Uptight. Nosy. Know-it-all. These were the names she had grown accustomed to in her six years at Hogwarts. And, if she were perfectly honest with herself, even before that. And though these names often hurt more than she'd care to admit, Hermione knew that they proved one thing—she had and never would be ignorant, not in any aspect of her life. When it came to knowing the facts delineated in Hogwarts, A History, recognizing the need for a powerful curse that would reveal a sneak, or understanding the people in her life, Hermione Granger was always ahead of the curve. In fact, she studied people the same way she did everything else: diligently.

This is why, especially after years of careful examination, full of trial and error, she cannot even fathom what possessed Ron to snog Lavender Brown. She thought everything had been so clear!

She had perceived Ron's outburst at the Yule Ball for what it was: jealousy. She had tried to manipulate this knowledge to her advantage, purposefully writing long letters to Viktor when Ron was around to see. That is, until Harry confusedly asked for an explanation of his catastrophic date with Cho and she couldn't help but flush with embarrassment. Clearly if the normally intuitive Harry was too thick to realize the bringing up of exes was just a girl's way of testing the waters, Ron would have been equally if not more clueless.

But she hadn't just been subtle! After all, how much more obvious could a good luck kiss on the cheek be? Did he need a full on snog to understand that she liked him desperately? Then again, she mused wryly to herself, he now had Lavender Brown for that. But then why had Ron given her perfume of all things for Christmas last year? Surely that wasn't a normal present from a best friend? After all, Harry had given her New Theory of Numerology. She, on the other hand, had gotten Ron a homework planner. How could she have been so stupid! She had thought it would be utilitarian—after all, Ron would find use out of it when studying for his OWL's. But then he had gone and been surprisingly thoughtful, buying her perfume. And what had she called his far superior gift? Unusual. If she remembered correctly, he didn't seem off put by her comment at the time, replying, "No problem." But what if he had been hoping for a more enthusiastic thanks? Lavender Brown probably would have hugged him with that vice-like grip of hers, squealing with girlish joy.

Though there was still the matter of her asking him to Slughorn's Christmas Party. Didn't he know how hard that was for her? She had only gained the courage because of the hints he had been dropping since the term started! He was the one who eyed her and Harry suspiciously when they dropped back to talk alone. He was the one who tried to play himself up when she mentioned how fanciable Harry had become. And he was the one who told her he didn't want her to go to the party with McLaggen, looking at her with those gorgeous blue eyes that had, at the time, seemed to be saying, quite clearly, yes to her implied invitation.

And then, suddenly, out of the blue, those warm blue eyes turned to ice. She knew something had been bothering him for weeks, knew that his sharp words to her after the Quidditch match as well as the weeks leading up to it were symptoms of some underlying problem. She had tried to be understanding and not press the matter. She had tried to be patient and let him come to her on his own terms. And no matter how horridly he had treated her recently, once he apologized, she would have gladly forgiven him. She always ended up forgiving him, because he was immature and didn't even know himself why he acted the way he did. Because he was genuinely repentant. Because he replaced the awful memories with wonderful ones. Because he was Ron.

But this. Hermione had forgiven Ronald Weasley for a lot of things, but she would never forgive him from ruining them. Beneath the grief, she could feel a strong undercurrent of potent anger. They had been moving towards this point for three years—maybe even six, though their younger selves wouldn't have known it—and it was entirely his fault that they couldn't be together.

So now she sits in an empty classroom, leaning on her study of conjuring charms to help her remember that not everything she knew was eviscerated the moment she saw Ron Weasley snogging someone that wasn't well…her. Hermione Granger had never been, and would never be, ignorant, and she knew as confidently as she knew anything that Ron Weasley was the only man for her. Which made it that much harder to see that was evidently not the case for him.

In the end, she trusted him and he was careless with her heart. When she sets the birds on him, when she snidely laughs at him in class, when she invites McLaggen to the party, she does so only in the hope that he too will understand what it feels like to suffer the burning sting of betrayal.

/I wrote this simply because I get frustrated when people portray Hermione as someone who is so insecure that she can't possibly imagine that Ron could have feelings for her. Based on her behavior on OOTP, she obviously knows Ron likes her and she likes him, and she tries to get the ball moving but it doesn't work out. I see HBP as her getting frustrated with Ron's inaction and so just stepping to the plate herself. Then, he completely rips the carpet out from under her by kissing Lavender, and she is furious at him for 1) doing this even though he agreed, at least implicitly, to go to Slughorn's party with her and 2) because she thought they had something. I don't think she ever thought that Ron loved Lavender rather than her-I think it's quite obvious to everyone, including Hermione, that Ron and Lavender's relationship is purely physical.