A/N- My apologies in the delay in getting this next chapter out to you! Normally I'd like to be at least a full chapter ahead, but the Holidays and general Life Things have been cutting into my writing time. At any rate, I didn't want to wait too long! Thank you to everyone who reads and reviews. It really does bring a smile to my face! This chapter will still feel very canon-y, but I swear that when we meet Hermione in the next one, things are about to change.

Hope you enjoy this next installment, and wish you all peace and love and joy for this time of year!

-Ashy

Also, I'm super not JKR, and none of this belongs to me.

It took a second for the first screech to register. Ron had enough time to step down onto the carpet before swearing internally. Lavender's hair was nearly static with rage. He spluttered at her for a moment as she stood up, tottering on her high heels. (He'd never really worked out why she wanted to wear them all the time. It wasn't like she was going to get any closer to his height.)

'Well?' Lavender screeched again, and Ron noticed the soft pink of her nails as she sped towards him. 'Just what do you have to say for yourself?'

Ron stared at her. Eyelids done in a glittery mauve. Pasted on rouge that seemed completely fake now he could see the true blush behind them. Blue eyes bright with fury.

'I-' He started to say, before becoming aware that his mouth had gone dry and it seemed much too difficult to form words. His lips parted a couple more times, only for no sound to emerge.

'Nothing? You have no defense?' Lavender's hands were bunched at her sides.

'Ron took my Charms notes yesterday in the library,' Hermione butted in. Ron wasn't even aware that she had stepped to his side.' I needed them back so that I could finish my assignment.' A wave of gratitude rushed over him.

'How stupid do you think I am?' Lavender cackled. His gratitude faded immediately. 'You really think I'd believe you hadn't finished an assignment the night before it's due?!'

From her place beside him, Ron could see the blood rush to Hermione's face.

'It's true,' Ron said, words miraculously returning to him. 'I borrowed her notes. She needed them back to check something.'

Lavender's eyes narrowed further. Ron was vaguely aware of some of the other Gryffindors turning to look in their direction.

'What exactly did she need to check?' Her voice dripped with skepticism as she stared into his face. Ron was half surprise she hadn't burned a hole in his nose by now.

'The name of the witch who is credited with-'

'I didn't ask you, you bloody cow!' Lavender turned to Hermione with vitriol. She let out a frustrated huff and took a step in Hermione's direction. 'Why can't you keep out of other people's business?!'

Instinctively, Ron's arm went out towards Hermione. Lavender noticed his movement and gave another harsh laugh.

'Seriously? You're worried about me hurting her?'

Ron swallowed and bit back his reply. At the moment it did seem like Lavender was the more likely of the two to erupt.

'I went up with him for my notes.' Hermione's voice was calm in comparison to Lavender's.

'Where's your bag, then?' Lavender moved her arms to cross tightly in front of her heaving chest.

Hermione blushed further. Lavender took another step towards her.

'God, just when I thought you couldn't sink any lower. It's not enough that you have to be following my boyfriend around like some lost puppy, but now you have to act like I'm a moron? Where do you get off?'

'She hasn't been following me around,' Ron pointed out. 'We usually hang out with Harry.'

'Don't test me right now.' Lavender's voice had gone even, which scared Ron more than when she'd been yelling. 'I haven't finished with you yet.' Ron was a beat of silence. Ron glanced nervously around at the other Gryffindors pretending to read but hanging on to every word.

'Nothing happened,' Hermione said quietly. 'And I don't think you're a moron.'

'Nothing happened my arse! Why did Padma and Parvati see you all cosied up together at the Three Broomsticks this afternoon?'

'You mean after the apparition test?' Ron asked, looking at her blankly. 'We just had a drink.'

'Which you bought for her! Why haven't you ever bought me anything?'

Ron looked at her in bewilderment. 'We've never been to Hogsmeade, Lavender. How could I?'

'It's called Owl Order, Ron! God how hard is it to buy your girlfriend something every once in a while? And don't get me started on your pathetic excuse for a Christmas present. Anybody with half a brain would know that a book about makeup is frankly insulting.'

