A/N: This picks up right where the last chapter left off. No more of that pesky time-difference, flashback stuff now. This shall henceforth be told as a linear story.
Warnings (for this chapter): Yeah, more kissing and stuff, some naughty dancing...nothing that that graphic, still...
7. Rhythm of the night
Ginny looked down at the beautiful girl lying next to her, and felt that she had just been given the best present of her life. To have liked Hermione for so long, knowing that the possibility of ever getting together with her was so unlikely as to be nonexistent, and then to have her practically thrust upon her as though by the fates in one night, boggled the mind. It had happened so fast that it was hard to believe – she had hardly heard from Hermione for a year, and then, with no warning, she was suddenly there, and now she was here. It seemed almost like cheating; she hadn't even begun to try to go after Hermione; hadn't really done anything to make this happen. It was like catching the Snitch five minutes into the final game of the season by a freak accident, before you even started looking for it – you don't believe right away that it's really happened, that you spent so much time imagining this moment, and then all of a sudden, between one breath and the next, that moment arrives. It always took some time to adjust to such a sudden shift of realities, Ginny knew, but she suspected that this was one surprise she wouldn't mind getting used to at all.
As happy as she would be to stay here all night and work on snogging Hermione senseless – she suspected she was more than halfway there already – she also wanted to get up and do something. It wasn't possible to be this filled with exhilaration, and not give the all that energy somewhere to go.
"Hey," she said to Hermione, eyes sparkling. "Want to dance?"
Hermione still looked rather sleepy and dazed, which Ginny decided was a dangerously sexy look on her. "I – What? Dancing?"
"With me, downstairs," Ginny clarified, as she got up from their cushions to look for Hermione's top. "I think if I stay still any longer, I might explode, or something. Please?" She batted her eyelashes again and Hermione had to laugh.
"I never said I didn't want to – stop that, you're being too cute!"
"And what's wrong with me being cute, praytell?"
"It's just –" Hermione gave up and pulled Ginny back down onto the cushions, where she pinned her down and proceeded to kiss her quite passionately. Some minutes later, when they had slowed down, Ginny reached for her wand and cast Tempus.
"Oh look, it's only 1:13!" she said gleefully. "If we go down to the Great Hall now, the band will still be playing!"
"It's 1:13 in the morning, and the band is still here, and you still want to dance?" asked Hermione incredulously.
"Yeah," said Ginny. "They're here until 2:00, but if we don't hurry, they'll be finishing up by the time we get down there, and everyone will be gone, and it will be boring, and we'll have no time to dance!"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Ok, fine then, let's go," she agreed; as if she had ever seriously planned on disagreeing in the first place. "Where's my shirt?"
She took the gleefully proffered top, and helped Ginny to fasten her robes up again, which had somehow come undone and fallen around her waist while they were making out earlier. Ginny was practically bouncing up and down near the trap door, ready to go, but Hermione insisted on checking around the room to make sure that they left it in the same condition it had been in before.
"Ginny, I'm sure that Trelawney would recognize this as a scene of recent debauchery if we don't clean it up! And no, not because she has the Sight," Hermione said, rolling her eyes again. Ginny joined her and together they made quick work of arranging the cushions back to where they had been, and Hermione banished her discarded disguise away to her room at the inn in Hogsmeade. Then she came upon Ginny's broom, still leaning up against the wall where Ginny had left it when she came in.
"Uh, Ginny? What are we supposed to do with this? It would look awfully suspicious walking through the halls with a broom – we're not even supposed to be up here in the first place. But we can't just leave it here, someone will find it," Hermione said, anxiously.
Ginny came over from where she had been straightening the rug, and gave Hermione her most devilish smile. "Well, it looks like there's only one solution, then, isn't there?"
Hermione glanced between the broom and the open window, and gulped. "No, you can't be serious…"
But Ginny had been serious, in fact, and they flew together down to the entrance of the castle with no problems. Well, aside from the fact that a few of Ginny's ribs may have been injured by Hermione's death-grip embrace during the whole ride, but it was nothing she couldn't handle. Once there, however, Hermione looked hesitant again.
"Um, Ginny?" She was eying the broom with a more-than-warranted concern, Ginny thought, especially given that no one was asking her to fly again.
"Yeah?"
"Look, the broom is just as big a problem now as before; we still have no place to put it. Were did you get it from, originally?"
Ginny shook her head; knowing where she had gotten it from wouldn't help them now. "I summoned it from the pile of my stuff in my parents' room in Hogsmeade."
"Oh." Hermione looked momentarily stumped. Ginny could banish it back to the room where she had summoned it from, but this was hardly a good solution. Banishing was never a precise procedure, and the broom was as likely to land back with the rest of Ginny's stuff as to end up anywhere else in the room - such as in bed with her parents, perhaps, or somewhere that involved breaking windows or worse.
