DISCLAIMER: All belongs to JKR. Good for her!
Charlie was a patient man. He was, really he was. But Hermione and Ginny had been in the bathroom for two hours now (possibly more – it was half past six, and he knew that they had arranged to meet at four) and he really needed a shower. Working with dragons all day was hard work, and he was sweaty and smelt of dragon dung. He wouldn't have minded waiting (although he had been back since five), but he was going out for a drink with his brothers that night, and they wouldn't appreciate him stinking to high heaven, but neither would they appreciate having to wait for him to get ready, before they could go out. He banged hard on the bathroom door.
"Are you ladies ever going to come out of there?" he asked, rather exasperatedly.
"Oh, yes, in a couple of hours," replied Ginny's voice.
"Yeah, but I need to take a shower," he called back.
"Well, you'll have to wait, won't you?" his sister replied. "We're getting ready to go out!"
"So am I! If you would actually let me, that is," he said, trying not to sound too petulant.
"We won't be too much longer, Charlie – we're leaving at quarter past seven," called Hermione's voice. "Anyway, where are you going?"
"I'm meeting up with Bill, Percy and George to have a drink or two," he said. "I just wanted to take a quick shower because I don't think they'd appreciate my smelling like I've been rolling in dragon dung all day." He mentally cursed himself. That wasn't exactly the image that he wanted Hermione to have of him . . .
He heard her laugh, then squeak slightly. "Ow, Ginny, that's my eyeball!"
"Well, if you would just keep still-"
"I'm trying to talk to Charlie-"
"Damn it, you moved again-"
"Ouch!"
"BUGGER IT!"
"That was your fault, but my eyeball, and it HURT! Don't do it again!"
"Is everything OK in there?" Charlie asked, amused.
"Yes!" Came Hermione's voice, at the same time as Ginny called "No!" He chuckled. "Look, just apparate to my flat, and use the shower there, 'cause if you stay here you'll distract Hermione, and I'm trying to do her make-up, and it isn't working because she keeps moving about to talk to you. And you won't shut up until you've had a shower, and you can't come in here, because we have a ball to get to! So, go use my flat," Ginny said.
"Thanks Gin," Charlie called back. "You know you love me really!" he finished, apparating away.
"Hey, Bill, how's things?" Charlie asked his older brother, opening the door of Hermione's flat to him, half an hour later.
"Things are pretty good, Charlie. How about you?" Bill replied, sitting down on the sofa.
"Oh, y'know. Good," Charlie replied. "What's it like having Fleur's little sister to stay at your place?" Bill groaned. "That bad, huh?"
"No . . . not really. I mean, she's a sweet kid, and all, but man! All they do is talk in French! And I mean, it's nice for Fleur, 'cause she gets to talk to someone in her native language and everything, but I can sit there for half an hour, during dinner or whatever, and not say a word, because I don't understand the conversation at all. And every time they laugh, I think they're laughing at me!" Bill finished, sounding slightly outraged.
"Aww, poor ickle Bill!" Charlie teased. "Not being able to understand things! Poor baby, such a shame!"
"Oh, shut up, Charlie," Bill replied, good-naturedly. "Else I shall be forced to hit you repeatedly over the head, with that rather hefty looking tome over there," he said, indicating a very thick book of Hermione's, entitled "House Elves through the ages, and their relationships with humans, with a foreword by Henrietta Hagglepuff".
"Now, really boys, is that any way to treat someone else's possessions?" Ginny asked, appearing from the bathroom. They both looked over at her. She was wearing her dress, which clung to her curves; a pair of super high gold heels; and her hair had been curled ever so slightly by Hermione, so it fell in waves down her back.
"Hey, Ginny! You look fantastic!" Charlie said.
"Yeah – nice dress, sis!" Bill added.
"Thanks," replied Ginny. "You think Harry'll like it?"
"If he knows what's good for him, he'll like it enough to make sure it stays on your body, where it belongs, if you get my drift," said Bill, slightly threateningly.
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Oh, for Merlin's sake, Bill! I'm a big girl now, I can take care of myself," she said.
