Hermione was nervous. She and Ron had been going steady for two weeks now, having quickly gone from the "blushing-whenever-the-other's-name-is-mentioned"-stage and were now in what she liked to call the "daring to hold hands in public"-phase. They were rapidly going through this "stage" too, and Hermione had a feeling that Ron soon would muster up the courage to kiss her.
Now, why would she be nervous about that? Wasn't it any girl's dream to be kissed by the one they lo- um, really, really liked?
The problem, Hermione reflected, was that she hadn't kissed anyone before. She just wasn't sure she was a good kisser. What if Ron hated it? What if she was absolutely horrible? She would never be able to face him again if she was.
She knew everything there was to know about kissing. She had spent hours pouring over every book she could find on the subject, but the truth had eventually knocked on her door, bringing with it a bag of dread: there was no way she could make use of her knowledge without actually kissing somebody.
But who could she practise on? Ron was out of the question – after all, he was the source of her problem to begin with. And there was no way she could ask Harry – first off, he was her best friend, second, he still had that habit of shying away from female contact, even now in their 7th year. Although this rule did not seem to include one Ginny Weasley…
Of course! That was the answer to all her problems!
"Wha' is it?" Ginny's very sleepy face met Hermione as the younger girl stuck her head out the door of her room. Hermione could have gone into Ginny's room right from the start, but she had reasoned that if Harry was there, she didn't really want to know. She had her suspicions, of course, but she reckoned that Ginny would tell her when she was ready to. If there was anything to tell, of course.
"Can I come in?" Hermione asked, suddenly aware that it was two o'clock in the morning. Ginny managed a "Sure," through a huge yawn, and moved away from the door to sit on her bed again. Hermione followed her, and sat down at Ginny's nod, very glad that Ginny had been made a prefect last year and therefore had her own room.
"What is it?" Ginny asked, her famous curiosity showing through, even though her mind was clogged with sleep.
Hermione hesitated. Now that she was here it was rather hard to know where to start. It was rather embarrassing, after all. "I need your help with something," she said after a long moment. Ginny, who had been on the verge of falling asleep again, shook herself back to attention and looked at older girl.
"With what?" she asked.
"It's…rather personal," Hermione said, feeling a blush creep up towards her face. Ginny's face lost all traces of sleepiness, instead looking quite interested in the problem at hand.
"Oh?" was all she said.
"It's…about Ron." Hermione could swear she was pink up to her nose now.
Ginny gaped at her in surprise. "You wake me up in the middle of the night, without it even being a weekend, to talk about my brother?"
Hermione could feel her blush darken. "Yeah."
"Oh. Okay. What about him?"
"Um," Hermione said, hesitating a little. This was Ginny, Ron's little sister, but it was also her closest female friend. She plunged into it. "Ithinkthathe'sgoingtokissmesoon."
"What was that? Hermione, it's too early in the morning for me to listen to fast-forward sentences." Ginny paused. "Did I hear the word kiss?" Hermione looked down and nodded. She was quite sure her face had to match Ginny's hair by now. "Has my daft brother finally kissed you?" She shook her head. Ginny sighed. "Alright, is he going to?" Hermione was aware that she should feel childish, but this was too embarrassing for her to care. She nodded. "Finally, we're getting somewhere," Ginny muttered. "So. What's the problem?"
"Um." Hermione forced herself not to speak fast. "I haven't been kissed before." If the situation hadn't been as awful as it was, she would have been dying to get a picture of Ginny's face.
Ginny shut her mouth. "But- how?"
"Honestly, Ginny, how do you think?"
"But-what about Krum?"
"No… He was more like a good friend, anyway. And I didn't go to visit him."
Ginny's face broke into a sly smile. "Oh, if Ron had known that…"
"What do you mean?"
"Didn't I tell you? He was moping all summer because he thought you were in Bulgaria. Went on and on about Krum being too old, you being too young…"
"He did?" Hermione forgot about her embarrassment, too surprised over this revelation. Suddenly a thought struck her. "Oh bugger, do you mean that we wasted two years realising that we liked each other? Not that I knew that I liked him then, of course…"
"Sometimes," Ginny sighed, "people won't see what's straight in front of their noses… But that wasn't what we were talking about. What do you want me to help you with?"
"Oh. Um." Hermione could feel her blush coming back again. "I was hoping that maybe you could give me some tips, or something."
Ginny leaned back against her pillows. "Well, you could practise with your hand," she said. She demonstrated. "But I don't know if that really helps… I hadn't thought about it, really, when Harry and I kissed for the first time…" She smiled dreamily. "We were so clumsy at first."
