A/N - I would've posted this chapter sooner, three days after the last update in fact, but Portkey wasn't accepting MS word, and I was too lazy to makee an HTML document. But, thank you for all the reviews! Each and everyone of them made me smile, and when I finished reading all of them, I actually got up to do a little victory dance. THANK YOU! You guys seriously rock. Keep the reviews coming, lol. Anyway…I'm glad you all like the pairings so far. And I know the kiss was a little too early, but you'll see why. Also, who are hoping for a relationship between Harry and Hermione any time soon, sorry. I can't make it that easy, it seems wrong to ME. Lol. I'm evil, remember? There's some Abby/Seamus in this chapter, hope you'll enjoy! And as always, let me know what you think.
P.S - I have no clue where the D/G secret thing came from. The characters just have a mind of their own I guess. =P I was just going to have them meet after all those years and stuff, but they totally refused. Apparently, they were even keeping it a secret from ME. =/
Okay, I'll shut up now.
* * *
Chapter 7 - Confusion
"Ohhhhh..."
"Huh…"
…
"HUH?!" Stare. Scream. Punch. And then some.
"Ow. Ow. Okay, that's enough. OW! Stop it, Hermione!"
"SHUT UP!" Hermione flapped her arms around wildly and hit him smack in the face.
"Yeah, go on, look like a fish, flap those fins. It's not very attractive, just so you know." Grumbles. Rubs face.
"Ughh...Get off of me!"
Thud.
Hermione crawled across and poked her head off the bed to look down at the figure on the floor, her eyes bleary. "What the hell are you doing in my bed?"
"This is MY bed," he stated, still lying on his back on the floor, spread-eagle, blinking up at her. "And this is my room. Look at my mug over there," he pointed at his desk. "Doesn't it say 'Adam'?"
Hermione rolled over, groaning, but she was relieved all her clothes were still intact. It seemed like they'd just stumbled into the room and went to sleep as soon as their heads hit the pillows. She didn't have a lot to drink, but then again, she didn't really have a lot of tolerance against alcohol either.
Adam finally sat up and slowly slithered onto the bed. "Thanks for making my head-ache even worse."
"You're welcome," emerged Hermione's muffled response from beneath the pillow. "I need some sobering potion..."
"Oliver must be making some downstairs," he muttered, throwing an arm over her waist as she lay on her stomach. "Get some, and try to find who hit me with the damn truck."
"I seriously hope we didn't do anything last night," she looked up, frowning.
"I don't think we did," Adam waved a hand between them; they were both wearing last night's clothes.
"Good," she got up, letting Adam's arm slide off her as she did so. The movement of getting out of the bed was making her see stars in front of her eyes. She winced as she brought a hand to her forehead and dragged herself to the door. She got out and closed the door behind her, but froze when she saw Harry on the landing, his hands placed on the railing. When he heard a door close, though, he turned around and saw Hermione. His lips started to spread into a smile before he noticed her disheveled state and where she'd emerged from. His eyes widened slightly, and the smile faded.
"Harry-" Hermione started to say.
He walked away, his expression stony, when Oliver called his name and went down the stairs.
Hermione, biting her lip, followed him downstairs. Oliver handed her a goblet and she nodded in thanks before gulping it and making a face. "Thanks, I think."
Oliver grinned. "You'll feel better in no time," he told her. "And Hermione...you look terrible."
"I feel terrible," she grumbled as she climbed back upstairs to her room. She could talk to Harry later.
As she stood in front of the bathroom mirror, she almost didn't recognize herself. Her mascara ran down her cheeks, and her eyes were puffy. What bothered her most though, was that her lipstick was smeared, and her lips rather swollen. Not to mention the fact that there wasn't an inch of the dress that wasn't wrinkled. Hermione barely moved in her sleep.
She touched her lips cautiously, her face falling. She and Adam might not have had sex, but it looked like they'd had a heavy make out session. She didn't like this at all. No wonder Harry was looking at her like that. She couldn't forget the expression on his face...Like he'd been betrayed.
What was that all about?
Alright, so they'd kissed. Did those kisses mean as much to him as they did to her? Why her, though? He could have ANY girl he wanted...
Hermione had felt a powerful connection between them in those two kisses, but it still didn't make sense to her why Harry Potter himself would want someone like her. It all felt so surreal.
During the rest of the day, whenever she'd tried to talk to Harry, they either got interrupted, or he just sort of avoided her eyes and frowned, ignoring her presence.
"And they say women make hasty assumptions," she grumbled under her breath after another failed attempt of trying to talk to him in the living room, and watched as he walked out with his hands shoved in his pockets.
God, he has such a fine-looking arse, though.
* * *
"This is rather annoying," Abby muttered as she left the bathroom, wiping her mouth with a tissue.
"Sorry, love," Ginny looked up from her newspaper and smiled sympathetically.
"Yesterday I threw up 'til 6 in the evening. It's a mystery to me why they call it morning sickness," she sat down behind her desk and sighed deeply.
"It should stop soon...I heard the vomiting usually goes on for the first three months or so."
Abby nodded darkly, just as the door leading to their offices opened. "It better stop."
"What better stop?" Seamus smiled as he walked in, and Abby gaped.
"Seamus?"
"I should think so," he grinned.
"Smartass," Abby laughed, and got up so she could give him a hug. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to take you out to lunch," he declared.
"What?" Abby said, blinking, rather taken aback.
"It's almost lunch-time; aren't you going to eat?"
"Well, yes, but-"
"So I came to take you," he tilted his head, his brown eyes twinkling at her.
