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“So you snogged my brother.”
Hermione stopped in her tracks. “ That’s what you wanted to talk to me about? That’s why you brought me out to the lake?” Her tone was half-joking, but nevertheless, she moved a few extra feet from the edge of the water and crossed her arms over her chest, walking again when Ginny didn’t stop. “I thought you didn’t care.”
“Oh, I don’t. I mean, sucks for you, I guess, but you’re the one that has to deal with him.” A grin crossed her face as she looked back at Hermione. “I’ve been waiting for years for you two to realize you had feelings for each other. It’s been exhausting, really.”
In the week following their kiss in the Chamber of Secrets, Ron and Hermione had gotten annoyingly awkward. Not nearly as bad as he and Lavender had been, and they never showed any sign of affection around them besides holding hands, but this whole getting used to being with each other thing she hoped they figured out sooner rather than later. It was like they didn’t know how to act around each other anymore.
“Well, there have been other things on our minds, lately,” Hermione sighed. “But… it feels good, doesn’t it? To finally be able to be with someone.” Ginny was silent for a second, and Hermione continued. “Unless… are you and Harry…?”
“I think we’re back together,” Ginny admitted. “We kissed. I mean… we need to talk about it. Harry’s just been-”
“Busy.” They’d both heard it dozens of times. They didn’t blame him, of course. Being a war hero didn’t come with a lot of down time. All of them had gotten caught up in it one way or the other, but Harry was the one the spotlight was shining hardest on the most at the moment. Hermione hated it for him, but all she could do was hope it would be over soon.
“He doesn’t want to drag me into the media shitstorm. Don’t get me wrong, I want no part of it, either, but I just wish…” She kicked a rock with the side of her foot, sending it splashing into the water and lapping up a couple waves over the dirt. “I wish he’d at least agree to something. I mean, we were together before. What’s the difference now? Besides the obvious.”
Hermione watched her push her hair behind her ear nervously. Was this the reason she wanted to talk? About Harry? “I think he’s just worried about you, Gin. He’s worried about all of us. He’s worried that Ron and I just got together because of the stress of the battle and… that’s something we’re going to have to work through, but I don’t think he wants to be the cause of any more pain.” Harry had pulled her aside a couple days ago to check in on her, and she had a feeling he’d done it with everyone - had an individual conversation about their well-being.
“I don’t blame him.” Ginny finally found a decent spot that looked out over the mountains and took a seat on the grass, lying back and closing her eyes. Ever since the battle, it had been nothing but sunny, which was an incredibly rare occurrence, as if the world was celebrating, too. “And I appreciate it. I know the last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind but I’m just ready to move on.”
Hermione sat down cross-legged next to her, running her fingers through the grass. “Yeah. I know. We all are. Just give him time and he’ll come around. Realize how much he misses snogging you.”
Ginny smirked. “That’s all he misses? Did he tell you that?”
“Harry’s not hard to read,” she teased, then corrected herself. “No, he misses more than that. I can tell. He’s always been a little intimidated by you. Maybe in the heat of the moment, everything was great, but now that things are different, it’s like he has to start all over?” She’d been feeling that way about Ron. It still did feel strange for them to be holding hands, like they shouldn’t be. It was weird to kiss him without some big event going on, so they rarely had. It was definitely going to be a different dynamic than they were used to, but she had the utmost confidence that it would work. There was going to be a lot they’d have to get used to besides each other.
“You’d think starting over would make it easier,” she groaned. “I’m sorry. I didn’t invite you all the way out here to complain about Harry. I really just wanted to get away for a second and I know we haven’t really gotten to talk much.”
“Are you okay?” Hermione asked without warning, making Ginny look over at her with one eye open to look at her while squinting at the sun.
“I will be eventually. At the moment, yes. This morning, no. Tomorrow, who knows? I kind of… forget sometimes. Is that bad?”
“I don’t think so. I think it’s just your brain trying to comprehend. I forget that I’ll probably never see my parents again, too. I know it’s not nearly the same, but-”
“I get it. It still hurts. It still sucks.” Hermione nodded. “I thought everything wasn’t supposed to suck once You Know Who was dead. I just thought everything would go back to the way it was before it all started.”
“It will,” Hermione assured her, reaching over to take her hand. “It’ll just take time. But we’ll be all right, and Harry and Ron will get their acts together, and then we can just… live.” She leaned back as well, looking up at the clouds with Ginny. It was something she hadn’t done in a while, but now, what else did she have to do? She knew that eventually, she’d get stressed about having no obligations, but right now, she was just grateful that a Dreamless Sleep Potion was working away at the bags under her eyes, and her days were spent recovering. The boys would always be there.
“Wouldn’t that be lovely.”