Hermione thought for a moment longer, and then her eyes lit up again. "I know where we can put it! If it's alright with you, that is, I mean, it's just an idea, and it's entirely up to you -"
Ginny placed a hand on Hermione's arm. "What's your idea, Hermione?"
Hermione blushed delicately. "Well, I rented a room in Hogsmeade for tonight – I didn't know how long this would last, and I didn't want to risk splinching myself if I tried to apparate home tired; it is pretty far –" Ginny kept smiling, amused, and waited for Hermione to get to the point. "And well, you could come with me if you wanted to; I mean, if it's any better than where you were planning on sleeping. Where do you graduates sleep, anyway?"
"In the dorms," said Ginny, choosing to answer the last question first. "They didn't do it last year because the castle was still being repaired, but usually they have us sleep here one more night, serve a late "post-graduation breakfast," and then we can move out at a sane pace, instead of trying to do that graduation day too, on top of everything else. Besides, I think they don't want anyone drunk-splinching themselves, which has apparantly happened before to people leaving the castle on graduation night. And yes, I would love to go back with you. All my stuff's packed up already; and I definitely wasn't looking forward to spending the night in an empty dorm."
"Oh good," said Hermione. "I was hoping you'd say that!" She gathered Ginny in for a kiss, smiling.
"And we can put your broom in my room at the Inn," said Hermione, as though remembering the original point she had been trying to get at. "It'll work fine to just Banish it there, I feel like I've been doing that to pieces of my disguise all night. There's nothing really breakable in there, anyway."
Ginny smiled and did the honors on her broom with a flick of her wand, and then grabbed Hermione's hand.
"Ready?" she asked, gesturing to the open doors of Hogwarts and bouncing a little on the balls of her feet. Hermione found it entirely believable that Ginny might have exploded if made to stay still, as she had said.
"You are entirely too peppy for this late at night," Hermione grumbled good-naturedly, but let Ginny lead her toward the Great Hall anyway.
"And you must be getting old, to think this is late!" said Ginny with a wink, pulling Hermione by the wrist through the doors, into the hall where loud music was playing. She thought she heard Hermione say something like, "You wouldn't feel so awake right now either if you had woken up as early as I did!" but by this time they had already entered the crush of dancers – apparently none of the students had gone yet after all – and her voice was drowned out in the noise.
Ginny pulled Hermione around so they were facing each other, and draped her arms around her waist. She began to move to the music, which was something with a compelling bass beat, and to her surprise, Hermione unhesitatingly did likewise. "American clubs," she mouthed with a grin when Ginny looked up. So that must have been where she got the practice; Ginny was almost sure she hadn't been this good a dancer during their years at Hogwarts. Proficient, maybe, and certainly better than her brother and Harry, but this – this was brilliant.
Ginny gave up trying to lead and backed off a bit to give Hermione room to dance, which she was already doing, expertly. Soon, Ginny gave up trying to dance altogether, in favor of watching Hermione. It was mesmerizing. Ginny wouldn't have thought it possible to go from Hermione's proficient and no-nonsense waltzing at the Yule ball, or even a few hours earlier, come to think of it; to this – this smoky waving of hips and rhythmic twining of arms.
Ginny would have been happy to stay like this all night, entranced, but then Hermione looked up at her through her lashes and beckoned her closer, inviting her into the dance. Ginny compliantly stepped closer, lacing her fingers together with Hermione's own insistently beckoning ones, and soon the two of them were moving to the music like one; coming apart and reforming again, intertwining and pulsating like two candle flames placed close together.
Several songs later, Ginny was covered in a thin sheen of sweat, and feeling more confident than ever. Maybe she shouldn't be surprised that Hermione had learned to dance so well so fast, if her teacher had been anything like Ginny's own...
She leaned closer to speak into Hermione's ear, savoring the sensation of the curves of skin brushing her lips. "Hermione, how do you feel about coming out to the school?"
It was Hermione's turn to bend her head and touch her lips to Ginny's ear. "Coming out? As in out of the closet? Why?"
"Because, your hand is on my ass," Ginny said.
"Oh," Hermione said, looking down to where her hand was firmly planted on Ginny's ass, guiding the motion of her hips to match her own. "So it is. I don't think anyone has noticed, though," she said, grinning. She pointed with her chin toward the center of the dance floor, where a large circle of people surrounded two wizards dancing, who they were avidly watching. It looked like Harry, and…Draco Malfoy?? They were dancing back-to-front, very close, grinding shamelessly against each other with looks of dazed concentration on their faces.
Ginny whistled under her breath. "Talk about coming out!" she said, appreciatively. She narrowed her eyes at Hermione, who had a smug look on her face. "You knew, didn't you!"
Hermione just shrugged noncommittally. "I might have seen them together earlier."
