Chapter 14

"Ginny? Come on, wake up."

Ginny pressed her eyes shut and squirmed, trying to get comfortable again. She was so tired and her pillow was so warm. It took her a few seconds to realize her pillow was not a pillow at all, but someone's chest, and then another second to realize it belonged to Hermione. She didn't open her eyes though. Who knew a chest could be so comfortable?

"You've got to get back to your bed, Ginny. The other girls will be up soon and they'll see us." Hermione nudged her shoulder gently, but she only groaned and pressed her face against Hermione.

"What time is it?" she moaned.

"Almost six."

Ginny groaned again and buried her face in Hermione's cleavage. Hermione sucked in a breath and underneath her breast, Ginny felt her heart beat quicken. She listened to it, focusing on the rhythm.

Bah-dum bah-dum bah-dum.

As she lay there, nestled under Hermione's arms, their legs slightly tangled and their bodies close, Ginny remembered. It all came flooding back to her. She wanted so badly for it to have been a dream. She wished with all her heart. But it had to have happened, for why else would she be in Hermione's bed?

But the pain and the shame she expected to feel were muffled by the comfort she felt being with Hermione. The infatuation she felt towards her, the allure, the...

The wanting. The not-love. That was the other thing that she remembered from last night. She knew now that her feelings for Hermione did not go beyond that of physical attraction and close friendship. They never had.

Could she tell her? Surely she could. She had too many secrets already. She would have to tell her this at the very least, but not right now. It would ruin the moment. Ruin Hermione's day.

Possibly more than that.

"I had a bad night," she whispered.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Hermione whispered back, her chin resting on her head.

Yes. "No, not really." I'm lying to you. "It's not that big a deal, I just—" allowed myself to be raped "—got emotional. There's a lot going on, I guess."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"No, don't be." She kissed Hermione's collarbone and felt her suck in a breath again. "You have nothing," she kissed the base of her neck, "to be," she kissed her adam's apple, "sorry for." As she kissed her jawline, Hermione shuffled her legs slightly.

"Ginny, I... hah... We can't—" she breathed.

"I know." She leaned up and kissed her ear. Hermione sighed against her cheek. "It's just... been a while."

Hermione didn't answer. Ginny didn't push it any further. She didn't think she could manage it anyway, considering. So instead, she simply lay there, slowly waking up. She listened to Hermione's breathing settle down, the birds chirping outside the window, the steady beating of Hermione's heart.

Today is a new day. I am going to face it and live with what I did.

She took a deep breath and disentangled herself from Hermione's arms. She pulled back the curtains of the four-poster and walked groggily over to her own empty, cold bed. She fell onto it and turned her face to gaze at Hermione. For a moment, neither of them spoke.

"What was the spell you used last night?" asked Ginny, resting her head on her arm.

"Muffliato? It fills the ears of any person in the vicinity with and unidentifiable buzzing noise, muffling any conversation you might want to have."

Ginny merely stared at her, surprised. "Where did you learn it? I've never heard of a spell like that."

"Well... that's because it was invented by Snape. When he was in school."

"Oh," said Ginny. "I'm guessing it was another one of those Half Blood Prince spells you guys didn't tell me about." Try as she might, she couldn't keep the note of derision out of her voice. If she had known about the spell before...

"I'm sure you would have gotten plenty use out of it, what with... one thing or another," Hermione grinned and slipped out of bed.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Ginny.

"Just that you can be a little... noisy sometimes." Hermione kept her face innocent as she pulled on her clothes. Ginny felt her face heat up a little. It was a wonder Hermione hadn't realized what she was doing with the nymphs yet. She knew Ginny almost too well.

"You're not seriously getting up are you?"

"Of course I am. I have Arithmancy and Ancient Runes exams today. I wanted to get up to study sooner, but I was worried about waking you up too early."

Ginny laughed and pulled the covers over herself.

"Do you want to come help me catch up on some studying?"

"Tempting, but no thanks. I think I'll catch up on some—" she yawned a perfectly timed yawn, "—sleep."

"Alright," said Hermione, standing next to her bed, fully clothed. "I'll see you sometime later today then." She looked down at Ginny for a second as though she was waiting for her to say something.

"What is it?" asked Ginny.

Hermione blinked, then shook her head. "Nothing. I'll see you later."

Ginny watched her leave.

As Ginny walked down to breakfast two hours later, Hermione having taken her meal up to the common room to study, she began thinking about Maera again. No matter how many times she told herself what she was doing was the best option, she couldn't help but fantasize telling everyone about the nymph just to see the look on her face when she realized she had no control over Ginny. She could turn her in to the Department of the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures and have her locked up for murder, blackmail, rape, being an asshole.

