since Ginny was giving her a strange look.

"Who said I thought it was George?" Ginny answered, causing Hermione to bite her lip. Had she really been that obvious? "Hermione, do you want to talk?"

The way Ginny said it made it seem like she already knew the answer and Hermione was about to shake her head in refusal. However, she caught Ginny's determined steely gaze and realised it was more of a demand rather than an offer of condolence. Feeling too exhausted to put up a fight, Hermione gave in and nodded as a lump rose in her throat.

Ginny gave her a reassuring smile and led her up to the girl's dormitory. Luckily for them, it was empty and they both sat on opposite ends of Hermione's bed. Ginny remained quiet, knowing she had to let Hermione explain it in her own time.

Hermione took in a shaky breath, looking down at her hands as she thought over what she was about to say. She closed her eyes and forced the words out before she could think twice about it.

"Ronald said he's had sex with Lavender." Hermione finally said. She was shocked to hear Ginny scoff and her eyes instantly opened. Ginny was laughing light-heartedly as if she had just told her the latest prank Fred and George had pulled. Hermione's lips tightened into a line, not appreciating how Ginny was taking so much amusement in her pain. She was about to say this when Ginny spoke,

"Sure he has." She said sarcastically, and Hermione furrowed her eyebrows. Ginny glanced at her and rolled her eyes in disbelief. If there was one subject Hermione would lack knowledge in, it would typically be one in matters of the heart. "He's obviously lying to you."

"What makes you think that?" Hermione asked, baffled about why Ron would lie to her about that.

"Well, I know there's a lot of rumours about the amount of guys Lavender has been with, but I seriously doubt she'd let it go that far so soon." Ginny explained, pulling off her dirty boots, "I'd have thought with all your experience on people spreading false facts about you, Hermione, you'd know that they wouldn't necessarily be true about her either."

Hermione bit her lip guiltily, having immediately believed them. She'd never even doubted it before Ginny suggested it and Hermione briefly wondered when she'd suddenly become so prejudice towards Lavender. True, they'd never really seen eye to eye, but she usually wouldn't automatically assume such things about someone she hardly knew, no matter her personal feelings towards them.

"But, why would Ron lie to me about that?" Hermione asked, trying to shake the guilty feeling off her. Ginny raised a questionable eyebrow as she took off her natural make-up with a flick of her wand.

"I think you already know." Ginny answered, and Hermione held back from snapping at how vague she was being.

"I don't." Hermione said defiantly, and Ginny's amused smile grew. She started running a brush through her hair so she'd have a reason to not look at Hermione.

"Really? I thought you'd have worked it out by now." Ginny said coyly, and Hermione's aggravation grew. She was not in the mood to be playing games and really wanted to get to the point.

"Ginny, would you just tell me what on earth you're going on about?" She snapped. Sometimes, Ginny could be just like Fred and George and it was commonly in situations where Hermione was lacking knowledge in something. Since this was a rare occurrence, it barely annoyed her how alike Ginny was to the twins. However, it was incredibly frustrating in those minutes for Hermione.

"Well, he probably said it because you and George have had sex." Ginny answered in a cocky tone and Hermione was so perplexed by Ginny's statement that she made no attempt to correct her.

"Why would he say it because he thinks that?" She asked with an uncomfortable coil forming in her stomach. She was beginning to get the feeling that she may not like the response Ginny would give her.

Hermione chose not to disclose her most recent conversation with Ron that concerned the very subject her and Ginny were discussing. Looking back on it, Hermione bit her lip out of humiliation. She was fairly certain she had accidentally shown that her and George were nowhere near the point in their relationship that Ron and Lavender were supposedly at. It was what made her so certain that Ron had been telling the truth.

"Possibly because he doesn't want you thinking he's more inexperienced than you..." Ginny replied, breaking Hermione out of her thoughts. Judging by Ginny's averted gaze and the cheeky sparkle in her eye, Hermione suspected that Ginny really didn't believe that was the reason. Hermione remained silent, urging Ginny to continue. She eventually looked Hermione in the eye with a small smile and said, "Or he could have said it to make you jealous."

Hermione's heart rate sped up and her eyes widened by a small amount.

"W-why would Ron want to make me jealous?" She stammered, her cheeks flushing in anticipation. Her heart was hammering viciously against her rib cage and she had to part her lips in order to get enough oxygen flowing through her body. Anyone would have thought she was about to get the latest version of Hogwarts: A History, since she had balled up her quilt in her fists in excitement.

If she were to look at the situation properly, she would have realised she secretly knew what Ginny was about to say. She merely was too reluctant to admit it at the time.

