The Dare
NightBird
NightI3ird@aol.com
Category: Romance
Keywords: h/g, r/hr
Ratings: G.
Spoilers: All the books.
Summary: On a calm after noon, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny decide to go outside for a bit of a picnic. Feeling bored, Ron comes up with an idea for a game to play.

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Author's Note: Woo, a little quickie cause I felt taking a break from The Curse of the Ancients. A bit of h/g and r/hr here :P


The Dare

They sat on the couch in front of the fireplace, looking rather bored. Harry was sitting next to Ron, much to his disappointment when he considers he could be sitting next to Ginny. Ginny was right next to Ron, who was also wishing they could change. Ron was also wanting to switch so that he could be next to Hermione, who was sitting next to Ginny, but instead opted to not move, but to stay, where he was. Hermione got an idea all of a sudden. "Why don't we go out and have a picnic? It would be a good way to spend our time today."
"Sounds good to me, Hermione," replied Ron's. He almost always agreed with something Hermione said. "But where will we get the food and the cloth?"
"Well, I'll let you guys go get some food from the elves, and I can go see if I can't find locate a cloth to use out there. Why don't you go and find us a place to have it at?" she asked Ginny.
"Sounds good to me. I think I know the perfect place," Ginny replied with a glimmer in her eyes as she stood up and stretched. Harry watched Ginny stretch as he got up himself. Ron and Hermione got up themselves, and him, Ron and Ginny went over to the entrance and left the common room. Hermione ran up to her room, and after a bit of searching through her stuff, found a red and white sheet that they could use, and folded it over her arms. Ron and Harry went off to the kitchen and asked if they could get some food for a picnic, and after the elves got it all together went out to the main entrance to the school. They meet up with Hermione, and went out to locate where Ginny was. They saw her coming over to where they were at, and she waved at them to come on. They started to run, as well as they could considering how loaded they were, and when they reached her, she started to head over to the lake. There was a small patch of where the weeds divided, and where they had a nice view of the lake.
"Wow, this is nice," Harry commented looking a bit more at Ginny then at the view.
This wasn't lost on Ron, nor was it lost on Ginny who blushed slightly, and replied "Thanks Harry." Hermione laid out the blanket, and Harry put the basket on the blanket, as Ron put the dishes out for them to eat from. The four of them sat down on the blanket, Hermione sat down first, and Ron sat down next to her, and Ginny and Harry sat down across from them. The friends sat around and started to talk about what was on their minds, though they each knew that it wasn't the main thing that was on their own minds. They talked about how their classes were going, what teachers they liked, and which ones they didn't. They started to get into their lunch and found some Turkey slices as well as some Ham slices, and they made up some sandwiches and sat around talked to one another. After a while of chatting, they ran out of topics to talk about.
Then Ron had an idea. "Hey guys, I heard about this game Muggles sometimes play. I was wondering if you might be wanting to try playing it." His eyes sparkled at the thought.
"Well, it depends on what game it is. There are several games Muggles play a fair amount, but I'm not sure if we want to play those," Hermione said.
"Well, it's called 'truth or dare'. You guys ever play it?" Ron wasn't all that sure about what the exact idea of the game was, but judging from his friend's reactions, they did.
"Well, the idea of the game is you go around a circle, and the person who's turn it is, gets to ask a person in the group to choose between answering a question truthfully, or doing a dare," Harry answered. He had never played the game, but had heard enough about it to know the rough idea of it.
"Wait, this means any question or any dare?" Ron asked. He liked the idea, but he was sure there was some limitations on it. He was right.
"I would restrict the dares to stuff that doesn't involve removing clothes, or anything along...those lines, also, the dare has to be something possible." Harry knew his friend too well to let it go without any rules on the dares. "If you choose to do a dare, you have to do the dare. Same as the question." Ginny was thinking about the possibilities they could have with this. She knew they wouldn't start out with anything too personal, but she had some questions she would like to have Harry answer.
"Sounds like this might be fun, let's do it," Ginny said excitedly. Hermione nodded her head, thinking why not. With those restrictions she wouldn't have to do anything too embarrassing. She hoped so at least.
"Ok, I'll go first," Harry said. "Ok Ron, Truth or dare?"
"Let's go with a dare," he said with a smile. This was Harry, he wouldn't be too crule on his first dare.
"Ok Ron, I dare you to go over to the area with the first years, and start flirting with the girls." Harry wasn't going to do something that might be embarrassing to anymore then one person to start with. Dares were suppost to be embarrassing anyway.
"I.... You can't be serious. If that's the dare I'll take my chance with the question."
"Nope, can't do that Ron," Hermione reminded him. He looked at her in slightly shocked. He was expecting some kind of defense from this.
