Chapter 4: Going Bad

"That was really lame, Ron," Harry said bluntly as him and Ron climbed the circular staircase to the dormitory. Ron was just returning from the Great Hall, and all that Harry had done since they'd gotten to the Common Room was pick at him. Ron looked at Harry's back and smirked.

"What was lame?" He asked, playing dumb.

"Inspecting silverware?" Harry turned to look at Ron in front of the entry to the dormitory. His eyes were slightly narrowed, and his hands were firmly placed on his hips.

"Yeah, so?" Ron said, a smile playing on his lips. "The school has some very nice silverware. A bit tarnished, though."

Harry sighed audibly and turned to open the door to the dormitory. Dean, Seamus, and Neville were already there. Dean and Seamus were enjoying a game of exploding snap, and Neville was laying on his bed, staring at the roof. They all looked at Harry and Ron as they entered. Ron followed Harry, only taking a modicum amount of notice to the three other occupants of the room.

"That's not funny, Ron. Don't you see?" Harry threw open his trunk and pulled out his pajamas. "You're hurting her feelings."

"She deserves it," Ron replied in a sarcastic tone. Harry just frowned and let Hedwig out of the open window.

"Your choice mate," Harry said with a sigh and laid back on his pillow.

"So Harry," Ron began, a mischievous smile spreading across his face. "What's going on with Cho?"

"Oh very funny. I think I've had about enough with Ravenclaws, to be completely honest."

"Suuuuure."

"No, really," Harry said, propping himself up on one elbow. "I don't think I'm going to think about girls this year. Strictly schoolwork."

Ron snorted. He shook his head and pulled his curtains on his four poster so he could change into his pajamas. He wondered what Hermione was doing right now. He wondered if she was thinking about him, or if she'd decided to stop being so weird. He missed her. But he wasn't going to tell Harry about that. He had to stay strong. None of this mushy missing Hermione stuff.

"Awwwwwwww," Ron exclaimed loudly the next morning at breakfast. He'd just received his schedule. He peeked over Harry's shoulder to try and see what classes Harry had gotten. "How did I manage to get an OWL in History of Magic?"

"Stealing Hermione's notes, that's how," Harry replied. "Lemme see yours." Ron traded schedules with Harry. They had all the same classes, except Ron hadn't gotten a OWL in Potions and Harry had.

"Ha ha," Ron laughed, shoving Harry's schedule back into his face. "I don't have to deal with Snape this year!"

"Well I-"

"Hey guys!" Ron looked up to see Hermione's face smiling at them. She sat down across from Ron and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "So what classes do you have?"

Harry reached over the table and handed Hermione his schedule. Ron watched her pretty brown eyes move across the page. She smiled, showing her perfectly white teeth.

"I have most of my classes with you, Harry!" Hermione looked over to Ron expectantly. "Can I see yours?"

"Oh, yeah," Ron mumbled gruffly. He waited while she looked over his schedule.

"Good job, Ron," Hermione commented with a laugh. Ron's stomach jumped. He inwardly kicked himself. I'm supposed to be mad at her, remember? Ron thought to himself. He smiled weakly as Hermione handed his schedule back. "I have most of my classes with you, too."

He looked down the table. He could see Dean sitting with Ginny. He had his arm draped lazily over her shoulder. She was laughing, her white hand clasped over her mouth. Dean leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. Ron felt sick. He didn't like seeing Ginny like this, all grown up. He sighed and turned back to Hermione and Harry, who were talking about the Transfiguration OWL.

"It wasn't as hard as I expected," Hermione said, pulling out her advanced Transfiguration book out of her bag. "But I hope this year is - Oh, hey Lavender!"

"Hello Hermione, Ron, and… Harry," Lavender said, a fake smile pasted on her face. She shifted her shoulder bag uncomfortably. "Come sit with us, Hermione."

"I - well - you two don't mind, do you?" Hermione asked nervously, looking from Lavender to Ron and back again.

"Oh, no, of course not," Harry said shaking his head. Ron could feel the anger well up in his throat. If it didn't go away soon smoke would be pouring out of his red ears…

"Okay, see you in first class!" Hermione jumped up and walked to the other table with Lavender and met Parvati, who was waiting for them.

"Why?" Ron said in a strained voice. "She - she -"

"I know," Harry said with a sigh. He took a bite of his eggs and patted Ron on the back. "We might just have to get used to this new Hermione."

Ron shook his head and ate the rest of his breakfast silently.

