"I don't know," Ginny said, holding an earring up to judge the effect, "I think they make my ears look like teacup handles."
Hermione blinked. "Sorry…what?"
"My ears," Ginny said, "Surely you've noticed they're a little on the large side." Hermione boggled at her, and Ginny continued in a patient voice. "You catalogue your textbooks, I decide which earrings will minimise my ears; we all have our ways of preparing for the school year."
Hermione shook her head helplessly. "Do you really think earrings are what you should be concentrating on?"
Ginny shrugged. "What else?"
"I don't know," Hermione said irritably, "Maybe your OWLs, or…"
"No point in worrying about that," Ginny said. "I'll do the work, and get it done. I'm not as easily stressed as Hannah Abbot."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "No one's as easily stressed as Hannah Abbot."
"Really?" Ginny said slyly. "I seem to remember Parvati saying something about you…reciting Arithmancy formulas in your sleep."
"I did not!" Hermione said.
"Don't let it bother you," Ginny said with a shrug. "It's better than the things I say when I'm asleep."
Her face was smooth and unruffled, but her little speech nonetheless caught Hermione's attention. Ginny did, occasionally, talk about what Tom Riddle had done to her, but usually she only mentioned it when the pressure of not talking about it had grown too much. She'd never just dropped it casually into conversation.
Hermione opened her mouth and paused, uncertain of how to respond. By the time she'd come up with a sentence that was suitably bland and soothing, Ginny had moved on. "Did you notice that when Dean drew me, he didn't draw my ears?"
Relieved, Hermione said, "Maybe that's because your ears aren't that big."
"Yeah," Ginny said. "Or maybe he knows not to offend his girlfriend."
Hermione laughed, but she couldn't help but notice how Ginny smiled when she said Dean's name. "You really like him, don't you?"
Ginny had just finished pulling her nightdress over her head, and she was a little flushed as she said, "Yeah. I do like him. I think I like him more than anyone I've ever known. He's so nice, and good, and…decent. Right down to the bone, decent. He's too good for me, really." She smiled again. "I can't wait to see him. When I talk to Dean, Hermione – he's interested in everything I say. He doesn't understand half of it, but he wants to hear it all."
"That sounds really nice," Hermione said, a little enviously. "The last boyfriend I had was Viktor, and…that didn't exactly end well."
"A bad boyfriend is worse than none," Ginny said wisely. "That's what Mum always says."
"I don't know," Hermione said, "For a while I thought Ron was going to…I don't know, I thought something was going to happen, but day after day he does nothing – just pulls my hair and flicks water at me. It's so…frustrating."
"Look, Hermione," Ginny said, her voice serious, "I don't pretend to be Ron's biggest fan, especially not lately, what with him being all Spanish Inquisition-y about my love life," Ginny scowled for a moment, "But, I really thin k it'd be better if you just…stop waiting for him to get a clue. It is a little disgusting for me to picture Ron in a 'romantic situation', but he's not…I mean most boys aren't…they can be shy, is what I'm saying."
Hermione glared at her. "Ron's not shy."
"Yeah." Ginny said, "He's not shy around Phelgm, but…you can't exactly judge him by that. It's not his…normal behaviour, desperately obnoxious as it is."
"I hate it," Hermione confessed. "Every time she comes into the room and his tongue practically falls out of his mouth… it makes me feel like I'm not even there, like I'm invisible. It's so…humiliating. At least Harry knows how to behave himself."
Ginny raised an eyebrow. "Apart from last year, when he was staring at Tonks every chance he got."
"Well…yeah." Hermione admitted. "I think Prof…I mean, Lupin, I think he thought it was funny."
"That might be because it was." Ginny said. "And Lupin would know about it, wouldn't he."
Hermione glanced at her. "What are you on about?"
"Why do you think Lupin noticed at all?" Ginny asked, mischievously.
It took a moment for her full meaning to dawn on Hermione, and then she couldn't help but say, "That's really cute! They'd be so…"
"I know," Ginny said, equally enthusiastic, "They really would; I suppose it depends if Mum gets her way or not. It'd be cool to have Tonks for a big sister." She looked slightly wistful. "I always wanted a big sister."
"I always wanted a brother," Hermione said, "Or maybe a sister; something of the sibling persuasion anyway."
"I suppose it's good you've got Harry then," Ginny said with a small smile.
