Chapter 7
As Ginny walked up to the castle half an hour later she began to feel nervous. There was a chance Hermione might be waiting for her in the common room. After all, they hadn't spoken or seen each other for the entire day, unless you counted Ginny kissing Hermione in her sleep that morning.
She didn't know what was going to happen. Everything was so confusing now. She had been hoping to use the time during her detention to think about her situation and come to a conclusion about what she was going to do. But she had only made things worse by getting caught masturbating to another girl, and a non human at that.
A ridiculously sexy non human, she corrected herself with a mixture of defiance and shame.
Much too soon, Ginny found herself outside the portrait of the Fat Lady. She took a deep breath to calm herself. If Hermione was in there, they would have to talk. If she wasn't, they would talk tomorrow. She couldn't avoid her forever. Mustering up her courage, she spoke the password and entered, holding her breath.
Hermione was lounging in an armchair by the fire, waiting for her to arrive.
Ginny's heart fluttered with a mixture of panic and excitement. She didn't know if she felt relief or dread at the sight of her. As she entered the common room, Hermione looked up at her.
"Where have you been?" she said. "I've been looking for you all day! Someone said you got detention?" She looked tired but happy to see her.
"Yeah, I did," said Ginny, taking the armchair opposite Hermione.
"What for? I thought it might have been because we got caught last night, but it couldn't have been because I'd be in detention, too. What happened?"
Ginny's stomach lurched. She had hoped they would have gotten to the subject of the previous night later, if at all. She hesitated, still unsure about what she should say. She finally decided to lie about the sex, or at least not mention it.
She told Hermione about what had happened, making it sound as if Hermione had simply passed out after drinking too much.
"And once Filch went to bed, I came back to the corridor and levitated you back up to the dormitory," she finished.
Hermione sighed, looking down at her folded hands.
"I'm sorry," she muttered. "This wouldn't have happened if I hadn't forced you into drinking."
"You didn't force me to do anything, I'd gladly go again," said Ginny.
She mentally punched herself. No, you wouldn't, remember? That would only make things worse.
"I mean," she said, thinking fast. "If I had just levitated you from the start, I wouldn't have knocked over those suits. It was my fault that I got caught, not your's."
"Well, thanks for hiding me anyway," said Hermione.
They sat for a moment, neither of them speaking. The sound of the fire crackling in the grate filled the room. Ginny felt awkward again. She felt like she should say something.
"You look pretty sober," she said, playing for time.
"Yeah, I got a potion," said Hermione. "Someone was giving them out this morning to all the older students."
"Good idea." said Ginny.
Hermione nodded and they lapsed into silence again. After a few seconds, Hermione spoke.
"What did you have to do?" she asked. "For detention, I mean. Demelza said you were down at Hagrid's?"
"Yeah," said Ginny, glad of the change of subject. "He wanted me to help him look for those giant spiders in the forest."
Hermione looked up at her, her mouth open in shock.
"You're not serious?"
Ginny nodded gravely.
"But that's far too dangerous for a detention! He can't just take students to see them, he'd get sacked! How did you get away?"
"Relax," said Ginny. "They weren't there. Hagrid wanted to see if there were any left after the battle. He says they must have been driven out by the Death Eaters or something. It was basically just a stroll in the forest."
Hermione looked relieved.
"Well I hope he's right. The forest will probably be safe enough for students now without them." She paused. "I bet Hagrid's not pleased."
"Yeah, he looked pretty sad," said Ginny, a bit lamely.
The watched the fire in silence for a few minutes. Ginny stared into the dying embers without really seeing them.
She had to ask, she just had to.
"Do you remember anything from last night?" she asked, trying to sound casually curious. "It's still a bit fuzzy for me."
"Well... yeah, up until we started drinking. I only remember bits and pieces of what happened after that," she said.
Ginny waited, holding her breath, her heart beating fast.
"I think I remember... Did we dance?"
Ginny hesitated, trying to look thoughtful, before smiling.
"Yeah, I think we did. I forgot about that," she said, her voice steady.
"Yes. And do you remember what happened after that?" Hermione asked.
They looked each other in the eye.
