Chapter Six
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Boy Crazy
Back in the common room, Hermione searched for Parvati. They had had plans to meet in the entrance hall after the classes had finished for the day, but with all the fuss over Ginny, Hermione had decided not to wait. Now she felt bad. It wasn't like her to leave as she had without a word to Parvati. She had to apologise. Maybe there was still time to meet her friend somewhere else.
Parvati was nowhere to be found in the common room. "They all went walking around the castle with Ginny," Professor McGonagall told Hermione.
Hermione sat on the sofa for a long time. There were so many feelings whirling around inside her, she didn't have the energy to move. How could Parvati do this? And without even telling her!
Nevile came into the common room, Trevor cradled in his arms. "Hi, Hermione," he said. "How was your day?"
"Weird," Hermione said.
"Ginny?" her friend asked.
Hermione was surprised. She hadn't told Nevile about what happened. "You know about that?" she said.
Nevile nodded. "Parvati told me."
"She told you?" Hermione hopped off the sofa.
"She said that everybody would be hanging around the great hall waiting for Ginny if you wanted to meet them there."
Hermione sighed heavily. Obviously, Parvati had forgotten all about their plans.
"You and Parvati had plans," Nevile said as though he had read Hermione's thoughts.
Hermione nodded. "I suppose it's as much my fault as Parvati's," she admitted. "I should've stayed, but everyone was acting so weird."
Nevile patted Trevor gently and placed him on the table. "New broom," he said as though that explained everything.
Hermione didn't understand. "What?"
Nevile sat down on the sofa. "It's what my grandmother always says," he explained. "A new broom sweeps clean."
"What's that have to do with anything?" Hermione asked.
"In a day or two the new girl'll be just one of the group, I suppose."
Hermione smiled. "You mean she'll be an old broom just like the rest of us?"
Nevile laughed. "I guess so," he said.
Hermione didn't see anybody all evening – not Parvati or Padma, Seamus, Dean, or even Ron. Finally, she spotted Harry coming back from the boy's bathroom.
"You should have come and waited for Ginny after class," he said.
Hermione couldn't believe her ears. "You went, too?"
"Everyone was there." He sounded defensive.
"I wasn't," Hermione said, realising immediately how dumb it sounded. He already knew she hadn't been there.
"Except you," he amended. "Why didn't you come?"
"For one thing, I didn't even know where you were." And I don't care, she added silently. "Did you have a good time?"
"It was okay," Harry said. "Seamus had practiced this awesome charm for weeks, but when he did it he almost blew up the…"
"What did Ginny do?"
"She didn't turn up."
Hermione repeated, "She didn't turn up," to be sure she had heard correctly, then she began to giggle.
"She wasn't even there?"
Harry chortled. "I guess it is kinda funny."
This made Hermione laugh harder. Harry joined in. Before long, they were both laughing so hard they couldn't talk.
o-o-o-o-o
A few days after, it was as cold as ever at Hogwarts, but there were few third years in the common rooms. Many students had taken the train to Hogsmeade.
"Hi, Hermione," Ginny called out, running towards a figure huddled over in the cold. "Want to walk with me?"
Hermione hesitated, not knowing what to say. She liked to walk by herself, but she didn't want to hurt Ginny's feelings. "I… uh…" she began uncertainly.
Ginny strode forward until she was standing next to Hermione. She was wearing a dress, even in the cold; colourful flowers sprinkled on a yellow background. Too lightweight for winter, Hermione thought, but still, it looked nice on Ginny.
Ginny smiled. Even her dimples seemed less obvious this afternoon. "Do you always walk by yourself?"
"Sometimes," Hermione answered.
"I could never walk around by myself. I like company too much. So who do you walk with when you do walk with someone?"
"Harry and Ron, of course, but sometimes I meet someone along the way like Parvati or someone."
"Harry is really nice," Ginny said.
Hermione didn't know what to say, so she said, "I like to walk, especially in the morning. It wakes me up. Gets me ready for school."
Laughing, Ginny said, "Nothing could get me ready for school."
Hermione laughed too. She liked school so much that she never believed those who said they didn't. She figured they only said it to make an impression.
"It's not that I don't like it," Ginny went on. "It's just that I'm not very… good at it."
"I'll bet you are," Hermione said, remembering how attentive Ginny had been in class.
"No, really, I'm not."
Hermione shrugged. Who was she to argue?
They walked along in silence until Ginny said, "I was sorry I wasn't around yesterday when you were all waiting for me."
Hermione opened her mouth to say she hadn't been there, then decided against it. "Where were you?"
"I went to visit all of my friends from my old class. It's really strange, going back like that. It seems like everybody has changed."
Hermione thought about her friends. They had been around her forever. She wondered if Ginny knew just how much the class had changed because of her. "I like things to stay the same," she said.
"Some things," Ginny agreed.
As they began catching up to a large group of girls, Hermione stopped abruptly.
The girls were knotted on the steps outside Honeydukes. They were all wearing dresses! Except Pansy, who was in her best slacks.
Ginny followed her gaze. Then, she turned questioning eyes on Hermione.
"They're wearing dresses!" Hermione explained.
"Oh," Ginny said, but she obviously didn't understand Hermione's surprise.
As the other girls scrambled toward them, the boys headed them off, crowding around Ginny.
Unnoticed, Hermione drifted out of the circle to join her complaining classmates.
"It's not fair." Pansy's black hair bounced as she bobbed her head for emphasis. "She should talk to us, not the boys."
"I told you she's just boy crazy," Millicent put in smugly.
Hermione glanced toward the boys. Malfoy and Goyle's voices rose as they vied with each other for Ginny's attention. The others urged them on or grinned silently at Ginny. At the centre, she stood smiling sweetly.
"No wonder I couldn't find her at all last night," Parvati said. "She was probably walking around with one of them." She jerked a thumb over her shoulder towards the boys.
"She was gone all night," confirmed Padma.
Hermione was irritated. Obviously, nobody had bothered to try and catch up with her last night. Their attitude towards Ginny annoyed her, too. Only yesterday, she might have agreed that Ginny was boy crazy, but this morning, she wasn't so sure. Ginny hadn't invited any of this attention, and, no matter how sweetly she smiled, she seemed uncomfortable with it.
"Look at her," Katie Bell scoffed.
Millicent looked down at her plaid dress. "How come none of the boys are talking to us?"
"That's what I want to know," Pansy said. "We wore dresses, too."
"It's because she's boy crazy," Parvati said.
The conversation was making Hermione dizzy. "I give up," she muttered and stalked off. She looked back. Ginny was skipping towards her. Crowding around Ginny, the girls cut her off.
One minute they were calling her names and the next they were jostling one another to get close to her! Hermione shook her head.
"What's happening?" Harry asked as he walked up to her.
"Beats me," Hermione said.