"Blah, blah, blah," Ron commented after his first class. It had seemed to have been more boring than usual. "I swear, that's all the comes out of Binn's mouth. It's not words, it gibberish. I'm serious."

Hermione laughed.

"It's not, Ron, maybe if you paid more attention…"

"I do, he needs to learn to teach those with short attention spans, like me," Ron joked.

"Maybe he needs to learn to teach those with small brains, like you," Harry laughed, receiving a playful punch in the arm from Ron.

"That's not funny, you know."

"Quite the contrary, Ron," Hermione commented, fishing in her bag for her Arithmancy book, "you should try to work harder on your homework."

"Oh pish," Ron said, waving a hand absentmindedly through the air.

There was a loud noise of heels against the stone floor. Ron turned to see Parvati and Lavender running towards them in the hallway. They grabbed Hermione's sleeve and turned her to face them.

"Oh my God!" Lavender cried, coming to a hasty halt. "You said you'd like to meet Josh, right?"

"Who's -" Ron started but was interrupted by Hermione.

"Yeah, why?"

"Well you can!" Parvati said excitedly. "There's only a small sacrifice to make."

"Sacrifice?" Hermione asked uneasily. Ron noticed her shifting uneasily on the balls of her feet, looking around the emptying hallway.

"Yeah. You'll only have to skip next class," Lavender said bluntly, as if there was no problem.

"Hermione, skip?" Ron laughed. Even he knew Hermione skipping was unheard of. He looked to Harry, who was watching this with great interest.

"I - uh -"

"Come on Hermione," Lavender said, a pout on her glossy lips. "This is an one time opportunity! Besides, you're a prefect, you can get off of this easy!"

Hermione appeared undecided. She twisted her hair uneasily.

"O - okay, I guess," Hermione said, looking utterly afraid. "T - there's a first time for everything, right?" She laughed uneasily and looked back at Ron. She reached out and touched him gently on the shoulder. "I'll see you later. Please don't tell anyone." And with that, she took off down the empty hallway behind the other two girls.

Ron looked at Harry, who was watching Hermione leave, his mouth half open in shock.

"I can't believe it," Harry said breathlessly, as Hermione turned the corner. "What has happened to her?"

"I don't know," Ron sighed. "I just wish she'd stayed who she was. I don't particularly like this new girl."

"Yeah, well, we'd better high-tail it if we're going to make it to Divination on time," Harry said, taking off at a jog towards the tower.

"Wait, Lavender and Parvati skipping Divination?" Ron said, as the thought came to him. "What's up with that?"

"Professor Trelawney doesn't teach it anymore, remember?"

"Right."

Ron and Harry arrived at Divination just in time. Firenze was just about to start class, and they slipped through just before the door closed. Pretending not to notice the glare which was prominent on the centaur's face, they took their seats, folding their hands neatly on their desks. Dean Thomas leaned over slightly.

"Where have you two been?" He asked in a demanding, hoarse whisper.

"What's it to you?" Ron whispered back, a frown dragging on the corners of his lips. Since when did Dean care where he was? Last he knew his head was too full of snogging his younger sister!

"I just wondered why you two are late," Dean said, sounding quite offended at Ron's rude and abrupt reply. "Have you seen Ginny today?"

Ron sighed and blew air out of his mouth in a frustrated manner.

"That's all you care about, isn't it?"

"Do you two have something you'd like to share with the class?" Firenze asked, stopping in mid-draw of a muggle fortune teller. He'd been explaining the dependability of fortune tellers in the muggle world, and how they could be identified.

"Um no," Ron cleared his throat and gave a quick glare at Dean before pretending to be interested in what Firenze had to say.

Ron felt an elbow in his side and looked to see a note that Harry had passed him. He opened the note under his desk and read it quietly.

Ron-

I'm worried about Hermione. Pretend to be sick or something. Meet me by the Hospital Wing in five minutes.

Ron looked to Harry and nodded. What were they going to do? Spy on Hermione? In the pit of his stomach he felt that this wasn't right, but he thought she deserved it. This is what she gets for getting herself into trouble! Harry suddenly got up and left, complaining about a stomach ache. Ron smirked and tried to figure out how he could get out of class.

A few minutes later, he had the perfect idea.

"Firenze?" Ron raised his hand and the centaur turned to stare his eyes deeply into Ron's. "I - uh - really need to go to the bathroom."

