A/N: I own nothing, these wonderful charactors belong to JKR, I just borrow them from time to time.

Hermione Granger leaned against Ginny's bedroom window frame and gazed out of it at two young men de-gnoming the garden below. One was her best friend and the other was the man she was secretly in love with. Well…maybe not quite secretly.

Ron grabbed a gnome by the ankles, swung it in circles over his head and launched it over the garden wall. Hermione let out a sigh of longing and slumped against the window.

"You know Hermione, you could always make the first move." Hermione spun around to find Ginny standing behind her with a basket of clean laundry in her arms. Hermione hadn't even heard her approach.

"I can't do that Ginny." She said softly.

"Hermione, I love my brother dearly but he's as thick as a concussed troll. You might be eighty by the time he figures it out." Ginny came to stand next to her at the window and gazed out at the two outside. Ron may as well not even have been out there, Ginny had eyes only for Harry. "They're both idiots" she sighed.

"Ron's getting better though, he's been very thoughtful lately and he's always complimenting me now. Besides, you shouldn't be too hard on Harry, he thinks he's protecting you."

Ginny snorted. "Protecting me? His breaking up with me was for my protection? What a load of bull." Ginny had abandoned her laundry basket now and was pacing the room in agitation. "The whole school knew we were seeing each other, and the only ones that know we split up are in this house. How many death eater wanna-be's were in that school and would love to sell information to you-know-who for his favor? Malfoy probably already did." She slumped onto her bed, buried her face in her hands and muttered "Mum keeps us all busy with the wedding preparations, keeping us inside and them out, I can't even get the chance to talk to him, it's horrible."

Hermione sat next to her friend and put her arm around her shoulders. "How on earth did two smart witches like our selves loose our hearts to those two?"

Ginny gave a sad laugh, "we didn't loose out hearts, we gave them away willingly. Now they play Quidditch with them, tossing them in the air like a quaffle, leaving us to hope they catch them again before they smash to pieces on the pitch." She spat bitterly.

Hermione threw her hands up in the air, "You Weasley's and your Quidditch analogies, I swear I don't understand how you can relate all of life's issues to that sport." She exclaimed, exasperated.

"When you love the game…" Ginny trailed off and fell back on her bed.

"You're as bad as your brother, you know that don't you?"

Ginny threw her pillow at her without looking and got her square in the face. She propped herself up on her elbows and looked at Hermione. "I think I'll try to get Harry alone tomorrow, it's his birthday after all, and mum can't make him work all day." She paused, "I may need you to keep Ron busy for me. You don't know how bad he behaved when he found out that Harry ended it, you'd have thought that Harry had dumped him instead of me. Ron's been as bad as mum in trying to keep us apart."

"I'll do what I can, but if he knows you're with Harry there isn't much I can do to keep him away."

"Oh, just pin him up against the wall and snog the hell out of him. That would be a great first move on your part actually, no room for misinterpretation. Even a git like Ron would get the hint." Ginny laughed.

"I told you, the next move will not be made by me." Hermione ground out.

Ginny sat up, excitement written clear across her face. "The next move?" she questioned, "what's happened already that there's a next move?"

"Nothing, I didn't mean it like that." She snapped.

"Don't give me that rubbish Hermione Granger, you are not one to use words improperly." Ginny was never one to back away from an argument. "What did you two do?"

"Just drop it, okay?" Hermione pleaded, but Ginny wasn't letting up.

She stood up and crossed her arms over her chest. "No. You confide to me at night about how you wish Ron would show some interest in you and I try to give you advice, and here you are with-holding information from me!"

"I've listened to you go on about Harry!"

"And you told me to loosen up and be myself. That he'd come around, and he did." A hurt look crossed her face, "I don't keep secrets from you."

Hermione sighed, she knew when she was defeated. "It was Slughorn's Christmas party last year, alright? I invited Ron as my date, he accepted, and then he started dating that awful Lavender Brown."

"And that's why you stopped talking to him for months. That idiot! Why didn't anyone tell me about that?"

"Because my pride was bruised enough as it was, and I didn't need you running off and hexing your brother on my account." Hermione said dejectedly. "Besides, it's over and done with now" she paused and added "and the next move will be his, not mine."

"Ginny? Hermione? Are you two up there?" Molly Weasley called up the stairs. "I've got more chores for you to do."

"Enough with the frigging chores mum!" Ginny cursed under her breath.

"Tell me about it. I'm starting to feel like Cinderella" Hermione said while rolling her eyes.

"What's that? An illness?"

Hermione rolled her eyes again. "Come on, we don't want her coming up here looking for us." She grabbed Ginny's arm and pulled her towards the door.