Ginny rolled her eyes, but couldn't help from grinning back. "Well, at least now I know that if I ever have a secret, you'll be the one to take it to the grave!" Hermione smiled wider, and Ginny glanced over again to the melded forms of Harry and Malfoy gyrating amid the crowd of onlookers.
"Well, if no one's paying attention to us anyway, then we could just take a leaf from their book." She trailed her arm down Hermione's side suggestively. Hermione breathed something hot and unintelligible into Ginny's ear that sounded like "Indeed," and Ginny needed no further encouragement. She guided Hermione's hips sideways and their bodies slid together until they were flush against one another. Ginny could feel Hermione's leg pressed between her own, and gave an experimental roll of her hips. Hermione responded by pressing her leg harder against Ginny, who involuntarily ground again on it. Soon they had found a new rhythm, and were moving expertly to the beat again.
Ginny continued to look into Hermione's eyes, and felt a flush creep up her cheeks when they started to flutter shut, knowing that she was the cause. Her world narrowed down to the girl in front of her, the friction between them, and the beat of the music. For this reason, perhaps, it was all the more startling when suddenly, Hermione was yanked out of Ginny's arms, and went flying across the floor away from her. Ginny stumbled a step before she caught herself. Her eyes flashed around the room, finally landing on a pair of bobbing red heads, between whom stood a furiously gesticulating and very cross-looking Hermione Granger.
Ginny marched over the few paces to her brothers, taking advantage of the path between dancers that Hermione's swift passage across the floor had cleared, and proceeded to add her voice to Hermione's. "Just what do you think you're doing?!"
"Oh, hi, Ginny," said George jovially. "Enjoying yourself?"
Ginny just glared at them and waited for someone to answer her question.
"We were just talking to Hermione here," he said conversationally. "Asking her the same question, as a matter of fact. Oh, and about where she put our stuff, which she is clearly not wearing anymore. Weren't we, Fred?"
"Oh, yes," said Fred, in the same joking tone. "But maybe it's possible to enjoy oneself a little too much, eh? Know what I mean?" He leered exaggeratedly in Hermione's face.
"Actually, I don't know what you mean," she said sounding extremely cross. "Ginny and I were just dancing; there's no need to come in and – well, and interrupt like that!"
Ginny approached Fred before he had a chance to reply, and, eyes snapping, shoved him away from Hermione, who he was still crowding rather menacingly. "Oh, I know exactly what you mean, Fred," she said darkly, giving him another shove. "and George," she said, shooting the other twin a dark glare to let him know he was not off the hook. "We were enjoying ourselves too much by your standards, weren't we, and you thought it necessary to come in and preserve my honor, or something like that, before things got out of hand!"
She reached for Hermione's hand and pulled her possessively to her side, eyes still flashing between her two brothers. "Well, I assure you, no such care is necessary! I'm perfectly capable of making my own decisions, and I won't be treated like a little girl!"
"But Ginny, if you think –"
She swung her gaze to hit George, who had just spoken, and he fell silent of his own accord. "And I'll remind you, since you clearly would not remember on your own, that I am a full year older than the both of you were when you left Hogwarts!" She glared between them some more, hoping to drive the point home by force of will alone. She had lived with this lot for a good seventeen years, and she had learned that if you want to get your own way, you have to be damn sure that you look like you mean business.
"All right, sorry Gin, you know it was just a bit of a lark," said Fred, scratching the back of his neck uncomfortably. No one liked being on the receiving end of the Weasley death-glare, which Ginny had copied from their mother from an early age. She liked to think that she had improved upon it, even, or at least that it looked more fearsome on her face than her mother's. Fred nodded along, clearly expecting his twin's apology to cover the both of them.
Ginny knew that this was all she could reasonably expect, so she turned to Hermione and laced her arm around the other girl's waist. "Come on, Hermione, let's go find somewhere else to dance."
Hermione nodded, but held up a hand. She turned back to Fred and George, who had dropped their twin cowed, apologetic looks the moment the girls had turned their backs. It had apparently taken them less than thirty seconds to forget about the whole incident and start looking around for new dance partners, or maybe some other sibling to torment. "Thanks for giving me the stuff, by the way; it worked out very well," said Hermione in a sugary tone. "I'll come around the shop to bring it back tomorrow, then?"
"Yeah, you're welcome," said George, looking stricken and not at all happy for the reminder that he and his twin had been the indirect cause of what they had just tried to stop.
Hermione fell onto Ginny, giggling, and the two went away across the dance floor in each other's arms, laughing helplessly.
"I think they just can't stand the thought that their little sister's getting more action than them!" said Ginny, as she started dancing again.
"And that it's more or less their own fault," added Hermione, grinning. "They certainly thought it was a good idea when they gave me the disguise this morning, but they obviously hadn't thought out all the implications…"
"Or more likely, they didn't trust anyone but themselves to pull off properly. They probably expected you to fail; I bet they've been waiting for the show all evening."
