Disclaimer: Found at the beginning of this story! Period! Oh, and please keep in mind that this story was started before HBP. The ones after this will be post-HBP. Thank you!

A/N: This chapter is especially for FSL, my ever-faithful boy-bud. OH YES! And here are the cookies I promised Mary Terensky… and Draco. (:) (:) (:) (:) (:) (:) –For all three of us!

Harry was just coming out of the Great Hall, when he bumped into his girlfriend, Cho Chang, who was visiting for Christmas.

"Hi, Harry," she said cheerfully, taking his hand. "Is it true about Ron?"

"What about Ron?" he replied, walking with her upstairs.

"That thing… about Ron. With his brother and Hermione."

"How'd you know about that?"

"The whole school knows about it… except for Ron, maybe."

"That's very true," said Harry a little unhappily, "He can be really thick sometimes."

Cho laughed as if to say, "Sometimes?" Harry laughed awkwardly, half-knowing that this was correct.

"Okay, so the entire universe knows it but Ron," he finished exasperatedly.

"I hope you intend to do something about that!" she said commandingly.

"I do, I do!" her boyfriend said, afraid of being slapped, even teasingly.

Cho gave him an apologetic look. She looked wistfully at the school grounds for several seconds. "I really miss this place," she said quietly. Harry shrugged. "Well, you're here now," he replied as softly. "No," she answered, leaving him slightly confused. "You're here now, which is what really matters to me. One of the reasons I miss school… is, well… you."

Harry blushed slightly. He smiled as looked at her long, black hair, her dark brown eyes, her—

"So what do you plan to do about Ron?"

His peaceful thoughts were interrupted. And I was just about to get some, part of his mind scolded, disappointedly. "I'm going to talk to him about it. Definitely," he said. "When did talking to him ever help?" Cho asked, sounding skeptical.

"Don't worry," he reassured her, dropping her off at the Room of Requirement, which was to be the visitors' quarters over the holidays, "it will." Cho kissed him goodnight and waved him away. On his way up to Gryffindor Tower, he thought he knew just how to talk to Ron.

THE NEXT DAY

"Thanks for taking the time, Harry." They were up in the dormitory during free period, and Ron agreed to let Harry know some of the things that had been bothering him lately.

"No problem, mate. I'm here to help… so, whatever you want to say, just fire, I'm listening."

"Well, mate, it's about Hermione…" He sank into his bed, scratching the back of his neck nervously, as though he knew something was going to come out.

"Yeah?" Harry was listening intently, as he promised.

"You know, nowadays…" There was silence for a few minutes. Harry was still listening.

"Nowadays what?" he asked.

"Well, I don't know… whenever I see her with Fred, I can't help but get mad…"

It was exactly as he and Cho predicted. Harry thought for a moment. He really had to say what he had to say properly and tactfully, yet frank straightforward… otherwise Ron might get:

Extremely mad,

Very offended,

Or just inexplicably confused.

"Well?" persisted Ron, "What do I do?" Harry thought still. "Ron," he said, "Let's put it this way. You like Hermione." Harry closed his eyes tightly, awaiting the punch that was most likely coming his way. Surprisingly, it did not come. "Of course I like Hermione! She's my friend!" said Ron, as though this were the most obvious thing in the world, which it technically was. Harry sighed with both relief (that Ron didn't hit him) and frustration (that his best mate still didn't get it). Ron gave him an expression that said, quite simply, "What'd I do!"

Harry sighed again and ran his hand through his hair, spinning around in one of those Muggle mobile office chairs (this made Ron sort of dizzy). Then he put a foot down on the floor to stop it whirling. "Let's put it like this," he said, hoping he'd be as lucky as the first time, "you like Hermione… like you like Chocolate Frogs!" Harry was making a desperate and half-pathetic attempt at analogies, keeping at the very back of his mind the fact that Ron was no Einstein.

"I've never wanted to eat her," reasoned Ron, looking as though Harry were the thick one between the two of them. "No, no," the other boy said, waving away this comment. "It's like the way you can't live without them—er, I mean—can't go without them for very long." A spark of comprehension lit up in Ron's pale but now reddening face.

"You," he said angrily, pointing at Harry. Then he turned on his heel and marched out of the dormitory, muttering things like, "completely missed it," and "supposed to be my friend," and a rather distinct, "almost as bad as Fred and Hermione". Despite this hostility, Harry knew he had done his job, and that he had done it quite well.

A/N: o.0 Review please!