Unofficial Portkey Archive

Chapter 12

She knew she would regret saying yes, she just knew it. But it was already an assumed fact that Hogwarts's new "It" couple would go together, so it wasn't as if she had much choice. That's what she hated the most. Ever since this little "thing" started, she couldn't have been more miserable. She was about ready to throw in the towel after a few days! It seemed as if life couldn't get any worse. So what if Harry and Ginny knew?

Hermione sighed. She knew that was a stupid question. She knew that they would both probably abandon her if they ever found out; and that was the only thing that pushed her to hang onto this nightmare. Nothing would be worse than losing her two best friends. Nothing.

The Spring Ball was fast approaching and she needed a dress. The thing was, she hated dresses. She hated the frills, the colors, the empire or the princess cut, everything. It made her feel like such a… priss when she wore them. The only other time she had worn a dress was the Yule Ball and her Aunt Gracie's funeral; may she rest in peace. Even when she and her family went to Sunday services she wore tiny pantsuits.

"Oh come on Hermione, please!" the pestering voice asked again.

"No."

"Why not?"

"I am perfectly able to pick out my own dress, I'm not twelve!"

Ginny arched a brow and she stared at her best friend. Hermione sighed and turned back to her assignment, ignoring the persistency of one very determined red-head. Ginny clicked her tongue in thought as she tried to think of a way to sway Hermione in the right direction. She knew of her fear of dresses; or, more of a hate of them. Ginny knew there was a girl in Hermione somewhere that couldn't resist the lure of a gorgeous dress when she saw one, and by Merlin she was going to pull the little bugger out her nose if she had too!

"How about an ultimatum?" Ginny asked. Without looking up from her book Ginny could see Hermione roll her eyes, but since she didn't immediately discredit the suggestion, she continued. "I know that you are dying to get the newest James Patterson novel…"

Hermione immediately straightened and turned to look at Ginny with narrowed eyes, "How do you know that?"

A small powder blue notebook flashed in front of Ginny's eyes before she answered, "I know everything."

Hermione's jaw gritted as she said through clenched teeth, "You read my diary again."

"A mere glance does not constitute `reading' per se…"

"What else did you read?" Hermione asked with suspicion. Fear also laced her thoughts, but she chose to repel the inferior thought with an invisible fly-swatter. There wasn't anything too incredibly embarrassing in there…

"I might have seen a few lines dedicated to the description of a rather recent dream."

Hermione's eyes widened, "You didn't!"

"No, I didn't. But now I know you're having dreams about Ha-" Hermione jammed her open hand atop Ginny's mouth before she could finish.

"Do you want me to be on death watch?!" She whispered frantically before she took her hand back.

"Sorry." Ginny mumbled. There was a small silence before Ginny got a naughty glint in her eyes. "So… how was he?"

Hermione shoved her in the shoulder "Ginny!" She ignored the butterflies in her stomach as she got a small flash of her dream from the previous night.

"Hey, don't hate me for being curious." Ginny said as she smirked at Hermione.

Hermione rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to where her papers were scattered on the small table in front of her. Tried would be a better descriptive word. She felt Ginny's gaze burning holes in her back and tensed. With a slight turn of her head she saw Ginny looking at her with the small smirk still on her lips. "What?"

"I'm waiting for the answer to my question." She stated matter-of-factly.

"You're not going to get one." Hermione said stubbornly. Another flash.

"Please! The horny fifteen-year-old in me can't stand it!" Another flash.

"No." Skin; lots and lots of skin.

"It's not like you're the only one!"

"Obviously." Hermione returned back to her work. The gaze was still on her back, it was like there were tiny bruise marks forming now. Another flash passed in her vision, this one only of shimmering green eyes. Hermione put down her quill and turned to her best friend with a defeated look in her eyes.

"If I go to Hogsmeade with you, will you stop bugging me?"

Ginny's face broke into a wide grin and Hermione instantly regretted the power the small girl had over her. "That's all I ask."

She began to pack up her things with Ginny's help. Hermione tried to walk slowly, but with Ginny on her tail, she was constantly being pushed up the stairs and almost tripped a fair few times. Only Ginny…

When they got to the room Hermione put the papers in her hand on the small table by her bed and sat down on her cool mattress. Ginny followed suit and joined Hermione.

"So I was thinking we could head to this little store that just opened up, it's called `Faire' and has the most ah-mazing clothes according to the catalog I got in the mail last week!" Ginny said excitedly.

"Sure, Gin, whatever you want." Hermione replied stiffly.

