A/N : Here it is. Please Review. (Note how I put Review in capitals, to signify how important that is?) I revise my plea. Please REVIEW.
Disclaimer : All characters and setting belong to JK Rowling. Or rather, her muse.
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Ron snuck a look at Hermione. On her face was the impatient look which had become more frequent lately. Her face was in a thick Defence Against the Dark Arts books which he doubted anyone in the school even knew existed. He looked over at Harry and smirked. The guy was thinking about Cho, as usual. So what else was new? He growled. Thinking about that made him think about Ginny. When he thought about Ginny, he thought about Draco. When he thought about Draco, he growled.
Hermione looked up and shot him a warning look. He recognized that warning look. It always appeared right after he growled and just before she bombarded him with a lecture about how he wasn't Ginny's keeper. He hadn't understood that term at first - it was apparently a Muggle term - but Harry had explained it to him after Hermione stomped off. Well, of course he wasn't Ginny's keeper. He was just trying to look out for her, was all. He knew, if no one else did, that a relationship between a Weasley - specifically a young female Weasley, unversed in the experiences of life, unlike himself - and a (he gave his customary shudder, as he always did when he thought the name) - Malfoy was doomed. Doomed.
Hermione was back to reading her book. Ron recognized that absorbed look on her face, and knew that whenever she was in that state, it was useless to suggest doing anything else. And Harry wouldn't be into doing anything if it didn't involve Quidditch or Cho. It was raining out, so Quidditch was ruled out. Cho had a Potions class, so Cho was ruled out.
Ron heaved a sigh and went back to thinking about his sister. If he couldn't have fun he would brood.
Harry stared into space absorbedly. He was thinking. He was thinking of many things, but mostly he was torturing himself with the fact that Ginny had been crushing on him for five years - five years - and during that time he had treated her like a little sister -a little sister! - and now that she was with Malfoy -Malfoy! - he thought of her as - well, not as a bloody little sister anyway.
He was also thinking of Cho Chang. He was beginning to realize that he didn't know that much about Cho Chang. Other than the fact that she was fairly pretty, played wicked Quidditch and was a year older than him. He hadn't gotten to know her much during the year after Cedric's death and now it was his sixth year and her seventh. She'd be leaving next year. And he still didn't know much about her. He wondered why he had liked her so much. Well, other than the fact that she was fairly pretty and played wicked Quidditch.
Harry sighed unconsciously and went on staring into space.
"So?" Connie asked.
"What?" Ginny protested. She smiled when Connie gave her a knowing look. "No, I am not giving you any details."
Connie groaned and slumped back on the chair. "What's the fun of you dating - at last - if you won't tell us anything?"
"What do you want to know?" Fran asked with a smirk.
Connie ignored the smirk and focused on the question. "Well, at least tell us this - is he a good kisser?"
"How should she know?" Fran complained. "The only other person she ever kissed is Colin Creevey."
It was Connie's turn to smirk. "I kissed him once too. He's actually pretty good."
Fran looked interested. "Hmm. What's his rating?"
Connie kept on smirking. "Seven."
Fran snorted. "That's not pretty good. That's just above average."
Connie's smirk grew bigger. "On a scale of Eight."
Fran's eyes widened.
"So how does he rate compared to Colin?" Fran asked, turning to Ginny.
Ginny grinned. "If Colin is a seven, then Draco is a nine and a half."
Fran laughed, a full, throaty laugh that made three Gryffindor boys look their way and focus on Fran wistfully. One of those, Ginny noticed, was her older brother Fred. She suppressed a smile as Fred noticed her watching him and turned bright red, his Weasley genes holding him in good stead. He turned away abruptly.
Ginny looked across the common room at where her brother Ron was sitting with Hermione and Harry, who looked like he was staring into space. Ron caught sight of her and his tense face relaxed. Ginny's heart softened. He was being a pain in the arse, but he was her brother, and he had had some rather awful run ins with Draco. He was just trying to look out for her. And get in a punch at Draco.
Now that Ron had ascertained that Ginny was in the room - ergo, not participating in perverted activities with the amazingly perverted Draco Malfoy - Ginny blushed at the thought of it; if Ron only knew- he turned back to Hermione and Harry and began playing a game of wizard chess with Hermione. Harry was still staring into space. Ginny allowed herself one savoury look at him and turned away. Her feelings for Harry were growing lesser everytime she kissed Draco. Everytime Draco reached for her hand simply as if it was an extension of his own.
Everytime she thought of Draco.
Hermione ordered her pawn to move. It turned and gave her an are-you-serious-look, then when she nodded, it turned back to the board with a self-sacrificing look. With a heavy, tragic sigh it stepped forward and got slammed off the board by a particularly aggressive pawn of Ron's. Hermione didn't even mind that the rest of her chess pieces - what was left of them - were giving her accusing looks. She was just happy that Ron was finally doing something other than brooding over his sister. Maybe he would get over it soon.
Ron looked up from the board and glanced quickly at Harry, whose jaw was starting to hang open slightly. Hermione didn't know if he was surprised at something or if the energy needed to hold it closed was just too much for him. She didn't even care which it was. "What's up with him?' he asked Hermione in a low voice, adding, "And don't move that piece unless you want a total massacre."
Hermione looked quickly at the board. "What are you talking about? You couldn't massacre me!" She studied the board intently. "I think Harry is thinking about Cho."
Ron snorted. "Just trust me. You're two steps away from a slaughter. Move that piece and it will become a massacre."
Hermione squinted at him suspiciously and defiantly moved the piece, since she couldn't think of any way he could make good on his confident promise.
"I told you not to do that." Ron tsked, swiftly moving his Queen so that it trapped her King. "Checkmate. And I don't know what's wrong with Harry, but it's not Cho. She came over to talk to him yesterday and he almost totally ignored her other than staring at her for long periods."
"Staring at her?"
"Oh, it wasn't the lovesick staring staring. It was more like he couldn't quite understand who was sitting in front of her, and was trying to figure it out." Ron shrugged and began reassembling his men. "Another game?"
"Another slaughter, you mean?"
"Massacre." Ron corrected. For the first time in a long time, Hermione could see the immature guy who made rude jokes in the Ron that grinned at her cheekily. The angry, tense look was gone. "Well?' he challenged, grinning widely at her.
Hermione smiled back. His grin was contagious, it always had been to her. "All right." She laughed.
Ron liked Hermione's laugh. She was usually so controlled, so worried about abiding by the rules and making double straight A+ grades, but her laugh was different. It was in some ways, a very young laugh, in its abandon and gaiety. He let her have the first move - she needed it; she was the worst chess player that he'd ever come up against. She was even worse than Harry, and that was saying something. With only half his mind on the game, he let his gaze wander idly. First it went to Ginny, making sure she was still there and not the greasy clutches of that colourless greasebag Malfoy. Then it wandered over to Harry, who seemed to be trying to focus on the sky beyond the thick ceiling. Then it came to Hermione, who was bent in concentration. She was bent over so much that he could only see the top of her head. Her bushy brown hair was neatly combed, but other than that it flowed freely over her shoulders and onto the chess board. It reminded Ron some of Ginny's red curls, but Ginny's was less bushy. Besides, Ginny's had the carroty red colour characteristic of all the Weasley's, a colour Ron fervently hated. Hermione's colour was much better, it was a smooth glossy brown, just light enough to streak gold in very hot weather, which, since they lived in London, didn't happen.
Hermione finally moved her pawn tentatively and snatched it back when it gave her a look. She bit her lip. Ron found that action disturbingly cute. Very disturbingly.
Harry kept on staring into space. He was still thinking.