Harry woke up before the others the next morning. He got dressed, went down to the common room and took a seat in one of the large armchairs near the fire to wait for everyone to wake up. Lots of things swirled through his mind, but the one he kept coming back to was Dumbledore's speech last night. He'd never even mentioned getting a new teacher to fill the vacant DADA position. The only year that class hadn't been an utter disaster was third year when Lupin had been teaching. Harry knew Lupin wouldn't be coming back, though, since so many people had taken issue with him being a werewolf. Whoever Dumbledore found, he hoped they at least knew what they were doing. Harry was still pondering this as people started filing down the stairs, heading to breakfast.

"Morning, Harry."

"Morning, Hermione. See Ginny or Ron yet? I'm getting hungry."

She stifled a yawn as she sat on the couch, "Ginny said she'd be down in a couple minutes. Ron's probably still sleeping." True to her word, Ginny came down the stairs seconds later, walking over to them and plopping into the other armchair. "Morning!" She smiled.

"How are you always so cheerful in the morning?" Hermione asked.

Ginny thought about this for a second, "I guess because I don't have a reason not to be." She shrugged. Harry looked at her fondly. Ginny always saw the best in people and had an optimistic view on most everything. Harry would like to have some of that in his life, but he'd had to be cautious for so long he didn't think he knew how. The sound of a throat clearing brought him back to the conversation. Hermione and Ginny were staring at him and he realized that he'd been caught admiring Ginny. He turned bright red.

"Harry are you okay?" Ginny obviously thought he was worried about something. Hermione on the other hand knew where his thoughts had been and smirked. "Oh, I'm sure he was just daydreaming about quidditch, like Ron does."

Harry smiled gratefully at her, "Actually, I was thinking about who our DADA teacher was going to be. Dumbledore never said last night." He hoped that sounded convincing.

"Whoever it is, I hope they're as good as Lupin," Ginny said. They continued on this line of conversation, Harry silently thanking Hermione for giving him an opening to change the topic. After several more minutes, Ginny had had enough waiting for Ron to come down on his own, so she went up to the dorm to get him, leaving Harry and Hermione on their own.

"Harry if you don't want Ginny to know how you feel you're going to have to try to hide it better," She said quietly, aware that there were other people in the room.

"I know!" He groaned. "I can't help it. Just when I'm not thinking about her, she does or says something and then I end up acting like a great prat."

"Maybe you should just tell—," Hermione didn't get to finish her thought, since at that moment Ron was being dragged down the dormitory stairs by Ginny, who had a firm grip on his ear.

"Ow! Ginny lemme go! I told you I was coming."

"Had you not fallen asleep again after saying that, I would've believed you. We've been waiting for you so we could go down to breakfast together."

"Let. Me. Go!" Ron finally wriggled out of her grasp, rubbing his ear and sending a glare to the group of students who had been watching them and laughing. Hermione was biting her lip to keep from giggling, while Harry was laughing loudly at Ron.

"Come on, let's go eat," Harry clapped a hand on Ron's shoulder reassuringly.

"Right nasty temper, that one," Ron grumbled.

The group walked to the Great Hall, discussing quidditch, classes, and Hogsmeade trips. Waiting for Ron had made them a few minutes late, so most everyone was already there. Ginny led the way down the aisle, having spotted available seats at the far end of the Gryffindor table. As they were walking, Harry noticed several people turn their heads to watch them pass. They sat down and started putting food on their plates, Ron piling as much as he could onto his. Every now and then someone would turn to look at them, a slight grin on their face as they turned away.

"Why do people keep looking at us?" Harry was starting to get annoyed.

Ron stopped stuffing his mouth. "Maybe they're just trying to get a look at you," he said, continuing to push more bacon onto his plate.

"Harry, I don't think it's you they're looking at," Hermione sent a pointed look at Ginny.

"What? Me? What did I do?"

"Ginny did you notice that the only people looking over here are boys?"

Harry's head whipped around to survey they room. Sure enough, the only people looking over were boys, their eyes shining with admiration...for Ginny! How dare they gawk at her! My Ginny!, Harry thought angrily. He felt an ocean of jealousy rush through him and it was all he could do not to stand and hex every guy looking at her. He wanted to wrap an arm around her shoulders, letting everyone know that she was his, but he couldn't, because she wasn't his. Blood was rushing in his ears and his temples were pounding.

"They better stop staring if they know what's good for 'em," Ron looked ready to kill. It was a well-known fact that he was highly protective of his younger sister, though it didn't appear that anyone cared too much at the moment.

"How do you know they're looking at me?" Ginny asked, blushing. "They could be looking at you."

"Trust me, Ginny," Hermione said dryly. "They aren't looking at me." Ron gave her a confused look, but didn't say anything.

Ginny shook her head, "I still don't think they're looking at me."

"Think what you want, but boys have been admiring you since your third year. You just haven't noticed," Hermione told her.

Ginny laughed, "Right. Come on, let's get to class."

They stood and left the table, Ron cramming one last roasted potato into his mouth as he got up. The girls chatted about what they should do that night, since everyone had been too exhausted the night before to celebrate returning to Hogwarts. Harry, however, was focusing all of his energy into staring straight ahead as they walked. He didn't know what he'd do if he saw one more guy watch Ginny with that look on their face.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Ron watched Hermione as she got out her cauldron and ingredients from her bag. He loved the way she'd brush her hair out of her face, only to have it fall back into place again. Ron had purposefully set his things up as fast as he could so that he could look at Hermione without her noticing. She continued to put things on the table that the three of them shared, then proceeded to write down the notes Snape had put on the board.

