Kiss and Tell

Hermione Granger

"Are you sure we're supposed to turn here?" Ron asked me as I made a right into the bushes.

"Well, Ron, that's what the arrows said," I retorted.

"Longbottom, is that where we're supposed to go?" Malfoy asked.

"I, uh…" he stuttered uselessly.

"Come on, Longbottom!" Malfoy huffed. "You should be an expert here!"

"Yeah, well, I…"

"Forget it," Ginny said. "If Hermione said to go this way, I trust her. She's always right about everything."

I smiled. It was nice to know she had faith in me.

----

"Okay, Hermione, I'm sorry, but…" Ginny nervously brushed a strand of red hair behind her ear. "This can't be right."

I felt my stomach sink. We had been following the arrows and we were in the middle of a thick brush.

"Bloody hell, Granger," Malfoy snapped. "Can't you get anything right?"

"Hey, back off, Malfoy," Ron came to my defense like he always did.

"I can fend for myself, Ron," I said a little too harshly.

"Sorry…" he muttered as his ears turned pink.

"Hermione," Neville squeaked. "Hermione, this isn't right. Even though we have weeks and weeks of travel time left, I know that we're not supposed to be thrashing about in weeds. We mostly stay on the path."

"Well, well, well," Malfoy clicked his tongue. "What have we got here? Looks like the mudblood actually screwed up for the first time in her pathetic little life."

The words stung. He hadn't called me a mudblood ever since before the attack. Ron jumped up and went to attack Malfoy with his bare hands. Malfoy was too quick for him, though, and punched Ron straight in the nose. "Ow!" There was a sickening crack as Ron's nose started bleeding. It was broken.

"You moron! You stupid, arrogant, mental moron!" Ginny yelled, rushing to her brother's side.

"Nice, Ginny," Malfoy said, feigning being impressed. "I didn't think you would defend me like that. He is your brother, though, so calling him all those names is a tad on the harsh side."

"Ron's not the moron!" She exclaimed. "You are!" And in one swift, unexpected motion, Ginny Weasley stood up, stepped in front of Malfoy, and punched him square in the jaw.

A string of colorful words spewed out of Malfoy's mouth. He held his jaw and the look on his face showed he was in excruciating pain. But even being punched by a girl at least a foot and a half shorter than him didn't erase his arrogance. "Impressive, Ginerva, impressive! I had no idea you packed such a punch. It rival's Granger's slap in the face from our third year."

"I think we're forgetting that we're lost," I said impatiently.

"I think you're forgetting that my nose is gushing blood!" Ron interrupted bitterly.

"Malfoy, give me the wand," I stretched my arm out.

"Not so fast," he slapped my hand away lightly. "The wand is only for emergencies."

"This is an emergency!" Ron exclaimed, resorting to using his robe sleeve as a tissue.

"I hardly think your stupidity counts as an emergency," Malfoy said with his signature smirk. I wanted to wipe that look off his face.

So I did. I balled my right hand into a fist and punched Malfoy's stupid, upturned, pointed nose. "Shit, Granger!" Malfoy held his broken, bleeding nose. I smirked. He thrust the wand at my feet. "Fix it!"

"Hold on," I said with an evil smile. "I think the wand is only for emergencies. Your idiocy hardly qualifies as an emergency."

"You're such a bitch, Granger," Malfoy remarked. "Please, just fix it!"

"Wow, he's actually begging for mercy, Hermione," Neville said with a chuckle.

"DAMN IT, GRANGER! I SAVED YOUR LIFE AT LEAST THREE TIMES! JUST FIX MY GODDAMN NOSE!"

"Not the whole I-saved-your-life-three-times-so-you-owe-me-one thing again, Malfoy," I shook my head. "That won't work for me."

"Then what bloody will?" He asked, bewildered.

"Well, for starters, you have to promise not to call me a mudblood again. And you have to stop saying 'Malfoys don't do this or that.' And you have to apologize to all of us for being such a git. And you have to—"

"Forget it," he muttered bitterly. "I'll live with a broken nose. I'm not going to do any of that."

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. I muttered the healing curse and fixed Ron's nose.

And as an after thought, I muttered it and pointed the wand in Malfoy's direction. He might be an asshole, but no one deserved to walk around with a bleeding, mangled nose. I also felt a little bad for punching him like that… though I still felt he deserved it. I expected him to thank me. Did he? Of course not! "Damn it, why the hell did you do that?"

