Takes place during the trio's 7th year. Except, Ron hadn't dated Lavender 6th year, and Harry and Ginny started dating at the beginning of the trio's 6th year. Hope that isn't too confusing.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter. Also, lyrics in the first chapter belong to the late Jonathan Larson, not me.

Every single day,

I walk down the street

I hear people say 'baby so sweet'

Ever since puberty

Everybody stares at me

Boys girls I can't help it baby

Rent, Take Me or Leave Me

That was Ginny Weasley. The girl everyone loved, the girl I felt so lucky to call my best friend. Head Girl was the only thing I had up on her. Course, she'd probably get that next year. Not that I was jealous of her; I was very confident. But still, she was amazing.

Her arm was linked with mine as we walked down the corridor on our way to the Yule Ball. Except, it wasn't just us, Harry was linked to her on the other side. They'd been dating again, since Harry's defeat over Lord Voldemort during the summer. Completely inseparable.

Since Ron had already left for the party, for what reason I dunno, we were only a threesome.

What an oddly almost perfect word.

Flashback

"Truth or Dare," I had said, toward the beginning of my sixth year. My curiosity about this had been killing me.

"All right," said Ginny, "Since it was your idea, you go first."

I asked Ginny how far she's gone with Harry. They'd only been dating a few months, and I already know this, but I can't think of anything else to ask.

Other "truth" questions continued like this. Until Ginny was looking at me.

"Snog Luna."

YES.

Not that I particularly wanted to snog Luna. I'm not even too keen on Luna as a person. But knowing what snogging a girl was like...had been on my mind awhile.

My tongue sloshed around in Luna's mouth while I tried to stop my nervous giggling. It was a bit embarrassing, really. It was interesting and fun. Not mind blowing by any means…but fun, sure.

"Snog Ginny," Luna said a bit later.

Why did my heart pound that much harder against my chest?

I remember seeing her green eyes coming closer until her beautiful lips brushed up against mine. I parted her lips with my tongue, but..

"No, not right away..." Ginny had said, and flashed that feisty little Weasley smirk at me.

"You do some of this first. You kiss my top lip," Kiss. "While I kiss your bottom lip," Kiss. "Like that." she said. "We switch back and forth for awhile. And then I'll ask for entrance, it's called."

If you haven't caught on by now, Victor, albeit the Quidditch star every witch wanted to kiss, wasn't exactly the best kisser. Honestly, he had no idea what he was doing once he opened his mouth. Couldn't even find his bloody tongue, it was like searching for the Golden Snitch.

After what seemed like an eternity of closed-mouthed kissing Ginny, she quickly ran her tongue ever so lightly against my bottom lip.

And of course I, like a bloody IDIOT, though it was so sexy that I couldn't open my mouth like a normal person so she could snog me. I had to pull away and open my mouth to tell her how sexy I thought it was.

She just flashed me another famous Weasley smirk and looked at me.

With those green eyes.

End Flashback

The Great Hall was absolutely gorgeous in tapestries of crimison and ebony coloured silk. The lights were dimmed. I looked across the hall to see Ron in black dress robes. Underneath were pin-striped black pants, a loosely buttoned black shirt, and a loose black leather tie.

BLOODY HELL.

Harry, Ginny, and I met Ron, got drinks, and meshed into a blob made up of mostly Gryffindors. I ignored Ron for the most part- we'd had the most confusing friendship for the past seven years, and a dance did nothing to help. Most of the time it seemed like a love-hate thing, but maybe it was more hate than love.

I had the wickedest crush on him, but I never knew if it was really reciprocated. I suppose I could have asked Ginny to ask if he liked me, but who knows if he'd really confide in his little sister, not to mention how juvenile it all sounded. Besides, it would be humiliating- only confirming my worst fear if it turned out he didn't. But Ginny was sure he felt something for me at one time, at least. Then again, she had never experienced rejection. If she liked someone, it was always mutual. So what did she know?

Ron was currently doing a sort of jokingly flirtatious dance with Romilda Vane, who was next to him in our sort of disfunctional circle. I knew it meant nothing, but I couldn't help wanting it to be me. I danced so that I was third farthest from Ronald's spot-- first there was Romilda, then Lavender, then me.

"So Lav, you're next, and then 'Mione, you're after?"

"Definitely." I grinned. Trying to play it cool. Not sounding too excited. I loved it when he called me 'Mione.

He moved to Lavender, an excellent dancer, to continue with the next part of the song.

I prayed the next song would be a slow song.

It was.

"I've got to have my go now," I said, flashing Ron a smile and falling into his arms.

I felt where my curves fit into his tall, thin, but toned frame. My arms dangled delicately from his shoulders, past his pretty, pretty long hair. I breathed in the scent of his hair. Something nice. I couldn't exactly place it, but it reminded me of my holiday in France a few years back.

His arms held me close, and his hands were in the small of my back. Did I imagine they moved a few centimeters down? Yes, I must have. Of course.

I kept him close to me for the next song, turning around so that he faced my back. We danced like this like for awhile, then I turned toward him, moving my body into his with the beat of the usual Weird Sisters song they had to play at every Hogwarts Yule Ball. He held me so close, and I felt where my curves fit into his thin but Quidditch-toned frame. We were dancing cheek-to-cheek now, because it was more comfortable to not have to look into his eyes.

