Chapter 6

Ginny POV

"Everyone accounted for? Everyone got everything? Alright, let's head out!" Mr. Weasley instructed as the group made their way out the front door.

Ginny had her trunk and broom in tow, as well as a few of Hermione's things that she'd added after much resistance from Hermione. She felt a sense of sadness as she looked back at the Burrow one last time. She knew she'd be back soon enough for Christmas, but it had been such an exceptionally good summer at home, and it was hard moving on from it so abruptly. She was looking forward to the school year ahead though, and was hoping that the positivity and good fortune that occurred for her over the summer would continue into her time at Hogwarts.

Once they arrived at a bustling King's Cross Station, made their way to Platform 9 3/4, and had gotten all of their luggage onto the Hogwarts Express, the group waved goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley from the windows of the train. Mrs. Weasley waved vigorously at them, letting her tears flow freely, while Mr. Weasley gave them a big smile as he put a supportive arm around his wife. Once the Hogwarts Express started to move, Fred and George left to join a compartment with their friend Lee Jordan, and the remaining four went off to find their own compartment.

"How's this one?" Harry asked as they came across the first empty compartment. They stored their trunks up on the racks overhead and sat down, Harry and Ron on one side, Ginny and Hermione on the other. They chatted lightly for a while, discussing the upcoming term as the English countryside flew past them outside their window. Harry, Ginny, and Ron spoke excitedly about the fast-approaching Quidditch tryouts, while Hermione nodded along. The food trolley came and went with Harry getting his usual haul to share with the compartment. They were nearly through all of their snacks and sweets when a pale, pointed face flanked by two large bodies appeared at the compartment door, opening it without waiting for an invitation.

"Potter… Weasley… Granger… Little Weasley…" drawled Draco Malfoy, a snide Slytherin boy in Harry, Ron, and Hermione's year.

"What do you want Malfoy?" Harry snapped. Ginny noted that Harry typically tried to be, at the very least, cordial with just about all of their fellow classmates, except for Malfoy. Malfoy had always been an exception.

"Nothing with you, Potter. This involves Little Weasley here…" Malfoy smirked as he looked at Ginny.

Ginny's eyes narrowed as she stared the older boy down, her irritation with him growing by the second. "Yeah? What do you want?" she asked, matching Harry's tone.

"Well… I heard a rumor… About something that happened at the Quidditch World Cup…" Malfoy spoke slowly, tauntingly. Ginny could feel Hermione looking at her.

"Oh yeah? What did you hear?" Ginny challenged.

"I heard that you had a certain… Interest… In the Veela…" Malfoy's eyes glinted nastily as he spoke.

"And? So what if I did?" Ginny spoke as confidently as she could. She could feel Harry and Ron staring at her now, but could no longer feel Hermione's gaze.

"So what if you did? Hmm… Well… If you did have an interest in the Veela… That would make you a filthy little dy– "

- BANG -

Before anyone could react, Hermione had lunged forward and punched Malfoy in the face, hard, causing him to fall backwards against the door of the compartment across the aisle. His pseudo-bodyguards Crabbe and Goyle, reacting one second behind, went to charge into the foursome's compartment, but Harry and Ron were already at their feet, wands drawn.

"Go on, try us!" Ron invited fiercely. Crabbe and Goyle, at least somewhat aware that they were clearly outmatched by Ron and Harry, backed down and went to help up an irate Malfoy instead.

"My father will hear about this!" Malfoy spat as he got to his feet, clutching at his bleeding nose.

"Oh, that's quite a threat, Malfoy! Yes, please tell your father that a girl punched you in the face! And make sure he knows she was a Muggle-born as well! I'm sure he'll be pleased to hear it!" Hermione said fiercely as she held her ground, maintaining the barrier that she'd created between Malfoy and Ginny.

Malfoy looked around at all of them before skulking away furiously, trying desperately to stop the blood gushing from his nose. Crabbe and Goyle lumbered after him.

After a beat, Ron spoke up, an impressed smile on his face.

"Hermione, that was bloody brilliant!" he exclaimed as he gave her a supportive pat on the arm.

Hermione gave him a tight grin before sitting down next to Ginny, who was staring at her.

"But uh – what was he going on about? What about you and the Veela?" Ron said as he looked down at Ginny.

Ginny met Hermione's eyes before she sighed and spoke up.

"The Veela affected me as they affected you Ron…"

Ron furrowed his brow. "What – Wait… What do you mean they affected you?" he stammered.

"Ron…" Harry cautioned.

