Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter no matter how much money I offered

One of the Guys

Chapter Ten

Lavender the masseuse (Edit 12/18/09)

Ginny and Neville had been sitting in the commons room watching the whole affair with Seamus. The two of them were finding it hard to hide their smiles.

"He sure is a strange fellow, isn't he?" Ginny asked. Neville only nodded.

Ginny was sitting next to Neville on a plush couch with his arm wrapped around her shoulder. She didn't pay mind to it much but something was nagging at her mind and she couldn't quite place it.

"How was your day," he asked.

Ginny didn't answer. The nagging had to be because of Neville. Her and Hermione's friendship was just the same as ever and she really never really let anyone else's emotions or actions get to her. But now that she was with Neville, she noticed that his behavior was starting to become…off.

She at first tried not to wrap her brain around it, but now it was very distinct in his behavior. At first he was all jealous, and truthfully Ginny didn't like that. She in fact hated when a guy became possessive but in retrospect maybe she was shoving her friendship with the 'now-male' Hermione in his face. After that, it was as thought he gave up. He simply stopped following her and Hermione around and always had this 'kicked' puppy look on his face.

"Neville?" She asked.

He looked at her and was surprised when she stood up from the couch and sat on his lap. She was light as anything but very warm. He squirmed beneath her.

"Ginny what are you doing?" He asked surprised. He jumped up and she fell to the floor with an ungraceful thud. "Oh my gosh. I'm so sorry." He bent over to help her stand.

"Neville, the trick is: when a girl sits on your lap, you don't stand up," a laughing voice said from behind.

Both Ginny and Neville turned their heads to see Lavender smiling at them. She had just come from the girl's dorm, where hours earlier she and Evie had run up to when Ron left for his date. Her brown hair was over her shoulder and in her arms she held their egg, Charles. Neville smiled and blushed, embarrassed, at her.

Ginny was fully standing now and saw a look of understanding pass between the two seventh-years. She knew they were working on a project together but why did they have to share looks? Girlfriends and boyfriends shared looks and sometimes really good friends but she highly doubted that Neville and Lavender were 'really' good friends.

Ginny cleared her throat and both Neville and Lavender smiled at her.

"I should go," Lavender said still smiling. Ginny only gave a stiff nod. "I see Matt over there all by himself, a first in days…so, um, bye."

With that Lavender almost ran to Hermione's side. 'Poor Hermione' Ginny thought but was also not ashamed to admit 'better Hermione than Neville she's slobbering over.'

"So…uh…You two are friends?" Ginny asked uncomfortably.

"Yeah we're partners-" Neville said.

'What!' Ginny's inner dialog squealed indignantly.

"-In care of Magical Creatures Class," he finished.

Ginny sighed inside, 'Stop jumping to conclusions! Now who's jealous?'

"Oh just shut up!" She snapped at herself forgetting that she had spoken aloud.

"What? I-I didn't say anything," Neville said nervously.

Hermione's head popped out from the book she was reading. She had just felt the weight shift on the couch she was sitting on. Her first thought was it was Seamus returning from where ever but looking up she saw it was Lavender brown. Inside she groaned.

For the past few days Lavender and Parvati…well, basically every girl in school had been chasing and flashing seductive smiles at her. Hermione briefly wondered what the girls would say if they discovered their precious 'Mathieu' was none other than Hermione Granger in disguise.

Lavender wasn't that bad, though. She wasn't nearly as giggly as Parvati but she did tend to think she had one-over the other girls because of the Malfoy incident the other day.

"Hey, Matty," She giggled. "What are ya' reading?" She asked pulling her knees to her chin and starring at Hermione with big, round eyes.

"A book," She was in no mood for the flirty girls, not that she ever was.

"I'm bored," Lavender said in what she hoped was a flirty voice. Hermione have been roommates with her for years so she knew Lavender wasn't like this on a regular basis. "Can you read it to me?" She continued in her baby voice.

"Why don't you go find Evie," Hermione suggested.

"She's boring, not like you. You're really interesting."

'I doubt that,' Hermione thought. Half the school did ignore her normally.

"Do you want to go for a walk?" Lavender asked.

"No, I'm busy." Hermione raised the book she had been reading.

"Come on. We can talk and get to know each other. We'll have fun."

"No, I'm good...sitting right here and reading my book."

"Please-"

"No!"

Lavender gave her a scandalized look but quickly wiped it off her face. "You're just too tense." Suddenly her eyes sparkled and she slid her body closer to Hermione. "I have the perfect remedy for you." She placed her hands on Hermione's shoulders and began to give her a massage.

At first Hermione couldn't deny it felt good but suddenly her senses cane back and she practically flew from the couch.

"What's going on?" Another female voice asked.

Lavender and Hermione looked up to see Evie standing there with a curious look on her face.

"A whole lot of nothing," Hermione heard Lavender mumble to herself.

'Damn straight!' Hermione thought. Lavender picked up her egg from the floor and ran back to her dorm. Evie watched her go than turned back to Hermione and smiled.

Hermione couldn't help but smile back at her.

Harry couldn't help but smile at the adorable look on Mathieu's face right before Lavender ran off. He could actually understand for once why all the girls were head over heals in love with the French student. He was, when he wanted to be, very charming.

He jumped onto the couch next to Mathieu. "What was that about?" he asked.

"With Lavender?" Matt asked. "She just wanted to go for a walk.

'What a player,' Harry thought. "From what I could see she looked like she wanted all more then that," he joked.

Matt scowled but then his face contorted into a loose smile. "These chicks…" he said uncomfortably, Harry could tell, "They're crazy."

'And yet you don't look seem interested,' Harry thought.

Harry continued the conversation by teasing the other boy a little more before asking what he thought of Hogwarts. They switched from topics but not uncomfortably. In fact, Harry was proud to see that he and Matt had broke the ice and the other boy wasn't as snobby as he first thought.

Actually he was quite nice.

Next: Harry starts to get feelings for Hermione while Ron becomes quidditch captain.