I looked over at the rest of our group, smiling hugely at everyone watching me dancing with Ron. I felt alive at a dance in a different way than I felt normally. Normally I wasn't the girl snogging someone in the corridor while everyone either rolled their eyes, called us a cute couple, or walked past because it was such an ordinary thing. But starting with the Yule Ball in my fourth year, I started to love the feeling of being beautiful for a night, feeling like the kind of girl Ginny was every day.

After looking at our group, I went back to the cheek-to-cheek position we were dancing in. Somehow I found his nose touching mine. I guess he slid his face back a bit so we were like this. I saw his lips inches from mine.

Good god, he's going to kiss me, I began to think.

Except he's not, because I definitely don't snog on the dance floor in front of people. I can feel cute and flirty at dances, but I'm not one for being all public about snogging. Not that I wouldn't want to…it just didn't happen for me. I didn't want to be the one to make the first move, because maybe I accidentally nuzzled into his face and this was as close as he wanted to get. Maybe he wasn't moving away because he wanted to be polite.

I stared at his lips for what seemed to be an eternity until they finally took mine, so strong. I honestly felt like I couldn't be in my own body then. It sounds incredibly cheesy, but considering that I had only had one relationship, Victor, that I wasn't that public about, I couldn't see myself as the girl who could get a guy to snog her in front of people. I knew I wanted to bottle this moment forever, and I tried to record every move in my mind, but I couldn't, it was an intoxicating blur. I let the moment take me away. No thought was necessary.

After a long time our lips parted.

"What do you want to do now?" he asked, his voice a bit deeper than usual, although in a whisper.

I led him by the hand to a bench, where we sat side by side, with my legs over his left leg. My hands were first on his neck, then I couldn't help myself and went back to playing with his hair.

His gorgeous red hair.

While I was doing this, his hands were feeling along the small of my back. He squeezed my waist constantly. It made me think of when I was talking to Ginny and feeling self-conscious about the bit of weight I had around my hips, and she said boys like something to grab onto. I traced around his jawline, and then down to his neck where his shirt was unbuttoned. It was odd, here was the part where I was used to having something more to grab onto….I'll explain later.

His hand slid up from my knee under my dress to the top of my thigh, then back again. Thank Merlin I shaved. But it was hot. Wanting to do the same to him, my fingers danced up the inside of his leg, teasing him just barely, then remained on his waist. I clutched his loose, black leather tie, and the kiss intensified. We had little, fast kisses that would have led to us going farther if we hadn't been in a Hall full of people at the moment.

When at last it ended, we nuzzled together, at a complete loss for words. I felt like I should say something, but I had no idea what. Our heads just rested together, at a sort of almost-kiss, but I was almost scared to initiate anything. I don't know what I thought would happen— he wouldn't reject me, after he had just spent the past half an hour or so snogging me senseless, but I dunno.

"Let's get some butterbeer", said Ron.

We walked over to the drinks table to find Ginny, Harry, and the whole rest of the group. Our hands had been intertwined while walking, my thumb rubbing against his thumb ring, but we dropped hands when we reached the group. We made some small talk, but I didn't know what I was saying. I couldn't wait to talk about it later with Ginny, even though it was her brother.

We only had time for a few more dances, then it was midnight. It all seemed over far too soon. Ginny and Harry were snogging, in no hurry to leave, while Ron and I just looked at each other.

"You wanna go back to the common room?" I said.

"Sure."

We walked back up the stairs, saying hi to a few people as we went, talking about ordinary, dumb stuff I don't remember. The common room was brightly lit, in contrast to the dark Great Hall. Something about the darkness had calmed my nerves, and now, it was scary to kiss him in the light. I didn't want to have to initiate it…I hated initiating. I guess I was sort of testing him, in a way. I pulled him close, and we nuzzled together for a moment, but neither of us leaned in for a kiss. He finally stepped away, and with a smile that made me melt, said, "G'night, 'Mione."

I curled up on the couch and watched him go upstairs. A burst of happiness exploded in my chest.

Harry and Ginny entered the Common Room then. She looked at me, with my ridiculously huge smile on my face, and leaned in to Harry to say, "I've got to have some girl time with 'Mione. Night, Love." She leaned in to give him a slow kiss.

As soon as Harry left, I squealed, "I snogged Ron! I'm sorry, it's weird, he's your brother, but wow, Gin. My night was brilliant."

She grinned at me.

"No, no, I get it. So you think anything's going to happen?"

"I don't know. I have this weird feeling it might, but I honestly have no idea. And the funny thing is, I don't even care…I mean, I do care, but tonight was so amazing I don't even feel like I need anything more with him."

It was true. Of course I wanted more, but it was almost enough.

"I hope it works out. I'm really happy for you, Love."

My heart jumped a little at her calling me "Love". But then, it had been pretty much been doing back handsprings since I was at the ball with Ron.

With a sigh of complete happiness I fell onto my bed on my back. I didn't worry about falling asleep, I knew the adrenaline rush that was keeping me up would keep me awake tomorrow, too.