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Needless to say, I slept peacefully last night. No hope-filled dreams, waking up to bitter reality. Just, peace. When was the last time that's happened? Ha, I guess those nights Hermione would sleep in my room, during the summer. Waking up to her face, even though it would be across the room, would always be able to get me smiling for the day.
One thing did bother me, though. Why had Hermione run off like that? Not a word about anything that happened. To be honest, it left me completely confused. And now that last night is over, curse it all, it's got me thinking that maybe she ran off because she regretted kissing me in the first place. I shook my head, while failing miserably at trying to make this stupid tie look perfect; It's pretty much a morning ritual for me, though after a while I just give up, and walk out like a slob. Stop freaking yourself out. She wouldn't have kissed you back in the first place, if she hadn't felt anything for you. You just need to find her, and talk to her about all this. As if it's that easy. Just 'talk' to her? That's not even taking the possibility that she might avoid me, into consideration. You're a real puss, you know that? Yeah, I know. Before I could wrinkle this sad little tie up any more, I sighed with a hint of a grunt, flung my bag over my shoulder, leaving my room in it's comfortable, piggish mess.
I didn't follow my own advice. Then again, Hermione didn't make it easy to. I hadn't seen her at Breakfast, nor Lunch. When I asked Ron and Harry if they knew where she was, they didn't do much but give me the "I dunno, probably studying or bathing Filch's cat again." response, though I didn't go looking for her, just to confirm what they said. They'll never let her forget about that. Only because she felt like she was on the verge of getting anything less than an O in Potions, even though she was already at the top, as usual. Snape must have felt humorous that day, to make her do something so unrelated to the class, for extra credit. Even if I were to fail his class, I wouldn't go as far as washing a balding cat for a grade.
It wasn't until afternoon, that I caught a glimpse of her. She had been running down the corridor, with several heavy books in her arms. She looks too busy to talk right now. But out from underneath one of the book covers, flew a piece of paper. She failed to notice it had shaken loose from her stack of study material. I walked over, and picked it up. It didn't have much on it. Just some silly dates and other numbers written sloppily across it. But for all I knew, she needed it for whatever she was studying for today. I'll return it to her tonight. Could possibly be an ice breaker. I continued walking towards the field, to start Quidditch practice. Maybe now I can concentrate on something a little less complicated than girls.
Practice went really well today, though it began to drizzle half-way through. I took a few wrong turns, and ate mud, which is why now I'm pretty filthy. The whole team kept shouting for me to get my head out of the ground, but if only they knew. I was too drained to worry about showering while in the locker rooms, so I promised myself I'd do it before bed tonight. I closed my locker, and made way back to the Common Room. The Fat Lady was singing, like always, and wouldn't let me state the password until I heard her entire performance. That woman needs singing lessons. When the door finally opened, I could hear the faint flickering of a flame, but none of the usual chattering of students. It wasn't late enough for them to all be asleep, so it must be time for Dinner. Not hungry. I'll just have a big breakfast in the morning. When I reached the center of the room, I was just about to head towards the stairs, when I noticed a figure sitting on the couch, in front of the fire. What do you know, it was Hermione. Too busy studying, to eat. This was a good opportunity to talk to her. I walked up behind the couch, and I could tell that she was struggling to remember something, because her hand was help up to her forehead. I know her that well.
"Hey Hermione, what's the hold up?" She must have heard my footsteps, because she didn't jump at the mention of her name. She exasperated, "It's nothing, I just can't remember the page numbers I was supposed to be studying for Monday's exam. Stupid me, I lost the paper where I had written it all down." I plopped down on the couch cushion next to her, and reached for my small school bag, since I rarely carry books with me, and pulled out the page that had fluttered behind her earlier that day. "You dropped this.", I said, handing it back to her. She looked so surprised, it was absolutely adorable. "Oh, thank you so much, Ginny. I would be a complete failure on that exam if it weren't for you." Hardly. She's too brilliant to fail anything.
After a moments pause, and a few flips of pages, I got my nerve up, and spoke again. I need to get this over with. "Hermione... Can I talk to you?" She didn't look up from her text, before replying with "Mhm, what's on your mind?"
"The same thing as last night." She stopped scanning her book, and I could see a hint of nervousness creep up over her facial features. It was pretty cute, I'm not going to lie. She diverted her gaze to the fire, making sure not to look at me while speaking. "I guess you want to talk about what happened, then?"
I took a deep breath, and said "Well, of course I do. Hermione, you left without a word. I've been racking my own nerves up all day, trying to figure out if you ran off because you regret what you did, or not. I just need to know if you feel even a small bit of the way I do." She still kept her focus on the fire. I ran my hand down the back of my head, exhaling deeply. I can't believe I finally let that all out. She began, "And how exactly is that?" And now for the hard part. I just hope I can word all of this so she understands.
I jump off the couch, and stand directly in front of her, so she can't keep her eyes on the fire anymore, but on me instead. She brings her eyes up to my own, before I say "Ever since we first became close friends, I've been growing more and more attached to you. Over time, I began noticing even the tiniest things about you. From the meaning behind all of your different smiles, to the scent of your hair, and each individual marking in your eyes. I've memorized it all, because the truth is that those are the only things I see and feel, in my dreams. Each and every day, I would hope that I could get up the courage to ask you how you feel about me, because honestly, the only thing I do not understand about you, is how you think of me. I've fallen for you a long time ago, 'Mione. I've just always prayed that maybe one day you'd fall for me, too. So I'm asking... Do you feel anything for me, at all?" I was out of breath. I poured my heart out right in front of her, and now all I could do is wait.
She pushed herself up from the couch, standing away no distance more than how we were in the closet, that previous night. She's an inch or two shorter than me, but she might as well be fifty stories tall, with how minuscule she was making me feel right now. She stared into my eyes, the flame behind me reflecting off her own, with absolutely no emotion written on her face. "No, I don't feel anything for you." So maybe I made a mistake. She could see my forming distress, and then smiled. "I feel everything." That tease. My heart flew up, into my throat. A smile shined so brightly across my face, that I knew for sure I must look like an idiot. I didn't care. I wrapped my arms around her back, while hers were up behind my neck. I held her so closely to me, that I was starting to fear that I was preventing her from breathing. She didn't say anything, so I had no reason to stop.
I pulled back for a moment, before stating, "But if you ever change your mind, even for a second, you don't have to be afraid of telling me. We'll always be friends first, deal?" She turned her head up towards me and grinned, placing her hand over my cheek, "Deal." then leaned up, kissing me with that beautiful smile, still plastered on her face. Now that's how Gryffindor's do it.