Alesco
Chapter Three--Good Intentions
*
Hermione watched, stomach churning, as Ron chewed the point of the black quill Professor Forester had given to him. He seemed to be enjoying himself, so she assumed it was a sugar quill. Why would a professor have a sugar quill? A better question...why would she give it to her student? It was almost as though the professor wanted Ron (and Ron alone) to have it. The strangest thing was that she seemed to have known he would need a quill for the class...
There's something odd about Professor Forester, Hermione thought. Even though Professor McGonagall said she had an outstanding record, so had Professor Quirrell. I've got to get that quill analyzed to make sure Ron won't be harmed. Trouble is, how am I going to make him do it?
Hermione pursed her lips, and the prior summer flashed across her mind's eye. Stop it, Hermione, she told herself. If you start thinking about that, you'll never get the courage to ask Ron for the quill. Pushing all thoughts from her mind, she got up and walked over to Ron.
I'd better get him away from Harry, she told herself. He has enough to worry about without having me think his best friend is being poisoned.
~*~
"So, Ron, I'm worried. What if Professor Forester turns out to be another Quirrell? Or what about Mad Eye...er, Barty Crouch, Jr?" Hermione said, the pitch of her voice sharpened at the end, as if she was about to become hysterical.
Ron was staring at her, his face flushed. "Ron, did you hear me?" Hermione asked worriedly. "Ron, I need to take the quill to Professor McGonagall so she can check and see if it's okay."
Ron grunted and then placed the black quill into Hermione's palm (which she'd outstretched entreatingly). "Okay, fine. I guess I understand your point. To tell you the truth, she did give me an awfully strange feeling."
Hermione gaped at him.
Ron stared back, for a moment. "Ok, what?" He asked, and angry expression forming on his face.
"Ron...I thought you'd be upset." Hermione slowly placed the black quill in her pocket. Then she looked up sharply.
Ron was scratching the back of his head, and was avoiding her eyes. "To tell you the truth, I thought you brought me over here for something else-"
"Wait a minute, Ron!" Hermione interrupted him. "What did you say, about Professor Forester making you feel strange? How did she make you feel?"
Ron cleared his throat. "Other than-" His face erupted in an outright blush, and he looked down.
Hermione narrowed her eyes. "I thought you meant-stranger than normal, then having a pretty woman staring at you. You did mean that, right? Otherwise, I wasn't asking you to-"
Ron coughed and tugged at his shirt collar. "I knew what you meant! I wasn't going to say anything, but right when she stared at me at the end, and sort of got this hazy feeling, like I was swimming in deep water, and then she brushed that quill across my cheek. I sort of snapped out of it, then she dropped the quill."
Hermione stood up, and took his shoulders in her hands. "RON! Why didn't you tell us this before?"
The entire common room became silent, and everyone there turned to the couple. Hermione swallowed, took her hands off Ron, and sat down abruptly. The usual common room chatter began again, mercifully.
And to think, Ron thought I was asking him what his body felt when that woman stared at him, Hermione thought wonderingly. She was sure he'd meant otherwise....but why had he first thought she was thinking about him like that?
Images and sounds from the summer kept flooding back, and Hermione desperately tried to push them away. This was not the time to think about...those things.
Ron was squirming in his chair. He was dangerously twirling his wand, and Hermione snatched it out of his hand. "What do you think you're doing? You could really hurt yourself, doing that!" Hermione whispered, as loudly as she dared. Ron just gave her a glare as she placed the wand on his thigh.
His thigh....
Hermione gulped. She stood up. Her voice was barely working as she looked down at Ron and said huskily, "Ron, you may be in danger. Tomorrow morning, I want you to come with me to visit Professor McGonagall's office before we go to Potions..."
Ron looked up abruptly. "But, Hermione, Potions is at 8 a.m. tomorrow morning!" He voice ended on a whine.
Hermione frowned, and chewed on her bottom lip. She continued huskily, "That's just too bad, Ron. If you don't get up early, I'll come into your dormitory and wake you up." Oh, Gods, did I just say that, she asked herself wearily.
Ron stood up suddenly. "No, Hermione!" Ron nearly shouted. "I'll be down here tomorrow morning at 6:30. We'll eat breakfast, then go see Professor McGonagall." He had a panicked look in his eyes.
