Disclaimer : I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER !!!! I DON'T OWN ANYTHING!!! Now I'm gonna go up to my room and weep!
A/N: This chappie is R/Hr and D/G! Oh, by the way, our little Hero Harry will find someone! I swear! Not Cho, though.
Chapter 6*Hermione's thoughts, Ron's Overprotectivness, and Ginny's Secret*
Asleep. That was how Ron found his new girlfriend in the Common Room that night. She had imediatly started on her homework after Ron had asked her to the ball. She was now fast asleep over her Arithmancy book. It was past midnight. Ron couldn't sleep. His dreams were haunted by the thought of Hermione going with Malfoy to the ball. Her eyes were not the chocolate brown Ron loved in his nightmares. They were cold grey.
Hermione moaned in her sleep and Ron jumped. Her eyes opened slightly, and Ron saw they were brown. He breathed again.
"Ron? What time is it?" Hermione asked groggily, rubbing her eyes.
"I dunno. About 1 o'clock." He said shrugging.
"And what, may I ask, are you doing down here?" she asked curiously.
"I couldn't sleep. Nightmares. Came here and watched you sleep for about ten minutes. Then you woke up." He answered, blushing.
"Oh. Well, we should go up to bed. In separate dorms," Hermione added, seeing Ron grin.
"Fine. Night 'Mione," he said as she ran up the steps to her dorm.
But Ron didn't want to sleep. He walked over to the table where Hermione had been working (and sleeping). He picked up the book. How can she like Arithmancy? Wait a tick (Austin Powers RULES!). This isn't an Arithmancy book... Ron opened it and a picture of Hermione smiled up at him. She was waving. Underneath the picture, It said, in Hermione's neat cursive "Hermione Granger's Diary". OH SHIT!!!!!!! 'Mione's diary! What have I done? I can't read this...well maybe just a page... Just like all Weasley's, Ron was curious. He flipped to the last entry in her diary.
December 18th,
Finally! The thing I have desired all these weeks! RON WEASLEY HAS ASKED ME TO GO TO THE BALL WITH HIM!!!!!! He likes me!!!! I'm in heaven! I wonder if I should tell him about Ginny. How would he take it? I'll think about it. I need to sleep now...
Love from,
Hermione
Ginny? What about Ginny? Ron flipped to a couple pages before this entry.
December 2nd,
Oh, dear God! The world is a mess! My best girl-friend, Ginny, has told me something that was both appalling and exciting. Ginny has a crush. No, she's in love! And he loves her back! I can't believe it! Oh, Ron will go crazy when he learns that Ginny loves Draco Malfoy...
Ron stopped reading. Malfoy??? He forgot all sane thoughts. He marched up to the 4th Year Girl's dorm. He walked to Ginny's bed and literally dragged her out of it. She was still half sleeping when Ron also pulled Hermione out of her bed. He dragged both to the Common Room.
"Ginny Weasley! Explain!" Ron hissed.
"RON! What has gotten into you?" Hermione asked, her hands on her hips.
"I demand an explanation, Virginia!" screeched Ron. His face was red with fury.
"About...." yawned Ginny, letting herself fall onto the couch.
"Malfoy." Ron whispered, menacingly. "You know the one. The one who insulted Hermione, Harry, and our family. The one you love!"
Ginny gasped and sat up. "How did you find out?"
"I...I just did. Answer me Ginny! Why do you like him? How long has this been going on?" Ron covered up for his curiosity. He couldn't make Hermione mad when they had just gotten together.
"Ron, calm down," Hermione said, putting a hand on his shoulder, pacifing him. He put his arm around her.
"Ron, I knew you would be upset. I can explain. Please don't interupt me," Ginny started.
"Okay. Last summer, do you remember that I was always in that old windmill to write? (Ron nodded). Well, I did write. I wrote in my diary (Ron winced at the word). One day, when I got there, the diary that I had hidden in the wall was on the bench. Someone had moved it. Read it maybe. I knew it couldn't have been anyone in the family because I asked Mum whether anyone had gone out of the house in the direction of the windmill. No one had. So I opened my diary to the first blank page. The page where I had put a bookmark on the day before. There was a note there, written in a handwriting I did not recognize. It said, "Virginia, I am sorry to have read your innermost thoughts. I know you will be upset. Your thoughts are perplexing. I did not think Weasley's knew how to think. Draco Malfoy". I was indeed upset. Our family's enemy had read my diary. I thought about it for days, worried that he might come again. He didn't. I brought my diary here, to Hogwarts, in September. On the day before the first Hogsmeade visit, Draco came up to me...
***Flashback***
"Virginia, may I have a word?" a cold voice said behind Ginny, when she was coming out of Transfiguration. The first thing Ginny saw when she turned around was a blizzard. His eyes, grey and cold. But the mix between his grey-storm and her icey-blue sent shivers down her spine.
"I suppose," she shrugged.
"Well, I wanted to apologize about reading your diary. I didn't mean too. That windmill. It's been my haven for as long as I can remember. I go there when things at home are too hectic. I didn't know someone else used it as well..." he explained and he saw understanding in Ginny's expression.
"I know what you mean. Everyone thinks my family is so perfect and homely. But now with everything going on, my family is worried and quiet. Often short tempered too. I don't like sitting at home where the tension is so thick it's like a weight on your shoulders. I go to the windmill to write. In my diary, as you know. But also made up stories. Things that I wish would really happen. I don't know why I write. It just kind of takes all the tension away," she stuggled explaining her feelings to her family's archnemysis. Well, he did say sorry. He's not all bad.
"I was wondering if you would like to continue this conversation in Hogsmeade. You don't have too. I'd understand..." he said, shifting around.
"That would be nice. Just three things: Don't talk bad about my family, Don't talk bad about Harry, and don't call me Virginia. I'm Ginny Weasley. Nice to meet you" she said holding out her hand and smiling. He took it and, for the first time, Ginny saw him smile.
***End Flashback***
"...and that's how it all started. We talked during the whold date, sitting in the Three Broomsticks. We went out together on every single Hogsmeade weekend after that. On December 2nd he told me he loved me and I echoed him. It was simple. It was just a formality to say it. That's all there is to it. You can talk now, Ron" Ginny finished.
"Are you two going to the ball together?" Ron growled.
"Yes," said Ginny holding her head up. "Now, I have to go to bed. By the way Ron, I'm quite old enough to go out with whom ever I want." And with that, the youngest Weasley marched up the stairs to her dorm.
"Ron, " said Hermione tentatively. "Don't be too hard on her. She's 14. She could have done worse than Mal...I mean Draco. Ginny doesn't want us calling him Malfoy, " she said apologeticaly.
"I just can't stand that bloody ferret. Who could have been worse? Can't you understand that I don't want him to take advantage of my little sister?" he said gruffly.
"Of course I understand! Ginny is one of my best friends. I care about her too. I respect her choices. She's not the little girl I met in my second year, Ron. Understand that you don't control her life," she said, sitting Ron on the couch and talking camly. "And Goyle would have been worse."
"I know, 'Mione. I'll try to be civil to Mal...Draco," he said wincing.
"There, that's the Ron I know and love. Now I need to get some sleep," she kissed Ron on the cheek. Halfway to the stairs, she called out, "You and Draco have something in common you know."
"Me? And D...Draco? What?" he sputtered.
"You both have the vile habit of reading your girlfriend's diaries."