"Because he fancies you." Ginny stated simply, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Hermione was rendered silent. All she could focus on was how her heart beat thundered in her ears at an erratic pace and how Ginny's words echoed in her mind. Her throat was suddenly dry and she was tempted to ask Ginny to repeat her comment. It would have been pointless though, Hermione knew she had heard her correctly and had to accept it.

She ignored the butterflies in her stomach and the warmth spreading inside of her as she let out a nervous chuckle. She took a sweaty shaking hand and tucked her hair behind her ear, only for it to bounce back again into its original position. She chose not to concentrate on the unexplainable joy she was experiencing and gave Ginny a look of disbelief.

"Don't be ridiculous Ginny. Ronald's never shown any kind of those feelings towards me." Hermione said in a strained tone. She coughed in an attempt to clear her throat and took off her jumper, all of a sudden finding it stifling hot.

Ginny laughed again and shook her head in disbelief. "Hermione, I sometimes wonder if it's actually you that needs glasses instead of Harry. You must be blind not to notice the way he looks at you, it's rather nauseating at times."

Hermione frowned and began folding her jumper. She swallowed, which had no effect on her dry throat, and straightened the creases out of her jumper. She willed for her heart rate to slow down as she took a deep breath and tried thinking back on any situation where Ron seemed to feel that way towards her.

After a minute of pondering, she could honestly say she couldn't think of one. She had to concede he seemed slightly awkward around her at times, but she'd always assumed that was because he didn't have many friends and was naturally like that.

"Didn't he catch you and George snogging or something the same day he got with Lavender?" Ginny pointed out, causing Hermione to blink several times puzzled.

"Yes, but that doesn't mean-" Hermione began, only to have Ginny interrupt her.

"And isn't it possible he wanted you to catch him with Lavender? He knew you were meant to be patrolling with him so you would have found him eventually."

"Ginny-"

"Plus he's always defending you against Malfoy."

"Yes but-"

"Not to mention he got the shit kicked out of him for it. Seriously Hermione, I know you're not as dense as you're making yourself out to be. You must have at least suspected something unless..." Ginny's eyes went inexplicably wide and they shot towards Hermione.

Hermione took no notice of this as she was finally given the chance to complete a sentence and she wasn't going to mess up the opportunity.

"I wish you wouldn't use language like that. And all of that is beside the point, I know for a fact that you, Harry, George, Fred and lots of other people would defend me, because that's what a friend does. Also, the fact he happened to see me and George that way the day he became a couple with Lavender means nothing. I'm positive he's seen me and George kissing before, why would that change anything? Maybe you're the one who needs glasses if you think Ronald has looked at me in any other way than friendship."

"Oh no, Hermione." Ginny moaned, and abruptly stood up. Hermione was alarmed as Ginny started pacing, a habit she tended to do when she was beginning to get frustrated.

"What?" Hermione asked innocently, genuinely having no clue about Ginny's sudden change in disposition.

"Don't Hermione. You know exactly what I'm talking about, and I don't appreciate you toying with my brother's feelings like this." Ginny snapped, and Hermione's eyebrows furrowed. She was honestly clueless about Ginny's unexpected aggravation towards her. She could only really come to one conclusion after the conversation they had just been having.

"Ginny, it's not my fault you think that Ronald supposedly has 'feelings' for me." Hermione retorted, not liking how she was being made out to be the villain. She crossed her arms beneath her chest as Ginny halted to give her a harsh glare.

"No Hermione, this is about you being with George while you blatantly like Ron." Ginny spat, astonished that Hermione was trying to act so naively about it.

Similarly to Ron, Ginny had noticed the occasional hint that Hermione could share similar feelings for him. The odd prolonged stare, the way she spoke about him, the usual symptoms had been shown. But none were as significant as how she'd been acting recently. The uncontrollable crying, the lack of sleep and concentration and how she clearly wasn't herself anymore without him could lead anyone to believe she had strong feelings for him.

Ginny had known it was possible but hadn't truly believed it until she saw how in denial Hermione was over Ron's feelings for her. She had done the exact same thing when she first started having feelings for George and in her words, 'Refused to believe a joker like himself could possibly be interested in someone as studious as her'.

While Ginny was still trying to articulate how she hadn't realised this before, Hermione was having a war with her thoughts. The majority part of her immediately refused the idea of it. It was an insult for her to even think about it. For a start, she was with George. They may have been going through a rough patch, but that didn't mean she liked Ron. She was fairly certain she had deep feelings for George, so she couldn't have feelings for Ron too. It wouldn't be possible. It wasn't possible, because it wasn't true.

