Hermione told them that she had gone out with Ernie and that they were a couple now.

"With Ernie? Well, that is a bit of a surprise but he is nice."

Hermione looked at Ron to see how he would react. He looked surprised as well, as Hermione could tell by the hint of red in his face; Ron always went red at any emotion but he smiled at Hermione.

"Yeah, that's great, good luck!"

It is Only Sensible

Chapter 5: A True Friend Knows You

Hermione spent the first few weeks in a kind of haze, spending as much time as possible with Ernie. She had a boyfriend, a group of other girls as her friends and she supposed she should be happy but after the newness of it all wore off, she realised that she wasn't as content as she would have thought she would be.

Ernie was nice and would do anything for her and her friends involved her in all their dormitory parties but she felt that all of this was not really her, was some other person that looked like her and that she was watching from the outside. The more she thought about it, the more she realised she was wearing a mask that nobody except for her noticed.

Hermione kept going to her friends' parties, giggling with them and meeting Ernie in remote corridors for a between-classes-snog but she felt constantly more distant to all of it, though she refused to accept the fact she was unhappy about her whole situation.

Weeks passed, months passed and nothing changed. Then, one day, Harry approached Hermione in a corridor after lunch. Only when he stopped her did she realise that it had been weeks since she had last really talked to him or Ron outside of classes.

"Wait, Hermione, I want to talk to you!"

"Hello Harry! Is something wrong? You look worried. It isn't V-Voldemort, is it?" Hermione still hadn't quite got used to using his name.

"No, he seems to be a bit passive lately, probably gathering more supporters and planning the big attack. It's you I'm worried about."

"Me? There's nothing wrong with me."

Hermione felt guilty. Harry had so many other things to worry about and then he was worrying about her?

"Yes, you. Maybe you can fool all the others and even Ron but you can't fool me. The way you've been lately, it just isn't you. I'm not only talking about you coming late for classes and not doing homework but mainly about the way you act. I mean, you've become just as shallow and giggly as the girls you used to shake your head about."

"You can't tell me who to be friends with! It's up to me who I spend my time with. How should you know what I'm really like? Maybe I am finally the way I want to be!"

"Hermione, I think you're just fooling yourself as well! I know that you can spend your time with whoever you want to but as your friend, I think I have a right to remind you of who you really are and I don't think you are really happy with your life the way it is now."

"Is this your old having-to-save-whoever-is-in-trouble-thing? I think that none of this is really any of your business!"

"That's possible and I'd leave you and your illusions alone if Ron weren't so miserable. You can try to hide from whatever you feel but you shouldn't go pulling others into it."

"Ron? He seems perfectly fine to me."

"That's quite easy for you to say, you've hardly looked at him in weeks while I see him suffer silently every day though he tries not to show it. You know him, he is too embarrassed to say how he feels but I thought that you would at least realise your feelings towards each other and figure out a way to talk about it so I didn't say anything because I thought you would be able to solve it on your own. Instead, you get scared and run away and deny all your feelings. Honestly, I thought you were more sensible than that."

"Wh…what?"

"Obviously both of you are blind. Ron's in love with you and there's no use in telling me that you don't feel the same way. You taught me enough about the emotions people have to see that."

"But… but Ron smiled and wished me luck when I told you I'm together with Ernie! He wouldn't have done that if he liked me in that way! It's impossible!"

"Didn't you see how red he went because he was trying not to show his disappointment? He was nearly bursting with jealousy but he hid it because he wanted you to be happy."

"I… thought that was just the surprise. I thought he only liked me as a friend and now… I…I'm together with Ernie." Hermione's voice was nearly a whisper.

"I'm aware of that though I never understood why."

"Ron never showed me how he felt and I couldn't stand it any more: being together with him all day and never being able to show how I feel without risking our friendship to become so complicated. So I decided that I should try and forget my feelings for him. Then Ernie noticed me and I walked in on a party of those other girls and joined them, just to be as normal as possible. I thought that would make it easier to forget my feelings for Ron."

"Well, you really managed in making your friendship complicated. You should talk to Ron."

"But I'm together with Ernie. I can't just tell him I was in love with Ron all along!"

"Can you just go on lying to him by saying you love him? You have to decide, Hermione. I don't think the decision is going to be easier if you delay it."

---------------------

Hermione had made her decision the next morning. Ernie came up to her on the way to classes and wanted to pull her into a tender embrace but she pulled away.

"Sorry Ernie but we have to talk. We can't continue this way."

"Oh. What happened? Did I do something wrong?"

Hermione shook her head and felt miserable for doing this to him. He had always been friendly and caring towards her and now she had to tell him she loved someone else.

"I'm terribly sorry about this, Ernie, but I just feel like the life I'm living right now is only a lie. This just isn't who I really am. I know it wasn't fair but almost everything I did in the last few months was a try to be someone else because I couldn't stand things the way they were. Yesterday, I realized that I can't just run away from who I am. I feel so terrible for having hurt you while finding out. I hope you can forgive me."

Ernie nodded sadly.

"I think I can understand but I'm sorry that everything that happened between us didn't mean much to you. "

"It did, it really did! It's just that I realized that I was trying to escape and I can't go on like this. Our relationship was important for me as well, it really was. "

"It's OK, it wasn't meant as a reproach. You know, somehow I didn't think it would last, it just felt too surreal, you sometimes seem to be somewhere totally else in your thoughts. "

Hermione embraced him.

"Thanks Ernie. I know it isn't easy for you. "

They let go of each other and Ernie smiled sadly.

"I don't want you to be torn inside. It's Ron, isn't it? "

He smiled at Hermione's blush.

"I thought so before that Hogsmeade trip but always pushed the thought away. I guess I shouldn't have. So are the two of you together now? "

Hermione shook her head.

"No, I wanted to talk to you first; I would have felt even worse otherwise. I still don't know what Ron will say, I only hope what Harry told me is true. "

"Well, I think you should try it. Good luck! "

Once again, I have to apologize for not updating so long! I always want to but other things (like great other stories I read on FFN) always distract me and I end up not posting the next chapter. Anyways, there's only one more to go!

I want to thank Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers, O.W.L.S and isnani for their reviews. Keep reviewing and all the others who like this should as well!

Oh, and just another thing that I just feel like saying: the title of this chapter comes from a card a friend gave me. I really kind of liked it so well... it ended up as the title. Oh, she would be so shocked to know... So I apologize to her, not that she's likely to ever find out.

Okay, sorry for my rambling, I just was in the mood!