Ron immediately made his way up to the Gryffindor tower, though the portrait of the fat lady and into the common room. As expected, there he found Hermione, curled up in an armchair with her face in her knees. Silently, he knelt down in front of her and pulled his handkerchief from his pocket.

"Is it really true?" he said softly. Hermione lifted her tearstained face stared at Ron's face in surprise for a moment, then nodded. Ron sighed. "Hermione…" he said. Then, for the first time ever, he hugged Hermione, and she responded gratefully, burying her face in his shoulder and wrapping her arms around his chest. They kept like that for a few minutes, Ron waiting for Hermione's tears to die down so he could talk to her. When they finally did, he gave her his chequered handkerchief and looked at her seriously.

"You don't really want to go, though, do you?' he said, frowning.

"Of course I don't!" Hermione cried.

"Then what's Harry on about?' said Ron. Hermione didn't answer for a bit.

"I think I did want to go," she said after a bit. "I used to be able to deal with school without having friends but now…"

"What are you talking about?' Ron cried. "You've got friends!"

"But I didn't have you, Ron…not you…" Hermione whispered tearfully. She hid her face in her hands, and Ron put his arm around her, on her back, stroking her bushy hair.

"Of course you've got me. Just because we were fighting doesn't mean- look," he said, trying again "Of course you've got me. But, by the sounds of it, I'm going to lose you soon, aren't I?"

"Oh, I don't want to go to France," Hermione sniffled. "I never have. I only said it to make mum and dad happy!"

"But what about you?!" said Ron passionately. "You can't go to boring old Beauxbatons, they're so…boring!"

Hermione gave a tearful laugh. "It's not up to me…"

"Of course it is!" Ron retorted, getting to his feet. "What your parents want is important, but you can't let them tell you what to do ALL the time!"

Hermione also stood up, going over to the window of the common room to look out at the grounds. She remained silent so Ron pressed on. "If you want to stay here badly enough, you must convince them that you have to stay here!"

"You can't convince my parents, Ron…they make the rules."

"Oh, rules!" said Ron in disgust. "You hold rules in such regard! Why?"

"Because…because those are rules…" Hermione replied, perplexed.

"Dragon dung!" Ron exclaimed "Look at Fred and George! They see rules as something to be broken! Why bother with them?"

Hermione looked annoyed. "Maybe that's okay for you, Ron, but I still have some respect for mum and dad's rules. I can't really change their minds."

"I didn't say I don't respect my parents' rules. But you can change their minds. You can!"

"I can't!"

"You can!"

"Ron, I can't!"

"What, don't you want to stay here after all?' said Ron angrily.

"Of course I want to stay! But there's not much I can do about it, is there?"

"Yes there is! Just tell your parents that you're not going!"

"Oh Ron!" Hermione exclaimed in a sort of hopeless anger. "You don't understand! You just…don't understand!"

"Yes I do!" Ron said explosively. "You don't seem to understand that…that you've got to stay! You can't go to stupid France and their stupid school! You've got to stay! I won't-"

"Tell that to mum and dad," Hermione interrupted, staring bitterly out the window.

"I'll tell them all right!" Ron yelled. He caught Hermione by the shoulders and spoke, looking right into her eyes. "Hermione, just listen to me for a moment. You've got to stay. Harry wants you to stay. Everyone wants you to stay. And…yeah, I'll tell your mum and dad that. I'll tell them that school's only worth going to because you're there and I don't…I mean, I won't…I mean, I can't…let you go…I mean…." He stood up abruptly, blushing furiously. He looked surprised at what he had just said, and with the force that he had said it with. "I…I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you."

Hermione was staring at him in utter amazement, and her eyes- which, Ron noticed, possibly for the first time, were a deep dark brown-were shining.

"Oh, Ron…" she cried. It seemed to be all she could say. "Oh…Ron!"

And Harry, managing to escape early from Potions, had the misfortune to walk into the common room just as Hermione reached up, grabbed Ron's face with her hands, pulled him down and kissed him, on the mouth. And, by the looks of it, Ron was just as astonished as Harry was.

