Harry blinked. He couldn't understand how Hermione could be so cool about this. Ron entered the room after Hermione's graceful exit and sat next to Harry, his jaw on the floor. "What was that?" asked Ron. "I dunno. Maybe she's turned nutty. What are you going to do?" "I don't know what I should do. I mean, she just told you she likes me and she knew I was there. Does she want me to confront her? Was it a joke?" "I think you'd do better to let me handle it. You're going green."

Harry went downstairs to talk to Hermione, but when he got there, she was upset. "Harry, what's going on here?" "What do you mean?" "Well, when I passed by Ron in the hall, he had a strange look on his face. He doesn't like me at all, does he?" "Of course he does. He's just nervous. You should talk to him." "Well, maybe you're right. It's just that I don't know too much about this sort of thing and you made it so painfully obvious that Ron was behind the door. I felt like I was being surrounded. So I spilled my guts. But then I regretted it because I was exposed. And then Ron..." "So it didn't go exactly like you planned. You took the first step. That's really something to be proud of. I never could have come out and said something like that if it were me." "Thanks, Harry. You're the best." "Go talk to him before his face explodes."