Draco turned and started to walk down the corridor, away from the sounds of footsteps and leaving her to deal with whomever came. Considering how deep they were into Gryffindor territory she could not blame him for wanting to bow out as quickly as possible. Hermione stayed where she was, leaning against the wall and breathing hard. She watched as he slipped into the darkness, giving off the illusion of a fleeing snake it was eerily creepy.

As soon as his frame disappeared completely into the darkness their unexpected visitor turned the corner.

She had figured it was probably a Prefect doing rounds or even a teacher checking on things. She wouldn't get in trouble being a Prefect herself, so she wasn't too worried about any consequences from being out after curfew. No, she had been much more worried over the possibility of getting caught anywhere near Draco. That would have caused too many questions she was not even remotely prepared to answer when she couldn't even comprehend what had just happened.

So she was startled when she saw the flaming red hair bounce into view. "Ginny?!"

"Merlin! Hermione? What are you doing standing out here?" Ginny asked her accusatorially. Her dark brown eyes narrowed at her, taking in her appearance, before they darted down the way Draco had just fled.

"I was just getting back." Hermione responded, trying to act as casual as she could. "Where were you?"

"Oh you know... Off doing super secret Quidditch stuff." She said with one of her characteristic winks before she grabbed Hermione's arm and pulled her away from the wall. Leading her towards the portrait of the Fat Lady. "So tell me every single detail! No wait... Tell me it was the most amazing night of your life and you ran off with some poor unsuspecting fool and finally lost your virginity."

She balked at how close Ginny was to the truth. She hadn't lost her virginity, but it was still way too close for comfort. Swallowing hard, she shifted her gaze to the floor. She wasn't ready to talk about any of it yet. It registered how much she had been counting on those hours before breakfast to come up with some kind of plan…

"Hardly." She responded. What was she supposed to say? She couldn't offer up any information. Somehow she had to figure out how to tell the truth about what happened at the party, which was going to be castle chatter for weeks, at least among the older years. And yet, there were still hours of time that she needed to account for. Oh, and she couldn't forget about the bruise on the side of her forehead that warranted a good reason either. "Look Gin. I'm sorry but I am exhausted. Can we do this in the morning, please?"

Ginny instantly deflated at her words but nodded. "Yeah... Sure. You okay?"

"Baubles." Hermione hissed at the Fat Lady, who was pretending to be asleep. She didn't have time for the woman's games tonight. Thankfully she let them in without a fuss. They tip-toed through the common room and made their way over to the staircase that led to the girls' dorms by the barely there light given off by the moon and dying fire. Once encased in the enchantments she whispered to her friend. "I will be."

"Alright then, talk to you tomorrow, I guess." Ginny told her before heading off to her room.

She let out the breath she had held in for way too long. Grateful that the light headed feeling caused by the act started to ebb, she slowly made her way to the room she shared with the other Gryffindor Sixth Years. Once at the door she slipped inside as quietly as she could and made her way over to her bed.

Her mind was so wrapped up in her conundrum that her body went on auto pilot, she undid the clasps that kept the dress on her body and felt it fall to the ground. She knew the velvet would crinkle but she could not bring herself to care. She climbed into her bed and pulled the curtains around her. Laying there under her warm blankets that she pulled up to her chin, she had all the intentions in the world to stay up to figure out her cover story, but fell asleep almost immediately with pictures of Draco leaning over her playing in her head…

-\/-\/-\/-\/-\/-\/-\/-\/-\/-\/-

Hermione clung to the dream she was having. She did not want to wake up! It was so nice here, finishing off where her little tryst last night had ended. She sighed softly and went to turn over, hoping she would be able to slip back under and join her hero in Dreamland. Her knee hit something solid and she bolted upright in bed at the same moment Ginny let out a squeal, "You are so boney! Gods Hermione, here I was tryin' to be nice and bring you some breakfast!"

"Bloody biscuits Ginny! You scared me!" She gasped, her hand over her rapidly beating heart. She realized that she was practically nude from the waist up and pulled the blanket to her collarbone. It was successful in covering her breasts and the large scar that wrapped around her left side and worked its way down towards her belly button.

"Obviously... Here." Her friend offered her a cup of steaming tea, holding her own in the other hand. She took it and sipped the piping hot liquid down with a soft moan. Caffeine... Ginny didn't say anything as Hermione drank down half her cup. As was usual the other witch let her be. She didn't ask her anything. Even though knowing the girl, she was chomping at the bit to hear her version of the story. She had to have heard all the juicy gossip down in the Great Hall when she had picked up breakfast to bring back here.

"How long have you been waiting for me to wake up?" Hermione finally asked, trying to wiggle as much time as she could before having to lie. Something she very rarely did with Ginny, it had to be something extremely important for her not to share.

"How long have I been sittin' here? Or how long have I been waitin' for you to wake up?" Ginny asked her with a smirk. Hermione couldn't help but notice that she kept sliding back into losing her 'g's, a habit picked up from her family that she was trying very hard to break.