A lead ball dropped into Ginny's stomach as she looked into Hermione's face. The room seemed to sway.
She knew. She could see it in her face. Ginny had already told her what had happened after that. Hermione hadn't forgotten what she had said. She wasn't making friendly conversation. She was giving Ginny a second chance to tell the truth.
It was over, all over. Everything came crashing down inside her. She felt herself break a little as her eyes began to sting and her lip trembled. She looked down at her feet.
"You remembered," she whispered.
Hermione didn't say anything.
Ginny buried her face in her hands, trying desperately to keep herself together. She felt like she was falling. Falling down a bottomless pit. A dull feeling of hopelessness swept over her. What was going to happen now?
She didn't dare look at Hermione. She couldn't bear to see her face. Her embarrassment. Her disgust. All she wanted to do was sit there until Hermione left her alone in the common room. Would she ever forgive her for this?
"Ginny..." said Hermione softly.
She didn't answer. She didn't want to think or speak. It felt much easier to sit and stare at her shoes. If she did anything else she would fall apart.
"Ginny, talk to me."
She remained still and quiet. Hermione sighed.
"To answer your question, no, I don't actually remember," said Hermione. "I can't remember anything after we danced, honestly. I think I drank too much. But I know what happened afterwards."
She paused and Ginny waited, her breath held. She could feel Hermione's eyes on her. Hermione took a deep breath.
"We had sex...didn't we?" she said in little more than a whisper.
Ginny swallowed. To hear it said out loud, framed as a simple question, seemed to make it final and real like nothing else had. She raised her head and looked into Hermione's eyes again.
"Yes, we did," she whispered. Her throat felt too constricted to speak out loud.
Hermione looked down at her feet and smiled weakly.
"Was it good?" she asked.
Ginny stared at her in astonishment.
"Was it good?" she repeated. "Was it good?!"
She got to her feet. She didn't know why but she felt frustration and anger boil up inside her.
"Do you have any idea what I've done? Both of our lives are screwed thanks to me and all you can say is 'was it good'? Do you think this is some kind of joke?"
Hermione didn't respond.
"I've been thinking about it all day," Ginny continued. "All day it's been torturing me, whether or not you remembered, whether or not I'd tell you, how you'd react. Aren't you angry?"
Hermione frowned up at Ginny.
"Well, I—" she began.
"And what about Harry and Ron?" Ginny interrupted. "What are we supposed to tell them? Hey Harry, guess what? Your girlfriend had sex with one of your best friends. Oh, and Ron, your girlfriend cheated on you with your own sister. But it was good, so no harm done."
"You know I didn't mean—"
Ginny reached up and agitatedly ran her fingers through her hair.
"I mean do you even realize how confusing and fucked up..."
"Ginny! I've been thinking all of that too!" said Hermione.
She got to her feet too and pulled Ginny's hands away from her hair.
"I know how confusing and messed up this is and all day I wanted to find you and talk about it. And I'm not angry, I just want to talk."
Ginny felt her throat tighten and her eyes burn. She avoided Hermione's gaze and looked at her shoulder instead, blinking rapidly. She wished Hermione would let go of her hands.
"I thought..." she said in a constricted voice. "I thought you'd be furious, if you remembered. I thought you'd hate me for what I did."
"You mean what we did," said Hermione.
Ginny looked up at her. They were close together now, only inches apart. They looked into each other's eyes. Ginny could feel Hermione's breath on her face. Her eyes darted from Hermione's deep, brown eyes to her lips and back again. Her heartbeat quickened with every second.
Hermione reached up and held Ginny's face in her hands, looking straight into her face. And then she leaned forward and pressed her lips to Ginny's, kissing her firmly.
Ginny's mind went numb with shock as she felt her whole body melt. At first she felt surprise and confusion, but it was quickly masked by a foggy, blissful unawareness. She felt like she was floating up as her heart swelled. She didn't know how to react, so she simply stood there, feeling Hermione's soft lips push gently against her's. She half closed her eyes and opened her mouth slightly, hoping Hermione would explore her more.
Hermione pulled back, breaking the kiss and looking into Ginny's face.