"Okay. I'll see you then. I'm going to bed, and in the meantime...." Hermione grabbed a quill out of her robes and slapped it into his palm. "...you can use this quill. I'm warning you, though, it's self-inking, and if you lose it...you buy it." She walked off.
Behind her, she could hear Ron mutter darkly, "Thanks a lot."
~*~
Hermione got ready for bed in silence, as Lavender and Parvati were still downstairs, flirting with their intended boyfriends. She climbed into her four-poster bed, and closed the curtains. She closed her eyes in the darkness, letting prior events pass across her eyes.
This was the only time she would fully allow her mind to wander to the events of July....
....Late July.....
It was an unusually hot week, and Hermione had been back and forth with the Weasley family, between 12 Grimmauld Place and the Burrow. Hermione had been a bit worried how her parents may feel with her spending so little time with them during vacations, but they'd taken her decision as easily as they'd taken to the fact that Hermione was a witch. At times, Hermione marveled at their open-mindedness.
One lazy evening, after hours of hard work and chores for Order members, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny finally had the chance to sit and relax. It was the first chance Hermione had to read a letter that had been delivered to her early that morning. It was a letter from Viktor.
Hermione had been surprised that Ron hadn't noticed the letter until she was done reading it. When he saw the envelope she was stuffing it into, his eyebrows had raised and his ears turned red.
Before he had a chance to say anything, Hermione had stated matter-of-factly, "Viktor is engaged."
Ginny perked up. "He is? To who? I didn't realize he was dating anyone."
"I did." Hermione said softly.
Ron was gaping at her, his mouth wide open. Hermione tucked the letter into the book bag she always carried with her, even during the summer. Finally, as Hermione pulled a brand-new history book out and started to read, Ron blurted, "I thought he was dating you!"
Hermione let the book fall onto the table, still open. She glared at Ron. "I told you, dozens of times, we were NEVER dating. How many times do I have to say the same thing before it sinks into that thick skull of yours?"
After she said it, she realized how cruel it had been. Especially since, during the time she'd stayed with the Weasley's, she could have sworn she woken up at least several nights a week, to Ron's loud shouting. A couple nights, she thought she heard Mrs. Weasley trying to calm him. On one such instance, she almost got up herself, but he became silent, so she lay back down. It took her a very long time to fall asleep that night...even hearing the calm breathing of Ginny, lying in the bed across the room.
Hot tears burnt her eyes as Ron's face crumpled with hurt. Before she could apologize, Ron shouted, "Yeah, I know how bloody ignorant I am, but the last thing I need is to have the smartest witch in school throw it into my face all the fuckin' time!"
Hermione stood up and moved entreatingly toward Ron, who had gotten up so quickly, his chair had fallen over. He'd ignored it and stomped up the stairs.
Ginny muttered something foul under her breath, and then said loudly to Hermione, "He's such a prat. Pay him no mind. He's been acting really bizarre and twitchy ever since what happened at the Department of Mysteries." Ginny got up and placed the chair in its rightful position, then pushed back her long red hair. "I'm going to ask Mum if we can make some ice cream. Care to join me?"
Hermione could tell by the look in Ginny's eyes that she was trying to make her feel better. She nodded, and for several minutes she helped Ginny and Mrs Weasley with the ice cream.
Even with magic, the making of home-made ice cream was a tedious process. Mrs Weasley said she could transfigure it, but she swore it wasn't as good as the real thing. So, they used the same ingredients as Muggles did. After a time, Hermione became slightly bored...and she was still worried about Ron. Excusing herself, she went upstairs...not certain if she wanted to go to her room and continue reading the book she carried with her, or talk to Ron. She chose to wait for Ron to come to her, and was about to go into Ginny's room, when she hear a loud groan.
At once, she began to worry about Ron. After all, they weren't completely safe at the Burrow. Walking quickly but silently to the door of his room, she could hear a long, desperate moan from inside.
She was about to knock on the door, when she heard a muffled shout, as if someone was pressing their face into a pillow. Then..."Oh yes, Hermione, oh....Hermione..."
A loud gasp burst from her mouth as warmth pooled in her body; too loud. There was a husky breath and a rustling inside the room, followed by a thud, as if someone (or something) had dropped to the floor. Hermione realized that Ron was coming to the door!
She moved as silently and as quickly as she could toward Ginny's room, and was just closing the door when she heard another one close. Jumping to the cot she used while at the Burrow, she hoped that Ron hadn't seen her.