Ron didn't have an answer to this. He'd honestly thought that since she seemed so into cosmetics, Lavender would enjoy learning more about it. It occurred to him only now that he had perhaps been too influenced by Hermione over the years.

Lavender was exhaling loudly through her nose, eyes darting between the two of them. Ron's arm was still half outstretched towards Hermione.

'Take me upstairs.'

'What?!' Ron and Hermione exclaimed at the same time.

'Take. Me. Upstairs. I've only been asking to spend some alone time with you for days. If you'll take her upstairs, why won't you take me?' Lavender seemed mighty pleased by her logic. Ron felt panicky. He most definitely did not want to take an angry Lavender up to his room at the moment.

'We weren't doing anything!' Hermione cried. Ron was surprised to hear a note of hysteria in it.

'Oh my god, butt out!' Lavender shrieked at her. Eyes blazing, she went for her wand, and Ron jumped in front of Hermione as Lavender pointed it at her dorm mate.

'She has nothing to do with this,' Ron told Lavender, trying to keep his heartbeat under control.

'Get out of my way, Ron,' Lavender snarled.

'If you want to yell at me that's fine, but leave her out of this.' He swallowed hard, hoping that perhaps there wouldn't be a lot of yelling involved.

'Leave her out of this?' Lavender repeated, eyes narrowed at him. 'She's been interjecting herself in our relationship since the beginning! You're just too blind to see what a manipulative little shrew she is!'

Hermione's mouth opened to retort, but Ron shook his head.

'Don't talk about her like that.' He was surprised at the snarl that came from his voice.

Lavender pulled back her wand and stared at Ron in disbelief.

'Oh, godric forbid I speak to Hermione that way? Whatever happened to "Little Miss Know it All?"

Ron felt his ears turn red. Back at the start of their relationship, when his hands were still healing, he had referred to Hermione that way. But he hadn't really meant it. He didn't dare turn around to see Hermione's reaction. Their friendship still felt so fragile.

'Let's just calm down,' he offered, raising his hands in defence.

'I will NOT calm down!' Lavender shrieked, stamping her foot on the ground. 'Do you have any idea how you've been making me feel? I deserve to be treated nicely, not like I'm some…pathetic reject!' She took a step towards Ron and brought her finger up towards his face. He could smell the fresh nail varnish on it. 'Don't forget you were nothing but a loser when I took you in! The only thing worse than the way you dress was your kissing abilities! But I put in so much effort to make you better and you have done nothing but make me look like a fool!'

Ron's cheeks blushed. Good to know the whole common room now knew that he'd been a bad kisser.

Hermione cleared her throat from behind him and Ron felt even lower. Lavender swung her head around Ron to stare at Hermione.

'You know that nobody likes you, right? Ron told me he only spent time with you in first year because Harry seemed to want to. Face the facts, Granger! You're nothing but a pathetic little bookworm and I will not have you steal my boyfriend!'

'She's not stealing me!' Ron retorted, trying to interject before Hermione could say anything. Lavender's eyes had gone nearly black with rage. 'Nothing is going on between us!'

Sort of to Ron's chagrin, but he wasn't about to admit that to Lavender.

With a mirthless laugh, Lavender closed the distance between them and got very close to Ron's chest.

'Why don't I believe you?' she asked, in the most sarcastic tone he'd ever heard from her. Slamming her finger to her cheek in mock confusion, she turned her angry gaze back to him.

'Oh that's right, because you stare after her all the time, you take any excuse to ignore me and I keep finding you with her in the library!'

'Because we're friends,' Ron replied. 'You can't expect me not to-'

'You didn't speak with her for months! She's only talking to you because you almost died! I was there for you the whole time!'

'I-' Ron started, but couldn't seem to find the words.

'And the worst of it is, you are so BLIND to everything around you that you don't even realize it!'

'That's not true,' Ron retorted. 'I notice plenty of things.'

