Chapter 10

"Oh now… This is an easy one… Gryffindor!" announced the Sorting Hat to the Great Hall. The Gryffindor table erupted into applause as they welcomed the newest Gryffindor, Dennis Creevey. Dennis came to sit at the end of the table and leaned forward to look down the table and wave to his older brother.

"Way to go, Dennis! Cheers!" Colin praised his younger brother from the middle of the table and raised a goblet of pumpkin juice at him. Ginny was sitting with Colin, Ritchie and Demelza, and was happily clapping along with the rest of the table as Dennis was embraced by the rest of the Gryffindors. The sorting continued on until all first years had found their proper house and had joined their respective tables. Professor Dumbledore then started in with his start-of-term notices. Ginny listened sporadically as she and her friends dug in to the feast, but snapped her head up at the mention of Quidditch.

"…and Quidditch, sadly, will not take place during this school year."

"WHAT? THAT'S RUBBISH!" roared the Weasley twins in unison. Angry yells were scattered throughout the Great Hall, and Ginny as well echoed the frustration at the cancellation of the season.

"Quiet… Quiet…" Professor Dumbledore calmly waited for the shouts of opposition to subside.

"In its place will be a special event… The Triwizard Tournament." Silence filled the Great Hall at this announcement. Professor Dumbledore continued, "We will be hosting two schools who we will be competing against… The Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and the Durmstrang Institute." Ginny whipped around to shoot a stunned look at Hermione who was sitting further down the table with Ron and Harry. Hermione's face indicated that she was just as shocked at the news, but she did not make eye contact with Ginny. "We will be gracious hosts, and represent Hogwarts to the best of our abilities. I know I can count on all of you to succeed at both." Professor Dumbledore smiled kindly as he looked around the Great Hall. "Now, off to bed!"

The tables of students all slowly dispersed and moved towards their respective common rooms. Ginny got up quickly, trying to catch up to Hermione, who was ahead of her.

"Hermione!" Ginny called out as she tried to make her way through the crowds of students. Hermione continued walking, but Ginny managed to catch up with her.

"Hermione… Juliette is going to be here…"

"I'm sure she will be, Ginny." Hermione responded curtly. Ginny gave her a look of confusion as she felt the tone she received was a little unwarranted.

"Uh, is there a problem?" Ginny questioned genuinely.

"It was a little rude of you to just leave us in the compartment like that." Hermione snapped.

"Hang on, you're mad at me because I went to sit with other people on the train?"

"I'm not mad at you Ginny. I'm just saying… If you knew you weren't coming back you should've taken your things instead of leaving them for us to deal with." Hermione huffed.

"Hermione, I didn't know that I wouldn't be coming back. Even so, I would have returned to get my things, I would've never left them to be your problem." Ginny explained.

"Harry and Ron think Demelza has a crush on you." Hermione said stiffly, looking away from Ginny.

"They only think that because of everyone suddenly finding out about my preference in women, which is apparently just so damn interesting," Ginny rolled her eyes, frustrated. "I highly doubt she has a crush on me. We're just good friends. Plus, who knows if she even likes girls? Hermione…?" Hermione slowly glanced at Ginny, not breaking her stride towards Gryffindor Tower.

"Look, I'm sorry that I left the compartment and had you thinking that I had left all of my stuff behind to become yours to take care of. That wasn't my intention. I'm sorry." Ginny apologized sincerely. Both girls stopped walking and stepped to the side of the corridor.

"So… Juliette." Hermione sighed.

"Yeah… Juliette… I don't know Hermione. There's something about her that makes me feel…"

"Uneasy?" Ginny looked up into Hermione's brown eyes.

"Yeah…"

"Look Ginny, don't worry about her. I'm sure with three whole schools of witches and wizards to interact with, she won't give either of us a second thought." Hermione affirmed reassuringly.

"Yeah okay…" Ginny felt a little bit better at the reality of that being true, but still had a bad feeling in her stomach.