I gaped at him. "Malfoy, I just fixed your nose! The least you can do it apologize!"

"We've been over this, Granger. Malfoys don't apologize."

I groaned with annoyance. "I can't believe you!" I threw my hands up in the air. "All I try to do is be a nice person and all I get in return is more nastiness on your part!"

"Malfoy's don't do nice, Granger. Get that through your thick head. Or maybe you can't—on account of that tangled mess you call hair is blocking your brain!"

"Look, let's just stop fighting, okay?" Neville suggested meekly. "We need to get back to the resting rock and recheck the arrows."

We all dropped the subject at hand and retraced our steps.

----

"All it took was one stupid arrow to mess the entire thing up," I shook my head. "Right here I drew it as a left arrow instead of a straight arrow."

We all checked the rock and the parchment several times. When we were positive it was right, we decided to set up camp for the night. We wasted a day of traveling time, but we were all too tired to try and continue some more.

I started another small, muggle fire in a pit I made by dragging some large rocks in a circle. Ron helped me with the rocks, but he was useless at starting a fire. I did that myself.

We all found that sleep never came easily—even when you were exhausted.

"Hermione, do or tell?" Ginny asked with boredom tracing her voice.

"Not that again," I groaned. Then I remembered that I didn't get stuck with anything too terrible last time. Ginny wasn't very good at coming up with truths… so how good would her dares be?

"Come on!" Ginny pleaded.

"Alright, fine," I took a deep breath. "Do."

The smile that appeared on Ginny's face was something that scared me. I had never seen her look like that before, and I actually was afraid of what she was going to make me do. She whispered something into Ron's ear, and he said, "No way, Gin! You can't make her do that! It's wrong!"

"Never mind him, Hermione. You picked 'do,' so you're going to have to do it." She smiled. I winced. "Kiss him," she said simply.

"Ron?" I asked with disgust. "Ew, that's just wrong! He's practically my brother!"

"No, no, no," Ginny said, shaking her head. "Not Ron, Hermione. That would be wishful thinking." She chuckled. "Kiss Malfoy."

I stared at her with shock. I couldn't find the words to say. But Malfoy sure did find plenty. "What the hell is wrong with you, Weaselette? Are you out of your bloody mind? You want me to kiss that filth? That's an insult to my blood! It's disgusting! It's foul and wrong and utterly insane!"

"Who cares what you have to say!" Ginny said. "Hermione has to do it!"

I shook my head, "I won't." I said firmly, crossing my arms over my chest. "It's disgusting. There's no way I'm touching my lips to his."

"You think it's disgusting?" He asked angrily. "It's ten times worse for me! You'll be kissing a pureblood! You got the better half of the deal, Granger. If I were you, I'd be dying to kiss me!"

"You are the most arrogant person I have ever met in my life!" I exclaimed. "Not every girl on the planet wants to kiss you!"

"That's not true," Malfoy said, leaning dangerously close to my face. "Every girl alive except you would kill to be in your position. What makes you so different? Why aren't you jumping onto my lap right now?"

I looked away uncomfortably. He had a point. Every girl did want to kiss him. Why didn't I? And then I thought about what he said about him having to kiss a mudblood. He was so disgusted that he would have to kiss me simply because I wasn't a pureblood.

For that reason alone, I decided to go through with the dare. If he didn't make such a big fuss over the fact that I was muggle-born, I wouldn't have done it.

His face was already close to mine. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and leaned forward. Somehow, his lips found mine and I stiffened when they met. The kiss lasted for merely a second or two, and neither of us touched the other. My hands remained behind my back, and his were at his side.

"I can't believe you made me do that!" I scolded Ginny while I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.

She returned my comment with a laugh and a smile. "Oh, come off it, Hermione! That was bloody hilarious!"

"No it wasn't!" Ron interjected. "I think I'm going to be sick!"

"You think you're going to be sick?" Malfoy asked. I sighed, knowing what was coming. "You didn't just kiss a mudblood!"

"Come on, Malfoy! It couldn't have been that bad!" Neville remarked.

"Oh, yeah, Longbottom, I'll assure you it was. That was the most disgusting experience in my life and I hope it never happens again."

