Harry entered is dorm to find Ron, lying on his bed with his eyes wide open still in is Hogwarts robes.
"Ron?" Harry asked, softly, shutting the dormitory door behind him.
"Hmm?" Ron asked back, prompting for Harry to go on.
"What happened? Where were you all night?"
"Ohh-uhh—umm.." Ron immediately turned red.
"Ron," Harry said, sternly.
"Ok, ok. I was kinda umm…kissingmynewgrlfriendmeagnlionhart."
"What?"
"I was umm, with my new girlfriend. Megan Lionhart." Harry's eyes opened in shock. "W-we were just kissing when Hermione walked in-"
"WHAT?!"
"I was kissing Megan…"
"I HEARD YOU! HOW COULD YOU?!"
"What do you mean?"
"I THOUGHT YOU LIKED HERMIONE!"
"W-what? N-no I don't!"
"THEN WHY ARE YOU BLUSHING AND STUTTERING?!"
"NO REASON TO YELL!" Ron shouted back, standing up, fits clentched.
"ITS JUST SO OBV-obvious that you like Hermione! What are you doing dating Megan?"
"I don't like her? What ever gave you that ide-"
"Maybe the way you gaze at her and blush when you see her!"
"I don't, that is a lie! Besides, she likes you!"
"No she doesn't, I told you!"
"W-well, I-I…"
"SEE?! YOU LIKE HER!"
"I DO NOT! I AM DATING MEGAN!"
"THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU LIKE HER! YOU COULD JUST BE TRYING TO GET HERMIONE'S ATTENTION!"
"Why are you making such a big deal out of this anyway? I don't like Hermione, and she doesn't like me!" Ron stalked out of the room and slammed the door behind him.
"Ron," Harry whispered fiercely, "You fool."
Semus, Dean, and Neville walked in a minute later, to find Harry fuming.
"We bumped into Ron on the stairs," said Semus. "He seemed mad."
"What happened?" Neville asked.
"Nothing!" Harry snapped. "Ron just being a stupid blind fool!" He grabbed his pajamas, and stomped off to the bathroom.
Sean, Dean, and Neville all stared at each other, wondering what had happened. Harry came out of the bathroom twenty minutes later, with his hair damp. He crawled into bed without a word, and stared angrily at the ceiling. Ron did not return to the dorm that night.
The next day, Saturday, Ron was found lying on the couch, sleeping. Ron and Harry weren't speaking to each other, and any communication at all was through Hermione. She hated being stuck in the middle, and her life felt so torn. She couldn't go to Ron, who she liked, for comfort, he didn't like her. Harry was the only one she had to be there for her. She, of course, had no idea what the fight was about. Neither would tell her.
She wanted to scream when Ron got up after he finished breakfast and went to the Ravenclaw table. He said something to Megan, who giggled. And the two left together. Ginny looked at Hermione symaptheticaly, and Hermione mothed 'I think I am beginning to know how you feel.'
One night, Ginny approached Ron. She wanted to make things better between him and Harry.
"Hey," she said, sitting on the arm of the big chair he was in.
"Hi Ginny. What do you want?" Ron asked, moodily.
"No reason to me so rude to your baby sister just because you are in a bad mood."
"That's plenty of reason."
"No it isn't"
Ron sighed, and did not say anything.
"What's wrong? What happened between you and Harry?"
"Nothing!"
"Ron, tell me. Maybe I can help."
"No, you can't help! You wouldn't understand! You are too young!"
"No I'm not!" Ginny jumped up. "I am only one year younger than you, and am way more mature and get better grades than you! And I am not too young to understand!"
"Fine, Fine"
"You can be so arrogant sometimes."
"You think I'd tell you if you talk like that?"
"Ron, you started it. You are my big brother, I want to help you."
Ron looked at her, and saw Ginny's face was full of worry and concern. "You haven't spoken for two weeks," she said, softly.
"I know." He whispered back.
"You miss him, don't you?"
"Yeah…it's just…"
"What?"
"He's jumping to crazy conclusions. He thinks Hermione and I like each other! That outrageous."