"Ginny, stop being so ridiculous. I don't have feelings for Ron." Hermione snapped irritably, causing Ginny to sigh as she ran a hand to the back of her neck. She sat back down and took a long breath.

"Hermione, can you honestly say you believe that?" Ginny started, and continued before Hermione could interrupt, "I mean it's an easy to mistake. The way you're reacting to Lavender being his girlfriend, the fact you're not yourself without him and he's the one person you've had hundreds of arguments with that you still care for. Even you can't deny that Hermione, so don't bother trying."

Hermione reluctantly had to admit there was truth in Ginny's words and remained quiet. She looked sheepishly down at her hands and absentmindedly bit her bottom lip. There was no way she could excuse the actions Ginny listed and her previous argument with Ron had exhausted her enough that she couldn't be bothered to put up a fight.

Glad to see Hermione's lack of response, Ginny asked the question she expected would get Hermione really riled up, "Do you love George?"

"Of course I do Ginny. How can you even ask that?" Hermione instantly snapped, hurt that Ginny had to ask that question.

"Are you in love with him?" Ginny asked, practically ignoring Hermione's last comment. Hermione's determined expression faltered for a split second, but it was enough for Ginny to see. Hermione ran a hand through her hair and leant back, letting out a sigh. She couldn't lie to Ginny, and she had to stop lying to herself.

"I thought I was. Now, I'm not so sure." She said and sniffed, "I want to be."

She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs as she wished for this conversation to be put to an end. It dawned on her how awkward she was beginning to feel talking to Ginny about this. Not many people could say they discussed their relationships with the sister's of the people they were with and those who had would only say they felt exactly the same as Hermione.

"It's not the same, Hermione." Ginny said with an undertone of frustration.

"I know that, Ginny. And I'm sorry that this is your brother we're talking about, but I can't help the way I feel. You know I care about him and would never deliberately hurt him. I'm just so confused. We've been arguing more than ever and it's so difficult for us at the moment. I'm finding everything he does annoys me in some way and..." She let her sentence trail off unsure how to finish as the tears spilled out of her eyes. She rested her forehead on her knees, not wanting Ginny to feel affected by her crying. Ginny noticed her distressed state anyway and shuffled up to the head of the bed. She placed a comforting hand on Hermione's back which consequently meant more tears leaked out of her eyes.

"Hermione, just forget I'm his sister for a moment. I'm only asking this as a friend. Do you want to end it? Because I'd much rather have the Hermione I know back rather than this blubbering mess all the time." Ginny said smiling softly, and Hermione let out a watery chuckle. She pulled her head back up and looked over at Ginny's concerned expression. She licked her dry lips and swallowed, taking a moment to answer.

"I honestly don't know. A part of me thinks I am in love with him and I'm only thinking these things because we're going through a rough patch." She explained, hastily wiping away at her cheeks. She took a deep breath, knowing how difficult it was going to be to describe her conflicting emotions. "And the other part of me thinks this as good as it's ever going to get between us, and I should end it sooner rather later."

She looked into Ginny's eyes for reassurance and was thankful that she had kept her word and was giving her a sympathetic look. She ran her hand up and down her friend's back before speaking,

"I'm not going to tell you what to do Hermione. That's something you have to decide for yourself." She stated, and Hermione nodded understanding. "I doubt you'd have listened to me if I did anyway."

Hermione smiled but remained quiet, knowing Ginny was going to continue, "All I can tell you is that every couple goes through a time like you and George are going through now. There's no such a thing as a relationship without its complications. The only difference is whether what they have together is worth fighting for."

Hermione masked her disappointment with a fake smile since Ginny's explanation had given her more questions rather than answers. She'd been with George for so long it had gotten to the point where she wasn't sure what life without him would be like. Fear rose within her when the thought itself didn't actually scare her. She knew it should have yet it hadn't.

"Well, I've spent far too much time discussing my brother's love lives today." Ginny announced, breaking Hermione out of her train of thought. Ginny stood up and glanced at Hermione with a slightly awkward expression. "Right, I'm going to have a shower. You sure you're going to be okay?"

"I will be." Hermione said hopefully, and Ginny knew that was the best she was going to get. She left the room with a short nod and Hermione's feigned smile fell from her face. She lay down on her bed with a sigh and pressed a hand up to her temple, feeling a headache coming on. It should have been no surprise considering the amounts of thoughts she had swirling around in her head.

It seemed as if only a minute had passed before the dormitory door opened to let a tired and irritated Parvati through mumbling to herself,

"Swear if she doesn't talk about someone else soon..."

