A/N: Well, this is it. No more updates for another four weeks. I know, it sucks, but it can't be helped. So… enjoy the chapter while you can. Now, on with the story!

Chapter Nineteen

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Clingy

When the final class for the day ended, Ginny said, "I'll be right back, Hermione."

Hermione looked up from her assignment notebook. "I'll meet you in the hall."

Harry leaned across the aisle. "So what do you want to do today?"

Hermione's whole body tensed. "I'm going to library to study with Ginny," she told him. Judging by the girls' disapproving conversation at lunch, she expected him to start an argument with her.

Shrugging, Harry got to his feet. "Okay, that's cool," he said and turned to leave the room.

Hermione relaxed. Harry was still Harry. He hadn't turned into some kind of green eyed monster like the other boys in the class. He had merely taken his role playing too seriously. She'd have to talk to him about that.

She found Ginny outside the classroom. Harry was there, too.

"What're you doing this afternoon, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Going to the library to study with Ginny," he answered without missing a beat.

Hermione shot Ginny an inquiring look.

Ginny smiled. "I didn't think you'd mind," she said.

Hermione glowered at Harry. "No," she said. "I don't mind. Why on earth should I mind?"

They walked three abreast toward the Hogwarts library. Harry kept listing to the right toward Hermione, who would then careen into Ginny.

Ginny laughed. "Two's company and three's a crowd."

When they finally arrived, the three began to trudge up the stairs to the second floor of the library. To Hermione, it seemed that they had been walking for hours.

Things were no better in the library. Anywhere that Hermione went, Harry was sure to go. He followed her over to the shelves when she went to find a particular book, stood by her when she went up to the counter to borrow it, and sat close beside her at the study table while she was writing her Charms essay.

"Don't sit so close," she told him. "You might copy me."

"I won't look," he assured her.

When a group of girls from the class below her turned up to greet Ginny, Hermione made an excuse to leave. "But you can stay, Harry," she said.

"That's okay," Harry responded. "I'll walk you back to the common room.

Outside the library, Harry took Hermione's hand.

She pulled it away. "You don't have to do that, Harry," she said. "No one's around. You can stop acting."

"A good actor lives his part," he said. "Onstage and off."

Hermione made a face.

"You're too tense," he told her. "Maybe I should use a calming spell on you." He whipped out his wand and began waving it around without a care in the world. He grinned at her.

He looked so silly Hermione couldn't help but laugh.

Harry caught up with her at dinner that evening. "So what's new?" he asked.

Hermione laughed. "Nothing," she said. "How could anything be new? I just saw you two hours ago."

"So what should we talk about?" he asked.

"I don't know, Harry. What did you want me to talk about?"

He bit his lip. "I guess I don't know, either."

o-o-o-o-o

The next morning, instead of waiting for her in the common room, Harry turned up outside the girl's dorms while she was getting ready."

"Harry's waiting for you outside," Parvati announced simply, but Hermione heard her unspoken question: "What's going on?"

Sighing, Hermione said, "I think he's practising to be a bodyguard."

Outside, Harry said, "I've decided I'll pick you up here every day."

"You don't have to do that, Harry," Hermione objected. "It's out of your way."

"I don't mind," he said.

Hermione did mind. She didn't want him waiting outside her door. It would make her nervous. And what if he were late? Was she supposed to wait for him? That would make her more nervous. She liked the casual way they met now. But she didn't say so. She was afraid she'd hurt his feelings.

But the following week when he suggested they do their homework together every night after supper, she exploded.

"Har-ry! This is getting ridiculous. We see each other so much now we don't even have anything to talk about anymore."

"You don't like being my girlfriend, is that what you're saying, Hermione?" he asked.

"We're supposed to be pretending, Harry!" she reminded him.

He smiled sheepishly. "Can I help it if I'm so good at it?"

She stamped her feet in frustration.

"You're turning red," he said. "Relax. Breathe deeply. Concentrate."

There was absolutely no talking to him.

Or to anyone else.

o-o-o-o-o

No one seemed to be doing much talking. Lavender was angry because Parvati asked Ernie if he was wearing a new jacket. Hannah Abbott was mad at Padma for teasing Dean about his height. Padma was miffed with Ron because he kept spilling things. Malfoy wasn't speaking to Pansy because she went shopping with Millicent without asking his permission. So many people were not speaking to so many other people, Hermione couldn't keep track.

The class became so quiet that even Professor McGonagall was mystified. "What had happened to this class?" she asked. "Where's all that effervescence?"

Only Ginny seemed her bubbly self.

There was much speculation about Ginny's aloofness from the third year mania. Pandy and some of the other girls decided she must have a boyfriend – probably someone from her old class.

At first, Hermione was reluctant to accept that explanation, but she decided, finally, that the girls were probably right. Ginny did have a boyfriend. That explained her indifference to the boy's attentions and her apparent knowledge of boy-girl relationships. It also explained why Ginny was so happy all the time; her boyfriend didn't see her often so he couldn't bother her.

Hermione decided, finally, that she had to talk to Ginny. Alone. But how was she going to get away from Harry long enough to do that?

She was trying to think of a solution to that problem on day when Professor McGonagall said, "We haven't discussed your projects in a long time."

No one knew what she was talking about.

Professor McGonagall laughed. "I guess it's been even longer than I thought!"

A/N: Alright, so I guess it's bye bye for four weeks. So… bye. And review! And trust me, by the end of the four weeks I'll have the final chapters lined up to upload. Hang in there, readers! Bye for now… Alex