It's Ginny's fourth year at Hogwarts. Her feelings toward Hermione are more than friendly and the seek of acceptance from the friend gets Ginny into trouble with food.
I don't own the characters or the places mentioned in the text.
The door was tightly shut and no sounds escaped through it into the girls' bathroom. Ginny stood in front of the full height mirror hanging on the wall. She had tied her messy red hair up and tried to see herself from as many angles as she could. She frowned at the sight of her hips that had widened a lot during the past two years and now started to look like a woman's. Her thighs were not as skinny as they had been when she was a child and came to Hogwarts for the first time. When she became friends with Hermione Granger. The thought of her made Ginny feel unsure. What would Hermione say if she saw her best friend like this, naked and flawed? She started to feel awful. There was practically nothing left of the beautiful little girl Hermione had liked so much and Ginny didn't want it to be like that. She was almost certain there was a way to make her friend see her the way Ginny saw her.
Of course Ginny had never really dared to hope Hermione would understand her. It wasn't normal for a girl to like women, but for her it had never been much of an issue. She had noticed her feelings at an early age and never before had they been a problem. For the last months, however, her heated thoughts about her best friend had become hard to live with. She knew perfectly well Hermione wasn't the type of a girl who'd answer her feelings. After all, she had been together with Ron for almost a year and seemed happy in her relationship. At least she seems to like the Weasley look, Ginny thought with a sarcastic smile on her freckled face.
Just that one miserable thing hanging between my brother's legs makes him better than me, Ginny reminded herself. How unfair is that.
Hermione was a prefect. She was known for her sense and responsibility. Of course it would be absolutely out of question for someone like her to fall in love with a girl and Ginny understood it. She just wasn't ready to give up before trying. She lifted up her chin and cast a disapproving glance at her curves. She promised herself to get rid of all the extra in her body before next Christmas. It meant she had almost three months and that would sure be enough. She smiled to herself and quickly covered her body with her school uniform. Her hair was a complete mess but she didn't have enough time to do anything to it so she just added some lip-gloss and hurried out of the bathroom just in time to get breakfast.
The Great Hall was almost empty. To her great relief Ginny didn't see her friends anywhere. She sat down on a long wooden bench in the far end of the Gryffindor table. Some bread and fruits appeared on a neat blue plate in front of her. She took a slice of buttered bread but hesitantly put it back when a mocking little voice in her head reminded her of the promise she'd made to herself. Instead she chose a red apple and bit it slowly, enjoying the fresh sweet taste. She could almost feel how her belly started to get smaller. A glance at the big clock above her head told her she was almost late for her transfiguration class so she stood up and collected her bag and robes. On the way to the corridor where the class was she saw the poltergeist Peeves but fortunately managed to pass him without problems.
The class seemed to be over before Ginny even realized it had begun. She loved transfiguration and time always flew when she had the chance to practice some new spell. Her pumpkin had successfully transformed into a beautiful porcelain cup. She had managed to refuse the temptation to fill it with hot chocolate, but the thought of chocolate made her stomach remember how little she had eaten. After the class Ginny had planned to spend some time with her potions homework that she hadn't had time to finish earlier but suddenly Harry and Ron appeared. They asked her if she knew where Hermione was, and they started to talk about professor Snape's sadistic essay titles. Ron made a nasty remark about Snape in such a bad language that professor McGonagall gave him a disapproving look as she passed the trio. They decided to meet before lunch in the Great Hall.
All house tables were crowded and it was hard to find enough places for all the three of them. The boys were chatting about something Susan Bones had said during their herbology class and seemed to be having fun. Ginny felt a wave of combined disgust and hunger when she saw the huge amounts of food on the plates. Roasted chicken smelt great but Ginny had been a vegetarian for some time already so she gave her wand a small wave that made the chicken disappear. Instead she got some baked fluxweed on her plate. It had never been her favourite and compared to the wonderful greasy smell of chicken in the air the fluxweed stank quite nauseating. Ginny bowed her head and sighed.
Finally Hermione arrived, carrying a pile of books in her hands. She smiled brightly and gave Ron a kiss on the forehead before taking a seat. Ginny felt like throwing the smelly fluxweed to her brother's stupid grinning face. She hadn't managed to eat any of it yet and the others were almost finished. She noticed Hermione looking at her untouched plate with a concerned expression but pretended not to. Her stomach was painfully empty but the thought of eating had started to feel even harder after Hermione had arrived. How could she ever earn any admiration from her if she ate like a pig in front of her? Ron suggested they go to the Quidditch pitch for their practice and Ginny was delighted to get an excuse to skip the meal. She said she'd get her broomstick and be at the pitch in a minute.
Once in the girl's dormitories Hermione asked Ginny if she was all right. The redhead just nodded hastily and tried obviously to avoid the question. Hermione didn't want to give up so easily. She raised her hand on her little friend's chin in a gentle but somewhat bossy gesture.
"Ginevra Weasley, be honest with me now. I'm not here to blame you for anything; I'm just concerned about you. Are you okay?"
"Yes 'Mione I'm alright. Now may I please go? My practice started two minutes ago." Ginny replied, already half out of the door.
Her eyes didn't meet Hermione's. On her way to the quidditch pitch she couldn't think about anything else but the tender touch of her friend's fingers on her chin. When Hermione lifted Ron's chin like that it usually meant she was going to kiss him.