Ginny was totally stunned to be thrown out of the Head Dorms, but she was even more shocked by the fact her brother and boyfriend had failed to back her up. In fact not only had they not supported her, but they'd sided with Malfoy over her. She was furious and determined to give them both a piece of her mind when they returned to Gryffindor Tower. Sadly for Ginny, Harry and Ron did not return to Gryffindor Tower behind her, as she'd assumed would happen. Instead she sat up until curfew, and when she headed to bed a whole fifteen minutes after her brother and boyfriend should have been back in the dorms, there was still no sign of them.

After spending a restless night mulling over what had happened, and coming to the reluctant conclusion that even though Malfoy had been too heavy handed in her opinion, she wasn't exactly blameless. She'd made a complete and utter fool of herself, and she knew that to keep the peace she would have to apologise to Hermione. She would also likely have to make amends with Harry and Ron as it had been clear the previous evening that neither of them were happy with her behaviour. As such she was up relatively early and instead of heading down to breakfast, she settled down beside the fire to wait for her brother and her boyfriend, knowing that neither of them were particularly early risers.

As other students passed by on their way to breakfast, Ginny anxiously waited for any of the seventh year boys to put in an appearance. But as time ticked by, there was no sign of her brother, boyfriend or the three other wizards they shared dorms with. Eventually Ginny realised that if she didn't head down to breakfast she was going to be late, so unsure what was keeping the seventh years she hurried down to The Great Hall.

The second Ginny entered The Great Hall, she froze in the doorway as she took in the sight that greeted her at the Gryffindor table. It turned out Harry, Ron and the other boys had all risen earlier than her and they were already settled at the Gryffindor table with Hermione. Harry and Ron were sitting on one side of the table on either side of their female friend, while directly opposite them sat Neville Longbottom, Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan. Quickly spotting that there was very little room on the side of the table Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting, she headed down the other side and slid into a small space beside Seamus.

"Morning," she greeted quietly. "You were all up early."

"We decided to start the year as we mean to go on," Harry said.

"Yep, new year, new us," Ron agreed as he shovelled yet more scrambled eggs onto his plate. "Plus, there's a better choice of food the earlier you get up."

"And more time to eat it," Hermione chuckled, watching as Ron also grabbed another couple of sausages to add to his eggs.

"That's a good thing," Ron said with a nod of his head, before diving back into his food.

"You were also pretty late back to the dorms last night," Ginny ventured. "I waited up for you, but you weren't back by curfew."

"We got a bit distracted last night," Harry said with a casual shrug. "Luckily we were with the head students, so they couldn't exactly dock us points."

"I don't know, I think if you'd stayed much longer, Draco would have tried," Hermione chuckled. "You very almost outstayed your welcome."

"We left before the Slytherins," Ron protested.

"By two minutes," Hermione laughed. "In the end, Draco was virtually shoving Blaise out of the door."

"Those Slytherins do know how to have a good time," Ron conceded. "I never thought I would say this, but they're not too bad, are they?"

"No, they're not," Hermione replied with a smile.

Sitting watching the trio, Ginny felt distinctly out of the loop, and she knew she would have to do something to get back her rightful place at Harry's side. As his girlfriend, she should have been there the previous evening, and therefore should have known exactly what had happened. Knowing there was only one way to achieve that goal, she braced herself to make an apology.

"Hermione, I want to apologise," she said, clearing her throat and grabbing the older witches attention. "I was wrong to go snooping around your room, and I was wrong to jump to conclusions about who the presents were for. I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted," Hermione replied with a brisk nod of her head.

"Really?"Ginny questioned, well aware that she was still getting the cold shoulder from her friend. "You don't sound too pleased about it."

"Maybe we should do this in private," Hermione suggested in a low voice.

"No, let's do it here," Ginny insisted. "I've said sorry, so what's your problem?"

"My problem is that I've seen a side of you I don't like, and sadly it's a side I can't forget," Hermione answered. "I can accept your apology for snooping. I don't condone you poking around my room, but I can understand the temptation. I guess I can even forgive you jumping to conclusions over who the presents were for. But I can't forgive you for the fact you accused me of buying friendship, not that you apologised for that though."

"I am sorry," Ginny insisted. "I'm sorry for everything."

"And I'm sorry Ginny, but I can't forget some of the things you said to me, and some of the things you clearly think about me," Hermione said gently, but firmly. "You accused me of buying people's friendship, and that is something I can't forget. It really does show what you truly think of me."

"So what does that mean?" Ginny asked, worrying that if Hermione cut all ties with her it would make things difficult with Harry and Ron.

"It means I will be polite to you for the sake of my two best friends," Hermione explained. "I don't hate you, Ginny, but I can no longer be your friend. As well as showing what a low opinion you have of me, you've also made me question what sort of person you are. And quite frankly, I will never be able to look at you in the same way."

"Just what are you saying, Hermione?" Ginny demanded, pretty sure she was being insulted, she just couldn't work out how.

"I am saying that I've never realised before how materialistic you are," Hermione answered. "I lost track of how many times you refereed to the presents as expensive. It seemed to really matter to you how much money had been spent on them. It makes me think that you've been judging me for how much money I've been spending on people. For all I know, you've been mentally totting up the galleons I've spent on people and not considered the thought that has gone into anything I've ever bought anyone. It seems to me that you value a more expensive present over a present that has been chosen with thought and consideration. And to put it simply, I do not want to be around that sort of person."

