Chapter 22
Ginny was sound asleep, sleeping the well-deserved sleep of the just-recently-loved, when someone ruined her dream by rather rudely shaking her shoulder. Blast. And she'd just been getting to the good part, too...
"Fukkofft," she mumbled into her pillow, swatting aimlessly at the person. They didn't go away, however, just said something indistinct and shook her again. So Ginny did what any girl who had six older brothers would do: she hauled back and slugged them.
Lucky for the Head Girl, whom Ginny belatedly realized was the one kneeling on her bed being so rude, Ginny had aimed for the chest. As it was, Hermione was knocked backward onto the bed, wheezing and clutching her chest. "Ginny!" she gasped rather painfully.
Ginny squinted in the dark, only seeing the outline of bushy hair. "Oh, hell, Hermione," she sighed sleepily, pulling herself up. "I'm sorry. Well, ok, I'm not that sorry, because you were waking me up, but if I'd realized it was you I'd have pulled my punch."
Hermione was massaging the spot that had been hit, still looking winded. "My god, you hit hard," she said.
Ginny shrugged. "Gred and Forge," was all she said.
Hermione sighed. "I just wanted to talk to you," the older girl said. Ginny raised an eyebrow at the uncertain tone of her voice. Hermione? Confused. Ginny grinned in the dark. He-llo, Ronnie.
Reaching over and through the curtains, she grabbed her wand off the bedside table. She cast a quick aurus impervious, and then followed with a lumos. Hermione's face suddenly appeared in the dim light, looking rather... hmm... rumpled. Ginny tried not to grin. Oh yes. It was her brother, all right.
"What's the matter?" she started with. After all, it never would do to scare the girl off. No no no, she'd been waiting too long for this. Too bad it hadn't happened about a month from now, she'd stand to rake in a lot of sickles.
Hermione bit her lip as she finally dropped her hand. "Ron and I were on patrol tonight," she began, and then stopped. Ginny peered. Hah. She was blushing.
"And?" Ginny prompted.
Hermone sighed. "We had to check classrooms, clear some broom closets, and the last stop was the Astronomy Tower." Ginny bit her lip, trying not to smile. Way to go, big brother, she thought.
"Anyway, we split up, checking corners once we were there," Hermione continued a little uncertainly. "Ron caught a couple of Ravenclaws and kicked them out, I didn't find anyone." Hermione fiddled with the bedspread and seemed to grind to a halt.
Ginny peered at her. Hmm. Clearly this was hard for the Head Girl. Right. That meant reinforcements. "Hold that thought," she said, holding up one hand. Slipping out of bed, she darted over to Cara's bed. Leaning over her friend, she passed on the shaking trend that had been started tonight. "Psst, Cara!" she hissed at her. She got a snarl back and a roll over. Ginny grinned. She knew how to wake her friend.
"Hermione's about to spill the beans on Ron!" she whispered in Cara's ear. Amazingly the girl sat straight up and stared at her with bleary eyes.
"What? Ron? Beans? Huh?" her friend said, words not quite getting finished, as Ginny suspected she was still half asleep. Ginny gave her hand a tug, and the two of them stumbled back to Ginny's bed, to find Hermione curled uncomfortably back against a bedpost.
Cara woke up with a vengeance when she saw Hermione. "Ohhhh," Ginny's best friend said. And grinned yet again. Apparently Ginny would be forgiven for the wake-up shake.
Cara settled down on the bed, dragging some of the covers to wrap around her. Ginny did the same, and the two of them looked expectantly at Hermione. There was a long, long pause.
"Well??" Ginny finally demanded.
Her mouth opened, and then closed, and Hermione blurted, "I... he... I don't know!"
Cara peered at Hermione in the light of Ginny's wand, then nodded and looked at Ginny. "I'd say, judging by the blush and the amount of embarassment, we're talking tongue, some over the clothes groping, and a large amount of shock."
"How'd you know?" Hermione demanded, seeming to snap out of it, before blushing even darker. Heck, in a minute, they wouldn't need the lit wand.
Cara smirked. "Trust me, I know," she said.
Ginny rubbed her hands. "So what happened?" she asked Hermione. "I mean, you've been trying to get my brother to this point for years. Why're you so..." she gestured.
Hermione lifted her hands and rubbed her face. "I, well, see we were finishing clearing the Astronomy Tower," she began again, sounding a bit more like herself. "And I had sent Ron a note earlier, asking him to have a talk with me after patrol. About what Harry had said," she said, looking at Ginny. Ginny nodded, and ignored Cara's pointed nudge.
