Chapter seven: Hermione and Ginny
Hermione and Ginny were in Ginny's room, talking about boys and various funny things that had happened at school the previous year.
"Cormac got you under the mistletoe at Slughorn's party?" said Ginny, suppressing laughter.
"He tried to force me under the mistletoe, and I couldn't get away from him fast enough," said Hermione, reliving her nightmare of taking Cormac McClaggan to Slughorn's Christmas party. "He was so narcissistic."
"What's narcissistic?" said Ginny.
"I mean he was self-absorbed, and he only wanted to talk about how smart he was and how influential his dad was and how good he was at Quidditch. He was so annoying," said Hermione.
"And you only went with him to make my brother jealous?" asked Ginny.
"I was desperate, girl. If you were in my shoes, you might have done something similar," said Hermione.
"Desperate? To be with my brother?" asked Ginny again, still not believing that someone as bright as Hermione Granger could be in love with her dimwitted brother.
"Well...desperate to get back at him," said Hermione, now feeling ashamed of her prior behavior.
"What'd he do to you?" asked Ginny.
"Just his relationship with Lavender sort of set me off. I wasn't expecting it. I figured he hardly knew her. It came out of nowhere. I was sad and angry, but I didn't want to admit it," Hermione said. She was thinking she was telling Ginny too much now.
"Goes to show the true nature of my brother, doesn't it," said Ginny darkly.
"He's not that bad," said Hermione, now feeling as though she needed to defend her long time crush. She was also worried that she and Ginny might be overheard in their conversation. For all she knew, there could be an extra pair of extendable ears laying around nearby in all of Ginny's clutter.
"Hermione, I really don't know what you see in him. I mean, I'm glad for you if things work out. I just never thought you two would ever see eye to eye," said Ginny truthfully.
"Your brother is very special to me," said Hermione. "You remember how dangerous it was in the department of mysteries over a year ago? He and I have been through loads of things like that in the past."
"True," said Ginny resignedly. "But what about you and Krum? I thought the two of you had a thing going on there for awhile?"
"Not exactly," said Hermione. "Krum was nice. He definitely had a thing for me, and I still don't exactly know why. He was a good date to the ball, but he could hardly speak English, and I really hardly knew him. I just looked at him as a fun, foreign guy who was nice to me. Ron had been ignoring me for awhile at that point, so I decided to go with Krum when he asked me although I still hesitated. Krum was from Durmstrang, but I was glad for a boy to give me attention. I had been feeling lonely when no one had asked me to the Yule Ball."
"Aww...Hermione…" sighed Ginny. "You're too good for all these boys. Ron doesn't know how good he has it."
"Might have it," said Hermione. "We're still not dating, technically. Something could go wrong. I don't want to mess it up. I really do love your brother. I know you might find that hard to believe…"
"Nah…" said Ginny lightheartedly. "I knew there was at least a little something there with you and him. The way you two fight is weird, but you always somehow stay together."
"Ron and I are trying to work out our differences and stop fighting so much. We only started down this road because Harry wanted us to stop fighting so much."
"Oh…" said Ginny, suddenly becoming sad at the mention of Harry's name. "Well, that's nice that he set this up for the two of you."
"Harry will come around," said Hermione noticing Ginny's sudden sadness. "He really likes you. I've seen the way he looks at you."
"Yeah, sure," said Ginny dejectedly.
"Oh come off it," said Hermione, wanting to encourage her. "You're the only girl he's ever really loved."
"What about Cho?" piped Ginny.
"Cho was just hormones. He didn't love Cho. I guess he just thought she was a pretty face. As soon as Harry found out about her and her friend betraying the DA, Harry hasn't spoken to her since, as far as I know of course. They never talk now. Harry hasn't said anything about her in ages."
"Oh," said Ginny. She felt a little better but was still sad about Harry's overprotective nature resulting in them being split apart.
"C'mon. Let's do something," said Hermione.
"Like what?"
Hermione scanned the room, then noticed a book on Ginny's bookshelf that looked like a Weasley family photo album.
"You know, I see moving portraits all the time at Hogwarts, but I never hardly see moving photographs except occasionally in textbooks," said Hermione. "Can we look at this family photo album?"
