A/N: Come on, peeps, please read and review. I'm not asking too much here. It will get better. Oh, before I forget, there is a little (1) somewhere down there in the chapter. There is a footnote to explain the comment that it follows. Be sure to scroll down and read it to understand.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or related titles, etc. I do own the plot line, however, so please don't steal it without permission. v.v though I doubt that anyone will like it well enough to want to steal it. It's just my humble story, looking for someone to read it. The gofer idea was from my friend KageNoKatana, so credit goes to her for her aide in helping me write this chapter.

Chapter 2: Problems in Perspective

"You've really done it this time, mate. I don't know what she's gonna think about you now."

Ron had just shamefacedly told Harry all about what had happened, and Harry personally thought that he sided with Hermione on this one, but wasn't going to say so. Ron was his best mate, after all.

"I know, Harry. I don't know what came over me, I… I just kissed her. She's probably never going to speak to me again." He slumped against the wall again, this time in the room he shared with Harry, Neville, Dean, and Seamus. Only he and Harry were in there at the moment, however.

"Tell you what, Ron, I'll go talk to her, and tell her how sorry you are. Maybe she'll agree to talk to you."

"She's never going to go with me to the ball, now. I've ruined it! Even if she consents to be friends still, she'll never trust me like she used to. I'll never be able to ask her out."

Harry shifted nervously from one foot to another. He didn't like it when Ron talked about how he wanted to ask Hermione out. He was afraid of what would happen to their trio if they went out, and then broke up. Cho was still avoiding him whenever possible, and he didn't want that sort of thing to happen to Ron and Hermione. This started him to thinking about Ginny, and his stomach did a flip.

They had dated for a few weeks at the end of last year, but he had broken away the relationship to protect her. The summer had been hard, trying to bury his feelings and the urge to run to her all the time. She still loved him, he still loved her, but he didn't want anything to happen to her, so he made her promise to feign dislike until it was all over. He promised her that as soon as he had finished with Voldemort, he would run back to her and they could be happy for the rest of their lives. Ginny was hesitant, still wanting to be with him, but she had promised. Now, whenever he saw her in the corridors, which was rarely due to his frequent out-of-school ventures, she scowled at him and turned up her nose, flouncing off in the other direction. Harry, playing his part, teased her and put her down, not meaning any of it. Everyone except Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione thought that they had had a horrible break up over the summer and hated each other.

"Harry, are you listening to me? I've just told you three times that you're pouring that butterbeer all over the rug."

Harry returned from his musings with a jolt not unlike that from returning from the pensive. He had just been reliving a particularly nice evening spent with Ginny last year.

"Y…Yeah, I'm listening." He quickly cleaned up the mess and turned his focus back to Ron.

"Harry, are you okay, Mate? You look exhausted…"

He did indeed look horrible. He had dark bags under his eyes, his hair was messier than usual, and his eyes were slightly glazed over.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Or at least, I will be after some sleep. I'll catch you a little later. I promise I'll talk to her for you. I need to talk to her anyway." He started heading for the staircase to the dormitories, yawning slightly. Ron sat down on the couch, wondering where Harry had been last night, and thinking that maybe his problems weren't as bad as he thought after all.

In fact, Harry had been out researching a hint about the whereabouts of a possible horcrux. He hadn't had much luck in finding the person with the initials R.A.B., the person who had possibly taken the locket horcrux. That left Helga Hufflepuff's cup, the snake Nagini, and one other unknown object. He had destroyed a horcrux, Riddle's Diary, during his second year, in the Chamber of Secrets, and Dumbledore had destroyed another one last year, Voldemort's grandfather's ring. Harry wasn't entirely sure that Hufflepuff's cup and the snake were in fact horcruxes, but as Dumbledore had agreed last year, it was a pretty good chance.

Harry was hoping to find the person R.A.B., and possibly working with him to destroy Voldemort, but as of yet, the mysterious person remained so. Nagini was most likely to be found near Voldemort, so that left the hidden cup and an unknown to pursue. The challenge was steep and the chances slim, but Harry had promised Dumbledore that he would do this, and so he was.

After Dumbledore's death last year, Hogwarts had been partially converted into headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix. Yes, there were still several hardcore students that showed up, but they were there mostly because they believed Hogwarts to be the safest place. Most of them had shown up with their families in tow, and many empty classrooms had been converted into temporary living quarters to accommodate them. In total, there were probably less than five hundred students there. Even the muggle members of some student families were at Hogwarts, which just goes to show how troubled the times were. Harry had even grudgingly invited the Dursleys to Hogwarts, but much to his relief they empathically declined. (Which meant that his Uncle Vernon had turned red in the face and started stuttering about how his family would never go to a place like Hogwarts.)

