dear readers: sorry this is in a bunch of chapters, i couldnt upload it as one, and i couldn't figure out what was wrong with it, exactly. so i hope you still like it, enjoy!

Hermione sat in the Gryffindor Common room, her eyes reading the words in the book in front of her, but her brain on something completely different.

She could not stop thinking about Ron. He was with Lavender, by choice. She had, at one point, felt that he was doing this to get back at her for something, but she never did anything to him, at least not intentionally. This must mean that he didn't like her, at least not nearly as much as she liked him; she deluded herself into ever thinking they could be more than friends. Perhaps he didn't even notice she was giving him the silent treatment, perhaps he liked not speaking to her, perhaps he had finally grown tired of their constant bickering, and the end of their friendship was a relief to him. If this was truly the case, she wished she could go back in time and bite her tongue, all those times she had snapped at Ron, all the times she had continued their argument, when she could've just agreed with him, or let it go.

She had never actually imagined Ron dating someone, which was secretly because whenever she pictured him with a girlfriend, it was always her, and she tried to suppress those thoughts.

As she sat there, thinking, she didn't notice the person come up behind her.

"Hey, Hermione,"

She turned around, a bit startled, "Oh. Hello, Cormac."

He sat down next to her on the couch, "How are you?"

"Um, I'm fine . . ."

"Really? You look a bit off."

Hermione blushed, "I said I'm fine!" she snapped.

"Whatever," he shrugged, "What're you up to?"

"Studying." she answered shortly.

"Oh . . . what are you studying?" he asked casually.

Hermione just sighed, "Why are you bothering me?"

Cormac put his hands up in defense, "Sorry, I was just trying to make conversation, didn't realize I was bothering you."

"Well, why are you trying to make conversation with me? There are plenty more people in this room."

Cormac gave Hermione an award-winning, adorably boyish smile, "Because you're cute."

Hermione blushed a bit, and, keeping a straight, unemotional face, said, "Thanks," in a tone that was on the verge of sarcasm.

"It's true," he insisted, "you are very pretty, with your curly brown hair, and those few freckles on your nose . . . and it's adorable how you're always reading . . ."

Hermione got chills all over her body, from the observations Cormac had made about her. Though they were, somewhat, compliments, she didn't like the idea of anyone observing her that closely, and she couldn't help but notice Cormac look her body up and down as he spoke. She then wished Harry were there, he would figure out a way to get Cormac to leave her alone.

"You and I should hang out sometime." Cormac then said. It was not a question.

"I'm busy." She said immediately.

"I didn't even say when!"

"Alright," she said testily, "when?"

"How about tomorrow at-?"

"I'm busy."

"Oh come on," he argued, "Just give me a chance. You'll have fun, I promise."

Hermione sighed, "You just want to 'hang out?'"

"Yeah," Cormac said, shrugging, "I mean, I would call it a date, but you can call it whatever you like . . ."

After quite a long pause from Hermione, Cormac continued, "You know, I don't think you've been on a date with one guy here. Really, what, or who, are you waiting for!"

It suddenly occurred to her that she was waiting for someone . . . someone who would never be available to her, someone that there was no point in waiting for. Hermione sighed, "Fine."

Cormac's face seemed to light up; "Great!" he thought for a moment, "How 'bout I meet you here, at about 7?"

"Um, how late, exactly, are you planning to stay out, because we really shouldn't be out too late . . ."

He shrugged, "We'll only be out a bit past the curfew. We might have to sneak back in, but you don't mind do you? You've snuck back in past curfew before, right?"

"Well, never very successfully . . ."

"Well, we'll just have to be extra careful." He had mischievous twinkle in his eye, which Hermione wasn't too fond of.

She made a mental note to ask Harry to borrow the invisibility cloak; she would not risk getting caught, and getting a detention, for Cormac.