Author's note:- So this is possibly a slightly random idea for a story. Basically it's a kind of 'what if?' story. What if Hermione, being really intelligent, worked out who Tonks is really in love with? We never really hear Hermione's view on it, only Harry's slightly dodgy view that she was in fact in love with her mother's cousin... Anyway. This also includes a bitof R/Hr and Ginny getting annoyed with Dean. So anyway. I'm going to stop blabbering now. Hope you enjoy!

Love and speculation.

Hermione sat down on Ginny’s bed. Ginny was rooting through her trunk for something. Neither of them spoke for a while, Hermione tried to think how she might word this new theory so that it would… well make sense. According to some people, like Ron, she had a habit of being vague.

“So you wanted to talk to me about something?” Ginny asked eventually, turning her head towards Hermione whilst still rummaging in her trunk.

“Yeah… I just had… well an idea… that I wanted to run past you.”

Ginny stopped and looked at her.

“Look, if this has anything to do with my brother…”

Hermione blushed but managed to keep her voice steady. Just about.

“It’s got nothing to do with Ron. Well, it kind of has a little bit to do with him and Harry but that’s not really the important bit.”

“Ok then.” Ginny looked relieved but curious. “Fire away.”

Hermione hesitated. It was such an odd idea really. How could she possibly explain it?

“Harry saw Tonks today.” She blurted out finally. Ginny looked surprised at this information, and also its insane randomness. She turned away from her trunk and sat down on the bed opposite.

“O…k… What was she doing in school?”

“Well, she said she’d come to see Dumbledore, that she’d heard a rumour that somebody was injured or something. Anyway, Harry was talking to her and he said that she seemed really… odd.”

Ginny snorted.

“Harry said that Tonks seemed really odd? What planet has he been living on for the last term?”

“You know what I mean.” Hermione said crossly. She didn’t like being interrupted. Ginny shut up immediately.

“Ok, well Harry and Ron had this… absurd… idea…” She tried to stop herself from laughing. “They think that Tonks was in love with Sirius!”

Ginny stared at her incredulously for a second. Then both of them burst into giggles. It wasn’t particularly all that funny, but what with everything that had been happening this year the times for laughing were few and far between and they had to be made the most of.

“That’s so typical of them… completely missing the point…” Ginny managed to say through her laughter. Hermione nodded and wiped her eye.

“I know! He’s her cousin and everything. They obviously didn’t think it through.”

Ginny stopped laughing and looked at her.

“Why do I sense that there’s a ‘but’ coming?”

Hermione smiled. Ginny really did know her well.

“But… I don’t think they were too far off the mark.” She said quietly.

Ginny stared at her.

“What do you mean ‘they weren’t far off the mark’?” She demanded.

“Well, she’s been really depressed this year… and I reckon… maybe she did fall in love…”

“Well, who with?” Ginny asked, her eyes wide. “Kingsley Shacklebolt?”

Hermione looked down at her feet. This was the part that was going to seem extremely bizarre.

“Well… I think… I mean I could be wrong… I’m often wrong about these kind of things… and it’s rather a long shot… but the only plausible explanation…”

“Hermione?” Ginny interrupted. “You’re doing it again.”

“Right.” Hermione replied, mentally kicking herself for losing the thread of what she was saying again. “Anyway… I was thinking that maybe… well, maybe Lupin?”

Ginny obviously was not expecting that.

“But he’s old!” She blurted, going slightly pink as she realised what she had said. “I mean… I didn’t…” She trailed off, looking ashamed of herself.

Hermione smiled.

“Well, yes he is older than her… but he’s definitely not as old as he looks. Think about all he’s gone through…”

“Yeah… but still… I mean. Well, he’s not really the ideal man to fall in love with… you know with the werewolf thing and everything…”
Hermione gave a slightly bitter laugh.

“Yes, because we always pick the ideal guys to fall for.” She replied sarcastically. Ginny smiled.

“True. But why do you even think she’s in love with him anyway?”

“Well, it was a mixture of things really. To start with we thought Tonks was upset about Sirius, thinking it was her fault… but think back. She had been upset but she was coping quite well. She was coping quite well right up until your mum got Lupin to talk to her about it all. That was when she got depressed. Last year she spent all her time at headquarters, but this year she only showed up when she was talking to your mum. And not once were Lupin and Tonks there together.”

“That doesn’t mean that…” Ginny started but Hermione broke her off.

“Harry said her patronus had changed.” She continued, warming to her subject. “He said it was something big with four legs. He thinks that it is ‘Padfoot’ but what if it’s actually a werewolf? What if it’s become Lupin, or ‘Moony’? And he avoided talking about her all over the summer holidays… and didn’t you say that he and your mum had obviously had some kind of disagreement over Christmas?”

“Well, yeah… nothing major… but she gave him that frustrated look that she gives us when we’re doing something stupid and she can’t do anything about it. But what’s that got to do with it?”
“Well, Tonks has been talking to your mum a lot… maybe she’s told her… and maybe Lupin’s done something…?” She trailed off, aware that she hadn’t really got any further argument.

“Well, I guess it’s a possibility…” Ginny said uncertainly. She didn’t look too convinced. “Going by what you said, why do you reckon falling in love with him has upset her so much?”

“Maybe he doesn’t love her back…” Hermione replied, thoughtfully. She hadn’t really thought about this part of it.

Ginny was quiet for a while. Then she gave a small laugh.

“Or maybe it’s just because all guys are idiots.” She stated. Hermione looked down at her shoes.

“Yeah…” She agreed quietly. Ginny reached out and touched her arm.

“They’re all idiots. Especially Ron and Harry. Well, and Michael, and Percy, and Fred and George… and Dean actually.”

“Dean?” Hermione asked, shocked. Ginny shrugged.

“He’s really starting to annoy me.”

Hermione smiled but said nothing. The two girls sat in silence, lost in their own thoughts of love and broken hearts.