***
Hermione walked up the girls' dormitory steps slowly and lazily to Ginny's
room. She and Ginny were going to have a lot of talking to do tonight.
She opened the door and heard the same squeaking noise that it always
made. Stepping on the same wooden floor with the same squeak the door
always had, Hermione jumped on Ginny's bed, laying on it the sideways,
and letting her long bushy hair fall to the floor. The bed squeaked, too.
Ginny didn't bother to look up and ask what was wrong. Instead, she turned
the page of her book; head still down, which was Hermione's cue to talk.
"Your brother is a stupid prat."
Ginny finally looked up and asked dully, "What happened to 'idiot'?"
"Please don't joke on this one, Ginny. This is serious."
You say that every time, Ginny thought, trying not to sigh. Hearing
the same problem over and over again would make anyone bored. Even if
it was your best friend who had a more serious problem before with your
brother. Ginny already knew how much of a prat Ron was, but he was still
charming (but of course, Ginny's thoughts on Ron were different from Hermione's).
That was her brother! And he definitely had animal magnetism. Especially
for the animal that was Hermione.
"Well, your brother," sigh, "he was drooling over Fleur again during
Defense Against Dark Arts."
Real serious. "He always does, doesn't he? And you do know that
she is part veela? It's normal. Just like puberty is."
"I know.. It's just-"
"It's hard seeing him gaga-eyed over another girl? I know."
"Listen, Harry is just as blind as every other guy in the world. They
always find out about their feelings later…maybe except for Bulgarian
men.. But then some guys just start noticing you and then it's too late
for Harry because you're already with someone and so then it's his fault."
Ginny gaped at Hermione. "Wow. Did you just come up with that?"
"No, it just came to me when I noticed that Harry still hasn't noticed
you!"
"Well, Ron is different."
"How?" Hermione asked, determined not to
believe what Ginny had to say.
"He does notice you. Not just because you help him with his homework,
but because you're.." Ginny tried to think of a perfect word. "Hermione."
Hermione just stared. Don't start crying now..
Ginny went on. "He even told me and asked me questions about you. Just
yesterday, too."
"He did? You didn't tell him anything, did you?"
"He asked me if you liked him, I said 'Sure'," she grabbed a pillow to
shield herself from Hermione, "'she's your friend!'," Ginny smiled, "and
he told me everything and then he threatened me that if I told anyone,
he'd tell Harry stuff," she blushed, "and kill me right after."
"What did he say?"
"I couldn't believe he actually told me everything. We stopped being
this close since his first year at Hogwarts." Hermione frowned and then
gave Ginny a caring smile. "Anyway, in his exact words, he said, 'Hermione..
She's just.. Hermione, y'know? She's beautiful, smart,'" Hermione blushed
with Ginny, "annoying at sometimes," Hermione huffed, "but still, I love
the girl. When she planned on not eating when she started that spew thing,
it worried me. But then she started eating again. That was good.' Hermione,
don't tell him I told you this, okay?"
Hermione nodded.
"Well," Ginny went on, "Then he said, 'Ginny, if you ever tell anyone
this, I'll tell Harry everything, even lies if I have to, then I'll crawl
to your bed when you sleep and crush your bones and feed your meat to
the Skrewts.'" She shuddered. "Harry-" Ginny was about to go on, but Hermione
interrupted.
"He didn't mean it."
"I know. We always used to threaten each other when we were kids. Best
friends, we were." Ginny stared at her hands and looked back at Hermione
with distant eyes. "In the end of his first year, I missed talking to
him. Instead, he just shuns me like all my brothers do after their first
year of Hogwarts. Except for Bill. He always told us stories and he used
to pick me to act out as one of his friends or teachers."
"It must be fun having brothers."
"It's fun having one brother, but seven?!"
"Well, I never had a brother, so I wouldn't know," said Hermione. They
sat on Ginny's bed in silence. "Y'know, today really sucked for me.
I've been lousy, tired, slow, and annoyed by your brothers' behavior,
that the slugs were faster than me." Hermione paused and bit her
nails. She looked up at Ginny, who was staring at her like a bomb that
was about to explode. Then Hermione brought a subject up. "What about
Harry?"
"What about Harry?"
"You were about to say something about him.."
"Oh, right. Well, today, he.. he.."
Hermione was getting impatient. "He did what?!"
"Kissed me." There, she said it. Hermione's jaw dropped to the ground
and Ginny flushed into a deep pink.
"How? I mean.. wow.. How?"
"Well, early morning, they had a Quidditch practice and Fred and George
and Ron told me to bring them some breakfast from the kitchens, since
it was a lot earlier than usual."
"Go on."
"Gred and Forge. I mean Forge and Gred.. I mean George and Fred told
me to help Harry put some of the practice balls back, so I did. And thank
God I didn't blush."
"On with the story, Ginny!!" Hermione squealed.
"He kept asking me these weird questions like, 'What
are you doing today?' and 'What's your favorite herb?' or something
like that. And the way he talked.. it was like he was nervous."
Hermione smiled mischievously. "Really? Well.."
"Then, we walked to the broom shed to put the box back and.." Ginny shook
her head and kept muttering to herself. "No, that didn't happen.. well,
anyways, something weird happened. Birds of all kind came flying in the
shed and Harry pushed me to the wall to protect me and," Ginny blushed,
embarrassed about using 'Protect me' in the same sentence with Harry in
it, "when all the birds flew out, he didn't get off me. He just stared
at me and I had nothing other to do so I stared back."
"Uh-huh.."
"Hold your head on, Hermione! I'm almost done.
"He kept staring and he still didn't get off and then he just came closer
then BANG!"
Hermione jumped. "What happened?"
"He kissed me!"
The two girls got up on the bed and jumped and squealed in delight, very
much like Lavender and Parvati .
"He kissed you?"
"It lasted about.. Oh, three minutes, or something? That was my very
first, too."
"Then what happened?" asked Hermione, sitting back down on the bed.
"He stopped. I guess I was blushing and had my mouth open. He apologized
and left."
"That's all?"
"Mm-hmm. Oh, Hermione, please don't tell him I told you?" Ginny pleaded.
"Did he threaten you too?"
"No, just don't please? He'll be embarrassed, and so will I."
"Okay, I won't." Hermione put her hand on Ginny's arm and Ginny smiled.
"Go to sleep now, it's already eleven and my roommates won't appreciate
it." Ginny nodded her head to the door where her two roommates waited
quite loudly.
"Okay." And Hermione left.
~*~
A/n: There is a slight chance there will be a part two.. I just don't
know yet.
