Hermione was pleased to find that once they returned to school in the New Year, Harry wasn't quite as insistent on finding out more about Athena. On the train ride up to Hogwarts, Harry explained that he'd had a long talk with Sirius and his godfather would be handling things with the mystery woman who'd appeared at James's funeral.
"So we're just forgetting about Athena?" Ron questioned with a frown.
"No, I'm still interested in finding out more about her, but I promised Sirius I would let him handle things," Harry explained. "He promised to get to the bottom of what was happening with that witch that ruined Dad's funeral, and I promised to keep my head down and stay out of trouble. Sirius did promise me he would speak to me more about Athena once things had calmed down."
"How much do you think Sirius knows?" Ron asked eagerly. It hadn't really been appropriate to bring up Athena with his parents over the holidays, but he suspected they wouldn't have told him anything anyway.
"I think Sirius knows as much as my Mum," Harry replied. "Like Mum and Dad he's a major part of the Order, and like Dad he was there the night Voldemort was defeated. I'm hoping that by staying out of trouble for a while I can persuade Sirius to talk to me about Athena over the Easter holidays."
"Did he not give you any clue about what he knows?" Hermione asked. She wasn't worrying about Sirius talking to Harry as by Easter he would be in Azkaban, but she was curious to know if he'd mentioned anything else about her.
"Not really," Harry sighed. "But he's just as adamant as Dumbledore that she's not involved in the attacks or my Dad's death."
"We already knew that," Ron snorted. "We know she isn't behind the attacks, because she's the reason for the attacks. The Death Eaters are looking for her, not taking orders off her."
"Is there any official word on who killed James?" Hermione asked Harry, who was busy agreeing with Ron's logic regarding the Death Eater attacks.
"Officially the Aurors are stumped, but unofficially Dumbledore and the Order are treating is as a Death Eater attack," Harry replied. "I don't know all the details, but from what I've heard they think Dad was targeted as a prominent supporter of Dumbledore's. Everyone else is on high alert in case they strike again."
"Do you think that's likely?" Ron asked worriedly. His entire family were well known supporters of Dumbledore and he hated to think one of them would be targeted.
"Who knows?" Harry shrugged. "I hope not, but I guess it's better to be prepared."
"Well we can't spend all our time worrying," Hermione said, trying to dispel the gloomy atmosphere that had fallen in the carriage. "We're safe up at Hogwarts and we just have to trust that Dumbledore and the Order can keep everyone else safe as well."
"Hermione's right," Harry said. "I don't want to dwell on what's happened or what might happen. I say we forget about the Death Eaters for a while and try and enjoy our last few months of school. I know Dad wouldn't want us worrying all the time, he would want us to get on with things."
Harry declaration lifted spirits somewhat and the sombre atmosphere lifted as Harry and Ron settled down to play exploding snap. Hermione sat reading in the corner for nearly an hour before a few of the other Gryffindors poked their heads into the carriage to see how Harry was coping. As their other friends sat down with them and the talk switched to James and how much Harry missed his father, Hermione excused herself and left the compartment. Luckily she was able to use the excuse she needed to check everything was okay as her position as Head Girl.
Hermione wandered up and down the train corridors for nearly an hour. She even encountered a few students who needed her help with various things, which managed to keep her away from the compartment for even longer. Eventually though she couldn't avoid heading back to Harry and Ron any longer, and she was forced to return to her compartment. Luckily everyone else had dispersed again and it was just Harry and Ron sitting quietly as they both had magazines propped in their laps.
"Was everything alright?" Ron asked as Hermione settled down beside him.
"The Slytherins weren't causing trouble, were they?" Harry checked.
"I only saw a couple of Slytherins, and they were sitting in their compartments," Hermione answered. "There was no major trouble, everything was nice and quiet."
"Let's hope it lasts the rest of the term." Harry said wistfully as the trio settled down to enjoy the remainder of the journey up to Hogwarts.
G.O.V.
Within a fortnight of being back at school, Hermione was getting increasingly frustrated with her inability to see Draco. It was clear almost immediately that Dumbledore was keeping an even closer eye on her than normal. Almost everywhere Hermione went, Dumbledore showed up and several times Hermione had to blank Draco as she passed him because the headmaster was prowling around. Luckily he didn't seem too suspicious of her, just wary about who she was interacting with. Because of Dumbledore's watchful actions, Hermione hadn't managed to spend any time with her boyfriend, meaning not only did she miss him personally but she was missing out on knowing what was happening with various things in her plot for revenge.
As a result of not being able to spend time with Draco, Hermione found herself spending more time with Ron. In one respect it repulsed her to be kissing Ron and acting as though she loved him, but in another way it helped her move her plans along. While sex had never been mentioned since their initial conversation, Hermione had made sure their kisses were slightly more heated and she was very aware of how she affected Ron. Hermione was confident that Ron's mind was constantly filled with thoughts of taking her to bed, now all she had to do was manipulate him into a position that he felt the time was right to propose.
Luckily for Hermione she got unwitting assistance in her plan when Ginny arrived in her dorm room, asking if she could talk. As Head Girl, Hermione had her own private room so the pair knew they would be undisturbed as they settled down for a girly chat.
"Is everything okay?" Hermione asked Ginny as the redhead settled down at the bottom of Hermione's bed.
"Everything's fine," Ginny smiled. "I just fancied a chat. I feel like I haven't really seen you since before Christmas."
"Head Girl duties tend to keep me pretty busy," Hermione replied. Unfortunately since Christmas it had been Head Girl duties that were keeping her away from Gryffindor Tower, not more pleasurable activities like spending time with Draco.