In all they'd been through, this was probably one of the most embarrassing things could happen between them; and Hermione couldn't bear how much Ron might blush if he knew she'd heard him.
As she'd sat in Ginny's room, her thoughts swam. He was doing that....and saying her name? Then, she tried to calm herself. How could she be sure he'd been doing...that? But what else could he have been doing?
Swallowing several times, she lay back on the cot and closed her weary eyes. When she did, her mind began to play out all that might have happened in that room. Ron, possibly naked, lying there, his body glistening....his hands sliding over his body...
Oh, Gods, I sound like a trashy novel, Hermione told herself. But, as she fell into sleep, her dreams became more and more erotic, more and more passionate...
~*~
...and then Hermione opened her eyes. She could hear Parvati and Lavender stomping into the girl's dormitory, with no regard for her. After all, how did they know she wasn't sound asleep?
Wand light sifted through Hermione's curtains, as Lavender loudly whispered to Parvati about how GOOD Seamus was. Hermione had the desire to get up and tell them off...after all, she was a prefect, and both of their late-night escapades were wrong.
Only because you can't do them yourself, her mind whispered insistently to her. Little Miss Prefect....
Rolling over angrily, she shut her eyes and tried to block out the heat that was still coursing through her body at the sight of the naked Ron in her mind.
That was when she relived the moment, right before they were leaving for King's Cross, when she was planning to confront Ron about what she'd heard. After all, she didn't think she could hide it forever....
...Before leaving the Burrow.....
Harry and Ron had brought Hermione's and Ginny's trunks downstairs, and were getting ready to floo to the Leaky Cauldron. From there, they were all going to take Muggle rail to King's Cross and then board the Hogwart's Express.
As Ron put down Ginny's trunk in front of the fireplace, Hermione grabbed his arm (causing a rather shocked look on Ron's face) and pulled him into the deserted kitchen.
"What the devil?" Ron blurted out, and looked down at the hand that was still on his arm. Hermione snatched it away.
"I...I needed to talk to you." Hermione said, blushing.
"Obviously." Ron's ears turned pink.
"We...we've been skirting each other for the last month...and I just wanted to tell you....that I...." Hermione began shakily.
"No, wait," Ron said hoarsely. He came closer to her and said, "I'm so sorry...for being such an idiot about Krum."
"No, Ron, that's not...." Hermione breathed, then said, "Oh, Ron, I'm so sorry about what I said, too..." Without thinking, she reached up on tiptoe and gave him a tight hug.
That was the final blow...the moment that told her she could never tell him what she'd heard...
That was the moment she was certain how much he desired her. The evidence was literally right in front of her.
Backing up, she tried to pretend she'd felt nothing. She said, "Ron...do we fight a lot?" She dared look at his face. It was bright red. She figured they were a matching pair.
Ron grunted. "No...not really."
Hermione glared up at him. "Yes, we do! I think I know why. You need to let off some steam, and so do I. So I don't care how much we fight. I don't care how much Harry hates it. As far as I'm concerned, if you're mad about something, come and talk to me. We'll have a nice fight, and then get on with our stressful adolescent lives." Hermione crossed her arms and pursed her lips at him.
"Uh, okay." Ron squirmed, and Hermione noticed him tugging at the waistband of his trousers. She dared not look down any farther.
"Okay, then. So you'll tell Harry, and it'll all be settled." Hermione walked out of the room, with Ron spluttering behind her. He didn't have a chance to say much more, as they were all ready to leave.
~*~
What followed had been one of the most uncomfortable train rides in the history of the Hogwart's Express. Ginny, Luna, and Neville insisted on sitting with them in their compartment, and Hermione would have been pleased if she wasn't plastered against Ron's thigh, arm, and chest. Her body pulsed with a mind all its own. After many minutes of frustration, she began to lash out at the very person who frustrated her....
As Hermione lay in bed, she clenched her eyes shut and wished she could go back in time and change everything. As a matter of fact, she could have gone back in time, if she still had the time turner. But she never could have planned anything elaborate enough to solve this mess. Oh hell.
Hermione rolled over onto her back, and heard Parvati and Lavender finally say good night to each other and put out their wands. Hermione fumbled for the wand next to her, and very quietly cast a silencing spell on and around her bed. She'd never get to sleep with this burning heat in her belly, the wetness between her thighs. Shyly, almost greedily, she pushed down her knickers and continued the personal exploration she'd began when she was thirteen years old.
