AN: Thank you to the two people who have reviewed this story, I'm having a great time writing it and intend on continuing it! Initially, I was hoping to post once a week, but as long as the story keeps flowing out of me like this, I'm going to keep posting.

To the reviewer wanting to see Hermione and Ginny together soon... We'll get there. I have plans for this to be a long story, so you're going to have to hang tight.

Chapter 20

Ginny rose early the next morning, almost vibrating with excitement that she'd be going to Hogsmeade for the very first time. She quietly opened her curtains and crept over to Demelza's bed. She quickly opened the curtains, slid into Demelza's bed, and closed the curtains behind her.

"Ginny…? Ginny! What are you doing?" Demelza whispered in shock. Her plait had become very loose and a bit messy in the night, and Ginny found that to be positively adorable.

"I know, I'm sorry, I'm just so excited for today! It's our first trip to Hogsmeade! There's so much we'll get to do and see, and it'll be stress-free!" Ginny planted a quick kiss on Demelza's lips and smiled at the girl. Demelza smiled back, seemingly in awe of her girlfriend.

"Listen… I know these past few weeks have been tough on you, but I'm proud of you for getting through it and remaining as positive as you have been. I'm very impressed by you, Miss Weasley. Very impressed, and very proud." She beamed at the redhead before capturing her lips in hers. Ginny felt Demelza's arms wrap around her waist, pulling her firmly to her warm embrace. Ginny responded by putting one hand at the base of Demelza's messy plait, and as she went to put her other hand on Demelza's lower back, she came in direct contact with Demelza's warm, soft skin. Demelza let out a small gasp at the contact. Ginny froze and pulled back from the kiss immediately.

"I – I'm so sorry Demelza. I didn't know your jumper had risen up that high, I was just – "

"Ginny… Ginny, it's okay."

Ginny's cheeks had gone as red as her hair. She was mortified that she had broken the physical boundaries that they had set. She knew she shouldn't have climbed into Demelza's bed, even as innocent as it initially was.

"Ginny, look at me."

Ginny's eyes found Demelza's that were looking at her very gently.

"Ginny, it's okay. I think we should talk about this later, but really, it's okay. The noise I made… It wasn't… It wasn't a bad thing…" Demelza blushed, but made sure to maintain eye contact with Ginny.

"Okay… Can I kiss you one more time before I go get ready?" Ginny asked, tentatively.

"Of course you can."

Ginny looked into Demelza's eyes, then slowly moved to connect their lips once more. It was soft and gentle, as it usually was, but this time there was something more beneath the surface. Demelza brought her hand up to Ginny's cheek, brushing some of Ginny's hair out of her face along the way. She moved her hand down to Ginny's neck, holding it firmly, while tracing Ginny's jawline with her thumb. They broke away from the kiss at the same time, both breathing a bit heavily. Ginny then slowly got up out of the bed to go and get ready for the day. As she got dressed, she touched her lips, her cheek, her neck, and her jaw. What was that? What was that… Feeling?

Later that morning, Ginny, Demelza, Colin, and Ritchie all headed down to the Great Hall to get their Hogsmeade permission slips checked off. Once it was confirmed that they were free to explore Hogsmeade, they followed the large group down onto the grounds and to the path that led to Hogsmeade. Once they arrived, they were so excited at their newfound freedom that they had trouble deciding what to do and where to go first. They settled on stopping at Zonko's Joke Shop first, then moving to Honeydukes for some sweets, before finally finishing up at the Three Broomsticks for Butterbeer.

Zonko's Joke Shop was a great laugh. Ginny immediately understood why it was her brothers Fred and George's favorite shop in the village. The boys went back and forth pushing different jokes into each other's faces while the girls laughed at their antics. After a bit they moved on to Honeydukes, where they all stocked up on their favorites. Colin loved the Chocolate Frogs as he was an avid collector of the cards that came with them. Ritchie favored the Cauldron Cakes, carrying a whole stack of them around with him as they continued to check out the store. Demelza stocked up on Licorice Wands, and Ginny grabbed a few different items to try, along with a pair of Sugar Quills.

"I didn't know you liked Sugar Quills?" Demelza asked.

"Oh, they're not for me. They're for Hermione. As a thank you for all of the study help she's given me this term."

"You're so thoughtful, Ginny," Demelza smiled and walked over to watch Colin and Ritchie force each other to try different suspect-looking Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.

Ginny studied her girlfriend from where she stood at the Sugar Quill stand. In the course of a few months, she'd really managed to form strong feelings for the girl. She was sweet, she was funny, she was very cute, she loved Quidditch - she seemed to be a great match for Ginny. Demelza laughed as the two boys made grotesque faces at what they'd just put in their mouths, and turned to look at Ginny. When she saw Ginny looking at her, she gave her a big smile, and walked to her.

"Admiring me from afar, are you?" Demelza asked, a mischievous hint in her tone.

"Yes, actually. That's exactly what I was doing," Ginny responded truthfully and confidently. Demelza blushed at this, and took Ginny's hand in hers.

"Come on, let's go round up the boys and head to the Three Broomsticks."

