An Abundance of Third Wheels An Abundance of Third Wheels (Chapter Eight), a harry potter fanfic

Title: "An Abundance of Third Wheels"

Author: Emmyjean

Classification: H/G, R/H, G/Other, Multiple POV

Summary: Ron and Hermione are finally a couple, and Harry is only beginning to realize his true feelings for Ginny - but is it too little, too late? Set during Harry's seventh year.

Spoilers: Through Goblet of Fire

Rating: PG

Notes: Everything belongs to Rowling.

PART EIGHT
"Would you just look at this? I look like an asparagus stick!" Ginny lamented as she regarded herself in the full-length bedroom mirror. Hermione glanced over from where she was sitting on the bed, applying sunblock to her legs. "Nonsense...that is an adorable bathing suit. I wish I had one just like it."

Ginny frowned disbelievingly as she adjusted the swimsuit in question - it was green and rather plain. She didn't know exactly what Hermione found so cute about it, and decided she must simply be attempting to make her feel better about having to wear it. Sighing, she turned and said,

"I reckon if YOU had one like it, you'd fill it out much better than I could."

She glanced enviously at Hermione's full figure. She looked so...mature. Ginny sometimes felt she might has well have stayed twelve, for all the growing she did. She was still as short as the day she finished her first year at Hogwarts, and she had very modest...er, attributes.

"Ginny, I don't know what you're on about," she tutted, coming over to stand next to Ginny in the mirror, "You fill out a swimsuit as well as any girl I've seen - trust me. You've done a lot of growing in the past couple of years!"

Ginny merely shrugged, determined not to let Hermione distort her self-image. She simply had to accept herself for what she was, and that was hard enough without gratuitous encouragement, even if it was offered in friendship. She turned and grabbed a towel, wrapping it around her waist, and walked out the door. As she clomped gracelessly down the stairs in her floppy shoes, she laughed to herself at her father's sudden urge to bring the entire family down to the beach for a swim. It was the last day of their holiday, as they were leaving for the Burrow the next morning - and besides the whole bathing suit dilemma, she was actually looking forward to this afternoon with the family. And...everyone.

"Where's Hermione?" Ron questioned as soon as Ginny got into the sitting room.

"She'll come down in a minute," Ginny replied, noting that Harry and Ron were already in their trunks. They had t-shirts on as well and towels flung over their shoulders...they looked impatient to get going. Hermione must be fretting, Ginny thought, as this was the first time Ron would ever see her in anything remotely revealing...or at least, she thought it was the first time. For all Ginny knew...no, she thought firmly. She didn't want her mind heading in that direction.

Suddenly, she was struck by the fact that she hadn't even thought about the idea of she and Harry swimming together - or rather, the idea of Harry seeing HER in a bathing suit. She glanced his way, and found he was looking absently in her direction. As he realized she was looking back at him, his eyes focused and he gave her a little smile. She returned it, and mentally gave herself a pat on the back at her lack of concern for her appearance in front of him. It must signify some progress, right?

At that moment, Hermione finally came down, and amidst embarrased glances passing between Ron and Hermione and amused ones between Harry and herself, they all trudged outside and down the stairs to the beach to join the rest of the Weasley family.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"I sincerely wish I could get new robes this time around," Ginny said wistfully as she and Hermione stared through the windows of a fancy robe shop in Hogsmeade.

"What do you mean, Gin? Your robes are lovely," Hermione responded kindly.

Ginny sighed, and smiled wryly at Hermione.

"Yes, I suppose they were...the first few hundred times I wore them."

They both laughed, and Hermione suggested they go inside and have a look...just for fun. As they slowly made their way around the boutique, admiring this and that, Ginny thought about how nice it was to be spending time with some female company. Not that she didn't have her friends...but it was rare she ever got one of them alone, they traveled in a group most of the time. She fingered a particularly silky material, and commented,

"I really hate all this, you know...trying to decide what to wear, how to do your hair, what jewelry to use..."

Hermione came to run her fingers across the material, too, and replied, "What kind of girl are you, then?"

