Ok, I have a good excuse for not being here for a month and a half. I really do! Well for all of you who read my profile, I completed NANOWRIMO in November (I wrote a 50,000 word novel in a month.). Well guess what the month of March was! NANOEDMO! I completed a total of 50 hours on my novel and I want to put it aside for awhile (I am sick of looking at it!) :)

Anyway, hopefully I can start posting more often. Thanks to all who have reviewed so far! I really appreciate it. Oh yeah and another thing, I couldn't get the asterisks to work so I had to use these things ">" grrrr... asterisks are so much better...

Artemay

It was the morning of the first Quidditch match that season and it was between none other than Gryffindor and Slytherin.

Ron sat miserably with his head in his hands on a bench in the Gryffindor changing room. He was in a sad state; there was no other way of putting it. Ron looked as though he hadn't slept in days, his red hair was tousled and sticking up at odd angles, his eyes were a bit bloodshot, and he was as pale as bone china.

His mind couldn't help but wander once again to the past few days. They had been completely horrible. Images and voices came rushing back to him from the days before the match.

> > >

"We're allowed to bring guest," said Hermione, who for some reason had turned a bright, boiling scarlet, "and I was going to ask you to come, but if you think it's that stupid then I won't bother!" "You were going to ask me?"

"Yes," said Hermione angrily. "But obviously if you'd rather I hooked up with McLaggen…"

"No, I wouldn't."

>

"It was an accident, I'm sorry Demelza, really sorry! I just—"

"Panicked," Ginny said angrily, landing next to Demelza and examining her fat lip. "You prat, Ron, look at the state of her!"

>

"And Hermione snogged Victor Krum, it's only you who acts like it's something disgusting, Ron, and that's because you've got as much experience as a twelve-year-old!"

>

"D'you think Hermione did snog Krum?"

>

"I resign. I'm pathetic."

"You're not pathetic and you're not resigning!" said Harry fiercely, seizing Ron by the front of his robes. "You can save anything when you're on form, it's a mental problem you've got!"

> > >

His mood had worsened even more when Hermione had come over and told him not to drink the pumpkin juice that Harry had given him. He couldn't decide if he was angrier with Hermione for snogging that Quidditch scum or bossing him around every bloody chance she got.

The only bit of luck he was having that day was the fact that Malfoy and Vaisey had decided not to play because of health reasons.

Luck. That word is never in the same sentence with my name… or paragraph for that matter… I swear I have no luck whatsoever. None.

"Wait a minute…" Ron said quietly as he looked over at Harry who was pulling on his gloves and shouldering his Firebolt. Hermione had to have been right.

God, she is clever, he thought. And like Ginny said, I am the biggest prat for not noticing her and treating her the way I do all the time. How am I going to tell her that she was right and admit that I was wrong? That'll be a great conversation. She'll rub it in my face that she was right…

"Let's go, Ron," Harry said from the door. "It's time for the match."

Ron looked up with distant eyes; he couldn't believe that Harry would do something like that to help him play. After all, Hermione had said that anyone who used Felix Felicis for sporting events could be expelled from Hogwarts.

He halfheartedly shouldered his broom, his face a sickly green, and walked out onto the pitch. The team was greeted with shouts of encouragement from the Gryffindor's and the loud mocking and taunting from the Slytherin's. Before Ron knew it, he was up in the air taking his position at the three goal posts.

He took a deep breath and whispered to himself, "This is it, if I can't win this game I quit. I don't care what Harry says."

> > >

"Hermione, Harry didn't spike my pumpkin juice with Felix Felicis! You just thought that I couldn't play to save my life," Ron said angrily.

"I never said that. I didn't–"

"You're just jealous that I'm good at something that you aren't," Ron interrupted. "If you can't live with the fact that I am better at Quidditch than you are, then don't bother trying to protect me or trying to play the heroine that saves the day." And with that Ron stormed out of the changing rooms and up to the common room, leaving Harry and Hermione in an extremely uncomfortable silence.

"Er…" Harry began awkwardly. "Hermione, I didn't mean for it to go that way."

"It's not your fault, Harry. Like Ron said, it is completely mine. If you didn't catch what he said, I'm the heroine that tries to save the day," Hermione whispered as she walked slowly out of the changing rooms.

Her feet felt so heavy as she trudged over to the edge of the silently rippling lake. They had fought before, on countless occasions and they always managed to come back together as friends. But this seemed different. She had never seen Ron so angry with her before, and she wasn't sure what was going to happen.

