Disclaimer as for chapter one. Anything else? Nope, continues with the story pretty straightforwardly.

Ron is a Tactless Git.

Ron talked continuously about Lorelei for days, and, when he wasn't talking about her, he was talking to her as he guided her around the castle. She couldn't seem to remember simple directions from one classroom to another, and Ron's continual lateness to his classes exasperated Hermione. Not that Hermione was in any way calm and even tempered to begin with. She even went so far as to point out to Ron that someone who couldn't get from the Dining Hall to her Common Room after a week must be a pinhead of the first degree, in the somewhat sour tone she had taken to using when talking about Lorelei. Ron bristled in Lorelei's defence.
"Remember the trouble we had in our first year?" he asked her. "You just don't make allowances for people, Hermione." Hermione had her mouth open to retort furiously when Ron thrust his bag into her arms, knocking the wind from her stomach.
"There she is." he said simply. "Take my bag back to the Common Room for me, will you, Hermione?" As Ron headed toward Lorelei, Hermione glared. She handed the bag to Harry.
"It's your turn to carry it." she said. Harry smiled at her sympathetically.
"Don't be too angry with Ron, Hermione." he began, "You know what boys are like. We're - "
"Boorish, shallow, insensitive and easily led by your hormones." finished Hermione with a snap. "Ron is a tactless git." Harry looked concerned, but didn't reply as they headed to the common room.

Later, Harry tried to talk to Ron.
"Look, Ron, I think you're treating Hermione badly at the moment. Expecting her to carry your bag and help you with your homework and do things for you, while you go off with Lorelei. Is that fair?"
"Aren't I allowed to have friends other than you two?" Ron snapped angrily, flushing dark red.
"That's not what I meant..." began Harry.
"Good!" spat Ron as he marched off.

Tensions were high in the next Potions class. Harry could only assume, with a sinking stomach, that Professor Snape had been born with a malicious genius for contriving the most unfortunate of pairings, when he made Hermione and Lorelei work together.
Lorelei always acted sickeningly sweetly toward Hermione - whenever they were within Ron's hearing - and constantly talked of Ron in glowing terms. Hermione would answer her icily, and Ron would later berate her for her unfriendliness. Harry had had to intervene on a number of occasions, including one particularly nasty quarrel in which Hermione threatened to give Ron green hair if he implied once more that she was jealous of Lorelei's beauty, since he obviously thought that Slytherin was the pinnacle of beauty.
Today they were making Scale Solution, much prized as part of Halloween costumes.
"Ooh, Hermione, you are so lucky to have known Ron for so long." Lorelei cooed, fluttering her eyelashes at Ron, seated a few cauldrons away.. As Ron, in obedience to a command from Harry to watch what he was doing, turned away, Lorelei switched her gaze back to Hermione, and her sweet smile didn't reach her eyes.
"I know you're jealous, dear," she said in her sweetest voice, "but you needn't make it so obvious." In turn, Hermione's eyes were cold.
"If Ron has poor taste in crushes, you can hardly expect me, as one of his best friends, to be unconcerned." she countered. Lorelei stiffened slightly.
"A best friend..." she mused, "How sweet, how....safe. But a man like Ron needs some excitement in his life. Someone a little more dangerous."
"Of course, we've had such boring times together." agreed Hermione. "Fighting the Dark Lord and uncovering mysteries." Lorelei brushed this aside distainsfully, her face suddenly hard.
"The fact of the matter is that you have no idea how to attract or keep a man. Unlike me." Lorelei bared her teeth in the merest semblance of a smile. "So, I suggest that you accept defeat with good grace and content yourself with Neville Longbottom like the good Mudblood that you are."
Hermione's eyes were no longer cold, but blazing. She opened her mouth, but Snape materialised beside the cauldron at that instant. Hermione jumped backward in surprise, knocking a spoon into the potion, which splashed up over Lorelei's face and hands. She was furious.
"That was deliberate!" she shrieked, already starting to sprout green and yellow scales.
"Miss Van der Vork, please come forward to get some antidote. Miss Granger, I hardly think you needed to go to such lengths to demonstrate the effectiveness of your potion. Five points from Gryffindor for showing off."
Hermione's temper had not calmed by the time Lorelei returned, glistening from some red potion Snape had painted over her scales.
"It will take an hour for this to wear off." she hissed malevolently. "You've gone to far this time. I'll meet you on the top of the astronomy tower at midnight tonight."
"I will be there." hissed Hermione back, every bit as angry.
Lorelei stalked out.

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ok, watch out for the next installment.