And here we go again! Another installment within a month! Yay!

Change is Everything

By: Sporkchild

Chapter Seven: Caught with Guilt

"Please tell me you are going to meet him there after all of his mood swings? Gah, I swear, he's got to have male PMS," Hermione grumbled as the two girls made their way toward Gryffindor tower.

"Well, since Connor is taking you to Hogsmeade, you guys can come with me. I'm sure Neville and Jayden will come with," Ginny replied as they climbed through the portrait.

Hermione smiled at Ginny. She was still giddy about the fact that Connor had asked her to Hogsmeade. "We could also drag Ron and Audrey with," replied Hermione.

"Ron and Audrey?"

"Yeah, he asked her out. He figured he'd give her a go since Neville couldn't even stand her." Hermione shuddered. "I can't believe Ron would even think about dating a twelve year old girl! He's seventeen years old! He's got no morals anymore! They were making out in the broom closet during lunch. I heard Filch gave them both detentions!" Ginny could tell by the tone of Hermione's voice that she was absolutely furious with Ron.

Of course, Ginny didn't blame her. She herself wondered if her brother had lost every ounce of sense. Audrey was one heap of trouble, but she'd let him have is fun, he was bound to get into some sort of trouble when a professor caught wind of how he was snogging a first year. "Yeah, at least they had their clothes on. I mean, she's only twelve, what harm could she do?" Ginny spoke too soon as she and Hermione entered the common room.

"Shh," hissed Hermione, pointing at the couch closest to the fire.

"Oh…no…" Ginny finally uttered when she caught sight of a pair of lime green jeans hung across the back of the couch. Ginny herself had seen Audrey walk out of the bathroom this morning jabbering on about how they were her lucky pants.

'Lucky indeed,' Ginny though disgustedly; finding, as she drew quietly closer, her brother's robes. Hermione followed close behind her, gathering up each article of fallen clothing. When the two finally stopped, maybe a foot from the couch, Hermione revealed she had two robes, Ron's socks and shoes, Audrey's pink stockings and sandals, Ron's brown slacks, his white shirt, and Audrey's mud-brown tank top.

'I'll scare them' Hermione mouthed. She slid up behind the couch, all the clothes still in her arms. Then once all was quiet, except for the small noises coming from the couch, Hermione let out a bloodcurdling scream and dumped all of the clothes over the couple.

Audrey screamed as well, falling to the floor.

"Well, well, only in your knickers!" Ginny clucked her tongue distastefully.

"Ah, Ronald, a young one. Didn't know you were into all that underage stuff," Hermione drawled as the two scrambled to get dressed.

"If you must know, we didn't have sex," Ron hurriedly whispered as he jerked his slacks on.

"Close enough, if your boxers wouldn't have been in the way," Hermione growled, waiting for Audrey to get dressed. Ginny knew what Hermione was doing. She was waiting for the younger girl to get dressed so she could yank her up to the dorm and give her a talking to. Ginny had seen that glint all too often and was determined to let Audrey learn her own lesson. Hermione was too motherly for her own good, and it didn't help that she wasn't too fond of Ron.

"Come on, Hermione. Audrey, you better be in the dorm in two minutes or I'll bring all of Gryffindor house down here to see what you've been doing." Ginny sent a quick glare to Audrey before jerking Hermione up the stairs.

"What're you doing?" Hermione shrieked when they entered the room. Ginny knew Hermione was pissed just by the look on her face.

"Let her learn her own lesson and let Ron learn his own."

"Virginia Weasley! They aren't going to learn their own lesson! Eventually they're going to go farther than just half-naked make-out sessions, unless someone of authority makes it clear to them that what they're doing is wrong." Hermione was so upset she was almost in tears. Jayden and Demi came out of the bathroom where they'd been braiding each other's hair.

"Hermione…"

"No! It'd be different if she was older, but she's not! She's too young for a seventeen year old boy! What if she gets pregnant? They aren't in love! They aren't committed like…like we were." Hermione looked at Ginny with eyes full of tears about ready to spill over.

"Hermione, don't cry…" Ginny put her hand on her friend's shoulder. Hermione flinched and pushed her hand away.

