Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not mine. Is J.K. Rowling, what a lucky woman...

A/N: Okay, I know what you are thinking if you have checked out my bio: what a filthy liar this girl is. I know that I said that I don't like slash stories, but I found myself liking this pairing (I mean Ginny and Hermione), and so I decided to try to write something different from my usual stories. I can understand if you don't like this story, I'm not so thrilled about it either. Anyway enjoy the chapter.

To lockofcurls: Thanks a lot for beta-reading this chapter, you have really been quick, not used at all at such a fast answer.

Comforting

Hermione smiled when Harry's hair tickled her forehead, she looked at him, his head so near to hers that she could have counted the freckles on his nose.

"Hermione, have you found the charm you were looking for?" he asked snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Not yet," she answered closing the book that lied on the table and putting it between others that she had already gone through. "I don't think that we will find anything in the Hogwarts library about Horcruxes and such," she said matter-of-factly.

"There must be something," said Harry leafing through the pages of an old book.

"The information here is what I found last year, and it's not useful at all," said Hermione sighing.

"I need to find something that can destroy them. Look more carefully, there must be something."

"Hey, mate, look here." Ron appeared from behind a bookshelf with a heavy volume in his hands. He placed the book on the table between Harry and Hermione. "It says something here."

Hermione and Harry bended over the book and started to read. Hermione raised her head first and glanced at Ron. "How much have you read?" she asked him with her eyebrows raised.

Ron shrugged his shoulders. "Just the first line. It was pretty explicatory , wasn't it?"

Harry sat on the chair and rolled his eyes. "If you would have gone on reading you would notice that it had nothing to do with," Harry looked around himself and lowered his voice, "What we are looking for."

Ron sat down next to Harry. "Well, I'm not as good as Hermione with books," he said causing Hermione to blush slightly. "And I'm starting to think that all this research is gonna be a complete waste of time."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked him.

"Come on, Harry. There's nothing here about Horcruxes and things like that. We should search somewhere else."

"And where for example? At the Ministry of Magic? At your house? At Grimmauld Place?" he asked sarcastically.

Ron snorted. "Since we are helping you, you could be a little bit less rude. I just told you the truth."

Harry muttered something like "Sorry" and came back to the book that he was reading without noticing that Hermione was staring at him.

"Hermione?" Ron waved a hand in front of her. She blinked looking at him. "Are you okay?"

She nodded. "Yes, I'm fine," she said opening another book. "And you know, Ron, I was thinking about what you and Harry were saying."

"Really?" he asked her puzzled.

She nodded again. "And I think that Harry had a wonderful idea."

Harry raised his head and looked at her, unsure about the idea he has just had.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Ron asked her.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Grimmauld Place."

"What about Grimmauld Place?" asked Harry.

Hermione sighed. "Harry, it's clear that we won't find anything here, but maybe Grimmauld Place is the perfect place to look in."

"Hermione, we have been there for an entire summer. Don't you think that we would have noticed something?" asked Harry seriously.

"Something like what? Harry, we didn't know what to look for," said Hermione lowering her voice when a group of first years passed near them.

Harry seemed to think intently at her words. "Why Grimmauld Place?"

Hermione looked at him like he was asking the most stupid thing on Earth. "Harry, because of Regulus," she said, "He was the only one that we know, except for Dumbledore, that has found and destroyed, intentionally, one of Voldemort's Horcruxes."

Ron looked at her and smiled. "Hermione, you are a genius!" Hermione blushed again. She waved a hand in front of his face, both for taking away his attention from the red shade she was turning on and as a gesture of humility. "Don't be silly, Ron. You and Harry gave the idea, I just put the things together."

"Yeah, well, there's just one little problem. We can come to the library whenever we want, but we don't have access to Grimmauld Place," Harry pointed out.

"Of course we have, Harry, Grimmauld Place is yours," said Ron matter-of-factly.

"I know that," he said calmly, "I meant that we are not allowed to go outside of Hogwarts. Professor McGonagall will never let us go with Voldemort on the loose, there's no hope for us to have a chance on going there."

"Aren't you forgetting something?" asked Hermione sweetly. "First of all, we are seventeen now and nobody can prevent us from going wherever we want. And second, Christmas holidays are only a couple of weeks ahead."

"Are you thinking of go there during Christmas holidays?" Harry asked Hermione.

"Yes," she answered.

"But as you said, there are still two weeks to go before the holidays start," said Harry, "We don't have all that time."

"It's always better than staying here. Even if we'll spend our entire life between these books we won't find anything, Harry," Hermione stated.

"She has a point, mate," said Ron seriously.

Harry looked at his two best friends, trying to cope with what they had just said. He didn't enjoy the idea of doing nothing for two weeks, but Hermione was right. "You are saying that we should wait for two weeks?" he asked her.