"Wait, did you know about this?" Ron turned to Harry, his voice becoming more exasperated.

"Yeah, I did," Harry replied calmly.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Ron demanded.

Harry shrugged. "It wasn't mine to tell."

Harry looked at Ginny, giving her a small, warm smile. Ron looked between Harry and Ginny, before focusing his attention on Hermione.

"You didn't tell me either?"

"No, Ron, of course I didn't. Just look at how you're reacting!" Hermione snapped at Ron.

"Well… I'm just in shock, is all! I don't care that you fancy girls, Ginny. It would just be nice to know who I should be intimidating when I see people hanging around you!" Ron explained.

"Excuse me?" Ginny asked, clearly offended.

"Well how in the bloody hell am I supposed to know who to protect you from if I don't know who's going to be trying to snog you?"

"Protect me?! How about you don't do any of that, Ron, and I can decide for myself who I will and will not be snogging!" Ginny shouted, her face slowly turning the color of her hair. "I don't need your protection!"

"Yeah Ron… Clearly, she has Hermione for that. Just ask Malfoy." Harry chuckled.

This broke the tension a bit for the group as they all allowed themselves a laugh at Malfoy's expense. Then they all settled into a comfortable silence until Ginny broke it.

"If Malfoy knows, should I assume that everyone else does as well?"

She looked around at the group, searching for a sign of reassurance that she hadn't unknowingly been outed to the entire school. No one responded immediately, though Hermione looked as if she was about to when her attention was redirected to the compartment door, and suddenly her mouth snapped shut.

"Uh... Hi Ginny!"

Demelza Robins, a school friend and Gryffindor dormmate of Ginny's over the past three years, was standing at the compartment door.

"Colin and Ritchie were wondering if you'd like to join us in our compartment? So, uh… Would you like to?" She gave Ginny a small, nervous smile.

"Hi Demelza! Sure thing, just give me a few minutes to wrap up with our conversation, okay?"

"Sounds great, see you in a few!" Demelza beamed and strode away down the aisle.

Ginny turned back towards the others to continue their conversation and was met with three different reactions. Harry was giving her a knowing, sly grin, Ron's mouth was hanging open slightly, his eyebrows knitted together in disbelief, and Hermione's face had gone passive, showing very little emotion at all.

"What?" Ginny asked the group.

"Well… I think it's safe to say that people do in fact know about you, Ginny," Harry explained with a laugh.

"What do you mean? Demelza's a dormmate and a friend. I'm friends with Colin and Ritchie too, why wouldn't they invite me to sit with them?" Ginny asked, perplexed.

"Well this is just great! My little sister is going to get more action than I am this year!" Ron exclaimed, throwing up his hands.

"Ron!" scolded Hermione, before turning to Ginny. "Ginny, I'm sure you're right. It's just friends inviting another friend to join them in their compartment. Don't overthink it, okay?"

"Alright… Thanks Hermione…" Ginny got up, and left the compartment after giving the boys a hesitant look.

"More action than me… My little sister…" she heard Ron mumble as she walked down the aisle, looking for the compartment that contained her friends.

The further Ginny walked, the more she felt like people were looking at her. And not just people, but more specifically, girls. As she passed more and more compartments, she was getting more and more smiles from girls. Ginny smiled back uncertainly and continued her journey until she found the compartment of Gryffindors that she was looking for.

"Ginny! It's so great to see you! How was your summer? Mine was great! And guess what? My younger brother will be attending Hogwarts this year as a first year! Isn't that great?" Colin Creevey excitedly rattled off.

"Oi! Give her a chance to sit don't, won't you?" Ritchie Coote chuckled as he motioned to the seat across from him, next to Demelza. Ginny sat down and shot Ritchie a thankful look before addressing Colin.

"That's great Colin! What's your brother's name?"

"Dennis! He's so excited to be here. We weren't sure if he'd be coming to Hogwarts as well, but then sure enough, this summer he received his letter! We're hoping he'll be in Gryffindor with me! I guess Hufflepuff wouldn't be so bad though – might be a good place for him, really. So, how was your summer? I heard you went to the Quidditch World Cup, how was that?"

Ritchie and Demelza exchanged pained looks as Ginny paused, processing the last part of Colin's ramble.

"You heard that I went to the Quidditch World Cup?" Ginny asked softly.

Colin froze, realizing his mistake.

"Uh… I uh… Yes…" he stammered.

Ginny looked around at Ritchie and Demelza.

"So… You've all heard?"

They slowly nodded their heads. Ginny let out a frustrated sigh and ran a hand through her hair.

