Chapter 6: Fancying
Two hours later Hermione sat cross legged on her bed her mirror propped at an angle against the headboard. Pulling her wand out of her robe pocket, she tapped the surface lightly causing it to glow a hazy white. She waited several minutes for Harry's face to appear in the smooth surface.
"Hello Harry." she greeted eagerly when her bright eyed friend appeared.
Harry beamed back at her from the glass. "Hello Hermione. How've you been? Still enjoying your classes?"
"I'm fine, Harry. And yes I still enjoy my Dark Arts Class."
Harry Sighed heavily. Every time they talked Harry made it a point to ask Hermione about her Dark Arts class. It bothered him on a rudimentary level that Durmstrang Academy deliberately taught their students how to perform Dark Magic. He had been positively aghast the first time Hermione had told him that she had enjoyed her Dark Arts class. He could not seem to fathom how anyone so imbedded in the fight against Voldemort's attempts at taking over the magic world could enjoy learning something that was the basis of his knowledge and tactics in fighting.
"Honestly, Harry." She rolled her eyes dramatically. "You make it sound like it's a bad thing."
"Hermione, it is a bad thing. They should not be teaching you how to do dark magic."
Hermione sighed with exasperation. "Harry, please try and understand. The philosophy here is that you can't truly defend yourself against Dark Magic if you don't understand how to do it yourself. In Dark Arts class we learn how to do the spells, the reasons why we're not allowed to use them and then how to defend ourselves against them."
Harry's eyes were narrowed into thin slits. "Yeah, I've heard all this before. I still don't like it."
"Honestly Harry." Hermione huffed crossing her arms angrily in front of her chest. "If you think I'm going to come back and start using…"
"It's not you I'm worried about." He interrupted her curtly. "It's the other people learning dark magic. Voldemort's gaining more power everyday and Durmstrang openly teaching dark magic is an invitation for them to join up with the rest of the Death Eaters."
Hermione scowled angrily. "You don't know what you're talking about, Harry."
"I think I know exactly what I'm talking about."
"Harry, do you trust me?"
Harry's brow furrowed in confusion. "Yes. Of course I do. You know that."
"Then why won't you trust me when I say you have nothing to worry about?"
"Humm." He pressed his finger to his lip in a sarcastic pose of contemplation. "could it possibly be because their former Headmaster was a servant of Voldemort? Or maybe it's because Malfoy's parents were considering sending him there? Or maybe…"
"That's enough, Harry." Hermione stopped him sentence. "Let me ask you something. Did you think Viktor was going to run off and join Voldemort?"
"No." he conceded begrudgingly.
"Or what about Rane? You've become friends with her. Do you think she is a Death Eater in training?"
"No, but…"
"So why do you think everyone else in this school is going to run off and join him when they finish school?"
Harry opened his mouth to respond but found, much to his consternation, that he could not form an acceptable answer. His mouth gapped open and closed for a minute making him greatly resemble a large eyed fish, before he finally found his voice. Crossing his arms stubbornly he said in a rigid voice, "I still don't like you using Dark Magic."
Hermione harrumphed angrily, "Can we please not argue about this. There's nothing you or I can do."
"Fine. Let's talk about Ron."
"Harry…" She began in a warning voice only to have him cut her off.
"Hermione, you have to talk to him."
The young girl bristled with annoyance at being told what to do. Her back straightened and she tipped her chin up stubbornly. "I don't have to do anything."
"This has gone on long enough. If you would only..."
"Is it possible to talk to Ginny?" She interjected irritably, efficiently silencing Harry.
While she was annoyed with Harry she felt her lips twitch upon hearing Harry grumble for a moment about infuriating girls always changing the subject before finally complying. "Of course you can." He said through his teeth. She knew that Harry was using the last of his control not to continue berating her about her relationship with Ron.
Every time the pair talked Harry found a way to bring up the subject of Ron. Sometimes he slid it into the conversation slyly, taking her by surprise. Other times he was blunt and forthright like he was today, blatantly telling her his opinion on the situation. She understood where Harry was coming from, she really could. It must be hard when your two best friends weren't talking to each other. But honestly, didn't he understand that Ron was not a topic that she wished to discus. It only brought back painful memories and a dull ache in her chest.
The image in the glass shifted, causing the background to blur behind Harry as he rose to his feet. "Let me go see if Gin's gone up to her dormitory yet." She watched as the view changed again while Harry slipped his mirror into his pocket causing the surface to go black.
Hermione waited patiently as Harry made his way from the boys dormitory where had answered her summons, to the common room bellow where hopefully Ginny would be. In the time that it had taken Harry to walk down the stairs Hermione had pushed aside her annoyance and was once again in a rapturous state. And found that she desperately needed to talk to her best girl friend. True, she and Ester had become very close since that day the Bulgarian girl had first introduced herself, but she wasn't quite comfortable yet discussing her love life with her. Not that she had much of a love life. Her experience in this area was painfully restricted to her encounters with Viktor two years ago and this strange dance she and Ron had been doing since… well, fir as long as she could remember.