Hermione nodded.

"But, Hermione, in two weeks we don't even know what Voldemort is able to do," he said seriously.

"Harry, if you have a better idea, that's the best I think we have," she answered.

Harry sighed. "No, you're right. I think that there's nothing useful here either," he said closing the book. "How do we get there?"

"You and Hermione can come to my house for the holidays and then we can go from there," said Ron.

"Aren't you forgetting something? Your mum will never let us go," said Harry.

"She can't forbid us," answered Ron.

Harry nodded. "Okay. We're coming to the Burrow and then off to Grimmauld Place," he said to Ron.

"Grimmauld Place?" asked a voice at their back. They froze, somebody heard them talking about Horcruxes and Grimmauld Place. Hermione turned her head first, when Ron and Harry heard her sighing in relief they turned their head too.

"Why were you talking about Grimmauld Place?"

"None of your business, Ginny," snapped Ron.

Ginny glared at him. "Are you planning to go there?" she asked.

"Maybe," answered vaguely Harry.

"Why?"

"If we came in the library there was a good reason, don't you think?" asked Ron rudely.

"And the reason is?" she asked as rudely as him.

"We didn't want anybody to annoy us."

Ginny cast a murderous look to her brother, but didn't answer. "What are you going to do in Grimmauld Place?" she insisted looking at Harry.

"Ginny, seriously, it's better if you don't know," he answered.

Ginny bit her bottom lip. "Oh, I understand. It's something to do with You-Know-Who, right?" she asked lowering her voice.

Harry and Ron exchanged a look and lowered their eyes.

"Yes," answered Hermione.

"Hermione!" Ron said accusatory.

"What? She has the right to know," said Hermione defensibly.

"No, she has not," snapped Ron.

"How dare you to say that?" asked Ginny, her eyes flashing dangerously.

"You are too young," said Ron.

"I'm what?" she asked without believing her ears. "Should I remind you that I helped you last year and the year before in fighting against You-Know-Who?"

"This time it's different," said Harry calmly. "We have to go to Grimmauld Place, and find something that will help us find the Horcruxes and destroy them."

"I want to come with you," she said firmly.

"No way," said Harry.

"Why?"

"You're Ron's little sister," Hary replied.

Hermione gave Harry an exasperated look and rolled her eyes. Harry wasn't very good in finding good cases when arguing.

Harry shook his head and sighed.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she snapped.

"What?" asked Harry defensively.

"It's supposed to mean that we don't want a little girl like you with us," snapped Ron.

"Is it because I'm a girl?"

"Yes," said Ron while Harry answered, "No." They looked to each other without quite know what to say.

"If it's because she is a girl, Ron. Well, I'm a girl, too," said Hermione sharply.

Ron looked at her like he was begging her not to make everything more complicated than it already was. "It's different. You are smart and-"

"I'm not smart?" Ginny almost screamed causing two Ravenclaws to turn their heads towards her.

"Of course you are," said Harry quickly. "Ron just meant that Hermione is smarter. She is smarter than me and Ron as well."

Ginny glanced at Harry. "If you aren't smart as her as well, you should be as smart as me."

"Ye- No!" said Harry suddenly realizing what she was saying. "Listen, Ginny. You are not stupid, okay? It's just that we don't want you in the middle of the war."

"Do you think that I'm not able to look after myself?"

"Yes, you are not able to look after yourself, is that what you wanted to hear?" snapped Ron sitting up and facing his sister.

Ginny looked at him like he had just slapped her.

Hermione stood up too and stepped towards them.

"You are not helping, Ron," said Harry shaking his head.

"Ron, Harry," said Hermione calmly, "I think that Ginny has proved to be smart and brave enough in these last two years. And she isn't too young. We were even younger than her when we fought Quirrel in our first year. I think that she should have a chance."

"No way," said Ron sitting back.

Hermione glanced at Harry. "No, Hermione, it's too dangerous for her. She is just – she doesn't know all the things that we know."

"Harry, if you-"

Ginny placed a hand on Hermione's arm for capturing her attention. "Never mind, Hermione," she said fighting back the tears, "They simply don't want me around. It's quite easy to understand." And without a further word she stormed out of the library sobbing uncontrollably.

"Ginny!" said Harry jumping on his feet and tried followed her.

"Harry!" Hermione held him back by his arm. "I think you did enough, didn't you?" she said sharply. "I'll go and look for her."

Hermione felt Harry and Ron's gaze on her back till she exited the door of the library. She looked around herself in the empty corridor, trying to remember where was the nearest girls' bathroom on that floor, finally she started to walk slowly to her right.

