First things first, I want to thank bon, Anahissa, Zalini, and Guest for their kind reviews of my first chapter. I sent personal messages to two of them, but as I couldn't contact you all, I'll leave my thanks here. And Guest, you read my mind. While I'm a 21-year-old guy who knows about as much about 'girl talk' as I do astrophysics, that was exactly what I was aiming for, and I hope you find this chapter suitable.

Secondly, I was up all night considering the implications of what Ginny said to Ron, and I've come to a conclusion about how things would change between the Trio and Ginny. This said, I have a feeling that this fanfiction won't be as short as I thought it'd be. I know exactly what'll be happening in the next chapter, and I'm very excited to start working on it.

Lastly, I, of course, do not own these characters. That'd be the most excellent J.K. Rowling (when she's not saying Hermione could have gotten with Harry, that is).

Chapter Two: Confronting Ginny

Ginny was grinning as she walked up the staircase from the portrait to the Gryffindor Common Room. For once in her life she thought she might have one-upped her older brothers Fred and George with a prank, but sadly knew she could never tell them about it for fear they'd tell Ron sometime in the future. She was happy she'd stopped in a bathroom quickly to wash her hands off, as it wouldn't do to show up in the Gryffindor Common Room with dirt on her hands at the same time her older brother was currently practicing Keeping.

Granted, it was more subtle than anything the twins would have done, but she had been peeved off with Ron since the incident in the passageway behind the tapestry, so she was happy to have cursed the Quaffle before Ron had started practicing to make it harder for him to stop it. It's not like it'll be any easier during an actual game, she figured, so in some ways, I'm actually making him a better player.

She didn't much figure Ron would go for this logic, however, not that she bloody cared what that prat thought at this moment. However, if Harry got a whiff of this, she knew for a fact she'd be risking expulsion from the team, considering that Harry seemed to value Ron as a Keeper more than he valued her as a Chaser. That, or that it was a cruel trick anyway, no matter who was involved with it.

Speaking of Harry, she saw him sitting across from an upset-looking Hermione at one of the corner tables she liked to study at. I almost wish Ron was here, she thought. It'd be great to play some minds games to get him to believe Hermione was falling for Harry. She knew this would be going too far, and risking a blowout between Ron, Harry, and Hermione, which is why she'd never actually suggest it if she got the chance, but the idea still brought a slight grin to her face, considering she now knew the button to push if he ever really peeved her off in the future.

Harry then turned slightly and waved energetically once he saw her, which made Ginny slightly suspicious, as Harry almost never showed this much energy in the Common Room unless it was due to a new educational decree implemented by Umbridge. She smiled as she gave him a small wave back, thinking more about how attractive she found him when he was fired up against Umbridge last year than reacting to his odd behavior.

She also noticed that Hermione now looked less bothered than she had, which she was sure could only lead to good things. An annoyed Hermione usually led to Harry also being put-off, and while she was still officially with Dean, she had been watching Harry closely for any sign of a potential great time to start a relationship. An annoyed Harry didn't blend well with that plan, she'd discovered this past year.

Turning her brown eyes away from them and to the stairs up to what was now the fifth-year girls' dormitory, Ginny walked a bit quicker as to not get called over to chat with Harry and Hermione. She still had some dirt on her robes, and she most certainly didn't want either one to notice it.

Hermione saw the red flash of hair disappear up the stairs, then turned back to Harry. She thanked him quietly for tipping her off that Ginny had just arrived, as she'd been so busy considering where she might be that she didn't even see her walk in.

He gave a noncommittal welcome in return. She wasn't at all surprised to see him look a bit nervous, but he was just going to have to live with that feeling for the next however many minutes it would take to talk to Ginny.

"Do you know how long Ron will be out there," Hermione asked, wanting to know if she should confront Ginny now or after having what was most likely going to be an extremely uncomfortable conversation with Ron.

"Easily for the next two hours," Harry replied. "As I said, I'll be holding a team practice tonight after dinner to see if we can cobble up a working team for tomorrow, and I know that no matter what else Ron is feeling, he wants to do well against Slytherin."

Hermione's eyes flickered back to the door leading to where Ginny was now, and was planning on how to best approach the topic with her when Harry spoke up again.