Ginny had always been her confident in such matters. Even when Hermione had realized that Ron was the object of her affections and had told the younger girl, Ginny had insisted that they continue as they had been and assured Hermione that when they talked about him she would think of him as just some boy, and not her brother. And much to Hermione's surprise Ginny had been able to perform that task perfectly never grimacing or forming disgusted faces when Hermione talked about Ron. Not once had the younger girl complained.
"Oy! Rane." She heard Harry call faintly, his voice muffled by the fabric of his cloak. "Could you go get Ginny from her dorm? I need to talk to her."
"Of course, Harry." She heard Rane reply even more faintly.
After several more minutes of silently waiting she heard Ginny call out a friendly greeting to Harry to which the raven haired boy greeted her back. Harry reached into his pocket when Ginny grew close and passed the mirror stealthily into her hand. "Hermione wants to talk to you." He whispered in Ginny's ear. Hermione saw the red haired girl nod as she slipped the mirror into her robe pocket. "Say goodbye to her for me."
"I will." she assured him before making her way back up to her dorm room where she climbed onto her own bed, pulled the curtains closed and cast a silencing charm before pulling the mirror out of her pocket and flopping down on her stomach.
"Hello Hermione." Ginny greeted brightly when she saw her bushy haired friend in the glass. "How are things?"
"Oh, Ginny." Hermione squealed unable to restrain her excitement a moment longer. "I need your help."
Ginny's eyes widened with surprise. She focused more closely on the image of her friend and noticed for the first time a subtle difference. Hermione's cheeks were flushed pink with excitement, her eyes sparkled with jubilation and confidence and her bottom lip was chewed raw from almost two hours of pensive biting "Hermione, what has gotten into you?"
Hermione captured her bottom lip between her teeth as a rosy blush tinged her cheeks. "All right." She took a calming, steadying breath. "You know how I told you that I thought that my friend Bjorn might possibly like me a bit more then as just friends?"
"Yes of course. What of it?"
Hermione latterly squirmed with excitement. "He asked me to go to the Halloween Ball with him." She blurted out rapidly, blurring her words together.
It took a moment for Ginny's mind to comprehend what Hermione had said, and when she did all she could manage to say was. "Oh." And for a moment Hermione thought she saw a flash of something that resembled disappointment spread across Ginny's face, but it was replaced so quickly with a smile she wasn't sure. "That's great Hermione." Ginny said, pushing her own feelings aside and taking up the role of girl friend.
With Ginny's reassurance, Hermione pushed any doubts she had aside and let the excitement she had been feeling minutes ago over take her. "I'm so excited Ginny. He asked me earlier this evening. It was so sweet." Her eyes twinkled at the memory. "I had my suspicions he liked me of course, but I never thought he would do anything about it. But this evening, while we were working on our assignments, he kept nudging my foot under the table and smiling at me bashfully. It was so distracting I couldn't concentrate on my honmework. So finally I pulled him out of the room and then he tried to ask me. And it was so sweet." She giggled at the memory causing a tingle of annoyance to race up Ginny's spine. Hermione had never been one to giggle and the few times she had it had been geared towards her brother. She didn't think she liked the fact that the giggle was now reserved for the mention of another bloke. Ginny almost felt like she was helping Hermione betray her brother.
"He got all flustered," Hermione continued, not noticing that Ginny was only have listening, "and he stammered out half the words." She pressed her hand to her lips as she tried to hide her giddy smile. "And you should have seen how red his face got. It was so sweet."
Ginny's brow arched at Hermione in the glass as the last descriptions sank in. "Sounds familiar." She murmured knowing her friend was too distracted to hear her. "So, what are you planning on wearing?"
The pleasure evaporated instantly from her soft features. "Well you see Ginny, that's why I wanted to talk to you. I thought I would wear my dress robes from fourth years. Sadly I haven't grown any taller so they still fit me reasonably well. But I was wondering if you had any ideas of what I can do with my hair. And I have no idea how to put on make-up and…"
"Hermione!" Ginny chuckled at her friend's ramblings as well as the idea that Hermione actually thought she could help in that area. "This is really not my area of expertise. That's one of the reasons why you and I get along so well, remember?"
Hermione sighed with resignation. "Right." She sucked her lower lip between her teeth as she contemplated her options. "What am I going to do Ginny? I don't have any idea what is fashionable or not. And I never bothered to learn any of those beauty spells Parvati and Lavender are always doing between classes. Why did I never bother to pay attention while they were getting ready?"
"Why don't you ask Lavender and Parvati then?"