Chapter Three--Good Intentions
*
Hermione watched, stomach churning, as Ron chewed the point of the black quill Professor Forester had given to him. He seemed to be enjoying himself, so she assumed it was a sugar quill. Why would a professor have a sugar quill? A better question...why would she give it to her student? It was almost as though the professor wanted Ron (and Ron alone) to have it. The strangest thing was that she seemed to have known he would need a quill for the class...
There's something odd about Professor Forester, Hermione thought. Even though Professor McGonagall said she had an outstanding record, so had Professor Quirrell. I've got to get that quill analyzed to make sure Ron won't be harmed. Trouble is, how am I going to make him do it?
Hermione pursed her lips, and the prior summer flashed across her mind's eye. Stop it, Hermione, she told herself. If you start thinking about that, you'll never get the courage to ask Ron for the quill. Pushing all thoughts from her mind, she got up and walked over to Ron.
I'd better get him away from Harry, she told herself. He has enough to worry about without having me think his best friend is being poisoned.
~*~
"So, Ron, I'm worried. What if Professor Forester turns out to be another Quirrell? Or what about Mad Eye...er, Barty Crouch, Jr?" Hermione said, the pitch of her voice sharpened at the end, as if she was about to become hysterical.
Ron was staring at her, his face flushed. "Ron, did you hear me?" Hermione asked worriedly. "Ron, I need to take the quill to Professor McGonagall so she can check and see if it's okay."
Ron grunted and then placed the black quill into Hermione's palm (which she'd outstretched entreatingly). "Okay, fine. I guess I understand your point. To tell you the truth, she did give me an awfully strange feeling."
Hermione gaped at him.
Ron stared back, for a moment. "Ok, what?" He asked, and angry expression forming on his face.
"Ron...I thought you'd be upset." Hermione slowly placed the black quill in her pocket. Then she looked up sharply.
Ron was scratching the back of his head, and was avoiding her eyes. "To tell you the truth, I thought you brought me over here for something else-"
"Wait a minute, Ron!" Hermione interrupted him. "What did you say, about Professor Forester making you feel strange? How did she make you feel?"
Ron cleared his throat. "Other than-" His face erupted in an outright blush, and he looked down.
Hermione narrowed her eyes. "I thought you meant-stranger than normal, then having a pretty woman staring at you. You did mean that, right? Otherwise, I wasn't asking you to-"
Ron coughed and tugged at his shirt collar. "I knew what you meant! I wasn't going to say anything, but right when she stared at me at the end, and sort of got this hazy feeling, like I was swimming in deep water, and then she brushed that quill across my cheek. I sort of snapped out of it, then she dropped the quill."
Hermione stood up, and took his shoulders in her hands. "RON! Why didn't you tell us this before?"
The entire common room became silent, and everyone there turned to the couple. Hermione swallowed, took her hands off Ron, and sat down abruptly. The usual common room chatter began again, mercifully.
And to think, Ron thought I was asking him what his body felt when that woman stared at him, Hermione thought wonderingly. She was sure he'd meant otherwise....but why had he first thought she was thinking about him like that?
Images and sounds from the summer kept flooding back, and Hermione desperately tried to push them away. This was not the time to think about...those things.
Ron was squirming in his chair. He was dangerously twirling his wand, and Hermione snatched it out of his hand. "What do you think you're doing? You could really hurt yourself, doing that!" Hermione whispered, as loudly as she dared. Ron just gave her a glare as she placed the wand on his thigh.
His thigh....
Hermione gulped. She stood up. Her voice was barely working as she looked down at Ron and said huskily, "Ron, you may be in danger. Tomorrow morning, I want you to come with me to visit Professor McGonagall's office before we go to Potions..."
Ron looked up abruptly. "But, Hermione, Potions is at 8 a.m. tomorrow morning!" He voice ended on a whine.
Hermione frowned, and chewed on her bottom lip. She continued huskily, "That's just too bad, Ron. If you don't get up early, I'll come into your dormitory and wake you up." Oh, Gods, did I just say that, she asked herself wearily.
Ron stood up suddenly. "No, Hermione!" Ron nearly shouted. "I'll be down here tomorrow morning at 6:30. We'll eat breakfast, then go see Professor McGonagall." He had a panicked look in his eyes.