"Look," he started, appearing a bit intimidated, "I know you need to say some... stuff to Ginny, but could you, I don't know, not be too harsh?"

By the way her eyes narrowed, he knew this request was as about as likely to be granted as Kreacher was to pop up and start tap-dancing. And between the two, he'd bet on a tap-dancing Kreacher to happen before Hermione took it easy on Ginny.

"Did you agree with the things Ginny said to Ron," she asked quietly, and Harry was alarmed to see she was beginning to look like she did while rowing with Ron after the Yule Ball.

"No," Harry said quickly, certainly not wanting her to release her anger in the middle of the crowded common room, "it's just that, well..."

Harry couldn't finish, and he was surprised when Hermione finished his sentence for him.

"You fancy her," she said bluntly, looking Harry straight in the eyes.

Harry looked down, wondering how obvious it had been.

"Yeah," he muttered, checking out his fingernails closely to avoid any eye contact with Hermione.

Hermione sat quietly without replying for a few seconds, than spoke in a gentler voice.

"I'll take your feelings into account, Harry," she started, taking it as a positive he was actually meeting her eyes now when she said this, "but frankly, whatever I say, she'll have coming to her after what she said to Ron, and for breaking her promise to me."

She thought of what might happen up in the dormitory, then sighed as she gave in to asking another question.

"What was the incantation to that sound-blocking charm by the Prince," Hermione asked, knowing full-well that Harry was aware of her distaste for anything related to his used Potions book, and would undoubtedly realize what she'd just been considering.

"Umm, Muffliato," Harry answered, amazed she'd even asked, but glad she had the foresight to see she might need it.

"Right," Hermione said, looking unhappy but nonetheless unwilling to back away from using the charm if necessary.

"Well," she said, getting up and moving her many books into her bag, "might as well get this over with as soon as possible."

Clasping the bag shut, she hoisted it over her head to rest on her shoulders. She turned back to Harry as if to say something, but even though she opened her mouth, no words seemed willing to come out.

"Good luck," Harry said simply.

Hermione closed her mouth and nodded as though this is what she needed to hear, and turned towards the door that led to the dormitory.

Ginny was pleased to discover that none of her fellow fifth-years were in the dorm, as she didn't want even the slightest possibility that someone would figure out what she'd been up to. She thought about her recent actions. She already felt pretty guilty about what she'd done, which was amazing, as she'd just been considering ways to make Ron's life worse just a minute ago.

I'll let it go for now, she decided. If I'd went six years without snogging anyone while in Hogwarts, I'm sure I'd be in a bloody terrible mood as well. Not having a girlfriend can be punishment enough for him.

Happy she made a decision on whether or not to escalate the feud between herself and Ron, Ginny removed her dirty robes and begun hunting around her trunk for some clean ones. She was startled when she heard a knock on the door.

Who knocks before coming into their own dormitory, Ginny wondered, not at all sure who it could be behind the door.

"Yeah, who is it," she yelled in reply, hopefully loud enough that whoever it was should have been able to hear her.

Ginny found some clean new robes, but decided to wait for a reply before putting them on, not wanting to miss the response due to the sound of rustling fabric.

She was perplexed to hear Hermione's voice reply from behind the thick door.

"It's Hermione, Ginny," Hermione said, and Ginny thought something sounded a bit off with her voice, but she couldn't place it. "Mind if I come in so we could talk about something?"

Ginny smiled, wondering if Hermione was going to finally probe her for relationship advice or something of the sort, which Ginny had been expecting Hermione to do for a while now. Maybe she's just feeling down with how Ron's been lately, she considered.

"Give me a second," Ginny yelled back, "I'm changing my robes."

Pulling her clean robes over her head, Ginny examined herself in the mirror by her bed, straightening her hair so it looked a little less frizzy.

"Okay, you can come in, Hermione," Ginny said, wondering what it was Hermione wanted to talk about.

Hermione took a deep breath. Whatever I do, I cannot go in yelling. I just can't. Though considering the rage that was boiling inside her, she didn't think she'd be able to hold off for long. She fixed a faux-smile on her face, and opened the door to Ginny's dormitory.