"Don't be so melodramatic, Herms. I'll make this fun, I promise!" Ginny seemed as determined as ever and Hermione couldn't help but smile at her dainty face. She nodded as Ginny bounced off the bed and got her coat. Hermione saw her exit and quickly reached under her pillow and retrieved her powder blue diary. She flipped to her latest entry and saw the first few words: I had the most stimulating dream…

Of course that entry would catch Ginny's attention. She quickly shut the cover and placed it in her trunk under the bed. That location would have to do until she could find a suitable locking charm. She then grabbed her green fleece and headed downstairs to meet her doom- Ginny.

~*~

It was a short trip to the village, only ten minutes. They exited the carriage and headed towards the shops at a normal pace, to Hermione's delight. Ginny led them to the bookshop first, shocking Hermione. She then straightened herself out; it was just to butter her up. Ginny stayed at the front of the store, scanning the many gossip magazines they had on display, while Hermione headed to the Muggle reading section and studied the `New Releases' section, looking for the latest installment to her favorite authors literary library.

It took her all but one minute to find her book. Hermione tried to stall as long as she could, picking up a few light reading books off the shelves as well, ones that looked appealing by their covers. A black one with an apple plastered on the cover looked especially tempting. But she couldn't put off the inevitable forever.

She arrived at the front counter, where Ginny was waiting patiently with a pile up to her neck in magazines, some of which the titles Hermione had never even heard of, ones with exotic faces plastered on the cover and very suggestive titles for articles. They made their purchases and Hermione let Ginny lead the way to a store in the distance. It wasn't until they were about a hundred yards away that she could make out the lavender bricks. She felt the gag reflex kick in at fifty yards.

Ginny stopped right in front of the entranceway and looked upwards, admiring the shiny golden cursive lettering. Hermione resisted the urge to sprint away. Ginny hadn't said one word to bug her since they left the castle, and she would be a lousy friend to back off now.

After about thirty seconds of watching Ginny sigh and look up dreamily, they entered the store. As soon as Hermione stepped onto the welcome mat, the smell of expensive perfume and marmalade found their way into her senses. Hermione held back the cough at the back of her throat with a slight sniff. Ginny turned around, looking as if she was in heaven-and she probably was, in her own little way.

She grabbed Hermione's hand and led her to where she saw the dress section towards the back of the store. There were a few familiar faces shopping here as well- Hannah Abbot, the Patil Twins, and Lavender Brown among them. Hermione felt strangely out of place next to the giggling girls who were holding up dresses of all variety to their tiny figures and spinning around like they were already at the ball. Ginny's hand and her feet were the only things that were moving. Her body was stiff and her eyes remained glued to the dress-filled wall in front of her.

As they came to halt, Ginny let go of her hand and turned to face the frozen face of her friend. Ginny smiled warmly and patted her shoulder. "I know this must seem very new to you, but it'll be over before you know it! Just look through these racks and pick out the ones you like. I'll be by the dressing rooms and you can meet me there and try them on, okay?"

Hermione nodded numbly to her and watched her make her way to the far corner where the dressing rooms were located. After she lost sight of her, she turned to the racks of dresses beside her and began fingering through them, uninterested. There were all sorts of dresses hanging there; short, long, v-necked and small thin pieces of fabric she thought belonged in the children's section, if the children would want to be subjected to pedophiles. A few colors caught her eyes: green, lilac, and a black. She grabbed each one of them without looking at the price or design and headed to the dressing rooms, wanted to get this over fast.

Ginny was guarding the stall near the tall mirrors and pedestal in the middle and opened it up to her when she entered the room. Hermione shoved in there and put on the first dress; the black one. She didn't even bother to look at herself in the floor-length mirror in the stall, she just pushed open the door and walked up to Ginny, whose eyes grew wide and her expression turned to one of horror. Hermione looked down to what she was wearing; it looked fine to her eyes. She stepped onto the raised ground in front of the mirrors to get a full look and almost burst out laughing; the dress went down to her ankles and had gold sequins trailing down it at random angles, there were feathers attached to the sleeves and placed at the bottom hem of the dress.

"Now about you being perfectly able to pick out your own dress…" Ginny trailed off.

"Oh, shut up." Hermione said before walking down from the mirrors and back into her stall.

She took off the dress and placed it on a hanger labeled "no". She watched the dress fade with slight fascination as she put on the next one; the lilac. Lilac had always been one of her favorite colors, some of the sheets on her bed being of the same shade. It made her feel more homely in this one. She ignored looking in the mirror again; opening the door more gingerly this time. Ginny had her back to the stalls, fiddling with her hair in the mirror. It took her a second to notice that Hermione was standing behind her, but when she did she had to do a double take.

