Hermione excused herself from dinner she felt that the Weasley twins would have more than their fair share of trouble following them, and took an opportunity to be on her own after the strange goings on of the day, and in need of some time to clear her thoughts. There was a knock at the door.
"Ginny?" Hermione questioned, welcoming the intrusion despite her current mood.
Ginny walked in laughing. "How did you know it was me?"
"This year I've only had one visitor up here, and that was you, and that was last night, I thought I'd follow with that current strain of luck" Ginny smiled.
"Can I come in?" Ginny asked gingerly, a strain of tension still floating between them.
"Yeah of course. Sit down if you want" she smiled. Hermione was folding her clothes and neatly putting them away.
"What do you think Fred and George will be up to?" questioned Ginny, seemingly looking for some sage advice from the elder.
"It's obviously some kind of morale boosting stunt" Hermione stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"I had a nice time today" Ginny smiled, ignoring the last statement, "It, felt nice"
"It did didn't it" acknowleding that the days events had become some sort of bumbling allegory for their near-kiss, and uncharacteristic behaviour at the lake. Ginny had stepped closer and was almost level with Hermione, which made them both extremely nervous. Hermione shifted, and avoided eye contact, and recounted the opening lines of "Hogwarts : A History" in her head relentlessly. She had been caught in the moment of a day and that was all.
"What if it were, to happen again, you know, properly this time?" she enquired lifting her hand to Hermione's neck. What happened next was perhaps the strangest behaviour of all. Hermione pretended she didn't have the foggiest idea what Ginny was talking about.
"What? Being at the lake again on a summers day? Sounds nice" she evaluated, and ignored Ginny's dwindling grasp on her neck.
"Oh" whispered Ginny and lowered her hand, which Hermione grasped long enough to give it a tight, understanding, squeeze, and then dropped.
"Things are exceptionally odd" Hermione nodded, and stated to no one in particular.
"Indeed" Ginny concurred. There was a long pause while the red head seemed to be fumbling with words. Nothing by jagged sounds seemed to be coming out for a few moments, and Ginny looked to be arguing with her self, before spewing out in a burst of verbal vomit. "I just want to feel happy, just for a little while, a few minutes a day, even when I'm asleep, I don't care. At this minute I'd probably do anything to feel normal, and happy and just...me." Hermione looked aghast at the statement.
"Well, maybe Fred and George will cheer you up" Hermione suggested, meekly, she hadn't had enough experience with the fairer sex to fully understand what she was getting at, and as she was utterly hopeless in any kind of emotional help, it was all she could come up with.
"Erm, ok" she replied, seeing Hermione's efforts in there somewhere.
"Look, whatever it is, we can talk about it later ok?" Hermione settled. "Or you can talk to someone in your dorm about it, or Harry" trying not to load all the pressure upon herself. She was confident she would be back to her relative solitude soon.
"Ok"
"Enjoy yourself tonight yeah?" she smiled. The red head nodded in agreement and a smirk spread accross her top lip.
Suddenly there was an enormous crash, and they both looked up and laughed, signalling the return of Fred and George.
They descended the staircase to find them giving out gifts to all their favourite house mates.
"Do you have to buy our love now?" Questioned Hermione, grinning from the side of the doorway.
"Ahh, our sister in law to be!" Said George jestingly. Hermione shot Ginny a fleeting glance, and scowled at the twins, as she descended the rest of the way to them.
"Ha bloody ha" she retorted and shot Ron an acid glare that could have melted his face off if she had lingered any longer.
"We have gifts for you of course" Fred reasoned.
"Well then". He handed her a bottle of wine, she looked quizically. Withdrawing her wand and tapping it, checking for anything suspect.
"Belated birthday present, my favourite eighteen year old" George said.
"Since you're old enough now" Fred concluded.
"It's all above board, honest!" George returned.
"Thanks." she smiled quizically. A Weasley promise that everything was going to be ok, was usually a promise that all hell would break loose. She surveyed what they'd got, mostly useless morale building props, and alcohol. "So you're plan was to get everybody drunk?" she quizzed, uncorking the bottle and smelling the wine to also find it smelled seemingly normal.
"Well yes. And no" George started
"We just wanted to throw a great party. A love not war thing" Fred concluded the typical Weasley twin ethic.
"I'm not having anything to do with this" She smiled and sat in a chair by the fire, she poured herself a glass of wine and smelled it again to check, before she gingerly took a sip, it tasted fine. She smiled, and didn't notice her eyes rapidly flickering different colours and her tongue turning a nice shade of glowing green.
"Gin, we got you this bottle of fire whiskey, share it with grumpy chops by the fire won't you" Hermione signalled an unsavoury hand gesture and pulled a grimace. Ginny sat in the adjascent chair and laughed.
"I can't believe that was their brilliant plan. Get everyone bloody slaughtered" Hermione stated, whilst Ginny tried not to look directly at Hermione's eyes or laughing at her luminous green tongue as she talked.
"Well, to be honest I think I agree, we've had a brilliant day, restoring Harry to his old self, and erm, other nice stuff. I think a party will help." Ginny offered.
"If they're boosting morale I suppose, but it seems a terribly immature way to go about things" Hermione shook her head, staring at a blatantly charmed box, set to explode in Dean's face in less than a few seconds.
"It's Fred and George!" They both laughed.
"I think I'll read for now, if it's all the same to you" Hermione stated, quietly sipping her wine and settled to enjoy her own company.
"If you want" Ginny smiled and joined the group.
Hermione sat by the fire hugging a blanket, reading a book and sipping wine. Hours and hours passed, and she seemed to not even notice what was going on around her, Ginny watched her for a long while and Hermione didn't look up. After a while she put the book down and just stared into the fire. And before either of them knew it Hermione had finished off an entire bottle of wine.
