DISCLAIMER: I do not claim to own the characters, because they belong to JK Rowling. No copyright infringement intended!
A/N: I still haven't started those papers, so my previous warning still holds-there might be a slight delay in updating over the next few days. On to the chapter!
warning: In case you couldn't tell, this is a slash story... i.e. gayness ensues! if you don't like it, you probably don't want to read this. I'm just sayin'...
The Plan
That same morning, Hermione had walked down Diagon Alley, turned down a smaller alley alongside Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, and climbed the rickety wooden staircase to a second-story side door. She knocked, and a loud crash emanated from somewhere inside the building. There was a sound of footsteps, and then Fred opened the door.
"Hermione! Fancy meeting you here!" He was wearing a vibrant, purple-and-green spotted robe, neither of which color went with his hair at all. Hermione hoped it was pajamas, and not what he was planning on wearing later on.
"Good morning, Fred," she replied. "May I come in?"
"Never!" said Fred, jovially, but nevertheless opened the door wider and ushered her in.
George sat at the small kitchen table, eating a plate of what appeared to be no fewer than fifteen sausages, and as many pancakes. The kitchen was filled with boxes and open bottles of what Hermione hoped were potions, and not more breakfast ingredients.
"Did you get my owl?" Hermione asked, sitting down in the chair Fred motioned her towards.
"Yes," the twins said in unison. George looked at Fred in mild annoyance.
"So, you'll help me?"
"Let's see…you want us to disguise you as a man and bring you to our sister's graduation this afternoon, so you can seduce said sister in said disguise at said graduation?"
Hermione nodded uncomfortably.
"Then you're on!" said George. "There's nothing we would rather do. Ginny's life has been far to quiet at Hogwarts this year, don't you think, Fred?" he winked deviously at his twin. Fred, who was standing at the stove serving himself an equally large plate of pancakes and sausages, enthusiastically agreed.
"So, Hermione, what do you want to look like?"
H H H
In the end, they hadn't given her much choice. Hermione had insisted that they not use any magic to transform her appearance, so they had convinced her that their only choice was to hide as much of her face as possible. Hence the glasses, mustache, and sideburns. Fred went down to the shop, which was closed that day because both twins would be at Hogwarts with their family, and returned with a pink pot that had on it a picture of a beautiful witch repeatedly and exuberantly flipping her hair.
"Hair straightening potion," Fred explained at Hermione's inquisitive look. "She'd recognize that hair a mile away; did you honestly think we were going to let you leave it like that?"
Without waiting for her to reply, he began applying generous amounts of the potion to her hair. The final result was so sleek and smooth that Hermione was almost compelled to do some hair flips of her own, and upon noticing her satisfaction, the twins insisted that she take three free pots of it.
Hermione had brought her own dress robes, the ones her father had bought to wear to her own graduation. She cast a color-change charm on them just in case Ginny somehow recognized them – she had been at Ron's graduation, after all – and she was quite pleased at the results. They were now maroon and brown; much better than their former overly-preppy pale yellow and khaki.
She looked at the padded body suit the twins had given her to wear under her shirt. She had to admit, once she put it on, that it was ingenious. It was padded in all the right places to give her shoulders and chest a manly shape, and was tight enough around her chest that her breasts would never give her away unless someone was pressed right up against her. She was perfectly safe from detection.
"I'm decent!" she called to the twins, who came in to admire their handiwork. No one would recognize the somewhat odd-looking young man standing in front of them now as Hermione Granger.
George handed her a pair of large horn-rimmed glasses, explaining, "These are large enough to hide a good bit of your face, and we placed a very weak disillusionment charm on them…this way, no one will pay much attention to you unless you approach them, so you don't have to worry about other people finding you out."
"Thanks guys, I really appreciate this," she said, taking the glasses.
"No problem, Hermione! We're just surprised that you came up with a plan so…worthy!"
H H H
Hermione was surprised at the plan herself, in fact. It's just for one night, nothing could possibly go wrong, she reassured herself as she sat in her chair at the far end of the Quidditch pitch, glad that the ceremony was almost over. The seats that had been set aside for the alumni and non-immediate family members were too far back to see very well from, and it was getting hot in the sun.
