It was a great day.

Harry and I were sitting under a tree near the black lake. It was just the two of us. Who knew where Ron was? Probably sucking the top layer of skin cells off of that ditz's face.

But I refused to let my thoughts dwell on this because, like I said, it was a great day.

I had just completed an Arithmancy exam in which I was certain I had answered every question correct. I had finished my Potions essay the night before, something that previously had put me under too much stress. I could now enjoy the beautiful breeze I could feel originating from the lake. I decided to voice all this.

"Shit!" Harry exclaimed. "When is that essay due?"

Harry had completely missed the utter contentment in what I had just said because apparently he became distracted. "Tomorrow." I stated and glanced sideways at him.

"Damn, damn, damn! I forgot completely about that!"

His despair was endearing. I had to take pity on him. The thing I love about Harry is that he would never ask me flat out to do his homework or to let him copy off of mine. Unlike some redhead I was currently avoiding thinking about.

"I'll give you some ideas and an outline," I said rolling my eyes and smirking. "And then I'll edit whatever you write down to make sure it is good." I really didn't mind.

Harry looked at my gratefully. "You're a lifesaver, Hermione."

"I am, and don't forget it!" I smiled, with a mockingly stern expression.

"What time is it?" Harry asked after several moments of silence.

I glanced down at my watch "Time to go to Charms."

We both stood up and started walking in the direction of the castle. As we walked, my curls blew ever so slightly in the gentle breeze. I reflected again at the loveliness of the day.

My satisfaction was shattered as I looked up and saw a large figure squirming on a nearby bench.

Excuse me, it was actually two people, not one large one, that sat on the bench. They were just so closely wrapped in each other's embrace that they could have been one. And they were snogging, but it made me happier to think of it as squirming.

Still, I couldn't stand to watch and looked down. If I wasn't trying so hard to lie to myself, I could have admitted that it bothered my because I was incredibly jealous of that ditz. And hurt that he would want to be in her wet and noisy embrace. Gross.

Harry, unlike Ron, is unfortunately quite observant and he noticed my discomfort. He grabbed my hand and walked me more quickly away from them. He pulled me to another bench where they were out of our view and he sat me down.

"Okay, so Ron is my best friend and I told myself I wouldn't tell you this," Harry began staring at me straight in the eyes "but you are my best friend too and frankly, Ron is being an arse lately."

I smirked. This had definitely caught my attention.

He seemed hesitant, as though fighting an internal battle.

"Well go on!" I encouraged him.

"Fine," he said. "So I have eyes and I am not as stupid as Ron, so I see that you have feelings for him."

Wow, that was blunt. But true.

I blushed and looked down. Harry was my best friend; he of course knew that I loved Ron as more than a friend.

"So I think this has gone far enough," he continued. "Besides, I am so tired of Lavender and the way that Ron becomes when he is with her."

I looked up and smiled at him. I knew he was my best friend for a reason.

"Do you know why Ron started dating Lavender?" Harry asked me.

"Umm," I was caught off guard. I never thought there was an actual logical reason. I mean, she was pretty, girly, blonde, willing to be promiscuous. Aren't these qualities the reasons that guys date these types of girls?

Harry took my silence as confirmation that I did not know.

"Well," he began "right before that first time he snogged Lavender, he and I walked in an empty corridor and we had accidentally walked in on Ginny and Dean snogging."

His expression became a little sour. Lately, I had been getting clues that Harry might have feelings for Ginny. I would confront him about that later. Since now, there were no walls between us and we could be blunt.

"Anyways Ron made a scene—"

"Of course he did. That's Ron after all. Doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut." I cut in.

Harry glared at me. "Sorry," I said. "Continue."

"So then Ginny started to fight back and told him that he was only jealous because he had never kissed anybody."

Ron had never kissed anybody before Lavender? I guess I had never really realized that before.

"That set him off a bit, but not enough to make him angry enough to take any action about it." Harry said. "What really truly set him off was when Ginny mentioned that you snogged Viktor Krum." Harry looked up.

My shock must have shown in my face. I only snogged Viktor a couple of times, and I was never truly into it. I always had Ron on my mind, though I have never been able to admit that.

"He was jealous, Hermione. Incredibly jealous. Of Viktor." He clarified.

That jerk. Ron, not Harry. If he was jealous, he should have just told me instead of hooking up with that slut.

Still I found it hard to believe. I did not want to get my hopes up.

"Ron has been in love with you since he was thirteen years old. And so when Ginny said this, he was hurt and did not know what to do."

"So he went for Lavender?" I could not believe him. Stupid git.

"Don't tell him I told you all this. Let whatever is in the cards for the pair of you happen on its own, or you do something about it. Don't let me have anything to do with it."

"Alright, that's fair." I agreed. "Thank you Harry, you really are a good friend."

He smiled at me and pulled me to my feet just as Ron and Lavender, holding hands, walked around the corner, on their way to Charms.

Lavender just turned her chin up and looked away from us, clearly in dislike. Ron however looked at Harry and me with a hurt expression. I guess he felt left out of our little moment of laughter, which he had witnessed the end of. Or he felt jealous because he might of thought Harry and I (though this would never happened) were sharing a moment of more-than-friendship as he was holding my hand.

Good. He needed a taste of his own medicine.

We walked to class behind them. I tried not to look at their joined hands.

