Hello all! This is the mid-chapter Ginger talking. I've been reading so many other fics lately that I can't even remember my own plot anymore! Lol, so for your benefit and mine, here's a recap:

Hermione and Draco are living together as HB and HG. Draco's been acting really nice, and they've become friends. Hermione tries to ask why Draco is acting to differently, but he gets pissed off. Draco sees Hermione hugging Harry and assumes things. Eventually Hermione confronts him and they both apologize, but Draco then asks about Harry and Hermione realizes he's jealous, but gets very defensive. Draco tries to make it up to her by doing her homework. Draco walks in on Hermione in the bathroom, while she is barely clothed.

Wow, that's kind of long…but helpful

I was very happy with all the reviews this time around. Yay people! Jsyk, every time I open my email and it says [Review Alert] I clap my hands in joy. That is what you bring me, reviewers. Hugs all around.

Responses:

Rowaine: I know what you mean. Some people go too far and don't explain character transformations, and then all of a sudden they're in love, and it's just weird and awkward. It's hard to avoid the fanfic cliches. Some of them are so good, I just can't resist :-). Thanks for reviewing, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Hopeless4NonExistentLove: nice name, btw. Grim, but interesting. Thank you for knowing that! I LOVE Ferris Beuller's Day Off. It is the best. Thanks for the review!

Leilygurl: well, I already kind of responded in my email, but still, for public recognition, thanks for leaving an awesome, long review.

Rob-Girl: haha, apparently a bunch of people really liked the whole Hermione-muttering-to-herself thing. I thought it was really cute too. I do it all the time. I actually got caught once by mom. She had forced me to go downstairs and pack when I was tired and ready for bed. My house is big, so as I walked around gatheing things I ranted about her being an evil slave drive, and other worse phrases. Then I found out she was sitting at the top of the stairs listening to me! I got in a lot of trouble. Sry, random story time. :-P

So this is kind of a filler chapter, and I apologize. I made it as interesting as I could, but I'm kind of waiting for a certain time period. I need to get someplace, but wasn't sure how to get there, until I remembered this side story I have going on. I figured I'd give it another whirl and see what happens.

Gah! Really long pre-ch author's note. A thousand apologies. And now, on to the story!

Chapter 8: Love

"Ginny, what's wrong?"

"What are you talking about, Hermione? Nothing's wrong. I'm FINE!"

"No, you're not. Why have I barely seen you in the past 2 weeks? Why have you been avoiding us?"

"I've been busy."

"No you haven't. Ginny, please, for goodness sake, just tell me what's wrong!"

"I told you! There's NOTHING WRONG! Why do you assume that just because I'm not with you all the time, there's something up with me?"

"Because you've been fighting with Harry."

"Who says I've been fighting with Harry?"

Hermione sighed. This was going to be harder than she thought.

She had come back to the Gryffindor common room late one night, after studying in the library for hours. She had hoped either Harry or Ron were still awake. But even more so, she had hoped that she would find Ginny.

Ginny had made herself scarce over the last few weeks. Ever since her fight with Harry, she had kept to herself. She was no longer the center of popularity, even in her own year. She was receding and Hermione was dying to know why.

So when she had found Ginny sitting quietly by the common room fire, reading. Hermione jumped at the chance to talk to her.

But Ginny obviously didn't want to be talked to.

"Harry told me."

"Oh, so now he comes to you with his problems, does he? Well that's just fine. But I'm telling you that my problems are none of your business."

Hermione saw that Ginny was about to start raging. She had to stop that.

"Ginny," she said quietly. But it had an effect. Ginny stopped talking long enough to give Hermione a questioning look.

Hermione was afraid to say the wrong thing, but forged ahead anyway. "Ginny, you're my best friend. You're the only girl friend I've got. There are some things that I just can't tell Harry or Ron, so I come to you. You have to know that it's the same the other way around. Whatever you're feeling, however hurt, confused, whatever you may be, I'm here for you. You can tell me what's wrong." As she spoke, Hermione lowered herself from the couch to the carpet by Ginny's knees.

In the millisecond before anything happened, Hermione observed that Ginny looked worn out. She had circles under her eyes, and her makeup was smudged.

"Oh Hermione!" And with that, Ginny flung herself onto the floor, wrapping her arms around Hermione's shoulders. Hermione hugged her back, held her tightly. She felt the shoulder of her robes moisten and realized that Ginny was crying. They weren't wracking sobs; tears weren't pouring from her eyes, but her shoulders shook ever so slightly and almost imperceptible whimpers escaped the air between her mouth and Hermione's neck.

Slowly she seemed to come back to herself. Her breathing calmed and she began to loosen her hold on Hermione's shoulders. Eventually, Ginny came up to a kneeling position.

"What happened to you" Hermione asked quietly. Even in the intensity of that moment, she recalled a similar incident with the same question. But Ginny was not like Draco. She trusted Hermione.

