Hermione had been pretty satisfied with the past week, although she was beginning to feel a little down. She didn't know why she felt that way so she tried her best to suppress it, but she couldn't keep her emotions locked up for long. She felt like it wasn't something she couldn't talk to Ron about, so she turned to Harry instead.

"Has anything happened to make you feel upset?" asked Harry.

"I don't think so."

"Any bad test grades or anything?"

"No."

"What about Ron, things going all right with him?"

Although Hermione herself didn't know what was the problem she had, she felt they were getting at least a little closer to the issue at hand. "Yeah, I guess so."

"What do you mean, 'you guess so'?" questioned Harry.

"Well, it's just-" Suddenly Ginny passed through the common room. She looked as if she wanted to stop and spend time with Harry, but he wordlessly motioned her on and Ginny obeyed without saying anything.

"I thought things were going well with you and Ron," said Harry. "As a matter of fact, he told me…" Suddenly he frowned. "Perhaps I shouldn't tell you."

"Oh, you must!" begged Hermione. "Now that you've started to tell me, you might as well finish."

"Well, he told me… that he's in love with you."

Hermione turned pale and rested her head against her hands. Her heart felt heavy inside, and for more reasons than one. "It is true?"

"He seemed pretty serious."

No matter what Harry said, Hermione wished it wasn't true. At least not yet. True, they had been friends for quite some time, but they only recently tried dating. A week of dating was too early to actually declare love. Besides, Hermione didn't know if she was ready for such a commitment. She really cared about Ron, but she didn't know if she could say she loved him yet. Another thing that bothered her was that, as far as she knew, Ron had never been in love before. What if he had felt the same way about Lavender? He certainly hadn't loved her. She didn't want him saying things if he wasn't sure what they meant.

To top it all off, the trip to Hogsmeade that had been planned fell on Valentine's Day. Although just the other day she had been excited about spending that day with her boyfriend, a very small bit of dread lingered inside her. Who knew what sort of proclamations of love he might make on this hyped-up holiday?

ooooooooooooooooooooo

A group of mostly couples congregated in the Great Hall, waiting to be let into Hogsmeade. Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Harry walked together into the little town. Suddenly Harry and Ginny broke away from the other two. "We're going to go to Madam Puddifoot's," said Ginny. "You can come if you'd like."

Ron wrinkled his nose. "That place? No thanks."

Harry glanced rather enviously back at his two other friends as he allowed Ginny to lead him away. Ron and Hermione walked on. They made small talk, but it seemed almost unnatural. Ron took her by the hand and they walked together down the streets, going in and out of stores.

Three hours later they were in the same exact position, and Ron still hadn't let go of Hermione's hand. Her fingers were beginning to feel numb, and she was more than a little uncomfortable. She couldn't help feeling awkward, and it drove her crazy to feel that way because Ron had really done nothing wrong. He had held doors open, paid for her drink… yet it still didn't feel right to her.

It was nighttime as the students began arriving back at the castle, and Hermione and Ron stood in the common room together. "Well, I'm tired, so I think I'm going to head up to bed," said Hermione.

The two stood there looking at each other, and Hermione briefly thought about just walking away at that point and shouting goodnight over her shoulder. But she knew that Ron wanted to try and kiss her. She could just sense it. However, he made no move to do so, but she could tell he desperately wanted to. Wanting to get it over with she quickly leaned over and initiated the kiss herself. It was a quick peck, and then he was gone.

She stood alone in the darkness of the common room, and felt nothing but emptiness inside. No passion, no excitement, no joy, not even disgust. Just… nothing.

As she walked up the stairs Hermione desperately hoped no one would be in the room, but Ginny was there. She surveyed Hermione critically.

"So tell me… did Ron kiss you?"

"Yes."

"And how was it?"

"Bad," replied Hermione meekly.

Ginny shrieked. "It was bad! Did he miss or something? Or slobber all over you?"

Hermione sighed. "No, I was the one that initiated it. And I just…" she trailed off, at a loss for words. "Are you sure you want to talk to me about this? After all, he is your brother."

"No, it's fine," insisted Ginny.

After a pause, Hermione said, "I didn't feel anything. When he kissed me, I just felt empty inside."

She wanted to say more, but no words could describe how she felt at that moment. Ginny tried to console her, but Hermione just kept declaring that she was a terrible person, because Ron was so good and she couldn't love him for it. Finally Ginny told her, "This can't be all that's bothering you. There must be something else." Hermione made no response. "Well? What is it? Some other guy or something?"

A weak moan escaped from Hermione's lips that Ginny didn't miss. "Ah, that's it. Well, let it out. Who is it?"

Hermione shook her head. "It's not that I like someone else. Only the idea of someone else. What I mean is… I don't feel passionate about Ron. That's the problem. Honestly, there's only one guy I can think of that I feel passionate about. And I passionately hate him."

"Draco Malfoy?" guessed Ginny.

"Yes… it's just, at least Malfoy invokes some emotions in me, even if they are negative ones. I want that emotion, but in the opposite way. I want to love someone with as much passion as I hate Draco Malfoy with." Hermione began to cry, as bittersweet tears ran down her face, clinging to her eyelashes and rolling down her cheeks.

"What are you going to do about Ron?" asked Ginny gently.

"I don't know," whispered Hermione. "I mean, I know that I should break up with him, but I can't bring myself to do it! Maybe I'll just wait till the end of the year, when he graduate. We might have to do separate ways anyway, it will be a good excuse."

"Do you think that's best?" asked Ginny cautiously. "I mean, if you don't really love him you don't want to be tied down to him for so long."

"I know, but he's such a great guy and a great friend that I can't bare to hurt him! He doesn't deserve this."

"But you can't lead him on when you feel this way."

"I know," whispered Hermione, as she turned out the light.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

A/N: I just wanted to say that this story takes place during 7th year, and it is what I think is called an AU. Basically, I'm ignoring the horcruxes and the fact that Draco became a death eater and killed Dumbledore. I hate doing something like that, but when I came up with the idea for this story it was actually before the 6th book came out, and I just couldn't work the plot together.

Thanks to my awesome reviewers: allykismet, missindependent1127, and Elmo!

Allykismet: Thanks, I will try my best to convince you throughout the story!

Elmo: Thanks for the help, and don't worry, you didn't sound snobbish at all!