"Hey there, Hermione," Ginny asked in a sunny voice, and Hermione grimaced. It wasn't easy to start an argument when someone was happy, and more so, when they weren't expecting it. It was especially hard for Hermione, as she tried hard to keep the friends she got, with a worry in the back of her mind that had been there since she was a child that she would always lose more friends than she could gain. She'd changed a lot from her first year at Hogwarts, but she still remembered her first few months here vividly, and while it was unlikely ever to get to that point of social isolation again, the worry remained.

Take it slow, she thought, ask what you need to ask. What you need to know the answer to. The entire conversation hinges on one question: Did Ginny know?

Hermione ignored Ginny for now and lifted her heavy bag of books over her head and set it next to Ginny's bed before she answered.

"I wanted to ask you a question about something Harry just told me about."

Ginny's eyes narrowed as she heard Hermione's tone of voice. That's definitely not nervousness. What is that? Anger? It couldn't be, not Hermione...

"Oh, yeah, what were you two talking about, anyway," Ginny asked curiously, trying to keep her speculation out of her tone, settling down on her bed and looking up at Hermione. "You guys looked like you were having a serious discussion for a minute."

Hermione let out a heavy sigh and sat on the bed closest to Ginny's.

"When you said those things to Ron a couple of days ago," Hermione started, voice shaking with anger. She was amused, even in her rage, to see Ginny's eyes widen in surprise. Didn't think I'd ever find out about that, did you, Ginny? She continued, trying desperately to keep her voice down, as she hadn't used the Prince's charm yet. She didn't want to give Ginny any hint of what was about to happen.

"Did you know that Ron liked me," she finished her question, face blushing, though not with embarrassment. She would have enough time for that when talking to Ron. No, she was red with anger, and she could tell Ginny was now alarmed.

Ginny sputtered.

"I, uh, what-"

"I don't have time for denials, Ginny," Hermione cut through her words coldly. "Answer the question. When you told Ron that Viktor and I had snogged, something I told you in confidence, did you know Ron liked me?"

"Hermione, uh...," Ginny tried to think of some combination of words that might calm her down, though none came to her. If there's going to be an explosion here, I guess I should just be honest about this. "I thought that he did, yes, and I used the example with Krum to make a point about why he was overreacting."

Hermione sat still for a second, and as Ginny started to shift uncomfortably in the silence, Hermione got up from the bed as she held her wand in her hand.

"'Make a point'," she quietly scoffed, then pointed her wand to the door.

"Muffliato," Hermione whispered.

"Hermione, what spell was-"

"HOW COULD YOU," Hermione screamed at Ginny as she turned around, eyes ablaze with rage, though Ginny couldn't help but also notice tears starting to form. "'Make a point', you say? HOW ABOUT HURT HIM AND THEN POUR SALT IN HIS WOUNDS? YOU TOLD HIM THAT THE GIRL HE LIKED SNOGGED A QUIDDITCH PLAYER HE ADMIRED, AND THAT WAS JUST TO 'MAKE A POINT'?"

Ginny jumped up from her bed and glared at Hermione. She was not going to take this type of abuse from someone she did absolutely nothing to harm.

"YES, IT WAS TO MAKE A POINT," Ginny shouted back at Hermione, kind of surprised that no one had been coming to check on the commotion at this point. "THE POINT THAT HE'S JUST PATHETIC! YOU, ME, AND HARRY HAVE ALL SNOGGED SOMEONE, AND HE SHOULD KNOW THAT-"

"DO YOU THINK HE DOESN'T," Hermione shrieked, apoplectic with rage. "DO YOU THINK HE'S STUPID? DO YOU THINK HE HIMSELF DOESN'T FEEL HE'S PATHETIC SOMETIMES? YOU LIVE WITH HIM, GINNY! DOES IT SEEM HE'S ALWAYS FLOWING WITH SELF-CONFIDENCE WHEN YOU SEE HIM AROUND THE BURROW?"

Ginny just gawked at her, and while she opened her mouth, no words seemed to be able to come out.

