Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Kind of wish I did, though.
As Lavender buzzed around her, fussing over tiny details, Hermione wondered why she wasn't more excited over going to the ball. Was it Ron? Somehow she doubted it. She wished Ginny could be happy for her. Maybe that was it, she thought. The younger girl had seemed distant lately, getting lost in thought more often than she finished a conversation.
The first time Hermione kissed Viktor had been exhilarating, fun. Her stomach had filled with butterflies and the kiss had seemed like everything it was meant to be. But she had tired of kissing him so quickly. Warm, wet, mushy, forceful. She hungered for a more graceful and refined tongue.
As she descended the stairs to the common room, she saw Neville taking Ginny's arm and leading the redhead through the portrait. Momentarily stunned, she wondered when Ginny's lanky, athletic physique had become willowy and toned. She had been there the day the dress came at breakfast, but the dark emerald fabric that slid over her friend's fingers like green mercury slid over her body so much more enticingly. At first glance, the dress left much to the imagination. A high neckline met with flowing sleeves, barely revealing the place where collar bones met a delicate neck. Hermione's heart beat faster as Ginny turned to take Neville's arm, a slender leg appearing through a slit in the floor-length gown, and she nearly gasped when she saw the enticing curve of the younger girl's naked back, milky skin crisscrossed with dark ribbons.
"Nice." Was Viktor's only utterance as she approached him outside the Great Hall. Ignoring the sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach, Hermione held her head high as she danced with him, forcing herself to look back into those flat black eyes instead of stealing glances across the room.
"Drink?" Krum, always to the point, asked in a most gentlemanly fashion.
"Please!" Her reply, slightly too eager.
As the dance drew to a close, Ron approached, flanked by Harry. Head still buzzing with cider, Hermione spat at Ron remarks she knew belonged to another, though she wasn't sure who. Glancing over his shoulder, she saw his younger sister give Neville a chaste kiss on the cheek as another girl pulled him from her grasp. Wisps of hair fell around Ginny's face, subtly flushed from the evening's activities.
Without another thought, Hermione sent the boys to bed.