The Gryffindor Common Room, late at night.
The air was as oppressive as if someone had cast a Weather Charm.
Hermione's astonishing intervention in Potions Class that day had seemed to break the deadlock.
But what happened afterward left Ron even more restless.
Harry felt he couldn't stand idly by, but he couldn't go and persuade Hermione either. All he could do was keep Ron company.
Ron curled up in an armchair, burying his face in his hands, his voice emerging muffled between his fingers.
"Harry, I really don't get it..."
"She helped me... so why... why is she still ignoring us?"
Harry didn't know how to answer.
He could only poke pointlessly at the pitiful few sparks in the fireplace, over and over.
Steady, unhurried footsteps came from the stairs to the Girls' Dormitory.
It was Ginny.
She came over to them.
Those brown eyes of the Weasley family were so clear in the dim firelight that they seemed able to see into people's hearts.
She looked at her brother, trapped in an endless loop, and spoke calmly, but cut straight to the point.
"She helped you because Snape crossed a line, and that violated her principles."
Ron jerked his head up, his eyes full of confusion.
Ginny sighed, as though looking at an idiot who just wouldn't get it.
"But that doesn't mean she's forgiven you for hurting her."
"Ron..."
Ginny's voice grew sharper without her realizing it.
"You can't expect someone to take a knife for you and then smile and tell you it's all right."
Her words cleared Ron's mind in an instant, as though he had taken dragon claw powder.
He opened his mouth, but couldn't get a single word out.
Yes.
He had stabbed her with the cruelest words.
*Yet when Snape attacked him,