Finally, Ginny's name was called, and Hermione watched her walk across the stage and stand proudly next to McGonagall. Adding her voice to the cheering coming from the Weasley family's row, Hermione let out a celebratory whoop and clapped harder. Ginny crossed the stage back to her seat, beaming, diploma in hand and the Order of the Phoenix medal gleaming on her chest. She was obviously too far away to have noticed Hermione's yell.
The wizard sitting on Hermione's right was certainly close enough to have noticed it, and he leaned over to Hermione and asked in a confidential tone, "That your girlfriend that just walked?"
"Uh, no, we were just friends in school," Hermione answered, flustered by the mention of "girlfriend." It brought back bad memories…
"Too bad. She's a looker, that one." The wizard nudged Hermione and gave her an exaggerated, lascivious wink.
Hermione ignored him. She had indeed had a girlfriend during her year in America, but the experience was one she could not forget quickly enough. Hermione had broken up with Wanda after only a month, realizing what a mistake it was. Really, anyone who wasn't Ginny didn't seem good enough, although Hermione vowed to try to forget her after tonight. Hermione had forced herself to keep her contact with Ginny to a bare minimum since she left Hogwarts, because she was afraid that the temptation would be too great, and she would do something foolish…like this, pretty much.
But this wasn't foolish, Hermione reasoned. She would have one night to feel what it would be like to be with Ginny, without the "friend" dynamic intruding, and then she could move on with her life. Ginny would never be the wiser, and Hermione was sure that they could keep up some form of friendship still.
Hermione felt a bit bad about being so selfish, but there was really no way her plan could hurt anyone…Ginny had had many boyfriends without seeming the least bit upset by their eventual breakups, so surely she wouldn't care in the slightest if a man stepped in and out of her life for one night. Hermione cringed inwardly at the thought of Ginny's multiple boyfriends. If only she wasn't so straight, then maybe Hermione could have approached her directly, instead resorting to this underhanded plot.
At the end of the ceremony, she got up with the rest of her row and merged in with the crowd as they all ambled up the hill toward the castle. She was happy to find that even in the press of the crowd, no one gave her a second glance. Fred and George's partial disillusionment charm seemed to be working perfectly.
At the feast, she chose a table near the Weasleys', so she could keep an eye on Ginny without her seeing her. Her table quickly filled up with other singles, and they carried on a general buzz of small talk all throughout the seven courses of the feast. Hermione paid them little attention, however; she was too busy watching Ginny.
She looked absolutely gorgeous. She had on sage green spaghetti-strap dress robes and her long hair was loosely curled and falling down her back, and she positively glowing with happiness. Hermione could hardly pull her eyes away from the captivating sight, even when Fred (or was it George?) caught her eye and gave her a knowing wink.
H H H
At the end of the feast, Hermione slipped away from her table unnoticed, and followed Ginny at a distance to another table, where she sat down and began gossiping with her friends. Well, the other girls were gossiping together, but Ginny was just staring off into space. Hermione wondered what she was thinking, and realized that she didn't have any idea. The distance she had enforced between them had done its job and kept her from making any spontaneous declarations of love, but Hermione's heart ached to have her friend back.
The orchestra began playing, and the head boy and girl went to the center of the dance floor to do the opening dance. As they finished, a few older couples moved out onto the dance floor, and it gradually filled with swaying couples. Hermione kept watching Ginny, and was surprised to see that no one had yet asked her to dance. She had been planning on letting Ginny have a few dances with other people before she put her plan into action, so she wouldn't take over Ginny's whole evening, but Ginny was starting to look bored of her friends' banter. Now was as good a time as any.
There was an awkward moment when they started dancing before Hermione remembered that she had to take the man's position, but she soon fell into the rhythm of leading. She had her hand around Ginny's waist, and was acutely aware that she could feel the heat of her body through her silk dress robes, and the minute flexing of Ginny's quidditch-toned muscles under her hand as they danced. She hoped she wasn't blushing at the effect this small intimacy was having on her, but then Ginny leaned in and put her head on Hermione's shoulder, sending a thrill down Hermione's spine. She was sure she was blushing now, but at least Ginny couldn't see it.
