Yet another chapter! Hope you enjoy guys... No time to give individualized thank yous, but I really really appreciated the reviews. REALLY. Thanks for all the support! Oh, and Merry Christmas. This is for you guys!

Hermione sat in the library, with only the mini-Trelawney within her head for company. For once, the voice inside of her had decided not to be annoying and was being sympathetic instead.

"He's a right prat, isn't he?"

"Yes," she agreed. "Yes he is. But I miss him."

"Well, that much was obvious."

"Mmm…"

Hermione sat in contemplative silence for some time, mulling over the conversation that had just taken place inside her head. Thankfully, mini-Trelawney remained silent and let her think.

"I miss him," she suddenly gasped aloud, and quickly covered her mouth with a hand.

It suddenly became clear to her. An epiphany- and the clouds within her mind parted and the sun shown down on her. And of course, mini-Trelawney danced and cackled gleefully.

She was bloody in love with her best friend. Well, she decided. Maybe love was a bit strong. Maybe like. In like, if there was such a thing.

But never mind, because the fact of the matter was that she had a crush of all things on Ronald Weasley, that infuriating boy who never ceased to upset her, and she had to do something about it.

After all, it's not every day that one learns everything about one's secret desires.

"Goodness," she mumbled, pressing her hands to her quickly reddening cheeks. "What shall I ever do?"

And so, because she was Hermione and she was utterly flustered, she sat down and took several calming breaths.

"Come now," she slowly convinced herself. "This can't possibly be as frightening as facing a troll or fighting the Dark Lord, or seeing Lavender Brown without make-up on."

And once she was calmed down, she sat, and typical of Hermione, she pulled out several pieces of parchment.

On top of the first sheet, she wrote in small, neat letters, "How to solve the dilemma of liking one Ronald Weasley:"

Biting on the tip of the quill, she frowned and bent over the parchment, fully intent on writing a list of solutions. Just like any other homework assignment, she thought, beginning to write.

Do nothing. Hide your feelings and hope they'll disappear.

She frowned. For some reason, that option seemed highly unsatisfactory.

Skip up to the Common Room and throw yourself at him, snogging him mercilessly until he asks you out.

She had to snort at that one. Obviously, it was a product of having that mini-Trelawney in her head for far too long. She swiftly crossed it out with one smooth stroke of her quill.

Send him mysterious owl posts from a "secret admirer". Give suggestive winks whenever he opens a letter.

That one too seemed highly ineffective. For one, Ron would probably be too clueless to even notice the hints that she sent his way. And secondly, if he did notice them, he'd think her absolutely insane. And she certainly didn't want that, especially not after that earlier incident with Trelawney.

She sighed. Honestly, she had to at least find one good solution. It really shouldn't be that hard.

"Tell him," the mini-Trelawney in her head piped up. "Just tell him!"

And for once, she thought that the little voice sounded rather sane.

She quickly scribbled the suggestion down.

Just tell your feelings to Ron and ask him if he feels the same.

Suddenly, an amused voice from behind her made her jump, startled. "You know, Hermione, I rather find numbers 2 and 3 interesting. However, I'm guessing number 4 would work best."

She swirled around, cheeks red. "Harry!" she gasped, covering the parchment with her hands hastily.

He grinned down at her, giving her a smug "I know what you're up to" kind of look. "Don't be silly," he admonished. "I just read everything on there. And besides, I've known that you've fancied Ron for ages."

She frowned, still blushing from embarrassment. "Then how come I didn't?"

He smiled at her confusion. "Oh Hermione," he explained, sitting down in the chair next to her. "Sometimes it takes you a while to figure things out on your own… you know? Your emotions are sometimes the hardest things to see, even though others might be able to read them easily. I reckon it has something to do with hiding things from yourself, you know, denial and all."

"That was rather deep, Harry Potter."

And here she had thought that he only thought of Quidditch. How wrong she was.

"Ah well," he replied with a boyish grin. "I spend a lot of time at night thinking. And besides, what would people ever say if the Boy-Who-Lived didn't know what he was talking about? I have to practice for all those Daily Prophet interviews, you know."

Hermione reached over to playfully swat his shoulder. "Don't be so arrogant," she scolded, glaring at the smirk on his face. "Honestly Harry, since when did you spend so much time thinking about your emotions, anyway? Is there something I should know?" And she grinned inwardly when he coughed and turned away, turning red.

"Ah well," he muttered evasively, drumming his fingers against the desk. "You know. I think about a lot of things."

"And about people?"

"That too," he conceded, unknowingly walking right into her trap.

"Maybe a certain pretty redhead?" she asked innocently, watching him blush again.

He coughed again and avoided her eyes.

Hah, she thought. He couldn't escape her now. She sat patiently and tapped her foot, looking at him pointedly. "Well?"

Harry finally raised his eyes to meet hers and grinned sheepishly, running a hand through his messy hair, a sure sign that he was rather nervous. "Oh bloody hell, Hermione," he chuckled. "You know me too well. And just for the record, she's not just a pretty redhead. She's a gorgeous, adventurous redhead with a fantastic sense of humor."

Hermione sat for a moment in stunned silence as Harry tapped his fingers against the desk nervously. Finally, she beamed at him and leant forward to hug him. "You and Ginny," she whispered, "will be fantastic together."

"Glad you think so," he responded with a sigh of relief. "She is wonderful though, isn't she?" he asked once she had pulled away and sat still beaming at him. "She's great. She's just… whoa." And he grinned a silly, smitten grin, his eyes shining brightly.

"I think so too," Hermione nodded.

"Think she'll ever consider you know, going out with me?" he asked, looking nervous again. His eyes searched hers anxiously.

"'Course," she scoffed, waving a hand dismissively. "I'm almost certain that she adores you as well, you know. You two will make a wonderful couple."

"Do you reckon Ron will kill me?" he asked, chuckling.

"Most likely," she grinned back, laughing as she remembered how overly protective Ron was of his little sister. "But Ginny'll protect you. She's a tough girl."

"Ah yes," Harry rolled his eyes. "Of course. Because I can't protect myself and need a girl there to keep me from being throttled to death by her older brother. That's certainly courageous of me, don't you think?"

They both laughed heartily until Madame Pince sent a cold glare in their direction.

She smiled to herself as she thought of Harry and Ginny, wrecking havoc on the school as they scampered through the halls, playing pranks and flying their brooms past curfew. It was the kind of activity she would've never usually condoned, but goodness, Harry deserved a break from saving the world. Harry deserved to be happy, and Ginny made him happy. And even if they broke a few school rules along the way, that's all that mattered.

"And you?" he prodded, breaking into her thoughts. "Are you going to take your own advice on number 4 on the list, eh? Are you going to tell Ron?"

"Mm…" she fidgeted with the sleeve of her sweater. "Oh I don't know. I'm… I'm not sure if he'd take it well. I mean," she hastily explained as Harry opened his mouth in protest, "If he doesn't like me, which is probably the case anyway, it'll strain our friendship. And Harry, you don't want that, do you?"

He sat for a moment with his mouth open and she regarded him worriedly.

Finally, he burst out with, "Are you insane, Hermione? Ron's been in love with you since fourth year, he just didn't realize it!"

She bit her lip. "Really?" she asked meekly.

"Really," he responded emphatically. "Now then, since we both seem to love Weasleys, we're going to each find our redhead. Okay?"

"Okay," Hermione whispered in reply, smiling at him. She leant in and kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks for everything, Harry."

"Aww, what are friends for?" he replied, pulling her in for a hug.

After a moment, she pulled away and stood up, only to see a wide-eyed Ronald Weasley storm out of the library.