That night, Hermione rolled over to face the bed that Ginny was occupying. "Ginny!" She hissed, "You asleep yet?"
Ginny grumbled and pulled the covers over her head, "I was!"
"Sorry..." Hermione fumbled around in her mind for how to tell Ginny what had happened that evening. Finally, she came up with, "Ron kissed me."
"What?!?!?!" Ginny sat up in bed, her mouth agape.
Hermione giggled girlishly. "Actually, I did it first." She toyed with a stray curl. "He came up to see why I'd left dinner so quickly. And, well...I couldn't help it...I kinda kissed him..."
"How do you kinda kiss someone 'Mione?" Ginny grinned, despite her disgust at the image that had arisen in her mind. Picturing her brother and her best friend smooching was not very pleasant.
Hermione shrugged. Ginny rolled her eyes, laughed, and snuggled down in the bed again. "That's nice...go to sleep now...nighty-night..."
Hermione soon heard her younger friend snoring softly and knew she was asleep once more. Pulling the covers closer around her body, she closed her eyes. Hermione fell into a dreamland of what might have happened had she not put a stop to Ron's bravery.
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SLAM! "Give it baaaaack!"
Draco was awoken late the next morning by the sound of slamming doors and screams. He sat up in bed, grumbling, and turned to Snape...he was still asleep! He shrugged. Draco pulled the covers back and slid out of bed. The cold air met his bare legs and he shivered. He bent down to rub away the goosebumps that had appeared on his legs. With a stretch, he waltzed into the hallway. As soon as he stepped out of the bedroom, a flying sandal hit him in the stomach. He doubled over and scowled up at whoever had thrown it.
"Sorry Draco!" Ginny apologized, running over to grab her shoe. "They took my sandal!"
He saw Ron and Sirius standing a few feet away, sheepish grins on their faces. Muttering something under his breath, Draco left to go downstairs. When he stepped off the last step, the wood floor chilled one of his feet. He looked down, to see that he'd lost one sock while sleeping. With a shrug, Draco continued into the kitchen. There, he found Luna and Hermione hovering over a thick, hardback book and chatting animatedly, every now and then pointing at something in the book. Rolling his eyes, he passed them and went into the kitchen to grab a quick bowl of cereal. He came back out to the dining room and sat across from the two girls and shoveled a spoonful of cereal into his mouth as he watched them with little interest.
Thump, thump, thump! Something red, blue, and green landed at the bottom of the stairs, making the three occupants of the table look up. Blushing furiously, Ginny stood from where she had fallen, saying that Ron had pushed her. She brushed off her jean shorts and adjusted the green t-shirt she was wearing, before scampering out to the backyard. A pair of eyes peeking down the stairs followed her as she skipped out the sliding glass door. The others didn't notice the yellow eyes and returned to what they had been doing before the interruption.
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Ginny was sitting on the tire swing hanging from a tall oak when she finally realized that she was being watched. Tensing, she scanned the whole backyard. There were plenty of places that one could hide, which panicked Ginny. But just as she was about to hop off the swing and run, something stirred the rosebushes by the side of the house. A huge, black dog sauntered out and she relaxed.
"Snuffles! Damn you! You scared me!" She yelled at the dog, who whimpered in return. "Oh, you make such a cute doggie Sirius, why can't you stay like that?" Ginny joked, watching the dog come closer. She reached out to pet him and he licked her hand. Ginny giggled. The dog looked down at Ginny's feet...they were bare. He woofed, scampered off, and returned with her sandals in his mouth. She laughed and hugged him, but before she had time to back away, Ginny found herself holding onto Sirius's waist. She let out a surprised "Oh!"
Sirius grinned. "I got your shoes back from your brother."
"I see that," She replied, letting go of him.
"Don't be embarrassed Ginny," He said, seeing her blush.
"I...I'm not! I was hugging you 'cause you were Snuffles!" She defended.
"OK Kid, whatever you say!" He ruffled her hair. Suddenly, he grabbed onto the rusty chains that held the tire swing up and twirled it around. She squealed, not expecting it. Still holding the chains, Sirius ran around in a circle to make the swing spin faster. "Just don't throw up on me Ginny!" He warned with a teasing wink. She giggled and clung tighter to the chains, so as not to fall off. He gave the tire one more twirl and let go, standing back a step or two. "Now it's your turn to push me!"
"No way!" Ginny put one foot down to stop the tire swing, and got off when it had slowed most of the way. When she tried to take a step, she stumbled and fell. Sirius caught her in time, but she accidentally pulled him to the ground with her. "Oops!" She landed on him, her small hands pressed against his chest. "Er..."
Sirius smiled up at her, amused. He noticed how unfocused her eyes were and held her there when she tried to stand up. "Unless you wanna be back on the ground, I suggest you wait a minute before getting up." He advised.
She blinked a couple of times and nodded. When her vision finally stopped spinning, she stared down at Sirius. "Um..." His grin widened and he scooped her up in his arms. Ginny squeaked and giggled, "Put me down!"
He spun her a few times and set her on the ground. She walked unsteadily to the back door, turning around to grin back at him. He waved her through the door and followed her in. The table had been vacated, so no one was in sight. Ginny turned around to look up at Sirius, who was tapping her on the shoulder. Capturing her eyes with his own gaze, Sirius suddenly pulled a pink paper rose from behind his back and presented it to her. She took it from him and beamed. Squealing that it was "so pretty", Ginny gave him an innocent hug, not meaning anything by it. He ruffled her copper hair and stepped back.
