Disclaimer: I don't own it. 'Nuff said?
A/N: This fiction takes place somewhere in the realm of Harry Potter, defying all laws of time-space. It is before (I speculate) Ron and Hermione and during Harry and Ginny. Yet after Ron and Lavender. See what I mean?
...read on, fiction lovers. Read on.
Ginny looked out the window to see small flakes of white flittering softly to the ground. It was Christmas break, and Ginny was bored out of her mind. She decided to make her way down to the common room in search of others who were staying over Christmas. As she entered the common room, she saw Ron in a corner with Lavender in their usual ritual. This time, however, as Ginny watched, it seemed as if Ron were bored with it all. The two surfaced for air and Ron sighed unhappily. Ginny leaned closer, trying to listen.
Lavender seemed to have noticed that Ron was unhappy. "Won-Won? Are you OK? Usually you're all into it by now." Ron sighed, and Ginny could hear the tense pause. "I'm serious, Won-Won." Ginny stifled a laugh at the thought of "Won-Won" being used in a 'serious' conversation.
"It's just that-," began Ron. Lavender listened raptly for the rest of the sentence but it never came.
"Let me guess. You want more?" asked Lavender. "I can go into your dormitory, you know. Just let me know when and, well," she lowered her voice, "I have protection, and-"
"NO! That's not it at all," he interjected hurriedly. "I just... I'm starting to think that this- er, I mean us. It's n ot working."
Lavender was on the verge of tears. "You're- you're... breaking up with me?" she whined.
"I guess so. I'm sorry Lavender."
Lavender had tears in her eyes, but it didn't stop her from making a last request. "Well can we say goodbye with passion, then?"
Ron sighed and shrugged his shoulders. Ginny tried to break her gaze, but watched with horror as Ron and Lavender bid each other 'goodbye.' It was another "wrestling match". Ron seemed to be making the best of his last chance at such a physical experience. His hands were entangled in her hair, and he seemed to be eating her face. It lacked something for aesthetics, but for what it was, they did a good bit. Ginny watched as Lavender seemed to be warming up to Ron. She could visibly notice Ron forcing Lavender's jaws apart and... Ginny looked away in horror. The thought of her clumsy brother... doing this? Ginny shuddered, and heard them break apart. "I'm sorry, Lav-Lav," stated Ron bluntly. He walked away, seeming quite oddly happy for someone who had just broken up with his girlfriend.
Ginny sat in an armchair, and Ron came up beside her and sat down. "You OK?" asked Ginny.
"Yeah. Nothing that bad," said Ron. However, for Lavender it seemed 'that bad.' She hadn't left the spot and had her hands covering her sobbing face. Ginny sighed, and turned to where Hermione's tiny footsteps could be heard making their way from the dormitory. She looked disheveled, it appeared she had fallen asleep reading. Her eyes were soft and her eyelids a bit puffy. Ron turned too, and looked at Hermione with a look of definite joy upon seeing her.
"Hey 'Mione. Just wake up?" asked Ron gently. Hermione could only manage a tiny squeak that was supposed to mean yes. Ron patted the cushion on the loveseat he was sitting in and motioned for Hermione to sit. Hemione threw a quick glance at Lavender and managed, yawning, to ask Ron why Lavender was crying. "We broke up," said Ron matter-of-factly. He grinned to Hermione and Hermione let out a small laugh.
Harry appeared on the stairs of his dormitory and plopped down next to Ginny. Lavender managed to get up when Parvati came up to her and the both of them meandered toward chairs by the fire. A bored-looking Colin Creevey approached the group, waved at Harry, and sat down. The last to join them all was Neville, tired and bed-headed.
Ginny glanced around the room and noticed what an assortment of Gryffindors they had surrounding the fire. A bright idea struck her. "Nobody leave this room. I'll be right back," and with that, ran up the stairs to the boy's dormitory. Harry looked as if he'd call her back, but he didn't. A few seconds later a grinning Ginny showed up back in the common room.
"Everyone in this room is going to play truth or dare. I have here a bottle of Veritaserum I found in... er... someone's trunk," she said, with a cautious eye toward Harry. "We will all take two drops of the potion before the game begins," she added, passing around the bottle and waiting for everyone to take their dose. "Now. For basic rules. Same-sex dares are NOT allowed, however anything applies to opposite-sex dares, as long as... precautionary measures are taken within reason. Dares that damage this room are not allowed. As for truth, anything is OK, avoiding questions about criminal activity. Any questions?"
Everyone in the room looked around tensely. No one seemed to object, so the game began. Ginny took the initiative to go first.
"Colin. Truth... or dare?" she asked with a malicious glint in her eye. Colin faltered for a moment, before choosing dare. "I dare you to... go and get us a pair of McGonagal's underwear. And hurry, before she's done her breakfast." Colin went white, but got up numbly to go to McGonagal's quarters.
He ran out of the common room into his head-of-house's office, which was strangely unlocked. Attached was her chambers. He ran in, found the dresser, and opened each drawer tentatively, rifling through the contents. He was disgusted to find an industrial-size box of... well... condoms in her underwear drawer, and wondered what (who) they were for. With a shudder, he moved on and grabbed the most plain pair of underwear, avoiding a NEON pink pair in the corner of the drawer that looked suspiciously like a thong. He ran back and presented the underwear to Ginny, who nodded in respect and motioned for the game to continue. Colin looked around the room with a glint of malice in his eye to rival that of Ginny's.
"Harry," he said slowly, venomously. "Truth or dare?"
"Er... dare."
"I dare you to... go into... that corner," he motioned toward the corner of the common room reserved for the most physical couples, "and... er... take Ginny with you. Three minutes, you know what I mean?" he asked with a corny elbowing motion in thin air in the general direction of Harry. "Eh?"