"I'm sorry, Seamus," Abby smiled apologetically at him. "I still have a lot of work to do, and I don't feel all that good."
"Well, aren't you going to eat?" He pointed out, refusing to back down.
"I already brought my lunch," she waved at the brown bag at a corner of her desk.
"Well, I-"
"I'm sorry, Seamus," Abby said firmly. "It was nice of you to drop by, though. Thank you."
"Maybe some other time, then," he kissed her cheek, smiling. "I'm not giving up quite yet," he added softly. "Bye, Gin." He waved as he left, and Abby collapsed on her chair, sighing.
"It wouldn't have hurt to go out for lunch with him," Ginny said, frowning. "He's a great guy, Abby."
"I thought Anthony was a great guy, too. And look where it got me."
"You have to move on. Are you going to stay single for the rest of your life?"
"I'm not ready, okay?" She snapped. "I'm already trying to deal with this on my own and I'm not ready for another man in my life."
Ginny was going to say something else, but just nodded silently, and went back to her work.
"I'm sorry," Abby sighed, swiftly changing from angry to sad. "It's those mood swings...They're driving me crazy."
"I understand," Ginny smiled.
"So why aren't YOU with someone?" Abby asked, crossing her legs as she bit into a sandwich. "I've never seen you go out with anyone since I started working here."
Ginny smirked. "I have been in a relationship for about six months now."
"Honestly?" Abby raised her eyebrows and sat up. "Who is he?"
"We're kind of keeping a low profile right now..." Ginny said, trying to avoid the question. "My brother will freak if he finds out about him."
"Who is he, Draco Malfoy?" Abby joked, but when Ginny didn't laugh, she stared at her. "Draco Malfoy?"
"I'd appreciate it if you kept that to yourself," Ginny said uncomfortably.
"I will, but, six months? That's kinda long for a secret relationship..."
"I know," she shrugged. "I'm going to tell Ron soon enough, even if Draco doesn't want me to."
"Are you...in love with him?"
"Yes," Ginny blushed. "Most people think of him as an arsehole, but he's really not that bad."
Abby smirked. "In bed?"
"You could say that," Ginny laughed. "But seriously, he's not that bad. He can be a total teddy bear when he wants to be, but that doesn't happen too often."
Abby grinned. "I'm really happy for you, Gin."
"Thanks. I just hope Ron won't be too pissed. Not to mention Fred, George, Charlie, Bill..."
"Crap," Abby blinked at her. "These are all your brothers?"
"Indeed. You should meet them sometime. We Weasleys are a riot."
* * *
"I think I'll go see Abby after practice," Hermione mentioned to Jess the next morning, sipping her coffee.
"I'll come with you." Jess nodded and leaned sideways to whisper in Hermione's ear, "Just what is it with you and Harry?"
"What is it?" Hermione asked as innocently as she could, and cleared her throat when Jess gave her a dirty look. "Nothing, Jess. And I mean that literally," she said so only Jess could hear.
"You're not getting away so fast," Jess shook her head, and Hermione sighed.
* * *
"-then he just walked away," Hermione finished, frowning.
"Wow," Abby raised her eyebrows. "Are you absolutely sure you didn't sleep with Adam?"
"Yes," Hermione frowned, and then let her face fall. "I don't know…I mean we both had our clothes on…"
"I doubt you two got up after having sex to put your clothes on," Jess said, blowing on her nails. "And…this is my brother we're talking about, so I'd rather be kept blissfully ignorant."
Hermione felt her mind slightly at ease. Jess's reasoning did make sense. So Adam and her couldn't have slept together. What a relief. She wanted to actually remember her first time, at least. But now, thinking about it, it was rather stupid to think her and Adam had done it. There would've been some kind of pain, or soreness, but there was none of that in the morning. And again, there was the fact that they both had their clothes on.
"So now…who do you like?" Jess asked curiously. "Adam or Harry?"
"I don't know," Hermione said helplessly. "I like both of them and that sounds really…I don't know. I'm confused…You know, I think me and Adam sort of snogged last night…"
Abby raised her eyebrows. "Really?"
"Well, my lipstick was extremely messed up this morning and I didn't see any on the pillows…"
"On Adam?"
Hermione frowned, pondering this. "Now that you mention it, I didn't even see his face properly this morning. I went to get some sobering potion right after I woke up."
"I still can't believe you drank," Abby giggled.
"I know," the other brunette shook her head. "I don't think I've ever gotten this drunk before."
"It was fun, though," Jess said, turning so her legs rested on one arm of the chair, and her back on the other. "We should do it more often."
"That's what Seamus said," Abby said before she could stop herself.
"Really?" Jess smirked, and sat up slightly. "Tell us more."
Abby bit her lip. "He kind of came over to the office today…"
"And?"
"He wanted to take me out for lunch."
"And you refused," Hermione sighed.
Abby nodded and shrugged. "Like I told Ginny, I'm not ready yet."
"That's understandable."
"You know, you should really talk to Harry," Abby said after a while.
"He keeps ignoring me! He didn't even look at me at practice today. And I didn't even do anything."
"He just needs time to cool down," Jess told her. "He's a really stubborn kid, too. Maybe you should wait for a bit."
"Let's just hope he does cool down…" Hermione bit her lip, pausing. "I don't even know why I care so much about having him know that nothing happened."
Jess and Abby shared a look, and then Abby shrugged, a small smirk playing on her lips.
"I thought it was obvious, love."
* * *
Word Count: 1943
Pages: 6.5
-->