"You look just like him, Ginny…just like him." Hermione's eyes finally welled over, dotting the front of her robes. Then she sobbed once and ran to the bathroom.

"Tell Audrey to get her butt in bed, she'll be down in the common room. I'll tell you what this is all about when you get back," Ginny instructed the half-braided sisters. They nodded and took off down the stairs. Ginny then ran to the locked bathroom door to try and coax Hermione out.

"I can't wait until Hogsmeade tomorrow," Hermione commented, as she flipped through her potions book. It was three days after the whole 'Ron and Audrey' incident. Ginny felt good that they'd broken up earlier, sometime during lunch, and now Hermione could focus on Hogsmeade. She needed a break with a boy she liked.

Demi, Luna, Jayden, Ginny, and Hermione had decided to come to the library to finish some homework before Hogsmeade tomorrow. Ginny had informed her friends of how Draco had asked to meet her at the Hog's Head at three. Everyone except Hermione thought she should go.

"He sounds so mysterious," Hayden commented, allowing a girly giggle to slip.

"Oh he is, and ever so good looking," Ginny confided as all the girls sighed. Jayden liked Neville a lot, but wished he was more mysterious like this Draco character, she admitted. Hermione was hoping things progressed with Connor, and Demi was still looking for Mr. Right. Luna didn't really release too much information on her and Ryan. Ginny was dieing to know what was up with the two of them.

"Well, since we didn't get to get the full effect with the braiding, because we didn't get to braid it right, we're going to go wash and braid our hair now so it'll look cute for tomorrow." Demi gathered her books and left, closely followed by Jayden.

Luna left not long after, apparently to go help Ryan with some charms homework. Hermione stayed as long as she could, but eventually left, apologizing to Ginny that she couldn't stay longer.

'So here I am, alone again. Gah, why does it always take me so long to do all this homework?' Ginny thought as she continued to scribble down her Potions homework.

"At the library again?"

Ginny jerked her head around and saw Draco leaning against a table halfway across the library.

She gave him a half smile before turning back to her work. She wasn't quite in the mood for him, not after his mood swings. So, she hurriedly scribbled the last sentence onto her Potions essay and shoved her parchment into her satchel.

"Leaving so soon?"

Ginny just nodded as she screwed her ink well's cap on. She was trying to hurry to avoid talking to him. He was only nice to her when it was to his advantage. Besides, she was actually dragging her friend to the Hog's Head to meet him at three. Now, Ron and Audrey wouldn't be coming, at least not together. She was thankful for that, but was sure Audrey would bring her new boyfriend. Ginny had heard from Jayden that she was dating Colin Creevy. Ginny wasn't sure if that was true, but after the other night in the Common Room, she didn't really doubt it one bit.

"Not very talkative tonight are we?" Draco fell in stride with Ginny as she hurried toward Gryffindor Tower.

"Would you be talkative if I had violent mood swings toward you every time we did talk?" Ginny slowed her run to a slow walk.

"They weren't violent! Besides, I have a rep to protect!" Ginny side-glanced him and saw he had a confused expression on his face.

"Oh, your rep! Of course, lil ol' innocent me wouldn't have thought that you have ho's to shag and first years to insult. You wouldn't want your buddies to know you scheduled a private date with a Gryffindor, let alone a Weasley!"

Now Ginny, that's not what I meant," Draco began defensively.

"Oh, I know perfectly well what you meant Draco Malfoy! You meant that your reputation as a sex god is more important than tying to start even a friendship with me and it is only because I'm of a different house and I'm a Weasley. Well, I'll have you know that until you can talk to me in public like I'm a normal person, our meeting at the Hog's Head will be our last." With that, Ginny stormed the rest of the way to the Gryffindor portrait, leaving a stunned and ashamed Slytherin in her wake.

Woot! And there it is! Hope you liked it. Once I'm done posting this entire story, it will be put through a major revision and possibly reposted…but I'm not so sure yet…

Don't forget to review. Reviews are what makes me want to continue posting my stuff. It's not hard to click that little button and write a few nice words or at least what you think about everything.

Sporkchild