"I know," Bill said mournfully. "You grew up too fast . . ." he sighed.
"Oh, shut up! You sound like Mum," Ginny laughed.
Bill gulped. "Now that's scary! I just want you to – Hermione! Another gorgeous lady! My, Harry and Ron are getting all the fun tonight!"
Hermione blushed. "Thanks Bill," she said, smiling. "Ginny, have you seen my black clutch?"
"Isn't it on the table? Oh yes – there it is, over there. Hey! Charlie!" Ginny turned her attention to her second eldest brother, who hadn't said a word, and snapped her fingers in his face. "Stop gawping at Hermione – it's not polite!" she teased.
Hermione blushed again, and the tips of Charlie's ears went red. "I wasn't gawping!" he protested.
"Much," added Bill. Charlie shot him a glare.
"You do look nice, though, Hermione," he said, looking back at her.
"Thank you, Charlie," she replied, looking at him, then quickly down at the floor.
There was a moment's awkward silence, before Ginny stepped in to help her friend. "So, Hermione," she began. "You said that you'd teach me at least one formal dance, so that I don't make a complete fool of myself?"
"Yes, of course," replied Hermione. "Hmm. I think we'll do the waltz, because that's a fairly simple one, and I think Harry knows it – when we had to go for dancing lessons for the Yule Ball, that was the only one he seemed to be able to do, so I should imagine that you'll find it pretty easy to pick up. Right. Just let me move the furniture back – excuse me, guys," she added to Bill and Charlie, as the sofa they were sitting on zoomed back against the far wall, along with most other objects in the room, with a mere flick of Hermione's wand. A large empty space appeared in the middle of the room.
"Now, watch me," she instructed. "You start in this position-" She struck a pose, and Ginny copied her. "Very good. Now the waltz is in three time, so you go back, side, together, back, side, together, repeating every three beats. You see?" Ginny nodded. "Right, do it with me. Back, side, together, back, side, together, back, two, three, back, two, three, one, two, three, one, two, three . . . that's very good – you've got it straight away!"
Ginny laughed, and kept waltzing around the space. "Well, if Harry can do it . . . can't be that hard, can it?" she joked.
Hermione laughed. "Now, you've got to learn how to hold your partner properly. You'd put your left hand on their . . . uh . . . right shoulder, and your right hand on their left arm." Ginny put her hands in the air, holding an imaginary partner in her arms.
"Allow me," Bill intervened, standing in front of Ginny, and putting her hands on his shoulder and arm. "Fleur made me learn for the wedding. That's right, isn't it?" he added to Hermione.
"Yeah, that's good," she waved her wand, and music emanated from it. "And . . . one, two, three! Back, side, together, back, side, together!" She stopped counting as Bill and Ginny both seemed to be doing fine without her. "Right, Ginny, you've got to let Bill lead you, 'cause he's the man. And Bill, stop looking at you're feet, they're not going to fall off. Steer her gently, don't hulk her around the dance floor. That's better. You've got to let him lead you Gin – I promise I'll hex him if he steers you into something painful. That's good! That's very good, you're both – oh!"
"May I?" Charlie asked, placing her hands on his shoulder and arm, and taking her in his arms the same way Bill was holding Ginny.
Hermione blushed. "Oh! I . . . why, I'd love to dance with you Mr. Weasley!" she said, with a dazzling smile.
"I can assure you, Miss Granger, the pleasure is all mine," he replied, imitating her lofty tone.
"You flatter me," she continued, "But, pray tell: can you actually dance the waltz?"
"Uh . . . no," he admitted, switching back to his normal tone of voice. "But I was kinda hoping you could teach me?" He raised his eyebrows hopefully.
"OK then," said Hermione. "It's very simple really; you just start on the opposite foot to me, and go forward instead of back. So, it's forward, side, together, forward, side, together . . . that's it!" They waltzed around the room together, Hermione's lower back tingling slightly where his hand was touching her. He held her close, and she enjoyed the smell of him – soapy and clean and something she couldn't quite put her finger on. Kind of woody, and outdoorsy, and . . . manly. He smelt nice.