"Okay. I'll see you then. I'm going to bed, and in the meantime...." Hermione grabbed a quill out of her robes and slapped it into his palm. "...you can use this quill. I'm warning you, though, it's self-inking, and if you lose it...you buy it." She walked off.
Behind her, she could hear Ron mutter darkly, "Thanks a lot."
~*~
Hermione got ready for bed in silence, as Lavender and Parvati were still downstairs, flirting with their intended boyfriends. She climbed into her four-poster bed, and closed the curtains. She closed her eyes in the darkness, letting prior events pass across her eyes.
This was the only time she would fully allow her mind to wander to the events of July....
....Late July.....
It was an unusually hot week, and Hermione had been back and forth with the Weasley family, between 12 Grimmauld Place and the Burrow. Hermione had been a bit worried how her parents may feel with her spending so little time with them during vacations, but they'd taken her decision as easily as they'd taken to the fact that Hermione was a witch. At times, Hermione marveled at their open-mindedness.
One lazy evening, after hours of hard work and chores for Order members, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny finally had the chance to sit and relax. It was the first chance Hermione had to read a letter that had been delivered to her early that morning. It was a letter from Viktor.
Hermione had been surprised that Ron hadn't noticed the letter until she was done reading it. When he saw the envelope she was stuffing it into, his eyebrows had raised and his ears turned red.
Before he had a chance to say anything, Hermione had stated matter-of-factly, "Viktor is engaged."
Ginny perked up. "He is? To who? I didn't realize he was dating anyone."
"I did." Hermione said softly.
Ron was gaping at her, his mouth wide open. Hermione tucked the letter into the book bag she always carried with her, even during the summer. Finally, as Hermione pulled a brand-new history book out and started to read, Ron blurted, "I thought he was dating you!"
Hermione let the book fall onto the table, still open. She glared at Ron. "I told you, dozens of times, we were NEVER dating. How many times do I have to say the same thing before it sinks into that thick skull of yours?"
After she said it, she realized how cruel it had been. Especially since, during the time she'd stayed with the Weasley's, she could have sworn she woken up at least several nights a week, to Ron's loud shouting. A couple nights, she thought she heard Mrs. Weasley trying to calm him. On one such instance, she almost got up herself, but he became silent, so she lay back down. It took her a very long time to fall asleep that night...even hearing the calm breathing of Ginny, lying in the bed across the room.
Hot tears burnt her eyes as Ron's face crumpled with hurt. Before she could apologize, Ron shouted, "Yeah, I know how bloody ignorant I am, but the last thing I need is to have the smartest witch in school throw it into my face all the fuckin' time!"
Hermione stood up and moved entreatingly toward Ron, who had gotten up so quickly, his chair had fallen over. He'd ignored it and stomped up the stairs.
Ginny muttered something foul under her breath, and then said loudly to Hermione, "He's such a prat. Pay him no mind. He's been acting really bizarre and twitchy ever since what happened at the Department of Mysteries." Ginny got up and placed the chair in its rightful position, then pushed back her long red hair. "I'm going to ask Mum if we can make some ice cream. Care to join me?"
Hermione could tell by the look in Ginny's eyes that she was trying to make her feel better. She nodded, and for several minutes she helped Ginny and Mrs Weasley with the ice cream.
Even with magic, the making of home-made ice cream was a tedious process. Mrs Weasley said she could transfigure it, but she swore it wasn't as good as the real thing. So, they used the same ingredients as Muggles did. After a time, Hermione became slightly bored...and she was still worried about Ron. Excusing herself, she went upstairs...not certain if she wanted to go to her room and continue reading the book she carried with her, or talk to Ron. She chose to wait for Ron to come to her, and was about to go into Ginny's room, when she hear a loud groan.
At once, she began to worry about Ron. After all, they weren't completely safe at the Burrow. Walking quickly but silently to the door of his room, she could hear a long, desperate moan from inside.
She was about to knock on the door, when she heard a muffled shout, as if someone was pressing their face into a pillow. Then..."Oh yes, Hermione, oh....Hermione..."
A loud gasp burst from her mouth as warmth pooled in her body; too loud. There was a husky breath and a rustling inside the room, followed by a thud, as if someone (or something) had dropped to the floor. Hermione realized that Ron was coming to the door!
She moved as silently and as quickly as she could toward Ginny's room, and was just closing the door when she heard another one close. Jumping to the cot she used while at the Burrow, she hoped that Ron hadn't seen her.