"I'll get you for doing this to me, Harry," was all he said, and he went over to some first years. He started flirting with them, and after awhile, he decided that was enough flirting, and came back. "Did that suit your dare?" he asked Harry.
"Yes it did. Thank you. Ginny, your turn I think."
"Oh, ok." She looked around the group. "Ron, truth or dare?"
"What is up with you guys picking on me? First Harry's task, which I didn't worry about too badly till I found out how bad it was. With you I'm not sure I want to know either one." He sighed. "Truth I guess."
"Ok, Who was the first girl you ever kissed?" Ginny wasn't too sure about this. As far as she knew, he had never had a girlfriend.
"I haven't." It was true. He never had a girlfriend. "Ok, my turn. Harry, truth or dare?" His eyes were glittering with mischief.
"Hmm... Truth I guess." He wasn't too sure as to which one he wanted, so this seemed to be the safest.
"Ok, tell me Harry, what phobias do you have?" Ron had a good dare and a question, but he wanted to wait till the next round at least.
"A phobia I have? Well, that would have to be my fear of drowning. That's the reason I didn't like the second task."
"Hmm, ok, Ginny Truth or dare?" Hermione asked.
"Truth."
"Oh sure, everyone is taking the safe one after what happened too me," Ron said sarcastically.
"What is your favorite thing to draw?" Hermione had seen her drawing before, but whenever she tried to look, Ginny would cover it up.
Her face went very red. "Harry" was the only word she said.
"Aww, looks like someone has a crush on you," Ron teased Harry.
"Ron, Truth or dare?" he looked at him with eyes that warned him that he went too far.
"Drat, shouldn't have teased the next person up. Truth. Don't want a repeat of last time."
"You should have picked the dare," Harry warned. "Ron, tell us, who do you have a crush on." Harry already knew the answer to this; he just wanted too see his friend squirm.
Squirm he did. He looked around at his friends, feeling his face go red. "Hermione." Hermione gasped at this. They were always fighting, is this how he flirted or did she just take his teasing too seriously.
Ginny's eyes shined. "Hermione, truth or dare?" She wanted to finish up this pairing. She knew they both had crushes on each other. She was just slightly worried about what her question would be.
"Why not, I'll go dare this time."
"Alright, I dare you to kiss Ron on the lips." Her eyes were sparkling with mischief.
Hermione's eyes widened at the request Ginny was making. Now that she knew that Ron had a crush on her, that made it easier on her, but this was just moving it along faster then she really wanted too. She sighed, looked over at Ron, leaned over, and pecked him squarely on the lips.
"Now, I'm not sure if you would really call that a kiss," Ginny teased. Hermione just looked at her friend, and then grabbed Ron's head, and pulled him into a long kiss.
"That any better?" Hermione asked her friend.
"Much better, Ron, it's your turn. Go whenever you can start saying understandable words," Ginny looked at her brother.
He blinked a couple of times and then shook his head. "Okay, Harry, truth or dare?"
"Dare"
"Alright, I dare you to kiss Ginny." Harry looked at Ron wondering if he just heard him correctly. "He just asked me to kiss his sister? Hmm, he must approve of it or something." He turned to facing Ginny. She was giving him a shy look, and he grabbed her shoulders, and pulled her into a gentle kiss, full on the lips and after a bit, she started to push right back.
Hermione coughed. "I think you went above and beyond what was required of the dare Harry." He let go of Ginny, both of their hearts pounding slightly. Harry had wanted to do that for quite some time, and now that he had, he didn't want to stop. "Ok Ginny, Truth or dare?"
It took awhile for her to catch her breath, but after awhile she answered "truth."
"How was the kiss?" Hermione said with a smile.
"It was great." Ginny looked over at Harry as she said it.
By this time, it had started to hint at rain, and they decided it was time to go in. Harry grabbed the picnic baskets, and tried to catch up to Ginny. When he did, he put his arm over her shoulders and held her close. Ron helped Hermione get the sheet and after getting it picked up, Hermione put her hand in his, and they walked back to the castle hand in hand. After turning in the baskets, they thanked the elves, and hurried up to the tower. Harry sat down in front of the fireplace, where a couple of people were playing chess. Ginny sat down next to him, and put her head on his shoulder. He put his hand along the small of her back, and held her closely, and put his head down on hers. Ron and Hermione came in the room at the same time, and Ron sat down as Hermione went and put the blanket away. She came back down and sat next to Ron.
Ginny lifted her head and looked up at Harry. He looked over at Ginny and kissed her on the lips. This time it wasn't anything like last time, just a faint one that hinted of a promise. "I love you Ginny," was all he said after the kiss.
"That's good, because I've loved you for quite a while now. Glad to finally have it be returned." She smiled at him, and just let him hold her for awhile.
"We should have done this earlier," was all Harry could say.
"Yes, we should have," Ginny agreed.
"Hey Harry," Hermione said.
"Yes?"
"Truth or dare?"
"Dare," he responded with a smile.
"I dare you to come up with a better way to spend the after noon."
"I thought I said we couldn't make the dares something impossible?" he said with a smile and gave Ginny a slight squeeze.

End of story