Chapter 11: Girl Talk
Hermione was up late, but for once it was not related to either studying or their self improvement project. No, this evening she was waiting for German dining night in Snape's dungeon to be finished so that she could snare Ginny into confessing all. Hopefully the girl would be nice and tired, since that always made it easier to extort information from her, but Hermione hadn't spent all those years of close friendship without getting to know a few levers that would get her to open up anyway. All she had to do was wait.
Just when she thought she'd go out of her mind if she waited any longer, Ginny came in, rubbing her eyes and pulling clothes off. There was a slight smell of beer and sauerkraut, but Hermione just ignored it as she pounced. "So. You said we'd talk later about Tarvit and your sudden complete lack of blushing and hiding from Malfoy. And now, it's later."
Ginny groaned. "Can't I get some sleep first?"
"No, and stop whining." Hermione looked stern, but picked up the robes Ginny had dropped and murmured a cleaning spell.
"Fine." Ginny threw herself onto her bed, but just sat up and pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs.
Hermione looked at her friend’s defensive posture and sighed. "How about I start? Something happened that night when he and Ron got drunk."
"He kissed me." Ginny’s voice was a muffled whisper, but Hermione was a careful listener.
"And you didn’t like it? Did he try to, er, do something?" She could have sworn that what was between Ginny and Malfoy wasn’t like that, but maybe she was wrong.
Or maybe not. "No, well, not exactly. Sort of. Ohhh, I don’t know!" Ginny’s face made an appearance, as apparently wailing into her knees was not terribly satisfactory.
A smile was trying to creep onto Hermione’s face, but she ruthlessly tamped it down. "Okay, one step at a time, then. Did you like kissing Draco Malfoy?"
"Yes. Ugh, I still can’t believe that I’m saying that." Ginny threw herself backwards and pulled a pillow over her face. "Which brother do you think will strangle me first?"
The smile was putting up a fight, leaving Hermione’s sense of tact fighting a desperate rearguard action. "I would have said Ron, if it weren’t for this strange Twilight Zone bonding with Malfoy he’s been doing." The smile completely defeated all resistance, resembling a smirk as it emerged victorious. "His first thought when he figured out you were dabbling in dangerous cookery was to warn Malfoy."
"That’s… Really disturbing." Ginny tried once again to Draco hanging out with her brother. Her eyes watered from the strain. "Really, really, tremendously disturbing."
"In any case, this is all beside the point. You liked kissing him. Did he try something?" Hermione toyed with a quill, heroically resisting the instinct to take notes.
The bright red color that Ginny turned was an answer in and of itself. "Sort of. We were, uh, in his room, and—"
"Ginny, I love you like a sister, but I do not want details." Hermione shuddered.
"It wasn’t… We didn’t… All clothes were on, honestly!" Ginny was going for a world record in brightness of blushing. "He kissed me, we were in his room, his hands went to my bum and I, uh, hit him so hard he fell down. But he was drunk, so maybe I didn’t hit him that hard."
"Hmm. Did he say anything? Why did you hit him?" Hermione had started writing out of reflex, and looked down at the page in horror.
"Oh, go ahead, you’ll break your hand if you keep trying to stop taking notes. Just burn it when we’re done." Ginny tossed her pillow at Hermione, then lay back with one arm covering her eyes. "We didn’t do much talking, and I hit him because, well, it seemed like a good idea at the time."
"So you felt threatened? Because you know you can report him if you did." Hermione was scribbling furiously, and it was helping her immensely to organize her thoughts.
"No! Well, not exactly." Ginny sighed mournfully. "I’m just so confused."
Hermione read over what she’d written and made a humming noise. "Ginny, you realize that you don’t hate Malfoy, right? Not even close."
"Yeah. But he could break my heart so easily." Ginny’s voice wobbled a bit, but she managed to keep herself mostly under control. "I wanted… But he… Ugh. I hate this."
"So what changed that you stopped blushing and hiding? And, uh, I’d like to put in a request that Ron be spared the Tarvit treatment or anything similar. I have certain… Plans." Hermione coughed and tried to avoid looking at the sister of the object of her plans.
"I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that, while still reassuring you that Ron’s anatomy is in no current danger from me." Ginny managed a sly grin. "Should you ever need us, though, I and great-aunt Anise will be at your service."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "I'll keep that in mind, oh mistress of evil."
"I'm not evil!" Ginny didn't have anything to throw, so she made do with a glare. "I'm just vengeful. Once I've gotten my own back, I forgive and forget."