"Rather you than me," Ginny said. "I don't know how you handle all the responsibility. It would bore me to death having to arrange the prefects and doing all those extra patrols as Head Girl."
"It's not so bad," Hermione shrugged. "I actually like it."
"I'm sure you do," Ginny chuckled.
"I'm sure you didn't come up here to talk about head duties," Hermione said, studying Ginny and wondering what exactly she was up to. "Why exactly are you here, Ginny? Do you want to talk about Harry?"
"No." Ginny shook her head as she sat up and crossed her legs. "With everything Harry's going through, I've decided to just be there for him as a friend. He's grieving for his father, the last thing he needs is romantic entanglements."
"I don't suppose his decision making will be the best right now," Hermione mused. "Chances are if he did get involved with someone it would be as a result of his grief and it would never work."
"Exactly." Ginny smiled as Hermione nailed the reason she was backing off from Harry for the time being. "Hopefully Harry and I can eventually get together sometime in the future, but it's not the right time at the minute."
"Okay so if it's not Harry you've come to discuss, who is it?" Hermione asked. She was beginning to wonder if Theo's charms were working on Ginny and it was the Slytherin boy that her friend had come to discuss.
"I'm not here to discuss my love life, I'm here to discuss yours," Ginny replied. "You can tell me to mind my own business, but I was just wondering how things were going with you and Ron. You seem to be getting along rather well."
"We are," Hermione said, smiling at the opportunity that Ginny had presented her with. This was the perfect time to make sure Ginny thought she was serious about her brother.
"I'm so pleased for you two," Ginny grinned. "I know last year Ron was so upset when you knocked him back, I'm so pleased you changed your mind and gave him a chance."
"So am I," Hermione lied. "I was worried he wouldn't want to know after I rejected him, but luckily for me he was still interested."
"Of course he was, he's been in love with you for years," Ginny replied with a laugh. "You could have knocked him back a million times and he still would have jumped at the chance to go out with you."
"Do you really think Ron is in love with me?" Hermione asked, pretending as though Ginny was telling her something she didn't already know.
"Of course he is," Ginny answered firmly. "And what about you, how do you feel about him?"
"I think I love him as well." Hermione answered.
"You only think?" Ginny questioned with a raised eyebrow. "Come on Hermione, you either love him or you don't."
"I do," Hermione said with a firm nod. "I love him," she added with a smile.
Ginny squealed in excitement as she leaned over and hugged Hermione. "That's so great," she exclaimed as she sat back down in front of Hermione. "Now can I ask you a personal question?"
"I guess so," Hermione said warily, wondering what Ginny was going to ask her.
"Why haven't you slept together?" Ginny blurted out.
"How do you know that?" Hermione asked, faking a blush as she pretended to be embarrassed.
"Fred and George were teasing Ron over Christmas and he muttered a few things that led me to believe the pair of you haven't slept together yet," Ginny explained. "I'm sorry if I sounded rude, I was just shocked. I've seen the pair of you together and you look to be getting more serious, especially these last couple of weeks."
"How do you know we haven't slept together since Christmas?" Hermione asked, keeping her head lowered so Ginny couldn't see how delighted she was in the turn the conversation had took.
"I don't, but I'm guessing you still haven't," Ginny replied with a shrug.
"You're right, we haven't slept together," Hermione admitted, finally looking up at Ginny so they could talk properly.
"Why not? Are you not physically attracted to Ron? I know he's not the best looking boy in school, but you seem to like him."
"I do like him, that's not the issue. In fact I really want to sleep with him, I just can't."
"Why?" Ginny eyed Hermione warily. "Is there something wrong with you?"
"No." Hermione laughed as she shook her head. "I've just been brought up to believe you don't have sex before marriage."
"Whoa, that's not what I was expecting you to say," Ginny admitted. "You do realise how implausible that is, don't you? You won't find many guys willing to wait until marriage before wanting sex."
"I know, and I am willing to be flexible," Hermione said. "However, I only plan on sleeping with one man in my entire life. Whoever I give my virginity to is the man I'm going to be with for the rest of my life. As much as I love Ron and hope we have a future together, I can't guarantee that at the minute. I don't want to take that final step before I know we're going to be together in the long term."
"Like if you were engaged or something," Ginny said.
Hermione nodded, pleased Ginny had understood what she was implying. "Exactly. If I knew marriage was around the corner, I wouldn't expect Ron to wait until our wedding night."
"Have you told Ron this?" Ginny questioned.
"I've mentioned my beliefs on sex before marriage, but we've never discussed the subject in detail," Hermione said. "And I don't really want to bring it up again. The last thing I want is for Ron to think I'm pressuring him into proposing or anything."
"I'm sure he wouldn't think that," Ginny said.
"I'm not taking that risk," Hermione told Ginny. "We'll carry on the way we are and I guess one day we'll either reach the point where we get engaged or we'll split up."
"It's your choice," Ginny told Hermione, before changing the subject to the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend the following month.
Despite the change of subject Hermione was confident that Ginny would mull over what she'd been told and eventually she would tell Ron and plant the idea of proposing in his head. As it turned out Ginny didn't even wait a few hours before running to her brother and telling him he needed to propose to Hermione. While Hermione hadn't specifically said she wanted Ron to propose to her, Ginny could read between the lines and she knew that was what her friend wanted. Now all she had to do was convince Ron that asking Hermione to marry him was the best thing he could do for his relationship.