"Yeah, it really is," Hermione said, her stomach clenching with the horrible fear that she might lose him. "I'm really lucky."
Ginny stood up, yawning and stretching her arms over her head as she did so. "I'm going to go brush my teeth," she said.
Hermione nodded, and turned to look out the mirror. There was a slight mist clouding the glass, and the almost full moon looked pale and sickly. Hermione shivered as she looked at it – she felt a thrill of something that might have been fear, or foreboding, or any one of a dozen feelings. The weeks of the summer had been so peaceful, almost like a dream, a more welcome escape from reality, but now…now they were going back to Hogwarts. And while once Hermione might have anticipated the start of the new year as the herald of increased knowledge and confidence in her abilities…all she could think of was the obstacles facing them all.
As she turned back into the room, she heard Ginny squeal, and then Harry's voice, sounding slightly odd, saying, "I'm so sorry…I didn't realise…there was anyone in there."
Something about his phrasing stirred Hermione's curiosity, and she took a step towards the door, wondering what on earth had happened. Before she had time to think however, Ginny came rushing through the door.
For a moment she looked almost desperate, and then she seized Hermione's long dressing gown and wrapped herself, belting it securely at the waist. Hermione had opened her mouth to ask why she was doing this, when she saw Harry standing in the doorway. He glanced around the room for a moment – Hermione realised he'd probably never seen it before – and said, "I'm really sorry, Ginny."
"No!" she said, her face scarlet, "It's fine… Mum's always telling me not to go walking around half-clothed. I thought the door was locked."
Harry flushed in his turn, and suddenly Hermione realised that he wasn't wearing anything except a pair of shorts. Now, Hermione had never been attracted to Harry, had never considered him as a boyfriend, and that wasn't about to change, but she had to admit…that was a nice chest. A girl could not be blamed for looking at a chest like that.
There was an awkward silence, as he seemed to search for something to say, finally settling on, "Well sorry again."
He didn't move though and finally Ginny said, "Well…Goodnight Harry."
He started – Hermione saw that he'd been looking at Ginny's open wardrobe – and said, "Right. 'Night Ginny, 'night Hermione."
The moment he was gone, Ginny closed the door, leaned back against it and let out a sigh. Unable to resist any longer, Hermione said, "What…exactly…happened?"
Ginny laughed weakly. "He…It's Mum's fault. I told her I needed a new nightdress – I told her this one was so old it was getting skimpy – but…did she believe me? No."
"So?"
"So… I was leaning over the sink, to spit out…and Harry just had to choose that particular moment to open the bathroom door – and I swear I locked it Hermione – and this nightdress kind of…rides up a little. A lot."
"Oh" Hermione said. No wonder Harry had looked so hot and bothered. "How much is a lot?"
"Well," Ginny said, moving to sit on her bed, "I didn't…flash him the goods, if that's what you're asking, but…only just."
Hermione couldn't help it – her mouth twitched. Ginny, still quite pink, caught her eye, and suddenly the two of them were laughing in a way that could only be described as raucous.
Once they'd calmed down a little Hermione managed to say, "You, Harry and white nightdresses – what's up with that?"
Ginny, her voice burbling with laughter, said, "I don't think this is what my eleven year old self had in mind!"
"Well," Hermione said innocently, "At least you know Harry wasn't looking at your big ears." Ginny flung a pillow at her.
Much later, when they'd finally calmed down and turned off the lights and got into bed, Hermione remembered something she'd been meaning to ask before. "Ginny?" she said.
"Yeah?"
"Can I ask you…about Dean?"
"Anything you want." Ginny said, though she sounded a little tired.
"Did you…did you make the first move with him?"
Hermione heard her turn over in the bed before she answered. "Yeah. It was that day we went for a walk around the lake, remember? We were just chatting – and it was really nice, after everything that had happened, and my stupid ankle, and so…I kissed him. Only a little bit, but I did." Her voice took on a confessional tone. "Afterwards – before he said anything – I thought I was going to be sick, but then he asked me out."
"And you walked around the lake holding hands, and a pair of swans followed you everywhere you went."
"When you put it like that it sounds ridiculous!" Ginny said. "Besides, they were black swans. But doesn't that just show you, Hermione – it's not that hard. It can be done."
"Yeah," Hermione said thoughtfully, "It can."