Her face turned to one of shock as she looked at the beauty in the mirror behind her. She turned around slowly and looked Hermione up and down. It was literally the most beautiful dress she had ever seen in her life. The lilac brought out the porcelain shine to her skin, making her look like a delicate doll in the lamp light. The thin-strapped bodice swooped down, letting a peak of her cleavage show, but not too much as to be revealing; it was covered in exquisite beading, acting as a low-cut bra over a tulle-like material, covering the rest of her chest. The sheer material that was below the bodice flowed all the way down to her ankles with a slight tear on one side up to her knees, making the dress have some sort of sex-appeal, which was just what Ginny wanted Hermione to have.

"You look… breathtaking." Ginny gasped.

"I do?" Hermione asked.

"Have you even looked at yourself in the mirror?"

"No…" Hermione answered reproachfully.

Ginny grabbed her elbow and pulled her towards the mirrors, forcing her to face herself. Hermione's breath caught; it really was beautiful, for a dress, that is. She fiddled with the beaded design in the middle and looked over at Ginny. She was grinning from ear-to-ear.

"So did we find it?" she asked.

"You tell me."

Hermione took another look at herself in the mirror and smiled gently at the reflection. She felt like such a… woman in this dress. She took that as a sign that this was, indeed, the dress. Hermione nodded at Ginny and she squealed, jumping up and down loudly and hugging her tightly. Hermione returned the hug and when they let go, they heard hurried footsteps coming into the dressing room, probably curious as to what all of the ruckus was about. The three girls Hermione spotted earlier were standing in the doorway, looking at the two girls with eyes bulged out of their heads.

"You look gorgeous!"

"Oh my god, you actually are a girl!"

"You look so hot!"

All the comments were said simultaneously and Hermione smiled and thanked the girls in turn. Hermione knew there was a reason she liked them.

"Seriously, Ron's going to drop dead when he sees you in that!" Lavender cooed.

Hermione forced a smile at that compliment as well. Ginny shoved Hermione in the shoulder playfully, knowing full well who she really wanted to see piss his pants when he saw her. Hermione excused herself to change back into her normal clothes as the girls exited the room, checking the price tag for the first time as she pulled on her shirt. Her vision went dizzy as she slumped against the door in shock. Were there really that many zeros in existence?

She heard knocking at that door and Ginny's frantic voice, "Are you alright?!"

"Yeah… I'm-I'm fine." Hermione found her balance again and slipped her trainers on before opening the door with a solemn look on her face.

"What's wrong?" Ginny asked worriedly.

"I can't get the dress." Hermione said sadly.

"Why not?!" Ginny roared.

In response, Hermione handed her the dress, looking down at the floor. Ginny automatically checked the dress for any imperfections but found nothing. She was about to tell Hermione off when she noticed the piece of canary paper attached to the tag in the back. She flipped the card over and her eyes widened.

"I haven't seen that many zeros since I read your book on numbers!"

"You mean my Calculus book?"

"Yeah, that."

The two girls made their way back to the rack to put the dress back, moods officially dampened. Hermione was mentally preparing herself to try on other dresses. More fabrics scraping against her skin, more feathers tickling her, the color pink. She shivered.

She was just about to put the dress back on the rack when Ginny grabbed her wrist. She turned to face her looked at the young girl's face; she looked as if she was about to cry. Hermione instantly became concerned. "Ginny…"

All she did for an acknowledgment to Hermione was point. She followed her finger and laughed gently to herself. There, atop the rack where she found the dress was a bright coral sign, Student Discount with Purchase of Shoes and Accessory. Ginny smiled broadly and dragged Hermione to where the shoes were and let her pick out the matching shoes. She ended up picking ones that matched the dress's shade of lilac with a similar pattern of gems. The accessory they decided on was a small pair of white crystal earrings in the shape of tiny daisies.

They had all of the items rung up and had a total much lower than the original dress had been. Hermione thanked Merlin that she had enough to cover it after her book indulgence.

"Thank-you sale!" Ginny exclaimed as they exited the store.

"Amen to that." Hermione answered.

~*~

Entering the tower that night, they ran into him.

"What do you have in the bag, Herms?" he said slyly, trying to take a peek into the multiple bags she had balanced on her arms.

Hermione batted her eyelashes flirtatiously as she batted his hand away, "Nothing."

Ron smirked, "Something for later?" His eyebrows arched and Hermione tried not to think about what was going through his mind.

"You could say that."

With a forceful kiss on her lips as a goodnight, he returned to his game of chess with Dean. Hermione wiped her lips with her free hand and made her way up to her room. Saying goodnight to Ginny, she collapsed onto her bad and let out a content sigh. At least the worst part was over. Wait, no, scratch that, the dance in itself would probably be the worst part. He probably already had a date…

A gorgeous blonde flashed through her line of vision and she sniffed.