Ginny followed Demelza to the boys, and then out of Honeydukes to the Three Broomsticks. They'd held hands many, many times before, but this time it felt different. Something had changed after their exchange this morning. Ginny felt as if she couldn't get close enough to Demelza. She felt more connected to the girl than she ever had before, she just didn't know why there was this sudden change.

The four entered the Three Broomsticks and sat down at a four-top, boys on one side, girls on the other. The owner of the pub, Madam Rosmerta, walked up to take their order.

"What'll it be, kids?" Madam Rosmerta asked.

"Four butterbeers, please!" Ritchie requested with a slightly lower voice than normal. Ginny and Demelza each gave him a look.

"Be up in a second," Madam Rosmerta walked off.

"What was that?" Ginny asked Ritchie incredulously.

"What was what?" Ritchie asked, his voice having returned back to its typical depth.

"Why did you change your voice like that?" Demelza asked, trying to choke back a laugh.

"What do you mean? My voice is always like that when I talk to beautiful women!" Ritchie insisted, redness creeping up into his neck and ears.

"Oh yeah? You never talk like that when we're around, do you not find us to be beautiful Ritchie?" Ginny asked pretending to be offended, causing Demelza to be no longer able to contain her laughter.

"First of all, you're not women. You're girls. And second, you two have each other. Don't really have a shot with either of you, now do I?" Ritchie answered matter-of-factly.

"Well, you're certainly right on not having a shot with either of us," Ginny retorted. "Colin, what do you think? Do you think Madam Rosmerta is beautiful?"

"I… Why… Yes, I… I very much do!" Colin squeaked out, turning bright red.

"Come off it, you're saying you don't think she's well fit?" Ritchie asked Ginny.

"Well yes, I can see that she's conventionally attractive, but I'm not going to lose my faculties or start speaking in a weird deep voice when she comes around!" Ginny explained, again laughing a bit.

"I dunno Ginny, I can feel myself losing control right now… Might have to start speaking in a completely different language all together. Think that'll impress her?" Demelza said, spurring the entire group to laugh.

When Madam Rosmerta dropped off their Butterbeer, they all tried to hold in their laughter at the ridiculous conversation they'd just had. As she walked away, Colin suddenly yelled out "THANK YOU MADAM ROSMERTA!" Madam Rosmerta turned and gave him an exhausted look, but still offered him a smile and nod. It was the best thing that had happened to Colin all day.

"So… How's this going?" Ritchie motioned between the two girls.

"It's going great, actually," Demelza turned to smile at Ginny, grabbing her hand once again.

"Your dormmates have no issue with the two of you dating and sharing a room with them?" Ritchie asked, curiously.

"Nope, no issue at all. It's not as if we're jumping each other's bones every night, Ritchie. Like we just discussed, we do have some self-control," Demelza answered. Ginny felt herself start to blush at the thought of the very lack of self-control she demonstrated this morning when she slid into Demelza's bed. Demelza must've sensed what Ginny was thinking about, as she squeezed her hand and started to run her thumb along the back of her hand comfortingly.

"Well, that's great. Honestly, I'm glad the two of you got together. You seem to be really happy. Plus, it leaves more girls for me and Colin here!" Ritchie grinned as he clapped his hand to Colin's back, causing Colin to choke and cough into his Butterbeer. Ritchie hit him on the back a few more times until Colin stopped coughing, then the four of them laughed.

"Thanks Ritchie, we're really happy too," Ginny smiled at Demelza softly before turning back to Ritchie, "And it was our pleasure to even the playing field for the two of you. Honestly, you might not have stood a chance otherwise." The four laughed again, then settled into talking about the upcoming First Task, their classes, and then of course, Quidditch.

As they moved onto the topic of Quidditch, Harry, Ron, Lavender, and Hermione walked in and sat at a corner booth. Ginny caught Hermione's eye, and waved at her with her free hand. Hermione waved back, politely. Ginny refocused back on the conversation at her table. Colin had brought out some of the photographs he'd taken of Ginny, Demelza, and Ritchie at their last Quidditch training session. As he moved them across the table for the girls to see, Demelza leant in closer to Ginny to get a better view, putting her arm around her in the process. Ginny could again feel heat flushing to her cheeks at the contact. She was very aware of how good it felt to be that close to Demelza. She looked at Demelza's side profile, and knew that Demelza could sense how Ginny was feeling as the girl had a small, coy smile pulling at the corners of her mouth. Ginny smiled softly at this, then looked back towards the photographs Colin was pushing across the table at them. As she did, she saw Hermione and Harry suddenly get up from their table and leave. Ron looked a bit confused, but seemed to move on quickly as Lavender grabbed his face and brought him in for a kiss. This coming from the older brother that was offended that my girlfriend had moved a piece of hair behind my ear? Please… Ginny followed Hermione and Harry with her eyes as they left, wondering where they were going in such a hurry, but was then brought back to her table as Demelza excitedly pointed out a cool shot that Colin had gotten of Ginny.

