Thinking about everything she had learned of lately and all the information she had picked up since the beginning of term the Gryffindor realized now that she had failed to realize just how far she had begun to drift from her friends.

She would like to blame it on everything currently hanging over their heads and threatening to ruin what little happiness each of them had but that was no real excuse for drifting from her friends. This new epiphany of sorts had Hermione seeking out the one person who could possibly understand, since it was well known that Ron had very little brain capacity for this sort of thing and Harry generally just nodded along to whatever you said just to get it over with.

Learning from a few of her yearmates that Ginny was in the fifth year girls' dormitory, Hermione quickly made her way from the common room there. Slipping inside as she had done plenty of times before, the prefect approached her red haired friend. "Hi Ginny." It was awkward that she should feel so awkward approaching the younger girl when they had also been close but things were so out of control these days there was just no telling how anything could be the same anymore.

Having been up in her dorm for nearly two hours already, Ginny thought she might need to make an appearance in the common room soon, but she really didn’t want to. She still hadn’t managed to talk to Harry or Ron since the dreaded Quidditch debacle, and she wasn’t exactly ready to grovel to the boys she so loved. Oh, she knew they would probably not demand it of her, but the redhead fully intended to grovel at their feet. She deserved it after all. She’d been a complete loon to them both.

As it was, the youngest Weasley felt nervous and alone and it was an awkward feeling. She wasn’t used to such things. Usually, Ginny was surrounded by friends and family and she was happy for it even if it was a bit stressful at times. It seemed incredibly strange to be alone thinking about how much she’d messed up already and it wasn’t even Halloween yet.

The girl was still pondering when she heard her name in a familiar, yet rarely heard of late voice. ”H-Hermione?” she asked with surprise. The redhead looked at her older friend and grinned widely, motioning for the brunette to join her on her bed. ”It feels like we haven’t talked in forever, and Merlin do I ever need to talk to you…” she muttered, ignoring the obvious awkwardness that Hermione seemed to be feeling.

”Please tell me you’ve talked to Harry or my brother. Or both. I really want to know that they don’t hate me more than Umbridge at this point.”

After a brief moment of hesitation, where Hermione felt utterly lost, she blew a soft sigh of relief, letting out the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding in the first place when the red head grinned at her. Smiling back at her friend, the bushy haired Gryffindor took the queue from Ginny and made her way further into the dorm room, and perched on the younger girl's bed. "It's has been a while hasn't it?"

Biting her lower lip as her brows drew together in thought, Hermione's gaze turned to ground as she idly played with her fingers. "I'm sorry Ginny, that I've been so scarce and distant lately. It's been a wild couple of weeks. I almost fear the rest of the year." The brunette have a slight laugh and shook her head, returning her gaze to her friend. "But we can save all that for later. What did you want to talk about?" She asked, honestly wondering what could have her friend so worried.

If Hermione were confused by Ginny's first set of words, she became even more so by the second as the red head rambled on. Now looking completely nonplussed, Hermione shook her head. "Well to be honest, no I haven't. But I can't think of any reason why either of them would ever hate you more than Umbridge." Hermione laughed at that idea. It was terribly ridiculous. "Why should you think such a thing Ginny? Is it about your and Ron's spat the other day?"

Hermione’s confusion at the worry in Ginny’s tone was obvious by the way she reacted. It seemed the redhead might be overreacting, but she was still rather worried about how to deal with the boys. Hermione dealt with them much more often than Ginny, even though Ginny had grown up with one of them and with so many other males. It was just… different somehow. It seemed being a sister was not quite as challenging as being a friend, especially where the boy-who-lived-to-be-angsty and the hottest tempered Weasley child were concerned.

”Yes. And no. I mean,” she sighed, resting her head in her hands. ”I shouldn’t have fought with Ron. He was just trying to look out for me in his own special way. I should know by now how little tact he has. And then there was the quidditch thing. And Harry. I just… I know I’m not being as helpful as I could be, and I’m afraid that I hurt the boys and they’re just so sensitive and I mean, we’re all three very stubborn and…”

Ginny flopped back onto her bed, groaning. Ugh. This just seemed like too much to worry about. ”How do you always stay on their good sides anyway? I mean, even when you make them mad they forgive you as soon as they need help with homework.” Maybe she just needed to be more useful to them. It seemed Ron was being the best friend for Harry most of them without her support, and it wasn’t like Ron needed another sibling on top of all his brothers. She was mostly just his annoying little sister who he apparently had to keep from ruining the whole family’s reputation.

