Hermione came into the common room from the Gryffindor Head Girl's suite with an armload of books.
From her seat in an armchair near the fireplace, Ginny could see that she was looking around for a place to sit. While the armchair across from Ginny was unoccupied, Hermione clearly wanted or needed to sit at a table.
Ginny stiffened when she realised that her friend had spotted Harry sitting at a table in a slightly shadowed corner of the Gryffindor common room. Ginny had been keeping an eye on that table and had watched him drive off several Gryffindors who tried to join him there, no matter what year they were in, and couldn't help wondering if Hermione would have better or worse luck than the others if she tried to join him. Probably worse, Ginny reflected as she saw Hermione nod and head over to where he was seated.
Harry ignored Hermione as she set her books down in the only clear space available on the table and set her school bag on the floor. It was when she started to clear a space for herself by moving his scattered books into a pile that he started paying attention to what she was doing.
Ginny noticed that Harry did nothing to stop Hermione, until she opened one of his books and started looking through it. Hermione's curiosity must have gotten the better of her, Ginny thought as she watched Harry snatch the book out of her grasp before she'd had a chance to look at more than a couple of pages.
In the sudden silence that filled the common room, everyone heard Harry growl, "I warned you, Granger, to keep your nose out of my life and out of my business."
"I was just curious about what you were reading." Hermione tried to defend her actions. "Those didn't look like school books."
"And they aren't," Harry told her. "But you lost any right you may have had to poke your nose into my affairs last year, remember . Then again the smartest witch of the age seems to be remarkably dumb, because she can't remember what she has been told several times by me. So perhaps you need a more permanent reminder of what can happen if you continue to try and poke your nose into my business."
Ginny had trouble seeing the gesture that Harry made in Hermione's direction before he waved his hand over the table in front of him. The books and papers on the table shrunk down and flew into his open book bag. Throwing the book bag over his shoulder, Harry told Hermione, "you can have the table," before leaving the common room.
Ginny saw the look of anguish on Hermione's face as she stared after the departing Harry. Closing her book, Ginny went over to join Hermione. Wanting to cheer her up, Ginny told her, "It'll get better. You'll see."
"I'm beginning to doubt that," Hermione disagreed. "Harry and I were the best of friends for almost six years, but I destroyed that friendship by not being willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I should have known better. The story was too pat, especially given the way Sirius had been framed, but I ignored that in favour of believing the Headmaster could never be wrong."
"Harry's got a lot of anger to work through before he will forgive what we did." Ginny told her, unwilling to accept that she might never get back the man she loved and wanted.
Laying out her books, Hermione reminded her, "Harry seems to be unwilling to let go of his anger. I'm fairly certain that one of the reasons Dumbledore forced him to come back here was so he could work through that anger toward us. He… I want Harry to be able to move on… with us as friends again. I want him to be able to get on with his life in the wizarding world."
"It's only been a few months," Ginny pointed out, sitting down opposite her. "It's just going to take time. What we need to do is continue to show him that we are here for him if he wants to talk… or anything."
Hermione noticed the blush that spread over Ginny's face. "You still want him don't you?"
"I have ever since I saw him that first time in King's Cross Station." Ginny told her.
Before Ginny had a chance to say anything more, Hermione let out a shriek as she stared at the page of the open book in front of her. The Common room fell silent and students came stumbling out of the dorms, wands out looking for the threat. Ginny studied the book lying in front of Hermione, trying to figure out what would have caused her to panic that way. Hermione was usually so calm and unflappable, but she couldn't see anything that would have produce this reaction.
"What's wrong?" Ginny asked.
"Can't you see?" Hermione gestured at the open book. "Harry has destroyed my book."
Picking up the heavy book, Ginny examined it carefully and found nothing wrong with it. Setting the book back down in from of Hermione, she asked. "What's wrong with it?"
"It's blank!" Hermione screamed. "He erased my book!"
Hermione opened another book then another. "HE ERASED ALL MY BOOKS!"
Ginny looked at the books completely baffled. The words were there. She could see them. True she couldn't understand some of the ones she read, but they were there.
Ginny slapped Hermione's face hard. Once the older girl was shocked into silence, she told her, "Hermione, the words are still there. Harry did nothing to damage your books."
"No they are not." Hermione insisted, looking down at the blank page before her.
Ginny picked up the book and began reading from the open page. "Inguz is the rune of Completion and Fertility. The presence of this Rune in any grouping or reading, suggests that tasks that have been initiated will come to completion. This Runic symbol is commonly associated with the Norse Gods Ing and Frey."
Ginny stopped at that point and looked at Hermione. The older girl had gone whiter than Nearly Headless Nick. "What's wrong Hermione?"
"Harry did something to my eyes," Hermione's voice was barely above a whisper. "I can't see anything on any of the pages of these books."
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