"And so once we'd cleared the place, we were about done, and so I asked Ron if he'd like to talk. And he kind of gave me this long, funny look, and then turned around and pointed his wand at the door." She flushed again. "I... he locked it, and then turned back around and still had that funny look on his face. And he said something about how talking keeps getting in the way, and how Harry was right, it wasn't worth wasting time over the crap in the middle." She barely paused to breath. "And I'm wondering what on earth he's talking about, and then all of a sudden he's, well, on me. Kissing me."
Cara nudged Ginny again. "Tongue," she whispered, smirking at the Head Girl's bright face.
"And... well, and I kind of forgot what was going on and I was kissing him and then there was a wall and..." Hermione was so red, Ginny considered freezing her and saving her for a Christmas decoration.
"Just how far did you go?" Cara asked, a gleam in her eye. Ginny winced, she really didn't want to know that about her brother.
Hermione shook her head frantically. "Well, he kind of dropped me and pushed away after a little bit, and said something about now it was my turn to give up the games and crap, and just walked away."
Ginny wanted to applaud her brother. Ron was so used to being the sidekick, the youngest boy, the last in line, that he usually didn't bother with that trademark Weasley forcefullness. But he was Head Boy, after all, and she'd always known her brother was someone who could take charge and get things done. After all, there had been that time Fred and George had tied her favorite doll to their raft and sent it to the middle of the swimming pond and Ron had managed to tie a...
She jerked herself back and leaned over to tug Hermione to sit between her and Cara. "Mione," she said, borrowing her brother's affectionate nickname, "you just got kissed by a Weasley. REALLY kissed." She smiled proudly. "And no wonder you're all flummoxed. It's a common side effect."
Cara sputtered a bit. "From Ron?" she asked.
Ginny snorted. "Darling Cara, how do you think my parents ended up with seven kids?" she asked. "And how do you think Fred and George manage to keep their girls, what with all the pranks and explosions? Not to mention Percy, the prat, he's still seeing Penelope, and Bill and Charlie can pretty much land any girl they want..."
Cara flapped her hand, cutting her off. "But Ron? He's always been so..."
Hermione interrupted. "Ron's perfectly capable of being forceful," she growled. Just a bit. It made Ginny grin, yet again. "He IS head boy, after all, and honestly, he's always the first to jump in and try to save someone, whether he's using his head or not, and just because Harry's always the center of attention because of that damn Voldemort doesn't mean Ron..."
Cara was snickering. "I get it, Hermione," she said, cutting the girl off. "I'm just glad that you finally do." She cocked her head at the older girl. "After all, you've led him around by the nose for so long, I was kind of wondering what would happen if he ever turned the tables on you."
"I don't lead him around by the nose!" Hermione sounded outraged, which Ginny suspected wasn't entirely all cover for the still-jumpy nerves.
"You mostly do," Ginny said, settling back to lean against the headboard. Cara did the same, but Hermione stayed sitting bolt upright. "Of course, it's because he lets you."
"You make me sound..." Hermione trailed off, and then sighed and sat back with the two of them. They sat, three in a row, quiet for a minute. Then Hermione spoke up again. "I guess I'm terribly bossy, aren't I?"
Ginny gave her a playful nudge. "Clearly, Ron likes that," she said.
Cara gave a nudge from the other side. "And clearly, you liked him bossing back," she said. She giggled. "Just how far did things go, anyway?"
Hermione's face flushed again. "Far enough," she said.
Ginny reached over and plucked at a loose thread on the front of Hermione's rumpled blouse. "Far enough to be missing a button?" she asked teasingly. Hermione moaned and dropped her head into her hands while Ginny and Cara giggled.
"Don't worry, dear, it's all perfectly normal and perfectly nice. Or naughty, however you want to think of it," Cara said soothingly, still with the wicked sparkle. "And just think, when you go over to him tomorrow and let him know that you're giving up on the games, you can get some more." Hermione moaned again, and Ginny snickered.
"Just wait until you get to more, Hermione," she said, a little dreamily. "It's very... nice."
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Harry sat at the breakfast table, opposite his girlfriend and ate toast. It was still quite weird to think of her that way. His girlfriend. The girl in question was smirking an awful lot this morning.
He brushed away crumbs. "So are you going to tell me?" he asked.
She smirked some more. "Tell you what?"
He rolled his eyes. "You realize, I'm going to find out eventually," he told her.
Ginny grinned. "But in the meantime, it's so nice to torture you."
Then Ron dropped down beside him, looking grumpy and tired. Harry gave his friend a look as Ron just stared at the food without reaching for it. "You ok?" he asked, concerned.
Ron rubbed a hand over his face. "I think I blew it," he muttered in a low voice. Ginny was leaning over the table, trying to hear them.