"DID YOU KNOW I SAID I WANTED TO GO TO SLUGHORN'S PARTY WITH HIM NOT TWO WEEKS AGO," Hermione continued to roar, realizing that her throat hurt by this point, but not caring in her anger. "AND THE PAST TWO DAYS HE'S BEEN COMPLETELY IGNORING ME? I THOUGHT IT WAS SOMETHING I DID! I'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT EVERY INTERACTION I'VE HAD WITH HIM IN THE PAST WEEKS TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHY HE'S CHANGED, AND IT TURNS OUT IT WAS JUST BECAUSE HIS LOVING SISTER TOLD HIM, ONCE AGAIN, THAT HE'S PATHETIC!"

At this, Hermione slunk down on the bed again, massaging her extremely sore throat while still glaring at Ginny through her tears, daring her to deny just one thing she said. And lo and behold, she did.

"I only said that stuff because he acted as though I was a whore who snogged anyone I took a fancy to," Ginny said in a tone that she hoped would calm Hermione down a bit. "If he had any experience of his own to speak of, he wouldn't have went off at me, and I wouldn't have said what I did."

"You're his little sister," Hermione said quietly, her voice cracking. She blushed a bit before she continued, but embarrassment wasn't going to stop her from making her point. "He could have shagged every girl in my year from every House and he'd still hate seeing you with a guy!"

"Oh, please," Ginny scoffed angrily, "as if he'd have the balls to even snog a girl let alone-"

She stopped talking abruptly, as Hermione was now pointing her wand straight at her, standing rigidly, tears streaming down her face. Ginny realized just then no matter how angry she thought she'd seen Hermione before, she'd certainly never seen her as furious as she was now. And knowing Hermione, if she was going to curse her, she'd probably learned some good ones in the multiple books she'd read.

Hermione's breath hitched for a second, still glaring at the younger girl, then glanced down at her hand and the outstretched wand it held tightly. The sight seemed to have shocked her back to her senses, and she slowly lowered it from Ginny.

"Do you know," she asked Ginny quietly, eyes facing the floor, "what Ron has to deal with emotionally on a daily basis?"

Still shocked that Hermione screamed at her, yet alone pointed her wand at her, Ginny just quietly shook her head, which Hermione must have noticed despite the fact she still seemed to be looking at the floor.

"Every day he has to cope with his feelings that he's worthless," Hermione started, looking up at Ginny with her red, teary eyes. "He's thinks he's second-best to Harry, his best friend, who just happens to be the most famous young wizard in the world, 'The Boy Who Lived', 'The Chosen One'. He considers you, his younger sister, more loved by his parents because you're the only daughter they have, and he's just the sixth son with more well-accomplished brothers."

Ginny didn't say anything, but Hermione nonetheless stopped talking for a second while she wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her robe, now slightly damp from her tears.

"He hasn't told me these things," she finished quietly. "He hasn't told Harry these things. I seriously doubt he'll ever tell anyone these things, ever. But I know this is how he thinks, how he feels about himself, and all you, and Fred, and George, ever do is constantly mock him for his Quidditch ability, his love life, for being who he is! I'm surprised he hasn't done a Percy and broke it off with the whole lot of you!"

Hermione finished, her chest heaving after her rant, and sat down on the bed next to Ginny's again, lowering her eyes to the floor, crossing her arms over each other as she started shivering.

Ginny just stared at her, heart racing faster than it did when she thought that she was going to be expelled in her first year at Hogwarts.

"I hadn't thought-," Ginny began with a small voice, but Hermione cut her off.

"No, you haven't," she said, and while the yelling had ceased, the chill in her voice hurt Ginny even more. "He's your brother, and never once did you stop to consider how he was feeling about anything he's been through, about everything you and your brothers say to him on a normal basis."

Deafening silence filled the room, silence Ginny felt duty-bound to break, to offer some rebuttal to the things Hermione said, but as she opened her mouth to speak, she just couldn't think of an appropriate or adequate response. She just closed her mouth, sat on her bed, stunned, watching a girl she sometimes thought of as her older sister sob silently and shiver violently on the bed of a classmate.