They had been dancing in silence for a few minutes, Hermione simply drinking in the closeness of Ginny, when she remembered that as far as Ginny was concerned, she was a perfect stranger. The situation suddenly seemed all the more awkward. Hermione cleared her throat and cast about for something to say to break the uncomfortable silence.
"Congratulations on your Order of the Phoenix award," she said, meaning it. Ginny had been one of the leaders of the student countermovement during her sixth year, and had fought valiantly against the Death Eaters in the final battle at Hogwarts. "Your family must be proud," she added, knowing it to be true.
"Oh, you were there?" said Ginny.
She clearly had not noticed Hermione at the ceremony, unsurprisingly. She took her head off Hermione's shoulder and looked at her. Hermione felt disappointed at the now-cool spot on her shoulder, and wondered what she could do to get her to put her head back. She tuned in again to hear Ginny saying,
"….you obviously know who I am from the ceremony, but I still don't know your name!"
Oh shit. What kind of guy doesn't introduce himself to the girl he's dancing with? She must think I'm such a creep!
"Uh, I'm Herman Granston," she said, tripping slightly over the name she had chosen earlier. It sounded enough like her own name that hopefully she would answer to it convincingly, but it wasn't close enough that anyone should guess her true identity.
When Ginny clearly didn't take her neglect to introduce herself promptly as a sign of unacceptable sketchiness, Hermione relaxed slightly. They fell into a spirited conversation, and Hermione found herself telling about her house elf research of the past year. Ginny seemed to find the story funnier than it actually was, but Hermione didn't mind, because Ginny had seen fit to put her head back on Hermione's shoulder, and they were dancing close together, and Hermione couldn't remember the last time she had been this content.
Hermione was a bit surprised that they were still dancing together by the time the orchestra stopped for a break a while later – she had expected Ginny, one of the prettiest girls in her year, to be in high demand as a dance partner – but she wasn't about to complain. Ginny was laughing and flirting with her, and looking at her as though anything could happen, and she wasn't about to question her good luck so far.
Hell, she was going to try and make this last as long as she could, she thought, as she gave Ginny a flirtatious wink and moved off to the dessert table. Would it be too suspicious if she came back with all of Ginny's favorite desserts? Well, it certainly couldn't hurt, and the two of them happened to have a similar taste in sweets anyway. She took several chocolate-looking tarts, some decadent cheesecake squares that she knew Ginny would love, and some toffee-and-chocolate nuggets, to balance things out.
She grabbed two glasses of champagne from the drinks table, elated that they could both drink here with no questions asked. That was the only annoying thing about living in America-the stupid drinking laws. Alcohol was just so helpful in situations like this, she thought, smiling deviously to herself, before reminding herself that this wasn't a situation like that. Soon Ginny would find someone else to dance with; as far as she knew she had just met "Herman," and this wasn't going to go anywhere.
Hermione fought her way back through the crowd at the dessert table, and couldn't keep herself from grinning at Ginny when she found her waiting just where she had been five minutes ago.
Ginny smiled back and said "Thank you," and then leaned over and kissed Hermione on the cheek. Hermione felt a wave of heat rush up from her chest, and she quickly turned her head away so that Ginny wouldn't see.
"You're welcome," she managed to reply.
She felt like laughing, and wrapping Ginny in her arms, and spinning her around, and kissing her hard on her smiling lips, and she was surprised that her voice did not betray the tide of elation that was threatening to break her smooth surface.
At that point, she would have done anything Ginny asked of her, so when Ginny suggested a walk on the grounds, she was more than willing to agree with it. And who knows? The way things are going, this is looking more and more like a situation like that…
H H H
fin du chapitre.
A/N – I just realized that chapitre is masculine, not feminine, as I had previously assumed. Accidental grammar mistakes are the worst! (but it's all good now!) If you took the time to read all this, then you muuuuust have time to leave a review, right? it takes like, 30 seconds. DO IT!! ...and if you do i'll give you chocolate. or cookies. or chocolate cookies, or something.
ogis: Merci beaucoup! Tu es vraiment trop gentille : ) Aussi, tu gagnes un prix pour être la seuele personne qui a reviewé (seriously, i'm too lazy to get my dictionary) chapitre 2. Féliciatations! Ton prix est un très grand quantité de la chocolat imaginaire...mmmmm. Grosses bisous : )