Chapter Twenty-Four

Hermione chewed on her hair, and made a note to thank Parvati for the reccommendation, as she read "A History of the Magic of the Indian Sub-Continent." The information was fascinating; though it was a terrible pity so much of the old magical infrastructure had been destroyed during the colonial period. She was just about to swing over the side of the bed and snatch a Chocolate Frog, when Lousie came through the door in a flurry.

"Hermione," she said, "You need to talk to Ginny."

"Why? What's the matter?"

"Oh, I don't know," Louise said desperately, "She had a fight with her brother, or something, or…I don't know but…you know how she gets. I'm scared she's going to blow up the bathroom or something, and then McGonagall will kill her."

"Okay," Hermione said, resigning herself to the necessity of closing her book. "Where is she?"

"The girls bathroom on this floor," Louise said. "Only, she won't listen to me, and I've got to keep Jules from cursing Ron, anyway. Between the wo of them, Hermione, I don't know know what to do."

Hermione grinned at the younger girl, who she'd always rather liked. As much as she liked Ginny, she could be rather volatile, and Jules was worse. Ginny made up for her occasional flashes of temper by being equally impassioned about fun and friendships, not to mention Quidditch. Jules, in comparison, was just plain moody, and Hermione had never really understood why the other two put up with her. Nonetheless, she felt a sneaking sympathy for Louise, caught between two such determined individuals.

As she approached the bathroom, she saw a cluster of girls, including Lavender Brown, whispering outside. Shaking her head at them, Hermione steeled herself, and opened the door. She heard it click behind her as she looked around the room.

There was nothing to be seen, but she could hear someone sobbing in one of the cubicles. "Ginny?" she said.

A moment later a door slammed open, and Ginny stumbled out. Her eyes were swollen with tears and her face was scarlet, but she straightened up when she saw Hermione. "So," she said, attempting to feign indifference, "Louise sent you in."

Hermione nodded, noticing that two of the mirrors in the room had shattered. She really needed to calm Ginny down. "What happened?" she said.

Ginny bent over the sink to wash her face, and had Hermione had to strain to hear her say, "Oh nothing. Ron just decided he thinks I'm a slut." A third mirror smashed as she spoke and Hermione winced sympathetically.

"I don't understand," she said, "How did this…"

Ginny's tears were still flowing copiously as she sat down on the floor. "It's a bit complicated," she said.

Summoning a roll of tissue from one of the toilets, Hermione handed Ginny a clump and said, "Just start from the beginning."

"Well," Ginny said, sniffling, "I was coming back from practise with Dean, and we were in the secret passage…and you know how hard it is to get any privacy round here – unless you want to do it in the common room, like Roger Davies – so we thought we'd…use the opportuntiy, and we…well, we started kissing and…" She swallowed and dabbed at her eyes.

"And what?" Hermione prompted.

"And, we were there, I think about ten, maybe fifteen minutes, and…" Ginny sniffed again, "Harry and Ron walked in with us."

She buried her face in her hands, and Hermione stroked her hair gently before saying, "And then what happened?"

"Oh," Ginny said angrily, "Ron started up, and I sent Dean away – I didn't want him hearing all that – and then he said he didn't want people calling his sister a slut, and I said…" Her voice trailed off, and she shrugged. "I don't remember what I said – I was so angry, Hermione, and then I started crying, because I was angry, and we were just screaming at each other, and Harry had to get between us, and…it was just awful."

"Harry was still there?" Hermione said curiously. As far as she could remember, Harry had always uncomfortable with confrontation – unless he started it.

"Yeah," Ginny said, tearfully. "He pushed Ron up against the wall to keep him from…hitting me or something."

"What!"

"I don't know," Ginny said. "I wish he hadn't been there, Hermione…it so humiliating. It's just…" She started crying again

Hermione was still reeling from the news that Harry and Ron had had what could be called an…altercation. Ron, admittedly, tended to swing his fists around more than she liked, but, with one noticeable exception, Harry had never been particularly quick to get in fights. And with Ron. It was just…unthinkable.

"It's going to ruin everything," Ginny said, and Hermione tried to focus on the present.

"Don't be ridiculous," she said. "You and Ron have had fights before."

"Not like this," Ginny said in a low voice, "Never like this. He's going to hate me now, and…why did Harry have to be there, Hermione?"

"Ginny, it doesn't matter…" Hermione started to say.

"Yes, it does! I was all…shouting and crying, and Harry's looking at me like he feels sorry for me, but really he thinks Ron's right, and he wants to beat Dean up for soiling his little sister and…I just…"

Ginny was losing all ability to be coherent, and Hermione said soothingly, "I'm sure Harry didn't think anything like that – it's hard to tell with a face like his."