"You're the best, you know that?"

"Yes, I do, now stop changing the subject."

Ginny emitted a wet giggle.

"Oh, I really don't know! I mean, Harry is wonderful. He's everything I want or need. But when he told me that he loved me…" she trailed off.

"Don't take this the wrong way, Ginny, but I thought it was pretty obvious. I mean, were you really that surprised when he told you?"

"Maybe not, it's just that he caught me off guard. I didn't know how to respond."

"I dunno, Gin. Isn't the usual reply 'I love you too'?" When she didn't say anything, Hermione went on. "Don't you love him too?" she said softly.

"That's why I'm so confused! I don't know what to think. I don't know how to handle his love. It's such a...a...a big word. It means so much. What does this mean for us? I can't handle so much pressure." Ginny leaned back against the foot of her former chair and pulled her knees to her chest. "I lost him once. I knew it was coming, and I thought I could handle it, but it was so hard. And now I have him back, and it's supposed to be ok, and great, and perfect, but...do I love him back? How can I tell? I've never really been serious with another guy. It's just all so overwhelming. I'm feeling all these things at one time, and that's not how it's supposed to be!" Ginny dissolved again, putting her face between her knees. Hermione took this time to speak.

"1st of all, Ginny, the fact that he loves you doesn't change anything. You can still be the same with each other, act the same, kiss the same, nothing has to be any different! Unless he wants it to, but that's not the vibe I got from him. He just wanted you to know how he felt. And can you blame him? You may be stubborn and headstrong, but you're also an independent, beautiful, talented, courageous witch. Of course he'd fall for you! The fact that he left you once doesn't mean that you should be afraid of it now, but instead embrace it, and the fact that he doesn't have anywhere to go. As for loving him..." Hermione sighed. "Only you can know that. But how do you feel around him? Can you let your defenses down? Are you more comfortable with him than anyone else? Does he make you feel more...whole? Those are generally the tell tale signs."

"When did you get so good with relationship advice?"

"When I started reading magazines." The both laughed hard at that. Ginny seemed to be recovering.

"So what do I do now, oh wise and exalted one?"

Hermione chuckled and said, "first, think about it. Try to figure out how you feel about him. Once you know that, go to him. I know he's been trying to talk to you for a while now. Find him, tell him how you feel. I know Harry. He'll understand, whatever it is."

"Yeah, you're probably right. Thanks Hermione," and she leaned forward and hugged her.

Hermione started to rise to get back to her common room, but stopped with one knee on the ground when she heard Ginny's voice. "Hermione?"

"Yeah?"

"Um, could you, uh...stay with me?"

Hermione was surprised at first, but smiled and sat back down, leaning up against the couch. "Sure, Gin. What for?"

"I dunno, I just feel like if you go, I'll go nuts again and get really confused and fall apart."

"I'll stay as long as you need me to."

"You're the best, Hermione." They smiled at one another, then looked away, into the fire.

Hermione sat there for a very long time, waiting, and thought. She thought about Harry and Ginny and how perfect they were for each other. Whenever she was with them they seemed so content, so happy simply to be with each other.

And she was so envious of them. Hermione almost ached, wishing she could have some of that, just a taste. There was this hunger inside her, an unstoppable, suffocating desire to be wanted, needed, loved. Why couldn't she just find the right guy? She knew he was out there somewhere, but couldn't he hurry up and get here? She was sick of waiting, tired of being alone. She wanted someone who she could tell anything to, who she was comfortable around.

And suddenly she thought of Draco. It wasn't like she was in love with him, but Hermione had been harboring feelings for him for a while now. She usually wasn't one to jump into a relationship, but he had this affect on her. Whenever she was around him, her heart rate sped up, and she got very warm and flustered. Her skin tingled all over. She wanted to be near him, touch him, help him. Because sometimes when he thought she wasn't looking, he would get this look on his face. She knew he was hurting inside. She wanted to heal him, but he wouldn't let her get close, so Hermione resigned herself to being his friend.

"Hermione..." Hermione looked up puzzled for a moment. She had forgotten where she was. She was greeted with a wide grin from a very happy redhead.

"I think I'm in love."

Have you noticed how the more chapters I write, the longer my author's notes get? Sorry about that. I guess the more I write the more confidence I gain, so I tend to ramble. BLAH!

Sorry it was a bit mushy and badly written. I figured that this scene was different from the Harry-Hermione one, because they're both girls, and they depend on each other, and girls tend to cry more than guys do. It's still a bit kitchy, but I hope you forgive me.

So school has started again, and I'm, of course, swamped with work. You guys should be praising me. Instead of doing my large pile of homework this afternoon, I wrote this chapter. And it isn't even that great! I'm surprised I managed to update on time, too. This weekend I'll work on writing a couple of chapters and getting ahead of the game again.

Anyways, review!

I enjoy Appenzeller cheese!

-Ginger