But, as she reminded herself again and again, that would ruin her life as well. Besides, she wasn't even sure how a Ministry official would go about catching a creature that could turn into water and swim away in an instant. If she knew, she could have done it herself already. What if she conjured a giant glass bottle around the nymph? That could work, but she didn't know how to work a spell like that. For something that big—

"ROSIE!"

Ginny jumped, adrenaline rocking through her body as she wheeled around.

The twins were standing behind her, flashing identical grins. Lyra was wearing her Ravenclaw uniform from before, but Naira was decked out in the Hufflepuff colors.

"Stop scaring me like that!" Ginny hissed, looking around to see if anyone was in the vicinity.

"Just testing your reflexes," said Naira, studying her nails unconcernedly.

"You test positive for pantiesinaknotitus," said Lyra, crossing her arms. "And yes, I did just make that up, on the spot."

"Like a comedy goddess," muttered Naira.

"Jealous."

"Not."

"Are."

"What are you doing here?" Ginny cut in. "If someone sees you—"

"Gods, I hope not," said Naira, pulling at her uniform. "Yellow is not my color. Why I ever—"

"We came to see you, dummy," said Lyra. "What, did you think we'd forgotten what day it was?"

"What... day? It's Tuesday, but—"

"Yeah, the dreaded morning after. We'd though we'd check up on you, you know? See how you're doing."

"She's horribly sick with pantyitus or whatever," said Naira.

"Pantiesinaknotitus, thank you very much."

"Ah."

Ginny blinked. She had completely forgotten the twins promise to help her through the whole Maera ordeal. She felt a sudden urge to run forward and hug the sisters, but resisted. The fact that she had someone to talk to about it was more relieving than she could say.

"So," said Lyra, fixing Ginny with a slightly more serious look. "How did it go?"

"She... didn't tell you two about it?" asked Ginny hesitantly.

"No, we haven't seen her for a couple days actually."

"We're not roomies, you know," said Naira. "After what she did to you and Lyra, we've kept our distance."

"Yeah, so what happened? She didn't hurt you did she?" Lyra was looking anxious.

"No, no, she was fine," said Ginny, unable to meet Lyra's purple eyes. But a second later, she changed her mind. "Actually, no, she wasn't fine at all."

"And there you go," said Naira.

"Alright, come on," sighed Lyra. The twins walked into a side room, holding the door open for Ginny. "Let's hear it."

Ginny found she had no problem recounting her experience from the night before. It didn't seem like she was offending the twins in any way by making such damning claims about their friend, although it looked like that was being called into question now. She left no detail out, determined not to lie about what she'd done for once.

The twins didn't speak while Ginny told them what Maera did to her. They didn't crack a joke or nudge each other. On the contrary, by the time Ginny was finished, Naira was looking outraged and Lyra almost sick. For a moment, none of them spoke.

"...Well then," said Lyra, swallowing.

"I am going to kill her," said Naira in a would-be calm voice. "I'm actually going to kill her."

"Holy shit. I'm so sorry, Rose," said Lyra, looking devastated. "If I'd have known she was doing that to you, I..."

"There wasn't anything you could have done," said Ginny. "I had to go through with it."

"No, you don't understand, I tasted you two on the water. I could have come and helped you, but I just... I didn't know, I didn't..."

"You can't tell the difference?" asked Ginny, genuinely curious. "You know, between pleasure and... uh..."

"Rape?" offered Naira. "No, we just thought you were... having a good time."

The twins were both looking down at their feet. Lyra was rubbing her arm and Naira was biting her lip.

"Hey," said Ginny. "It's not your fault. She would have just gone off on you two for interrupting us. I had to go through with it, it was my choice. I'm the one to blame for all—"

"No, you are not!" the twins said in unison.

"Maera's the one who did this to you," said Lyra. "She's the one forcing you into this, not you."

"You can't blame yourself for something like this, it'll mess you up like, really really badly," said Naira.

"Yeah?" said Ginny. "I had the power to put a stop to it. I can just tell everybody what I've been doing and—"

"That's not how blackmail works!" said Lyra. "Sure she's giving you a way out, but it's just more torture for you and your girlfriend. You—are—not—to—blame!"

"So I should keep at it then?" said Ginny.

Lyra opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again. "That's not my point. I'm trying to tell you that this isn't your fault. Blackmail never is and rape certainly isn't."

"So what would you suggest I do?"

"I don't know, just... I don't know."

They fell silent, but Ginny already knew what she was going to do. She was going to go forward with the deal. She could muster through it, especially now that she had the twins' support. As long as Maera didn't get too violent with her, she would live with it.

"Anyway," said Naira in a brisk voice. "I suppose this makes our day more straightforward, doesn't it Lyra?"

Lyra sighed and nodded.

"What do you mean?" asked Ginny, looking between the two of them.