For his part, Charlie was resisting the urge to stroke her incredibly soft-looking hair. She had straightened it, using a potion, and it appeared longer than usual, falling just below, instead of just above, her shoulders. Ginny had gathered half of it up at the back into a loose bun, and teased strands out of that, which she had let wave loosely. It could have just been the light, or she could have added a potion to her hair or something, but Charlie could have sworn her hair looked lighter than usual. It seemed to have a golden sheen to it – somewhere in the middle of red and blonde and brown. "Seen something interesting?" Hermione teased, noticing him staring at her head.
"I was just looking at your hair," he replied. "It looks very nice like that."
She smiled. "Thank you," she replied, neatly side-stepping Bill and Ginny. "Ginny'll be glad to know that you appreciate her handiwork."
"You look very beautiful, Hermione," he said softly, looking straight at her. She felt the familiar warmth of a blush rush to her cheeks, but this time the heat spread throughout her body, filling her with a sensation of immense pleasure. "Thank you, Charlie," she murmured, not breaking eye contact with him.
He continued to look deeply into her eyes, and they drew closer together; no longer dancing, but still holding each other. She didn't care that she had a boyfriend already. He didn't care that his big brother and little sister were in the same room, watching them. She wasn't thinking about Ginny's words – that a little flirting wouldn't hurt as long as it went no further than that. He knew nothing other than the fact that he wanted to kiss her desperately, and she felt the same. Neither cared for the consequences: they were both living firmly in the present.
She tilted her head slightly to the left; he inclined his to the right. Her lips parted slightly in anticipation, and he leaned down.
"Sweet Merlin, you guys have all the fun!" George burst into the flat. "Dancing around with such beautiful women – and you're even married, Bill! Honestly!" He shook his head in mock-disgust.
Hermione and Charlie sprang apart as quickly as if they'd been blasted apart by a jinx. They both reddened guiltily, although George, Bill and Ginny had not appeared to notice what was going on. They were laughing and joking together – something about Harry and Ginny's dress, and Ginny was threatening to hex George. Then Bill said something about Fleur and Gabrielle, and there was something about a Pygmy Puff thrown in as well, but Hermione didn't quite catch what. It was evidently funny though, because they were all laughing – even Charlie – so she laughed too, so that she wouldn't look weird. Only she did end up looking weird, because her laugh sounded fake and forced to her own ears, and Ginny and George both gave her a strange look. She didn't notice Charlie's ears reddening, or Bill glancing suspiciously at him over the top of her head.
Fortunately for her, Percy chose that moment to burst through the door, saying, "Oh, I'm sorry – I do hope I'm not late!" in his usual pompous manner as he did so.
"Nah, Perce – we couldn't possibly start the party without you!" Bill replied, seriously. It took Percy a moment or two to realise that he was being teased, but he laughed gamely along with everyone else when it dawned on him. The boys left soon afterwards, off to the Leaky Cauldron for a drink, leaving Hermione alone with Ginny.
She made a big show of gathering things to put in her clutch bag – tissues, lip gloss, a pair of flats that she had shrunk to fit in her bag, in case her heels became too painful – but Ginny wasn't fooled.
"Oi, missy!" she said, summoning the small black bag from her friend's hands, effectively removing her distraction. "What in Merlin's name is going on with you and Charlie?"
"Um . . . nothing?" Hermione said squeakily (although it sounded more like a question, than an answer), carefully rearranging the furniture to avoid looking at Ginny.
"Oh, please!" Ginny scoffed, helping her to move the coffee table. "If it was nothing, you'd be doing this-" she gestured to the furniture, half of which was back in its original place, whilst the other half was still pressed up against the walls, "-by magic, instead of by hand. You're avoiding looking me, and you've been wearing a perma-blush ever since Charlie asked you to dance. I thought you just said you flirted with him a bit, and that was it?"
"Oh, God, Ginny! I don't know what's going on!" Hermione wailed, collapsing in an armchair, and pressing her hands to her face, deciding that avoiding the subject would not help her any longer. "I'm so confused! I just nearly accidentally without meaning to kissed him!"
