A/N: This one's a little long - I apologize. Hope you still like it though.

Disclaimer: Still not mine, still not earning money with it...

Chapter Four - The Dinner

Hermione was still at the office when Harry and Ginny arrived. They had apparated to a dark alley near the apartment building and walked the rest of the way. Valerie had made them some tea and repeatedly glanced nervously at the old grandfather clock standing next a bookshelf. It was nearly, 7.30 p.m. Where the hell was Hermione? Harry followed her gaze and looked at that very same grandfather clock seeing something very different. The dials moved from "work" to "travelling". "She'll be home in no time," he said to calm down Valerie.
A minute later Hermione stormed through the door, "So sorry I'm late. The Minister wanted my consult on a case," she explained.
"It's okay. I haven't even started cooking yet," Valerie said, and as expected Harry offered his help. They both went into the kitchen, Valerie carefully closing the door "to keep the living room smell free".

Hermione sat down in one of the armchairs and Ginny stretched out on the couch. "Ouch. That really must have hurt," Hermione started the conversation pointing at a nasty bruise on Ginny's wrist.
"Nah, I can hardly feel it compared to the pain in my chest. I cracked three ribs at yesterday's game," Ginny said with a dismissive move of her healthy hand.
"Merlin Ginny, one day you're going to fall off that broom and break every bone in your body," Hermione said, nervously wringing her hands.
We've grown apart quite a bit, but I can stil see when she's nervous about something, Ginny thought to herself. "So, how's work. You seem very busy," said Ginny ignoring Hermione's nerves.
"Work is piling up now with the trials starting. I mean, not that we haven't been busy the last two years, but now that we're almost done with preparations the trials can actually begin. Unfortunately, the end of the wizarding war means the beginning of a paperwork war," Hermione tried to joke. What's wrong with you? she thought. Could you have made a more stupid joke about the war? Seriously Granger, get a grip and change the topic! But Hermione drew a blank and went with the first thought in her head, "Ginny, you don't have to answer if you're uncomfortable with it. After all, Harry is my best friend," Hermione scolded herself for her phrasing, recognising the hurt look on Ginny's face, "I know you and Harry had another fight last week. He tells me about them. I-I just...I guess, I'd like to hear you're version of it all."

The question took Ginny by surprise. The fights had started months ago. Everyone seemed to know about them, the whole Weasley clan at least, but they chose to ignore them or were dismissing them as a rough patch. Hermione was the first person to actually talk to her about it. "To be honest there is not much to say," Ginny started, "We've had some disagreements before. But this time there is no way to embellish it. It was a huge fight."
Hermione didn't say anything but waited for the redhead to continue her story.
"He wants me to quit Quidditch," the young witch blurted out.
"WHAT?" Hermione said a little too loud, "He said that? I mean, were those his words? I can't believe it."
"Yes, those words are his. He says it's drawing too much attention to us again. Now that the whole celebrity thing has died down. He even said I was doing it on purpose to anger him."
"I can't believe the nerve of that man! You love Quidditch, it's your life! How can he ask you to give that up?" Hermione had talked herself into a complete rage and forgotten her promise to try and confess her love for Ginny. Instead she jumped up from the couch and stomped in the direction of the kitchen door. Just when she was about to open the door, she felt a hand on her arm, holding her back, "Please don't," Ginny quietly said, "I know you want to go in there and give Harry a piece of your mind, but I'm asking you not to. I've decided to leave him. I already talked to the coach, she said I could move into team quarters for as long as I like it there. He doesn't know yet. I didn't want to ruin his big announcement. He said he had to tell us all something."
Hermione looked at Ginny dumbfounded. She dearly hoped her face wouldn't give away how happy she was at the prospect of Ginny being single again soon. Harry was her best friend, but right now she was too angry with him to let that count.

"If you ever need someone to talk to or a place to stay, you don't even have to ask. You're always welcome here," Hermione graciously offered, not completely without ulterior motives, "Just remember to come in through the door," she added.
Ginny nodded and hugged Hermione, if only briefly. They had just rebuilt a bit of their friendship and she clearly didn't want to push her luck too much.

