A/N: I just finished reading the 'Half-Blood Prince' again for the 4th time! I still can't believe Dumbledore is dead! Oh well. It was bound to happen. Harry and Voldemort need to be unassisted in their final battle! But we all know that the Dark Lord will have a lil bit of help, don't we!

Also, to answer a question; yes, Blaise and Ginny were going out over the holidays but broke up just before coming back to school because of the whole Slytherin-Gryffindor thing. They got back together because they still really wanted to be together and there was another Slytherin-Gryffindor couple in the form of Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger!

Anyway, hope y'all liked the last chapter! On with the story!

--

She turned around to see Ron. The person she was dreading to see or even go near to.

"Hermione, we have to talk."

"No we don't, Ronald."

"Hermione, just listen to me."

"I don't want to."

Hermione moved towards the door but Ron blocked it.

"Move, Ron." He didn't, "I said move!"

Hermione went to grab for her wand, which was tucked away inside her denim jacket but Ron was too fast for her and caught her hand.

"I wouldn't do that, Hermione." He said. He let go of her. "Let's just talk. Please. Just like normal people."

Hermione, knowing that she wasn't going to win, agreed. But her temper ended up getting the better of her.

"Fine, Ronald. Lets talk. No, wait. How about I talk and you shut up and listen. Okay?"

Ron merely nodded in agreement. He knew better than to argue with Hermione when she was pissed off.

"Okay, first of all I want you to know that I despise, no actually, I hate seeing you, being near you, hearing you talk or worse, hearing you talk to me like you did just then. I even hate it more that I am actually talking to you which is the one thing I promised myself I wouldn't do. But here I am doing it!"

Hermione stopped for a short breath, before continuing.

"What you did to me was completely unfair and uncalled for. What the hell did I ever do to you to make you do something like that to me? I didn't even know Hannah was one of your friends let alone finding out that you'd been off fucking her while I was still your girlfriend! Not only did you absolutely break my heart, you bloody ripped it out and jumped on it! Not to mention that you've embarrassed me in front of everyone!"

"Stop right there Hermione. How did I embarrass you? I don't think I did."

"Okay, first of all, everyone knew that we were going out, right," Ron nodded, "Yeah, exactly. So how do you think I felt when I arrived on the train and saw you and that Hufflepuff slut all over each other. People had only just started to catch word that you and I had broken up a couple of days before school started back and here you were all over that red-headed bitch in front of me! I call that embarrassing! Wouldn't you?"

"Hermione, get over it. I told you I was with Hannah. By the way, don't bring her into this, it's not her fault."

"Not her fault, hey? Well I think she knew that we had been going out for a few years didn't she? Everyone knew. It was common knowledge at Hogwarts. Not to mention it was written all over the papers!" Hermione began to mimic the headlines, "'Harry Potter's two best friend find love –with each other!' Honestly Ron! Think before you speak. She has everything to do with this."

"Before you put the blame on anyone else Hermione, I think you should stop and look at yourself. If you were such a good girlfriend and could do nothing wrong in our relationship, then why the fuck would I even look at another girl let alone touch her?"

With that, Ron stormed out of the classroom, leaving a clearly distressed Hermione only just understanding what he had last said.

--

Draco was sitting in the Heads common room with Blaise. They were talking about Quidditch and who was going to replace last years team members that had left school.

With Draco as captain, and Blaise as vice captain, this team was surely going to be better than any other of the Slytherin teams in history is.

The Quidditch conversation quickly turned into a conversation about Broomsticks when Hermione stormed through the common room and up to her bedroom. Even though she was Draco's girlfriend, she was still Potter's friend and he couldn't risk her hearing their Quidditch tactics and plans and then possibly telling the 'Boy Wonder.'

Draco thought back to the holidays before second year started. He had managed to get his father to persuade Marcus Flint's dad into making Marcus put Draco on the Slytherin team as a Seeker. It wasn't as easy as Draco thought though. Flint didn't want any second-rate Seeker on his team because as a rich Slytherin, he had learnt that anything that isn't the best, just isn't worth it.

'Hermione was right when she said that I bought my way in.' He thought.

It was true; his father had bought the whole team Nimbus 2001's which were faster than Harry's Nimbus 2000.

Back then it was all a competition to Draco, but now it was getting serious. Over the years, he had become an outstanding Quidditch player, so much so that he had had offers to play for Quidditch teams all over the world as a Seeker. But he wasn't concerned about that right now, his main priority was his Quidditch team – the Slytherins and winning the Quidditch cup!

He knew every year that Gryffindor was the team to beat and yet he always managed to let the golden snitch be caught by Potter. But not this year, oh no. This year was Draco's year. This year was when Slytherin was going to show everyone who the best team was!

--

Hermione ran up to her room and closed the door. Her encounter with Ron was definitely still fresh in her mind. She couldn't stop crying. He had said it. It was all her fault. She couldn't believe she let Ron slip away from her like that.

Weren't they meant to be the match made in Heaven? She was the prefect student, with the highest grades in Hogwarts' history to boast about. Whereas he was the Hogwarts clown from the loving family that was envied by those who didn't have such a family.

They were always in the 'Daily Prophet,' or any other tabloid. Photos of the two out in public were hot property and if Harry was captured in the shot, they were sold for even more. The 3 were celebrities, mainly Harry for being who he was but his fame had rubbed off on his two best friends who were just as famous as he was. Of course, he was famous for being 'The Boy Who Lived' but Hermione and Ron were famous for being Harry's best friends. The fact that they were in a relationship together only made them more famous.

She remembered the look on Ron's face when he told her that his dad had received a promotion and now he and Ginny, the only remaining Weasleys at Hogwarts, could get new things instead of second hand things.

Ron was always embarrassed by his family's lack of wealth but now he was becoming more comfortable with his background. He had credited Hermione with helping him get over the fact that his family wasn't as well off as most other wizarding families. He had always admired the way Hermione had been proud of her muggle background.

But now she was finally understanding that she was a bad girlfriend and it wouldn't take Draco long to realise that he would have to wait until he got what most teenage boys wanted. Quite frankly, Hermione didn't think he was the type of guy to wait around. She knew what she had to do.