They both laughed, and Ginny said, "I know, it's ridiculous."

"Ginny, can I ask you something?" Hermione asked, suddenly serious.

Ginny frowned slightly and nodded her head yes.

"Were you...I mean, I was wondering..." Hermione faltered a bit before she finally got out, "Was it my imagination, or were you upset that Harry didn't ask you to the dance?"

She opened her mouth to deny it, but the words died in her throat as she looked into Hermione's concerned eyes. She didn't know why she ever expected to hide anything from her...after all, she had practically been her best friend for the past few years.

"Yes...I suppose, in a way, I was," Ginny admitted quietly instead.

Hermione paused, as if she didn't know how to respond. Suddenly, she smiled, and explained quickly,

"Actually, I expected you to deny it."

Ginny laughed, and Hermione joined in nervously.

"So did I, actually," she replied.

After looking at a few more robes, Hermione continued,

"Why? I mean, is it...is it because you still...you know..."

"No...at least, I really don't think so. I just...I wanted Harry to ask me so that I could go to the dance with someone I could really feel comfortable being around. Not that I don't like Justin...I do, very much. I only mean that...well, now I do have to worry about all these things."

"What things?" Hermione broke in, confused.

"You know...what to wear and how to act. I wouldn't have had to even think about it had I been going with Harry. Does this make any sense? Do I have to fancy a boy like...like that...to want them to ask me to a dance?" she asked as she cast a pleading look at Hermione. This was something she had been wrestling with for days, ever since that horrible night in the common room.

Hermione thought for a moment, and then replied, "No, of course not. Actually, this situation rings a bell for me. I felt the same way about going with Viktor Krum to that Yule Ball in my fourth year."

"You did?"

Hermione nodded, and took her hand to lead her out of the shop, as the sales witch was now giving them nasty looks. Once they were back out on the relatively uncrowded Hogsmeade street, she continued,

"I really wanted to go with Ron, for almost the exact reasons you are describing as to why you wanted to go to the Spring Festival with Harry - he was my friend, and he was someone I felt I could be myself around without worrying about keeping up appearances."

"But," Ginny asked, almost dreading the answer, "didn't you also fancy Ron?"

Hermione looked at her almost apologetically, as if she knew she had only made things more complicated for Ginny. She bit her lip and said,

"Well...yes, there was that, too, but...it doesn't mean anything. Not as compared to your situation at least...actually, they're very different - for all their similarities."

Ginny sighed and cast her eyes wearily up at the cloudy sky...Hermione was not making sense, and even she knew it herself. There were many times Ginny could recall when Hermione said things that didn't make much sense to some people, but the important thing was that it always sounded perfectly coherent to Hermione herself.

The fact that she was obviously prattling on with no plan or rational train of thought now...well, it simply confirmed the utter confusion of Ginny's situation. Needless to say, it also did nothing to ease Ginny's nerves...or calm the whirlwind of thoughts that had been racing through her poor brain ever since she heard that Harry Potter was taking Hannah Abbott to the dance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All of the Weasleys - with the exception of their mother, who was on the beach setting up a picnic - plus Harry and Hermione were thoroughly engrossed in a Muggle game called Marco-Polo. After Hermione had explained the rules to everyone, no one could resist - especially Fred and George, who could only imagine the mischevious possibilities. At the moment, Ron was "it", and Ginny couldn't help giggling as he reached blindly around him in search of someone to tag. He heard this and, with a smug smile, bellowed,

"Marco!"

They all answered "Polo!" and Ron's smile grew as he headed in Ginny's direction. She tried not to squeal as she jumped out of the way of Ron's long arm - but her eyes widened and a horrified gasp caught in her throat as she watched her brother's large hand close on Hermione, who had been standing behind her.

Not just any part of Hermione, either.

Hermione's eyes widened and she seemed unable to speak. Ron snatched his hand away from her as if he'd been burned, and pulled the blindfold off his head to further demonstrate the fact that his face was turning bright crimson even as a smile threatened to break out on his face.

