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Pub Night By Tawny Spitfyre Part Five: Head Girl "You think can do me?" Hermione asked with a hint of a dare. "Of course…I know you as well as anyone here," he said. "Maybe even better." He raised his eyebrows, and a momentary expression of surprise flashed across Hermione's face, but she quickly smiled and said, "Go on, then." Ron batted his eyelashes a bit and stuck his finger to his cheek with mocked innocence. "You know," he said in his best Hermione voice, "they didn't make me the Head Girl for nothing." The table broke out in gales of laughter. Ginny cupped her hands to her mouth, but her squeals could still be heard. Harry's jaw dropped and it took him a moment to actually laugh, but once he did it was the hardest he'd laughed all night, which was saying something. He tried really hard not to visualize what Ron had just insinuated. Hermione didn't appear offended; in fact she seemed clearly amused, but she didn't make a sound. As soon as everyone quieted down, she looked Ron in the eye. "No, no, no," she said slowly, shaking her head. "You've got me all wrong. Mine would be a little more like this…." She turned to Harry and leaned a little closer. Instinctively he backed away, but he caught himself…it was only Hermione after all. Trying to play it off, he moved in closer to her with a confident expression. A wicked little smile crossed her face and a twinkle in her eye made Harry hold his breath for a moment. Then she gently reached down and put her hand on his knee. "Don't be nervous," she said in a voice barely above a whisper. She slowly walked her fingers up toward his thigh. He glanced quickly down at her hand, and then back up to her eyes; he had completely lost that confident look. She continued, bringing her lips closer to his ear. "I've read all about this; I know exactly what I'm doing." The table fell completely silent for a moment. Then all at once, Seamus and Ron both let out a loud hoot of laughter and cheers. Seamus was bouncing up and down in his seat, hands over his mouth. Ron had his head on the table and was pounding his fists down on it, nearly knocking a few of the glasses to the floor. Ginny just couldn't contain herself and actually slid off the chair onto the floor, where she sat with her face buried in her hands, her shoulders shaking uncontrollably. Hermione's and Harry's eyes were still locked together for a few moments. He was pretty sure his heart had stopped and he had definitely forgotten to breathe ever since she touched his knee. He knew for a fact that his face was Weasley red that time, and it wasn't until Hermione backed away and smiled a huge, triumphant smile that he was able to shake out of his daze. He grinned sheepishly and began to laugh with the others. Now that Harry's heart had started to beat again, it was going a bit faster than he would have liked. He blamed it on the alcohol. He also reasoned that the alcohol would explain how flushed his cheeks felt. "I think it's time to switch to butterbeer," Harry said, pushing his glass away. "Wow!" Ron said, cooling down from his laughter. "I wish you could have seen your face just then, mate. That was great! Hermione, I have a whole new respect for you!" He held up his glass to her. She grinned and said, "Thanks, Ron." Ginny pulled herself up off the floor and back into her chair. Just when she had almost stopped laughing, she looked at Hermione and burst into another fit of giggles. "Oh, Harry…" she started, but she was giggling too much to finish her sentence. Hermione turned to Harry and spoke quietly. "I hope I didn't embarrass you too much. But you know I couldn't let him win that one," she reasoned. "No, no," he smiled, speaking quietly in return. "That was excellent! And quite convincing...I didn't know you were such a good actress." Hermione opened her mouth as if to say something, but stopped herself and just smiled back, almost shyly. "Come on, Hermione," Ginny said, getting up from the table. "Where are we going?" she asked as Ginny grabbed her hand and pulled her up. "To the ladies' room." "Why can't you just go by yourself?" Ron asked, clearly perplexed by the 'girls go in groups' phenomenon. "I'll never understand…they go in groups and they take forever. What are they doing in there?" Hermione looked back at the guys and shrugged. "We'll be right back." |
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