"We've talked about your boyfriends," she started, looking at Ginny . "I told you about Viktor when you asked, gave you all the details. But you promised you'd never mention it to anyone, especially Harry and Ron. Yes, they could think what they wanted, but they didn't know until you decided your anger at Ron, your desire to hurt him, mattered more than my trust in you."

Hermione looked down at the floor for a second, and when she looked back up, her face was red again, though Ginny had a feeling it wasn't anger this time.

"Are you going to sit there and tell me," she whispered, blushing at what she was admitting to, "that you never once stopped to consider that I might share the feelings that Ron has for me? What did you think my response would be once I found out about this? For me to pat you on your back, say 'That showed him', and laugh about it?"

Hermione looked expectantly at Ginny, waiting for a response from her. Ginny opened her mouth again, and was shocked to learn she still had a voice.

"Hermione," she said quietly, not by choice, but because she couldn't seem to bring her voice to its normal volume, "I didn't know you felt that way about Ron. I thought you were just good friends, honestly."

"Is that because you just didn't think anyone could like him," she asked harshly, her voice sounding a bit rough from the shouting.

"That's not fair," Ginny responded angrily. "No matter what stupid arguments we get into every now and then, our family loves each other! We all take the mickey out of each other all the bloody time! How was I suppose to know that Ron might not have been taking it well?"

"You could have looked," Hermione replied shortly.

Hermione sat still a little longer, then got up from the bed to grab her schoolbag. As she situated it on her shoulders, she turned back to look at Ginny.

"Ginny," she sighed, sounding exhausted, "I just can't talk to you right now. I need to go find Ron and talk to him about this, which I doubt will be easy. I'll say this, then let you get on with whatever plans you had for the day. If you ever, subtly or unsubtly, insult Ron in any way in front of me, I will curse you. I mean it, Ginny. When someone hurts Ron, that hurts me as well, and I'm not going to take it. Keep that in mind."

She turned away from the hurt expression on Ginny's face. Did I just lose her as a friend, she thought with wonder. I've always thought of myself as a nice person. Why, when it comes to Ron, do I throw that all out the window and resort to threats?

She opened the door to go down the stairs. It was a long walk to the pitch, and she planned on using it to figure out how she was going to approach Ron about this without embarrassing him too much. And myself as well, she added. I certainly don't want to have a crying fit in front of Ron.

Before leaving the room, without turning around, Hermione added something for Ginny to think about.

"If you didn't notice," she said quietly, not wanting her voice to be heard by anyone on the stairs, "Harry likes you, and any time you wanted to start a relationship with him, I think he'd be more than willing. I'm telling you this as my last act as a friend. We're done. Goodbye, Ginny."

Ginny didn't say a word, and Hermione walked out of the dormitory and closed the door. She leaned against the wall for a second and closed her eyes, resting her head on the hard stone. She hoped beyond hope that she looked presentable so no one would have a clue what had just happened. She had no idea how red her eyes were, and she was never superficial enough to deem a compact mirror a necessary thing to carry with her. Oh well, no matter how I appear, I'll only be in the common room for ten seconds at the most. I need to get to the pitch.

Collecting herself, she quickly walked up the stairs to her dorm to drop off her heavy bag of books, then she started to head down. It was time to talk to Ron.

Author's Notes

Well, there you have it. I don't have much to say down here, except that I am now convinced that canon-wise, Hermione was never informed of what Ginny said to Ron, or at least, not before they were already long-married, because I don't think Hermione's response here is too far off what it would have been if she had known. If you disagree, please write to tell me what you think would have happened. For the record, it was a blast writing CAPSLOCKHermione. I loved all of Harry's shouting in OotP, and I wanted to bring some of that here.

Finally, I want everyone to know that I don't actually hate Ginny. Hermione is extremely harsh to her in this chapter, but that because after thinking about it for a few hours, I realized that what Ginny said to Ron was one of the lowest blows she could have hit, and it ruined the Ron/Hermione relationship for four months. I don't hate Ginny, but I am a bit bitter towards her, especially since she never got comeuppance in the books for what she said.

I hope you liked this chapter. Please review with anything you have to say about it, though I'd prefer any typo-related things to be sent directly towards me. I don't want four comments saying "It's than, not then" (the mistake I most often make, I'm afraid). Please tell me what you guys think.