Ron knew he should be paying attention to what he was doing. He was in Potions with his two least favorite people, Snape and Malfoy. Making mistakes in Snape's class made your life more miserable than spending a day walking in wet shoes. Ron couldn't concentrate, though. He kept remembering what Hermione had said at breakfast, "Trust me, Ginny, they aren't looking at me." What had she meant by that? Surely she couldn't think she wasn't pretty. With her curly brown hair, deep brown eyes, creamy white skin, and slim figure, Ron couldn't take his eyes off of her.

"Ron, do you need help?"

"Ron's eyes snapped back into focus at her voice as he blushed. He'd been staring at Hermione and she'd noticed. Think, Ron, think! "Uh, yeah. I can't seem to be able to cut this Snakeskull bulb the right way." Good, that was good, she shouldn't suspect anything now.

"Oh, it's simple. Just do this." Hermione stepped beside him, grabbing his hands with her own, making his eyes go wide with surprise. "You just hold the Snakeskull in your left hand so that the flat side is on the table. Then you use your knife with the other hand to cut it. The trick is to cut with the side of the knife that's closest to you first, then roll the knife forward. You cut like you normally would, but from back to front. Like this," She gently guided his hands through the motions, slicing paper thin layers off the bulb. "See?"

"Mmm-hmm," but Ron wasn't paying attention. How could he when Hermione's small hands were holding his much bigger ones, her perfume drifting up to tickle his nose.

"Miss Granger, Mr. Weasley what are you doing?" The cold voice to Ron's right told him public humiliation was coming. Ron saw the class watching them, looks of annoyance at Snape on the faces of the Gryffindors and enjoyment at the situation on the Slytherin's.

"I couldn't get the hang of cutting the Snakeskull, so Hermione offered to help."

"I'm sure she did," sneered Malfoy, earning laughs from his friends.

"Easy, Draco," Snape said silkily. "Miss Weasley, your boyfriend might actually get something through that thick skull of his if you didn't flirt with him during my class." Hermione let out a small gasp.

Ron opened his mouth to retort, but Hermione's hand on his arm stopped him. "I'm sorry Professor Snape, it won't happen again." Hermione spoke evenly, trying not to give Snape the opportunity to give her detention for speaking disrespectfully.

"See that it doesn't," Snape swept away with a swish of robes.

Hermione turned to look at Ron, but he kept his eyes on his work, his lips pulled into a frown. What did I do?

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Ron!" Hermione called to his back. He'd been walking just ahead of them since they got out of Potions, not slowing down to allow the other two to catch up to him.

"What's wrong with him?"

"I don't know. Maybe he'll say something at lunch," Harry was just as lost as she was.

They followed Ron through the crowd of students heading to the Great Hall, stopping just inside the doors and scanning their table for the shock of red hair. They finally found him sitting with Ginny, who was talking to a boy from her year. Hermione chanced a look at Harry and saw anger and frustration sweep over him. She felt awful for him. He'd been so upset this morning when he got his first look at just how popular Ginny was with the boys at their school. The anger had followed him to Potions, making him cut his ingredients so forcefully, Hermione feared he'd lose a finger. Grabbing his arm, she pulled him down the table, pushing him into a seat next to Ginny and sitting across from Ron.

She narrowed her eyes, "Ron, I'd like to know what I did to make you so mad."

"I could've handled Snape, but you just butted in, like always."

Hermione felt her eyes burn, "I was trying to help you not get detention. But, if that's how you feel about it, I'll leave you alone." She left the table, dashing her hand across her face to wipe away the tears.

"You know, Ron, sometimes you can be a real git," Ginny left them to follow Hermione.

Harry watched Ron's face cloud over. "Want to tell me why you're really upset?"

"I wanted to defend her and she wouldn't even let me do that," he mumbled to his plate.

"Why do you want to defend her so badly?" Harry pressed.

"It doesn't matter. Think she'll ever talk to me again?"

"Yes, but you're going to need a really good apology," he grinned

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Ron spotted Hermione standing with a girl from Ravenclaw as he and Harry made their way to Care of Magical Creatures. Her face was a little red and he knew she'd been crying. The girl next to her put an arm around her shoulders, "Don't be upset, Hermione. I'm sure he didn't mean it."

Ron came up to her, "Mione?" She stiffened, ignoring him. He tried several more times during class as Hagrid tried to teach them about Bristleguts, always receiving the same response from her. Harry said to make it a good apology. How do I do that? He thought about this as he watched Hagrid teach, and idea popping into his head. Please let this work.

"Um, Professor Hagrid, can I talk to you for a minute?" The class looked at Ron in shock.

"Sure, Ron." He waved him forward with one massive hand. Ron stepped up to Hagrid, spoke quietly to him, and waited as Hagrid thought about what he'd asked.

"Oh, alrigh'. Make it quick, tho'," he smiled.

Ron took a deep breath, turned to face the rest of the class, and spoke. "I, Ronald Weasley, acted like a right foul git to Hermione Granger. Will you accept my apology?" Ron had gone as red as his hair by the end of his speech.

Hermione stood with her mouth hanging open. The class was either grinning or chuckling at him, but he didn't care. He just wanted Hermione to forgive him. She snapped her mouth shut, her face slowly breaking into a wide smile. She nodded her acceptance, the class breaking into applause. Ron smiled, thanked Hagrid, and moved to stand between her and Harry.

Hagrid blew his nose into a giant hankie, "Tha' was jus' beau'iful!" Taking a few seconds to compose himself, Hagrid continued to teach them about Bristleguts. Ron didn't hear him, though. He was too focused on the fact that Hermione had forgiven him and that she'd hooked her arm through his, keeping it there for the rest of class.