Chapter 6

AN: Hey everyone! I realized that in section separators didn't show up in my last chapter so I hope you still understood where the breaks were. Hopefully it will show up once up upload this one. On another note, I've had to break up the spring gala chapter into two because it's getting pretty long. I will hopefully have the next one up soon. Hope you enjoy! Reviews are always welcome- it's the only thing that keeps the story going.

JK owns it.

"Coming!" she yelled rushing towards the door of her flat.

"Hermione!" Oh. My. Gods! The brunette was wearing tight jean cut off shorts and a white ruffled blouse. It was so delicate and at the same time so wickedly sexy. Ginny licked her lips as her eyes shamelessly raked over Hermione's exposed legs. She was well aware of her increased heart beat and the unmistakable dampness in between her legs.

"Hi Gin, may I come in?" she blushed slightly well aware of where the redheads eyes had just been.

"S-sure of course" stepping aside she allowed Hermione into her flat. The older witch took a few steps and then turned, rather abruptly, to face Ginny. She looked nervous but determined and with one quick glance over Ginny's perplexed features she closed the gap between them and slowly grabbed both of Ginny's hands in her own.

"I've been keeping something from you Gin." Hermione paused to take a deep breath and continued "I.. I know we haven't known each other for very long, but you evoke feelings in me that I are so powerful, so intense that they scare me. They just come over me and I can't control them and I can't explain them and despite my best efforts I just can't seem stop them. I know it's wrong because I know you will never feel the same way but ...you've become all I think about. And I don't know how it happened, or why, because this has never happened to me before, but I don't want to fight it. At least not right now, not this moment, I just have to know what it feels like to kiss you, just once."

Ginny hadn't realized how much she wanted to hear that confession until it happened; how each word Hermione said danced into her ear and made her heart sing. Before she could process much more she felt soft lips press against her. The kiss was soft but there was an urgency behind that made Ginny's knees go weak. Hermione's responded to Ginny's slackening body by pulling her closer and placing her hand at the small of the youngest back to keep her in place. Hermione's other hand was cupping Ginny's face caressing her slowly and gradually making its way towards her neck; she could feel pure unadulterated lust radiated from touching Ginny's porcelain-like skin. She sensually licked the bottom of the girls lip demanding entrance and the redhead willingly complied - as their tongues met slowly both witches let out a deep moan of unrestrained pleasure - it was at that exactly moment the desire they felt intensified like a wild fire spreading throughout their bodies. The need was becoming unbearable making the kiss faster, harder, sloppier- they were trying to merge into each other, to feel each other's body movements, to hear each other's shallow breathing and strangled moans. In an effort to relieve some of the mounting tension Hermione pushed Ginny against the door roughly and pressed their bodies together earning a loud groan from the youngest.

"Oh gods h-Hermione"

Tap Tap Tap

Ignoring the unidentifiable sound Ginny focused her attention back to the woman that was ravishing her. Now Hermione's lips had moved down to her neck and were nipping and licking over her pulse point; the hand that was previously on her neck migrated south and rested on her waist teasing the hem of her shirt.

"Please don't stop"

TAP. TAP. TAP. TAP. TAP.

Ginny woke with a start. Her body was covered in sweat and her mouth was dry- she could still feel a pulsing tension in between her legs. Looking around the room still disoriented from waking up so quickly she saw Harry's owl waiting on outside her window. Honestly Harry! You have the worst timing ever! She was in a bad mood for many reasons. First, this was the fourth time this week she'd woken up from sexual dreams featuring a lovely brunette. Although the dreams themselves varied significantly (in her office, in the quidditch lockers, in Ginny's flat, in Hermione's flat) they all ended before they got anywhere interesting. At this rate to say she was sexually frustrated was as much as an understatement as saying that Rita Skeeter had a little bit of a curious nature. The second reason why she was so irritated was because she knew she shouldn't have been having those dreams to begin with. All-in- all Plan: Get over Hermione Granger was an absolute failure; although she made an effort to not run into her again the beautiful brunette was every bit present in her thoughts. And the cherry on top to all the series of unfortunate events, today was the Ministry Spring Gala and she would have to attend opposite Harry Potter where she was bound to receive more unwanted attention. Not only that but she would probably run into Hermione who she had learned from Ron was attending with Owen. Merlin could this day already be over please?