"I would, but I think that would be a little hard to manage now that I am in Bulgaria."
Ginny stroked her chin thoughtfully as she racked her brain for a solution. She was just thinking that perhaps she could ask Parvati and Lavender if they could send some beauty and fashion magazines to Hermione when it came to her. She rolled her eyes at both her and Hermione's stupidity. "Good lord Hermione. Weren't you just telling me the other day that Thora and Maj are always sitting around doing each others hair and reading fashion magazines."
"Of course." Hermione smacked her hand against her head lightly. "Thora and Maj. How could I have been so stupid? Sometimes I forget that I actually have friends who know how to do make-up."
"We were just talking about Lavender and Parvati."
Hermione cast Ginny an annoyed look. "Honestly Ginny, I don't think I could really consider those two as friends."
"They're not that bad." Hermione snorted her disagreement. "They're not. Besides," Ginny continued effortlessly hiding the playful gleam in her eye "Lavender can't be all that bad. She's taken a real shining to Ron after all."
Ginny could see Hermione's back stiffen at her end of the mirror. "What?"
"Oh yes," she said dismissively. "I'm not sure how it happened," she lied believably, using techniques that had helped her get out of blame for years, "but rumor has it that you and Ron had a bit of a falling out and seeing as almost the entire school thought you and Ron were some what of an item, or were at least on the verge of becoming one, for the past couple of years they laid off. But now that you're out of the picture," Ginny shrugged "it appears they've all set their caps to try and snare him. It's rather annoying actually. Girls are always following him, giggling behind their hands, and waving at him. A group of third years have even memorized his class schedual and mapped out the path he takes to classes so that they cam make sure they see him." Ginny rolled onto her back, brushing her hair out from underneath her as she went.
"Lavender's the worst though. She's bound and determined to win Ron over. He can't go anywhere or do anything without her tagging along. And now she has Parvati helping by keeping others away when they're together or guarding over him when she's not around." Ginny snorted with laughter. "It's kind of funny actually. Some of the girls have started backing off because they think Lavender is day's away from winning him over."
Ginny watched intently as Hermione's eyes narrowed into a scowl and her back armored straight. She had a hard time not grinning at her friend reaction. Ginny could see the jealousy and disappointment in her friends chocolate eyes as well as anger that anyone would move in on her territory. But the glare swiftly disappeared and was replaced with a determined glint of indifference. Hermione's face was so intensely devoid of any emotion that Ginny began to doubt that she had seen the glare of possession.
"Well, I feel sorry for Lavender." She spoke in a stunted, cold voice. "It's a pity she's wasting so much time and energy on a little boy who will drop her flat as soon as he finds out she's not a pure blood."
"Hermione!" Ginny gasped with dismay.
"I have to go Ginny." Hermione continued, ignoring her friend's sputter of indignation. "I have an early class in the morning and I'm knackered as it is. It was wonderful talking to you. Thank you for your help." And before Ginny had a chance to respond the mirror went blank.
Ginny tossed the glass aside with annoyance. "Some times I don't understand how he fell in love with you."
Ginny slipped the mirror back to Harry the first chance she got the next day, which happened to be at lunch. She found him sitting alone towards the end of the table Ron nowhere in sight. Sliding in beside him she set her bag on the bench beside her and cast a quick look around to make sure no one was watching them before she slipped the oblong sheet out of her pocket and handed it to Harry under the table.
"Thank you, Harry."
Harry acknowledged her thanks with a nod. "What did you two talk about?"
Ginny's mood instantly darkened. "Oh a little of this and that." Her voice was laced with animosity and annoyance. Harry glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes. Ginny sighed heavily. "Hermione wanted to tell me that Bjorn asked her to go to the Halloween Ball with him."
Harry's eyes widened with surprise. "Really?"
Ginny rolled her coffee brown eyes. "It was nauseating. She's so blind."
Harry lifted his goblet to his lips, staring at her over the rim. "What do you mean?"
The copper haired girl turned in her seat to better face him. "She described to me how he asked her to go with him. See if this doesn't sound a little bit familiar. While working on homework she caught him staring at her strangely. When she pulled him out of the room to ask him what the matter was he could barley stammer out the question and he blushed rather red. She thought it was adorable."
Harry snorted into his goblet. "Of course she does." He agreed before setting the goblet down.
"Exactly!" Ginny shouted smacking her hand against the table. "Everything she found attractive about him are things that she obviously finds attractive about Ron."
"So you think she said yes to Bjorn because he reminds her of Ron."
"I never said she said yes." Harry stared at her pointedly. "Well I didn't." she persisted. "Anyway, that doesn't matter right now. What matters is what is going to happen when Ron finds out."