Hermione snorted at that. Typical Ginny to stay up all night worrying about her. After finding out that the party had been a bust, she had probably sat around and imagined way worse than what had actually happened as well. She hoped she hadn't hexed anyone when she had heard the story. Depending on who the poor soul was they very well could have ended up on the wrong end of a brutal Bat Bogey Hex…

Ginny sighed and leaned back against the post of her bed. She let the back of her head rest on the worn chestnut wood as her fingers ran around the rim of her tea cup absentmindedly. Molly had once off-handedly mentioned to Hermione that it was something she had done since the time she could start drinking the stuff. She liked to be on the go and sitting still long enough to get a whole cup down had always been an issue for her. Always moving was a natural instinct that had helped hone her Quidditch skills. That fact made it all the more special that she would stop and go slow for Hermione. People like Dean Thomas and Katie Bell were more her speed but Ginny continuously chose to be there for her.

"Well, out with it. What have you heard?" She questioned eyeing the pastries Ginny had set down next to her leg on her bed.

The girl's eyes instantly flashed full of fury, even though Hermione had expected the anger it was still surprising in its intensity. She answered irritably, almost flinging the rambling words out of her mouth. "Oh you know... Little Miss Li was bragging to her little group of Cornish Pixies this morning. Somethin' bout you bein' a childish wannabe who couldn't even hack it an hour before runnin' away like a babe, but it was kinda hard to tell... What with her head swellin' double the size from the Engorgio Skullus hex I sent her way. I have to spend the next four weeks in detention with McGonagall. It was worth it though! She is gonna work around my schedule with Quidditch practice and Slughorn's party and... Yeah... She was more worried about how you were holdin' up. I think a lot of people are. Heck, the way it's goin' out there you might expect a letter from Mum by tonight."

Hermione groaned loudly as Ginny pushed her favorite apple turnover towards her, trying to distract her from how bad it was. Some of the Professors had even heard. Oh Gods! She definitely was not hungry anymore. She just stared down at the treat making plans to never leave the confines of her bed.

Ginny rubbed her bare shoulder in small circles, trying unsuccessfully to calm her down. She really did need to get a hold of her emotions before she was sent into a second panic attack in such a short amount of time. That and she couldn't lose it like that in front of the poor girl who was only the deliverer of the news.

Especially not if she was going to continue to be the strong one for her, Harry and Ron. She was the one that they came to when they needed a shoulder, when the imminent war's pressures beat down on them, but it was rarely the other way around. She wouldn't allow them to see her that way again... Not after last summer when they had witnessed an attack after a terrible nightmare while she was recovering from the curse. She had sworn she would never be the cause of that kind of terror for any of them again. So she bottled it up as much as possible and snuck away when it finally overwhelmed her.

One of the only things that made near-constant underlying dread bearable was to use what little extra time she had planning… Planning for any outcome that she possibly could. Right now she was working on figuring out how to cast a massive Extension Charm. She would then be able to turn something as innocuous as a purse into a literal library and underground bunker all rolled into one. They might have to go on the run one day and being stranded with nothing was not going to be in the realm of possibilities. Especially if Harry was there.

A tremble in her hand caused her to come back from her introspection and she did the only thing that she could at moments like that. Push down any emotion and turn toward the blissful numbness instead, which allowed her to give Ginny a crooked smile. "You know, I should lecture you about harming another student but that bitch deserved it."

"Yup" Ginny said, popping the p as she pushed the pastry even closer to her. Not nagging but the movement sent a clear enough message. Her stare zeroed on her darkened temple before narrowing. "Did she give you that bruise? She didn't say anything about deckin' you."

"What? No! I fell... When I ran away. So what time is it?" Hermione answered evasively, hoping she could steer the conversation away from the obvious time lapse into a more neutral territory.

"Eleven and I have to be at McGonagall's office 'promptly at Noon'." Ginny said in a pretty good imitation of their Professor.

"I am sorry Gin, but maybe this will get you to stop going around and hexing people every time you are slightly inconvenienced." She said, knowing any Prefect responsibility that compelled her to address the obvious was now covered.

"Yeah, yeah." She said dismissively. Ginny took the last drink from her cup and sighed. "I have to go finish my Transfiguration homework that was so rudely interrupted last night, but this conversation isn't over Missy. Eventually I will be freed from the tyrannical Head of Gryffindor House and you are gonna tell me why you were lurking around in the dark at three o'clock in the morning. You got that?"

"Sure. Whatever you say." Hermione told her. Knowing she wouldn't leave until she agreed to divulge all of her dirty little secrets.

The only girl that she could call a true friend stood up and took both their tea cups (along with her own pastry) and walked to the door. Before leaving she turned around and nodded vaguely in the direction of the common room. "They are worried about you too 'Mione. You should probably let them know you are okay eventually."

It was her turn to use the dismissive- "Yeah, yeah."

Ginny rolled her eyes and said. "You know they care about you. Don't hold their stupidness against them. They are just boys after all."

"Okay Ginny. I will, I promise." Hermione surrendered.

"Good." Her reply was fleeting as she turned and left Hermione alone.

She sat there in the deafening silence. At least she had a few days of reprieve before having to deal with lying to Ginny. Between the new detentions and Quidditch practice she should have a good week or two before the witch would start hunting her down. Now all she needed to do was deal with Harry and Ron... And the rest of the Hogwarts student body... And even some of her teachers…

She groaned and pulled the blanket over her head before she slid back down in her bed.

This was so humiliating…