Disclaimer; I'm obviously not making any money by writing this story, and I don't own anyone you've already heard of. Also, I don't own the book "The Rules" either. It was written by Ellen Fein and Sherrie Schneider.

Summary; When Hermione returns for her 6th year at Hogwarts heartbroken and depressed, Ron and Harry got to enormous lengths to figure the cause of her distress, whilst Ron fights to keep his own feelings for her from intervening. HG/RW & HP/GW

Author's Note; Oh wow! I've just re-read this chapter, and didn't realize how much I went on rambling about the complications of maintaining a relationship with a man. I hope it doesn't bother any of you, but this fic might as well be a way of venting, and voicing some of the questions I found myself asking after my own break-up. Jesus, it's been over a month and I still don't find myself getting over this guy. Will things ever work out!??? Thank you very much reviewers, please keep reading :)

Weirdo's Rule

megafreak

Jennifer

lizerlips

How Am I Supposed to Live Without You?

Chapter Two; Girls Needn't Call Boys

Hermione collapsed onto the large bed that was positioned in the corner of the small room she had just rented. Lordy, I've got to get my books before it gets too late. Sitting back up, afraid she might fall asleep if she didn't, Hermione poured Crookshanks a saucer of milk, shoved her luggage under the bed, and set off to buy her supplies for the coming year. Really, all she wanted to do was lose herself in an emotionless slumber, but she had been doing that the entire week. Maybe today, with nothing in the busy crowds of Diagon Alley to remind her of the summer, she could pull herself out of this trance she had become stuck in, and go back to living normally.

"Ron, move over! You're squishing me!" Ginny complained. Harry rolled his eyes, staring out the window. He had been hearing this all morning, as he and the Weasleys drove to the Leaky Caldron. Molly had announced to Arthur, just as everyone was ready to leave, that she had forgot to pick up some more flu powder at the market and they would have to use their new car. No one had really minded (until now), and Arthur had been happy to have an opportunity to drive around just like a muggle, but it really was a pain in the neck to have Ron's sleeping self bouncing between Harry and Ginny as they both shoved him away when his head would land on their shoulders.

At last, they pulled up at the Leaky Caldron and Harry freed himself from the car. Ron had begun snoring at the last, and Ginny wasn't the only one annoyed. Stretching, they each pulled out their luggage and sauntered into the obscure, little pub.

Hermione had been meandering through Diagon Alley for several hours all alone when she finally purchased her final text book for the year. She had generally kept to herself, and as much as she was missing Harry, Ron, and Ginny, she wasn't really in the mood to meet up with them. Stopping to gaze at her reflection in the glass window of a certain shop, she noticed for the first time how skinny she'd become since that last spring. Her pants hung from her hips, looser than ever before, and her shirt seemed to be a little less than filled out properly.

At first, upon paring with Brad, she had lost several pounds due to pure joy. As the saying went, who needs food when you've got love, but as the relationship wore on, and the distance between them grew, the pounds had fallen off due to... anxiety, more than anything. Is he cheating? Why didn't he call? Where was he on Saturday? How come he never says "I love you," anymore? Why don't we ever go out on actual dates anymore? How come he doesn't pay as much attention to me as he used to? Why doesn't he ever initiate sex anymore? Honestly, isn't a man supposed to want sex at all times, whenever, wherever? The list of questions she had asked herself over and over throughout the weeks went on and on, but there was no denying it, he had given her the answer that day he broke it off. He just wasn't in love, so why put effort into such a relationship? Of course, breaking her heart more than anything was the commonly asked question, why couldn't he love her based on the fact alone that she just plain loved him so much? Why wasn't that enough? How come he couldn't have just been happy knowing that he had found someone so much in love with him?

All in all, obviously, a textbook would never be able to teach her these lessons, and she was devastated to have to learn this particular lesson so early in life. Especially when she had been so unprepared. Never in her life had she come across a situation where she didn't have a least a small amount of knowledge about. Even as unpredictable as a car crash was, there was always an education of who to call, how to do CPR if needed, etc... As the rumors had circulated through a close circle of muggle friends she had back in her community, many of them claimed she had just been too available. But too available? She didn't understand it. How could a man just lose interesting at the drop of a hat? What was the 'thing' with men and a nice challenge? Couldn't they obtain that from a difficult math problem? Why did they want to continue playing games, and have their women do the same even after the relationship had become official? The logic in all this was absolutely terrible. Of course you weren't going to want the woman you would one day marry play all sorts of head games, and just not call because 'girls needn't call boys,' but they did. All the men were wanting was a game to play. The more distance she would put between herself and Brad, the more he was pursuing her, but then when she would try and give some of the love back, he was suddenly annoyed and constantly too busy for her.

And men think WOMEN are the confusing ones!

A few days after the break up, Hermione had found a book entitled "The Rules," hidden away from view on the book shelf in her living room. She was able to read it through quickly, and apparently, she had broken all of the so-called Rules which concerned 'Time-tested Secrets for Capturing the Heart of Mr. Right.' While these rules seemed reasonable in a sense, and she could see how they must've worked, why did a woman have to act so... restrained to maintain a healthy relationship with a man?

Maybe she would never figure this out...

Pushing all such negative thoughts from her mind, and heading back to the Leaky Caldron, Hermione was considering taking another nap back in her room when a familiar face came through the door of the pub.

"HERMIONE! You're actually here!!! We haven't heard from you all summer long! OH MY, how skinny you've gotten! Are you all right?"

Swallowing the lump of remorse for not having made better contact with her friends during the vacation, Hermione switched her weight from foot to foot, trying to come up with a good excuse. "Well.... yeah, erm... I've been kinda um....busy with... things. Yup, that's how it's been, ya know?" Oh yeah, that was good... where is my brain today?