"When I find out what?" Ginny's eyes grew large when she heard her older brother's voice from behind her. She and Harry spun on their seats to see Ron standing a few feet behind them, his book bag slung carelessly over his shoulder, his red hair unruly and windblown, his cheeks pink from the wind. He had obviously gone for a short ride on his broom to clear his head. He did that a lot lately. "When I find out what?" he prompted again when the pair failed to answer.
"Nothing." Ginny yelped turning back to the table and reaching for the nearest platter to fill her plate.
"Nice try, Gin." Ron grumbled moodily as he took the seat next to Harry. "Now seriously, what am I suppose to be reacting badly to?"
Ginny looked at Harry out of the corner of her eye and saw that he was looking questioningly at her. She knew that Harry wanted to tell Ron, that he didn't feel right keeping things from him, but he also knew that Hermione had told her this in confidence and while she hadn't said anything they both knew that she wouldn't want them telling Ron.
Harry's expression changed. Instantly Ginny knew Harry was about to tell Ron, perhaps everything. He had been going back and forth for weeks now on whether or not they should tell Ron about the mirror. She hated lying to Ron just as much as Harry did, but they had given Hermione their word that they wouldn't tell. Knowing instinctively that Harry was about to break and tell Ron everything, Ginny placed a halting hand on his shoulder and pinned him with her pleading eyes. He sighed audibly and nodded his head almost imperceptibly. He understood.
When they turned back to Ron he was giving them a curious look, his mouth pursed ready to question. Mind working rapidly, Harry said the first thing that came to his mind. "Ginny fancies me."
Ginny gasped and Ron snorted. "And people call me thick." He chuckled as he shoveled food into his mouth and swallowed it almost whole.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Harry asked shoving his own plate away, suddenly loosing his apatite.
Ron rolled his eyes. "Come on Harry. Every one knows that Ginny's been mad for you since…" Ron screwed up his eyes in concentration, "since I can't even remember when."
Harry turned to look at Ginny whose cheeks were flaming a deep scarlet. His brows arched high. "Really?" Ginny tried to hide her face from his penetrating emerald gaze which made Harry want to laugh. "I thought…" but before he could finish Ginny grabbed her bag off the bench and dashed out of the room her head ducked down out of sight.
Harry stood up to follow her but Ron stopped him. "Don't worry about it, Harry. She knows nothing will happen between the two of you." Ron shuddered, his fork lifted halfway to his lips. "Just the thought of it. You and my sister." He shuddered again.
"Oh... Right." Harry shook his head. "Of course." Ron looked at him skeptically, one brow arched higher then the other one. "I was just worried, you know. Ginny and I have become good friends this year and all. I'd hate for anything to ruin that."
Ron shrugged dismissively. "Like I said, I wouldn't worry about it. She knows you're not interested." His eyes narrowed on his best friend as a disturbing thought came into his head. "You're not interested, are you?"
"No." Harry barked quickly. "Of course not." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Why would you think that?"
"Just making sure. Ginny's too young to be in any kind of a relationship."
"She's fifteen, Ron. The same age I was when I started seeing Cho last year." He argued.
"That's different."
"How so?" Harry crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"You're not my little sister." Ron looked over at him and snorted. "It's a good thing to. You'd make one right ugly girl."
Harry elbowed his friend painfully in the side as the red head laughed. "Yeah well, don't think you'd look any better."
Ron threw his hand over his heart in mock indignation. "Are you trying to say that I'm unattractive?"
Harry snorted. "No. What I'm trying to say is that you're one right ugly git."
Ron brushed his brow dramatically while heaving a big sigh. "Well, that's a relief. I was beginning to worry there for a moment."
Shaking his head Harry hefted the strap of his bag onto his shoulder as he stood up. "Come on mate. We have class in a few minutes."
Ron nodded and shoveled the last of his food into his mouth before picking up his own sack and following Harry from the hall.
The pair walked silently down the corridor, the jovial mood of a few minutes ago gone. Ron was quiet and pensive again though his mood did seem to have brightened slightly. As they made their way through the halls he acknowledged the greetings of his fellow students, smiling, nodding his head and waving periodically at his closer friends.
Harry on the other hand had his head ducked down, his eyes staring intently at the floor as his mind raced. He was confused. Ginny still fancied him? If the color of her skin a few minutes ago was any indication, Ron was right. Ginny still fancied him.
Harry stumbled to a stop, the reality of the statement finally hitting him. Ginevra Weasley fancied him. He had to admit, he had felt a slight loss at the beginning of the summer on the train when Hermione had told him that Ginny was over him. But now it appeared that Hermione had been wrong. Ginny did still fancy him. And Harry couldn't help it when he realized that he was relieved rather then annoyed. But what did that mean?
"Harry?" Ron calling to him from the door way of the charms classroom snapped him out of his thoughts. Harry nodded and quickened his pace until he caught up with his best mate and they slipped inside the room, taking their usual seats in the back.
Let me know if it didn't work again.