"Ginny… No one cares about what's going around about you. At least, not in a negative way…" Demelza said softly.

Ginny turned to look at her, trying to gauge if she was telling the truth or if she was just trying to make her feel better in the moment. She felt that she was telling her the truth, and Demelza had always been nothing but honest with her, so really, she had no reason to believe she would be lying. She did notice as well how nice Demelza's eyes were. Light grey, but deep and kind, and very much looking into Ginny's bright brown eyes. Ginny blinked and looked away. Taking in a deep breath and letting out a long exhale, Ginny chose internally to try her best to let this go and not concern herself with what others thought about her.

"So, how was everyone's summer?" she inquired, hoping to change the subject.

The group chatted at length about how they each had spent their respective summers. Ritchie had grown an inch or two and had been mostly working at his father's shop. Demelza had split her break between her mum out in Cornwall and her dad up in Hereford. Colin didn't seem to really have done much of anything, but still had nearly two hundred photos that he made Ginny look through. Eventually, the topic of conversation circled back around to Ginny and the revelation at the Quidditch World Cup.

"So… Who do you fancy, then?" Ritchie asked her outright.

"Who do I fancy? I just found this out about myself, Ritchie, I don't fancy anyone," Ginny said, running a hand through her hair nervously.

"Aw, come on Ginny. There's no one that's ever caught your eye before? I for one have noticed how beautiful many of the girls are, just in Gryffindor alone! In fact, just the other day I was thinking about how truly beautiful the majority of the girls in Gryffindor are, and – "

"Colin… Shut it. Just for a second, alright mate?" Ritchie cut Colin off as another rambling anecdote threatened. Colin nodded.

"She doesn't have to fancy anyone you guys. Just let her be, alright?" Demelza gave Ginny a supportive look, and Ginny gave her an appreciative smile in return, grey eyes meeting brown once again. During this exchange, Hermione appeared at the compartment door.

"Am I interrupting?" Hermione asked, looking directly at Demelza.

"Hey Hermione! No, of course not. What's up?" Ginny asked.

"You've been gone for a while, so I brought you your trunk and broom." Hermione pushed the trunk into the compartment and handed Ginny her Comet 260. "That's all. I'll be going, we'll be arriving soon." Hermione's eyes never left Demelza's until she turned to leave the four young Gryffindors. Demelza glanced at Ginny, confused. Ginny shrugged, thinking nothing of it.

The four threw on their robes and cleaned up the compartment a bit before they felt the Hogwarts Express slow to a stop. Eagerly, they exited their compartment. They had arrived at Hogwarts.

"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 his place at 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 until all first years had been assigned 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, and 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 her eyes didn't meet Ginny's.

"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 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, taken aback by Hermione's unwarranted tone, took a moment before she responded.

"Are you upset with me?" she asked.

"It was 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.

"Fair enough, except 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. "I highly doubt she has a crush on me. We're just friends. Plus, I don't even knoww if she likes girls or not. 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, letting their fellow Gryffindors continue past them.

"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 suggested 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 touchy earlier. I'm just…" She paused for a moment, her eyes wandering over Ginny's face. "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.

Hermione POV

Once they arrived at the Fat Lady's portrait outside of the common room, Hermione gave the new password and Ginny motioned for her to climb through the portrait hole first. She led the way up the spiral staircase leading to the girls' dormitories, then they each stopped outside of their respective rooms, turning to one another.

"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 had reappeared, and 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."

"G'night, Hermione."

Hermione could see that Ginny's grin had grown as she stepped into her dormitory, pulling her door closed behind her.

Hermione took a deep breath before opening the door to her dormitory. She was immediately met by two of her dormmates, Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown, jumping to their feet at her arrival.

"So, is it true?" Parvati probed anxiously.

"I'm sorry, is what true? Also, it's nice to see you two. How were your summer holidays?" Hermione asked casually 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 smoothly.

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

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

"Of course I know!" Hermione snapped.

"I'm going to take that as a yes." Lavender grinned. "Oh my god, I can't believe that Ginny likes girls! The Weasleys are so fit!"

Both Parvati and Hermione looked at Lavender, shocked.

"I will concede that Ginny is cute, even though I'm not interested in girls, 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 her trunk and quickly busying herself with mindlessly organizing her jumpers. She didn't like hearing her dormmates say that Ginny was cute, that Ginny was fit… And 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.Andthat 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, refusing to 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… Had she actually punched 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, hoping desperately that this would be the night that a certain redhead would be absent from her dreams…