Chapter 7: The Weasley One
Ginny apperated into Hermione's apartment around 10 am the morning after the blind date with George, hoping to get the lowdown on the entire night. Being one of her best friends, Ginny was able to apperate directly into Hermione's apartment. "Hermione?" Ginny called, walking through the living room. Ginny heard Hermione's voice coming from the bathroom, so she walked down the hall to the only bathroom in the one bedroom apartment.
"Here's to the liars and the cheaters and the cold mistreaters/To the mama's boys who can't make a stand/Here's to the superficial players/The I love you too soon sayers/If you hear me girls, then raise your hand/Let's have a toast/Here's to finding a good man!" Hermione belted as she slathered conditioner on her hair. She wasn't sure why, but she was in the best mood she'd been in for months. She had managed to wake herself up at 8 am and get in two solid hours of studying for her Poisonous Potions exam on Wednesday. After lunch with George, she would study the rest of the evening for her Abnormal Anatomy practical exam on Tuesday.
"Hermione?" Ginny called again, turning the knob on the bathroom door.
"Ginny, is that you?" Hermione called, the shower still running.
The steam enveloped Ginny as she stepped into the bathroom and shut the door. "Yeah, it's me," she said, trying not to burst out laughing, "You seem like you're in a good mood."
"Oh, was I singing that loudly?" Hermione laughed, rinsing her hair.
"Yes, but it's alright. You're not that dreadful." The girls giggled and Hermione shut off the shower.
"Hand me that towel, would you?" Hermione said, sticking her dripping arm outside of the shower curtain to take the fluffy towel that Ginny handed to her.
Wrapped in her towel, Hermione walked back to her room, Ginny following behind her. "So, tell me about your blind date! What was he like?" Ginny asked, trying to sound as if she didn't know that Hermione had gone out with George.
"You know exactly what he was like," Hermione said, turning around to face Ginny, "I know that Fred has told you by now that he tricked George and me into going on a date with each other."
"Okay, I did know…" Ginny admitted, "So, how did it go? Obviously pretty well if you're this happy."
"You know, I'm not really sure why I'm so happy…" Hermione said, glancing at her reflection in the mirror.
"You like him, that's why you're so happy," Ginny said, flopping down on Hermione's bed.
"Mmm… I don't think so. I don't know," Hermione said, her voice slightly muffled as she walked into her closet.
"Well, I know that you're going out with him again today," Ginny said.
"How did you know that? Did George tell you?" Hermione asked, scurrying out of the closet.
"No, lucky guess. You just confirmed it for me," Ginny said, smiling mischievously. Hermione simply frowned in reply, throwing a dirty shirt at Ginny.
They were silent for several minutes as Hermione got dressed and waved her wand over her hair to dry it. "Well, did you talk to George?" Hermione asked, trying to sound cool and totally uninterested.
Ginny, of course, saw straight through her and burst out in laughter.
Humming happily to himself, George brushed his teeth at the bathroom sink while Fred banged on the door. "I need to use the loo, you prat. Let me in!" Fred yelled.
"Nope, sorry. You tricked Hermione and me yesterday, so you deserve to pee your pants again," George said calmly, smiling at himself in the mirror.
"You should be thanking me! I saw you two dancing last night," Fred yelled angrily, instantly knowing that he shouldn't have said that.
"You WHAT?" George yelled, whipping open the door to the bathroom, toothbrush still in his mouth, "I'm going to kill you! You spied on us!"
"So did Ginny and Harry!" Fred said defensively, backing up. Eyeing George for a second, he made a dive for the bathroom door but was caught by his twin.
"You're going to pay for this, my dear twin," George said, grabbing his wand from the dresser.
Hermione turned on the Wizarding Wireless to hear some music while Ginny did her hair. "Why are you so nervous?" Ginny asked, running her wand over a handful of Hermione's hair.
"I'm not nervous," Hermione said indignantly.
"Hermione, I've known you for years. When you're nervous, you shake your left leg," Ginny said.
Hermione instantly stopped shaking her leg and began picking at her fingernails. "It has nothing to do with George," she said.
"It has everything to do with George!" Ginny laughed, finishing up Hermione's hair.
"Look, you'd better go. He'll be here any second," Hermione said, checking out her hair in the mirror. Ginny stepped away to disapperate but Hermione called her back. "By the way," Hermione said with a smile, "Thanks."
"Should I have brought flowers? No, no… that would be too much like we are dating. She'll never want to date me anyway, she was just a bit drunk last night," George muttered to himself as he walked up to Hermione's apartment door. Sighing, he whispered, "Here we go!" and knocked three times on the door.
"Coming!" he heard her yell. She opened the door almost shyly and smiled at him as they faced each other in the doorway. They stared at each other silently for a few seconds before Hermione said, "Oh! Come inside!"
George followed her back into the apartment, his hands in his pockets as he watched her slip on her shoes. Books were scattered all over the living room, quills and parchment covering the coffee table. "So, getting some studying done?" George asked.
