Chapter 8

Ginny showed up to the study session late. She had been watching her brother out the window, worried when he didn't come in after it started raining. She was about to go out and tell him to come in when she saw Harry walking over to him.

Then, when she was going to go out to greet them and try to talk to Ron, she met Colin. He was in a couple of her classes, and had needed help on an essay she had finished in her last study session with Hermione.

By the time she had finished explaining the different points that needed to be included she was already late. When she finally got to Hermione's room, which wasn't connected to the common room, she was nervous about what she might find. She always made sure she was the first one there.

She'd come up with thousands of ways to tell Hermione how she felt. She rehearsed every one of them over and over in her mind every time she knew she was going to see Hermione, and this time was no different.

But the sight of Harry sitting next to the statue guarding the entrance to Hermione's set of rooms made all thoughts fly straight out of her head. Normally him sitting there wouldn't be alarming, more confusing than anything else. But when he sits with his legs pulled up against his chest and his head in his hands, something just set off alarm bells in Ginny's head.

"Harry! Is Hermione alright?" she called out, running the last few steps. An even worse thought occurred and she added, "Is Ron alright? Lady Marmalade!" she quickly gave the password, not waiting for Harry's response.

Harry lifted his head as she asked about Ron, and the tired look in his eyes transformed to a look of shock and apprehension. He opened his mouth to say something, but it was too late.

She ran in and called out, "Hermione? Is there some –"her inquiry froze mid-word seeing Ron and Hermione holding each other close. Unable to stop the t tears that sprung to her eyes, she turned, nearly bowling over Harry, who had followed her inside. She didn't stop, didn't even apologize. She just ran.

She ran down the stairs, through corridors, to the Great Hall. She kept running. She ran past the lake, past the Womping Willow and Hagrid's hut.

When she finally stopped, after tripping over something that proceeded to chatter at her before continuing on its way, she was past any recognizable part of the Forest. Not that she could see to recognize anything anyway. Pulling herself to the nearest tree, she leaned against it as though it were the only stable thing in a world spinning wildly out of control.

Her eyes burned, and the tears seemed never ending. Somehow, this didn't bother her. She cried and cried, her entire body wracked with every sob. Her heart felt as though it were irrevocably shattered.

She had known Ron and Hermione were together. Somehow everybody did, though they never displayed anything other than friendship in public. But seeing someone else's arms around her. Seeing her hold onto him the way she would never hold Ginny. It just made all the pain and secrets too much to bear anymore.

After a few hours, though she thought her tears would never cease, she was able to wipe her eyes and no fresh tears took their place. It wasn't for another hour that she did anything other than sit there. But she did get up, and after closing her eyes for a minute, she took a deep breath and headed in the direction she thought she had come.

Unfortunately, she had not noticed that not only was it still raining, but also night had fallen at some point, and there wasn't even a hint of light in the inky darkness. After tripping over at least four times she thought to reach for her wand. It wasn't there. She searched her entire person and came up with nothing more than a broken quill and some lint.

She cursed her stupidity and continued trudging through the wet darkness. After proceeding to trip seven more times, and bruising herself in more places she could count, she just stayed where she fell, leaning against the tree who's offending root had been the cause of this fall. She was so sore and exhausted that when she realized she was sitting in a puddle she didn't even move except to wrap herself tighter in her cloak.

She was certain she wouldn't be able to fall asleep, uncomfortable and depressed as she was, but in less than five minutes her eyelids fluttered, then closed, and in no time at all she was fast asleep.

A/N: Awwwww.... poor Ginny. I hated doing this to her, and I'm sure you're going to hate the fact that we don't get back to her until after the next chapter... but it had to be done!!! Anyways, so I finally updated. Now you have your Ginny and Hermione fix for the week, and I have to get back to the mountain of essay that threaten to fall and smoosh me to pieces unless I finish.