Wow, this is totally not what I was planning to write last night. At least this means I don't have writer's block on everything, right?
Warnings: Actions performed with femslash-oriented intentions; talk of cleavage; tiny bit of language. Moderate blood & gore. (No, not really on the last one. I just have too much fun with warnings, sometimes...)
3. Seduction 101
The next evening, Ginny began to lay the groundwork for her scheme. She rushed up to her dorm as soon as they got back from supper to change clothes. Luckily no one noticed; if they had, they would probably have thought it odd for her to be putting on new clothes just to study in. She selected an outfit that she considered appropriately revealing, in a seductive way (she didn't quite trust her judgment, but she didn't want to risk going down to consult Lavender either; it might make her look suspicious.)
Once down in the common room, she positioned herself strategically in a chair behind where Hermione was studying at her favorite table, so that she could see the screen of her eye-pod from where she was sitting. She had roped a baffled Dean Thomas into explaining how it worked, and he had demonstrated on his own until she was pretty sure she understood at least what the screen showed. Indeed, the only factor out of Ginny's control was whether Hermione would be studying in the common room at all, but that wasn't really uncertain. This was Hermione, after all.
Ginny pretended to study, but she was really just waiting for the common room to empty out a bit so that she could spring into action. It would be no good for her brother, or even worse, Harry, to notice. Hermione, of course, actually was studying. She had the earphones on again, and was obviously enjoying her music. She appeared to be writing only one essay right now, but she had about five books open on the table in front of her which she periodically referred to.
Ginny amused herself by watching her. Who knew that it was possible to study in a sexy way? That's what Hermione did, though Ginny doubted she knew she was doing it. It was precisely that totally unselfconscious, absorbed, off-in-her-own-world look that she got that was so fascinating.
An hour or two later, people had begun to go to bed, and Hermione was still studying. Parvati whispered "Good luck!" to Ginny as she passed her on the way to the stairs, and Lavender gave her a surreptitious thumbs-up. It was now or never. Ginny craned her neck so that she could see the display of Hermione's eye-pod, and noted that she was halfway through the song she was listening to. If she had read the little bar correctly, that was. This whole thing depended on perfect timing, or else the mood would be ruined.
Ginny waited until Hermione's song was almost over, and then drew her wand and silently snuck up behind her. This part was the most dicey, depending on quick reflexes and stealth, but she, Lavender, Parvati, and Hannah had practiced it plenty the night before. She dropped one arm around Hermione's shoulders, and leaned over to look at what she was working on.
"Hi, Hermione," she said in a low voice, very close to her ear.
"Oh, hi, Ginny," said Hermione, apparently finding it hard to twist around and see Ginny's face in such close quarters.
Ginny made it easier for her by leaning forward, taking the opportunity to check the song-bar at the same time. Almost time…
"So… how's the studying going?" Ginny suddenly realized a glaring flaw in her plan: she hadn't any idea what to do once she got to this point. The important part was playing the song at the right moment, but she couldn't do anything in the meantime that would make her look suspicious. She shifted her arm on Hermione's shoulders, (just in case she might have forgotten it was there) and tried to feign a look of casual interest, instead of the nervous anticipation she really felt.
"Oh, pretty well, though I expect it'll take an hour more at least; I just finished this Potions essay, but I have one for Transfigurations to write for the day after tomorrow, and I should probably review my Charms notes just in case we have a pop quiz tomorrow; you never know when those will happen…"
Ginny kept her eye on the bar as she smiled and nodded along with Hermione. It was really so cute, how obsessed with academics she was. The second that the song ended, several things happened simultaneously. Ginny kissed Hermione on the cheek and gave her shoulders a squeeze, while surreptitiously detaching the earphone cable from the pod-box with her free hand, where Hermione couldn't see it. Dean had assured her that this would stop the music from going into the earphones. Ginny let her lips linger on Hermione's cheek for a moment, while she dropped her arm from around the other girl's shoulders to touch her wand tip to Hermione's own, which stuck out of her back pocket. Another tap of the wand and a muttered charm (muttered against Hermione's neck, where she couldn't hear it, but could certainly feel it….the point was seduction here, after all!) ensured that the song started to play in Hermione's head, although hopefully she would think it was coming from the earphones and not be unduly suspicious.
Ginny moved away at last, trailing her hand across Hermione's shoulders as she walked around to the other side of the table. She set her book down with a heavy plunk, and began reading as though nothing out of the ordinary had just happened. Mustn't appear to be trying too hard, of course – don't want to scare her off before I get going... And anyway, the song didn't get to the really suggestive part until the first refrain, and she wanted to give it plenty of time to give Hermione ideas, like it was supposed to.
She did make sure to lean very far over her book though, in order to take full advantage of the v-neck shirt she was wearing. She glanced down to check the effect, and found herself, depressingly enough, seeing straight down to stomach. Great, Ginny thought sarcastically, now Hermione's just going to think I'm some desperate, skinny, flat-chested wannabe who can't even pick out a bra that works, and who will clearly never be worthy of her attentions. She tried to inconspicuously arrange her arms so as to produce a cleavage, but soon gave it up as a lost cause. Oh well; cleavage or no, the show must go on.
