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Chapter XXVII - Girl Talk II

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It was rather difficult to find a private place to talk in the Gryffindor girls' dormitory. Not for lack of rooms, really, but for the fact that some of the portraits had as much propensity to gossip as the living girls did. Thus, Hermione and Ginny had to move their secret discussions about Harry's love life to the anteroom of the girls' washroom, which luckily enough featured a small-but-comfortable sofa and a low table (currently the home of several back issues of Witch Weekly).

During the day, the space was usually occupied by one or more of their classmates- fixing makeup, doing their hair, and gossiping in the grand tradition of girls' washrooms. This late at night, though, the only one who could hear their conversation was the portrait of St. Rita (who tended to like stories like these and, unlike her journalist namesake, kept her mouth shut). And it was quite a bit of conversation that needed to be had, too. Hermione really needed someone to act as a sounding board for her developing theories on the mystery of Draco's appearance at the paddock that afternoon, and Ginny was about the only other person in the school that she could discuss it with. Ginny was also sitting expectantly, waiting for Hermione to begin speaking.

"Well, I'm sure you've heard about what happened this afternoon, right?" she asked the redhead, who nodded enthusiastically.

"Of course! Everyone in the school's heard about it by now! Dean said Harry managed to knock him out or something! He didn't, did he?" the youngest Weasley looked worried. "I mean, they were getting on so well..."

"No, he didn't. I went down to the hospital wing with Ron, remember? Both he and Harry said the same thing; that Draco was knocked out when Harry tripped over him. I just want to know how. I mean, I was in Charms with Draco, and he had this weird thing- Oh! I haven't told you yet, have I?"

Ginny looked confused. "Told me what? What 'weird thing'?"

Hermione took a breath and got her thoughts in order. "I have the same Charms period as Draco. We were working on Revealing Charms in class today- the sort that let you see what spells are already on things so you don't mix new ones in?"

Ginny nodded, familiar with them. "Mum uses them sometimes, on things she thinks dad might've done something to." Hermione grinned, relieved that her companion was familiar with the subject and she could skip that bit.

"Right. So, Professor Flitwick put mosquito repelling charms on all of us so that we'd have something to find, and then we worked on revealing them. Mine worked fine, but Draco was working with Terry Boot, and the weirdest thing happened. It looked like Terry did the spell right, because you could see Flitwick's charm, a little bit, but there was this huge spell aura around him. It was really amazing; I'd never seen anything like it. Pretty, too- Flitwick's charm was a sort of murky blue fog around each person, but whatever was on Draco made this bright, silver and gold sparkly-halo thing." Ginny looked intrigued by this.

"Draco didn't seem to know what was going on, though," Hermione continued, "since you can't see your own spell auras with only simple revealing charms. Then, Flitwick ended the class early and kept Draco behind. The next thing I knew, Ron came into the library and told me that he had wound up on his back in Hagrid's paddock during their Care of Magical Creatures lesson."

"And Harry tripped over him." Ginny finished, adding in what she found to be the most amusing part of the story.

"Yep. At least, that's what they all said. Harry said the professors don't even know what spell is on Draco! Apparently, Flitwick tried to take it off, but it didn't work. Flitwick got knocked out, too, but he was found in the classroom, right where he had been. I just wish I could have seen what happened! I mean, what if the spell that's on Draco has something to do with why he wound up at Hagrid's instead of in the room with Flitwick? I wasn't there, so I don't really know." She trailed off, losing a bit of steam as her well of information began to run dry.

"However, I do know that they were snogging in the hospital wing." Hermione added, her eyes glinting and a touch of smugness in her voice. This was really the fun part of the whole topic, anyway. Ginny now looked very intrigued, and Rita seemed to have perked up a little and was listening more obviously than usual. In her past five years of her career of hanging in the girls' washroom, she had heard many, many things about Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy. That they were snogging had not been one of those things, until this point.

"Are you sure?" Ginny questioned, a bit skeptical on this point. She had guessed that the boys were harboring an attraction for each other, but that they had advanced that far that quickly was a bit hard to believe. She had always had Harry pegged more as the slow-moving type, as far as relationships might go.

"Pretty sure," Hermione confirmed. "The positioning was right, they both looked a little mussed up, and Harry wouldn't look Ron or I in the face for at least a full minute after we walked in."

Ginny nodded. That was as close as you could get to incontrovertible proof without actually catching them in the act. Rita looked mildly impressed.

"I can't believe it! How did we miss all of this until now?" the redhead groaned, flopping back against the sofa cushions. She looked over at Hermione, questioning. "I mean, this had to have been brewing! I can't have just happened in the last month, can it?"

Hermione had to pause and think about that one. Much as she was a walking library of academic knowledge, her knowledge of the inner workings of boys was somewhat less advanced.

"I don't know." She admitted finally, with a bit of a shrug. "With Harry, I wouldn't have guessed it, but Draco is a bit of a wildcard."

Ginny looked concerned. "You don't think he's... well, forcing Harry into anything, do you?"

Hermione shook her head. "No. I don't think so. Harry looked quite happy about it, to tell you the truth. Well, when I could see his face, anyway. And besides, I think the best word for Draco right now is 'besotted'. He was doing this adorable little thing in History of Magic..."

By the time Hermione got to bed, the clock on her nightstand read 1:46.

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A/N- There you have it! The mystery of Hermione's whereabouts has been revealed! She didn't kick Harry off to bed because she was busy gossiping about him with Ginny. Remember kids- gossip is wrong! (except when it's about hot guys getting it on with other hot guys, then it's okay). #big, happy authoress grin# Also, I apologize about the recap-ness of this chapter. The next chapter has... er... fun things. :)

Notes: Rita is the Roman Catholic patron saint of impossible cases. Obviously the perfect person to overhear washroom gossip, and I think she would love our boys. :) For more info on her, you can go to www(dot)catholic(dot)org(slash)saints. She's under "popular saints," or you can look her up by name. Rita Skeeter was not involved in the naming. It was just... serendipity! #cheeky grin#

Okay, Some Review Responses!

Dieu Anonyme: This chapter is dedicated to you, for writing me the longest review in history! I had so much fun reading it! That was a very nice prediction-request thing, about the Hermione and Ginny sections. :)

I know I could make some chapters shorter, but when I wrote a slightly shorter one, everyone complained that it was too short! #dies# Also, I actually find myself having to go back and reread in order to remember what's been going on, so don't feel bad!

Web-of-Knots: Ooh! I like the quote! Where's it from? Nice guessing, by the way. Though I have taken some liberties when it comes to their actual job description. :)

Soleil Fonce: You do deserve a cookie! #gives cookie# I agree with you that JK realized she was five seconds from being asked to do an appearance at the Pride Parade, and decided to "fix" it. She handled the bathroom scene all wrong, too. I expected some cute hurt/comfort-ness, and instead I got blood! WTF? #sadness# Oh, by the way, I LOVE the word "molest-igate"! If I steal it sometime, will you hate me? #puppy eyes#

Siiarrei: Don't worry about blabbing! I love long reviews:) I know, I know, you're right about JK having to please the world. Could you imagine what the people who think the books are satanic would be saying if the main character wound up being gay? #rolls eyes# But still, the slashiness was wonderful, wasn't it?

Alice Midnight: #blinks# Oh, well. Cool! Is it a boy or a girl? Cuz if it's a boy I'm naming him James Frederick. (Don't ask). Yes, Sirius and Remus belong together (and I shall desperately try to work it into this plot if I can, because it just needs to be). And thanks for the favorites add!

#huggles all 197 people that have this on their favorites lists!#