Chapter 3: Hot and Cold

One week passed since the scene on the Great Hall and I'm truly starting to believe my Inner Eye (as Trelawney would put it). Ginny's fed up of the Hufflepuff hunk, noticeably, but she told everyone the opposite and has been keeping him around – obviously to prove me wrong. Well, it's not working, I'm not convinced in the slightest.

Luna was very right too: she misses me clearly, she keeps looking at me when she thinks I'm not paying attention. It's sort of funny, actually, she thinks she's so utterly discreet – you should see her whispering, I think the entire Great Hall can hear us! Good thing I always cast a nice silent Muffliato around us before I share something important.

Oh, and lots of rumours about me and Ginny appeared, all sorts of rumours: I in love with Ginny but she liking guys (that's not exactly a rumour); she in love with me but I liking Luna (I imagine her face hearing that one); our recent breakup because I cheated on her, with Luna (I think Luna started that one with our dialogue); I liking the Ravenclaw boy and fighting with her over him (I seriously heard that!) – it's impressive what people can create out of their boredom.

Right now, I'm in the common room, waiting for Ginny – yes, you read that right. I'm going to apologize, though I don't think I did something wrong. It's just that I miss her, she misses me and she is way more stubborn than me, as I told you before, so she won't do it – only if her life depended on it, then she might do it.

I know Luna was there and proved to be a really nice friend, but my week was terribly empty without Ginny and all her outbursts, her heart-melting smiles and her unconscious lesbianism giving me delightful false hope. You see, that fight wasn't the first time she did it, only the first time in public – Ginny does things like it pretty much all the time when we're alone. For example: when I'm at the Burrow, I always, and I do mean always, wake up with her cuddled with me; or when she wants to kiss me on the cheek, she does it dangerously close to my lips; or when she finds me reading, she throws her arms around me from behind and kisses my neck lightly, whispering "hey" right into my ear just right after doing so. No wonder I'm crazy about her now!

However, lately it wasn't only her I'm nuts about: Samantha's filling my thoughts equally often, with that foxy attitude and intense gaze of hers – sometimes it seems she does it on purpose, just to tease me. Take Last Potions class, for instance: she took a seat right next to Malfoy, who proudly smiled as if she was his new conquest. They begun chatting and she flirted a bit with him but when he turned to Zabini, her gaze fell quickly on me. This time, I just held it, remaining as expressionless as I could. The flashes of this week's dreams were back very vividly, in particular her lying on top of me, on a library table, barely clothed, kissing me fiercely – that made me blush uncontrollably.

"Miss Granger", my eyes darted to Snape's figure as I tried as hardly as I could to erase the memory. Of the corner of my eye, I saw Samantha doing what she does best (that is smirking), as if she had gotten exactly what she wanted.

"Yes, professor"

"What color should Amortentia have when you add mother-of-pearl sheen before spiralling steam?"

"That's the correct order, so I guess purple, as it should", I'm confused, since the entire lecture had been on Felix Felicis

"And what potion is this lecture about?", you are so low, Snape.

"Felix Felicis", he groaned and continued his class.

I looked over to Samantha again, she was still eyeing me discreetly and this time, she bit her lip – Merlin, that girl's good in making me hot. However, my doubt persists: did she smirk about me getting caught by Snape or about me all flustered when looking at her? I have a rather strong feeling it's the latter.

"Ginny, wait up!", she stops in her tracks.

"What, Hermione?", she tries to sound annoyed, failing miserably – I can hear she's a little happy about it.

"I want to have a word with you, I promise to make it quick", I'm nervous.

"Shoot it"

"In private?", she signals me to follow her. As I do so, I can hear the whispers in the common room – new rumours on the making, great!

She sits on her bed, "So?"

"I want to apologize"

"Is that all?", are you fucking kidding me?

"Yes", I'm a tad angry now, she's being a bitch, "what else do you want me to do? I miss you, Gin, you and your goddamn insufferable temper"

"What else? For starters, you can come here and give me a hug", she smiles genuinely, a smile I haven't seem in a week. I throw myself at her arms, literally, which causes her to lose balance and fall back into her bed, but she doesn't seem to mind and is hugging me tightly. I, on the other hand, am quite uncomfortable at being on top of her, especially because the situation demands a good kiss and I can't bring myself to do it.

"I missed you so much, Hermione", she whispers hoarsely, right into my ear. See? I told you! Ginny has the gift to turn any slightly lesbian-ish situation into a very awkward lesbian-ish situation. Of course, the hug's way longer than I expected, but I eventually pull away (a tad urgently) and sit besides her.

"So, how was your week?"

"Tedious. I went out a few times with a Hufflepuff, now he thinks he's my boyfriend, so he's all jealous of that Ravenclaw I went out last week... I don't even like him that much", really? I'm surprised. No, I'm not, and that's why I'm really laughing.

"What's his name?", I couldn't care less, but I do it for the sake of the conversation.

"I think it's John, no, Johann, that's it", I laugh at her confusion and she glares playfully at me.

"He's very handsome", again, not that I care.

"Yes, he is, but I'm way prettier, so he's the lucky one", she grins cockily and looks at me, almost asking for the confirmation.

"Well, I'm not into girls", I swear I'm holding back my laughter, "but if I were, I'd totally choose you over him, anytime actually", I smile and wink. She sits up and kiss me on the cheek, brushing a bit on my lips. That went further than I expected, even from Ginny.

"Oh, Merlin, I'm sorry, 'Mione", she blushes deeply and I just laugh, throwing my head back a little to hide my own flustered cheeks.

