Sunday morning Hermione woke up with a start. Her curtain facing the window was open and the sun shone in directly on Hermione's face. She rubbed her eyes, stretched, and glanced at the clock.
"One o'clock! I need to stop relying on sleeping in!" Hermione exclaimed, nearly yelling, to herself. Her curtains were all suddenly opened by the other girls in the room. "Ugh…"
"Good morning sunshine!" the three other girls cheerfully exclaimed.
"Ugh…" Hermione repeated.
"So, we heard you went back in time last year and went out with…" Parvati paused and whispered, "You-Know-Who…"
"Yea, so we want to get the details," Lavender said.
"Ginny! Why'd you tell them? I thought I could trust you. It's not something I want to discuss and you should have known that! I really thought you were my friend," Hermione said, rolled over, and hid under her covers and cried. Ginny went over and sat on the bed and patted Hermione's head.
"They heard rumors and asked me about them, since you were still fast asleep and I told them not to disturb you. That would be Ron's fault not mine. I'm sorry. I know, he's being a real git right now. I'm really sorry," Ginny said softly, hoping to not make matters any worse than they already were.
"I just want to be left alone. So many bad things have happened to me and probably will happen to me. Let me cry in peace," Hermione said in between sobs. Parvati and Lavender looked at each other, raising eyebrows, wondering what was so bad and what had happened. They were being left out on all the juicy gossip!
"Hermione, you know you can tell us anything! We won't be like Ron and go spread rumors around the school," Lavender said with her fingers crossed behind her back. Ginny smacked her upside the head.
"Leave 'Mione alone. She already told us that she does not wish to discuss all of this with you, so please respect her wishes. Why don't we go down for lunch? Hermione, want me to bring anything up to you? You haven't been eating much lately, it seems... I think you've lost some weight, and you are already uber skinny!" Ginny exclaimed, hoping to lighten the mood a little.
"No, that's okay," Hermione said. Ginny opened her mouth to protest but Hermione stopped her. "Well, maybe a little something."
"Well, what would you like?" Ginny interrogated.
"Whatever you can scrounge up for me; I guess I am a little hungry," Hermione said then stuffed her head into her pillow and cried a little more.
Ginny walked out of the room, dragging Parvati and Lavender with her. She was not at all happy, and the two others could tell. She had death grips on their arms and they were both in a significant amount of pain due to it. Ginny stopped and started talking to them.
"Don't you ever do that again! You could have ruined my friendship with my best friend! I told you to leave her alone! She's been so upset since she got back and practically no one has given her a break! Knowing you two, if you had gone through what she did, you probably would have tried to commit suicide! You could never imagine how hard things are for her! She is always learning new things about herself that make matters even harder for her to handle. You two are so selfish! For once, give up your gossiping ways in order to see how much pain Hermione is going through. Did you notice that she hasn't been eating? She hasn't been in school; she sleeps in. She can barely handle everything. If you dare treat her like that again, I'll kick your butts to Japan in the blink of an eye!" Ginny yelled for almost the whole little speech she made to Parvati and Lavender. She then brought them into the Great Hall and sat them one on either side of her so that they could not talk and gossip. She was getting sick of the gossip. Her best friend was not getting any better due to it. It seemed that every time she made some progress, some sort of rumor would get to her and she would go back into her depressed state.
"How's 'Mione doing?" Harry whispered to Ginny from across the table.
"She was doing great! But… these two nitwits," Ginny pointed to the two girls on either side of her, "had to start questioning her this morning. She's lost weight… She doesn't want to eat or study or do anything at all. She's crying in bed right now. She didn't want to get up and I wasn't about to force her, so I'm bringing some food up to her after lunch… Want to come visit her? I think she'd really appreciate it. It might make her feel like you don't hate her so much," Ginny whispered back.
"Well, I'm still not exactly thrilled with her behaviours, but sure," Harry said.
"Remember, though… none of it was really her fault… It was like a really bad twist of fate in her life, the poor girl," Ginny said. She continued to eat her meal of a ham sandwich, pumpkin juice, caldron cakes, and other goodies. After she finished, she piled a bunch of food into a bandana she brought along. She did not leave without giving warning to Parvati and Lavender, though.
"If you two dare even THINK of spreading rumours about Hermione, you'd better think again. You'll be very sorry," Ginny said and headed upstairs to the Gryffindor tower. Harry excused himself a few seconds after Ginny left and headed upstairs as well.