Harry just managed to stop emitting a cry of surprise, but only just. This was not the sort of scene you wanted to walk in on, especially when it concerned your two best friends. With his hands over his eyes he wondered how silently he could get out of the common room before they noticed. Too late.

Ron and Hermione broke away from each other. Ron's face was bright, beet red. Hermione too, looked extremely pink. "Hermione!" Ron gasped, leaning on the wall in his surprise. "You…you kissed me!"

"Oh! Oh my gosh…oh I'm so sorry!" Hermione said, looking close to tears again.

"Sorry?" repeated Ron. "D-don't be sorry! I just…oh, Jesus…" He looked away, unfortunately over at the spot where Harry was standing. "Harry?"

"I'm going!" Harry gabbled, still with his hands clamped over his eyes. "I didn't see anything! At least, I wish I didn't…"

Hermione uttered an anguished cry, put her hands up to her burning face and ran from the room, nearly bowling Harry over as she passed.

"I missed something, didn't I?" said Harry to Ron. Ron ran a hand through his hair, staring at the entrance to the common room where Hermione had just run out. "So did I." he said.

*

Within the hour, all of Gryffindor house knew that a) Hermione was leaving Hogwarts, b) she and Ron had had a huge argument in Potions and c) Ron had thrown a punch at Snape. The last one was not true, but someone in the Potions class had embellished the story a bit. Harry suspected it was Seamus and Dean, who kept slapping Ron on the back all night and congratulating him on standing up to Snape.

Many Gryffindors were expressing concern over Hermione's leaving, but Hermione was not to be seen in the common room that night. Nor was she at dinner, or at breakfast the next day. As Ron and Harry had Divination first, their only subject without Hermione, they didn't see her again until after lunch, in their Thursday Herbology lesson. Parvati and Lavender, greatly distressed at the news of Hermione's leaving Hogwarts, hardly left her side, however, and it was not until the bell rang to signal the end of Herbology that Harry managed to catch up with her. She had been shooting Ron and Harry furtive glances all lesson, and blushing bright red whenever Ron looked her way. Ron himself seemed highly embarrassed, and Harry did not dare to bring up yesterday's incident in the common room for fear of setting Ron off.

Harry dodged around Hufflepuff students to catch up to Hermione, who had been first out of the greenhouse. "Hey!" he said, grabbing the back of her robes. Hermione, in her surprise, gave a frightened squeak and dropped her bags all over the floor.

"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed as she bent to pick up her books, hiding her face. "You gave me such a fright!"

"Sorry," Harry apologised, bending down to help her. "But I just wanted to catch up to you. You've been really hard to get a hold of," he said, looking at her quizzically. Hermione looked nervously up and down the corridors and saw Ron filing out of the greenhouses along with the other Gryffindors.

She looked extremely upset. "Well, I'm not avoiding you, Harry, if that's what you think-" she said, in a higher voice than usual. Harry, unable to stop himself smirking, interrupted her.

"You're just avoiding Ron, right?" he said, handing her a large Arithmancy book. "Um, maybe you should talk with him or something," he added awkwardly. Hermione looked over at Ron again, who had nearly reached the spot where they were standing. She grabbed the Arithmancy book and stuffed it hurriedly in her bag. "Don't be silly, Harry, what do we have to talk about?' she squeaked hurriedly, and ran off before Harry could say another word.

Ron caught up with Harry, watching Hermione speed off. "What's up with her?' he said gruffly.

"Why don't you go and ask her?" Harry said, "Because she's not going to tell me."

"Yeah? What makes you think she'd tell me?' Ron muttered as they began to walk.

"Well, obviously, you guys are closer than I thought, so-"

Ron glared at Harry. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said.

"Yes you do, you-"

"Shut up!" Ron said.

"You can't just deny it ev-"

"Shut up!" Ron said again.

Harry waited a moment. Then he said, "I guess it's none of my business but-"

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Ron yelled, putting his hands over his ears. "Not one more word Harry, okay? Not one more word!"