Ginny managed to keep her laughter in. "That is no reason to fight. Just tell him that you d-don't, and make up!"
"He should be making up to me."
"RON!"
"Fine, Fine. I will."
Ron got up, and went over to Harry, who was talking quietly to Hermione. Ginny watched them say something, then saw the both of them grin, and shake hands. Ginny smiled. Harry looked over at her, and smiled at her, making her heart pound. As she looked at him, everything else in the world disappeared. She was brought back to earth, when she heard a loud bang.
Everyone looked toward the portrait hole, and found Fred and George being chased by Katie and Angelina, who both had duck beaks. The common room roared with laughter.
A week later, Hermione was running through the halls to class. She had been separated from Ron and Harry when her bag had torn, and she told them she would catch up with them.
"Hermione! Hermione, wait!" she heard someone call. She turned around, and saw Eric Johnson, the Hufflepuff captian and beater, running towards her.
"Yeah?" She asked.
"I need to talk to you."
"Can it wait, I don't want to be late to cl-"
"You won't, I'll talk to you while we walk to class. We have the same class remember?"
"Oh yeah…so, what's up?"
"I, ummm….have a question…"
"Yes?"
"Well..uhh…to start off…do you like Ron?"
"WHAT?!" Hermione stopped in her tracked, barley breathing.
"Do you like him…"
"Well, I..uhh…" She blushed.
He smiled, "Well I like Megan…"
"And…?"
"You know how they are going out, right?"
"Yeah, It sucks."
"Yeah, totally. So I was thinking we could "go out" and see if we can make them jealous."
"Well, I don't know…"
"Please," he begged, his blue eyes looking pleadingly down into Hermione's. "Don't you like Ron? And it's not like we are using each other since we are both in on it."
"Yeah…"
"So, what's your answer?"
"Yes, I will "go out" with you."
"SCORE! Megan, here I come!"
Hermione laughed. They continued on their way to transfiguration, breaking into a run so they wouldn't be late. Eric stopped short infront of the door, running his hand through his untidy brown hair.
"What is it?" Hermione asked.
"If we wanna make this convincing then we have to act like-"
"A couple." Hermione finished.
"Yeah," He held out his hand, grinning slyly. She took it, and they entered the classroom. They were greeted by stares. Ron looked furious, and Harry's mouth hung wide open. He had no clue what was going on. Eric and Hermione found a seat together, and tried not to laugh.
Today's lesson was to turn a rock into a chair. Hermione and Eric partnered up, and joked and laughed the whole time while working, and became pretty good friends. That left Harry and Ron to work together.
"How dare she date that Johnson character!" Ron said angrily, fuming. He waved his wand "Cathedra!" Nothing happened.
"Why do you care?" Harry asked.
"Because I just do!"
"You're dating Megan, you really shouldn't care."
"Shut up, Harry."
"Sheesh… cathedra." The chair sprouted legs. Ron snorted.
"You couldn't do any better."
The homework assignment for anyone unable to do the lesson was two rolls of parchment on the spell and its uses. Ron and Harry were among the few who had to do the assignment. Hermione and Eric didn't, which only made Ron even more angry.
As they went to lunch, Ron wasn't speaking to Hermione.
"What's wrong with him?" Hermione whispered to Harry.
"No idea." He lied.
When they sat down, Harry whispered, "I thought you liked Ron."
Hermione didn't answer, and she turned and watch Eric sit down next to her, grinning. Ron growled. Everyone stared at them. Eric scanned the Great Hall for Megan, and found her gaping, he smiled at this.
Harry was so confused. Did Eric know she likes Ron? Is she over Ron? What's going on? Whenever Harry tried to ask her about this, Hermione would ignore him and change the subject. She and Eric had agreed to keep the fact that they were pretending a secret.
Surprisingly, Hermione and Eric were able to keep up the couple act, and it was quite convincing. Ron grew angrier everyday. He would often go off with Megan, leaving Hermione and Eric disgruntled. It would make them very upset so they would snap at anyone who tried to talk to them.
