This one has very little dialog, so it looks short. Also, I think I lost my funny. Didn't this used to a humorous story, or something? le sigh. Also, it only took me two and a half hours to write this - I don't know if I should be bragging about that or not. In any case, these chapters are the perfect length to, oh, procrastinate on your feminist philosophy paper with, say. Also since I have to run to class this isn't exactly proofread...so please, please tell me about any heinous mistakes you see so I can fix them later?

Oh, and this chapter is dedicated to anyone who has exams now or coming up. (Is it awkward to indirectly dedicate a chapter to oneself?) Anyway, goooood luuuuuuck!! Don't fail now, you can do it ;)

Edit (after class): Cha, there were things. The stuff I saw is fixed now, though - like the divider at the end of the chapter was in the wrong place and I left the H off the end of Hannah's name in one spot. Sloppy, sloppy! Makes my inner copy editor cringe.

8. Noteworthy

Breakfast was an uncomfortable affair that morning, mostly due to Hermione. She hadn't been in the common room last night, foiling Ginny's attempts at apologizing to her and making Ginny fear that she was avoiding her purposely, and now she was sitting too far away to talk to. Ginny's conscience was nagging her about it, and she doubted she would have much appetite until she had done her best to set things right. She got a break from pushing food around her plate when the post owls came, and tucked her only letter, which was addressed to her in a girlish script that was plainly not Hermione's, to read later.

She spent the rest of the meal staring at the side of Hermione's head and willing her to look over, but when she did, it was only a brief smile and wave, and not whatever Ginny was hoping it would be.

Class seemed to drag on more interminably than it usually did, and without Hermione there to distract her, Ginny found herself growing more and more curious about the letter she had received. She pulled it out and tried to see if she recognized the handwriting, but from the small sample there – just her name – it was impossible to identify. When, after several centuries, Flitwick stopped talking and let them go, Ginny headed straight to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom so she could read it. No friends would be there to bother her or look over her shoulder (not a good idea when she herself didn't even know what it said), and no teachers would be there to take it away and deduct house points for carrying on personal business in class.

However, when she arrived, Myrtle's bathroom wasn't unoccupied after all. Hermione, of all people, stood in front of the sink, fixing her hair in the dusty mirror. Ginny let the door close behind her.

"Hi, Hermione!" It was surprisingly easy to sound cheerful in her presence.

Hermione looked up and smiled at her through the mirror. "Hey, Ginny." She turned around, and leaned back casually on the sink. Ginny swallowed. Things might be simpler if everything Hermione did wasn't so darn sexy all the time. "Actually, I was just about to go looking for you, I had something to, er – tell you." Hermione ran her hand through her hair, an echo of Harry's own nervous gesture.

"Oh really?" Ginny grew a bit nervous herself; Hermione would not like to hear what she was going to have to say. "I had something to tell you, too. You can go first though," she said, buying time.

"No, you," Hermione said, sounding a bit over-eager.

"No, you, really, you said it first anyway."

"I – oh, fine." Hermione appeared to be blushing. "It's about, well –"

And without warning, she leaned over and kissed Ginny. It was not long, but not too short either, as if Hermione knew what she was doing and wasn't afraid to take her time. Ginny was so startled that she simply stood there, frozen, and didn't react until Hermione had pulled away.

"That was…" she trailed off, not knowing what she had meant to say it was like, and met Hermione's eyes.

Hermione smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. That was for the book – you know. You said I could do it when I wanted, so… I should have warned you better, though. What was it you wanted to say?"

"Um." Now Ginny was the one blushing. She was trying to stick to her earlier resolve to not do anything that would push Hermione, but she had just kissed her. Didn't that have to count for something? But a more rational part of her brain supplied that no it did not, since Ginny had been the one to extort the kiss out of her in the first place. Hermione was just keeping her word. Ginny decided it would probably be best to just deliver her apology and hope for the best, as she had originally intended.

"I heard about your grade in Potions, and well, I'm really sorry about it. I mean, I was the one who drew that on your essay," Yes, be captain obvious, Ginny. "And so it's my fault, and, well…I feel really bad," she finished lamely.