Ginny swayed and opened her eyes slightly. They stood looking at each other for a few seconds. It took Ginny a while to register what had just happened, and even longer to form her words.
"Wh...why'd you do that?" she said shakily.
"You looked like you needed a kiss. And because I wanted to," whispered Hermione. She sounded confident, but her cheeks were a deep shade of red. She looked almost as flustered as Ginny was. They didn't speak for a few seconds.
"Well... did you like it?" asked Hermione nervously.
Ginny's mind was blank. She tried to think, to make sense of the situation, but she was distracted by Hermione's lips. She stared at them, at their enticing shape, noticing that they were slightly wet. She wanted to kiss them again, to explore them, to feel them against her's.
Ginny leaned in and brushed her lips lightly against Hermione's. She felt her shudder slightly.
"Yes," she breathed.
Ginny wrapped her arms around Hermione and kissed her deeply. She ran her hands up her back like she had done the night before, rubbing and scratching. Hermione moaned into her mouth and they turned their heads to deepen the kiss.
Ginny felt like she had fallen into a dream. Out of everything that had happened over the last two days, all the ridiculous situations that had piled one after the other, she felt like this was the strangest. But also the most enjoyable, even more than sex.
She was making out with Hermione Granger, her best friend, and Hermione was kissing back. Neither of them was drunk or impaired. They were fully aware of consequences and yet here they were, wrapped in a tight embrace and kissing passionately.
She wanted this to last forever, to hold on to Hermione, to kiss her and have her kiss back. To rub her fingers up her back and through her hair. To explore her mouth with her tongue while Hermione did the same.
Hermione pushed Ginny back and she fell into her chair, breaking away from Hermione for a few seconds.
As Hermione leaned down to resume kissing her, Ginny came back to herself momentarily.
"Wait," she said. "What if someone comes downstairs?"
"We'll tell them to leave," said Hermione in a husky voice.
She leaned down and cupped Ginny's face again, kissing her again. Ginny had never seen this side of her before. It was hot, but Ginny resisted.
"Wait..." she said again between kisses. "We need... to talk..."
"Mmh... Now?"
"Yes, now!"
"Not now."
"Hermione,"
"Hm?"
"Just get off for a second,"
"Mmh."
With difficulty, Ginny grabbed Hermione's hands and roughly pushed her away.
"We need to talk," she said again in a commanding voice.
"Fine, what is it?" said Hermione. She sounded impatient, unlike herself. Ginny was too, but she need to clarify a few things first.
"I..." she began, but stopped short. She couldn't remember what she was going to ask. Her brain felt like jelly.
After a moment or two, it came back to her.
"I just wanted to know," she began again. "How did you know? You said you knew what happened, but how? We could have just gotten drunk last night and nothing could have happened. Why were you so sure we had sex?"
"Hmm. I'll show you, if you let me go."
Something in her voice made Ginny swallow, her mind going foggy again. She let go of Hermione's hands. Hermione smiled and stood up, reaching down to her shorts. Ginny's heart skipped a beat and her face reddened, but she didn't say anything. Hermione toyed with her button, finally undoing it and pulling down her zipper. Ginny's stomach lurched with excitement as she watched. Hermione hesitated for a moment, then pulled her shorts down an inch, opening them slightly to Ginny and revealing her panties.
"See?" said Hermione.
There was a small wet spot just barely visible under the lip of Hermione's shorts. Ginny's mouth watered at the sight and her heart fluttered again.
"Yeah, I see it," she said, a little groggily. "You're wet."
Hermione blushed scarlet and looked down in surprise.
"What? No, not that!" she said with a mixture of exasperation and embarrassment. "Focus on the panties!"
"Can I?" asked Ginny, reaching out.
This time it was Hermione who held Ginny's hands back.
"They're your panties, Ginny. They belong to you."
It was only then that Ginny noticed it. Hermione was right. She was wearing Ginny's simple pink panties.
"Uh, why...?"
"She me your's," said Hermione.
"Wh—what?"
"Show me the one's you're wearing."
Ginny stared at her for a second, then looked curiously down at her pants. She slowly undid the button on her jeans and slid the zipper down. Together, she and Hermione looked at her panties.