With letter now in hand Ginny carelessly tore open the piece of parchment.

"Ginny,
I just wanted to confirm that I'll be dropping by your place at 6 tonight. If I'm a bit late it's because I had to force your brother into his dress robes. :)
Harry"

Lovely.

Knowing she wouldn't be able to fall back asleep Ginny stepped into the kitchen and huffily made her tea.

At 6 on the dot she heard a knocking outside her door; she quickly added her earnings and heels as she rushed towards the sound. She tried to dismiss the familiarity of the situation, unfortunately for her, it wasn't the brunette on the other side of the door, in real life it was Harry.

"Hey" she was slightly out of breath and she cracked a small smile when she realized Harry's eyes travelling down her body. Since she hadn't been in a particular mood to attend this event she had opted to wear the dress she wore for the Harpies Induction Ceremony- she assumed that they were completely different circles of people and thus no one would recognize she'd worn it before. The dress itself was beautiful and she knew it. She had gotten it in America at the incessant persuasion of her friend Jess "just in case" she got recruited by the Harpies and was in need of a dress for whatever celebratory event would follow. The dress was black and long- it had two wide straps that fell from her neck to cover her breasts, the straps met the rest of the fabric at her waist creating a very deep cleavage. The dress was also entirely backless so her skin was exposed all the way down to her hips. It was revealing, it was sexy, it was classy, it was perfect, and as an added bonus she usually received looks similar to the one Harry was giving her at that moment. She just hoped this work would work its charm with another person as well.

She looked at him with expecting eyes waiting for him to react.

"You look beautiful" he said almost in a whisper.

"Thank you" she responded with a cheery and light voice to cut through whatever mood the boy was in. Control yourself Potter, you don't stand a chance. "Ready to go?"

"Yes of course. Hold on tight- I will apparate us to my flat and we can floo from there, it's connected" quickly coming back to his senses.

She nodded and held his arm tightly. This is going to be an interesting night.

Hermione absolutely loved magic ever since she found out she was a witch and possibly even before then. It was something that never ceased to surprise her and she loved that there were always more things to learn about it. As she entered the enormous ball room she smiled broadly in appreciation and gratitude that she was given the opportunity to be a part of such a magnificent world. The room was decorated with beautiful vines and wild flowers blossoming in every color. The ceiling was transfigured to look like a clear starry night and the air that filled the room was crisp and smelled of dew and flowers. Flying around were beautiful enchanted fireflies that floated slowly behind the mantle of stars- it truly was breathtaking.

Hermione was interrupted from admiration of the room when she felt someone approach her from behind and stand beside her. She didn't turn she knew exactly who it was.

"Beautiful isn't it?"

"Dazzling" responded softly still enthralled by the view.

"Not as much as you" she felt his eyes on her now and she turned to meet him. With a roll of the eyes she responded,

"That's a terrible line you know" she was smiling at his efforts knowing they would never really work on her.

"It was? I didn't think it was too bad" he shrugged.

"Incredibly over used line"

"I guess I'll have to think of something better next time" he added with renewed conviction

"No there won't be a next time. I've told you already- this isn't a date!" she responded a little too harshly.