A slightly drunk Ginny wandered over to her.
"Yeah?" she questioned, not meaning to sound as grumpy as she did.
"You looked lonely" Ginny said, with concern.
"I'm fine, honest" being ever the independent woman.
"Do you want to come and join in?" Ginny pushed.
"Maybe" she simply said, leaving it there.
"We're playing spin the bottle" Ginny insisted more.
"Like thats going to make me want to join in" she smirked.
"Worth a try" Ginny said walking away.
Hermione disappeared to the toilet and came back in to the room, after a few minutes. The noise was too loud for her to think as she clambered over the group of screaming testosterone fueled boys. She tripped on one of them and kicked the stationary bottle with her left foot. She sat on the sofa nearest the action, in order to please Ginny and prepared to read.
"You have to do this one!" George declared
"You knocked it! You have to" Fred repeated.
"What?" cried Hermione, "What are you talking about?"
"You kicked the bottle, and it span, so you have to do it, it's rules!" George squealed.
"Don't make us hex you" the second twin added on.
"And if I do this?"
"You're free to go!" they beamed.
"Fine, who did it land on?" she moaned, hands on hips.
"Oo it's the youngest Weasley! Ginny!" George smiled.
"No way!" Hermione refused.
"You said!" the twins insisted.
"Right, if I do this will you leave me alone!" Hermione said on the verge of anger.
"Yes" They chimed.
"Fine. Ginny!" she shouted, and kneeled in the circle. She crawled towards her and lifted an arm. She grasped Ginny's neck, and looked in her eyes briefly before looking over her shoulder at the twins. "How long for?"
"Thirty seconds"
"Thirty seconds! Bloody hell!" She dropped her voice to a whisper. "Are you ok with this?" she addressed Ginny.
"Yeah, whatever you want"
Fred and George shouted, "Go!" and they kissed.
It was strange, stranger than anything she had ever felt before. Stranger than any book she had ever read. Hermione felt everything fit into place, she wanted to feel this way forever, and at the same time felt a bit sick. It seemed to run for an age, and her skin became prickly and electric as Ginny traced her fingers on her shoulder blades. Hermione couldn't stand it any longer and stopped the kiss long before the thirty seconds, and turned to avoid Ginny's eyes. "Happy now?" she questioned.
"You bloody dyke!" screamed George
"I mean we've always suspected Ginny, but you!" Fred chimed in. Ginny looked horrified momentarily.
"Miss prim and proper! I'd never have guessed" George continued.
"Oh shut up, it was nothing." Hermione smiled, and sat back on the sofa.
"This picture doesn't say so" Chimed in Seamus as she snatched the picture off him and pocketed it.
"Behave" she sighed, and shifted in her seat. Ginny had gone quiet.
"God, Ginny's in a mood! Lovers tiff"
"Bloody hell it was just a kiss, it's not like you've never seen one live in action before." She stated calmly, "And, if it was between to girls, there's nothing wrong with that, it doesn't mean anything about their sexuality"
"So you're saying it's none of our business if you're a lesbian"
"No it is none of you're business"
"So you are?"
"Yeah, no, well, yeah, no! It's nothing to do with you anyway" she said sipping some firewhiskey as a distraction.
"Yes or No" the twins pushed.
"No bloody comment" and she downed the glass in one, to everyones cheers. It was quickly forgotten but Hermione felt shaken and she knew part of her was very nearly outted, but didn't think this was the time to be seriously questioning anything about herself or anyone else for that matter.
It had been a terribly long time, and Hermione stayed in a quiet stage of being social, she felt no need to speak unless spoken to, and dissapeared to her dorm with no mention. She'd been up there for nearly half an hour writing in her diary.It was nice she finally had something to write about. She heard a knock at the door.
"Ginny?" she questioned. She came in looking sad. "Are you ok?" she felt the familiarity of the question roll off her tongue. She just nodded.
"Are you?"
"I'm fine" she conceded quietly.
"Is it true?" she hesitated then swallowed.
"I thought I said I don't have to justify myself to anyone" She glared, "Since you're my best friend, or close enough, I might tell you"
"Well?"
"I didn't say now!" she laughed, finally putting her pyjama bottoms on.
"Can I sleep here again tonight?" Ginny questioned, after a long pause. Hermione merely shrugged. Ginny walked towards the bed and tripped on an uneven floorboard, Hermione caught her gently by supporting her with her own weight. They levelled up, Hermione's breathing quickened as she held Ginny's hips close against hers, and a simple accident had begun to escalate. Ginny grabbed Hermione's back and pulled her closer. They were now so close that a breath could have dislodged their faces and sent their lips crashing into eachother.
"This keeps happening" Hermione giggled and looked down. She looked up at Ginny and met her eyes.
"Do you want to finish it this time?" Ginny whispered. Hermione let out a small rush of air through her nose, it was quiet and something about the sound made Ginny tingle. She started tracing patterns on Hermione's bare skin, and bent to reach her shoulder with her mouth, and licked and blew a trail up Hermione's shoulder making her shudder. She placed her fingers on Hermione's throat and she let out a barely audible moan as the skin in her neck tensed and tingled.
"Kiss me" she urged in a hushed whisper, and smiled, playfully with her eyes twinkling. Their lips brushed against eachother, eyes closed, breathing rushed, and hands everywhere. It was messy in the sense of urgency and need, but calculated in the sense that it seemed as if it was somehow the right thing to do.
"Stop." Hermione sighed, and planted a chaste, delicate, kiss on her cheek. "Not now, ok." she smiled and climbed into bed, quickly followed by a dejected yet smiling Ginny who crawled into the bed-next-door.