Ginny couldn't help but smile at the look of utter horror on her friend's face. "Nearly accidentally without meaning to kissed him?" she asked in amusement. "How do you do that?"
"I don't know!" said Hermione, wringing her hands. "I mean, it's just been normal this week – nothing has happened . . . and I don't think I even flirted with him. And then he asked me to dance, and I just thought yeah, why not? And then we were dancing, and he had his hand really low down on my back and it felt all tingly and nice and then he smelt really nice, you know? And then we were just kind of leaning into each other and then we . . . we would've kissed if George hadn't come in, and that's such a bad thing and it's also a really good thing, and oh, Merlin, I'm so CONFUSED!"
Ginny blinked. "Hermione. I won't pretend to have understood any of that, and I probably don't want to, as I have my suspicions that it was about how sexy my brother is, and I think I'll end up vomiting if that conversation goes on for too long, but!" She paused dramatically. "You can't mess around Charlie or Ron. You've chosen Ron, so you can't kiss Charlie. Understood?"
Hermione nodded. "Oh, God! I look like such a slut!" she sighed.
"No you don't, sweetie," Ginny patted her shoulder. "No one else noticed. And Charlie'll forget about it soon enough. Honestly – he should know better, as well! Don't go round blaming yourself entirely – it takes two to tango, and all that . . ."
Hermione sighed again. "Look, 'Mione, just forget about it for now. Go and have a nice time at the ball with Ron, and in future, don't mess either of them around. They're boys – they wouldn't be able to cope with all the emotions. They'd explode, or something," Ginny continued.
"Mmm," said Hermione. "Oh, I feel so bad now!"
"Don't," advised Ginny. "I'm not going to tell Ron, and hopefully Charlie will get so drunk on his night out that he'll forget about it, or at least think he dreamed it."
Hermione nodded. "Oh, and don't mess my brothers around, but if you do, and need someone to come and talk to, come see me. They'd survive it, but you wouldn't," Ginny added.
"Hey!" replied Hermione. " Thanks for the vote of confidence! What's that supposed to mean?"
"Look at yourself, Hermione," Ginny gestured towards her. "You're a mess and nothing's really going on. All you did was nearly kiss him, and you've worked yourself up about it so much. At least we know you'll never actually cheat on Ron." Hermione looked questioningly at her. "Well, you might, but you wouldn't survive afterwards. You'd be just too much of a disaster."
Hermione pulled a face. "Yeah, I guess," she replied. "Anyway, changing the subject entirely, we told Harry and Ron we'd meet them at quarter past, and it's half seven now. I think we've made them wait for long enough, don't you?"
"Well, we've effectively doubled their getting ready time," Ginny said.
"Huh?" asked Hermione.
"Come on," her friend replied. "You seriously think that they'd have started to get ready anytime before seven o'clock?"
Hermione laughed. "True," she said. "Come on. Let's go get 'em!"
"So. Bill. Boy or girl?" asked George, seriously, over their fourth – or was it fifth? – round of drinks.
"Well," said Bill, as if that was a story that would take some telling. "Fleur reckons it's a girl. But I say, look at our track record. One girl in seven generations. She's adamant, though. Every morning she tells me that we're going to have a girl, but come on. Not likely, is it?"
"You never know, though," said Percy. "I mean, what about Fleur's Veela genes? Are they supposed to have an effect?"
"The genes are only dominant if it's a girl," said Bill. "So if it's a boy, it'll have red hair, and if it's a girl, it'll have blonde hair, basically!" The others laughed. "But we don't really care what it is, as long as it's healthy and all. I know it's clichéd, and everyone says it, but it's true. We'll settle for either, as long as everything is OK."
"Thought of any names, yet?" asked Charlie.
"No first names, but if it's a girl, her middle name will be Gabrielle, and if it's a boy, his middle name will be Fred," Bill replied, looking at George. His brother's face became unreadable for a moment or two, then he gave a small smile.
"Does this mean that I can teach him how to pull really amazing pranks on you and Fleur?" he asked, hopefully.
"Yes, if you're prepared to face Fleur when she's angry," Bill replied, seriously.
