Thanks to all who have reviewed, alerted, or favorited this story. A very, very, very big thanks to ravenclawlove for betaing this for me, and for being awesome in general. This chapter is shorter than normal, I apologize, but it really needed to end where it did. Read on!
Hermione woke up really early the next morning. She stretched languidly, relishing the warm, fuzzy feeling she had in the pit of her stomach. What happened the night before rushed to the front of her mind, and the smile that had been on her lips when she woke up, disappeared. She knew that last night was different; she knew it while it happened. It was time to talk to George. They needed to work through whatever had just happened.
Turning to her right, she quickly realized that George was no longer in bed with her. She mentally shrugged before rolling into a sitting position at the edge of the bed. Stretching once again, she stood, noticed that it was only about eight-fifteen, and made her way into her en suite bathroom.
George wasn't in there, so she decided on a shower. The warm mist felt wonderful against her skin. She ended up being in the shower for longer than she had planned to be; it was nine o'clock when she walked back into her bedroom to get dressed. She opted for a tight tank top and loose, drawstring sweatpants before walking out of her room and down the hall to the kitchen.
George wasn't in the kitchen either. She put water on for tea before looking around her small apartment for him. He wasn't in the spare bedroom, or the living room. He wasn't there. He must have left. For some reason, Hermione was saddened by that knowledge. She didn't have time to dwell on it however, as her tea kettle was whistling.
Once she had made her tea, she sat at the small table in her kitchen sipping at the hot, sweetened liquid, thinking about what last night could have meant. She relived every touch, every caress, every sensation that George caused within her. What could it possibly have meant? She had liked George since before she had propositioned him six months ago. She hadn't ever held any delusions about them ever being together as a couple though; now she was starting to have hope.
It felt like they were connecting on an emotional level, instead of just a physical level. It felt like George cared about her, with his gentle touches and sweet words. It felt like he might even lo-
"Hermione Granger! Where are you?" The voice was coming from her living room, indicating that someone had obviously just arrived via floo, and she was so lost in thought that she hadn't even heard the floo activate. By the sound of it, it would seem whomever was in her house was upset about something. Hermione sighed before getting up and walking into her living room.
Ginny Weasley was standing in the middle of the room looking positively distraught. Hermione was immediately by her friend's side checking her over for injuries.
"Ginny! What happened?" Having not found anything, she took a step back to give her friend concerned looks from afar.
"Don't ask me what happened! How could you do that to George?" Ginny was upset about George?
"What about George? Is he okay? What happened?" Hermione was growing increasingly panicked by the second. Her stomach had dropped clear down to the floor in terror. What happened to George?
"Like you don't know! What did you do to him?" Ginny was calming down the more she realized that Hermione was upset that something had happened to George. "Didn't he come here last night?" Ginny was unsure now.
"Yeah. He was here," Hermione whispered, trying not to be upset that he left. Ginny knew how she felt, but George was still her brother.
"What happened?" Ginny pulled Hermione over to the couch, settled herself down next to her, and looked at her expectantly. The girls looked at each other for a few minutes: Ginny in patient expectation, Hermione lost in her own thoughts, not sure exactly what to say to her best friend. She finally settled on the truth.
"I brought Draco home last night." Ginny gasped loudly at Hermione's admission, prompting a swift glare for the interruption. "As I was saying, I brought Draco home, and I made us tea, hoping we could talk and get to know each other a little better since we never got on in school. We weren't here that long when George walked in. He looked upset about something, so I took him back to my room and-"
"You shagged him with Draco in the next room?" Ginny was shocked at her friend's insanely, whorish behavior.
"What?" Hermione yelped in surprise at Ginny's outburst. "Of course not! We talked for a few minutes and then he decided to leave, so we went back into the kitchen, where we had left Draco. Draco excused himself, so George decided to stay for a chat. I was still wearing my dress, having not bothered changing when I first got home, so I went back to my room to change. I was standing there in just my bra and knickers when George walked in and saw me. Well, it wasn't anything he hadn't seen before, so I didn't freak out and cover up or anything of the sort. He told me I was beautiful. Then he kissed me. It was so different than what we had ever done before. He touched me, made me come, and then we fell asleep together. He was gone when I woke up." Hermione's voice had trailed off the longer she talked. Ginny could tell her best friend, like a sister to her, was heartbroken that George left.
"I'm so sorry, Mione!" Ginny was almost in tears at the look on Hermione's face as she had recounted her story. "When I saw George this morning, he looked like his favorite dog blew up in right in front of him. I just figured maybe you ended it with him or something."
"Ginny, it's okay. You had no way of knowing." Hermione stood with a sigh and went back to her cup of tea in the kitchen. Ginny followed and made her own cup of tea before sitting down across from the older girl. She gave her a sympathetic glance before she started talking again.
"I really am sorry, Mione. I'm definitely going to stop and talk to George once I leave here. It sounds like it's his own fault that he's upset." Ginny sipped her tea, grimacing when she burned her tongue.
"Please don't, Gin. I'm sure that he'll come find me when he's ready to talk about it." Hermione's eyes were red from holding back the tears. She couldn't come up with a logical reason for wanting to cry so much, just that she didn't want things to be over with George. Not yet, at least. She really wanted to see how far they could go as couple; even knowing that they were never a couple, and never would be.
"Are you sure, Mione?" Ginny was almost certain that she was going to intervene at some point soon, but for now just looked remorseful for the sad brunette.
"Yes, Gin. I promise, if he doesn't come to me soon, then I'll go to him. I'll give him a week to sort through what he's feeling." Hermione wasn't even sure what she was saying, so caught up in her thoughts.
"Alright, Mione." Ginny downed the last of her tea, stood up, rinsed her cup out, and went to stand by her best girlfriend ever. "I love you, sister." The two girls embraced both trying to hold back tears; Hermione's of sorrow, Ginny's of sympathy.
"I'll see you tonight, Gin. I told your mum I'd be over for dinner." As she said it, both girls hoped that George wouldn't show up. The only thing he could do at this point was to break Hermione's heart even further, maybe even damaging her for good.
A/N: Things are starting to heat up! At this point, things will get a bit worse before they get better; but they will get better! On another note, I have two other stories in the works that should be ready for posting about the time I finish with this fic. One of them is a Bill/Hermione called 'The Appointment' and the other is a Fred/Hermione/George called 'Accidents Happen'. Please let me know which one that you would prefer I start after this one. They are both multi-chapter fics. You can private message me with your preference, or just stick it in a review. I haven't gotten many reviews recently, and I'm not sure if everyone lost interest or not. If you're still interested in me continuing the story, please review!