Ginny could do nothing but gape at Hermione in amazement as she got to her feet and muttering a goodbye to Harry and Ron, she headed for the door. Watching her leave, Ginny witnessed Malfoy rising from the Slytherin table and following her. He reached her just outside of the open doors of The Great Hall, and Ginny was stunned even further when the icy Slytherin halted her in her tracks and appeared to caress her cheek. After a minute or so of talking with their heads close together, they turned and moved out of sight, although not before Ginny noticed the Head Boy slip his arm around his fellow head's waist.

"Can you believe that?" she gasped, finding her voice and turning back to her brother and boyfriend.

"I think she was right," Ron said quietly. "And in Hermione's shoes, I would have done the same thing. You have shown yourself up to be totally shallow and materialistic."

"You agree with that?" Ginny gasped, horrified that her own brother wasn't supporting her.

"I do," Ron confirmed with a nod. "Although where you get it from, Merlin knows. It's not like we've lived a spoiled life."

"Harry?" Turning away from her brother, Ginny focused on her boyfriend. "Do you also agree?"

"I do think Hermione has a point," Harry admitted. "You did not come across very well last night. And to accuse her to buying friendship was just low."

"Yeah, she doesn't need to buy friends, she's got us," Ron added.

"Please, she'll drop the pair of you like hot potatoes once you've left Hogwarts," Ginny scoffed. "Or did you miss her display out in the hallway with Malfoy? I'm telling you, she's cosying up to the Slytherins."

"Yeah, we saw, but he was only being a good boyfriend," Ron said.

"Boyfriend?" Ginny cried. "Since when?"

"If you hadn't made such a fool of yourself, you would have been there for the announcement last night," Harry said. "That was why Hermione had asked us to join her in the head dorms. She and Malfoy went public with their romance."

"Maybe I was on the right track after all," Ginny mused, her attention flicking over to the Slytherin table, where all of the seventh years aside from Malfoy were still sitting. "Malfoy was clearly just covering for Hermione last night. She did buy those presents after all. Because let's guess, none of his friends had a problem with them, did they?"

"No, they all accepted it," Harry admitted.

"Because she'd bought them off," Ginny crowed. "That was what those expensive presents were for. She wasn't buying friendship, she was buying approval."

"That is just mad, you are just mad," Ron tutted at his sister as he shoved away his empty breakfast plate. "The Slytherins knew nothing about Hermione and Malfoy, they were just as shocked we we were. The reason they've accepted it is that they're good friends to Malfoy. I'm sure there's a few of his friends wouldn't date a muggleborn, but they will support their friend if it's what he wants. The Slytherins are true friends, unlike you, Ginny. Quite frankly, I am disgusted with you and I'm ashamed to call you my sister."

Like Hermione had done only moments before, Ron rose to his feet and muttering his goodbyes stalked from The Great Hall. Reeling from her brother's harsh words, Ginny turned towards Harry for some support and instantly saw she wasn't going to get any. Unlike Ron, who had looked at her like she was dirt, Harry was merely looking at her with disappointment.

"You too, Harry?" she whispered, feeling the tears welling in her eyes.

"You brought this on yourself, Ginny," Harry said with a shake of his head. "Ron and I tried to warn you over the holidays. If only you'd let this damn thing drop, but you just keep on digging. Even now, you're still trying to make excuses and for some reason try and make Hermione look bad. But the only person looking bad is you, and like Hermione and Ron, I don't like this version of you. Let me know if the sweet girl I thought I knew returns, but until then, I think we need to take a break."

Ginny watched Harry walk away with tears in her eyes, and as the other seventh year boys also left, she realised she was well and truly alone. Deep down she could see she only had herself to blame for the mess she was in, and if she'd done as Harry and Ron suggested and dropped the entire thing with the Christmas presents, none of this would have happened. But she hadn't been able to let it go, and the end result was that she was starting the New Year alone.

Despite the bad situation, Ginny was still hoping she could rectify things, but over the course of the first few weeks back at school she realised it wasn't going to be an easy job. Hermione was all loved up with her fellow head, and didn't seem to miss Ginny's friendship in the slightest. Even Harry and Ron didn't seem to miss her, and Ginny noticed they were both spending time getting to know the Slytherins, which seemed to be going good.

By the end of January, Ginny had managed to apologise to Hermione yet again, and while Hermione hadn't been quite as brutal as the first time, she'd still let Ginny know that things wouldn't be returning to how they once were. However, she did accept her apology and she even helped smooth things over with Harry and Ron, insisting that if she could forgive Ginny then so could the boys. Although sadly for Ginny, all she got back from Harry was friendship as in the time they'd been apart he'd decided they weren't suited as a couple, and within a few months he was dating Pansy Parkinson.

Watching from afar, Ginny could only imagine what could have been as the Gryffindors and Slytherins struck up friendships and romances. Maybe if she hadn't jumped to such wild conclusions she could have been part of the group. Even if she and Harry had split up, she still would have been part of things. But now she was on the outside looking in, and all because she'd gone prying and made assumptions. It would certainly teach her to be more cautious in the future, but for now the damage was done, and at the end of the day, she was the only one to blame for the fact she had lost some good friends, and never had the chance to see if she could have made some more in the Slytherins that had become such a presence in the lives of Harry, Ron and Hermione.

The End.


A/N – That is it for this story. Thank you all for reading and taking the time to review and I hope you all enjoyed it. I've still got 2 one shots and another short story to come this festive season, so I'll be back on Monday with my next offering.