”I guess it just seems like I’ve let them down somehow.”

It was quite clear Ginny was very worried and worked up over her recent squabbles with Ron and Harry. The bushy haired Gryffindor didn't mean to laugh, and she certainly wasn't laughing at Ginny or her troubles. It was just funny to Hermione that the younger year thought Hermione was always on the two boys' good sides. That was far from the truth, and in many ways Hermione was jealous of Ginny and the connection the younger girl had with Harry.

"I'm not always on their good sides Ginny. We have our fights just like everyone else. It's normal. We're not all going to get along all the time." Hermione attempted to explain in an understanding voice. "And please," she continued on waving away Ginny's worry about Ron. "Ron doesn't have a single sensitive bone in his body. He's just worried about you Ginny. And you know he has a habit of saying things the wrong way. I bet he feels just as bad about your fight as you do. He's just worried about you, and about what other people are saying about you."

Hermione nodded to her friend, and then sighed. "As for Harry, he's probably as clueless as ever as to why you went off on him. But you know he'll forgive you. And don't let me catch you saying you're not useful to any of us ever again Ginny Weasley! You've been more useful to Harry than either myself or Ron so far this year, and for that," the older witch paused, looking down at her hands in shame, "for that I am especially grateful." Hermione could never thank the younger girl enough for being there for Harry so much when he needed someone, even if she wished it had been her instead that the raven haired boy had sought out and trusted.

The redhead grinned at her friend’s words, laughing lightly up at the ceiling when Hermione said her brother was completely insensitive, though not quite in those words. ”Yeah, I guess you’re right. I’m pretty sure Ronnikins would hex me silly if I called him sensitive,” she said, laughing again and then falling into a bit of a giggle fit because of lying on her back and laughing. It was strange how laughing on your back caused a chain reaction of laughter, but it seemed to happen every single time and Ginny was actually rather thankful for it this time.

”Harry is pretty clueless, isn’t he? He still doesn’t realize the way you’ve been staring at him lately, or the way I’ve stopped doing so,” a devious smile played on Ginny’s lips as she waited for the other girl’s brain to work it all out. She wondered just how Hermione would react to the observant ginger having noticed the furtive glances and glazed looks she’d been shooting her best friend. It might not be the nicest way to inform Hermione that the Weasley had figured things out, but oh well. She probably needed someone to talk to about it anyway, and who better than the girl who had crushed on the Chosen One for the past five years?

Ginny tugged on her friend’s shirt, willing the older girl to lay back on the bed with her. Maybe she could get Hermione to start giggling and they could resume the never-ending giggle fest of laying on one’s back and laughing. That seemed almost therapeutic, and therapy was about what they needed by this point. It seemed being friends with Harry did that to a person. ”Don’t worry about me being there for Harry. It’s what you and Ron would have done if you could have. Harry needs all of us at different times. And we all need him. That’s what friends are for.”

A shocked look stole across the older witch's face when she realized Ginny was either mor observant than she realized or she had been giving away too much herself. Blushing heatedly and looking almost ashamed even if Ginny didn't look too bothered by Hermione's developed feelings for their raven haired friend the bushy headed gryffindor let herself be pulled down onto the bed and laughed along with the red head happy that finally someone else knew. It was like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders and she could finally breath especially since she had worried about how Ginny would react mostly because she knew the younger girl had been sweet on Harry for years. Hermione didn't want to lose a friend over a boy.

"I guess that is true. If only he would let us be there for him before all hell broke loose instead of after." She remarked lightly still laughing and sighing when she thought of Harry. He really had stolen her heart and Hermione couldn't even say when or how and she was at a loss of what to do about it. Biting her lip and eyebrows drawing together in thought she squeaked out, "What do I do Ginny?"