She passed by a group of Slytherins that looked at her darkly and finally entered in the bathroom, from where Lavender exited in the same moment. She shot at Hermione a hastily look and turned away her head as quickly as she could. Hermione didn't mind, if she was still angry with her about Ron, it was her problem. She walked near the toilets and started to listen.

"Ginny?" she called uncertainly where she heard someone sobbing.

The sobs stopped for a while. "Go away, Hermione," muttered Ginny with her voice broken.

Hermione leaned against the toilet's door. "No, I just want to talk with you."

"There's nothing to say," said Ginny sniffing.

"I thought that maybe you would have felt better if we talked about how stupid boys are," said Hermione sitting down on the floor, with her back to the toilet's door.

"I already know that," said Ginny in an odd tone of voice, like she was trying not to laugh and cry at the same time.

Hermione smiled. "You know that you are as brave and intelligent as Ron, Harry or me, right?"

Ginny made a verse that should have sounded like a 'yes'.

"You don't have to listen to them, they were just trying to be protective of you."

"I don't wantthem to be protective of me," protested Ginny. "I can watch after myself."

"I know that, and Ron and Harry know it as well. I think that they just wanted to say that they would never forgive themselves if something bad happen to you," explained Hermione calmly. She heard the lock of the door going off and the door opened. Ginny exited blowing her nose in a piece of toilet paper; she closed the door behind herself and sat down next to Hermione.

"Do you really think so?" she asked to Hermione.

"Yes, Ginny. Ron is your brother and you know that he loves you even if he can say some really nasty things sometimes," said Hermione sighing.

"Some really nasty things, Hermione," said Ginny stressing the word 'really'. "I don't know how you can fancy him so much."

Hermione blushed deeply and cleared her throat before keeping on talking, but her voice sounded odd anyway. "But he loves you, Ginny, he would die for you."

Ginny lowered her eyes and stared at her hands.

"And Harry, you know that he cares for you more than anybody else," said Hermione smiling.

Ginny smiled back, but when she spoke her voice was still broken. "I just wanted to be helpful. I just wanted to be like you, Hermione," she said while a tear fell down her cheek.

Hermione took a while for understanding her words. "What?" she barely whispered.

Ginny nodded. "You spend all your time with Harry and Ron, they listen to you, they always ask for your opinion," she said hastily, "They consider you smart and brave, all things that they'll never think about me."

Hermione placed a hand on Ginny shoulder and tightened her to her touch. "Don't be silly, Ginny. They already think that you are smart and brave, and they never ask for my opinion, I have to tell them things ten times before they listen to me."

Ginny smiled while Hermione wiped away her tears with her fingers, then she became suddenly serious and stopped Hermione's hand. "And what about you?"

"What?" asked Hermione looking into her eyes.

"What do you think about me?" she asked.

Hermione smiled. "I think that you are one of the bravest and brightest witches that I've ever known. And Harry and Ron think the same thing; they just don't know how to tell you."

Ginny nodded. "You are very nice, you know that, don't you?" she said unexpectedly.

Hermione flushed slightly. "Thank you."

Ginny nodded imperceptibly.

"But," started Hermione, squeezing Ginny's shoulder with her hand, "You know that you are sweet, too? You are the only friend who is not a boy that I have. It's like having the sister that I've never had and-"

Ginny stopped listening to Hermione as she listed all of Ginny's good points when an unusually familiar feeling crept into her stomach. A feeling she remembered having before with only Harry. She couldn't understand why, but she knew that kissing Hermione felt like the right thing to do. Her head came quickly towards Hermione, pressing her lips against hers.

Hermione stopped talking, and for a second she stopped breathing, too. Ginny closed her eyes, trying to free her head from every thought. When she felt Hermione's hand let her shoulder go and fell heavily on the floor of the bathroom, she opened her eyes again and moved away her head from hers.

Hermione had her eyes wide opened and looked at her with a mixture of confusion and fear on her face. Ginny brought her hands to her mouth and realized what she had just done, a lamp of fear passed through her eyes, too. "Hermione, I-I'm so-" she stammered stretching out a hand for touching Hermione.

Hermione drew back, and banged against the wall with her back. She glanced at Ginny before placing her hands on the floor and helping herself getting on her feet. She walked quickly out of the bathroom. Ginny heard her steps echoing in the empty corridor while she sat there with her hands still pressed on her lips and her heart that beat frantically in her chest.

Hermione almost ran into the library. She attracted everybody's attention when she headed for the table where Ron and Harry sat.

"Have you found her?" asked Harry raising his eyes. But he didn't wait for her answer when he noticed the upset look on her face. "What happened?"

Hermione didn't answer. She put her stuff in her bag and stormed out of the library as quickly as she could, gaining a scolding look from Madam Pince.