"You know I will kick him out at your will. Just say the word. I'm so mad at him right now. All the time when he talked about your fights he would not give a reason, saying that it was too private and that you surely didn't want him airing out your dirty laundry," Hermione was still fumimg. Ginny hugged her again, this time a little bit longer, "You really don't have to do that. I want to hear Harry's announcement. I still care about him. I just realized that we are not good for each other in a relationship. Thank you for your offer of a place to stay though. I might take you up on that if I get fed up with team quarters. There is a reason why they are for the visiting team." said Ginny, squeezing Hermione's hand reassuringly. The sudden displays of affection made Hermione's face turn gradually redder. She decided that now was definitely not the time to be brave and confess any love for anyone and swallowed the words she had prepared for Ginny. "Come on, let's see if they need help in the kitchen." Hermione said instead.

"We're almost ready," said Valerie with a look on her face that only one person in the kitchen knew how to read. Hermione motioned for Ginny to sit down while she set the table. Harry sat down next to Ginny. Valerie plated the food and Hermione helped her carry it to the table.
"Enjoy, everyone!" said Valerie and shot Hermione another look trying to find out if she had gone through with the plan. Hermione shook her head no for only her flat mate to see, who in return gave her a questioning look. Hermione ignored it and started the conversation, "So, Harry what is your big announcement?"

Harry took a deep breath and proudly announced, "Robards is stepping down and I'm to be head of department!"
Valerie squealed with delight, "That's great, Harry! I understand if you can't go into detail, but Head of Department surely sounds like quite a feat!" When they first met, Harry had told her that his job was top secret and that he really coudn't talk about it. Valerie sort of drew her own conclusions from that, believing he was in MI6 or something. He could not very well tell her he was quite the successful Auror.

Ginny smiled politely, she was happy for Harry but preoccupied and Hermione was still too angry to be properly happy for him. She tried to disguise her anger with a smile but failed miserably.
They finished their dinner. Hermione and Ginny relied heavily on Valerie to keep the conversation going. It was practical she didn't know what their earlier talk was about. When they were done eating Harry couldn't bear it anymore. He had noticed Hermione's sour expression every time she looked at him, "Hermione, can I talk to you for a second. In private." They excused themselves and disappeared into Hermione's room.

"What's up with you today?" he snapped without warning.
"What do you mean, Harry? Everything is fine," she tried to play dumb.
"Don't insult my intelligence, Hermione! I know something is up. You smile warmly at Ginny and have fun with Val but every time you turn your head in my direction I get the glare of death!" Harry grew impatient.
"I can't really talk about it Harry. I promised." Hermione said.
"It was Ginny, right? She told you about our fight, is that it?" Harry's impatience grew.
"Yes. She did. And for the record I was prepared to take your side on this whole issue, but now that I know what really happened I won't anymore." Hermione answered.
"What's so wrong about wanting Ginny to stop drawing more attention to us?" Harry sounded clueless.
"What's so wrong? Are you seriously asking me that? You have to be kidding, Harry! It's what she does, you git! Her job is her life, it's all she ever wanted to be and you tell her to stop?" Hermione spat.
"She just enjoys the attention she gets a little too much." Harry knew he was fighting a losing battle but wasn't ready to give in to his best friend.
But that did it for her. Hermione lost it completely and yelled at Harry loud enough for the whole building to hear, "You're an idiot, Harry! Ginny's love and affection are the best thing that could ever happen to you, or anyone for that matter, but you stomp on it with your feet. You should crawl on your knees thanking that wonderful woman for being with you every day. God knows, I would. I know you guys have hit a rough spot a while ago, but you can take full credit for the failure of this relationship. I thought you were being respectful, not wanting to "air Ginny's dirty laundry", not even to me, but you were just covering your tracks. You lied to me, Harry, and you can start guessing how disappointed I am in you." Hermione stopped yelling, a bit exhausted by her outburst. She knew she had somewhat overreacted but it had been gnawing at her that Ginny was with Harry and not her and now all the frustration wanted out. Harry stood in front of her completely deflated.
"I need to leave now. Tell Valerie I'm sorry, the food was delicious." he said meekly. He left Hermione alone in her room and took off.

The witch sat down on her bed and scolded herself for losing her temper. She had wanted to stick to Ginny's plan of not saying anything and just celebrating his promotion, but she couldn't help being mad at him. And he'd started the conversation, she told herself.
Hermione was pulled from her thoughts by a knock on the door frame. She looked up and saw Ginny standing in the open door.

