Hermione was on her way to class when she was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to see Cho Chang smiling at her.
"Hey, Cho." Hermione said, straightening her posture. At one point she was certain Harry fancied her, but even though he hadn't, it made her insecure.
"Oh, hello Hermione." She said, almost as if she wasn't expecting a conversation after stopping her in the hall. "I wanted to let you know that I'm extremely happy for you and Harry."
No she wasn't. Hermione thought. She knew Cho fancied him even though Harry didn't fancy her.
"Thank you." Hermione said through gritted teeth, but smiled so it wasn't as obvious.
"But I wanted to warn you that...Harry's only doing this for the publicity." She said
Hermione went to her pocket for her wand, when she realized Harry was carrying her books, which had her wand. This annoyed Hermione more, because she would have to continue this conversation instead of hexing her to oblivion. (A/N: This is actually me at school)
"What do you mean he's 'only doing this for the publicity.'?" Hermione crossed her arms "he's already famous."
"But so is Viktor Krum." Cho pointed out "Harry needed something extra for the spotlight."
Before Hermione could respond she heard someone coming.
"Professor, look!" A voice said. When Hermione turned around she saw Ginny Weasley with tears in her eyes. "I think she's threatening Hermione now!"
"Ms. Chang, what seems to be the problem here?" McGonagall asked
"Nothing, professor." She replied innocently
"Well it's not like you would tell her the truth!" Ginny snapped "Why would you admit to threatening Gryffindors because they took the spotlight off of HufflePuff. You said it was unfair, and we were being arrogant to steal the spotlight again."
Ginny gave Hermione a look that said 'just go with it', and so she did. "Professor, I understand this must be hard for her." Hermione said "Although I've never experienced being second-best, or living under someone's shadow, I don't think I'd like it."
"Ms Granger, I understand that you are trying to protect her." McGonagall said, although it was the farthest from the truth "However threatening students on school grounds is far too serious to be overlooked."
"But I wasn't—"
"200 points from Ravenclaw and you will have Detention every night for a month."
Cho glared at Hermione Ginny, then marched off, whereas professor McGonagall thanked them for their 'honesty', and walked off.
"She knew we were lying" Ginny smirked
"Definitely" Hermione agreed "But how did you—"
"Because I could tell she was jealous, Hermione." She said "she's only ever wanted Harry's attention, but he always is with you, and if she had his attention, he would leave as soon as he could to find you."
Hermione stood in awe. It was crazy to think that the prettiest girl at Hogwarts was Jealous of her.
"And I know how she's feeling, because I felt it in my first year here." Ginny admitted "I remember when he found me in the Chamber of Secrets; he was so worried for you, he hadn't even realized he'd just saved me. I thought it was possible that I had been overreacting until I saw your hug after you came back from the infirmary."
"I'm sorry, Gin." Hermione said. She truly felt awful because it seemed to have hurt Ginny so much, and she hadn't even noticed.
"Are you kidding?" Ginny asked "You shouldn't be. There is so much love and care in your hugs it's so cute to see. I love seeing the two of you happy. Honest."
Hermione hugged Ginny, and when they broke apart Hermione asked her how she came up with the idea of telling a professor that Cho was threatening her, and why she came up with it.
"Oh, well it's a couple of things really." Ginny said "I knew I had to get her away from you, and I knew that Ravenclaw was ahead of Gryffindor by 50 points, so I came up with the plan to kill two birds with one stone." Ginny smiled "As for how I came up with it...I sort of thought 'what would Fred and George do', and came up with this plan, which even they have to admit is pretty ingenious."
Hermione had been so relieved that Ginny wasn't mad or upset with her for dating Harry. Ron was also fine with it, which was weird because both Harry and Hermione thought he wouldn't like the idea of his two best friends together. They didn't want him to feel like a third wheel. Although, now they know he was more of a chaperone than a third wheel. Even though it was extremely frustrating to Hermione that Ron was on top of them all the time because they needed to be 'looked after', she had to admit that it was better than him lashing out at them because he started to feel left out in the group.