"Better not then," said George hastily. "But seriously . . . I think that's a nice idea. Hah – I wonder how much Fred's ego would swell if he knew what you were planning?"
"It would probably grow exponentially, until it reached such huge proportions that it couldn't physically support itself anymore, and would then collapse in on itself" said Percy, to rather blank looks from the rest of his brothers. "To Fred!" he added, raising his glass.
"To Fred!" echoed his brothers, mimicking their brother's action.
They sat silently for a few moments, all thinking about Fred. "George?" asked Charlie, to break the awkward pause that had fallen.
"Yeah?" asked George, taking another mouthful of Firewiskey. "What is it?"
"What's all this about you and a certain young lady named Katie Bell?" Charlie asked innocently.
George said something that, had he repeated it in his mother's hearing, would have had him scrubbing at the inside of his mouth with a bar of soap for at least a week, if not a month. "George Weasley!" Bill exclaimed in mock horror. "Mum would NOT be impressed at your language!"
"Yeah, well wait 'til she learns who I heard it from. And how old I was when I heard it," he replied, looking pointedly at Bill.
"Ah, yes, well, that's another story for another time, isn't it?" Bill muttered.
"Yeah, never mind about that now, tell us about the ever-charming Ms. Bell," Charlie said.
"She's the blonde one, isn't she?" asked Percy. "Played Chaser on the Gryffindor team?"
"How do you know that?" asked Bill in astonishment.
"Well, she was at Hogwarts at the same time as me, just a few years below. She was the in the year below you, wasn't she?" Percy added, turning to George, who nodded.
"Hey fellas, I think George needs to be the one to tell this story," said Charlie, turning to his youngest brother present. "So, how did you end up going from team-mates to dating each other?"
"Well, it's kind of a long story," began George. "But it started about a year ago – actually, she ended up in my shop on the twenty third of September last year – not that I'm counting or anything!" he added hurriedly, as his brothers made various disbelieving sounds.
"Anyway, she'd just been let out of St. Mungos, and she'd just heard the news about Fred." There was a slight hitch in his voice as he said his twin's name, but other than that he carried on as normal. "She wanted to come and pay her respects and pass on her condolences and whatnot, and she'd brought some flowers and wanted to know where the grave was, so she could put them there," he said.
"Go on," urged Bill, as George paused to take a sip of his drink.
"So, anyway, I said I'd go with her, and we apparated to the grave and placed the flowers and everything, and I asked her how come she'd been in hospital for so long. And she said it was a long story, and I said, well, why don't we go and get a coffee, because we hadn't seen each other in ages, and also because it was raining buckets at the time," he continued.
"Your first date!" teased Charlie.
"Not exactly – at that stage I wasn't interested in her in that way . . . although I did notice that she had very big . . . uh, never mind about that," George said quickly, to his brother's amusement. "Anyway, we got to the coffee shop and she told me about how she'd happened to be in St. Mungos since the final battle. Apparently, she got hit by some kind of dark curse, and it sent her into a really deep coma-like state. She was like that for about a month and a half, and then one morning she woke up as normal," he said.
"And she was OK?" asked Percy.
"Well, once what had gone on had been explained to her, she seemed to be fine," replied George. "They were all set to keep her in for a couple of days observation, and let her go if she was OK – they figured that the Death Eater who had cast the curse had died, and the curse had been broken with his death or something, 'cause I'm sure you all remember things like that going on, with all the rouge Death Eaters being rounded up, and some dying during fights. But yeah, at first she seemed to be fine, then weird things began to happen to her."
"What kind of weird things?" asked Bill, curiously.
"Well, randomly, she'd start having these shaking attacks," said George. "For no apparent reason, every few hours or so, her legs and arms would start to jerk around uncontrollably, and she wouldn't be able to speak or anything. A few times she even stopped breathing, 'cause they affected something in her breathing system . . . I'm not quite sure how. None of the healers had ever seen anything like it – 'cause the problem was, it wouldn't go away. No spells or potions or anything seemed to work. So of course, there was no way they were going to let her out – especially with the stopping breathing thing," he continued.