"I think I'll second that," I said. I was close to hurling. My head was spinning, my heart was pounding, and my breathing was shallow. I turned away from everyone else and tried to regain my composure. I didn't want to them to see me throw up.

"Oh, please, Granger," Malfoy rolled his eyes. "I'll bet you secretly loved it."

"Um, no!" I exclaimed. "It was horrible!"

"It couldn't be nearly as bad as what I had to go through!" Malfoy argued.

"I still don't think it was too terrible, Malfoy," Neville insisted.

"If you don't think it would be so bad, why don't you kiss her?" He retorted angrily. I saw him spitting on the ground and wiping his mouth repeatedly. "I don't think I'll ever feel clean again," he muttered.

"Is that a dare, Malfoy?" Ginny asked slyly. I couldn't believe how much she seemed to enjoy this!

"Yes, it is. Longbottom, you have to kiss Granger," he said with a smirk.

"Oh, come on!" I groaned. "Why are you doing this to me?" I asked angrily.

"Because it's torturing you," he said simply. "Maybe kissing Longbottom will give you a taste of how terrible it was for me to kiss you."

"Look, I don't want to play, alright?" I snapped.

"Do you think I wanted to kiss you?" he asked incredulously. "It's a game, Granger! You're just mad because after kissing me, kissing him will feel like kissing air," he said egotistically.

"You're such a conceited bastard, Malfoy!" I said, rising from my seat and going over to where Neville was. I kissed him quickly, and then turned and sat back on my rock.

Malfoy looked at Neville curiously, "Well…?"

"It wasn't that bad, Malfoy," Neville reported. I blushed.

Malfoy chuckled. "Maybe it's because all you'd ever kissed was that toad of yours. I've kissed all the girls in our year in Slytherin. And one or two Ravenclaws. I never touched a Hufflepuff," he made a disgusted face. "And now, one Gryffindor mudblood can be added to that list. So for you, kissing Granger might've seemed great. But to me… it wasn't anything special. It was revolting, really."

Neville looked both angry and embarrassed. "I've kissed girls before, Malfoy," he said dangerously.

"Really?" Ron asked, surprised. Ginny smacked the back of his head. "Er, I mean, no offense or anything, but…"

"It's okay," Neville said. "I'm used to it. Who would want to kiss clumsy, stupid, inadequate Neville Longbottom?"

Ron's ears turned pink. "I, uh…"

Neville ignored him. "I've kissed Luna, Parvati, and Lavender."

"Lavender Brown?" Ron asked, his eyes wide.

I giggled. "Oh, Ron, it's okay, I know you fancied her."

"What do you mean fancied?" Ron asked. "I still do!"

Ginny and I both looked uncomfortable. "She's uh," I started but couldn't finish.

"Dead," Ginny said bluntly. She made it seem so final.

Ron looked surprised. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," we both nodded.

"Wow," he breathed. "I never… I never told her…" Ron quietly got up and walked toward the stream.

I shook my head. "There are so many things we never got the chance to do. There are so many things we all wanted to say. I never got to tell Harry good luck."

"I never got to see my father's reaction to the fact that I'm not a death eater anymore," Malfoy added.

I took the chance to slip away and console Ron. He tried to hide the fact that he was crying.

"It's okay, Ron," I said. "I'm sure she knew that you cared about her."

"No," he shook his head. "I got to kiss her once and all I did was brag about it. She thought I used her."

I didn't know what to say. I hugged Ron and we sat down by the edge of the stream. "There were so many things I wanted to say to people," I said. "And now I'll never get the chance."

For the first time, I think it truly hit home that we were leaving the world and never going back.

Author's Notes: Well, this chapter certainly was eventful, to say the least. I'm extremely proud of that chapter. It's one of my favorites, I think. I wanted their first kiss to be awkward and I wanted them both to hate it… and Ginny's stupid game was the only way I thought I could do that. MISTAKES! I realized when I was re-reading chapter 8 that I said Luna was in Gryffindor. She's not… she's a Ravenclaw. Oops. Two people pointed that out, too, so thanks! And thanks to whoever corrected my spelling of "Zabini." For some reason, the automatic spell checker was changing it to "Zambini." So I fixed that. Please review! The next chapter needs some work… it probably will come out in two-three days. I wanted to get this up quickly because I was proud of myself. But it's 5 pages, so it'll hold you.