Hermione and Amanda sat poring over their Arithmancy notes in the common room, preparing for their test the next day. Ron, Harry and Ginny came through the portrait hole after Quidditch practice, soaking wet and covered with snow, grumbling angrily. Amanda turned away from staring at Harry and noticed Hermione staring at Ron's retreating back.

She smiled mischieviously and said, "Wow, Ron sure looks good all hot and sweaty...not to mention that snow in his hair..."

"Yeah..." Hermione murmured. Her head jerked up. "Wait!"

But Amanda was already laughing away. "Ha! I've got you to admit you like him!"

"Amanda, no I don't--okay, I do. But please, promise not to tell anyone. Least of all Harry. Please?" Hermione pleaded, giving puppy-dog eyes to Amanda.

"Got it. I promise I won't. But you know what? Even if it came out, I think Ron will be quite happy."

"Why is that?"

"Because he fancies you, silly."

"How do you know that?" Hermione whispered urgently.

"It's obvious. And I haven't even known you guys that long. It seems as if everybody else in Gryffindor--hell, Hogwarts--knows already. Don't worry..." Amanda added quickly when she saw Hermione's embarassed face, "Ron definitely doesn't know your true feelings about him."

Ron and Harry came out of the dormitories and headed towards them. Amanda and Hermione quickly shut up and went back to their Arithmancy notes. They looked up and pretended to be surprised that they had arrived.

"Hermione, do you remember the charm to dry my hair? I completely forgot and I feel really stupid." Ron blushed and ruffled his bright red hair, which was so wet it was dripping all over his robes. Harry smiled sheepishly at Amanda and it looked like he had forgotten the simple charm too, by the looks of his ebony hair.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Fine. It's Drius. Do the little flick, remember?"

Ron grinned. "Thanks. You're brilliant."

Hermione blushed.

Amanda smiled at them, then turned to Harry. "You know, your hair is less messy when it's wet."

"Really?" Harry's eyes brightened.

Amanda grinned at him, blushed then said bashfully, "Well, I like it better messy. Let me fix it."

She reached over and ruffled his hair,then did the charm, and sat back down in her seat. Ron looked at her and Harry with a surprised look, while Hermione just looked smug.

"Oh crap." Ron said frantically, smacking his forehead. "I forgot to do my homework. I've got to go to the library."

Harry groaned. "Me, too. Let's go. Bye, guys."

Hermione and Amanda watched them go, and then Hermione rounded on Amanda.

"Ah, looks like somebody likes somebody..." said Hermione in a sing-song voice with the smug look on her face again."...And you were going on about me..."

"Oh, shush." Amanda murmured, although her face was a hot pink shade.

"Ha! Now it's my turn to laugh! You're such a big flirt!" She imitated Amanda reaching over to fix Harry's hair. "'I like it better messy...let me fix it...'"

Amanda swatted Hermione's arm and looked around nervously to see if anybody had heard or seen w.

Hermione looked at Amanda with bright eyes, "Don't worry, they all saw it the first time."

"Hermione, I don't care if you're a Prefect, I'll hex you anyway if you don't SHUT UP!" Amanda growled.

"Fine, fine." Hermione went back to her Arithmancy notes, laughing silently, while Amanda sat there, wondering if Harry felt the same way about her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Harry and Ron walked down from Gryffindor tower towards the library, their hair nice and dry.

"Harry, do you like Amanda?" Ron inquired.

"What?!" Harry turned his head so abruptly he got a crick in his neck.

"Do. you. like. Amanda?" he repeated with a bit of a smile.

"Well, erm..." Harry fidgeted nervously, rubbing his aching neck, "Maybe..."

"Ha!" Ron snorted and started laughing.

"Well, you fancy Hermione!" Harry countered desperately. Ron stopped laughing, and turned a deep shade of crimson.

"How'd you know?" Ron asked quietly, his ears looking as if they were on fire.

"The question is: how could I not know? It's so obvious."

"What'd you mean by that?" Ron actually looked confused.

"Well, what about the Yule Ball? You were sore the whole week afterwards and kept teasing her about Viktor. And then last year, before a Quidditch game, Hermione kissed you on the cheek, and you kept touching that spot. Come on, Ron."

"Well, maybe you're right..." Ron said softly, "Oh, I guess I should say thank you for stuffing us in the closet..."

"You're not mad?" Harry said disbelievingly.

"No. You see, in there..." Ron trailed off.

"What? Oh-" Harry's eyes widened, "-did you guys kiss?"

"NO! I mean...not really...I was about to." Ron murmured.

"So, why didn't you??" Harry asked poutingly, furious that his and Ginny's plan hadn't worked as well as they hoped.

"Well, YOU opened the door!" Ron said indignantly.

"Oops, sorry Ron, I didn't know." Harry said sincerely. "That's probably why Hermione looked so disappointed. You too."

"Yeah, that could be it." Ron said sarcastically then stopped walking,"Wait, she looked disappointed?"

"Yeah, almost as much as you did. She does fancy you."

Ron smiled, looking amazed. They walked in to the library and got to work on the essay the new DADA teacher (who seemed nice, for once) had assigned about a new hex they had done last week which was due the next day.