"Hey," Harry said, sitting next to Ginny, who was on the couch, gazing off into space. Guess what she was thinking about. Hint, a certain boy-who-lived with untidy black hair and gorgeous emerald green eyes.
"Hi," she said softly.
"So…I am so bored. Hermione is in a bad mood and Ron is well, I don't know where he is…."
"I don't even want to think about where he is."
Harry stared at her for a moment, and cracked up laughing. Ginny blushed, and watched him laugh she loved his laugh, it was so full of live and could send anyone else into laughter themselves. She felt a smile slither across her face, and was soon laughing too.
Hermione turned and stared at them, which instantly shut them up.
"I really should hang out with you more often," Harry said. "You're really fun to hang out with."
Ginny turned as red as her Gryffindor sweater. "Uhh, thanks. You too."
"Wait, it's Halloween, isn't it?"
"Yeah, why?"
"CANDY! Great Hall, dinner is just starting! Race you! Loser has to give the other a foot massage, because my feet hurt."
Ginny grinned, "You're on."
They both dashed out of the common room, Harry was far ahead of Ginny. She put on a burst of speed, running was one thing she did while training herself for Quidditch, and was running at an alarming rate. She sped past Harry in a blur, nearly making him stop in surprise. She reached the Great Hall grinning. "About the foot massage, Harry…"
"Oh be quiet." He grabbed a chocolate frog and stuffed it into her mouth so she couldn't talk. Ginny threw mashed potatoes at him, and while he was distracted, looked around the room. In place of the regular candles, were floating jak-o-laterns. There were fake cobwebs, and live bats. The ghosts floating around added to the Halloween effect.
"Amazing, isn't it?" Harry said. Ginny nodded. He dropped an ice cube down the back of her robes. Ginny jumped up and screamed.
"Shut up, Gin," said Ron, sitting down and getting a plateful of food.
Ginny glared at him. Hermione arrived a moment later. Both ate in silence. Ginny and Harry did not mind that much because they were having a great time.
After dinner, in the common room, Ginny relaxed on a chair, put her feet up on a foot rest, and said "So, Harry, foot massage…"
"Ugh,"
"You suggested it."
"Only because I thought I'd win."
"Oh, that's modest."
"I'm not going to give you a fo-"
"Fine, but you owe me!"
Harry laughed and watched her pretend to stalk off in rage.
The next weekend was a Hogsmeade weekend, Megan, Eric, Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Ginny all went together.
Things were very odd between the two couples, Megan and Ron, and Hermione and Eric. Hermione kept glancing at Ron, and Eric at Megan, to see what they were going. Ron and Megan looked at Eric and Hermione red faced.
Harry and Ginny noticed this, and kept whispering to each other, and laughing, causing the others to glare. They entered The Three Broomsticks, and Hermione and Eric sat down next to each other, looked at Ron and Megan, and held hands. They managed to contain their laughter.
Ron and Megan glared, and Megan kissed Ron on the cheek. Harry leaned in and whispered teasingly, "What's wrong? Ron, do you like Hermione? Megan, do you like Eric?"
They both jumped up in rage, "I don't like her/him!" Ron and Megan shouted at the same time. Harry smirked. "Sure."
The butterbeer arrived, and everyone took one. "Can you pass me a butterbeer?" Hermione asked.
"Get it yourself." Megan snapped, jealousy taking over. "Oh, I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me." She forcefully passed Hermione a butterbeer.
"So, have you dated many girls Eric? Are you a player?" Ron asked.
Everyone stared at him.
"What?" he asked, outraged.
"Oh, I guess your just hearing impaired."
"RON!" Hermione shouted.
"Well, are you using Megan?" Eric asked Ron, spitefully.
"How dare you." Ron glared.
Jealousy was now taking over between the four, each acting nothing like they were usually like.
"Hermione, exactly how long have you been dating Eric?" she asked sickly sweet.
"Don't bad mouth me, I saw what you and Ron were doing, that day I saw you in the classroom when I came to tell Ron that I-" She stopped short.
"Yes?"
"What did you come to tell me?" asked Ron.