"Is it an emergency?" Firenze asked, placing his hands on his hips. Ron felt the color come into his face. Oh how Harry owed him later.

"Um yeah," Ron said, trying to ignore the people staring at him.

"So if you don't go you'd have to go here?"

"Yes. Can I go?"

"I suppose."

Ron got up and ran from the room. He could feel his face becoming more hot by the second. That was the last time he ever tried to get out of Divination. He should've just pulled a sore throat and a headache. He ran down the corridor and met Harry by the Hospital Wing. Sure enough, Harry was waiting, leaning by the door.

"You're kind of late, what kept you?" Harry asked, checking his watch.

"Ugh, let's just say you owe me, okay?"

"Right."

Ron followed Harry quietly down the corridor quietly, listening for the sound of voices. They looked for fifteen minutes with no luck.

"Maybe they went outside?" Ron asked, when the stopped for a break in the entrance hall. He went out the front doors and stopped abruptly. He could hear soft voices. He beckoned Harry over and poked his head around the corner of the castle wall.

Hermione was standing there, laughing animatedly. Parvati and Lavender were twisting their hair and giggling. Then there was a guy. Ron remembered seeing him, he was a new Ravenclaw prefect. He was average sized, with a strong build. His hair was dark and slightly curly. He had a star smile with dazzling white teeth. He was tan and had sparkling baby blue eyes. Ron felt a pang of jealousy. He didn't want Hermione talking to him!

Hermione flipped her hair, sending a shine. She leaned over and touched his shoulder softly. Ron felt confused and turned to Harry.

"What is she doing, Harry?" Ron turned to look at Harry who was watching this with great interest.

"I believe she's flirting." Harry sighed and looked at Ron sympathetically.

"F - flirting? Hermione doesn't flirt! She doesn't know how," Ron replied in a matter-of-factly manner.

"She's done it to you, but I suppose Lavender and Parvati have been giving her some tips. Do you want to leave before she sees us?"

Ron felt the anger well up inside of him. Hermione can't flirt with this guy! She was supposed to like him, not this other guy! Without knowing it, he let his anger go to his head. He found himself stalking over to the four people and grabbing Hermione by the wrist.

"Oh Hermione, there you are," He said, making a note to not let go of her.

"Ron - I - uh…" Hermione stammered and blushed. "What are you doing here?"

"Same for you. Well I told the Professor you were in the Hospital Wing and I was going to get you. So you best hurry along. Come on," Ron said, and started pulling Hermione towards the door of the school.

"Well, it was nice meeting you Josh! I hope to see you again soon!" Hermione managed to say before Ron had completely pulled her around the corner of the building.

"What were you doing with him?" Ron asked forcefully, pinning her up against the wall.

"Ron, I do have a right to talk to anyone I want," Hermione replied, trying to search Ron's eyes for a bit of sympathy.

"This isn't like you Hermione. You may think it's cool, but I don't like it! I don't like it one bit! I don't even know you anymore, you've alienated yourself! So it's up to you, choose between Harry and I, or Lavender and Parvati!" Ron pulled away and stalked through the doors of the entrance hall.

He could almost feel steam coming out of his ears. He couldn't believe her! The nerve! Why was she doing this to herself? She was better the way she was before! He found himself roaming the halls randomly. After he realized it'd been almost an hour since he left class he returned, getting a glare from Firenze. He was that Harry was already in his seat.

"Had to go that bad, Ron? Took you fourty-five minutes?" Firenze asked. Apparently the class had been taking a quiz on the day's lesson and Ron had interrupted it in the middle.

"Um, yeah, you wouldn't believe how badly I had to go," Ron lied, knowing that all eyes were on him. A girl in the back of the class giggled, and he immediately felt silly.

"Well don't think you're getting out of this quiz. I expect you to take it and get the grade you do, it's your loss for missing class. I also expect you at detention with me tomorrow night, at seven o'clock." Ron looked down at the parchment that was laid in front of him. He was taking a NEWT's class and he had no idea what he should do. It was all about muggle fortune tellers. He didn't know anything!

What is one muggle way of telling the future?

Ron swallowed hard, and wrote, They look at frog's bellies. Surprised at his own stupid answer, he continued, not really caring what grade he got.

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A/N: Thanks to all of the reviews I've been getting! It's really kept me motivated to work on the story. I'm really glad that you guys are starting to get the message of my story (and yes, there is one!). So thanks for all the awesome reviews and keep them coming!!!!!