Chapter 26

Hermione's POV

People stared and whispered to their friends as I made my way to the Gryffindor common room after Arithmancy on Friday afternoon. I was sick of it. Draco and I had been dating for a month a people still stared, it was infuriating! Draco didn't mind it as much, but it still annoyed him. I'd never completely understood what Harry hated so much about all his attention but now I did. Not that he didn't still get attention, when Drake and I first started going out, there had been rumours that Harry had 'disowned' me and cursed Draco into oblivion. Obviously people now realised that wasn't true; Harry was fine with me and Draco. People still gossiped about how he felt about it though. But Drake and I still got the most attention. I got the most. There were rumours going around that I'd either given or been given a love potion. I even heard some idiot third year telling her friend that I had been imperiused and had crossed over to the dark side.

Admittedly the rumours had been dying down, but tomorrow was the Gryffindor vs Slytherin quidditch match. Draco and Harry were both playing and they felt extremely awkward about it. Draco hadn't quit the team, partly because I'd persuaded him and partly because Blaise was on the team too. He did have a bit of a hard time, though. Theodore Nott was on the team, his parents were both in Azkaban and he was crazy about getting revenge. He despised Draco and Blaise and things had only gotten worse when Drake and I started dating. Nott was a beater, but thankfully Blaise was captain of the Slytherin team and could keep him in check. Quidditch was a brutal game though, so he got away with beating them up a bit. Once Draco had come back from practice with a broken nose and the next day there were heaps of rumours about Harry punching Draco in the face for hurting me.

When I entered Gryffindor tower, I headed straight for the boys staircase. Harry and I avoided hanging out in the common room at the moment and, seeing as he couldn't get into the girls dorm, we hung out in his. The older Gryffindors didn't gossip much but some of the younger ones were pissing me off. I opened the door labelled "Eighth Years" and closed it again almost instantly. I'd gotten a brief glimpse of Harry and Ginny making out on his bed. They were both shirtless. At least Ginny still had a bra on. "Sorry!" I yelled through the door. It wasn't that bad, at least I didn't walk in on them having sex. I wondered if they'd had sex yet. I wondered when I'd have sex with Draco. I hadn't with Ron and I was still a virgin but I didn't think Draco was. That made me nervous about it but neither of us had brought it up. I decided to talk to Ginny about it later.

"Okay, you can come in now!" Ginny called.

I opened the door slowly. Harry and Ginny both had a shirt on and were sitting as far away from each other as they could, while still sitting on the same bed. Ginny was face was redder than her hair and Harry wasn't talking his eyes off of the floor. I desperately tried not to laugh. I sat down across from them, on Neville's bed.

"I'm so sick of everyone staring at me," I complained, eager not to talk about what I'd just interrupted.

"It'll go away, eventually," Harry told me, looking up from the ground but still not looking at me.

"Yeah," Ginny agreed, "you just have to wait until the weekends over. By then they'll have stopped gossiping about us beating Slytherin."

I laughed, "You're awfully confident." Ginny winked at me. I smiled back, then sighed and turned to Harry, "I don't know how you stand it!" I told him.

Harry shrugged. "I yell at them if I'm in a bad mood or I just complain to you guys, just like you're doing right now." He smiled.

The door opened and Dean and Seamus entered. They were used to Ginny and I hanging out here but we could tell they wanted some privacy so we said goodbye to Harry and went back to our dorm.

I sat down on my bed, thinking hard, while Ginny stood in front of the mirror, brushing her hair.

"Ginny can I ask you something?" I asked her slowly.

"Shoot," she told me, still brushing her hair.

I decided to cut straight to the point. "Have you and Harry had sex?" I asked her quickly.

Ginny dropped her brush. She turned around slowly and walked towards me. "Why?" she asked, cautiously.

"Just wondering," I muttered.

Ginny sighed, "Yeah, we have."

I nodded slowly; it wasn't that surprising, considering how long they'd been together. "How long had you been together when you did?" I asked her.

Ginny considered that. "Well it was over the summer holidays, when you and Ron were together, that's why I didn't tell you,"

"I wouldn't have told Ron," I said, slightly insulted.

"I know, but he was always around," Ginny explained. "I dunno how long we'd been together, I dunno if the past year you were gone counted or not."

I nodded, I knew they did. Harry thought about her all the time we were on the run.

Ginny sat down next to me. "Are you thinking about sleeping with Draco?" she asked me.

I blushed and then shrugged. "I dunno, neither of us has mentioned it I've just been thinking about."

Ginny nodded. "Well, I don't think it's about how long you've officially been dating, it's about how you feel." She paused. "He'd be your first, right?"

I nodded. "I don't think I'd be his though," I confessed. I was pretty sure Draco would have slept with Pansy at some point.

"Don't make any assumptions; I'm sure even jerk-Draco would never sleep with Parkinson." I laughed. "Whatever you decide, talk to him about it and don't do it until it feels right," Ginny told me.

"Thanks Ginny," I smiled at her.

"No worries." Ginny smiled then went to pick up her brush.

"So are you guys ready for the match tomorrow?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Hell yeah!" Ginny said excitedly. "Dunno what its gunna be like playing against Draco and Blaise though."

"I'm sure it'll be fine." I sounded confident enough to convince Ginny but not myself.