Wallflower

Hermione sat in the red chair in front of the fire in the Gryffindor, flustered. Why couldn't she focus?

Well, that was obvious.

But beside the point. Boys never came in the way of things for Hermione before. Of course, Hermione had never been sixteen before, either.

How could she have been so stupid?

For the past two years, everyone had told her that Ron fancied her. Of course, Hermione being Hermione, she had paid it no heed. Besides, she had Viktor waiting for her in Bulgaria.

And then, Harry had started. It had been Lavender and Parvati who had told her. But, as per usual, Hermione kept acting as if she didn't notice their affections, and remained 'a friend'.

All had been going well, until...

Her.

Ana Richards.

She'd been placed in Hogwarts directly into the sixth year. Apparently, she'd been 'home schooled', as it were, by her parents. However, they wanted her to be in a different atmosphere, so they had placed her in Hogwarts.

Ana was a great person. She was tidy in the dormitory, extremely friendly, and had a fantastic sense of humour. She was rapidly becoming the most popular girl in Gryffindor.

Especially among the boys.

Ana had played football before she had arrived in Hogwarts. However, she had also played quite a bit of Quidditch with her cousins in her backyard. Combining the two together made quite an interesting Chaser, which is exactly what the Gryffindor captain had thought. All of the boys, even in Slytherin, were infatuated with her dazzling skills on the pitch. Instead of catching and throwing the Quaffle to her teammates, she'd juggle it with her feet, then punt it ahead to them. And of course, to top it all off, she had to look absolutely gorgeous.

Of course, Ana never even put on makeup. She was just one of those girls that was naturally, well, perfect. Ana had dirty blonde hair, blonde on top, brown underneath. It was shoulder length, usually kept back in a messy bun. She was 5'9, tall, but just the right height for most boys. Her eyes weren't exactly perfect, but they were captivating all the same. They looked gray, but a closer look would tell you that one had a slightly greenish tinge, and one, blue. She had a few freckles, just on her nose, and was relatively tan from being outside all of the time.

Now, usually Hermione would have laughed at the whole thing, laughed at Lavender and Parvati losing the fellows' interest. But Ana had caught the interest of two rather important boys.

Her boys.

It was obvious that Harry fancied Ana, he was the same around her as he had been with Cho Chang. He never seemed to have proper speech, and was always fidgety.

But with Ron, it had been different. He acted normally around her, but it was somehow, different, from how he acted around other girls. He seemed to be, more like himself. Him and Ana were always together, talking, playing Quidditch, and just hanging out. Truth be told...

Hermione was jealous.

Ron had never acted like that around her.

So now, it had happened. Hermione Granger had fallen for Ronald Weasley.