"Wow...sorry, Hermione. I didn't mean to do that, I swear. I couldn't see what I was grabbing..."

Hermione began blushing furiously as well, and the rest of the group got over their shocked silence and began to roar with laughter...well, all except her father, who had been so preoccupied in shouting a response to her mother's demand that they all come and eat that he hadn't seen anything.

"What? What happened - did he tag someone?" he asked, looking around.

"Oh, he tagged her all right," George managed in between gasps and cackling like a fool. Ginny shot him a look and he didn't say more, as Fred pounded Ron on the back in some sort of sick gesture of congratulations. Ginny smiled apologetically at Hermione who, to her surprise, was even smiling along with everyone. She caught Ginny's expression and said cryptically,

"See what the disadvantages can be, Gin?"

Ginny began to laugh again, and replied honestly, "No...I don't!"
Hermione joined in laughing with her, and Ginny allowed herself to glance at Harry...at which point she felt her stomach clench and her face heat up beyond anything she'd ever felt. He had obviously heard her exchange with Hermione, and was now staring right at her…which normally wouldn't have fazed her quite as much, except what his green eyes were fixed upon was definitely NOT her face. Ginny had never caught anyone oogling her before - she wasn't even sure anyone ever had before. The fact that it was Harry...she didn't know where to look. The decision was taken from her, however, as Harry finally tore his gaze away from her "attributes" and went to follow Ron back to the shore. Ginny, still burning with embarrassment, grabbed Hermione's arm and held her back.

"Hermione...oh, my gosh."

"What is it?" Hermione asked, concerned.

"Harry heard us!"

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, now furrowing her brow in puzzlement.

"He...he...when I looked at him, after...after we finished laughing about it...oh, Hermione, he was staring right at me!" Ginny finally managed in a frantic whisper.

"So what?"

"Not...at me, but rather at my...my..."

A look of realization dawned on Hermione's face, and she replied with a quiet, "Oh...oh. I see."

She then did something totally unexpected...she smiled indulgently at Ginny, waving her hand in the air as if to brush away Ginny's worry. Ginny frowned in exasperation and exclaimed,

"How can you think this is funny? I'm so humiliated..."

"Oh, Ginny! That's nothing to be concerned about...after all," she continued in a matter-of-fact tone, "Harry is a seventeen year-old boy. It's only natural that he should...notice things like that."

"But why is he noticing things like that about me!?" Ginny demanded.

Hermione laughed lightly and replied, "Ginny...I told you, you aren't exactly lacking in that department. You've grown up when we weren't looking...it's not really surprising to me that Harry should at least take notice of this."

She caught Ginny's still panicked look and said soothingly, "I know, it feels weird. Trust me, though...all men do it. It's an unconscious thing, I think. It doesn't mean anything."

Ginny morosely approached the beach blanket where everyone was sitting, only slightly comforted by Hermione's insistence that everything was just as it should be. She was hyper-aware of Harry's eyes the entire day after that, and thought she caught him looking at her one or two more times. It wasn't so much his looking that she was worried about...it was the reaction she was having to it. She should be angry, or at the very least indifferent - but she wasn't. She felt heady and inexplicably excited by Harry's attention, and only became more infuriated with herself as she felt these things.

She wasn't supposed to be feeling like this...she shouldn't allow herself such thoughts. It didn't fit into her life anymore...it never had. It would never go anywhere, and she'd end up regressing to a place she had thought she'd overcome long ago. She'd end up ruining everything she and Harry had built over the past few weeks.

She wouldn't risk it...and she hated that her blasted silly feelings were making it so hard for her to concentrate. She'd simply have to work harder to forget them once and for all…and resolved to accomplish this by the time school started. Surely, the distraction of Hogwarts life would knock some sense into her and allow her to completely accept being Harry's friend.

Feeling slightly better now that she had set a concrete goal, she fell asleep that night almost looking forward to getting home...and back to reality.

To Be Continued in Chapter Nine

More fic by Emmyjean at:

The Hidden Tower