The Weasley brothers gave exclamations of shock and sympathy, but none were any closer to seeing how this ended up with George dating her.
"Then, one day in early September, one of the healers came to her and said that she had found out about a muggle disease called Parkinson's, which I can't remember much about except that one of the main symptoms is excessive, uncontrollable shaking, and that the muggles have some medication that they can take – I'm not sure if it's to prevent or cure it, but it helps to control the shaking – and they tried it on her, and it seemed to work – she only gets the seizures now two or three times a week, which sounds a lot, but at one point it was every two or three hours," he said.
"But what does that have to do with you dating her?" asked Charlie.
"Well, she told me all of this in the café, but she also said that she was now out of a job, because she had planned on playing Quidditch – she actually had a space with the Harpies, like Ginny – but she couldn't now, because the shaking would come on unexpectedly, and she didn't want it happening in the middle of a match, with people looking at her whilst it happened – she's very sensitive about that. So I said, why don't you come and work at the shop for a bit, at least until you can get a proper job, and she accepted the offer," George continued.
"And you've been carrying on in the store cupboard ever since?" teased Bill.
"Like I said, not at first. I thought I was just friends with her . . . but in March I re-met Angelina Johnson – another ex-Hogwarts student – through Ginny, and I realised that I was actually just friends with Angelina, and not with Katie," he replied. "So, I went back to the store ready to ask her out, and found her flat out on the floor, not breathing."
His brothers looked horrified, and he grimaced, remembering. "I took her to St. Mungos, and they were able to fix her – she'd only been out for about thirty seconds before I got to her. But I sort of knew, then, that I wasn't going to be able to survive, if she died . . . not after Fred. So I asked her to marry me," he said.
"You're engaged?!" exclaimed all of his brothers.
"Well . . . kinda. She said yes, but she said that she wanted to wait. That it would be too soon, after everything that had gone on, so we should wait for a year or two," George replied.
"But you will end up getting married?" asked Percy.
"Oh yes," replied George. "I'd prefer to wait, too – I mean, we weren't even going out before, so we've kinda got to do that bit now . . . but we will get married at some point. We were talking about doing it at Christmas actually – Christmas next year, not the one in a couple of months," he added quickly.
"She still working at your shop?" Bill asked.
"No. She didn't like it that much, because she thought that people stared at her when she would shake . . . she's very sensitive about it. She's working as a reporter for the Daily Prophet now," he replied.
"And the most important question of all . . . when are we going to meet her?" Charlie asked.
"Well . . . she came with me to Mum and Dad's at the weekend," George said. "And Dad told me that he'd organised this thing for Mum's birthday - going out somewhere nice, or something – and that she should come, too."
"What thing?" asked Bill, confused.
"Dad's organising something – I'm not entirely sure what, but he said that he'd let us know soon – that's going to be a surprise for Mum for her birthday. A sort of extended family thing. Anyway, he said to bring Katie, so I'm going to. You can all meet her then," he replied.
"Quite a story, that," Charlie mused. "You know, you two getting together and all that. What about you, Perce? How did you and Penelope end up together?"
"It's not nearly as interesting a story as George and Katie's," answered Percy. "We dated at Hogwarts, and then we broke up and lost touch for a bit. Then she was moved into the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, with me, back in January. We would just say hello when we saw each other, and it kind of went on from there. We'd talk more and more, then we ended up dating again. Just seemed to fit, you know? We're going to buy a flat together, in the New Year," he finished.
The brothers discussed Percy and Penelope's relationship for a little while longer, then George asked, "So, Charlie. Bill and Fleur have got a baby on the way; Katie and I are getting married at some point, and Percy's moving in with Penelope. What about you?"
"Er . . . what about me?" Charlie replied, shifting uncomfortably in his seat.
"You got a woman? Back in Romania, or anything?" George asked.
"No!" said Charlie, at the exact same time as Bill said, "Oh, she's not in Romania!"
"Thanks, mate!" Charlie said, glaring at his brother.
"Charlie has a woman?" Percy asked.
Charlie groaned. "No, I don't," he said, firmly.
"But Bill just said-" began George.