Once she caught sight of Hermione, she shut herself up with a light pink tinge rising in her cheeks.

"Oh. Hi, Hermione. Sorry, didn't think anyone else would be here." She greeted, making her way towards her own bed.

"It's fine, Parvati." Hermione said, sitting back up. She tapped a glass on the bedside table with her wand and it instantly filled with water. She took a large gulp of it which soothed her head and dry throat.

She couldn't help noticing how frazzled Parvati seemed as she was tossing her clothes around haphazardly and didn't seem to be caring in the slightest about it. It didn't take a genius like Hermione to work out that Parvati must have been talking about Lavender before she realised Hermione's presence. Hermione felt her curiosity grow as she finished her glass of water and ran a hand through her hair.

"Umm Parvati, I don't mean to pry but, are you okay?" Hermione asked, and the girl let out a noise of frustration before flopping onto her bed.

"It's Lavender. I swear she's deliberately trying to drive me insane. Everything she does is Ron this, Ron that. It's as if her very existence revolves around him now." Parvati exclaimed, causing Hermione's eyes to widen with how open this girl was being with her. She didn't seem to care that her and Hermione could barely be considered friends, yet she was letting all her emotions out.

Hermione was mildly flabbergasted at how to respond for a second, seeing Parvati run her hands down her face, reminding her of a stressed Ginny.

"Oh. I'm sorry Parvati." Hermione said hesitantly, sensing Parvati wasn't going to continue until she contributed to the conversation.

"It's not as if I don't know how she gets when she has a boyfriend. I mean, I accepted the fact years ago she'd focus on them a lot more than me when she had one. It's just so much more this time with Ron. It's practically obsessive. I'm surprised he's putting up with her honestly. I don't know why, but it's like she's clinging onto him for some reason. Maybe she just likes him a lot more than I thought." Parvati explained, sounding like she was voicing her thoughts as they entered her mind. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath while Hermione felt as if she'd been stabbed in the gut. She hadn't been aware that Lavender had such strong feelings for Ron.

"Maybe." Hermione said unsurely, trying not to show the pain in her voice. She barely had time to gather her thoughts before Parvati started talking again.

"It doesn't make much sense though. She'd practically given up on him before he asked her out." She admitted, turning over so she was lying on her stomach with her heels in the air. She looked down at her nails and started cleaning them while Hermione's eyebrows furrowed.

"How do you mean?" Hermione asked. It seemed as if she didn't even have to try hiding her curiosity. Parvati was like an open book, desperate to get the words off her page. She'd been closed for so long that she was allowing anyone to read her and all she knew.

"I think she mentioned you were actually tutoring him or something when she went to see him once." Parvati informed, and Hermione's mind instantly went back to the memory. That was the day Ron had opened up about his feelings of being in Slytherin to her and Lavender had interrupted them while they were holding hands. It was surprising how long ago that memory felt to Hermione.

"I vaguely remember. She seemed pretty urgent about something." Hermione said, attempting to act casually about it. She wasn't sure if Parvati would have noticed if she seemed over-eager, the girl seemed so willing just to talk to somebody that she could have said anything as a response and she'd still talk.

"Well, once you left, she did her usual flirty routine and asked him out." She said, causing Hermione's eyebrows to rise. Hermione had always been under the impression Lavender would have been the kind of girl to wait for the boy to make the first move. She would have said this if she wasn't so keen to hear the rest of the story.

"He said no. Of course, Lavender didn't care about the explanation and left crying her eyes out." Parvati continued, and glanced up at Hermione. The look on her face showed how she'd momentarily forgotten she was explaining this story to someone who hardly knew Lavender, so she felt the need to inform Hermione about one of Lavender's tendencies.

"Listen, I know Lavender puts on this whole pretence of being confident and sure of herself, but really she's a fragile soul. She's very self conscious about her appearance and well, whenever she's feeling a little lower than normal about it she needs a boy to make her feel better about it." Parvati summarised, and Hermione slowly nodded, trying to understand why she needed to know this.

"So needless to say that night she wasn't feeling her best, and she ran into Cormac afterwards. To put it bluntly, she essentially shagged him." Hermione couldn't prevent the small gasp that escaped her lips and her hand flew up to her mouth. Parvati's eyes went wide and, despite how annoyed she was with Lavender at that time, she didn't want anyone judging her. "I know Lavender's got a bit of a reputation for being a bit easy, but she can't help it sometimes. We're all human, we make mistakes."

"What do you mean 'essentially shagged him'?" Hermione questioned, no longer caring if she seemed too curious about the situation.

"Well - they did everything but."