Lavender shrieked with laughter. 'Oh really? What did I wear on Valentine's Day?'

Ron blinked at her in bewilderment. 'What?'

'If you're so good at noticing things, this should be an easy one! What did I wear?'

'Er…clothes?'

'Oh well done,' Lavender rolled her eyes and gave him a slow clap. 'Truly, why haven't they made you head of the Wizengamot with logic like that? What kind of clothes, you dimwit?' Ron tried to ignore the insult.

'I…er….' Ron racked his brain to try and remember. On Valentine's Day, Harry had held a practice, and then they went to dinner, and he…pretended to have a last-minute Prefect's Meeting to avoid spending time with Lavender that evening. Maybe she'd dressed up? He couldn't be sure.

'What did she wear to Slughorn's party?' Lavender threw her arm out towards Hermione and pointed at her.

'A pink dress,' Ron replied instantly. The second the words were out of his mouth he regretted them. Lavender's face seemed to crumple in pain. From behind his back he heard Hermione inhale sharply. 'But I only remember that because you talked about it!' Hoping this would curb some of the embarrassment, he looked sheepishly at Lavender. She shook her head at him.

'Shut up, Ron.'

Ron did.

'You are the most insensitive, pigheaded idiot I have ever met! God, Parvati and Padma warned me not to date you! That you were nothing but bad news! But stupid me, I thought, no, no, they must be wrong. He seems so sweet! Fool me once, eh? Well you know what, Ronald Weasley we are done! You hear me? I am CHUCKING you to the curb where you belong!' Her voice had risen an octave, and possibly several decibels. But through the noise, Ron became aware that she said the words he'd been longing to hear for weeks.

'You're breaking up with me?' he replied, hoping that she didn't hear the relief he felt.

'Yes you tosspot! We're OVER. Good luck EVER getting with someone HALF as good as me!' With that, Lavender turned on her heel and promptly burst into tears. Parvati was there in an instant to grab hold of her friend. With a look of pure revulsion to Ron, she began leading Lavender up the girls' staircase.

Ron looked around the common room. There were lots of students staring back at him, varying degrees of amusement on their faces. He wasn't having this.

'Oi shove off and get back to work!' he called out, pointing at his prefect's badge. 'Nothing more to see here!'

Lavender's sobs echoed from above. Ron's words seemed to have worked as most people went back to their notes or games, some throwing him a withering glance before doing so.

He let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding and turned back towards Hermione.

Only she wasn't there. In surprise, he turned to look around the common room. Her braid swung behind her as she followed a ginger-haired girl out of the Portrait Hole. Ginny. She'd gone with Ginny.

He swore internally again. Probably she wanted to discuss what a complete arsehole he was, and who better to point out his flaws than his little sister?

In frustration he kicked the chair closest to him. Crookshanks gave a loud yelp at the intrusion and sprang off the patterned cushion in the opposite direction. He turned to give Ron one look of deep distrust before slinking off towards the fireplace.

Even Hermione's stupid cat thought he was worthless. Ron huffed in anger. Dean Thomas approached him, face tense and fists curled at his side.

'Rough day, huh?' Ron asked as Dean came up beside him. Dean looked at him in bewilderment.

'Think you're funny?' he asked Ron. Ron leaned back in surprise. Dean was the only bloke in their year taller than he was, and at this moment it seemed as though Dean was taking full advantage of it.

'What are you talking about?'

'Your sister just chucked me for being "too helpful" or some shit. I dunno. But way to throw it in my face!' Dean shook his head at Ron and took the stairs two at a time on his way up. Ron stared after him in disbelief.

Ginny had chucked Dean? That was unexpected. It did explain why Hermione had followed Ginny out into the corridor. Maybe they weren't discussing all of Ron's flaws in minute detail.

'Way to be a prick, Ron,' Seamus told him, shaking his head as he went after Dean. Ron didn't have a response to this. Nor did he have the heart to retort.

