"10 drabbles, 10 topics challenge" on the HPFC forum. Prompt: femmeslash pairing- Hermione Granger/Ginny Weasley
It only happened once.
That didn't mean that it wasn't an intoxicating memory.
Hermione stares down at her husband Ron and instead thinks of his sister. Ron's asleep, so he doesn't see the guilt cross her features as she does so.
Ginny had been crying, she remembers; nearly out of her mind with grief over Fred and Tonks and Remus, mad with relief for everyone else. Hermione had been walking down the destroyed hallway, numb to everything around her and her lips tingling with the recollection of Ron's kiss. She can remember sinking to her knees as they finally gave out, unable to bear her weight and the weight of sorrow and of guilt.
She can't remember how long she knelt on that floor. She can remember light footsteps and sobbing, and she remembers with disturbing clarity how utterly wrecked Ginny had been, stumbling to her from the Great Hall.
Ginny had been looking for Harry, but had found her instead.
Hermione still cannot decide if that had been a blessing or a curse, because Ginny had sought comfort that Hermione had not had within her to give. But she was sick of tears.
So she kissed Ginny to keep her quiet, and thought of Ron, and of Harry, and how betrayed they would be if they ever knew. She pulled away but when Ginny followed, she panicked. She fell back with a yelp, and that cry had called people to the hall.
As Hermione lies down in her bed, she can still see the broken-hearted look on the redhead's face. It still breaks her own heart into splinters.