They day before term started Hermione was itching to throw a hex at her red haired friend. While they had been coldly polite to one another, he kept staring at her. It was rude, but she kept brushing him off. It was only after his stares were turning into glares that her temper started to rise again.

Sure most of the guys in the tower kept staring at her too, but all she had to do was look them in the eye and they would go on their merry way. It didn't work that way with the twins of course, but they at least came out and said what they wanted.

"Blimey Hermione, you looked fit."

"Who knew you had a body under those robes."

"Watching you dance-"

"-It was like watching a unicorn give birth!"

"What?" she laughed, having never been compared to a unicorn before.

"You were all legs."

"And your kiss with Fleur."

"It was bloody hot." They finished together.

"What was it like?"

"Was she your first?"

Hermione's face was lit up with mirth, "Not that it's any of your business, but no she wasn't my first kiss. She was my first kiss with a girl though."

Their eyes widened.

"Our little Hermione, out exploring the world."

"Experiencing new things and new flavors."

"Did you like it?"

The petite witch shrugged.

"It was a heat of the moment thing. So it was pretty satisfying, but I doubt we'll be kissing again."

The twins were watching her, fascinated.

"Hermione… are you… a lesbian?"

Hermione burst out in laughter, she ended up doubled over, clutching her stomach.

"Am I- am I- am I a lesbian?"

She laughed more.

"No, no," she chuckled, "I like girls just as much as the next person."

Fred and George looked at her amused, both of them arched an eyebrow at her.

"Did you hear that, George? 'As much as the next person'."

"I heard her," he said with an amused smile, "Hermione, not all girls like girls."

Hermione smiled at them with another chuckle, "What?"

"Not all girls like girls, Hermione."

"What? Of course they do, don't they? Girls are pretty and soft and silly, even if some of them are vapid harpies."

Fred and George smiled at each other before looking back at Hermione. They agreed with her, those were some key reasons that guys liked girls.

"Hermione, you may not be a lesbian, but you're definitely not straight if that's your answer," George said humorously.

"What? But I like boys! I like girls, but not as much as I like boys."

"Little Hermione is young in the ways of love, Fred."

"Indeed she is, George."

"You can like both, Hermione."

"You can also love for love."

"Or you can just not care."

Hermione loved and hated when they spoke together. They were a whirlwind of brilliance (and sometimes information). It must be nice to have a soundboard who thought a lot like you.

"You mean like different sexualities?"

"There's our girl!"

"I told you she was brilliant, Fred."

"I'm sure I was the one who told you that."

"What do you mean? I'm not bisexual, and I care, just I don't at the same time. I care about the person," Hermione said confused, she started to chew on her bottom lip.

"Love for love." They quipped.

"Our little Hermione is pansexual, Fred."

"She's a fiery pansexual, George."

Hermione squinted at them to make sure she was seeing them correctly.

How was it they were staring at her, just like everyone else, and the conversation turned to a discussion on her sexuality?

"So I'm pansexual, so what?" she said, starting to feel a little defensive.

The twins looked at each other and then back at her.

"We don't mean anything by it, Hermione. Just nice to know. We were going to start collecting bets if you were using Krum as a beard though. We would have made a killing for our joke shop."

Hermione rolled her eyes at them in a friendly manner.

"So what? Is that what has half the tower's knickers in a twist?" She asked blandly.

The twins grinned at her, knowing at this point she didn't know.

"Hermione, you kissed a girl before half the tower did."

"Well those who are into girls at least," George added as second thought.

Hermione blinked owlishly, completely stunned. She looked at the twins, then at the floor, then back at the twins.

"You mean to tell me that half of the tower is jealous that I've kissed someone before they have?" she asked incredulously.

"You've reached a mile stone that many people want to reach, Hermione."

"Well except the firsties, but they'll come around."

The witch pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. She had nothing to say about that. That was their problem, not hers. Just because they were miffed at their own lack of progress in life, didn't mean they had to stare at her like a zoo animal.

"Anyways you were in top form."

"Half the blokes are jealous because of how fit Fleur is, and she kissed you."

"They're just jealous they don't have as much sex appeal as you."

"We're just here to warn you that Ronnie looks like he's going to blow his top soon."

"Well that, and tell you how fit you looked."

"See ya, Hermione."

And like a breeze, they left. She appreciated the compliments and the warning. She was a little put out how sexualities weren't covered in her health education, however obscure it was. The witch was happy that at least two of the Weasley's were aware and gave her a quick rundown, even if she was sure there was more. She'd do some light reading later in the library before term resumed, knowing that most of the tower would be rushing to finish tomorrow.

By the time lunch had finished Ron had burned a proverbial hole into Hermione's head and she was done with it. They were walking back towards the tower when she couldn't contain herself anymore.

"Is there a reason you keep glaring at me, Ronald?" she hissed at him.

"I'm not glaring," he denied petulantly.

"Whatever," she scoffed under her breath, "Why have you been staring at me then?" she questioned looking at him pointedly.

"You kissed Fleur," he said with a glare.

"I'm sorry, come again?" she asked, squinting at him, trying to see how that was his business.

"You kissed Fleur. At the ball," he pushed on.

"She kissed me, but that's beside the point. What does it matter to you anyways?" she questioned.

"You didn't push her away, you weren't disgusted by it, and you looked like you liked it," he said accusingly.

"I did like it. It was in the heat of the moment," she said lightly.

"H- Hermione, the kiss… D-did it feel nice?" Neville asked, blushing and looking at the floor. Harry was walking slightly ahead of him, but found the banister to be extremely interesting at that moment.

Hermione blushed and smiled at the shy boy.

"Yeah, it was nice, Nev."

"So you're a lesbian! Is that it!?" Ron screeched, half in anger half in shock.

His volume attracted the stares of a lot of people, even if half of Gryffindor was already eavesdropping on the conversation.

"What? No, I'm not a lesbian, Ronald. You can ask your brothers," the words were out her mouth before she thought about how that might sound.

"M-my brothers? Which ones? How would they know!?"

Hermione huffed at the young redhead, exasperated with his one track mind; also pretty sure that half of the people listening would be thinking along the same lines.

"Because Fred and George know that I'm not a lesbian. And before you ask, no, I didn't do anything with them besides talk," she sneered slightly at her friend.

She turned on her heel and walked up the stairs, heading towards the library to get away from certain people.

'What does my sexuality matter to him anyways? It's not like he'd ever have a shot with me to begin with. That'd be like incest.' She thought angrily as she walked quickly through the halls.

Once she made it to the front of the library however she turned abruptly.

"Thimi," she whispered, knowing the elf would be able to hear her.

Thankfully Thimi caught on and simply tugged on the bottom of her shirt to let her mistress know that she was there. While there technically wasn't anybody in the halls, it lined up with the fact that she wasn't to be seen with her mistress.

Hermione felt herself relax and kept walking, knowing that she wasn't alone. She wasn't paying attention to where she was going, but knew that it wasn't in the direction of the tower. It wasn't long however before she found herself in front of the door of the room of requirement. It was different this time, the handle was golden and rectangular, like when you went to a doctor's office.

She wasn't sure what it was that she needed just then, not having focused on a single thought while walking, more like pacing since she passed the room three times. She stared at the room curiously before turning the doorknob.

Inside the room looked like a spa. There was the calming sound of water, some strategically placed stones. Hermione hadn't been to a spa since the summer, but with the stress of everything this year, with the added stress of Ronald, she guessed she needed it. Another sweeping look she saw a large cat palace that was more box than scratching post.

"Thimi, can you get Crooks for me please?"

"Yes, miss," the small elf said quietly.

The elf left and was back just as quietly and smoothly, but with a grumbling Crookshanks in her arms. Thimi didn't put him down until she was in the room, and let the beast run towards the palace that the room had made for him.

Hermione quickly entered behind them and shut the door firmly, knowing that no one else would be able to enter because she needed peace and quiet right now.

Hermione saw the hot tub and stripped down, not concerned with her elf or cat seeing her naked, and climbed into the relaxing tub with its bubbles on full blast.

"I didn't even know the room knew about hot tubs!" she exclaimed happily.

"The room knows many things, miss. The room is knowing new and old."

"What do you mean, Thimi?" she asked, leaning back and enjoying the jets.

"The room is knowing new and old things, miss. It has to exist in current time or the room cannot provide."

"But a hot tub is a muggle invention," she said lightly, curious.

"The room is not caring of muggle or magical, the room is knowing," The little elf was starting to sound exasperated. Both with herself for not explaining better and with her mistress for not understanding.

Hermione let the conversation drift by not saying anything. She sat in the tub letting the water work its own kind of magic while Crookshanks played in the palace and Thimi was fiddling with something next to a table.

"Thimi, what're you doing?" she asked curiously.

Her and Crookshanks were enjoying themselves, but it didn't look like Thimi was.

"Th-Thimi is reading, miss," she sounded ashamed of herself.

'She can read?' Hermione filed that away for later.

"Well what're you reading? I hope it's something nice, I want you to enjoy yourself in the room too!"

"Thimi is most enjoying when she is taking care of Mistress Hermione!" she said haughtily.

"Well then what are you reading?" Hermione asked, leaning on the edge of the tub, facing her house elf. She had started to come to better terms with having an elf, and she was sure that the bond was helping in its own way.

"Thimi is reading on how to… how to do spa things for miss."

"Will that make you happy?"

"Oh yes! Thimi would be most happy to help miss relax more!"

"Okay then, let me know when you've read it all or when you feel like you're ready to start practicing. I'll be here." With that Hermione went and leaned back against the tub.

30 minutes later Thimi let Hermione know that she was ready. Hermione smiled at her little elf because she sounded confident, even if it was going to be her first time.

"First we is doing hot stone massage!"

With that Thimi started taking care of Hermione's aches, pains, and stress out of her body. Hermione spent most of what was left of the day in the room, asking Thimi questions every now and again about simple things about how to manage her grooming by herself on the day to day basis concerning her hair, and things about elves and things about Thimi herself.

By the time Hermione and Crookshanks made it back to the tower she felt like she was ready for the start of term. She coolly ignored Ron, seeing him sulk with his brothers nearby, as though they were his keepers.

What happened for the rest of the term would happen. She could only hope that damage control wouldn't be too bad, but tried to stay realistic about it.

First potions class after yule break was quite interesting so to speak.

The lesson itself wasn't interesting, it was quite normal. It was in its normal strict and firm boundaries, they were given a potion to create, the recipe on the board, and told to make it within the hour.

It was a simple potion, but explosive. Simple enough for scatterbrains to remember, dangerous enough to make them get it together faster. A medium strength muscle relaxer, it was the salamander's blood that made it possible to explode.

What was interesting was that Professor Snape was snapping at everyone, including his Slytherins. He seemed to be in a bad mood, and while he was just a tad more acidic than usual, he didn't pick on Harry as much as he did when he was in such a foul mood. If anything he seemed to pick more on Ron.

"Mr. Weasley! If that is how you powder chamomile leaves, how is it you have anything left that is useful! Even Longbottom's leaves are more finely powdered and actually still in his bowl!"

Ron's face clashed with his hair while the Slytherins snickered.

"Miss Parkinson! Were you or were you not going to add extra ginger roots and allow your potion to bubble over?"

But not once did he look at Hermione, tease her, make fun or her, or point out how textbook perfect her potion was. It seemed more like he was avoiding her, and a small part of her was hurt by it, even though she was unsure why.