"That's ok", I smile at her, "it was kind of funny, though, you're all flushed"

"Remind me again why I missed you?", she deadpans, then sticks her tongue out. I just keep on smiling, glad my world's at peace once again.

"Ginny!", she quickens her pace. Oh, Merlin, what did I do this time? Ginny's been avoiding me for almost two weeks, already. Seriously, we didn't even fight, she just runs away every goddamn time she sees me!

"Ginny, wait up!", oh, great, now she's running! "Ginny, please!"

I follow her to the Astronomy tower, which I know it's a dead end, but thankfully, she appears to not know. Realizing she was cornered, she turns around to face me, wand in hand, deep scowl on her pretty face.

"What the hell do you want, Hermione?"

"I want to know what the bloody hell happened to you! You're on guard, for Merlin's sake!", I point to her wand.

"Just get away from me", she spits, eyes narrowed.

"Why? I thought we were friends again! I apologized for that day already, didn't I?"

"Friends don't lie blatantly to their friends", she narrows her eyes.

"What?"

"Really, Hermione, 'if you were into girls', you almost got me fooled, didn't you?", I'm paler than pale, now, and my usual proficient articulation's entirely gone.

"All I wanted was to see if you blacked out again in the library, I was so fucking worried when you told me about it", she contorted her face in disgust, "of all people, Hermione, you were the last one I expected to disappoint me so deeply", she looks at me, pain and rage very explicit in her eyes, "You, shagging that Slytherin whore, really?"

"Wait, what?"

"You know exactly what you did, don't act all innocent, I'm not buying it", she yells.

I'm in complete shock, I don't think I was able to blink the last few minutes, I just fixed my gaze on a brick in the wall and let my eyes go out of focus – I need to absorb this information. After quite a long time, I look at Ginny again, only to notice she's gone.

Let me get this straight: Ginny saw me "shagging" Samantha at the library... what the hell! I never ever "shagged" anyone, let alone Samantha, I never even talked to her! That's just crazy! I know I'm having those dreams about her, but that's it, it never went further.

My internal ranting was so distracting my feet took control completely of my path and I end up at the library (which makes me agree a bit more with Ron when he said my life philosophy was "when in doubt, go to the library"). I take my usual seat and try to fit the pieces of the story together, only coming to the conclusion Ginny's gone crazy.

Samantha joins me at my secluded spot, bothering the hell out of me with her presence, as usual. I'm not in the mood for her mind games today, though, I'm way too entertained trying to discover how my friend developed such hallucinations.

"You seem distracted, Granger", Samantha eyes me curiously, smirking a bit (always).

"Excuse me?", it sounded rude, I know, but I can't help it, I barely talk to her and she makes a comment on how distracted I am? That's just plain weird. She walks up to me and bends down until our eyes are leveled.

"I said you seem distracted", she said it syllabically this time, her breath touching my lips and sending shivers all over, "you're usually more attentive. Is there something on your mind?"

"Why would you want to know?", I narrow my eyes.

"Well, I like your usual attention", she reaches for my cheek and kisses me. At first, it relaxes me a bit, then something clicked on my mind and I pull away abruptly, grabbing my wand in the process.

"So it's true!", for the first time, she looks insecure; terrified, to be more accurate.

I walk backwards slowly, wand ready, until I have some shelter from any possible attacks, then I dash out of the library, heading to the common room. The dreams weren't dreams! They were real flashes of memory! I arrive at my room out of breath, get myself my quill, a piece of parchment and write:

Dear Hermione,

In case you don't remember, Samantha set up a scheme to use you to have sex (how improbable is that, isn't it? Well, it's true), don't go to the library, she usually tricks you there. Because of that, Ginny discovered you're a lesbian and she isn't talking to you anymore. Don't fall on her tricks again!

Sincerely, your past self,

Hermione

I reread my own note, in a desperate attempt to make the situation more real – I even laugh a bit at my own sarcasm, though I know it isn't funny. It's just... all messed up, in a way that I never imagined it become. Probably that'll be the last I'll hear from Ginny. Stubborn as she is, she'll never review her prejudices for me. A lonely tear falls on my lap as our week between fights replays in my head: she'd been more than lovely, then – I reckon that's because she missed me a lot.

If I only wasn't that bloody stupid to fall on Samantha's tricks, none of this would be happening! Ginny was right all along about her, and about her lack of trust in Slytherins, in general. Really, using a person to get sex! That's nasty, wicked... I can't even find the right word to describe it! I feel repulsive of myself for letting it happen, if I only paid a bit more attention!

If I only paid a bit more attention... I look at the picture of me and Ginny on the nightstand – she's got that smile, the same one she gave me when we made up; that smile I know by heart and stills makes me melt; that smile I won't ever see again... I grab the portrait and lay in my bed, thinking about all those good memories, with my heart aching too much to actually be able to cry over it. Every smile, every laughter, every fight, all raced through my head endlessly – even the false hopes and my daily jealousy. I desperately wanted it back, back to the times when the world was... perfect.

Curse you, Samantha! Curse you for ripping it all shamelessly, with that arrogant smirk plastered on your face! I'll Crucio you until you revert it all! But then I realize it: even if I do that, it won't ever bring everything back; it won't make Ginny my friend again – nothing will. I finally burst into tears and am not able to think coherently. Scenes of me and Ginny just take over my mind as I sob uncontrollably and I can't think of much else, except how I'd give pretty much anything to have it back.

I'm terribly sorry for the delay, I know I said Friday night and it's way past midnight, but I couldn't seem to get the last scene right – drama's way harder than sex scenes, good Merlin! Anyway, I hope it wasn't over the top, I put a LOT of effort on it. Let me know what you think of it (and of the rest of the chapter too)!