She knew she was being a bit cruel but she also knew where this was going and it was exactly what she was hoping to avoid tonight. Ever since she had asked Owen to be her date she feared it would make him believe she was ready to take their relationship to another level. After the quidditch match they attended together, she had approached him in several occasions just to talk and distract herself. She knew the reason was because not surprisingly she had not spoken to Ginny since their last run in at her office. Though incredibly challenging she had even mustered enough courage to owl her to meet for tea, unfortunately Ginny was too busy with quidditch and apparently would be for an indefinite amount of time. Frustrated at how poorly she was coping with having minimal interactions with the redhead Hermione had started to talk to Owen in an effort to distract lift her spirits up a bit. It had worked- especially when they kept the conversations light, although in more than one occasion the blonde couldn't help himself from asking what was wrong. When this happened she would let out an incredulous "What do you mean" look and then just say "I have a lot of things to work through" or some variation of the phrase. That would usually fend him off for a while but he knew something was undeniably off. Unfortunately, Hermione's efforts to deal with Ginny induced feelings were giving Owen's unrelenting heart some hope and courage - and she absolutely dreaded the fact that she would have to somehow subtly reestablish the boundaries soon.

"Ok Ok, fine - it's not a date. We'll call it a friendly night between two coworkers. Better?" smiled good naturedly at her quickly masking the hurt he felt at her coldness.

"Much" she offered him a small smile.

"Oh look! There are Mike and Susan -lets go say hello." And so they walked towards their co workers and started discussing well, work, because although it seemed like a dull subject for the evening it was the only thing that they all had in common. Hermione pretended to be immersed in conversations, since after all, she was usually the most vocal one in the group, but in reality her eyes were scanning the crowds for a certain redheaded witch… and Harry. She had obviously heard that she would be attending with Harry a few hours after she had agreed in fact. She wasn't sure why since she had expected it to happen but the emotions that that news swirled in her were enough to literally make her sick – so much in fact that she spent the rest of the afternoon with a terrible nauseating feeling in her stomach and had to work from home. Still, she pushed that aside and with renewed conviction vowed to make the best out of this night and get a little bit closer to figuring out the conundrum that was Ginny Weasley.

"Hermione, there you are!" She turned around to find the familiar voice and saw Harry approaching her with a glowing smile. She looked at him in confusion when she didn't see him with Ginny so instead of greeting him excitedly as she usually did, curiosity got the best of her.

"Where's Ginny?"

"I'm here"

Hermione turned around and sure enough the redhead beauty was standing behind her. Hermione's mind went blank and she couldn't do anything but stare at that plunging neckline that called for her touch; she restrained her twitching hands in a fist to stop herself from groping Ginny in public. And so instead she stood there for Merlin knows how many minutes, or hours, or days just staring at Ginny unabashedly- any sense of propriety completely ignored.

"Hi Hermione" the redhead greeted sweetly. Ginny could immediately read Hermione's expression only because it was reminiscent of the look she had in her recurrent dreams. Still it was hard to be 100% sure that that's what it was...she was probably just reading too much into it. Or was she? After a few more seconds of more staring Hermione looked up at Ginny's face (were eyes glazed over?), shook her head slightly and visibly reign in whatever emotions were threatening to surface.

"H-Hi Gin" she cleared her throat that was now dry and raspy "you look…" Absolutely drop dead gorgeous. Instead of completing her sentence she caught herself and purposefully trailed off hoping the point would have gotten across.

"She looks great doesn't she?" Harry said proudly, his cheeks reddening by the second, but for once he didn't seem to care. Ginny walked across Hermione and stood beside her date.

The dress is backless! OH MY SWEET GODS! No no, don't turn around let me see...

Hermione coughed rather loudly to hide the way her body was reacting to Ginny's exposed skin and to steer her mind away from those dangerously tempting thoughts. One more look at Ginny though, who she realized had also not broken her gaze away from her, and she knew she would not be able to stop imagining herself ripping that dress off her. She needed to get away and figure out a way to regroup immediately.

"Drinks!" she said suddenly.

"What?" harry chuckled lightly at the out of the blue comment from his friend.

"Sorry- I'm going to go get drinks. I'll be right back" she said loudly so that Owen also could hear her. As she walked away quickly she failed to notice three sets of eyes on her back.