"Hmm. Butter wouldn't melt in your mouth, I'm sure." Hermione conveniently had a pillow that had been thrown at her earlier, and she launched it at the redhead who was trying to maintain her pious expression. "So, what are you going to do about Malfoy?"
"I don't know, really. I mean, he knows me almost as well as you do, and I know him better than anyone at this school except maybe Pansy." Ginny sighed. "There's things both of us don't say in front of other people because we know it'd be going too far, like his mom, or Charlie's accident."
Ginny trailed off and Hermione said quietly, "It sounds like you're friends."
"In a sick, twisted, adversarial way, I guess we are." The gloominess of her voice and dejectedness of her posture looked completely pitiable. "But, you know, what does that mean, when you get down to it? And just because I'm so stupid that I started liking the prat a lot more than I should means nothing."
Hermione moved to sit next to her friend and give her a hug. "You know, that sounds a lot like something I said, once upon a time, about a certain clueless git."
Ginny snorted and swiped at her eyes. "That's different. Anyone with eyes can see that the idiot is completely top over teakettle bonkers for you."
"Oh, yeah, completely different, I'm sure." Hermione was not quite at Malfoy's, or even Ginny's, level in terms of sarcasm, but that didn't mean she couldn't indulge on occasion.
"Even the ferret's noticed, 'Mione. When you're not around, he always asks Ron where Mrs. Weasley is." Ginny tweaked one of Hermione's curls as she sat up. "And before you ask yet again, my plan is to go to the masquerade and dance with every boy who asks me and consider seeing if I can find one whose kisses I like. What's your plan?"
Hermione blushed scarlet and bit her lip. "Well... Do you think perhaps I could get the room to myself on Halloween?"
"Why, Hermione Granger, you wanton hussy. You're planning on seducing my brother, aren't you?" Ginny's scandalized tone didn't quite match the twinkle in her eyes, but Hermione still buried her face under the pillows. "About damn time. I'll kip with Lavender and her lot, or sneak down and see the twins. Speaking of which, can I go to sleep now? We can make plans for my brother's deflowering in the morning."
"Ginny!" Hermione smacked the other girl on the shoulder, but retreated in the face of some decidedly offensive sniggering.
Hermione was up late, but for once it was not related to either studying or their self improvement project. No, this evening she was waiting for German dining night in Snape's dungeon to be finished so that she could snare Ginny into confessing all. Hopefully the girl would be nice and tired, since that always made it easier to extort information from her, but Hermione hadn't spent all those years of close friendship without getting to know a few levers that would get her to open up anyway. All she had to do was wait.
Just when she thought she'd go out of her mind if she waited any longer, Ginny came in, rubbing her eyes and pulling clothes off. There was a slight smell of beer and sauerkraut, but Hermione just ignored it as she pounced. "So. You said we'd talk later about Tarvit and your sudden complete lack of blushing and hiding from Malfoy. And now, it's later."
Ginny groaned. "Can't I get some sleep first?"
"No, and stop whining." Hermione looked stern, but picked up the robes Ginny had dropped and murmured a cleaning spell.
"Fine." Ginny threw herself onto her bed, but just sat up and pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs.
Hermione looked at her friend’s defensive posture and sighed. "How about I start? Something happened that night when he and Ron got drunk."
"He kissed me." Ginny’s voice was a muffled whisper, but Hermione was a careful listener.
"And you didn’t like it? Did he try to, er, do something?" She could have sworn that what was between Ginny and Malfoy wasn’t like that, but maybe she was wrong.
Or maybe not. "No, well, not exactly. Sort of. Ohhh, I don’t know!" Ginny’s face made an appearance, as apparently wailing into her knees was not terribly satisfactory.
A smile was trying to creep onto Hermione’s face, but she ruthlessly tamped it down. "Okay, one step at a time, then. Did you like kissing Draco Malfoy?"
"Yes. Ugh, I still can’t believe that I’m saying that." Ginny threw herself backwards and pulled a pillow over her face. "Which brother do you think will strangle me first?"
The smile was putting up a fight, leaving Hermione’s sense of tact fighting a desperate rearguard action. "I would have said Ron, if it weren’t for this strange Twilight Zone bonding with Malfoy he’s been doing." The smile completely defeated all resistance, resembling a smirk as it emerged victorious. "His first thought when he figured out you were dabbling in dangerous cookery was to warn Malfoy."