I only wanted to help, she thought desperately. That's all I ever want to do.

But whenever you try and help that egotistical, arrogant prat, he always takes it the wrong way, her mind argued back fiercely.

She laid down on the grass and looked up into the dusk sky. The stars were beginning to part through the darkness; there they were once again, twinkling so happily at a time when she didn't want to see anything that was joyous or cheerful. Hermione remembered the last time she looked into the night sky; it had been over the summer when she and Ron had last fought.

I told myself that I wasn't going to wait for him anymore, and what am I doing now? I am trying to win him over. I told myself I wasn't going to do this!

Would it be so hard to just apologize to him? Her mind wandered aimlessly. Then maybe, just maybe, we would have a better chance.

Hermione got up quickly, her mind set. She was going to find out once and for all and there was no turning back.

Finally making it to the Fat Lady's portrait, she said the password, took a deep breath, and walked determinedly into the common room to find Ron.

Hermione wasn't surprised to find the common room full of jovial students, celebrating Gryffindor's victory at the Quidditch match. She scanned the room for Ron but couldn't find him anywhere. Her eyes fell upon Harry who was talking with a very animated Ginny. She saw them both turn there heads to the far corner of the room.

There were no words to describe what she was feeling when Hermione looked in the direction that Harry and Ginny were gazing. Ron was kissing Lavender Brown so intensely she couldn't tell that they were two people.

Not knowing what to do, she rushed out of the common room. Her eyes couldn't focus on anything. Hermione's surrounding became a blur of colors before her eyes, and she didn't know where she was going, as if she didn't have control over her own legs. Hermione found an empty classroom and stumbled to the front desk. She leaned against it and slid to the floor, sobbing gently in her hands.

Nothing could have prepared her for that sight. Ron was kissing Lavender. Just that summer he had almost confessed his feelings for her, he had comforted her when they thought Harry was missing, he had agreed to go to Slughorn's party with her, they had had the longest conversations on their patrols, what was he trying to do to her? And Lavender! Ever since that day on the train, Hermione had known there was something amiss with her.

Why didn't I head her off right then and there? All of this could have been avoided…

Trying to rid her mind of Ron, she stood up and sat on the great oak desk, and whispered a spell that provided her with the company of five yellow songbirds. She smiled weakly at them but her attention was quickly drawn to the door. Harry had come in and was walking slowly toward her.

This must be very uncomfortable for him, she thought, admiring Harry's loyalty in her time of need.

"Hello, Harry," she said, wiping the stray tears from her long eyelashes.

"How are you?" he asked softly.

"Aswell as can be expected, I suppose," Hermione said, trying desperately to keep her voice from cracking.

"Sorry you had to see them that way," Harry said, trying to be helpful.

"I don't think you could have hid them from me even if you wanted to, Harry," Hermione said darkly. "It's not as if they were trying to be inconspicuous."

The door unlatched once again, except this time Ron and Lavender burst into the room. Hermione's eyes narrowed when she saw their blissful faces. Ron, in particular, looked like he was having a grand time, what with his hair being completely disheveled and lipstick smeared all over his mouth.

"Hi, Harry," Ron said breathlessly.

Hermione couldn't help but smile at this. He wouldn't look at her and he refused to talk to her. Typical.

"You know," Hermione whispered coldly. "You might want to go and get Lavender. Girls don't like to be left alone on their first date. But then again, you wouldn't know that since this is your first. And even then, you never really took her out on a date did you? You just sort of fell on top of her, lips first."

Hermione strode past him towards the door but turned around for a brief moment.

Two people can play at this game.

"Oppungo!" Hermione shouted. The cheerful yellow birds that had been peacefully flying around her darted ferociously at Ron making him yelp in pain. Satisfied, she walked out of the room and to her dormitories.

Before falling asleep she shed more tears. No matter how angry and frustrated she was at Ron for kissing Lavender, nothing was going to stop her from crying. It felt as though she was losing something that was even deeper than friendship, and she didn't know if she was ever going to get it back.

Author's Note: I hope everyone liked the way I ended it. I changed it from the book but personally I like it this way better. It makes Hermione more of a stronger character, less wishy washy in a way you could say. Please no flames!

Disclaimer: Ron's flashback belongs entirely to J.K. Rowling, it all comes directly from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince!