Disclaimer: I own nothing. Well, I own some things, but I do not own these characters, or anything else related to Harry Potter. Enjoy the story!

Ginny Weasley dragged her tired limbs through the deserted halls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and silently cursed the bag she was carrying which currently held twice the amount of books it did normally. After such a grueling morning on the pitch, all she wanted to do was relax under the warm sun and enjoy this beautiful day, but she had essays to write, and a brother to visit, so she fought the urge to break through the front doors as she passed, and trudged onwards toward the hospital wing.

Hermione would kill me if I didn't drop off Ron's work, she thought, convincing herself that there were more important matters at stake here. And if Hermione killed me, Harry would end up in a bed next to Gilderoy Lockhart in St. Mungo's because losing another player from the house team could only lead to his insanity. Ginny chuckled to herself but the laughter quickly left her eyes as her mind started to wander into dangerous territory.

Harry.

I have a boyfriend, she argued inwardly. Dean's wonderful and he cares for me. Besides, Harry's never thought of me as anyone except his best mates little sister. It was true; Harry Potter had been the object of Ginny Weasley's affection since she'd learned of the Boy-Who-Bloody-Lived many years ago during bedtime stories, but he had been given ample opportunity to express some feeling other than friendship toward her, and he hadn't. Lost in her own thoughts, Ginny never saw the blurred, blonde mass that flew around the corner until it was too late.

"Hey, Lavender," she said, as she bent over to scoop up the books that had dropped to the floor in the collision. She offered her hand to her brother's girlfriend, who had managed to end up on the floor along with Ginny and Ron's books, but she was already rising to her feet.

"If you're going to see Ron, don't bother," she said dejectedly. Ginny thought she saw a tear slide down Lavender's cheek, but dismissed it. "He's sleeping."

Again?

She was about to voice this thought, but Lavender had already walked away from her and was nearing the end of the hall. Ginny yelled out a sarcastic, yet cheerful "Nice talking with you Lavender!" at her retreating back and finished picking up her books. After performing a quick "Reparo" on her bag, she pushed through the doors of the hospital wing and was greeted by snores so deafening, she briefly wondered how Madam Pomfrey managed to sleep every night. Snores that were nearly too loud to be real.

Asleep my arse.

"Oh, you're sleeping." Ginny's louder-than-required words filled the hospital wing and she was met with an encouraging look (Was that a smirk?)from a very amused Madam Pomfrey. Still, the snoring refused to cease. "Damn. I guess I'll just go back to the common room then; I hope I can reach Hermione before she comes down. She might as well not waste the trip." With that, silence filled the room and Ron turned over in his bed to face his sister.

"Hey, Ginny."

Ginny laughed quietly to herself and filed that piece of information in her brain under facts to owl Fred and George. "The sleeping marvel awakes!" she declared with derisive fervor. "I just ran into Lavender a few moments ago and I'm sure she hasn't gotten very far." She couldn't hide the smirk that crept onto her lips. "I could go let her know you're awake. You know, if you want."

"Funny," Ron replied with an air of irritation, but Ginny caught the underlying carefree tone of the remark, and she couldn't help but smile brightly. Soon the duo was laughing together cheerfully. It was the first time Ginny had heard Ron laugh since his birthday and she felt the heavy weight she had been carrying around since his poisoning lift off her shoulders.

"I've brought you schoolwork, compliments of Hermione." Ginny plopped into the chair next to a less-than-pleased Ron and pulled out textbooks, parchment, and quills from her bag.

"No chess?"

"You can beat me at chess later," Ginny teased. Ron gave in reluctantly and grabbed some parchment and a quill.

"I'll hold you to that, you know." They settled into a comfortable silence and began work on their respective essays.

A 35-inch essay describing the similarities and differences of inferi and ghosts? Um, both are dead; inferi are corporeal and ghosts are not.

Bloody hell, I miss Umbridge.

With a sigh of frustration, Ginny threw down her quill on the table in front of her. Sod it, this is hopelessAs hard as she tried, she could not force her mind to stay on her essay. Ron and Lavender? She knew she shouldn't bring it up with Ron, but for reasons beyond her comprehension, Ginny needed to know why he had gone there. Lavender's beautiful and brave (she is a Gryffindor after all) but she always thought that there was something between her brother and Hermione. Pulling forward every ounce of courage in her body and preparing herself for her brother's temper, she straitened in her chair and cleared her throat.

"Ron, can I ask you a question?"

"Yeah?" he asked, looking up at her from his own essay.

This is your brother, and you're a Gryffindor for Merlin's sake!

"Why did you start things with Lavender?" She unconsciously flinched and braced herself for the worst, but the worst never came. Ron averted his gaze from her eyes to his lap and studied his hands for quite some time.

Shite, Ginny thought, silently reprimanding herself for bringing up such a sore subject, days after her brother had nearly died. She was about to change the topic to something more upbeat, quidditch perhaps, when Ron shifted his gaze back to her eyes. What she saw there made her really wish she had never broached this subject at all. He was heart-broken.

"Do you remember what you told me that day Harry and I found you with Dean?" Ron's voice was so low, Ginny had to strain her ears to hear him properly.

Oh. It was at that precise moment when everything clicked inside Ginny's head. Everything that had happened in the past three months between Ron and Hermione, it all made sense…and she was to blame completely.

"You mean the bit about how Hermione had snogged Victor and how you were the only one that had never snogged before?" She hoped beyond hope she was wrong.

"Yeah."

No such luck.

"Ron, I'm sorry." Ginny's eyes searched Ron's for pardon. "What I said to you that day; it was harsh and uncalled for and I should have never said it. Especially not in front of Harry and Dean."

"Don't worry about it Gin." He sounded defeated. "It's not as if anything you said wasn't true." Ginny tentatively took Ron's hand in her own and urged him to go on. "I didn't have any experience with girls," he continued, "And when you told me about Hermione and Krum…well, I just realized I'd never be able to measure up to that."

OK, so it wasn't entirely her fault.

"Ron-"

"Victor bloody Krum, rich, famous, better at quidditch than me; better at everything really."

"Ron-"

"How could I compete with him? Hermione deserves better than that. Better than me, at any rate…"

At this, Ginny became lost in her own thoughts. Is that really what he reckons; that he's not good enough for Hermione? That she would rather be with Victor and give birth to a dozen or so rich, famous, perfect quidditch-playing children than be with him? If he only knew… It wasn't that Ron wasn't good enough for Hermione; Ron was the only one who was. Ginny should know; she'd been hearing it from Hermione ever since her second year.

"…so when Lavender came on to me after the quidditch match, I couldn't really refuse her, could I? Hermione'll never want me anyway, not after Krum."

Oh Merlin, he was a bloody moron.

"Ronald Bilius Weasley, you daft twit!" Ginny was officially annoyed.

"Huh?" Ron asked with a baffled look on his face; a look Ginny welcomed. Anything was better than the hurt look that had graced his face mere moments ago.

"Ron, listen to me. Hermione doesn't care about all of those things. The money and the fame, it's not important to her and you know it." She poked her finger into Ron's chest for emphasis. "You know Hermione better than anyone, except maybe Harry, so why can't you see it?" Ginny was trying her hardest to make her git of a brother understand the subtext without having to be more specific, but from the dazed look in his eyes, her plan did not appear to be working. "And she does not care for Victor Krum."

"But all those letters she pens-"

"Not as a snogging partner, anyway." There, that should have been blunt enough for him.

"But you said-"

Or not. Merlin, he really is thick.

"I know what I said Ron, but I had just been caught snogging my boyfriend by my brother. All I ever wanted was for you to feel a little bit of the embarrassment I was feeling."

"So Hermione never snogged Krum? Ron asked with hopeful exhilaration.

Ginny knew she had to choose her words wisely. "No, she did." The crestfallen look in her brother's eyes nearly broke her heart.

Hermione was going to kill her.

"But she's never talked to me about Victor the way she's talked to me about you." The hope that sprung back into Ron's expression was almost enough to erase the feeling of guilt over betraying Hermione's confidence. Almost.

Ginny was dead.

"Hermione fancies you, Ron. Not Victor, you. She has since the night in the Shrieking Shack when you risked your life to protect Harry from Sirius, and I reckon you fancy her too."

I'd better reserve that room in St. Mungo's for Harry.

"You're wrong." His gaze fell to his lap again. Ginny had never seen him look so serious.

"What do you mean, I'm wrong?" she asked incredulously.

"I mean you're wrong. I don't fancy Hermione."

What?

"I'm in love with her."

WHAT? Huh?

"Oh." Ginny was dumbstruck, which didn't happen very often. "Wait, what? You're in love with her?"

"It was that ruddy love potion," he exclaimed with exasperation. "Ever since the Yule Ball fourth year I've known that I felt differently toward Hermione. I just didn't know what my feelings meant. At least I didn't know until I ate those blasted Chocolate Cauldrons. It may have been the potion, but for a few moments I was head-over-heels in love with Romilda Vane, and after Slughorn gave me the antidote, my feelings for Hermione finally made sense. If that's what it feels like to be in love, than that's what I am. With Hermione."

Wow.

Ginny released a breath she hadn't even known she was holding and let her mind fully absorb everything she'd just been told. Ron was in love? She knew he had feelings for Hermione, but she'd not known how strong they were.

"I've really messed thing up with her, haven't I?" There was that hurt again. Ron's face was screwed up with guilt and his voice broke a little with his last words.

"No, I don't reckon so," Ginny replied truthfully. Despite everything that had happened between Ron and Hermione since Christmas, she was sure that Hermione still cared for her brother and she wasn't leaving this room until Ron knew that too.

"What can I do to fix this, Gin?"

"Well, you need to end things with Lavender for one." Ron's gaze began to head to his lap again, so Ginny placed his chin in-between her thumb and forefinger and lifted his eyes to hers. "And you need to talk to Hermione about this. I know you didn't mean to, but you've really hurt her Ron, and she needs to know how you feel. She deserves that."

"Yeah." He looked guilty, scared, helpless, and hopeful all at once.

His emotional range has definitely been upgraded from teaspoon to tablespoon, at least.

"Actually, it probably wouldn't hurt if you finished your Potions essay before she comes down for a visit either," Ginny said in an attempt to brighten the somber mood that had settled in the room. "You know how Hermione feels about schoolwork." Ginny was rewarded for her efforts with a brilliant smile from Ron.

That's better.

"She's mental, that one." Ron chuckled and picked up his quill.

Another comfortable silence settled between the duo, and they both returned to their abandoned essays. However, only a few moments had passed when Ron spoke up again.

"You are aware that when I told you there were better blokes in the world than Michael Corner, I wasn't talking about Dean Thomas, right?"

Where in the bloody hell had that come from?

"What are you getting at, Ron?" Ginny asked with a hint of trepidation in her voice. He better not be talking about what I reckon he is.

"Well," Ron uttered with hesitation. "It's just that, I-I--"

"Would you stop stuttering and spit it out already?" she snapped at him harshly. He really was a daft twit.

"Ginny, you've been in love with Harry since you were five years old."

And there it is.

"Ron, don't," she cut in sharply.

"Gin-"

"Look." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before continuing. "I have a boyfriend, ok? I'm happy with Dean, and he loves me, so-"

"Do you love him?"

With one simple question, her brother had surpassed everyone Ginny knew in intelligence.

"Yes—no—I don't know," She felt rather frustrated and tired all of a sudden. "What does it matter anyway? Whatever I may have had with Harry was over long before it started." Ginny sighed and slumped back in her chair, dejected.

Ron looked at his sister with concern and love. "I may be a daft git-"

"Twit."

"I may be a daft twit," he declared with a smirk forming on his lips, "but I'm not blind, Ginny. I've seen the looks Harry's been giving you when he reckons no one is watching and he's been distracted for months. Ever since we walked in on you and Dean, actually."

"Ron-"

"Just hear me out, ok? I know Harry just as well as I know Hermione, and maybe you should just consider taking some of your own advice."

Now it was Ginny's turn to stare at the hands tightly clasped in her lap. She honestly didn't know what to do with this new information. Hermione told her to move on last year, and she'd tried; she really had. Was it even possible to give up on someone you had been in love with for the better part of your life? And if what Ron said was true, how much time had she already wasted moving on?

Ginny took a deep breath and made a decision; Dean loved her, and she cared for him very deeply. Harry was one of her closest friends and she cared for him as well, but she couldn't live her life hoping that one day the Boy-Who-Lived would sneak a glance in her direction. It wouldn't be fair to her or Dean. Ginny was torn away from her inner dialogue by the sound of a certain bushy-haired best friend approaching Ron's bed.

"Hey, Ginny. Ron." Ginny reckoned she saw the early stages of a blush creep into Hermione's cheeks. She waved hello to the new arrival and winked nonchalantly at her brother while pointing to her cheeks. Ron's face paled.

"I ran into Dean on the way here, and he wanted me to let you know he'd be a few minutes late to lunch." Hermione spoke to Ginny but her eyes never strayed from Ron's.

"Thanks, Hermione."

"And Harry wanted to know if you fancied a fly later on," she continued distractedly still gazing at her brother.

This was shaping up to be one hell of an owl.

I own the twins.

"OK, well I've got a date, so I'll leave you two alone to catch up." She turned on her heels and headed toward the exit.

"We'll finish this later, Ginny," Ron barked at her retreating back. She spun around and mouthed, "Talk to her" out of Hermione's line of sight before she left the hospital wing to find Dean.

Harry could wait.