In all they'd been through, this was probably one of the most embarrassing things could happen between them; and Hermione couldn't bear how much Ron might blush if he knew she'd heard him.
As she'd sat in Ginny's room, her thoughts swam. He was doing that....and saying her name? Then, she tried to calm herself. How could she be sure he'd been doing...that? But what else could he have been doing?
Swallowing several times, she lay back on the cot and closed her weary eyes. When she did, her mind began to play out all that might have happened in that room. Ron, possibly naked, lying there, his body glistening....his hands sliding over his body...
Oh, Gods, I sound like a trashy novel, Hermione told herself. But, as she fell into sleep, her dreams became more and more erotic, more and more passionate...
~*~
...and then Hermione opened her eyes. She could hear Parvati and Lavender stomping into the girl's dormitory, with no regard for her. After all, how did they know she wasn't sound asleep?
Wand light sifted through Hermione's curtains, as Lavender loudly whispered to Parvati about how GOOD Seamus was. Hermione had the desire to get up and tell them off...after all, she was a prefect, and both of their late-night escapades were wrong.
Only because you can't do them yourself, her mind whispered insistently to her. Little Miss Prefect....
Rolling over angrily, she shut her eyes and tried to block out the heat that was still coursing through her body at the sight of the naked Ron in her mind.
That was when she relived the moment, right before they were leaving for King's Cross, when she was planning to confront Ron about what she'd heard. After all, she didn't think she could hide it forever....
...Before leaving the Burrow.....
Harry and Ron had brought Hermione's and Ginny's trunks downstairs, and were getting ready to floo to the Leaky Cauldron. From there, they were all going to take Muggle rail to King's Cross and then board the Hogwart's Express.
As Ron put down Ginny's trunk in front of the fireplace, Hermione grabbed his arm (causing a rather shocked look on Ron's face) and pulled him into the deserted kitchen.
"What the devil?" Ron blurted out, and looked down at the hand that was still on his arm. Hermione snatched it away.
"I...I needed to talk to you." Hermione said, blushing.
"Obviously." Ron's ears turned pink.
"We...we've been skirting each other for the last month...and I just wanted to tell you....that I...." Hermione began shakily.
"No, wait," Ron said hoarsely. He came closer to her and said, "I'm so sorry...for being such an idiot about Krum."
"No, Ron, that's not...." Hermione breathed, then said, "Oh, Ron, I'm so sorry about what I said, too..." Without thinking, she reached up on tiptoe and gave him a tight hug.
That was the final blow...the moment that told her she could never tell him what she'd heard...
That was the moment she was certain how much he desired her. The evidence was literally right in front of her.
Backing up, she tried to pretend she'd felt nothing. She said, "Ron...do we fight a lot?" She dared look at his face. It was bright red. She figured they were a matching pair.
Ron grunted. "No...not really."
Hermione glared up at him. "Yes, we do! I think I know why. You need to let off some steam, and so do I. So I don't care how much we fight. I don't care how much Harry hates it. As far as I'm concerned, if you're mad about something, come and talk to me. We'll have a nice fight, and then get on with our stressful adolescent lives." Hermione crossed her arms and pursed her lips at him.
"Uh, okay." Ron squirmed, and Hermione noticed him tugging at the waistband of his trousers. She dared not look down any farther.
"Okay, then. So you'll tell Harry, and it'll all be settled." Hermione walked out of the room, with Ron spluttering behind her. He didn't have a chance to say much more, as they were all ready to leave.
~*~
What followed had been one of the most uncomfortable train rides in the history of the Hogwart's Express. Ginny, Luna, and Neville insisted on sitting with them in their compartment, and Hermione would have been pleased if she wasn't plastered against Ron's thigh, arm, and chest. Her body pulsed with a mind all its own. After many minutes of frustration, she began to lash out at the very person who frustrated her....
As Hermione lay in bed, she clenched her eyes shut and wished she could go back in time and change everything. As a matter of fact, she could have gone back in time, if she still had the time turner. But she never could have planned anything elaborate enough to solve this mess. Oh hell.
Hermione rolled over onto her back, and heard Parvati and Lavender finally say good night to each other and put out their wands. Hermione fumbled for the wand next to her, and very quietly cast a silencing spell on and around her bed. She'd never get to sleep with this burning heat in her belly, the wetness between her thighs. Shyly, almost greedily, she pushed down her knickers and continued the personal exploration she'd began when she was thirteen years old.