Hermione had taken the muggle group on a tour first thing, showing them where not to go and what not to do. The portraits had been surprised at first, and Peeves had tried many times to prank them, but someone came up with the good idea of giving Peeves a job to keep him busy. He was now drifting lazily around the Great Hall, dreaming up ways to torture possible intruders.

McGonagall was Headmistress now, of course, even though she seemed as though she didn't really want to be. In truth, she missed teaching. As Headmistress, and especially in these troubled times, she couldn't teach a class. As it was, they were short staffed—except for DADA. The school had its own team of aurors that would take turns giving DADA lessons to the entire group, including parents. Madame Pomfrey and Professor Slughorn were working together to teach a specialized group of older students and parents the arts of healing and potion making, as these skills would prove necessary.

However, with tensions running high and people walking down the hallways with wands extended as though expecting an attack at any moment, even McGonagall had agreed that they needed a little something to cheer them up. Thus, Hermione, as Head Girl, had mostly organized the Halloween Ball. McGonagall, however, being traditional, insisted that the Head Girl and Head Boy open the Ball with a dance together. Then the prefects and everyone else would join after them. After the first dance, the Head Boy and Girl would be free to dance with their own partners.

The problem: Malfoy was Head Boy. Yes, he had turned against Voldemort and joined with the good side over the summer, soon after school got out. Few people trusted him, however. Everyone was thinking about Snape, and how even after Dumbledore insisted that Snape was on the good side, he had turned against them. Truth be told, though, they needed the help, and they figured that if Malfoy was never told anything important and never left alone, they could try it. He was pretty much a gofer. (1) However, McGonagall saw some promise in him and kept to Dumbledore's original plan of making Malfoy Head Boy. Dumbledore had hoped that the position and responsibility would bring him to his senses and help him find the right path. Dumbledore had believed in him, and so McGonagall was willing to give it a try. Everyone protested, thinking about how Dumbledore's trust had been wrongly placed in Snape, but it was too late and Malfoy was now Head Boy.

Hermione was kind of curious about Malfoy, when she wasn't angry at him of course. He was all alone, without any friends, kind of in the enemy camp. Only he wasn't, really. He claimed that he had deserted Voldemort and was for the good side, but wouldn't say why. He was quiet, withdrawn, never in the main body of the group, but never unwilling to pitch in and do his share.

Hermione was intensely curious about him, wondering why he turned to the good side, wondering if he was just going to turn against them or if he was sincere, just generally wondering what he thought about when he sat for hours at a time just staring at the fire. It piqued her interest and she examined him from a distance, curious in the way a doctor is in his mental patients. He was a puzzle and she wanted to figure him out. She kept her distance of course; she still didn't trust him at all, even after spending most of the summer and the beginning of the school year in his company.

Ron and Harry still hated him, especially Harry, but the general mood was edgy temporary tolerance between the three. Only Ginny seemed to be willing to believe that he was now good, and kept trying to get him to talk. He was never rude, but was so difficult to converse with that she soon gave up each time.

In fact, his general attitude was different, almost broken compared to the arrogance he held just last year. He had seen trouble, and it had been cruel. He was dispassionate about everything except fighting Voldemort. His eyes would blaze and his fists would clench every time Voldemort's name was mentioned. Yes, Hermione was willing to sit back and watch what would happen with him.

A/N: Is that enough info for you guys? That should explain most of what has happened up to this point. Here, a little stuff for ya, a preview of the next chapter, just to keep it interesting.

Hermione was standing at the window, looking out across the moonlit grounds. The night before last had been full, and so there was still a lot of moonlight falling across the grounds. Standing there, looking out across the beauty of darkness, she could almost forget that there was a war going on. She had been crying, without quite knowing why. She knew what had happened, even though she didn't know why, and was now berating herself for being so weak and afraid. But, why did he choose then to kiss her? And why in that manner? She had a hunch that he had liked her for quite some time, and, truth be told, she had had feelings for him for a while. But, a heart can only hold out for so long, and while she waited for Ron to come forward, her own feelings began to diminish. She felt bad about Ron, and how she was going to tell him that she didn't like him anymore, but she knew it had to be done. After how he had cornered her earlier, she had come to realize that it was time to tell him; she just didn't know how.

Suddenly, a figure detached itself from the trees and started stumbling up towards the castle. Hermione watched it for a short while, suspicious, before determining that it was Lupin returning from his forest vigil during the full moon. However, soon after leaving the cover of the trees, he stumbled and fell, and didn't get up. Hermione began to panic and turned from the window, ready to rush down the forest and help him.

A/N: (1)- gofer, a type of junior officer or member who does simple grunt work. Comes from "go fer it" as in "go for it".