Chapter 14

Nearly six weeks had passed since Ginny and Demelza first got together, and ever since, the two had been inseparable, even more so than they were before. That is, except for the bi-weekly studying sessions that Ginny made sure to get in with Hermione. Two evenings a week after dinner, the two would meet up in the library and study together. Not much talking was done, but Ginny of course enjoyed being in Hermione's comforting and easy company, and it allowed her to actually get some studying and schoolwork done. Curiously enough, any studying she did with Demelza didn't seem to be particularly efficient.

Ginny was walking back to the Gryffindor Common Room with Hermione after one of their studying sessions late in October when they came across a notice:

Triwizard Tournament Welcome Feast

The Great Hall

October 30th, 6:00 pm

The two read the notice, then looked at each other. Ginny felt as though the peace and happiness she'd experienced over the past six weeks may be at risk of disappearing once Juliette arrived with the Beauxbatons. She didn't know why she felt so uneasy about the girl, she just knew that there was something about her that didn't feel quite right.

Hermione nudged her gently, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah…"

"Ginny, she might not even be coming. Maybe she's off doing some special training for Quidditch somewhere? You never know, don't worry about it until you know for sure that she's here, okay?"

"Yeah… Okay Hermione. Thanks." Ginny offered Hermione a small smile and Hermione returned it as they started walking again.

Once they arrived at the portrait hole, Ginny motioned for Hermione to go through first, as she always did, and once she stepped through, she saw that Demelza and Ron were in a heated game of Wizard's Chess. This made her smile, as she did appreciate the effort the two of them were going through to get to know one another. At first, Ron was a bit protective of Ginny regarding her relationship with Demelza, but once Ginny laid into him about it and reminded him that she didn't need any protection, he backed off quite a bit. They had bonded over their love of Quidditch initially, but once Ron realized that Demelza was above average at Wizard's Chess, they really hit it off. Harry seemed to appreciate this as well, as it gave Ron someone else to play with which meant he didn't have to continue getting steamrolled by Ron every time the Weasley wanted to play.

"Checkmate!" Demelza declared proudly. Ron stared blankly at the board, then begrudgingly offered his hand to Demelza to concede defeat.

"Congrats… Well played, well played," he stated a bit glumly.

"Thanks!" Demelza beamed. "Same time next week?"

"Sure, sure…"

"Oh, come on mate, you can't win them all!" Harry clapped Ron on the back and they headed upstairs to their dormitory. Demelza had almost completely cleaned up the chess board before she spotted Ginny watching her from the portrait hole.

"Hey there! Did you see me beat Ron? First time for everything I suppose!" the girl grinned at Ginny, clearly proud of her victory over the older boy.

"I did see that, congrats! I honestly don't remember the last time I witnessed Ron lose to someone in Wizard's Chess, I'm very impressed." Ginny had made her way across the common room to where her girlfriend was standing and gave her a brief kiss before helping her clean up the rest of the chess board. Once they'd put it away, they headed upstairs to their dormitory.

"So… I heard that the Beauxbatons and Durmstrangs are arriving in a few days. How are you feeling about that?" Demelza asked as she got ready for bed.

"Yeah, I saw the notice tonight… I'm nervous about it for sure, seeing Juliette again. She definitely didn't make me feel good the last time I saw her. I guess it doesn't matter though, I don't necessarily have to interact with her if she does in fact show up. Hermione said there's no reason to get worked up before I even know that she's here."

"That's a really good point. She might not even show up. And you're right, if she is here, you don't have to interact with her if you don't want to. Although, I am a bit interested in seeing this girl, based on how you described her…" Demelza shot a sly look Ginny's way. "I believe the phrase you used was 'the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen'?"

"I said one of the most beautiful girls I'd ever seen…" Ginny said as she rounded on Demelza, closing the gap between the two and wrapping her arms around her girlfriend.

"And who would another one of those beautiful girls be, then?" Demelza asked, lifting her eyebrows knowingly.

"Hmmm… It might just be someone I know… Who has the most beautiful light grey eyes… And the softest, sweetest lips… And…" Ginny pressed her lips to Demelza's briefly before resting her forehead on Demelza's. "And might just be the best Wizard's Chess player in Gryffindor, at least for tonight." The two girls smiled at each other before kissing again, this time a bit more passionately, before breaking apart. They had been making sure to keep things moving relatively slow, despite kissing on the very first day they got together. They didn't want to rush things, and Ginny was appreciative that Demelza was on the same page for that.