Hermione reached out and squeezed her shoulder. "It's ok. I figured it was you all along, and I'm not mad, am I? Don't worry about it." She gave a reassuring smile, but Ginny was not reassured. Of course she would say things like this.

Ginny expected Hermione to start asking something embarrassing, like why she would do something like that in the first place, and whether she had meant anything by it, but she just gave Ginny's shoulder another squeeze and headed for the door.

"I should head to class now, I've got Herbology," she said with that same sheepish smile. "See you later." And she was gone.

Ginny stared at the door for a moment, and then went into a stall and sat down on the closed toilet. Myrtle seemed to be absent today, for which she was grateful. She had enough to deal with right now without adding a petulant ghost on top of it. So, Hermione doesn't hold the heart thing against me – or at least she said she did. And she didn't seem to have anything on principle against kissing me, or she wouldn't have done it even if I tried to make her. But she did seem really quick let it drop, too. Should I have let her drop it? But no, I said I wouldn't push her any more…

Ginny kicked the wall in frustration. It was too complicated, and she suspected that it was mostly her fault. Whatever she did, she seemed to go about things the wrong way. She took the letter out of her pocket, her original reason for coming here, and wondered ironically if it could provide any answers. Unexpectedly, it did.

Ginny,

You're probably wondering why I'm writing to you, but I didn't know when we'd be able to talk otherwise, and who knows if I'd be able to get my point across anyway in a conversation. This is safer. And you looked like you might be on the verge of doing something rash when you stormed off yesterday, so I figured the sooner you got this, the better. I hope it helps.

I never got to finish telling you what I overheard from Hermione yesterday because Lav – well, never mind. The point is, she said to Harry and Ron that she didn't feel bad about her grade or her detention, and so you shouldn't get all upset about it. I tried to tell you all this before, really I did! But you ran off too fast. Anyway, what I had come to say wasn't even about the essay – I think she knows it's you; she was talking like she did, and just didn't want Ron or Harry to find out who it was. And I think she might fancy you a bit too, maybe. Well, she said that she didn't know what her feelings were, but you should have seen the way she was giggling and blushing and everything…

I'm not a huge expert on love or whatever, but Hufflepuffs are supposed to be good at this stuff, so I'll give it a shot. You looked like you needed some good advice after all that stuff about giving up on her that Lav and Parvati were spouting. Basically, I say you should just give her a little time to figure herself out, and just try to be yourself. She clearly knows you have feelings, and you don't want to confuse her or anything, or make it hard to decide what to do. I think she'll go with you in the end though, she's clearly smitten. Or at least I think she is. Anyway, good luck with Hermione, and everything!

Hannah

PS: I hope this got to you before things get too awkward with you thinking she was really mad! I hope you didn't say anything to her, at least.

PPS: Don't worry even if you did, because I really do think she fancies you Ginny!

Ginny grinned as she smoothed the letter and reread the parts about how Hannah thought Hermione might fancy Ginny… Hannah seemed intent on emphasizing that point, and Ginny knew she had no reason to lie. And it would be just like Hermione to wait to act on her feelings until she had pinned them down and figured them out to the last detail. She wasn't likely to believe something until she understood it, but if what Hannah had said was true…

She would have to buy Hannah vast amounts of chocolate when she next went to Honeydukes, or maybe just open up an unlimited line of credit in her name; maybe that would start to convey the immense gratitude she felt at knowing the truth. Words couldn't express it, certainly. She would take the Hufflepuff's advice and give Hermione time to sort out her feelings, but waiting like this was infinitely preferable to waiting thinking that you had just given the object of your affection every reason to hate your guts forever.

Though she didn't agree with Hannah that she should be so careful not to further confuse Hermione – this was Hermione they were talking about; handling confusion was what Hermione had been born to do.

Next chapter: Moaning Myrtle intrudes!! Actually no, scratch that; I am never right when I say what will come next. This chapter, for example, is completely different than I had down on my so-called outline. Which is now totally irrelevant by the way. Le sigh.