This isn't what Ginny had been expecting when she agreed to go on Prefect patrols with Hermione that night. At the very least she had expected lectures on the history of the school or the significance of such-and-such's portrait being where it is or who had worn that suit of armor in the 5th century or quizzing on the school rules they were supposed to be enforcing or…or something interesting! But no, that wasn't possible because her stupid brother had gone and done something stupid with Lavender and now the other girl was sulking. Not that she would admit it of course but it was pretty obvious to everyone what was going on.
With a sigh she realized that she had fallen behind and rounded the next corner at a job to catch up with the sixth year. Hermione must have snapped out of her funk enough to hear something because she had her wand out and was looking for Ginny.
The red head pulled out her own hazel wand and walked closer, trying to hear or see whatever it was that stopped her friend. When she got close Hermione motioned to one of the unused classrooms that was in front of them, door closed but not locked according to the spell the girl had cast. All unused classrooms were supposed to be locked tight to students unless they had written permission from a teacher, and no teacher would be shouting in a secluded classroom this late at night.
"Should we investigate?" Ginny whispered as the indistinct voices got louder.
"You should go get a teacher while I make sure it isn't something serious," Hermione said automatically taking control, but Ginny wasn't having any of it.
"Hermione there are at least two people in there, don't you think it would smarter for there to be two of us going in?"
"I- well yes," She said but Ginny could tell she wasn't used to anyone but Harry and Ron being next to her going into the unknown.
"So we swing the door open, standing to the side and call them out?" That was the best plan she had. It was probably nothing more than a lover's fight but in school of magic every little situation could get serious fast.
"I guess so…" Hermione didn't sound like she was comfortable with the idea but Ginny didn't give her the time to think of a protest before she had the door open and was peering inside.
She was right in the fact that it seemed to be two lovers arguing about something, but the tension and even fear in the room made her think it wasn't something simple or petty. The boy, a younger Ravenclaw by the color of his scarf, was trying to force something into the girl's hands that she seemed to want nothing to do with. Neither of the two seemed to notice that two more were looking at their situation.
Hermione looked about ready to jump in when the girl, a Hufflepuff that seemed a year or two younger than him, shouted suddenly and knocked the object flying.
Without thinking both girls reached out to grab an end of the think rope that was flying toward them. As a bright light surrounded them both Ginny felt warmth and need greater than anything she had ever felt before. As the sensations increased inside her to the point of pain her last conscious thought was that this was MUCH more like what she had expected when patrolling with a member of the Golden Trio.
Waking up in the Hospital Wing was really more Harry's thing than her own but Hermione knew it well enough from her own time spent there recovering from one of their adventures or visiting one of the boys while they were recovering from something. Pulling herself up into a sitting position she wondered just what that rope had done to her and Ginny. She really didn't feel any different and the younger girl seemed to be sleeping peacefully enough in the bed next to her own.
Not for the first time she wished her parents were magical so they could come and visit her at the school. There was no doubt in her mind that Ron had been here, and Molly Weasley would be there soon. She couldn't really figure out just what made her feel that this was something serious. Maybe it was the atmosphere of desperation and fear in that room the night previous. Hermione had gotten a look at the Hufflepuff girl's eyes and the horror she was there was not comforting.
No whatever that rope had done it wasn't good.
As she had expected Madam Pomfrey showed up not a moment later to check her over before moving over to the now awake Ginny. Apparently they were both the picture of health, if a little magically drained, but were told to remain so that the Headmaster and their parents could join them and talk about the consequences of what had happened.
The two girls shared a worried look as they were left to wait and Hermione's thoughts from before came back to her suddenly. Her parents were muggles that had never been welcome at Hogwarts before, if they were coming now then it must truly be serious.
A house elf popped in to deliver lunch and they ate in a tense silence. Neither girl knew what was going on but both had the feeling they weren't going to like whatever it was.
Before either could finish their food both families, the Headmaster and their Head of House all walked in. Only the Headmaster seemed to know anything about what was going on while everyone else looked at them with worried looks.
With a sigh Hermione sat up and resigned herself to listen as calm as she could, the lingering feelings of desire and connection from the night before gave her a big and worrying hint as to what was going on but she was hoping with everything she had that for once, she wasn't right.