"Ey, Gin, what's up?"

Ginny looked up, surprised by the voice and the person suddenly crashing down next to her in an armchair in the Gryffindor common room. She saw one of her older brothers, Ron, sit in it.

"Hey, Ron", she said and tried to collect her papers that had fallen to the floor by the wind when Ron had sat down. "How are things?"

"Terrible!" Ron moaned dramatically and covered his face with one hand. "Can you believe that Parvati actually turned down my request about taking her to the Yule Ball?"

"I don't see why she shouldn't." She added: "And if you don't help me with this soon I'm going to hit you. And what happened to Hermione? Weren't you guys supposed to go together?" Ron suddenly got very red in the face and he didn't look at his sister, but he helped her to collect the papers and put them neatly in a pile.

"Well…" he said, "I kind of asked her today, and she said that she already had a date. But then she refused to tell me who she was going with!"

"Oh, poor ickle Ronny", Ginny said sarcastically. "She didn't? Well, I am not surprised. Do you know how you've been treating her lately?" Ron suddenly looked very hurt.

"Me?" he said. "What about you and Malfoy then? I don't see you two jumping around."

"Will you shut up!" Ginny hissed, and ran her hand through the red hair. "I don't want everyone to know about it."

"Harry's hurt, you know. I thought that you liked him."

"I do! But not in that way, anymore. And what do you mean 'Harry's hurt'? I don't care about how he's feeling at the moment. It's not like he's not having any girlfriends, is it? I mean, he had Cho, and…"

"That was in our fifth year, Gin. It was two years ago."

"So? Do you guys forget so easily?" Ron sank down into his armchair again.

"Speaking of guys and forgetting… Where is Malfoy? I haven't seen that idiot hanging around here lately. Has he forgotten about you? Because if he has, then I will kick his…"

"Thanks, I understand!" Ginny interrupted. "Thanks for you concern, Ron, but this is up to me and Draco. Please, will you let it go?" She picked up her books and walked toward the girl's dormitory. There she turned around. "And by the way, ask Luna. She fancies you." She left Ron with a wide-open mouth.

A couple of minutes later, Harry climbed in through the portrait hole. He seemed distract about something, and when Ron called his name, he looked up in surprise. Two seconds later, Harry sat down in the same armchair where Ginny had been seated a few moments earlier.

"You haven't seen Ginny, have you?" he asked. Ron nodded.

"Yeah, just a few minutes ago. Why?"

"I need to talk with her."

"About what?" Ron sounded very surprised. Harry sighed deeply.

"About Draco Malfoy and why he can't see her anymore." Ron looked shocked.

"What did you say?"

"I know." Harry groaned. "This is terrible. Malfoy asked me to say it, but Ginny won't believe me. What can I do, really?"

Ron shook his head in disbelief. "I dunno… perhaps you ought to tell her. She deserves to know." Harry stood up, ran his hand though his hair, and walked slowly towards the dormitory.

"I'll go to bed", he said. "I need to sort this out myself."

"You'll have to do it, mate", Ron said. "You have to."

Harry just groaned and walked up the stairs. He felt miserable.