Unloading her bags slowly into her dresser, she fought back the line of tears threatening to pour out of her eyes. It was a stupid thing to cry over the fact that he presumably had a date. For all she knew, he could be going stag. She hadn't talked to him much lately, the guilt of what felt like betrayal always rushed through her whenever she saw him. It made it harder for her to look him in the eyes; harder to be in his mere presence.

She sluggishly put on her pajamas and slipped into her covers. The relaxation of being in her own bed calmed her down, easing her tears back. She snuggled into their warm abyss and let her eyes drift close.

They were both working in silence, their quills scratching against parchment the only sound around them in the small corner of the library. She couldn't help sneaking a few glances at him, smiling whenever he had to swipe his bangs out of his eyes. It was like this for a while, a comfortable silence. She didn't notice he had ceased his writing and had picked up the book that was at her side.

His voice startled her. She looked up to where he was examining her book closely. "It's Ginny's copy of Romeo and Juliet; she let me borrow it after she was done with her paper for Muggle Studies."

"Ahh." He said with ease.

Hermione nodded her head and continued to work. It was a few more minutes before he spoke up again. "I think we should take a break and read some of it."

"Yeah, like a scene or something. My hand is going to develop carpal tunnel if I write one more thing on the Salem Witch Trials." He said, gently massaging his right hand.

Hermione put her quill down, thankful that one of them had suggested some sort of cease in their work efforts. She nodded in agreement as she turned in her chair to face him. He followed suit and waved his hand over the book so it duplicated, handing her the original. Hermione smiled at his gesture and watched him flip through the pages of his copy, looking for an appropriate scene.

He found it quickly, "Page 69."

She flipped to that page and saw the scene he had chosen. Her cheeks burned red as he begun to read. "If I profane with my unworthiest hand. This holy shrine, the gentle fine is this: My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand. To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss."

"Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, Which mannerly devotion shows in this; For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch, And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss." She said with as much emotion she could muster. She always loved Shakespeare, so it's wasn't incredibly difficult.

"Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer."

"O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do; They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair." He said with humor in his tone.

"Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake." She said with a smirk.

"Then move not, while my prayer's effect I take. Thus from my lips, by yours, my sin is purged."

Hermione glanced up at him and saw that he was staring at her. Her insides started to prickle. She felt her face turn red and looked down to where her next line was. She didn't get a chance to read it. He took her chin in his hand and tilted her face upwards so that their lips met. His lips moved slowly across hers, back and forth, as if he were just feeling their texture. She felt her brain turn to mush, her conscious thought disappear. Oh, how she missed his kiss. At first she thought he was following the script, but when he didn't pull back she acted.

Her head moved in turn so that she was kissing him back, their lips barely touching. His hand that she thought was holding his book came to place at her leg and made a path to her waist, pulling her onto his lap. He was scooted just right so that she could wrap her legs around his waist. Her hands moved to his neck and held on, treasuring this tender moment for all that it was worth. In a moment it could all slip away. When that thought entered her mind, his mouth became harder against hers and his hand moved to her neck, securing her to him in a heated kiss.

They broke apart for only seconds at a time before re-attaching moments later. His mouth opened up and hers followed. Their tongues moved together slowly, seductively. She could feel his hand move under her shirt, meeting the bare skin of her back and leaving goose bumps in its wake. She moaned into his mouth and squeezed tighter. He detached himself from her lips, a mew of protest coming from her throat. He wasn't gone for long, his lips attaching to her throat. A breath of pleasure came from her mouth as he lifted her shirt off of her, looking in her eyes. The tenderness made tears come forth and spill onto her cheeks. He smiled and kissed each one away, making her stomach erupt in flips.

They stared at each other for what seemed like eternity, only tender touches. He led her hands from his neck to the hem of his shirt. He helped her pull it off and she blushed at the sight of his muscled chest. He chuckled low in his chest and cupped her jaw.

"Then let me in." He placed a kiss on her collarbone. "Let me be a part of your life." Another kiss on her neck. "Tell me your secrets." Another on her ear. "Let me love you." He put a gentle kiss on her lips.

Tell me your secrets…

She woke with a start. That had been the most potent dream yet. They usually lacked conversation and were just filled with… well… sex, like normal dreams of that variety were. This felt so real… the tenderness, the delicacy. Hermione felt her forehead, it was as hot as Hades, and sweat drenched it.

It all felt so real…

A/N: Sorry for the long update. I usually write a new chapter after one is validated on HPFF, but Chapter 7 of "Move Along" has had some trouble in the queue and it's taken a while. So anyhoo, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter! It was more of a filler chapter to be honest. I just want to build up some buzz before the next chapter; which will be the ball, woot woot! I think I have a fairly good idea about what's going to happen there, so expect the unexpected

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Hope to see you all soon,
Shar

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