"You like massages?" asked Naira. "Or Butterbeer?"

"I... well yes, but—"

"Excellent!" said Lyra in a business like tone, walking over to her. "You are going to go on a date with us. No ifs, ands, or buts about it."

"Maybe a butt or two."

"Not the right time, sis."

"Right, sorry. But still..."

"Hey, I said no buts!"

Ginny looked between the twins, and smiled. She couldn't put into words how grateful she was towards them. "Alright. I'd love to."

"Awesome! Now, we'll need you to change our eyes if we're going out again," said Lyra. She bent forward, much more relaxed about the procedure than before. "Blue, please."

Ginny took her wand out and obligingly changed Lyra's purple eyes. Once she had finished, she turned to Naira, who leaned forward a little more dubiously than her sister.

"It's fine, it just tickles a bit," said Lyra.

A few seconds later, the twins stood before her, both convincingly human and both identically pretty.

"So where are we going?" asked Ginny.

"Three Broomsticks," said Lyra. "Rosmerta and I go way back. I'll be able to get us a room no problem. We just need... Actually I don't know how we're going to get there. It's rather far from here, isn't it?"

"Do you just swim everywhere you go?" asked Ginny.

"Well, most of the time, but we can walk. Actually, on second thought, that would suck for you, wouldn't it? Going through about a mile of snow?"

"You had a week to plan this through," muttered Naira, her face in her hand.

"It's okay, there's another way," Ginny said quickly, pulling the Marauder's Map out of her bag and pausing. "...And it would probably be best if I wasn't seen with you two when we got there."

So they planned their escape for the day. Ginny had no qualms about skipping classes whatsoever. She definitely needed a break. Her previous meetings with the twins had always been cut short and she liked being with them. She would have to return in time for lunch with Hermione, but that wasn't for hours.

They left the room together, Ginny leading the way with the map and directing them up two floors where they came across a statue of a one-eyed, humpbacked witch. Ginny tapped it's back, said "dissendium" and the hump opened up into a hole large enough to fit through. Lyra whistled.

Ginny sent the two of them down first before going in herself. She slid down the short slide and ended up in a dark tunnel that stretched ahead. She set her bag next to exit. Its absence seemed to solidify the fact that she was walking out of the school. They set off together, their feet echoing around them.

"Do you mind if I ask you something?" Ginny started, falling into step between the twins.

"Obviously, you've just done so," said Lyra, smiling. Naira groaned next to her.

"How old are you two?"

"Six hundred and twenty-two, last May," said Lyra.

"So still in our twenties," Naira winked, grinning at Ginny's astounded face.

"Our birthday was actually on the day of the battle," said Lyra. "One of the coolest birthdays ever."

"You fought in the battle?!" Ginny gasped, almost tripping over herself because she was staring at Lyra.

"What? No! No way, there were Acromantulas everywhere! We just watched most of it."

"Speak for yourself, I got some action," said Naira, puffing out her chest. "I fought off a Death Eater all on my own."

"He got hit by a spell before you even landed a punch," said Lyra.

"Nah-uh! I totally took him on, and I knocked him out cold!"

"Sure," said Lyra. "Oh! And we saw Harry Potter for the first time! He's not as cute as I thought he would be, though. Kind of scrawny."

Ginny's gut twisted, but she didn't say anything.

"I don't care what he looks like, he's a hero in my book," said Naira. "I didn't understand a word of what he was saying, but it had to be pretty badass to scare You-Know-Who like that."

"That was awesome!" said Lyra enthusiastically. "I wish I could go back and watch it again. Those last three-on-one fights with You-Know-Who and that one dark witch were the most intense duels I have ever seen in my life, and I'm six hundred!"

"I was there, too," Ginny said softly.

The twins looked at her. She avoided their gaze.

"You were in the battle?!" Lyra blurted out.

"Yeah, I was there from the start. And I was one of the three who fought against the dark witch."

"WHAT?!" shouted Lyra, her voice echoing around the tunnel.

"Woah, hold the fuck up!" said Naira, coming to a stop and grabbing Ginny's shoulder. "Are you serious?!"

"Yeah," said Ginny calmly. "Her name was Bellatrix Lestrange, and my mom killed her."

Lyra blinked rapidly, clearly unable to comprehend what she was hearing. Naira's mouth had fallen open.

"I'm sorry, your mom killed her?! The woman at the end who called her a bitch?"

"She said 'not my daughter, you bitch'," Lyra said quietly, and then in almost a whisper, "Right after the witch almost killed a girl with red hair."

Naira stared at her sister, then back at Ginny, her eyes wide. For a moment, neither of them said anything, they just stared at Ginny.

"Who are you?" asked Naira.

Ginny took a deep, steadying breath.

In... and then out.

"My name is Ginny Weasley."