Seeing Hermione's shocked expression, Parvati took a breath and continued,

"Anyway, I assumed that she would have gone after Cormac. That's usually what she does. And she did for a few days. Technically, they weren't together, just kind of using eachother for not sex but what they'd already done.

"So, for some reason, the next week, Ron changed his mind, apologised about rejecting her and said he actually wanted to be with her. Her feelings had hardly changed, despite Cormac, so she naturally agreed. When she saw Cormac again after Ron, she told him whatever they had been doing was finished with and she's been with Ron ever since." Parvati finished, as Hermione's hand dropped from her mouth. She found her dry throat had re-surfaced once more so she shakily took hold of her wand and filled her glass with water again. She took a sip of it, letting Parvati's story sink in. It was a lot of information to gather in the space of a few minutes and it wasn't as if the conversation she had before was an easy one.

Hermione's first thought was that this was a lot for Parvati to reveal about her best friend's personal life. Then again, she could hardly say anything about it since she hadn't tried stopping her. Hermione noticed Parvati didn't seem to be to bothered by it as she stared intently at her painted thumb nail. She rubbed at it furiously, leaving Hermione to assume there was some ink on it.

"You say that she was sort of with Cormac before Ron.." Hermione started, intending to say, 'asked her out' but for some reason couldn't get the words out.

"Yes." Parvati answered, wondering what Hermione was getting at.

"Well, did she ever at some point...cheat on Ron?" Hermione wasn't sure why she was asking Parvati, she shouldn't have cared but despite her argument with Ron, she had to admit she still cared for him.

"Oh no!" Parvati said vehemently, but reconsidered herself. "Actually, now that you mention it, I suppose technically she did. But it's not like she could help it, she wasn't going to say no to Ron when he asked her out while she was still sort of with Cormac – and she couldn't really push Ron away when he kissed her, what would she have said? Anyway, it's not as if she intended for it to happen, and the moment she was away from Ron she finished with Cormac. So it's not like she wanted too."

Hermione chose to keep her thoughts to herself. In her opinion, that was no excuse and it did constitute as cheating. Lavender could have easily told Ron that she was with Cormac but would willingly break things off with him as long as she could be with him instead. Admittedly, Ron wouldn't go for the idea, but Lavender clearly don't know Ron as well as Hermione did and had no idea how he would respond.

"I don't think her and Cormac would have lasted anyway." Parvati voiced, breaking Hermione from her thoughts. "I mean he was obviously only in it for the physical side of their relationship, they never spoke or even acted like a couple in public. I think that's why she likes Ron so much. He'll happily show her off and he hasn't pressurised her into anything yet." Parvati concluded, answering the one question that had been plaguing Hermione's mind for the past hour.

"He hasn't?" Hermione exclaimed in an oddly high pitched voice before she could stop herself. Parvati sniggered and raised an eyebrow at Hermione.

"No, why are you so surprised? George rather keen for it?" Parvati said with a small giggle. Hermione's cheeks instantly flamed and she took a sip of her drink as a reason not to reply. This only increased Parvati's giggling. "Maybe you and Lavender should get together and compare notes on the Weasley sex technique once she does have her way with him."

"Absolutely not!" Hermione snapped with a shocking amount of bitterness in her tone. Parvati blinked a few times, clearly surprised by this outburst and moved off her bed. She gave Hermione a strange look, seeing how tense she'd gone and sighed angrily.

"Calm down Hermione. It was just a joke, you don't have to attack me for it." Parvati retorted, as she began packing away the clothes she had thrown all over the dormitory from before. Hermione finished her glass of water and ran a hand through her hair aggravated.

"I wasn't attacking you Parvati. I just take that sort of thing seriously." Hermione said strictly, as Parvati placed the last piece of clothing away with her wand. Parvati shook her head in disbelief as she closed the wardrobe door.

"Whatever. I really don't understand how you and George are a couple sometimes." She commented lightly, and made her way out of the dormitory.

"Me either." Hermione muttered to herself, before falling back onto her pillow, willing for her exhaustion to take over her.

A:N/ Dun duh duh!

Drama, drama, drama in this one!

I don't really like it in fanfics when the basis of Hermione and Ginny's relationship is just talking about Ron or Harry, but I didn't really see anyone else that Hermione could have talked to about it.

I also wanted to give Lavender a little bit of development because well, why the hell not?

Also, is this the first chapter where George doesn't actually make an appearance? I can't remember...

Anyway, thanks for all the reviews and keep 'em coming please! They never fail to make me smile and they really are inspiring.

Update as usual will be next Sunday!

Here's the tumblr again:

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Thanks again for reading!