"That’s… Really disturbing." Ginny tried once again to Draco hanging out with her brother. Her eyes watered from the strain. "Really, really, tremendously disturbing."
"In any case, this is all beside the point. You liked kissing him. Did he try something?" Hermione toyed with a quill, heroically resisting the instinct to take notes.
The bright red color that Ginny turned was an answer in and of itself. "Sort of. We were, uh, in his room, and—"
"Ginny, I love you like a sister, but I do not want details." Hermione shuddered.
"It wasn’t… We didn’t… All clothes were on, honestly!" Ginny was going for a world record in brightness of blushing. "He kissed me, we were in his room, his hands went to my bum and I, uh, hit him so hard he fell down. But he was drunk, so maybe I didn’t hit him that hard."
"Hmm. Did he say anything? Why did you hit him?" Hermione had started writing out of reflex, and looked down at the page in horror.
"Oh, go ahead, you’ll break your hand if you keep trying to stop taking notes. Just burn it when we’re done." Ginny tossed her pillow at Hermione, then lay back with one arm covering her eyes. "We didn’t do much talking, and I hit him because, well, it seemed like a good idea at the time."
"So you felt threatened? Because you know you can report him if you did." Hermione was scribbling furiously, and it was helping her immensely to organize her thoughts.
"No! Well, not exactly." Ginny sighed mournfully. "I’m just so confused."
Hermione read over what she’d written and made a humming noise. "Ginny, you realize that you don’t hate Malfoy, right? Not even close."
"Yeah. But he could break my heart so easily." Ginny’s voice wobbled a bit, but she managed to keep herself mostly under control. "I wanted… But he… Ugh. I hate this."
"So what changed that you stopped blushing and hiding? And, uh, I’d like to put in a request that Ron be spared the Tarvit treatment or anything similar. I have certain… Plans." Hermione coughed and tried to avoid looking at the sister of the object of her plans.
"I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that, while still reassuring you that Ron’s anatomy is in no current danger from me." Ginny managed a sly grin. "Should you ever need us, though, I and great-aunt Anise will be at your service."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "I'll keep that in mind, oh mistress of evil."
"I'm not evil!" Ginny didn't have anything to throw, so she made do with a glare. "I'm just vengeful. Once I've gotten my own back, I forgive and forget."
"Hmm. Butter wouldn't melt in your mouth, I'm sure." Hermione conveniently had a pillow that had been thrown at her earlier, and she launched it at the redhead who was trying to maintain her pious expression. "So, what are you going to do about Malfoy?"
"I don't know, really. I mean, he knows me almost as well as you do, and I know him better than anyone at this school except maybe Pansy." Ginny sighed. "There's things both of us don't say in front of other people because we know it'd be going too far, like his mom, or Charlie's accident."
Ginny trailed off and Hermione said quietly, "It sounds like you're friends."
"In a sick, twisted, adversarial way, I guess we are." The gloominess of her voice and dejectedness of her posture looked completely pitiable. "But, you know, what does that mean, when you get down to it? And just because I'm so stupid that I started liking the prat a lot more than I should means nothing."
Hermione moved to sit next to her friend and give her a hug. "You know, that sounds a lot like something I said, once upon a time, about a certain clueless git."
Ginny snorted and swiped at her eyes. "That's different. Anyone with eyes can see that the idiot is completely top over teakettle bonkers for you."
"Oh, yeah, completely different, I'm sure." Hermione was not quite at Malfoy's, or even Ginny's, level in terms of sarcasm, but that didn't mean she couldn't indulge on occasion.
"Even the ferret's noticed, 'Mione. When you're not around, he always asks Ron where Mrs. Weasley is." Ginny tweaked one of Hermione's curls as she sat up. "And before you ask yet again, my plan is to go to the masquerade and dance with every boy who asks me and consider seeing if I can find one whose kisses I like. What's your plan?"
Hermione blushed scarlet and bit her lip. "Well... Do you think perhaps I could get the room to myself on Halloween?"
"Why, Hermione Granger, you wanton hussy. You're planning on seducing my brother, aren't you?" Ginny's scandalized tone didn't quite match the twinkle in her eyes, but Hermione still buried her face under the pillows. "About damn time. I'll kip with Lavender and her lot, or sneak down and see the twins. Speaking of which, can I go to sleep now? We can make plans for my brother's deflowering in the morning."
"Ginny!" Hermione smacked the other girl on the shoulder, but retreated in the face of some decidedly offensive sniggering.
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