"I've gotta run a few errands with Severus tonight, so...uh...would you mind helping Hermione keep Ron out of trouble?" He said, wondering why he assumed that the youngest in the house was one of the most responsible. "He's your brother after all...and I don't think Hermione has much power over him anymore..." Sirius cleared his throat, referring to the incident between the two "...given the recent events that Ron told me about..." They both stifled a snicker.
"Of course! I enjoy being able to boss him around!" Ginny laughed. The hallway clock chimed. Ginny counted them: 3 o'clock. "Oh! My show is on! Sorry to leave in a hurry, but Hermione and I never miss Kingdom Hospital!" She hurriedly walked backwards to the stairway, still talking to him, "So...um...yeah...I'll deal with Ron."
"Thanks Kid, you're a doll!" Sirius flashed her a toothy grin.
Something arose inside Ginny and she couldn't help but grin back stupidly, momentarily forgetting about the Stephen King TV series that she'd been on her way to watch. Her eyes flicked between Sirius's dark eyes to his lank, greasy hair and finally back to his charming smile. Without realizing why, Ginny seemed to melt when he winked at her.
"See you later..." She managed as she turned to stumble as she managed to stumble up the stairs, still grinning like an idiot.
"Yup!" Sirius watched her go upstairs, his eyebrow raised in amusement. He shook his head, pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket, and sat at the dining room table. "Cute girl..." He mumbled to himself, sticking one between his lips and lighting it.
!!!!!!!
Ginny wandered into the room next to the bedroom she, Hermione, and Luna occupied. It was a sparsely furnished room with one couch, a chair, and a cabinet with a small TV in it. Boxes and covered furniture were pushed against the walls, so Ginny assumed that it was a storage room. Hermione was seated on one end of the couch, while Ron was on the other. With an amused chuckle, Ginny entered the room and plopped down on the floor in front of the crimson-colored couch.
"Why do you look so happy?" Ron asked her, avoiding Hermione's icy glare.
Hush!" Hermione hissed at him.
"Nothing..." Ginny absentmindedly whispered. She stared at the gruesome images on the television screen. "What's been going on?" She gestured to the TV.
Hermione sighed, "Dr. Hook and Sally think they've found out how Mary died. Right now, Stegman is..." Hermione continued to fill her in on the recent occurrences, and Ginny listened raptly as she rambled on.
!!!!!!!
At dinner that night, Luna insisted on sitting next to Hermione. Odd enough as it was, Hermione even let her sit there! All throughout the meal, they talked in low voices, occasionally giggling and nodding. Being left out of all conversations that night, Ginny became glum and ended up shoving her food around on her plate and staring at Sirius while the others ate and chatted. Once in a while, he would look up and see her watching, so he'd smile and revert back to whatever Draco was saying...Yes, surprisingly, Draco and Snape were getting along quite well with most of the other roommates, not to mention with each other. {AN: -Ahem- }
Ginny was the first to leave the table and scamper away to her room. When Sirius and Snape had gotten into a heated argument, Draco had taken to watching TV in the den, and Luna began clearing the table, Ron whispered something to Hermione.
"Hmmm?" She mumbled, barely glancing up from her book. She watched him chew on his bottom lip and sigh.
"I said could I talk to you?" He repeated, leaning slightly closer to her.
"No one's stopping you from talking to me." She said curtly.
"Elsewhere please!" His voice was tensed and Hermione couldn't help but soften towards him.
"Alright then, where shall we talk?" She snapped her book shut and got up from the table.
Without saying a word, Ron took her hand and led her down a hall in the back of the house. Reaching a large room on the right side of the hallway, he pulled her inside and shut the door. She was about to object, when Ron covered her mouth with his. She tensed, but did not pull away. As soon as he let go of her, Hermione coughed nervously.
"I told you Ron, we can't do that."
"You started this 'Mione, and you can't just run away from it now!" His voice wavered and, no matter how hard he tried to hide it, Ron sounded hurt and desperate to convince her.
"Ron." She bit her bottom lip. "I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have kissed you! But you have to listen to me...nothing can happen between us!"
"But why Hermione?" Ron pushed.
"Well, one reason is because we have been friends for so long, I don't want it to change anything between us when we separate. Another reason...OK, so there is no other reason...but still! We shouldn't do th-" She stopped when he interrupted by clearing his throat. "What...?" Her voice was barely above a whisper.
Ron wrapped his arms around her waist to pull her close to him and whispered in her ear, "I don't care...I want to be more than friends, even if it means not being as close later on...OK?" He felt her shudder, and was not sure if she was crying, or just shivering from his breath against her ear. "So...will you be more than just my friend 'Mione?" A faint smile touched his lips when he saw her nod.
Not another word passed between the two that night, and they ended up falling asleep together in one of the huge armchairs in that room. During the night, Ron awoke once to see Hermione's head pressed against his chest. He ran a hand over her unruly hair and kissed the top of her head, before drifting off to sleep once more. Everything was perfect...or so it seemed...
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{AN:Hee,hee,hee...can you figure out what Hermione's roblem is? Probably not yet...just wait 'til I put the next chapter up...-Evil grin-...poor Ron...Anywho, thx for reading this far and I'd really appreciate any reviews! Buh-byez for now! }