"Well, then, they underestimated the utter fantasticness of their little sister!" said Hermione, nuzzling Ginny's neck. Ginny hummed appreciatively and wrapped her arms around the other girl, drawing her closer.
"Now where were we?" she asked in a low voice against Hermione's ear. The girls fell back into the rhythm easily, as if they hadn't been interrupted in the first place. "I do owe Fred and George a thank-you," said Ginny into Hermione's ear again. "When they're through acting like right prats. Otherwise I wouldn't have you here right now, would I?" Hermione just nuzzled into her neck again, and Ginny was glad to stop talking and let everything besides the two of them, here, now, just fall away.
After a few more songs – Ginny wasn't exactly keeping count – she felt Hermione stiffen and stop dancing.
"What is it?" she asked, seeking out her girlfriend's eyes.
"I think it's time to go back, now," said Hermione. "To the inn…"
Ginny squinted at her, trying to make out her face better amid the flashing lights. This was a pretty abrupt change, and didn't seem exactly like Hermione.
"With me, right?" Ginny asked, wanting to make sure that Hermione wasn't having second thoughts about spending the night together.
"Uh, yeah, sure," said Hermione vaguely, without really looking at Ginny. Ginny's brow furrowed. Something was definitely up.
Hermione started off in the direction of the entrance without saying anything else, and Ginny followed close behind, not bothering to apologize to the couples she shouldered aside to keep up with Hermione.
Just then, the lights came up and the band stopped playing, snapping the rest of the students out of their reverie. Ginny glanced around at the now-lighted room, but saw nothing that could explain Hermione's strange behavior. The ceiling had already reverted to its usual reflection of the sky, as though it were relieved to give up its impersonation of a discotheque as soon as possible. All around her couples were breaking up and drifting toward the fireplace in the entrance hall, which had been set up to floo visitors home for the night.
That appeared to be where Hermione was headed too, and Ginny pushed through the crowd to arrive at her side.
"Hermione, what's up?" she asked, putting a concerned hand on Hermione's arm.
Hermione didn't shake off her hand, but didn't respond either. Ginny's mind was racing. She could come up with a few possible explanations, the most likely of which was also the most unpleasant. She kept close eye on Hermione as they stood in line, and saw nothing that didn't confirm her original guess. Shit.
As expected, Hermione paid no attention to Ginny when the finally reached their turn to use the fireplace, but simply stepped into the green flames and stated her destination, and whirled away. Ginny pushed past the wizard who was trying to take her turn at the fireplace – if he had assumed from Hermione's actions that the two of them weren't traveling together, then he was wrong – and, grabbing her own handful of powder, stepped into the hearth and intoned the same destination that Hermione had said a moment earlier.
She was disgorged, still spinning, in the parlor of an inn that was presumably in Hogsmeade, although it was one she had never seen the inside of, and instantly reached for her wand. She drew her wand, but pressed her hand close to her side, where hand and wand alike were hidden in the full folds of her dress robes. She nodded to the sleepy-looking innkeeper, who sat behind a desk on the other side of the room, and then quickly mounted the stairs that she assumed led to the inn's rooms, adrenaline pumping through her veins.
When she reached the top of the stairs, she paused and looked down both directions of the long hallway, trying to catch sight of Hermione. She had followed her through the floo a matter of moments after Hermione had left, so she shouldn't be that far ahead. And yes, there she was – Ginny spotted what was unmistakably her girlfriend's back, retreating down the left branch of the hallway. She didn't seem to be in any big hurry to get where she was going, but was still walking purposely.
Ginny rushed to catch up, but kept to the side of the corridor, and tried to keep as quiet as possible. She could feel her unease crackling around her like a tangible force, and stealth seemed like a very good idea right now. She managed to sneak up right behind Hermione without drawing any attention whatsoever to herself, so when the older girl abruptly halted at the second-to-last door in the corridor, and opened it, Ginny was in the perfect position to see over her shoulder . What Ginny saw there almost made her gasp, although she stifled it just in time.
Sitting on the bed in Hermione's room, looking smug, as though she had been expecting her, sat none other than Wanda. Ginny only got a glimpse of her before Hermione stepped into the room, blocking the bed and its occupant from sight, but she was sure of who she had seen. Wanda,who Ginny had taken such great effort to expel from the grounds only a few hours earlier. Shit. Well, Ginny should have known that that wouldn't be enough stop her. Readjusting her grip on her concealed wand, she slipped into the room through the door that Hermione had left ajar, and prepared herself to finish the job the right way this time.
-fin-
Oooo, wonder whatever could be wrong with Hermione? Next chapter will tell, and it is also incidentally the last chapter. (For real this time. I swear!) Reviews are more than welcome! (translation: I am an utter review hog who would stop at nothing to get feedback!) Thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far, you guys are lovely!