"He doesn't exactly have her, though, that's the problem," Bill said, in a conspiratorial tone to his two other brothers. "He fancies her, but she's taken. He can't have her, and it's driving him mad."
"Does anyone want another drink? This rounds on me," Charlie interjected, trying to get his brothers' attentions away from Bill.
"Who is she?" Percy asked Bill, ignoring Charlie.
"Ah, now that I cannot tell you. But she's very pretty. And very taken," Bill said.
"She married?" asked George.
"No, she's not married. Or even engaged. But, I've met her boyfriend. There's a chance she might break up with him . . . but they seem to be fairly in love," Bill said, conversationally.
"Do we know her boyfriend?" asked Percy.
"Hmm . . . " said Bill, in the manner of one considering a question deeply. "I believe that you may have met him on a couple of occasions, yes." His two youngest brothers frowned in concentration, trying to work out who Charlie's mysterious woman's boyfriend could be, so that they could, in turn, work out the identity of Charlie's mysterious woman. They then spent a very pleasant forty-five minutes guessing – their ideas ranging from the rather ridiculous to the downright insulting, but fortunately never correct.
"So," said Ron, taking great care not to step on Hermione as they waltzed together. "Harry's spending the night at Ginny's flat."
"That's nice," Hermione replied.
"Yeah. So. Umm. Do you . . . you know, want to spend the night at mine?" Ron asked Hermione's feet.
Hermione considered this. Ron had been exceptionally nice to her tonight (in fact, he had been very sweet and apologetic towards her ever since he learnt about her concussion – she hadn't told him about Charlie looking after her, though – which he had caused, however inadvertently). He had complimented her many times on her dress, her shoes, her hair – everything. He had taken care to do things like pull out her chair when they sat down to eat – unnecessary things, but things that were sweet, and showed that he cared. He had even not stepped on her feet once when they danced together. All things considered, he had been the sweetest, cutest, most loving and most caring towards her since they had started going out.
So it was only logical progression that they should spend the night together . . . wasn't it? Especially as it wasn't like it would be the first time they had done so (it wasn't like she had slept with him many times, but she wasn't completely inexperienced). Charlie would just assume that she was spending the night at Ginny's. And even if he knew that she was with Ron, he wouldn't care. They – Hermione and Ron - had been together for over a year now, and they were both consenting adults. It wasn't like it was shocking, or anything. Maybe it would be if you had promised not to have sex outside of marriage, but somehow she doubted that Charlie had done that.
What the hell was she thinking about Charlie for?! It wasn't his business whom she slept with! She could sleep with every guy on the over-crowded dance floor if she wanted to, and he wouldn't have any say over it! (Not that she was going to, though. She was a good girl at heart.) But why was Charlie even in her mind?
Because she had accidentally nearly kissed him, earlier. And because it had tingled where Charlie touched her, when they were dancing earlier, and, whereas Ron's hands felt pleasant, they didn't give her tingles.
But Ron was her boyfriend. And she loved him, not Charlie. And Ron had been so sweet to her, these past few weeks. He had brought her lunch she could eat everyday the past week (except Tuesday, because she had had to nip out during her lunch break to pick up some books, and to drop off some letters at the post office in Diagon Alley. But he had been suitably disappointed when she had informed him of this). And Ron was –
"Or maybe not, then?" Ron asked, sounding a little disappointed. She realised she hadn't said anything in response to his question.
Fixing a dazzling smile on her face, she said, "No, no, I would love to come back to your place!" in a teasing voice. "Shall we get our cloaks?"
"I'll go and get them!" he responded, trying very hard not to sound overly-eager.
"Alright then – I'll just go and say good-bye to a few people," Hermione said, giving him a quick kiss on the lips, and turning away.
"Isabelle!" she exclaimed, a few moments later. Her friend dragged her out onto the dance floor, where a popular song by The Weird Sisters was now playing.
"'Allo, 'Ermione! 'Aving a nice evening?" her French friend asked, wiggling her hips sexily, and drawing many admiring glances from surrounding males.