Harry sighed and took Ginny by the hand. They walked over to the corner and, as everyone gawked, began slowly kissing. It was much more graceful than Ron and Lavender. It seemed everyone in the common room was 'ooh' ing and 'aah' ing by the time the three minutes were up. Lavender gave Harry a furtive thumbs-up and Harry smirked in Lavender's direction. They sat back down, closer than before. Harry put his arms around Ginny and she slid down into his lap gently. They're so adorable together, thought Ron. I wish I could be like that. But I'm too coward.
"Ron," said Harry with an overly friendly smile. "Truth or Dare?"
Ron hesitated, considering the risks of a dare seeing that Lavender was staring at Harry with a pleading look in her eyes. "T-truth," he finally stuttered. It was a time to play it on the safe side.
"all right... What do you think of 'Mione?"
Ron sighed deeply before the monotone voice characteristic of Veritaserum kicked in. "First of all, I hate it when you call her 'Mione. I want to strangle you every time you say it. Secondly, I think she is the most beautiful person in the whole world and I want to hold her forever." When it dawned upon Ron what he'd said, he went more red than he had in his whole life; if it was possible, even his hair seemed to redden a bit. Everyone in the room had a completely predictable expression. Harry was smirking, Ginny looked shocked but proud, and Lavender was on the verge of tears once more. The only person who had a surprising reaction was Hermione. Her eyes were swimming ... but she was grinning. She blushed a little and blinked her eyes, averting Ron's. Ron looked mortified. He slowly looked around the room, avoiding specific eye contact. Finally, he seemed to come to a decision. "Parvati. Truth... or dare?"
Parvati looked worrisome and she seemed to choose the 'safe' thing to do. "Truth?" she said, looking frightened. "No. Dare. No. Truth. No. Dare. Dare. Ugh!"
"Er... Parvati?" asked Ron, "Could you pick one?"
"Dare."
"I dare you to... Er... Hold on a second," he said, deep in thought. He turned to Hermione, and whispered a question in her ear cautiously remaining just within whispering earshot, not getting too close. She nodded. "I dare you to go and ask Malfoy to snog you. Just asking him is all. But you have to let Hermione cast a spell so we can see everything."
Parvati shuddered, but stood up with a resigned look on her face. Hermione did her bit, and the group watched in fascination as Parvati entered the Great Hall and could hear her whispering "You want to go snog?" to Malfoy. He looked shocked, then looked... down... a little... at her chest, then looked quickly back to here eyes and nodded fervently. The both of them found a secret closet behind a tapestry, one of Ginny's old favorites when she was dating Dean. They could see and hear every bit.
"So Draco... Yeah. Want to begin, or talk first?"
"Let's take it a bit slow and cuddle."
The entire group burst into laughter as Parvati snuggled into Malfoy's shoulder.
"You're really handsome. I think I love you already," Parvati half-joked.
"You're not too bad yourself," Malfoy replied, getting closer to her face.
She closed her eyes and the Gryffindors could see their lips touch. They began to get into more full-snogging. As they watched, fascinated, Malfoy began to reach under Parvati's shirt. They heard a soft click as of metal on metal, and everyone looked away, shielding their eyes, and Ginny officially decided Parvati was out of the rest of the game.
"Who hasn't got to dare anyone?" asked Ginny. "Hermione."
Hermione shook her head. "You go again, Ginny. I never get good ideas. If it's ever my turn to dare, I transfer it to Ginny." Ginny nodded and looked around the room again. Harry nudged her and pointed at Lavender. "Lavender. Truth or dare?
"Truth."
"Did you actually like Ron for Ron?"
"I can't answer--" the veritaserum kicked in. "No. He was a good kisser and that's all I ever want. I was cheating on him all along." After she realized she had given away this information, she broke down into tears again and ran out of the room to her dorm. She too appeared to be out of the game.
Ginny once again took control of the Gryffindors. "Neville. You haven't done much lately. Why don't you take your turn to dare."
"Er... OK. I dare myself out of the game," he said, and hurriedly got up.
The group sighed. Apparently Neville was scared of dares. And truth. Ergo he had a fear of "Truth or Dare." They were now down to Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Colin. Except Colin was falling asleep. He jerked awake and blinked wearily. It was getting a bit late. He got up, mumbled an apology, and wandered upstairs.
Now something's up. Thought Ron. If anyone else leaves, I think I'm going to scream.
"I guess we can't play with only four of us," said Ginny.
"Yeah we can," said Harry. "I dare Ginny to come with me into my dormitory." The two of them got up and Ginny giggled as Harry pulled her along. Ron sighed and stared into the fire. He didn't want Hermione to look into his eyes, didn't want to talk to her. He was so embarrassed. She probably didn't even like him, let alone love. He was an idiot. He should have seen that one coming. Nice job, Ronald. Very nice. If you'd just chosen dare...
"You OK?" asked Hermione softly. Ron made a small nod of the head. "You know I'm not mad at you for what you said, right?" Another nod. "I just want you to know that I... I'm glad you love me. Because... er... I think I love you too."
"You're lying to make me feel better."
"Ron. Could I lie under veritaserum? Honestly, you'd think you only have half a brain." Ron chuckled and settled into his chair. The flames crackled merrily. Possibly things would work out all right after all. Ron shifted a tiny bit in his chair. He felt the light touch of her hand on his, and Hermione sunk into his side, resting her head on his chest. He looked down into her brown eyes. She closed her eyes and he leaned his head down and their lips touched softly. He lifted his head slowly and looked into here eyes once again.
"Truth or dare?"