"I'm sure it'll be fine Ginny. And I'm sorry I was so high-strung earlier. I'm just…" she looked at the younger girl. "Stressed about the upcoming year. That's all."

"Yeah okay," Ginny gave Hermione a crooked smile and ran a hand through her hair as they continued towards the Gryffindor Common Room. Once they arrived, Ginny motioned for the older girl to climb through the portrait hole first. She followed Hermione up the spiral staircase leading to the girls' dormitory. They stopped outside of their respective rooms.

"See you in the Great Hall for breakfast?" Ginny asked, hopefully.

"Sure Ginny, I'll see you then." Hermione smiled. She reached for her door.

"Hey Hermione?" Hermione paused and turned back to Ginny.

"Yes, Ginny?"

"Who taught you how to throw a punch like that?" Ginny's crooked smile reappeared, this time her bright brown eyes glinted with something that Hermione hadn't seen before. Hermione rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but smile.

"Goodnight Ginny."

"Goodnight Hermione."

Hermione's POV

Hermione opened the door to her dormitory and two of her roommates, Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown looked up.

"So, is it true?" Parvati probed.

"I'm sorry, is what true? Also, it's nice to see you two. How were your summer holidays?" Hermione feigned ignorance as she strode to her trunk and started unpacking.

"Is it true that Ginny fancies women?" Lavender blurted out with a bit of a desperate edge to her question.

"I don't think that's really anyone's business but Ginny's, actually…" Hermione pushed back.

"You're not going to tell us, are you?" Parvati rolled her eyes.

"Maybe she doesn't know?" Lavender mused.

"Of course I know!" snapped Hermione.

"I'm going to take that as a yes," Lavender grinned, slyly. "Oh my god, I can't believe that Ginny likes women. The Weasleys are so fit!" Both Parvati and Hermione stared at Lavender, shocked.

"I will concede that Ginny is cute, even though I'm not interested in women, to be clear… And the twins are certainly charming… But Ron?" Parvati questioned her best friend, confused.

"Well… He's just so funny… And tall… And strong… And brawny… And burly… And muscular… And…" Lavender drifted off.

Parvati shot Hermione a sideways, skeptical look that Hermione returned before looking back to what she was doing. She had busied herself with mindlessly organizing her jumpers. She didn't like hearing her roommates say that Ginny was cute, that Ginny was fit… She couldn't stop thinking about the look Demelza was giving Ginny on the train… And that Ginny was giving her a smile back…

"Hermione!" Lavender snapped her fingers in front of Hermione's face.

"Sorry, what?"

"I asked you if you knew if Ron or Ginny were seeing anyone?"

"Oh… I don't think either of them are seeing anyone."

"So there's a chance…" Lavender drifted off again, into what Hermione assumed could only be a land of delusion based on the fact that Lavender considered Ron to be brawny…

"Girls it's been a long day, I'm going to bed." Hermione went to close the curtains around her bed, waiting until Crookshanks hopped up onto her bed and settled in. "Goodnight."

Hermione laid in her bed for hours, unable to sleep. So much was happening in addition to the typical chaotic start to the school term. Ginny was the talk of the school. Well, maybe not the whole school, but she was the talk of people in both her year and Ginny's year. And two schools would be staying at Hogwarts this year to compete against Hogwarts in the Triwizard Tournament. And that meant that Juliette would be here. While she told Ginny that she thought Juliette would be preoccupied with all of the other students, she had a sinking feeling that wouldn't be true. Hermione sighed heavily. Her life was so much more complicated than she thought it would be at this point, and she had so much to get done this year. She shook her head, she couldn't let Ginny take up so much space in her brain. Again, she can be her friend, her supporter, her confidant, but not anything more, so there was no reason for her to waste time thinking about who fancies the girl. Hermione paused, suddenly remembering a brief moment from earlier… Did I punch Draco Malfoy in the face? Hermione buried her head in her hands, trying to comprehend how the youngest Weasley had such a hold on her after just a few weeks. And had Ginny's eyes always sparkled like that? Hermione groaned, buried her head in her pillow, and tried to force herself to fall asleep.