"I couldn't help but hear what you said and I wanted to thank you for defending me," she smiled. Ginny walked over, grabbed Hermione's office char and sat down in front of the bed facing Hermione.
Hermione looked into Ginny's hazel eyes and a familiar warmth spread through her body. She knew she couldn't wait any longer.
"Ginny, I accused Harry of lying to me, while not being completely honest myself," she started.
Ginny looked confused, "What do you mean?"
Hermione took a deep breath and said, "I don't really know how to say it without sounding stupid...I sort of like you." Hermione didn't go on, she stared at her hands to avoid Ginny's gaze.
"You like me? You mean, you fancy me? How long, Hermione?" Ginny asked.
Hermione lifted her head and got lost in Ginny's eyes again.
"Two years." she admitted sheepishly.
Ginny nodded and came over to sit next to Hermione on the bed, "Remember your birthday last year, the party that Mum organized at the Burrow?"
Hermione nodded and said, "You didn't score a single goal in that Quidditch game." And what did that have to do with anything?
Ginny smiled, "Yes, and do you know why that was?"
Hermione shook her head, confused.
"You. I was so busy looking at you sitting in the grass reading a book that I didn't know where the Quaffle was half the time. The sun caught your hair and it had that golden shimmer to it. And you were completely immersed in that book Harry had given you. I had never seen anything more beautiful than the sight of you. And it hit me right there and then that I didn't see you as the best friend I had grown apart from but something more than that," Ginny explained and seemed to get more nervous with every word.
Hermione could hardly breathe and her heart was pounding so loud, she had difficulties following Ginny's words.
"Why did you not say anything?" she managed to say.
"I was afraid. I was already missing my best friend like hell and I really didn't want to jeopardize this already frail friendship with something I couldn't even put my finger on at the time. And the more time I let pass the worse it got. I couldn't talk to you without getting nervous. I was afraid you might catch on and freak out. I mean, I never thought you were a homophobe or anything, but I really had no idea how you would react if I told you that I liked you."
"So we were both afraid to say anything, and consequently let our friendship deteriorate for fear of the other one finding out about our feelings for each other?" Hermione asked.
"Seems like a really stupid thing now, doesn't it?" Ginny laughed.
Ginny took Hermione's hands into her own. "You can relax now, Hermione. It's out in the open."
"Yes, but do you...I mean...are you still..." Hermione stammered and inwardly scolded herself for her incapability to form a coherent sentence.
"Oh, yes. Yes! Definitely. In fact, I don't agree with your little outburst before, it's not entirely Harry's fault that we never really recovered from our rough patch. If I didn't have these feeling for you...," Ginny said and immediately regretted her wording, when she saw Hermione's guilty face.
"Please don't feel responsible. You didn't even do anything! You were nothing but wonderful and that sort of contributed to Harry and me fighting. I was trying to push away any thought of you and was so preoccupied doing that, that I spent no quality time with Harry anymore. My heart hasn't been in it for a while now." Ginny squeezed Hermione's hand, sending waves of warmth through her body.

"What do we do now?" Hermione asked the obvious.
Ginny kept silent and insecurely bit her lower lip before drawing Hermione's head closer with both her hands. She closed her eyes and put her lips on Hermione's.
She enjoyed every second of it. She felt Ginny's fingers entangled in her hair and her lips tasted sweet against her own. When Ginny retreated, Hermione kept her eyes shut.
"It's okay, you can open your eyes. I won't go away," Ginny smiled.
"I'm afraid this is just another dream and I'll wake up when I open my eyes," Hermione grimaced, her eyes still shut tightly.
Ginny leaned in for another kiss and then whispered, "I promise it's not a dream."
Hermione finally opened her eyes and caught Ginny's gaze. They both smiled at each other.
"Finally," Valerie said, standing in the door way.

The two witches turned their heads and blushed. Hermione found a pillow and half-heartily threw it at Valerie feigning indignation. "I imagine you have a lot to talk about. I'll be in my room if you need me. For anything, really," Valerie added with her trademark mischievous grin.
All three of them laughed, relieved that the tension was gone while Valerie left the room throwing back the pillow.

