Disclaimer: Yeah, you guys got it... If you need reminding, look at Chapter One... no lawsuits. The end.

A/N: Wow guys!! My inbox is busting open from your reviews!! ...Not really, of course, but kind of... Thanks!! Keep it up; I look forward to hearing your thoughts!! Oh, and a note to those who are concerned about the story being shallow and Hermione becoming beautiful... The way I was thinking, is Harry is becoming more and more like his father was as he gets older, and his father seemed to be a very stuck-up, shallow kind of person. We saw in the Goblet of Fire that Harry didn't even seem to realize that Hermione was a girl until she came to the Yule Ball, all dolled up. He came into the relationship with her as an eleven-year old boy, who doubtlessly thought all girls had cooties, and now as they're growing and maturing, he's beginning to notice things he's never seen before, and while some of the changes in her looks are recently acquired, some have always been there, he's just never really noticed. Thanks though, I can see your point about turning Hermione into a 'Mary-Sue,' I may go back and revise some bits to make it a little more of Harry seeing things he's never seen before, rather than just some miraculous change in Hermione over a few weeks.

An intense rage shot through Harry when he saw this, and he stood up violently, shoving his chair back with a loud bang. Everyone, including Ron, who was awoken from his reverie by the noise, and even Mrs. Weasley, stared at Harry in alarm. "Sorry... I've got... a stomachache..." he mumbled, clutching his stomach in an offhand sort of way and walking very briskly out of the room.

He slowly walked back up the stairs into Sirius' old bedroom, and when he arrived, he threw himself heavily on the bed, his head pounding miserably. What is the MATTER with me, he wondered to himself. I knew Ron and Hermione had something going on, it's been obvious for ages, but why does it bother me NOW?

He covered his face with his hands, trying to stop the jealousy running through his veins. He was blatantly refusing to see what was right there, in front of his face; he didn't want to say it to himself, because doing that would only make it true. Still, he couldn't keep denying the fact that he liked Herm-

"Harry, are you alright?" Ginny poked her head through the tiny crack in the door, looking concernedly at Harry. Harry smiled weakly, pulling himself up into a sitting position, nodding to the bed as an invitation for Ginny to have a seat. She smiled a little, and if he didn't know better, he'd think she sort of blushed as she walked through the door. Of course, she really didn't; Ginny had liked Harry once, but he knew she didn't anymore.

Last he'd heard, she was dating some bloke from Hufflepuff, a fourth year Harry didn't know, much to the displeasure of Ron. She had been going out with Dean Thomas at the end of term, but that relationship apparently hadn't lasted very long. Harry had heard vague details, something involving a few Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, and one of Fred and George's fake wands, but that's all he'd been able to get out of anybody on the matter.

Looking at Ginny now, sitting on the bed next to him, he began to feel very awkward about the whole situation, and started fiddling around with the pillow lying next to him on the bed. The silence was a bit uncomfortable, and he began contemplating telling Ginny everything.

"Harry... you haven't got a stomachache," Ginny said abruptly, startling Harry so much that he slightly jumped. He looked at her, amazed at her perception. "I saw the way you looked at Hermione," she whispered quietly, looking down at her hands. Then, she looked up at Harry, though he couldn't read the expression on her face. "D'you... want to talk about it?" she asked.

Harry sighed. "Well... you see... I don't really know what it is, really... I just..."

Ginny cut him off. "You finally realized that Hermione is, indeed, female, and now you're upset that Ron noticed a long time before you ever did." It wasn't a question.

"Well, I-I suppose..." Harry stammered, taken aback by the bold way Ginny was talking. "I mean, of course Hermione's a female, but... she's... different somehow. You wouldn't really under-"

"Don't tell me I wouldn't understand!" Ginny exclaimed, cutting Harry off once more. "Of course I understand! Only I've had to deal with the same thing, over and over, for more than five years now! YOU are the one who doesn't understand, Harry! You just need to let it go, and pretend like it doesn't bother you. Wait for your chance, and then grab it, because fawning all over her and moping about won't make things any better for you, or anybody else!" Her face was bright red, and tears had begun to streak her freckled face. Then, as if her shouting hadn't shocked him enough, she leaned over, and kissed Harry right on the mouth.

It was a nice sort of kiss, Harry supposed, once he got over the initial shock of it. He found himself remembering his first kiss, with Cho Chang, under the mistletoe last Christmas. This kiss was rather like that one... wet... he didn't understand what it was that made girls seem to want to cry while they kissed him. Maybe-

Bloody hell, Ginny's kissing me! Harry thought, pulling himself away from the smaller red-haired girl, who had begun to stroke his hair. While it felt quite nice, he knew he couldn't keep kissing her; it wasn't fair to either of them. They sat together in embarrassed silence, each avoiding the others' eyes. At long last, Harry opened his mouth to speak.

"I... thought you were going out with that Hufflepuff bloke," he muttered quietly, pretending to be very interested in the tiny hole in the rug on the floor. "I thought... I thought you didn't like me anymore..."

Ginny laughed quietly, a hollow, sad sort of sound. "Of course I still like you... I always have. But like I told you, sometimes you just have to put a smile on, pretend like it doesn't matter anymore. I was a good actress, wasn't I...?" Harry chanced a quick look at her, and saw she was smiling, a bitter smirk that didn't reach her eyes. With a tiny sigh, she stood up, patting Harry's hand gently.

"Sorry about that. I didn't mean for either of us to get upset... I just had to do it, you understand," she said, looking blankly out the window. "I hope everything goes well with Hermione..." Then, she walked out of the room, brushing the fingers of her left hand against her lips, and got all flushed once more.

Harry DID in fact understand why Ginny had kissed him. That had been her chance... He stood up, walking over to the window. Looking out, he could see the overcast sky, occasionally spouting down a tiny bit of drizzle from the large, gray clouds. The sky that day seemed to reflect his mood. He turned away from the window, closing the door, and lying down on his bed.

Maybe if I get some rest, I'll be in a better mood, he thought. He closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.
A/N: This is a bit shorter than the last chapter, but I'd like to get something new up for people to read... I'm slacking, sorry guys! At any rate... please review!!