Ginny shook her head, "No," she said, "I can always tell – he's so obvious about it, Hermione – and I know he didn't want me kissing Dean. And Ron, oh God…Ron thinks I'm a slut, and I couldn't just walk away, I couldn't just ignore him, could I? No, I had to go in wand first, and rip him a new hole and…and I'm so sick of him, Hermione. Why does he have to be so…so impossible about things? He's my brother, he's supposed to care about…but all he ever does is pick at me, and call me names, and kick me out of the room and I can't…"

She looked more as miserable as Hermione had ever seen her, and trying to be comforting, Hermione said, "I'm sure he'll get over it in time, Ginny. He was just being…Ron."

"No, he wasn't being 'Ron' – he was being a sexist git and you know it, Hermione," Ginny snapped.

"I don't think Ron's…" Hermione said uncertainly.

"Well I do," Ginny said, standing up to pace the room. "He inhaled all that rubbish Mum used to read out in Witch Weekly like it was the gospel, and now he goes around spouting it all the time."

"Maybe," Hermione said, biting her lip, "Maybe he was just…thrown by seeing you – I mean no one wants to see their sister…or brother…kissing someone, do they – you hated it when it was Bill and Fleur."

"Oh come on, Hermione," Ginny said, "I might have thought they were nauseating, but I didn't go around accusing them of…and I walked in on Percy and Penelope when I was eleven and I didn't get one tenth as upset as Ron did when he's sixteen."

"I know Ginny, but…you have to be reasonable." Hermione said.

"Reasonable? What on earth is that supposed to mean?" Ginny said, looking angry. "That I should just put up with Ron calling me…that…because he's Ron, and he means well, and everything he does wrong should be forgiven because…well he's Ron isn't he?"

"He doesn't do that many things wrong," Hermione said defensively, "And he cares about you, you know that, and…you should be more supportive, Ginny. Ron's very insecure and…"

"Ron's insecure!" Ginny said, swinging her hair in a way that looked ominous. "So what, it's fine for him to go round treating everyone else like crap because of his delicate feelings."

"I'm not saying…Ginny, he doesn't have your confidence, he's not…hard, like you are…"

"Hard!" Ginny said. "I can't believe I'm hearing this. Ron acts like a…acts in a way that'd have you screaming if he did it to you, and yet, you're standing here, defending him to me."

Hermione sighed patiently. "I'm just trying to make you see his point of view, Ginny – you should understanding. Ron's a good friend, and a good brother, and…"

"Well of course you'd say that," Ginny said, with a nasty expression on her face. "I should have known."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"You. I mean, yeah, we're friends and all, but when it comes to Harry and Ron, well that's on a whole other level, isn't it? So much on another level, that you're…you're just like Ron, you don't want me around when you're with them, you don't want…to share. And, god forbid, if I ever get in a fight with Ron that you should take my side. I mean…I'm only your 'girl friend', I'm only the one you talk to about 'boys' and hair and stupid things like that – that's what you think – I'm not important the way they are. You don't really think girls make good friends at all, in fact."

"Ginny that's not…"

"Don't even start, Hermione." Ginny said. "You know what…I think I'm going to go talk to Jules – at least she sides with me some of the time."

And with that she stormed out. Hermione heard the girls outside burst into conversation a moment later, and she tried desperately not to listen. Part of her wanted to run after Ginny and smack her silly, because everything she'd said had been so…utterly and completely wrong, so stupid and offensive that Hermione was having trouble finding the words for her feelings. She'd been nothing but a good friend to Ginny – keeping her secrets, supporting her relationships, going out of her way to spend time with her – and at the first sign of trouble, Ginny threw it all in her face.

Another part though, felt horribly guilty and squirmy about the whole thing, and thinking back, Hermione realised she hadn't handled the discussion well at all. Defending Ron hadn't been an especially wise move – she'd let her instincts as a friend take over at the worst possible moment. She didn't understand how Ginny could have got things so confused though – it wasn't that she didn't want to share Harry and Ron with Ginny, it was that she didn't want to share Ginny with them, but somehow, that hadn't come across.

She had a great deal to think about – though funnily enough, having fought with Ginny, Hermione could no longer worry quite as much about Ron and Harry fighting. Shaking her head, she muttered Reparo at the broken mirrors, and took a breath before facing the gauntlet of girls outside.

Author's Note

I can almost hear the knives being sharpened. The argument between Ron and Ginny is one of the more controversial parts of Half-Blood Prince, and here I've necessarily given a rather one-sided view of it. Ron's sexism (a simple word for something rather more complex) seems to have been knocked away by the end of the book, and thank goodness for that – but let it be known, I have a lot more sympathy for him in that scene than Ginny does, though I think she is essentially right.

As for the fight between Hermione and Ginny, well…hopefully I've done my job and you'll have seen this coming – I've tried to lay the groundwork for it as best I can. The Ron-Ginny fight is one of the 'instigating incidents' in Half-Blood Prince – it dramatically alters almost all the relationships among the core four (except, despite Hermione's worries, Harry-Ron), and in this story, that includes the friendship between Ginny and Hermione.

I do apologise for such a miserable Christmas chapter though.