"She doesn't really mean it, right?" Ginny inquired playfully.
Hermione snickered, "To be honest you never know with her, but I don't think so." And then getting a bit more serious again, "She is right though, we have a quite a bit to talk about."
"Do you want to give this a try?" Ginny asked bluntly.
"Yes," said Hermione a little bit too quickly. She knew she wanted nothing more than to give this a fair chance. Surprised by the quick answer Ginny said, "You've given this quite a bit of thought, haven't you?"
Hermione nodded. All of a sudden Ginny got up and started pacing the room. Hermione followed her with her eyes. She looked cute, when she was all worked up. "I will apparate over to Harry's and break up with him today. I hadn't planned on doing it until tomorrow or the day after, but the time is as good as any," she plotted.
"And then you'll come straight back here and we talk some more?" Hermione added hopefully.
Ginny nodded, "Be right back, love." She planted a shy kiss on Hermione's lips and disapparated before Hermione could react. Feeling a bit alone in her room and still tasting Ginny's lips on her own, she went to the kitchen and quickly magicked herself some hot cocoa. She smiled foolishly to herself carried her cup back to her bedroom to wait for Ginny. She figured it might take a while for her to return and found herself a book to read. Ginny and Harry probably had quite a bit to talk about too, after almost 4 years together.

But, as soon as Hermione had found the right page in her book, she heard a silent crack. That was fast, she thought and then saw the grim expression on Ginny's face.
"What's wrong? What did he do now?" Hermione assumed they had another fight.
Ginny just shook her head, sat down on the bed and handed Hermione a piece of parchment.
It was a letter from Harry.

My dearest Ginny,

I wanted to be here, when you returned from Hermione's. I guess, you were able to hear just about everything we said. There is a lot to talk about and a lot of work ahead of us, of me, really. I wish I was here to tell you this in person but the Ministry called me in for an emergency. I hope to be back by Sunday and woul'd love to spend my day with you at the Burrow. I always feel the world is okay when we attend those Sunday family gatherings.
I'm truly sorry if I gave you the feeling that I take you for granted and and I'm even more sorry if you feel underappreciated. There was a lot of truth in Hermione's words.
I'm not giving up on this, on us. I will work for your love and I will make things better. I promise.

Love always,
Harry

Hermione handed the letter back to Ginny. Great. Now that everything had seemed like Lady Luck was swinging her way it was all going down the drain again. She didn't stand a chance against a big romantic sap like Harry. And she didn't want to be competing against her best friend anyway. She wanted to be with Ginny, that was all she really cared about.
"Will you let me in on your thoughts?" Ginny said gently touching Hermione's shoulder.
"Honestly? I don't know what to do. All I want is to be with you and find out where this would go. I believe we could be great together, but Harry's letter is discouraging. He loves you and really wants to fight for you. I fear that he might succeed and I'll be stuck by myself again." Hermione confessed.

Ginny listened intently and finally said, "Hermione, I'm willing to give this a chance. For me that means commitment and loyalty. Harry can shower me with roses and carry me everywhere on his hands and I'll still be with you and only you - if we both agree to give this a chance."
"Mostly I'm afraid of what might happen if we don't make it. It was hard enough not being able to be with you, knowing I can never have you. But now that there is a chance of that I'm afraid of losing you losing your friendship too," Hermione said quietly.

"That will not happen. I say we try this. We have both waited for so long it would be sacrilegious to just let it slip away. I'm committed if you are. And should we discover along the way that we don't work out as a couple, I vow to you here and now, that I will never let our friendship suffer because of it. Never again." Ginny said, lifting her left hand and placing it on her heart. The dramatic gesture made Hermione laugh and she realised that it had been quite a while since she'd felt like laughing.
"What about Harry though?" Hermione interjected her own laughter, "He won't be back until Sunday. It will be the hardest week I've ever had. Knowing we both want this, while all the time I know it's not possible because you're still officially with Harry," she added a bit frustrated.
"Hermione, I'm not a cheater but I've not really been in this relationship for a while now. Like I said, it's not entirely Harry's fault that we didn't work out. I'll break up with him on Sunday but I don't see the harm in taking you out on a date in the meantime," Ginny tried to persuade Hermione.
Hermione raised one eyebrow, "You want to take me out on a date? A proper date?" Hermione's thoughts started racing, she hadn't been on a date in forever, at least not on a date that she wanted to turn out well. I don't even have anything to wear, she thought to herself.
"Don't panic! "said Ginny, suspecting what sort of thoughts might be causing Hermione's expression, "I thought I'd take you out to dinner. Maybe to a Muggle restaurant to avoid Rita Skeeter and her minions. What do you think about that?"
"I'd love that." Hermione beamed with joy.
"I'll pick you up on Friday after work. Wear something fancy!"
Friday, Hermione thought, are you trying to kill me? That's 5 days! I will have gone mad until then!