Once she managed to find a floating tray with drinks she quickly grabbed it and drowned it in one gulp. As she walked back to her date, the cup now refilling itself, she spotted Ginny and Harry chatting with Ron and his date, Lavender Brown. Forcing herself to tear her gaze away from Ginny's back she resumed her conversation with her colleagues. The rest of the night went by smoothly, Kingsley gave a speech about upcoming projects of the Ministry and a few other Ministry workers shared some news about their departments. After dinner the band resumed and people continued to mingle with one another. It was at this moment that she saw Ginny alone for the first time sitting in a deserted table. This was her chance. She politely excused herself from Owen and some of his friends and approached the younger witch. Ginny's back was to her so she walked quietly in an attempt to stay unseen. She knew it might be too daring but she needed some sort of contact so once she got close enough she swiftly covered Ginny's eyes with her hand. She felt Ginny immediately tense and try to move the unknown hands from her face but before she could Hermione leaned over to her ear and whispered,

"Guess who?"

Almost immediately Ginny's hand fell back to her lap. Hermione sensed her take a deep breath that she exhaled slowly.

"Hermione" she said without a moment of hesitation or doubt.

Hermione chuckled amusedly and sat down besides the younger witch.

"How did you know?" she asked with genuine curiosity. There were hundreds of people in the room it was shocking that her response was so assertive.

"I just did. How are you?" Hermione noticed the quick transition of topic but went along with it.

"Good. How about yourself?"

"Good. Busy but good. It's been crazy with quidditch" she shook her head in sighed.

"I can imagine. Congratulations by the way you guys had a fantastic game against the Tornadoes the other weekend"

"Thank you" the compliment earned Hermione a shy smile.

"It was quite dangerous though. I have never seen a team foul so much, not even the Slytherins, and that's saying something"

"Yeah it was challenging but nothing we haven't dealt with before." Ginny paused for a moment looking confused "Wait- what do you mean? How did you see the game?"

Hermione laughed at Ginny's reaction and decided to be a bit playful.

"With my eyes silly" Ginny scoffed at her response and rolled her eyes.

"I went to the game" the brunette added casually.

"What! With who? Harry and Ron told me they couldn't make it" Ginny asked in bewilderment.

Damn it she hadn't figured out a way to omit this rather inconvenient fact from the conversation. And while she knew that going to the game would earn her some points, she was also aware that the fact she had gone with Owen would set her back a few steps as well.

"Owen- my coworker. You met him briefly the other day. It was a good game though. You were great" she tried to move past the Owen hiccup and offered the younger witch a reassuring smile.

"Thank you. I'm glad you came" the displeasure that Ginny felt was hidden fast but Hermione, always the observant, had not missed it. She noticed how Ginny rearranged her features and offered her a less than sincere smile back.

Fix it Hermione, fix it now.

"It's amazing what they've done with the decorations this year isn't it?" Seriously? SERIOUSLY! That's how you are going to woo Ginny Weasley? Pathetic.Ginny looked around and then turned her gaze to the star filled sky.

"It's beautiful" she looked up admiring the view "the stars are too far away though"

"Yes, well, they usually are, millions of light years away in fact" she added with a teasing smirk.

"Well, they seem a little closer when I'm flying smarty pants" she hit Hermione's arm playfully.
"I haven't been able to do that in a while though - fly at night. I can't do it around my flat for obvious reasons and I haven't stayed over at the Burrow for some time now. I miss it." she shrugged sadly at the memory.

The nostalgia in Ginny's voice made the wheels in Hermione's head start to turn, and fast. I've got it! It was about time! She figured that what she was about to do could possibly be the most reckless thing she had ever done (come to think about it probably not but definitely in the top 10) or it could be the most rewarding and exciting moment of her life. She decided to live a little and go for it- something inside her told her Ginny was worth the risk.

With a grin from ear to ear Hermione forcefully pushed herself off the chair and looked at Ginny's questioning eyes.

"Come on- I want to show you something" she summoned her Gryffindor courage and stretched her hand out to the now interested looking witch. Without any hesitation Ginny grabbed her hand and picked up her clutch off the table. They both scanned the room briefly for their dates and found them occupied- they then locked eyes, and with eyes sparkling with excitement Ginny gave Hermione a small nod. Let's go then.