"Uhhh… yeah sure. Why? Are you interested in our family? I don't really know too many family members outside of first cousins," said Ginny.
"Well…" said Hermione, biting her lip. "I kinda want to see if there are any pictures of you guys when you were younger."
"You just want to look at baby pictures of Ron, don't you?" smirked Ginny.
"Maybe," grinned Hermione. "Is that weird?"
"Maybe," said Ginny, wanting to laugh, clearly giving her a hard time. "Oh, I guess not. It'll be fun for me to reminisce anyway."
And with that, Ginny and Hermione flipped through the Weasley family photo album. Ginny had to wipe off the dust that had begun to accumulate on the book of moving pictures. The Weasleys hadn't been together too often as one family to take many family photos. Most of the photos were at least five to six years old if not older. Hermione felt all soft and warm inside seeing some baby pictures of Ron, realizing what a strong and mature man he was turning into. There were a couple of embarrassing pictures of Ron when he was in magic diapers. One of the pictures even showed Ron repeatedly sticking a toy wand up his nose to dig for bogies. She was so happy and enjoyed Ginny explaining some of the fun events they had gone to that warranted a family photo.
Eventually, Ginny and Hermione got tired enough to where they weren't talking very much. Hermione told Ginny she was going to have a full day with Ron, so she wanted to get some 'beauty sleep.'
"Beauty sleep?" asked Ginny.
"Oh, it's just a Muggle phrase. I forgot. It just means I want to get enough sleep to not look bad," answered Hermione.
"Ron won't care. I'm sure he likes you no matter how you look," said Ginny. Hermione had butterflies in her stomach for a while after hearing those words.
Pretty soon, Ginny fell asleep and was snoring quietly. Hermione was staring up at the ceiling, hardly believing how her day had transpired. She was sleepy, but her thoughts were keeping her awake now. Everything's okay so far. Better than okay. He said he loves me. That has to be good enough, right? What if things go bad tomorrow? No, don't think those thoughts. Don't be negative. You're better than that. Just be yourself, but don't be mean. He's fine as he is. I don't need to change him. He's Ron. I want him to be my Ron. Mine. All mine. No one else's. Just be yourself, but be nice.
Ron, meanwhile, had been daydreaming about Hermione in his room while also trying read a new book he had gotten from Fred and George on how to bewitch chess boards to play chess against people. He couldn't do the magic, but he could envision himself doing the magic which was the next best thing for practice. He kept getting distracted thinking about Hermione in Ginny's room. What are they talking about? Surely they're talking about me. There's no way they aren't. Ugh. Ginny's gonna ruin everything. She's gonna turn Hermione against me. It's only a matter of time. Why do you even like me Hermione? I'm nothing special. I'm just a mediocre wizard from a poor magical family. Why doesn't she just marry a rich Muggle when she finishes school? Yeah, she'd probably like that better than me. I don't have enough to offer her. She's too good for me. No! Don't talk to yourself like that! She's coming 'round. She said she loves you, right? C'mon that's gotta count for something. She's apologized. I gotta apologize to her about some things too. She seems so nice now. I can't believe it. Ugh I really want this to work. Hermione, why do you love me?
Ron stayed up a long time, occasionally pacing back and forth in his room, staring at his chess board, and he even got out some old wizarding toys and trinkets he had from when he was a little kid just to stave off boredom while not being able to go to sleep. Eventually, he collapsed onto his bed and was tired enough that he could dream.
Normally, he didn't have dreams with Hermione in them. However, he had horrible nightmare, most likely due to overeating and a nervous stomach: Hermione was being mean to him again. She was laughing hysterically at him with for being incompetent at school. Then she was flirting with Cormac in the corner of the Gryffindor common room and all of a sudden they were throwing quaffles at him while laughing as he was trying to find the exit, only able to run in slow motion as Hermione turned fierce on him with a menacing look.
Ron shot up in bed, awake now. It was the worst nightmare he'd had in months, maybe even years. "Why tonight?" he groaned to himself. The nightmare was way too personal.
Hermione didn't have any memorable dreams, but she kept waking up in the night as if it was the night before final exams. She woke up seven times in the night, unable to stay asleep for very long at all. It was a miserable night's sleep for both of them. It only made them more nervous for the following day.