"That helps a lot," Hermione said dryly.
"Well," Ginny said, rising from the bed and ushering her towards the door, "that's all I can say, really. You'll just have to wait and see." She winked at Hermione before shutting the door.
"Great," Hermione muttered as she walked to her own room. "That's what I'm afraid of."
"I still don't understand why on Earth you have to bring me with you to the Library," Hermione said irritably as Ginny tugged her through the corridors.
"Oh, don't be such a Norris," Ginny said, grinning at her. "The boys won't go with me – they were too absorbed by that chess game, anyway – and you weren't doing anything, were you?"
"Well, no, but-"
"No buts. See? Here we are already." Ginny pushed the library doors open. Hermione sighed resignedly and followed her.
"What are you looking for, anyway?" Hermione didn't quite manage to keep her bad mood as the comforting scent of leather bindings and paper washed over her. Oh, well. She had wanted to see if The Seven Wonders, and the Ones Before had come in, anyway…
"Oh, just A Mythologist's Guide. We're having about different mythologies and their connection to the magical world in Muggle Studies. I wanted some background on the Norse mythology."
"Oh, that one's interesting! Did you know that there's a Muggle comic that refers to Loki as Odin's son?" Hermione could never understand where they had gotten that idea from. It was still irritating her.
"Really?" Ginny looked surprised.
"Yes. Honestly, if they're going to use him, at least they could make him right." They browsed for a while in the Religions section, but couldn't find the book.
"Are you sure it's here?" Hermione asked.
"I thought so," Ginny said, frowning. She looked at her clock and sighed. "Let's go ask Madam Pince." After some time they found the librarian perched on a ladder, stacking books. Ginny looked up at her. "Excuse me? Madam Pince?" The old lady glanced down at them.
"Yes?"
"I was wondering if you knew where A Mythologist's Guide by Eshu Camunda was."
Pince looked sharply at Ginny. "Miss Weasley, if you'd care to check your memory you'd discover that you borrowed that book three days ago."
Ginny looked embarrassed. "Oops. Of course. Sorry to disturb you, Madam Pince." The librarian only grunted a reply, intent on her beloved books again. Ginny and Hermione walked out again.
"Honestly, Ginny," Hermione said, a bit irritated again, "how could you forget that you had that book already?"
"Must have just slipped my mind," Ginny said airily. Hermione looked sharply at her, but let it rest. When they reached the portrait hole, Ginny waved Hermione forward. "Go on," she said, "I just have to tie my shoe lace." Hermione shrugged, gave the Pink Lady the password, and stepped through. Now why on Earth were the lights off?
"Lumos," she muttered. The Common Room was immediately filled with light.
"SURPRISE!" Suddenly Hermione was attacked by hugging students, threatening to pull her down to the floor.
"But- but-," she gaped and turned to Ginny, who was grinning as she climbed through the portrait hole.
"Happy Birthday," she said, somehow managing to hug Hermione despite the fifteen people already doing it. "Okay, people, you can let her breathe now," she said, raising her voice. Hermione was – reluctantly – left with only Harry, Ginny and Ron, the other people turning to the abundant sweets and Butterbeer covering the tables.
"But- I had no idea!" Hermione stammered.
"Of course you didn't," Harry said. "Do you know how hard it was to keep it secret?" He grinned at her and then looked at Ginny. She nodded and they went over to one of the sofas in front of the fire. Hermione looked up at Ron, who was still holding her.
"Well," he said, his ears turning red. "Happy birthday." And he kissed her.
It was, Hermione reflected afterwards while she sat beside Ron on the couch, playing with his fingers, a very short, simple, and shy kiss (after all, it had been in public!), but she had liked it, and so had Ron, it seemed. And who said they couldn't practise?
THE END
Disclaimer: Nothing from the Harry Potter world belongs to me. The certain Muggle comic belongs to Marvel. The name Eshu Camunda is taken from different mythologies: Eshu is an African God of Mischief and the gods' messenger, while Camunda is a Hindu goddess. (By the way, did any of you know that "Parvati" is the reincarnation of Shiva's first wife, while "Padma" could be short of "Padmasambhava", the man who brought Buddhism to Tibet? Neither did I.)
A/N: Dedicated to Danielle, who has been so kind as to beta-read this for me. I doubt it's my best piece, but she seems to have liked it all the same. ^_^
I'd also like to say that I have no experience on the practical matters here myself, only the theory, so I'm anxious to see how you liked it, and the story itself, of course. (And if that wasn't a hint, I'm Arnold Schwarzenegger.)