The redhead was relieved when her friend laid back and enjoyed the laughter. Sometimes you just had to relax and feel a bit of joy, and it seemed like this was a moment when that was a real benefit. ”You know he’ll never tell us ahead of time,” she murmured, thinking of Sirius for a moment before shoving that thought away. If he’d told them ahead of time they might have been able to save the man, but the ‘might haves’ would only tear them apart, so she forgot it quickly and moved on.

”As far as what you should do, I think you might just need to talk to him. Maybe if you just… tell him how you feel, you know? Harry likes to talk about stuff with people. He likes to know what’s going on. But…” she let out a sigh when she thought about what she’d gone through when she was still stuck on Harry herself. He was a difficult guy to have feelings for, especially when he hardly seemed to know what he wanted past the hero complex and revenge for his parents’ deaths.

She looked over at the bushy haired girl, wondering if she could handle what Ginny was about to say. ”He might not tell you what you want to hear. I mean, look at what all I went through. He is very stubborn and seems completely against the idea of having a little bit of normal teenage fun when he still has a giant mission going on and all. Plus, there’s no telling who he even likes. The last crush he admitted to was Chang, and you know how well that went.”

She felt like she was preparing the girl for failure, but it had to be done. If Harry wasn’t into Hermione the way she was with him, it would be rather… awkward. Better to have at least one of them prepared for it, right? ”So who do you think is our biggest threat this year? I’m kind of leaning toward hormones myself.” The redhead laughed, flashing her friend a grin. There was nothing else she could really do about the whole Harry situation, but she could lighten the mood, and that was always a good choice.

A frown developed on her face when Ginny was speaking. It was true that in this particular case the younger female was more experienced. Having had a crush on Harry for several years. For Hermione it had been waking up one day to find that the light shined differently on her best friend than it did anyone else.

The gryffindor didn't mean his fame or the camera flashes. The bushy haired witch wished with all her might that that would all go away so that Harry could live a free and happy life as normally as he always wanted to. It was that one day she had woken to find that when he smiled her own smile grew. That she went out of her way to see the light in his eyes brighten and when he complimented her the butterflies in her stomach fluttered unbearable.

Just like that Hermione had trouble eating because all she could think about was the boy who had been her best friend for so long. She had a hard time taking in what Ginny said because Hermione was not sure she could simply just ignore her feelings for much longer.

The older witch sighed and closed her eyes. "Maybe you're right Ginny. Maybe I should talk to him about it. I could even ask him to the ball the heads and prefects are planning." A small smile made its appearance. Even if he didn't see her as more than a friend Harry couldn't say no to going with a friend.

That settled for the time being she switched attention to the other problems arising this year. She looked sideways at Ginny and laughed without humor. "I think I might agree with you on that one. There is too much going on to really figure it out. Sirius has a daughter apparently and there's a Riddle running amuck. Not to mention we're going up against Dumbledore.."

She trailed off and sighed again and then laughed, and this time it was a real laugh. "Just another year for us."

Hermione’s words were true and concerning and yet, Ginny couldn’t help but laugh. ”If you think about it, this year has been uneventful compared to others. Nobody’s even been attacked yet. That’s gotta be a record these days.” It was strange to think about all the stuff that would probably happen soon in their young lives. Something was going on with Voldemort, based on the silence of his followers and the appearance of his relative at the school. Then there was Sirius’s daughter apparently, who Ginny really needed to ask Harry about, as this was the first she’d heard of that little detail.

There were a lot of crazy things in the works, but until they came to fruition they weren’t really worth worry about in Ginny’s eyes. She sighed and relaxed a bit on the bed, enjoying the loss of tension between her and her bushy haired friend. ”I’m sure we’ll have plenty of stuff to deal with soon enough,” she said, peering up at the ceiling. She felt like she was closer to the golden trio now, and it was a nice sense of belonging. Ever since helping with the Umbridge distraction last year, Ginny had felt like she made herself useful to them and really proved she could handle herself with all the craziness that plagued the teens each year. It was nice, feeling useful.

”You wanna go get some dinner? I’m starving.” Ginny thought it would be nice to keep doing normal things as long as they could. It wouldn’t last long, as ‘normal’ never did around here, but for now, it was a small comfort. She smiled at her friend as she got up from the bed and offered the older girl a hand up. They definitely needed a bit of ‘normal’ before the crazy started for the year.