Hermione hopes the boys will never find out who her new lover is. She knows she'd never hear the last of it if they did.

They gave her a hard enough time over Lockhart: teasing over Valentine's cards and singing dwarves and her reaction to the teacher's praise. And as for Ron's silly fake coughing.

And that was only a twelve-year-old girl's crush. It meant nothing, really, and they knew that, but they still teased her rotten.

She dreads to think what they'd have to say about her tastes in men if they ever found out the one she's currently seeing is *another* DADA teacher.