They were white with little blue flowers. The exact same pair that Hermione had worn last night.
"You switched them accidentally, didn't you?" asked Hermione.
Ginny looked up at her, her face burning. How had she not noticed them? How could she have been so stupid not to check?
"The last thing I remember was drinking with you and then us slow dancing," said Hermione. "I wake up the next day with a hangover wearing your pair of panties. It doesn't take a genius to figure it out."
They looked at each other.
"So..." said Ginny slowly. "So... you're ok with it?"
Hermione hesitated, looking into Ginny's eyes.
"No, I'm not ok with it," she said, crossing her arms.
Ginny deflated. She felt so confused. What was going on then?
"I'm sorry—" she began again, but Hermione spoke over her.
"I'm not ok with having sex with you and not remembering, it's not fair," said Hermione briskly, blushing again. She looked like she was steeling herself, trying to be frank and cool in an area she clearly lacked experience in. "I want you to tell me in detail exactly what happened."
Ginny stared at her. This was almost too much. Her emotions had been toyed with so much over the last two days that she hardly knew what to feel anymore. She was so drained and confused that she couldn't even think.
"Hold on, I need a minute," she muttered, covering her face with her hands.
She and Hermione were now mutually and consciously cheating on both their boyfriends with each other. What was going to happen if they found out? If anyone found out? Hermione had just kissed her, in her right mind this time, and was asking for details about their sexual excursion. She seemed to have been thinking about Ginny just as much as Ginny had, and in the same way. And to top it all off, Ginny had just been thoroughly seduced by another girl just an hour ago, a complete stranger and non human, and had already got caught masturbating to her.
She took a deep calming breath, trying to clear her head. One step at a time.
"How long have you felt this way?" she asked, her hands still covering her face.
Hermione uncrossed her arms.
"A few years," she said, her voice gentle. Ginny felt her stomach lurch again. "Hard to say exactly when. It's been growing for a while. When we got separated in the Department of Mysteries, I was so scared for you. I couldn't explain it, but for some reason, all I could think of was finding you again and making sure you were safe. I think I realized then that I cared about you more than... you know... just as a friend."
Ginny lowered her hands, looking up into Hermione's face. Her throat felt slightly constricted.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Well I... I don't know, I guess I was too afraid of how you might react. I didn't want to ruin our friendship, so I... I tried to forget about it and move on."
They sat in silence for a moment. Ginny felt quietly elated, like there were fireworks going off inside her. But it was mixed in with a feeling of regret. She could have gone to Hermione at any time over the last month and they could have spent it all together.
"What about you?" asked Hermione quietly.
Ginny hesitated, wondering how much she should say.
"First day back," she said, settling on the truth, or at least part of it. "When you placed your hand on my leg. I ran up the stairs and I... and I thought about you all night. And since then I just couldn't stop thinking about you."
"Hm..." said Hermione shrewdly. "If by 'thought about you' you mean 'masturbate', then..."
"What?! No!" said Ginny, her face reddening. "I never said that! I didn't..."
"Oh, come on Ginny," said Hermione exasperatedly. "You can't seriously think I didn't notice? We sleep in the same bedroom for Christ's sake. I've heard you moan my name at least twice."
Ginny blushed deeper. She had moaned in the dormitory? When had she moaned? How could she have been so careless?! She swallowed the lump in her throat and stared at the arm of her chair.
"Don't worry," Hermione continued. "You were quiet enough that the other girls probably didn't hear, that is if they were awake. After that it was kind of obvious. And I've also followed you a couple times."
Ginny looked up, her face positively burning now.
"I don't know what you—"
"When you've run off. The first time I was just curious, because you were always going somewhere alone. I followed you to the lake and... well..." Hermione's voice trailed away and she rubbed the back of her neck.
Ginny buried her face in her hands again, too mortified to say anything.
"And the time after that was in a secret passage on... the fifth floor I think? Then a week later it was that big broom cupboard on the second floor. I think you actually used one of the—"
"Ok! I get it!" said Ginny, waving her hands.
There was a pause. Ginny stared at her knees and Hermione struggled to keep her face straight.
