Sleeping
Beauty Chapter 4
"Ginny's secret"
by Foxfeather
see part one
for disclaimers
Hermione
thanked heavens that she had no Defence against the Dark Arts that day, it
would have been very difficult for her to concentrate on anything Lupin had to
say. Snape had noticed her absent-mindedness and took 20 points from Gryffindor
because she wasn't able to repeat what he had said. She could only hope that he
didn't suspect anything. But then, why would he? To be suspicious about anyone
and everything would definitely not help her cope with what had happened.
Professor
Binns never noticed when his students slept through his lessons, as long as
they didn't snore, that was, so Hermione found herself daydreaming. Again.
Those grey eyes, still with a golden tinge from the transformation, the fine
hair, so soft to the touch, the slight hint of stubble she had felt on her skin
when she had kissed him…
Neville
woke her up from her dream: he actually had fallen asleep and only woken up
when his forehead had hit the table in front of him, shattering his bottle of
ink. Professor Binns stopped his speech, looked up at his students and sighed
deeply before going on with the history of wizarding societies of the late 18th
century. Watching Neville trying to get the ink out of his hair, Hermione
caught Ron looking at her with an odd expression on his face. Hermione blushed
and looked away to find Harry looking straight into her eyes. No. Not her eyes,
he wasn't seeing her, looking through her as if she were made of glass.
Hermione tried to interpret the look on his face, but failed.
Class ended
sooner as she had expected and when she saw Ron marching in her direction she
turned around and fled the room to the Gryffindor Tower. Ron simply knew her
too well, she knew from his expression he suspected something had happened last
night, and he knew she had gone to see Lupin for the werewolf-essay. She didn't
trust herself to tell him that nothing had happened and she knew he would
pester her until he knew everything.
Entering
the common room she headed straight for the girl's dormitory. Halfway up she
heard someone crying. Unsure of what to do, she stopped. The crying came out of
the room of the 4th years. Ginny's dormitory. Hesitantly, Hermione opened the
door and peeked inside.
Ginny was
lying on her bed and crying into her pillows. Her own problems forgotten at the
moment, Hermione entered the room, put down her bag and closed the door. Ginny
had stopped crying to listen and her body language read clearly 'Leave me
alone!', but Hermione slowly went over to the bed and sat down next to Ginny's
small form.
"What
happened? You know you can tell me, I'll listen", Hermione said softly.
Ginny
curled herself up into a ball and turned her back at Hermione. Long minutes
none of them spoke, the silence only broken by Ginny's sobbing. Then she sighed
deeply and began.
"I messed
it up. Completely! He will never even look at me again!"
Her last
words were nearly lost by a new wave of sobs that shook her body.
"Who are
you talking about, Ginny?"
"Harry! You
know I am in love with him, but he never noticed me. And I never had the guts
to face him and tell him what I feel. Until last evening…"
Hermione
softly touched Ginny's shoulder to urge her on.
"What
happened?"
"I told him
I had to show him something to get him out of the common room. When we were
alone in one of the classrooms I suddenly felt… odd… and then I simply stepped
forward and kissed him."
Hermione's
eyes went wide. "What did he do?"
Ginny was
now again shaking with sobs. "He tried to push me away, but I didn't let him. I
clung to him like… like… the pest and I tried again to kiss him… and… finally
he… he pushed me to the floor. He was so angry! I somehow woke up then and
realized what I had done! Hermione, I feel so… ashamed! I'm sure he hates me
now!"
Hermione's
face had gone white with Ginny's words. That sounded exactly like what had
happened to her. "What… did happen… then?" She wasn't sure she wanted to know.
"He stood
there and glared at me, and then he just turned around and left. I don't know
how long I have been sitting there on the floor but when I came back to the
common room he was gone."
Hermione
felt relieve flooding through her. "Do you know why you acted so… out of
character, Ginny?" she asked.
"No. I
don't understand this! He has to hate me now!"
"Listen,
Ginny, I think you have been hexed."
With that,
Ginny sat up and stared at Hermione with large, red eyes, tears still rolling
down her cheeks.
"A hex? I
hadn't thought of that. But… who?"
"I don't
know. But I will talk to Harry about this. I'm sure he doesn't hate you. He
will understand."
"I'm not
sure I want you to do that, but I'm sure that I don't want him to think of me
as some crazy maniac who will try to get into his pants whenever he's alone
with me!"
"Ginny, I'm
sure that he isn't thinking that of you!", Hermione calmed her down.
"Harry has
Quidditch training right now, I'll talk to him when they're finished, okay?"
Ginny
nodded and smiled a teary smile at her friend. "Thank you, Hermione!"
Patting her
on the shoulder Hermione stood up from the bed, gathered her things and left.
She had a lot to think about. And to talk to Remus.
Lupin
reacted more shocked than she had expected. "Ginny and Harry, too? Heavens!"
"Yes, but
when Harry rejected her, the spell seemed to wear off. Why it didn't wear off
with us…"
"I was
sleeping, I could not… reject you…" Lupin blushed and looked away.
Hermione
realized that his day hadn't been much easier that her's. It somehow amused and
excited her that she had such an effect on the older man.
"No, you
couldn't…", she said slowly.
Lupin
looked up and stared at her. They were sitting in his office, the large desk
between them, but that tension from last evening was there, almost tangible to
his still sharpened senses.
He noticed
the almost amused look in her eyes and his throat went dry.
"Back to
business", he said and cleared his throat. "This means that the culprit has to
be someone who has access to the Gyffindor common room. I noticed that both
Harry and Ginny were acting strangely this morning. But nobody else was and you
and Ginny came from there when this… started. Did you notice something… unusual
there yesterday evening?"
Hermione
studied him a few more seconds, taking in his avoiding her gaze, then she pulled
herself together, slapped herself mentally on the head not to embarrass the man
again and tried to remember every detail about the last evening.
"After
dinner I went up to the common room to do my homework. After that I was forced
into a pillow fight with Harry, Ron and the Weasley twins. They won, though
they were outnumbered."
Lupin
smiled at that, it reminded him of his old days in that very room,
pillowfighting with Sirius and James, Peter fleeing the room whenever the
goings got a bit too rough.
"The twins
came up with some chocolate frogs and other sweets and butterbeer after that
for a peace offer. Ginny had finished her homework by then and joined us. About
half an hour later the twins left to their dormitory, Ginny took off with Harry
and I told Ron that I wanted to talk to you about that essay I wanted to
write."
"Ron
knows?"
Lupin's
face went pale.
"No. But I
think he suspects something has happened. He watched me the whole morning."
"God…"
Lupin bent forward and buried his head in his hands. "I'm toast", he stated. "If
one Weasley knows, every Weasley will know within the minute. And then…"
Hermione
jumped up and knelt beside Lupin's chair. "I won't tell him, I promised
Dumbledore, and I promise you."
Lupin
raised his head to look at Hermione's hand on his knee.
"Don't…"
With a torn look on his face he leaned down and kissed her.
Tbc…
Yes, I know
I'm evil… *grins*