Disclaimer: Character names and the Hogwartsverse belong to J.K Rowling. Sorry J.K ;)
A/N: Yes dreamkin. I agree, the last chapter was pretty cheesy but that was just lazy writing and I had to get them together some time, lol. Anyhoo, thanks heaps reviewers, I hope you like this chapter! And YAY, passed 100 reviews! Thanks for the theories Nessie…I'll uh, keep them in mind…Elbereth – Devilish Harry is a weird product of my imagination, but it could be any guy. I could write Snape (:P) that way if I wanted to!
Ron was absolutely bug-eyed at the sight of Harry and I with out arms wrapped around each other. I jumped away from Harry, but he grabbed my hand. Personally, I thought it was a bad idea, as it looked like steam was about to start coming out of Ron's ears and didn't particularly want any hexes flying across the room.
"So, uh, what are you doing out so late Ron?" I asked, going crimson.
"Nothing much. When are you guys going to learn to get a room?" Ron asked, his eyes narrowing.
"Well, we didn't expect anyone to be sneaking in at this hour" Harry said defiantly. Great, there goes any chance of denying it…
"I wasn't sneaking, but I sure as hell didn't expect to see that when I came in". Ron looked truly disgusted.
"What, thought I wouldn't come straight to her after I woke up from your little blow?" Harry spat out.
"I don't know what you're talking about" Ron said nonchalantly.
"Like hell you don't! Since when did you have the brains to brew Polyjuice Potion, anyway?"
For my part, I was staying out of it, trying to judge Ron's reactions. I wasn't entirely convinced yet that it had been him. At that moment, he was smirking at Harry's outrage.
"I haven't been brewing anything. What's wrong with you, anyway? I don't even know what I've supposedly done".
"Tried to break us up, that's what you did!" Harry shouted. Ron laughed out loud.
"Hey, I didn't even know you were together 'til I walked in that door".
"He didn't mean, "break us up" as such-" I started weakly, but Ron's attention had snapped to me.
"And you! How presumptuous. What makes you think I'm so jealous of Harry that I'd try to break you up?"
"So you'd deny that you fancy Hermione?" Harry asked, interrogation-style. Ron's nostrils flared.
"This conversation is absolute bollocks. I'm going to bed" he said and climbed the stairs. When he was gone, Harry leant his forehead against mine.
"He still didn't tell us where he was tonight," he muttered.
"What's going on with you and my brother?" a voice demanded behind me on the way to the Great Hall for breakfast the following morning. I spun around; causing a bunch of 7th Years to glare at me, to find Ginny, a concerned look on her face. Uh-oh.
"Um, nothing. What's up?"
"I'm worried about him," she said, not appearing to be ready to elaborate any time soon.
"…And why's that?" I prodded her. I had to suss out how much she knew.
"Are you and Harry having a fight with him?" she asked, completely not answering my question.
"Not really", (couldn't get much more vague than that…), "what makes you say so?"
"Well, he doesn't seem to be spending as much time with you two…and…"
"Yeah?"
"Well, I've seen him keeping some pretty strange company" she said, glancing around the Hall as we entered.
"Like…"
"Like, I never expected to see him hanging out with-"
But Neville catching her eye and waving interrupted her.
"Sorry. I'll catch up with you later. You know how it is" she said with a small smile and a shrug, and walked off.
And as I saw Harry blowing kisses to me from the Gryffindor table, I realised, Hey, I do know how it is…
By the time of our third class, Care of Magical Creatures, I was sincerely regretting the fact that Hogwarts didn't serve students coffee at breakfast. The combination of going to bed late and a virtually sleepless night/morning/whatever had, inevitably, led to a very tired Hermione – and traipsing around Hagrid's garden chasing Lupagabs was making me a decidedly grumpy, tired Hermione.
I was only glad that Ron had decided to stay with Dean and Seamus during classes – although I was sure that this wasn't the "strange company" that Ginny had been speaking of. I was completely mystified – up until the night before, Ron had spent all his time with Harry and I – hadn't he? The Ball was an exception, of course, but the truth was, I had been so wrapped up in the whole will we/ won't we thing with Harry that Ron could have been plotting to take over the word and I wouldn't have noticed. On one hand, I couldn't help but feel guilty, but on the other I felt it was becoming more and more apparent that Ron had been impersonating Harry (why else would he be avoiding us?" and so why did he deserve my sympathy?
Ron seemed to disappear straight away at the end of class, on his way to lunch. Harry and I made our way back more slowly, although he hardly could have joined in on what we were doing. Eventually we got to the halls of Hogwarts, going to Gryffindor tower to drop off our books before eating.
"Hermione!" I heard Ginny yell out. I turned around to find her running up the staircase, out of breath.
"Finally I caught up with you" she sighed when she reached us.
"Keep on going" I nodded to Harry, who obliged.
We exchanged pleasantries for a bit while walking at a steady pace.
"So what is it you had to tell me this morning?" I asked her.
"Sorry about that, you know...Neville"
"That's alright Ginny, but stay on track"
"Sorry. Oh yeah. I just thought it was a bit odd"
"What was?" I urged.
"It's just I saw Ron, -"
But it was too late. I had seen them at the end of the corridor.
"- with Cho Chang".
A/N. Please review, I'd love to know your thoughts re: this chapter. If you think I'm doing something wrong (with the writing, not the plot, it's all mine, muhaha) then constructive criticism is definitely welcome. Oh, and this has just been a good last couple of days for writing and typing time - don't expect updates this often all the time! You know I said I got an idea from someone's review? It was Chocolat Elf's, for Chapter 21! Man there's been a lot of author's notes for this chap, must be in a chatty mood, I'll shut up now!