The girls each got into their respective beds as the rest of their dormmates came in and began getting ready for bed. Ginny locked eyes with Demelza and mouthed "Goodnight", a ritual they did every night before they fell asleep. Demelza grinned and mouthed it back before rolling over. Ginny rolled over as well, and her thoughts began to run. Hopefully both Hermione and Demelza are right and Juliette doesn't even show… Why is this such a big deal? Because she called me "little"? Because she told me how to become a better Quidditch player? I had less of an issue with that than Hermione did, that's not it. Speaking of Hermione, I wonder how she's feeling about Juliette? There was something weird between them last time… Maybe Hermione just wasn't good at concealing her negative feelings for the girl. Is that why she makes you uneasy, because she got under Hermione's skin? Why would that affect you? Regardless, hopefully she just doesn't show up, then none of this will matter… And with that, Ginny drifted off to sleep.

Hermione POV

The past six weeks had been nothing short of difficult for Hermione, but she also felt that they were necessary. The evening before her 15th birthday, Hermione had pushed Ginny directly into Demelza's arms, and it worked. Since that night, the two had been inseparable, and Hermione found that to be incredibly painful. While that was her plan all along, and Hermione was hoping that seeing Ginny with someone else would help her move on, or at least break her heart quickly and snap her out of her feelings for the redhead, the process was being drawn out much longer than Hermione had anticipated. Even six weeks in, seeing the two girls together still stung immensely, and Hermione was left wondering when the pain would stop.

As she and Ginny were coming back from one of their studying sessions (Hermione had allowed herself to study with the girl twice a week to help keep the younger girl's marks up and to continue working on maintaining their friendship), Hermione climbed through the portrait hole into the Gryffindor Common Room to find one of her best friends playing Wizard's Chess with Demelza. Hermione worked very hard to not let any emotion show on her face, and headed immediately upstairs to her dormitory. She understood that her feelings of frustration with Ron were invalid as she'd never let on that she didn't like Demelza, nor did she really have any good reason to dislike the girl. The whole situation was just proving to be very… Difficult… For Hermione. It will be worth it if you can get over these feelings. There is a reason you're doing this, it will be worth it if you can get over her. Hermione reminded herself as she entered her dormitory.

"Did you see Ron is down there playing Wizard's Chess with Demelza again?" Lavender asked, clearly annoyed.

"Yes, I did," Hermione answered calmly.

"Well, she's just moving through all of them, isn't she?" Lavender's voice became more shrill as she became more elevated by the situation.

"Lavender, I don't think that Demelza is interested in Ron. I believe she is very much in a relationship with Ginny. Why wouldn't she want to spend time getting to know her girlfriend's brother?" Hermione rationalized, trying to keep her voice even.

"She's monopolizing the Weasleys!" Lavender nearly shrieked.

"Lavender, don't be ridiculous! Demelza is very clearly only into Ginny, and they seem perfectly content to be with each other! If you want to be with Ron, then pluck up the courage and go ask him out! Whining to me about it isn't going to help!" Hermione lost her patience, as this was not the first instance in which she'd had to talk Lavender off the ledge about an already uncomfortable topic.

Lavender stared at the girl with wide, hurt eyes, "Well, excuse me for wanting to talk about my feelings. It's a perfectly normal thing for teenage girls to do. We're not all as emotionless as you are, Hermione."

Hermione raised her eyebrows at Lavender, trying to show that she was unscathed by the comment, then turned her back on the girl to get ready for bed. She could feel her heart aching in her chest, and she hoped that it wouldn't work her way up into her throat and eyes, as she didn't want to show any weakness to Lavender. It was far too big of a risk of possibly revealing her secret if she was unable to keep her emotions in check. As she climbed into her four-poster bed, she apologized to Lavender for being insensitive, and closed the curtains tight. To push her thoughts away from the Ginny situation, she focused on the notice that she saw this evening about the other schools arriving for the Triwizard Tournament.

There's no way that Juliette doesn't show up, right? Maybe she really will be off on some special Quidditch training assignment for the French National Team? Maybe she doesn't care much about school? She doesn't exactly seem like someone who would be into the whole "school spirit" thing, maybe she really won't be here? Even as she tried to rationalize to herself that Juliette wouldn't be at Hogwarts in a matter of days, Hermione knew deep down that she was wrong, and that the beautiful French girl would be there soon. Beautiful French girl? Hermione furrowed her brow aggressively at this. Since when did I think of her that way? No, it doesn't matter how she looks, it matters how she treated you, and how she treated Ginny… Ginny… Hermione squeezed her eyes shut and covered her face with her hands. Hermione, stop thinking about her. Just stop… She eventually fought her way to sleep.