I own nothing but the plot.
June 9th, 1999
"Hermione… it's not that I don't love you, but don't you think it's a bit early?" Ginny Weasley winced as she sat up and rubbed her eyes, the Head Girl having already dropped onto her bed. Glancing through the curtains of her four poster, Ginny tried to gauge what time it was before giving up and assuming it was the crack of dawn.
"What do you mean?" Hermione blinked in surprise, setting down the planner she'd been scrawling in. She'd been in the Gryffindor common room all night but found herself distracted in the early hours of the morning and decided to spend some time with her friend before classes.
"It's… the sun is barely up! You've done this every day for like a week, what are you avoiding?" Ginny grumbled, falling back into the pillows.
"I'm not avoiding anything, Gin. Exams start soon and I need to make sure our revision plans are complete!" Hermione gestured to the planner on the faded crimson bedspread.
"Hermione, I've gone to school with you for seven years now, and never before have you interrupted me, or the boys, at the crack of dawn to talk about revision. At breakfast, sure, but not when normal people are sleeping," Ginny folded her arms over her chest, an eyebrow raised. "Are you even sleeping? When was the last time you went back to your dorm?"
"How can I sleep? I need to revise. I don't what you're talking about," Hermione spun the quill between her fingers, wringing the feathers slightly as her voice quickened. She was avoiding going back to her dormitory and had been avoiding Malfoy for the better part of two weeks. Ever since the Quidditch final and they-
"Are you avoiding Malfoy? Has he been a wanker about winning the cup?" Ginny interrupted her thoughts by bringing up the very day she was trying to avoid.
"No!" Hermione's squeaked, snapping her quill.
"You are avoiding Malfoy!" Ginny leaned forwards, suddenly far more awake and alert, practically smelling the gossip. She knew Malfoy had been different this year compared to the past, and she'd come to respect him after what happened with Dennis, so she knew Hermione wasn't in any physical harm from the Slytherin, so something else had to be keeping her away. "No, you're not avoiding him, or no, he hasn't been a wanker about the cup?"
"He's proud but not going on about it or anything like that… he's focusing on his studies," Hermione couldn't stop the slightly defensive tone from creeping into her voice.
"So you're avoiding him?" Ginny grinned, a mischievous glint in her eyes.
"I'm… that's not what I said!" Hermione blushed, throwing a pillow at the redhead. Ginny caught it with ease, her grin never fading.
"You've spent every single day with us for like, two weeks, and been waking me up for a week now which means that you're not sleeping either… trust me, you can't hide those bags," Ginny gestured to Hermione's tired and haggard face, dark purple bags under her eyes having formed over the last few sleepless days. "And if he's just studying… something must have happened,"
"Nothing happened!" Hermione quickly shut the younger witch down, her blush creeping down her neck.
"Something definitely happened. If he hasn't been gloating… and he's been fine all year, I'd even say you two seemed like friends…" Ginny tilted her head to the side, watching the older witch blush and squirm on her bed. "Oh my God, did you two kiss?"
"Ginny!" Hermione gasped, her blush deepening slightly.
"You did!" Ginny grinned, leaning forwards, "Details!"
It didn't bother the younger witch that Hermione was moving on from Ron. Sure, he was her brother, but she had known for years that the two really wouldn't work together, and she loved Hermione like a sister. A sister who had been through so much and deserved the world. A world that she also knew her blockhead of a brother couldn't provide. She wasn't sure if a certain blonde Slytherin could provide it either, but all she cared about was that Hermione felt the happiness she got with Harry, regardless of who caused it.
"Ginny!" Hermione gasped again, looking for something to toss at the redhead again. "Why would I avoid him after another kiss?"
"ANOTHER KISS!?" Ginny yelled excitedly, finding a hand over her mouth seconds later as Hermione lunged forwards, her face burning crimson with a blush.
"Ginny! Keep your voice down!" Hermione hissed, keeping Ginny's mouth covered. There were a few sounds from the other beds in the dormitory as the other sixth year girls slept, but nothing to indicate that anyone had woken or heard Ginny's outburst. Grabbing her wand out of the pocket of her robes, Hermione pointed it at the curtains surrounding the bed, "muffliato!"
Releasing her hand once the muffling charm was cast, Hermione sat back and folded her arms over her chest.
"Details! You never told me that you kissed him!" Ginny burst out again, leaning forwards. "Wait, if it was again, and you didn't run away last time…"
"Ginerva Weasley I swear…" Hermione warned the redhead.
"YOU SLEPT TOGETHER!?" Ginny burst out a few seconds later, Hermione's blush deepening and only confirming her theory.
"Ginny!" Hermione threw the snapped end of her quill at Ginny, her face burning bright.
"You totally did. How was it!? Details, woman!" Ginny wasn't deterred, bouncing slightly as she sat, eager for details.
"I…" Hermione trailed off, still mortified that the younger girl had figured her out already, but she couldn't stop the small, satisfied smile that spread across her face.
"Details, woman!" Ginny grinned as Hermione slowly started to spill.
"Mate, Pansy is being fucking unbearable," Blaise grumbled as he slumped into a bench at the Slytherin table, reaching immediately for the coffee.
"She's not even chasing after you," Draco quirked a brow as he speared a sausage on the end of his fork.
"That's how fucking unbearable she is though. Thirsty as fuck," Blaise continued to complain, pouring his coffee before adding a dash of sugar to make it more palatable.
"Worse than usual?" Draco didn't think it was possible, but he hadn't been in the Slytherin dungeons that much this year. He knew what she'd been like the last few years fawning over him though, so he was fairly certain the exotic male was exaggerating.
"If she doesn't get shagged in the next week, I'm pretty sure she's gonna explode. It's like winning the cup somehow connected to her fucking ovaries," Blaise groused, sipping his coffee. Draco couldn't help but laugh, turning his head to look down the table to where the black-haired woman was currently sitting, giggling at everything being said to her.
"Jesus I can actually smell the sexual tension," Draco grimaced as he watched Pansy give a simpering laugh, batting her eyelashes excessively at the wizard opposite her.
"I wish he'd just bone her and get it over and done with," Blaise cringed as he pictured it in his mind, wishing that he had bleach a moment later. Pansy's voice floated towards them a second later as she flirted obviously with the lanky brunet opposite her, the rather suggestive phrase causing Theodore Nott to tug at his collar, cheeks flushed slightly.
"Poor bastard," Draco laughed as he watched their friend fend off the overly eager woman, grateful that her attention had turned away from him at last, especially since his own affections were increasingly linked to a certain bushy haired Gryffindor witch – one who had been avoiding him ever since they spent the night together. Resting his chin on his palm, Draco tuned out the sounds of breakfast and Blaise's continued complaints, his silvery gaze locked on the Gryffindor table and the woman that filled his thoughts.