"Oh, lovely, thanks! Listen, I can't stop – I'm going to go now, but I just wanted to say goodbye, and that your dress looks absolutely lovely, and that I'll see you on Monday, when you can tell me everything!"
"Everyzing?" enquired Isabelle.
"Everything," repeated Hermione, firmly. "Everything about that charming young man with whom you keep dancing. Who I happen to know is called Dean Thomas, and he lives in the same block of flats as me. We went to school together, too."
Isabelle blushed slightly. "Dean? Zhat is a story and a 'alf," she said, raising her eyebrows. Both girls giggled.
"Now, I really must go. I think I'm going to have my own stories to tell you on Monday," she winked. "Say bye to Coralie for me – and tell her I want to steal her shoes at the earliest possible opportunity – they're gorgeous!"
She danced her way over to the edges of the room, and soon Isabelle was no longer visible, as she was swallowed by the crowd. She waved to a couple of other friends, and spotted Ginny and Harry in the entrance, and made her way over to them. "Hey, Hermione," said Ginny. "Having fun?"
"It's been alright," replied Hermione. The ball had been a benefit dance, open to the trainees of the Ministry of Magic, with the funds raised going to help build a new wing at St. Mungos. They were an annual event, with a different cause to fundraise for each year, but this was the first Hermione had attended (though she had been with Ron and Harry to the Christmas dance last year, but that was a more informal event). "I've had a good time – what about you two?"
"Meh – it was good, as far as these things go," said Ginny. "It was nice to see all the old people I knew from Hogwarts. Although I could have lived without re-meeting Zacharius Smith, to be totally honest."
Harry and Hermione laughed. "Anyway, we're off home now," Harry said. "You seen Ron anywhere?"
"He went to get our cloaks a few minutes ago – I'd have thought he'd be back here by now, actually," replied Hermione. "We were heading home, too."
"Well, we might as well go and find him," said Ginny, and the three headed off in the direction of the rooms where everyone's cloaks had been stored. They chatted amicably about the venue (a nice, fairly old building on Diagon Alley, with a dance floor above the ground floor restaurant, which was a popular venue for wizards needing a large-ish space to have a party) and the food (which they all agreed had been delicious) and soon arrived at the small cloakroom.
It was completely dark, so all three of them lit their wands, and Harry opened the door. His eyes grew wide, and he promptly shut the door again. Ginny and Hermione looked at him weirdly. "What is it?" asked his fiancé. "Big spider in the doorway, or something?"
"N-no, not a spider," Harry stuttered. "I . . . um . . . you know what? I feel like dancing again! Come on, Gin, Hermione!"
Ginny gave Hermione a sweet-Merlin-he-has-gone-completely-mad look, and Hermione returned it. Ginny made enquiries as to the state of Harry's mental health, as Hermione opened the door once more.
"NO! Hermione, DON'T!" Harry yelled, but it was too late.
Hermione held up her wand, and saw Ron, his back to the wall, snogging a brunette girl with huge boobs. She let out a small noise, halfway between a squeak and a whimper, and Ron looked up. The girl continued kissing his cheeks, neck and shoulders, murmuring incoherently. "Hermione!" he yelped. "This isn't what it looks like, I swear!"
But the damage had been done.
Cue the start of possibly the longest A/N in history. You don't have to read it if you don't want to, K?
Firstly, Thank you very, very much to all of my reviewers. I know I've said it before, but you guys (and gals!) really do make my day, and I truly appreciate your feedback :)
Secondly, sorry about the wait – although I love to write, real life often gets in the way and I don't have time. I'll try not to make you wait as long for chapter seven (but I won't promise anything :S )
Thirdly, I pressed some buttons that I was previously unaware existed, and found out that 2 people have considered this worthy enough to put into C2 communities (it took me half a day to get over the shock!). However, much as I was flattered at this, they weren't people who had ever dropped me a review :( So, I would ask that in future, if anyone wants to add any of my fics to a C2, that they could review me, or at least send me a PM, telling me what they're adding to where, please? Just so I can keep track of what's where. Thank you.
Lordy. I told you it was long :S You didn't have to read it, is all I will say :P love you all x