A few minutes later, Flitwick walked into the room and announced that we would be learning a memory charm in today's class.

Of course I have heard all about the Obliviate spell that Lockhart so notoriously performed in the Chamber of Secrets from Harry and Ron, but I had never formally been taught how to do it. Nor had I ever tried it.

Apparently the charm could be performed to erase the long term memory or the short term. For instance, a skilled witch or wizard, upon accidentally muttering an embarrassing confession, could erase just that from anyone that heard it, if necessary.

They would not completely lose their memory of the confession, it would just become incredibly hazy and ambiguous. They may think it was a dream rather than reality.

This could come in handy.

I stowed it away for later investigation.

Later that evening, the Gryffindor common room was decently packed, but Harry and I somehow had managed to claim the couch next to the fireplace. I helped him with his essay, as I had promised to do. When we were done, Harry took a deep exhale and stretched his arms out in satisfaction and let one of his arms rest on my shoulders, so that we were snuggled up on the couch together. I let myself lean into him.

Out of my peripheral vision, I saw Ron take a momentary break from his face-sucking and give Harry and me a pained glance.

Ha.

I turned to Harry. "So you like Ginny, don't you."

He looked at me and opened his mouth to speak.

"I mean as more than a little sister or friend." I made myself clear.

"Well aren't we being honest and blunt today." He laughed.

"Touché."

I took what he had said to be confirmation of my question.

"We do know each other quite well, Hermione, don't we?" Harry said.

"That's what makes us such good friends." I nodded.

"Look at us, all hung up on Weasleys." He smirked.

"Sadly." I laughed. "That will change for both of us sometime soon though. I mean the pathetic part. Because you know that Ginny has been head over heals for you since before you technically met. And if what you say about Ron's feelings for me are true…" I trailed off, lost in thought.

"It is true," he assured me. "And I hope what you say about Ginny is true."

"I don't think she ever lost hope in you, Harry."

Just then, as though she could read minds, Ginny smiled at us (but mostly Harry) from across the common room. Harry's cheeks turned red. I smiled and snuggled back into his side. Thank god for friends like him.

We sat like that for awhile, enjoying the aftermath of the secrets we had shared tonight. After Ron and Lavender had gone to bed and most of the common room had dispersed, we decided to go to bed.

"Night, Hermione." Harry said as he squeezed my hand. "It will all work out eventually," he assured me.

I hope so, I thought as I walked up the stairs.

Lavender and Parvati were as gossiping as I walked in the dormitory, as usual. They abruptly stopped talking and began giggling when I entered.

"Talking about me?" I said in a snarky tone.

Lavender looked away and continued laughing while Parvati, the nicer one, realized she might have hurt me a bit.

"No," she said. "Actually we were talking about Ron, but we know you are good friends with him."

"Well not lately she isn't" piped in Lavender in a menacing tone. "He'd rather spend his time with me." She looked at me as if to say "so there."

"Okay well I'm going to bed now." I was eager to get to sleep and escape from these two imbeciles.

Lights went out and I do not know how long I laid there, pondering my feelings for Ron. I decided to do something about it, right then and there. I loved him, and I needed to be with him right now. We had been so distant lately. And if what Harry said was true….well I needed to find out for myself.

The Cow was snoring, and I'm sure Parvati was asleep by now as well, so I tiptoed out of the dormitory door. I walked toward the entrance to the boy's dormitory.

I marveled over the convenience at the fact that girls were able to enter boy's dorms even though the reverse was not true. I guess girls are more trustworthy.

I entered the dorm and saw all five Gryffindor sixth-years fast asleep. I walked over to Ron's bed. I started down at his face. I was so dreadfully in love with him.

"Muffliato," I whispered as I waved my wand in all other directions. I did not want to wake the others. I wanted my privacy.

Let me just say that I did NOT approve of the spells that Harry had found in that sodding book. But desperate times call for desperate measures.

When I was sure that none of the other boys would be able to hear, I snuggled down next to Ron in his bed. He stirred.

He turned toward me. "Hermione?" he was clearly very confused.

"Hi Ron," I smiled. "I just wanted to come and tell you that I hate that you are with Lavender. And that there is no reason for you to ever to be jealous of Viktor, or McLaggen, or anyone else, because I am in love with you."

This took him off guard. He began to speak, but I halted him with my lips as I leaned down and kissed him. It was brief, but wonderful.

I could feel Ron's hot lips on my own and when I moved away, I leaned in and stroked his face. His cheeks were hot.

How adorable. He was blushing.

He then put his hand on my face and muttered my name in satisfaction.

I knew that this was not at all fair to Lavender, as much as I disliked her. So I grabbed my wand, which was stowed in my pocket, and I pointed it at his face.

Before he could register what I was about to do, I muttered Obliviate and then got up quietly and went back to my room, where I was surprisingly able to fall asleep fairly quickly.

I guess it was because I was happy.

In the days that followed, Ron was warm to me. I sometimes caught him staring at me pensively. Harry caught these glances we shared as well, and whenever he did, he looked away and smiled.

I don't know how, but Harry must have known exactly what I did, that bastard. He knew me far too well.

Also in the days that followed, I could see Ron becoming increasingly more annoyed with Lavender.

I loved it. I had a feeling that their relationship would not last too much longer.