"I can feel the heat coming from your face," said Hermione, her voice shaking from suppressed laughter.
"Oh, don't..." said Ginny, looking away.
"It looks like it hurts. Should I get some ice?"
"That's not funny, it's—"
"Hot," supplied Hermione.
"Stop it, please, I'm serious—" said Ginny.
"No," said Hermione, leaning down and looking into Ginny's scarlet face. "I mean, I think it's hot. Like the beautiful hot. You, I mean."
Ginny looked back into Hermione's face. She couldn't speak. Her heart seemed to be throwing itself at her ribs. Hermione's eyes were flickering back and forth between Ginny's, and occasionally down at her lips.
Ginny felt embarrassed, but also extremely aroused. She could feel a slight wetness between her legs, but didn't bother to reach down to hide her panties. She was aching for Hermione to touch her again, to kiss her. But she didn't want to wait.
Without thinking, she reached around Hermione's head and pulled her close, pressing her mouth over her lips. Their tongues met and this time, Ginny won the battle for dominance. She felt around with her tongue, causing Hermione to giggle softly. Her hands got lost in Hermione's hair. She felt her brain fog up again as Hermione began to run her hands up and down Ginny's legs. Whenever she got close to her center, Ginny shuddered.
She sucked on Hermione's tongue and licked the tip from inside her mouth just like she had done the previous night. Hermione giggled again, humming slightly.
Ginny lowered her head and kissed Hermione's jaw line, causing her to sigh into Ginny's ear. She slowly crept lower and lower, reaching her neck and kissing her adam's apple. Hermione let out a moan, her throat vibrating. Ginny reached up and pulled at the hem of Hermione's shirt, lifting it up to her bra.
There was a sudden noise from behind them.
Hermione jumped and yanked her shirt down. Ginny swore as an electric current shot through her entire body. At the same time they reached down and zipped up their pants. Hermione almost fell over as she jumped into the armchair opposite Ginny.
Ginny pulled her hair out of her face just as a pair of first year girls came walking into the common room. They took one look at the older pair by the fire and averted their eyes, walking quickly into the girl's bathroom together and closing the door behind them with a snap.
Ginny and Hermione breathed out together. Ginny felt her heart continue to thud painfully against her ribs and laughed shakily. They looked at each other, grinning and breathing heavily.
"We're lucky they're shy," said Ginny, looking towards the door to the bathroom.
"Yeah," panted Hermione, "And noisy."
They looked at each other again.
"Ginny..." Hermione began, but Ginny forestalled her.
"We can't," she said. "Not here. Not now. It isn't safe."
"Yeah, I think so too," said Hermione in a defeated sort of voice.
"We can pick up where we left off tomorrow," said Ginny seductively, and Hermione looked up, blushing. "Somewhere we know is private. That way we'll have all the time we want. Besides, I'm actually completely exhausted."
Hermione looked stuck between disappointment and arousal. She was biting her lip and glancing towards the door to the bathroom.
"I really want to," Ginny continued. "But I want our first time together to be perfect. Well, our first time consciously together. Are you... okay with that?"
Hermione nodded, still blushing.
Ginny stood up. She hadn't realized how sore her feet were until now. Hermione stood up too. Without a word they stepped forward and hugged. Ginny could feel Hermione's breasts pressing against her own. She wondered whether Hermione was pushing them against her on purpose. She pressed back and inhaled deeply, breathing in the scent of Hermione's hair. They held onto each other for a long time, neither wanting to let go.
After a while, they separated. Ginny hesitated, glancing at the door to the bathroom before giving Hermione a swift kiss. She smiled at Hermione, who smiled back and together they climbed up the stairs to their dormitory, Ginny watching Hermione's swaying hips intently all the way up.
She couldn't wait for tomorrow to come. She wanted to take Hermione right now. She wanted to rip her clothes from her and plant kisses all over her body. She wanted to caress her, feel her warm, soft skin rub up against her own. But she also wanted to talk about their relationship and what they were going to do about their boyfriends. They were in this together now after all. But she knew it would have to wait for their date the next day, during which, if they had time, they might discuss their situation.
