"I ignored you for months," he quipped, "I upstaged you in our shared classes and I think I’ve successfully convinced everyone that I’m smarter than you. I wanted to kiss you, and that terrified me, so I got a new girlfriend and pretended she was you every time we-" He shut up, realising just how much he had said, and swallowed. Hermione watched the muscles of his jaw tighten and slacken, watched as his Adam’s apple worked to swallow his words.