AN: I do feel like this chapter is lacking a bit. I debated on rewriting, but after a few failed attempts I threw in the towel. Hope you are all doing well (unlike me who is feverish, sniffly, and crabby :c). There's no real development in this chapter. I just found it slightly amusing...

Thank you all for the reviews and the follows and favs. It really makes my day to see how much you all enjoy the story. I dare say it might just be the first multi-chap that I finish. - Chris


"Hermione, you dirty girl!" Ginny cried as she straddled the back of Hermione's thighs. "Wakie wakie!"

"Ginny get off of me," Hermione mumbled against her pillow, snuggling in vain against her warm, inviting bed.

She put her finger to her mouth in consideration. "Hmm, how about no." but a surprised yelp came from her when Hermione rolled over successfully knocking her off the bed.

Hermione winced. "Are you okay?" she asked worried, looking at the red-head who was sitting on the floor. Hermione burst into giggles as Ginny broke out into a wide, amused grin.

"So, which one was it?" she asked standing.

Hermione flinched. "How did you know?"

"Easy. One: I heard you sneak out last night. Two: You didn't come in until even later. Three: You have smudges on your face!" she pointed out. "And if that wasn't enough; Five: You have a love bite on your neck!" She bounced over to the bed. "So, which one was it?" Her frown vanished. "Sweet Circe, it wasn't Percy, was it?"

Hermione flinched. "Merlin, no!"

"Ron?"

Hermione glared and Ginny put her hands up in defence.

"Well, I know you better to go after a taken man, so all bets on Charlie?" When Hermione didn't reply Ginny's grin widened. "Gods alive! You were boned by Charlie!"

Hermione gaped at her friend in shock as her face heated and she threw a pillow at her. "You should stop hanging around George. I wasn't boned by Charlie, we just..." she instantly hushed. "You know what? I'm not talking about your brother with you, that's all sorts of odd."

"Fair enough," Ginny replied. "Do you like him?"

An eyebrow rose. "Obviously." she said pointing at the mark on her neck.

"And he likes you." Ginny smiled. "That's great, Hermione."

Hermione expression turned somber. That wasn't something she had considered. Did Charlie like her? One didn't need to have feelings for another to be intimate with them. It was likely that he had simply gotten caught up in the moment. What if he never wanted to do anything with her again? It could have just been an one-time-thing for him...

"Hey, whoa. I didn't mean for you to go all sulk mode."

Hermione looked up, confusion evident on her face. "What?"

"Are you really that worried about him not liking you?" Ginny looked taken aback.

"A little," she admitted quietly.

Ginny sighed, not knowing what else to say. "He's interested."

"How do you know?"

"God, I don't know, the way he looks at you is pretty obvious. It's not a look of love or anything, don't get me wrong, but I can tell you make him curious and he seems to genuinely enjoy talking to you... he doesn't talk to many these days. If you don't believe me, you can always just ask him."

Hermione worried her lip for a few moments before standing. "I know you're trying to help, but can we please just go downstairs for breakfast?"

Ginny nodded. "Yeah, but not before we take care of the bruises on your neck." She dug through her trunk and pulled out a jar.

Hermione was tempted to ask to keep one as a souvenir from their heated moment together. She hadn't even seen them, but it was somewhat nice to know they were there and it hadn't all been a dream, but at the same time, it wouldn't be the best idea to keep them; especially not if they went swimming again. She even thought herself a bit silly for being sentimental. Who really got sentimental over a simple love bite?

"I can't believe you had sex before me," Ginny said quietly.

Leave it to Ginny to assume. "I didn't have sex with him." Though, she didn't admit that it wasn't too far off the mark. Had their clothes not been there..

"Really?"

Something about her friend's tone worried her. Was Ginny jealous? The thought caused Hermione to really look at her friend, who's attention was glued to her neck. "Yes, really."

"All gone!" Ginny sang as she put the cap back on the jar. "Now lets get downstairs before mum calls for reinforcements."

Hermione jumped slightly at the swift change in mood and she reached out for Ginny's wrist. "Is something the matter?"

Heaving a sigh, the younger girl flopped back onto the bed. "I've been dropping hints to Harry for weeks now, but he doesn't seem to pick up on them," she cried in frustration and annoyance.

"Well," Hermione started slowly. "It is Harry... He doesn't do well with subtle." There was something odd about talking about Harry's sex life that made her skin crawl and she wondered, mildly how it didn't bother Ginny to joke about her and Charlie; not to mention, who was she to give advice on sex?

When she looked back, Ginny had her arms behind her head staring impishly at the ceiling lost in thought. "So I should be blunt..." she affirmed, more or less to herself than to Hermione.

A snort came involuntarily from Hermione's lips as she reached out to tug Ginny off the bed ignoring the cry of, 'hey' that followed the action.

The aroma of Molly's sweet flapjacks wafted throughout the house and they both threw on their clothing and sped down stairs. Hermione looked at the table for a seat and squeezed into a seat in between Ginny and Angelina. Unfortunately, this seat just happened to be in front of Charlie who was doing a fairly good job at ignoring her completely. His lack of commentary twisted something inside of her. She told herself she was overreacting and turned to talk to Arthur about the Ministry.

"Pass the honey?"

Hermione stopped mid sentence and her eyes shifted to Charlie. "Sure." She slid the bottle across the table and watched him pour the sweet substance over his cakes.

A mischievous idea popped into her head, causing her to fight off the smirk threatening to appear on her face and toed off her shoe. She decided experimentation was in order. If he stopped her, it would mean her actions were unwanted. If he didn't, then she might be so lucky as to have a repeat of last night. Taking a bite of her breakfast, she slid her foot across the floor pausing to regain some bravery. It was highly likely that the results of this experiment could be disastrous. Lifting her chin in defiance, she slid her foot gently over his and to his ankle, up his calf and to his thigh.

He froze for a moment before setting the honey back down. She couldn't tell what his reaction was, for he seemed to have his face masked. She squinted her eyes and looked back down as her foot moved to his crotch. Surely he would move away... but to her delight he scooted his chair forward and pressed into her foot, causing Hermione to smile around her fork. He wanted her, or at least he enjoyed her attention. She wiggled her toes and watched amused as his hand shook slightly around his glass of juice. She felt empowered and pressed into him slightly harder. He wiped his mouth and threw her an amused grin before getting up to put his dishes away. She smiled back in return, thankful that he had worn a longer shirt.

She looked around and noticed everyone else doing the same, until her eyes landed on Ginny who was looking at her like the cat who at the canary creams.

"What?" she asked, hoping the question sounded innocent.

"Oh nothing," came her reply.

"Ginny," Hermione whined as the girl looked from her brother back to her and raised her eyebrow to which Hermione shook her head frantically.

"Sure," Ginny drawled in response, nodding slowly.

Hermione rolled her eyes and Harry craned his head. "Do I even want to know?" he asked.

"Nope!" the two girls chimed in unison.

Harry threw them a suspicious look and stood, muttering something about secret girl code.


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