Hermione POV

It had been a very relaxing day in Hogsmeade. She'd been so immersed in her time hiding away at Scrivenshaft's looking at quills and Tomes and Scrolls flipping through books that she nearly forgot to meet up with Harry, Ron, and Lavender at the Three Broomsticks. She hurried down the cobblestone street towards the pub and found the three of them waiting for her outside.

"There you are! We were just about to go in a grab a table. Shall we?" Harry smiled at her as she caught up to them.

The four walked in and sat down at a booth in the corner. Hermione had spotted Ginny and her friends when they first walked in, but decided not to interrupt to say hi as it seemed they were entrenched in their conversation. As they sat down, Hermione looked up and saw Ginny looking at her. Ginny waved with her left hand instead of her right, which confused Hermione as Ginny used her right hand for just about everything. Then Hermione spotted that Ginny's right hand was occupied, intertwined with Demelza's. Hermione waved back at Ginny, trying to maintain a normal expression as she fought the feelings that were bubbling up in her chest. Hermione tried to distract herself with the conversation at her table, but it was mostly just Ron and Lavender exchanging whispers and giggles, which she found to be less than riveting as far as conversations go. In her peripheral she saw movement near Ginny, and as she looked over to the table again, she desperately wished she hadn't. Demelza had put her arm around Ginny, and Ginny had blushed at the contact. She watched as Ginny looked at Demelza and smiled softly… Lovingly… And that was all that Hermione could take.

"I… I forgot that I promised Professor McGonagall I would get my extra credit Transfiguration work in to her by Monday morning. I'm behind on it, I've got to go, I'm sorry," she stammered as she stood up abruptly.

"Wait, what? You're leaving?" Harry asked desperately, eyeing the couple across from him lost in each other's gaze.

"Yes, I'm so sorry. I have to leave, now." Hermione made her way to the door and left, feeling like she could finally breathe again as she exited the pub. She only made it a few more steps before she heard Harry jog up behind her.

"You're mad if you think I'm going to spend another second with those two lovebirds alone. They've been snogging all day! You'd think they'd come up for air at some point or, you know, realize that there's another person here just trying to enjoy their day – Hey, what's wrong?"

Despite her best efforts, Hermione had allowed a few tears to trail down her face.

"Hermione…"

"It's nothing Harry, I'm fine. I'll be fine," she managed to get out before she started to cry a bit harder.

"Come on… Let's go for a walk," Harry said kindly as he put his arm around Hermione and headed back towards the castle.

They walked quietly for most of the journey back to the castle. At least Harry was quiet. Hermione tried her best, but was mostly unable to muffle her crying. Once they got back up to the castle, they found an abandoned classroom and shut the door behind them. Hermione sat, staring out of a window, and Harry sat beside her, staring at Hermione.

"Hermione… Do you want to talk about it?" he asked tentatively as Hermione's tears had yet to slow down. Hermione nodded and worked for a few moments to calm herself down enough to talk.

"I just… I'm having a hard time… Harry… Have you ever fancied someone who wasn't right for you?" Hermione asked, looking up at him, tears still flowing down her cheeks.

"What do you mean, wasn't right for you?" Harry responded a bit confused.

"I mean… Not right. Not the right time, not the right place…. They might already be with someone…"

Harry chuckled, "Hermione, I'm going through that right now."

"What?"

"I have a massive crush on Cho Chang, the Seeker for Ravenclaw. Just found out a few weeks ago that she's seeing Cedric Diggory. I came across them one evening snogging outside near the Owlery. Couldn't have been a worse way to discover that, if you ask me," Harry shrugged glumly.

"Why didn't I know about this? Why didn't you tell me?" Hermione asked, offended that her best friend hadn't confided this in her.

"Hermione, you've been off the past couple of weeks. Really, ever since we got back to Hogwarts. But after that night I saw you snogging that girl from Beauxbatons… Huh… Maybe I should reconsider walking around the castle at night…" Harry got lost momentarily in his thoughts, but came back quickly. "Ever since I saw you snogging Juliette, you've been really off. You're here physically, in person, but you're not here mentally or emotionally," Harry shrugged again.

Hermione paused to think about this. She had been so caught up in her own thoughts and feelings about Ginny that she hadn't been taking care of her relationships with Harry and Ron, her best friends. She felt awful.

"Oh Harry, I'm so sorry…" she apologized.

"Hey don't worry about it. I know you've got a lot on your plate. I'm sure that Juliette is a lot to handle. Is that who you're talking about? Fancying someone who wasn't right for you?"

Hermione pondered the question for a bit, allowing enough time for Harry to jump to his own conclusion.

"Hermione look, I don't need to know why she's not right for you. The best advice I can give to you is to go for it. We're young, the people we're with today won't be the people we'll end up with in the long run, so might as well have as much fun as we can! And she surely looks like a lot of fun…" Harry grinned at Hermione cheekily.

"Harry!" Hermione scolded him, shocked that he'd say something like that.

"What? I've already told you, she's well fit, and I'm very impressed with you for landing her, Hermione!" he laughed. Hermione glared at him before lightening up and then slowly returning to her sad state from earlier.

"Hermione, you can talk to me. What is it, really?" Harry asked, genuinely.

"It's not Juliette that I like…" Hermione started hesitantly, "It's Ginny."