Ginny flipped a page in the book in front of her, pretended to read it with rapt attention for a moment, and then looked up through her eyelashes at Hermione, lazily twirling a strand of hair between her fingers. She saw Hermione's eye flick quickly up and then back to her essay, and she allowed herself a small, satisfied smile. So far, it was working.
The next time Ginny looked up, she definitely caught Hermione staring, and she daringly winked at her before she let her eyes fall again. Sure that she had reeled her in, now, and knowing that further attempts at eye contact would only give the brunette an excuse to look away, Ginny exaggeratedly licked her finger in order to turn the page she was reading. Not that that's even necessary; it actually kind of makes it harder to turn pages. She told her rational side to go get lost until it had something useful to contribute; and went back to concentrating on the serious business at hand.
Having exhausted the seductive possibilities posed by "reading", Ginny "absently" reached up to rub the muscles of her neck, gradually sliding her hand under the fabric of her shirt. This was actually something she did this all the time when she was reading and not paying attention to much else, but she also could imagine what it must look like to an outside observer.
Lavender and Parvati had both agreed that there was nothing worse than being misinterpreted, and too much was always better than too little. Embarrassment was thus a complete non-factor right now; she didn't care how over-the-top her efforts might be, as long as she packed as much as was humanly possible into the length of the song.
The song! Oh shit, it must be almost done now! Ginny realized, with a sinking feeling, that she had no idea what she was going to do when the song ended and Hermione realized that Ginny had sabotaged her eye-pod. Oh well, in any case that didn't change the general strategy as of right now. Cross that bridge when you come to it and all that.
Ginny continued to slowly massage her shoulder under her shirt, and looked up at Hermione through her lashes again. Hermione did not even bother to disguise her stare, this time; Ginny thrilled at the knowledge that the plan had worked. That song was clearly giving Hermione ideas. Ginny schooled her features into a sly grin, and slipped the neck of her shirt off the edge of her shoulder, keeping her eyes locked with Hermione's the whole time. Hermione's gaze followed the downwards path of the shirt collar avidly, and her face grew noticeably pinker. Ginny grinned wider, and glanced down at the exposed skin and then back up at the quickly-reddening Hermione. Forget embarrassing, this is pretty fun! I could get used to this… Feel my body touch your body…feel my body… She tried to beam the words to Hermione through her eyes, just for good measure. That is indeed a most lascivious song, she thought. I'll have to remember to thank Lavender for it. Catchy, too.
She wasn't quite sure what happened next, but her best guess was that she had begun to sing the lyrics out loud, which was clearly too much for Hermione's overloaded brain. Hermione sprung from her chair, jarring the table rather violently, and with a muffled "Night, Ginny!" she gathered up her pod and turned and fled up the stairs to the girls' dormitory, disconnected wire flying behind her. She had left without even gathering up her school supplies, which was highly uncharacteristic of the older girl and bespoke a greatly agitated state of mind.
Ginny got up in a more relaxed fashion and went to the other side of the table; all in all, her attempt at seduction could have gone much worse. At the very least, it was a step in the right direction; she had succeeded in getting Hermione to exit the common room in much the same manner she herself had done the night before. Not that this was a contest, or anything…quite a few other possible outcomes sprang to mind which she would have considered just as successful, on the whole.
Rifling through the other girl's abandoned things, Ginny spotted Hermione's nearly-finished Potions essay. Grinning to herself, she dipped the discarded quill in the open pot of ink, and carefully drew a heart in the margins, enclosing a stylized "HGGW". She was especially proud of how she had connected the two G's, making them intertwine about one another to link their initials together. Just in case she somehow failed to get the message before. And this way, Hermione would have no possible way to pretend that nothing had happened, even if she wanted to.
Ginny turned to go up to the dormitory herself, but then hesitated. Impulsively, she grabbed Hermione's Transfigurations textbook from the pile of heavy books on the table, and added it to her own, much smaller pile of books in her arm. You never know when something like this might come in handy…
With that, she headed up to her own dormitory, still feeling irrationally giddy. Nothing had actually happened for her to be this happy about….
Nevertheless, she paused to blow a kiss at the door to Hermione's room, which was on the floor below her own, as she passed it on the stairs, and couldn't keep herself from grinning. When she crawled into her own bed a few minutes later, she slid the purloined textbook under her pillow, and fell asleep plotting. Tomorrow could not come fast enough…
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See that periwinkle button down there? Wanna click it??
In case you were wondering, here's the music video of the song that Ginny was playing. Mmmm...all I have to say is, it's a good thing that Hermione doesn't have a video iPod, or else she might have been too distracted...did I mention that I love this song??!! http // www . youtube . com / watch?vbVUEOfKH-mI&featurerelated (copy/paste and remove spaces. &#$$ing fanfiction . net and their stringent anti-spamming policies!!!)