Harry's eyebrows shot up. "Last night?" he asked. Ron nodded, and dropped his head to rest on his hands, flat on the table. Harry shot a look at Ginny, who was looking concerned yet quite satisfied. Huh. He had a pretty good idea what she'd been smirking about now.
And then out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Hermione coming into the Great Hall. She paused in the doorway, looking around a bit uncertainly. For them, he supposed. And then his eyes widened a bit, and he grinned. He nudged Ron, not so gently. "Oi, mate, I think you want to sit up and see this," he said.
Ron reluctantly lifted his head, and looked where Harry nodded. His own eyes got wide as he took in Hermione, looking uncomfortable as she waited in the doorway, wearing a wreath of daisies on top of her hair. The Great Hall wasn't exactly empty and people were pretty quick to notice the odd behavior of the Head Girl.
"Ron, you prat, move!" Ginny hissed. That seemed to jerk Ron out of whatever planet he was on, staring at Hermione, and he slowly got up. He walked over to Hermione and paused, shoving his hands in his pockets.
"Well?" he said, and nearly every ear in the room, including some at the professor's table was straining to hear.
Hermione was looking quite pink, but was very determinedly looking at Ron. "I... I came to tell you, you're right," she said clearly. "And it's time to cut the crap." There was a collective gasp at the Head Girl's language, and then another as she reached over and tugged on his tie, pulling him down to kiss. And then the gasps turned to whoops and catcalls as he reached over and yanked her against him, kissing her back.
Harry winced and hurriedly looked away. NOT something he wanted to see. Ginny was doing the same. "Well," she said. "It's about damn time, but I do wish they'd take it outside."
Harry grinned. "Here comes McGonnagal," he said. "I think they're about to move."
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Harry was whistling as he headed toward Potions. Imagine. Whistling on his way to the Great Git's class. Ah, well, it wasn't every day your best friends got over four or so years of repression.
He was passing the second to last staircase and about to turn the corner when all of a sudden there was a quick snapping sound, like fingers clicking once. Harry whirled about, wand slipping into his fingers, eyes darting, searching. That wasn't a normal sound, and the hairs were standing up on the back of his neck.
The hallway was empty behind him, just as it had been all the way down. Except... he watched as a black sheet of paper drifted slowly toward the ground. He let it fall to the floor and stood for a long moment. Then he walked one foot at a time toward the letter, knowing what it was and not wanting to see it.
He didn't touch it, he wasn't that stupid. Instead he looked down.
Soon.
And then it burst into quick violet flames and was gone. Harry stared down at the few remaining ashes and resisted the urge to hurl magic to let loose some of the rage that was building inside of him. Instead he turned toward Potions, and took two steps before stopping.
Potions wasn't going to help him now. He turned back around and headed for a different hall, with a disappearing door. He could only think of one thing that could, and it now meant he didn't have time for anything else.
Harry took a deep breath and hoped beyond hope that they had enough time for a few more DA meetings, at least. Because he rather thought they were almost out of time.
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AN: Well, that should make you all happy. Happy enough to tell me aaaallll about it... (pointing at the little button at the bottom of the page, oh-so-innocently)
Ferggirl99 – Let's start with Miss Chatty, shall we? First of all, NO the story's not over. Moron. (Again, anyone reading, I'm allowed to be insulting because this is my younger sister. Really.) There's that whole war-death-killing thing coming. As for Neville, like I said, I've got an idea or two in that department. Although I can't see Hermione letting anyone do better than her, not without putting up a heck of a fight. And I fixed the stupid FLOBBERWORMS.
MrsSakuraPotter – Ahem. Yes. Well. (shoving a random Weasley brother in your direction). Never mind about that "Chapter 13" thing. Just talk to Fred, here.
Barbelibou – Happy Belated Birthday! And you really don't know what the potion is? Think back to the previous two stories... particularly "Undercurrents". After all, I never said they'd solved that particular problem.
Silver Warrior – I tried to write this one as a story that can stand alone, but it is part of a bigger picture. Although I wouldn't exactly call Snape and Draco nice... more like not evil. Quite. Sort of.
Obsessed87 – I do not! Honest! I think maybe we're overlapping, or something. (giving hopeful look) Please don't hate me...
Hplovah, hpjsr, hawkeyessabre, volleypickle16, mary-v, Sibling Creature, foxyginny, Ariana15, lluvatar, Moonglaze, MusicMonkey88, lozzie, cherryblossom08, Amy – Hah! There's the moment you've all been whining for, that R/Hr chapter. Now settle back and get your chocolate, because things are about to get messy. (And NO, not in a kinky way.)