"Yeah, quite a bit, actually. I have some flash cards to go over for my Abnormal Anatomy exam," she said, picking up her purse and wand.
"Well… I could help you with the flash cards if you'd like. I'm not the best study partner, though. I've never studied for longer than five minutes unless it had something to do with playing a trick on someone," he said, smiling as Hermione laughed.
"I'd be glad to have someone to help me study," she said, surprised that he would even ask.
"Alright, it's settled then," George said, "So, what sounds good for lunch?"
"Actually, I've been wanting another one of those sandwiches from Rupert's. Would that be okay?" she asked sheepishly.
"Of course," George smiled, disapperating with a pop.
"So… how do we get started?" George asked, sitting somewhat uncomfortably on Hermione's couch. It was hard to try to be serious with her after all of the silly memories that they had discussed over lunch, and he was still kind of giddy from the accidental/non-accidental leg brush that they had shared.
"Well, here are the flash cards. All you have to do is hold up the card, I will say the answer, and you will look on the back to see if I am correct," she said, plopping down on the couch.
"Do you get some kind of prize at the end? Like a house elf singing or anything like that?" George joked, looking at the huge stack of cards.
"Well, no… I normally don't get a prize," she said, tilting her head in thought.
"I'll tell you what… if you get all of these correct, I'll do whatever you want for a whole hour," George said, assuming that no one, not even Hermione Granger, could get all of the flash cards correct on the first go around.
They began their studying facing each other, sitting Indian style on the couch, a bottle of butterbeer for each of them sitting on the coffee table. "Extra eyes, extra noses," George read.
"All symptoms of a poorly performed bat-bogey hex," Hermione recited. George began a stack of "rights" and "wrongs" on the coffee table and flipped up the next card.
"A circular green mark on the head," George said.
"A side effect of pepper up potion in those who are allergic to shellfish," Hermione recited again perfectly.
An hour went by, the "rights" stack in danger of falling over and the "wrongs" stack empty. Hermione's heart was racing as they got down to the last 25 cards. She was trying very hard not to lose, but she was so anxious about winning that she almost hoped for a card that would stump her.
One card left.
"Two left feet," George said.
"A couple of possibilities… splinching during side-along apparition, transfiguration mishap, or a tainted batch of the potion Bailais," Hermione said hurriedly.
Last card.
"Blue tinged fingernail beds," George read.
A wave of panic struck Hermione as she drew a blank. George leaned forward, his foot now touching hers. Her heart pounded in her ears. That's it! Heart! She though.
"Sign of decreased cardiac and pulmonary function in witches and wizards," she said, smiling.
George sat silently for a moment and then shook his head, placing the final card on the "rights" pile. "I don't believe it," he whispered and then laughed, "Okay, what's my first task. I'm yours for exactly one hour."
"Oh George, you don't have to do that!" she said, standing up from the couch to collect their empty butterbeer bottles.
"No, a promise is a promise," he said, also standing and taking the bottles from her to carry them into the kitchen for disposal. She regarded him reluctantly until he said, "Back massage? Foot massage?" He read her subtle body language indicating that a back massage would be much appreciated, "Okay, back massage for starters."
He led her back to the couch, sitting her down beside him so that when they both turned to the left, she would be in front of him. His hands shook as he waited for her to get situated, the shaking subsiding when he placed his hands on her shoulders. She was tense. As he began to knead her shoulders with his fingers, she relaxed and whispered, "That feels sooooo good," before she could stop herself.
She was horrified for a second before George leaned forward and whispered in reply, "I'm glad you like it. Why are you so tense? Is it me?"
"I don't know," she whispered back, her eyes closing. She hadn't been sleeping well…
"Well, there's no reason to be tense around me," he said, working his way down her back. He could feel her starting to become drowsy as his fingers ran over the soft cotton of the polo shirt that she was wearing, and his heart pounded so loudly that he was sure that she could hear it.
She leaned her head against the back of the couch and yawned. "I'm so tired. I've been studying too much," she said through another yawn.
"Do you want to take a nap?" George whispered, leaning in to better hear her as she mumbled, noticing for the first time the dark circles under her eyes.
"I don't want to waste my hour," she said, turning around to smile at him, their faces the closest that they had ever been.
He felt his heart melt a little and smiled back at her. "Don't worry," he said, his right arm now wrapped around her shoulders since she had turned around while he was massaging her back, "I can stop the clock for now. You seem very tired, so you should really get some rest."
"Maybe," she mumbled groggily, rubbing her eye. Pausing for a second, she then continued, "Are you going to stay?"
Before he could answer, she had laid her head on his chest. He was sure that his pounding heart would either wake her up from the sound or beat her awake as it tried to jump out of his chest, but apparently she was a heavy sleeper. George wrapped both arms around her and leaned back against the arm rest, getting ready to take his own nap.
To be continued…