He sank down into the chair Crookshanks had recently vacated and pressed his palms against his forehead. On the one hand he was very glad that Lavender had finally broken up with him. Even better that it was before her birthday. No need to get her a present now!

Still, it didn't feel quite as freeing as he'd thought it would. He could've done with it not being so public either. Lavender's hurt expression swam in his vision. Though they'd been going out for a while, he wasn't sure that he'd spent much time thinking of things from her perspective. Looking back, maybe he had been a bit of a shit boyfriend. Not that she'd been a great girlfriend either. That stupid necklace would be burned into his memory as the worst present he'd ever received. And sod her for saying that he'd never find anybody as good as her.

As much as he tried to make himself feel better, his stomach still churned with the idea that maybe he wasn't as decent a bloke as he wanted to be.

'You okay?' Neville's soft voice and round face were in front of him. Ron gave a half-hearted nod. 'She really let you have it.' Sinking into the chair beside him, Neville turned to face Ron.

'Long time coming though,' Ron mumbled. Neville nodded.

'Sorry about your apparition exam.'

With all the excitement of Harry going to try and get the memory from Slughorn and Lavender chucking him, not passing his test had completely slipped Ron's mind. He swore loudly and put his head back into his hands. Neville reached out a hand and hesitantly patted Ron on the back. It did very little to comfort him.

He missed Harry. Actually, if he was honest, he wished Hermione were with him. He was surprised that she'd jumped to his defence so readily. She was another person he'd treated like dirt this year. He couldn't even remember if he'd ever apologized to her for his behaviour.

Beneath his low self worth, questions burned to be asked. How come Lavender hated Hermione so much? It seemed like it went beyond Lavender's mental thought that Hermione seemed to fancy him. As if. But what had caused such a rift between the girls? Hermione was one of the kindest people Ron had ever met. She tried to help House-Elves for Merlin's sake!

The more he thought about it, the more complicated the situation became in his brain. As much as he wanted to know, broaching the subject with Hermione might bring up awkward reminders of what had just happened. He'd rather not bring up the fact that he wasn't a great kisser. Or that he could easily recall what she'd worn to Slughorn's party.

He wasn't even supposed to have seen her that evening. But once he found out she was going with McLaggen, he just had to know. Had to torture himself by seeing what he could have enjoyed if things had played out the way he'd originally intended. Shrugging Lavender off with another Prefect excuse, he set himself up in the corridor outside the portrait hall. That's when he saw her. On McLaggen's arm, hair shiny and down. Light pink dress in velvet that seemed to hug all the curves he hardly knew she had. It looked so soft in the candlelight of the corridor and Ron had to bite his lip to keep from calling out to her. He'd had to physically restrain himself from punching McLaggen square in the nose once he saw that McLaggen's greasy paw was clamped firmly to Hermione's backside. It gave him some satisfaction to see Hermione push his hand away. Harry had never gone into much detail about what went on between McLaggen and Hermione at the party. Ron had never wanted to bring it up either, only hoping that McLaggen hadn't been as much of a prick to Hermione as Ron feared he was.

Whatever had happened, McLaggen never again tried to approach Hermione . Git had probably underestimated how powerful a witch Hermione was. Ron smiled at the thought before guilt filled his stomach again.

Merlin, his actual girlfriend had just dumped him not ten minutes previously and here he was thinking about someone else. Worse still, now he couldn't get the image of Hermione in that dress out of his head.

'Sod it,' he told Neville, who looked startled at Ron's sudden outburst. 'I'm going to bed. See you tomorrow, yeah?'

Neville nodded as Ron stomped his way upstairs. The room was empty, although he could hear the showers going. Miserably, Ron threw himself onto his bed and drew the curtains around him.

All in all, it had not been nearly as good a day as he'd been hoping it would when he'd woken up that marning. The only upside he could see was that now he was free of Lavender.

Not true, came a small voice at the back of his head. Now you know what kind of knickers Hermione wears.

Ron groaned at the thought and pulled his pillow over his head. Hopefully Harry was having better luck with his task than Ron was with his life at the moment.