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"Ginny, are you alright?"
Ginny raised her head from her hands to look at Hermione, who was shocked at the look of misery on her best friend's face. She hurried to the redhead's side and asked,
"Ginny, what's wrong? What's happened?"
Ginny mumbled incoherently and Hermione had to ask her to repeat herself several times. Eventually Ginny shouted,
"I kissed Blaise Zabini!"
Hermione was shocked. Then she burst out laughing.
"Merlin, Gin! You had me worried! I thought something awful had happened like you breaking up with Harry…" She trailed off at the look on Ginny's face and a look of horror settled on her pretty face. "Ginny, you didn't!"
The other girl nodded, but said,
"That's terrible, I agree, but you're not focusing on the worse thing. I KISSED ZABINI!"
Hermione shrugged it off.
"So? You've been dying to do that for ages. You breaking up with Harry is more important. Why? What happened?"
Ginny sighed and said softly,
"I caught him with Cho."
Hermione was horrified.
"He…cheated on you?"
Ginny answered quickly,
"No! Of course not! But he promised me that he wouldn't speak to Cho ever again and then I caught him hugging her in her office. It's not that I'm afraid that he would cheat on me, but…he will always feel more strongly about her than he would me. And I don't want someone who just wants out."
Hermione hugged her and whispered,
"Well I think that you behaved nobly. I'm so proud of you for doing something like that. But…what did Harry say?"
"I didn't really let him talk. I just walked off. I don't know if I could have kept my resolution if I hadn't. And I knew that I was doing the right thing…I couldn't let myself be persuaded out of it. But the look on his face…it wasn't grief…it was surprise…of course there was a little sadness because of the way we ended things…but nothing like…"
Hermione tightened her hold on the redhead who was crying by now. She understood how hard it was for the younger girl. Ginny had spent most of her girlhood fancying Harry and this wasn't the happy ending that she was thinking would be hers. She had been ecstatic when Harry finally realized that he loved her, but he had now grown out of that love and it hurt. Hermione understood because that was exactly what had happened to her. She hushed her,
"Sh, Ginny, it'll be alright, darling. You'll be alright. You'll find someone who appreciates you and loves you and then you'll be able to look back at this without any pain. You'll be alright."
She didn't know what else she could say. What could one say? There were no words of comfort in this situation. One could only hold them and hope to absorb their pain in some way.
GROWING UP GROWING UP
"Where have you been?" Draco asked Blaise as the Mediterranean-looking man walked into his office. Blaise shrugged.
"Nowhere…"Then he seemed to change his mind. "Ginny kissed me."
Draco looked up sharply.
"The weaslette kissed you? Damn, what is going around?"
Blaise gave him a confused look.
"What are you on about, Dray?"
"You've kissed Weasley and I…well I was going to go punch Weasley for cheating on Granger…"
Blaise stared at the blond haired boy, unable to believe his ears.
"You…wanted to punch out Weasley…for cheating on…Granger?"
Draco nodded solemnly and then dropped his head into his hands, mussing up his hair. After he had left Hermione that day, when he was passing Ron's office, he had nearly walked in and hit the boy. He had no idea what had come over him, but he had just been so angry when Hermione told him what Ron had done. His thoughts were dismissed when he heard Blaise's whistle.
"You've got it bad, don't you?"
"Yeah…I don't understand it though. I've barely spoken properly to Granger…but I guess I've always admired her smarts," Draco said softly. He knew that he could speak openly in front of Blaise. They had known each other forever and they were closer to each other than to anyone else in the world. Blaise understood what Draco meant even if he said the complete opposite.
"So what are you going to do about it?" Blaise asked.
"What are you going to do about Weasley?" Draco retorted.
Both men became lost in thought as they tried to figure out the dilemma facing the two of them.
GROWING UP GROWING UP
Dear Luna,
I have been thinking about our last meeting.
Ron crumpled the piece of paper up and threw it into the bin with ten other unfinished letters. He didn't know how to address a girl who had been his good friend for so long. He didn't know what was coming over him. He hadn't felt this way since he first wanted to ask Hermione out. But that didn't make sense! Hermione and Ron were good together, but Luna and Ron…that didn't sound right, did it? But it did to him! He sighed and picked up his pen again.
Dear Luna,
I was hoping to meet up with you so that we could continue our conversation from before. Could you write me telling me when would be convenient to meet you?
Yours faithfully,
Ron Weasley
Ron stood up, needing a coffee. This was the best draft so far, but it was far from perfect. He walked slowly to the coffee stand, but bumped into someone as he turned the corner. Standing right in front of him was the very woman he had been thinking about.
"Luna! I, uh, was just thinking about you."
Luna smiled.
"You were?"
Ron nodded and blurted out,
"Will you go on a date with me?"
He clapped his hand over his mouth. He had definitely not meant to ask her that, but he found that he didn't want to take it back now that it was out. Luna was equally surprised but nodded and said,
"Why don't you pick me up at 8.00?"
Ron nodded and Luna smiled at him before walking away.