Chapter Text
It was obvious to Ginny. Woman’s intuition and all that. Hermione and Ron fancied the pants off each other. From how Hermione acted when Ron started dating Lavender—“She attacked me with birds!”—to her questionable date at Sluggy’s Christmas Party, it was painfully obvious. And Ginny was sick of seeing her friend floundering in fancy city.
“You know Hermione,” she said one night in the Common Room. “I’ve dated a bit in my time. I sorta know the way boys work. How they think.”
“Good on you, mate.” She patted Ginny's knee, thinking she was bragging.
Ginny smiled.
“I mean, I can help you if you’re a little lost… I know my way around a broom.”
“Ew, Ginny!”
“What? It’s a wizard expression. It means I’m a dating pro. You’re sitting on a goldmine here.”
Hermione flipped a page in her textbook, a shade redder than the page before.
“I’m all set in that department, thank you very much.”
Ginny snorted. “Really?”
Hermione sighed. “Yes, really.”
“It’s just that you haven’t dated anyone since Viktor.”
“So?”
“That was over two years ago.”
Hermione flipped another page, trying to look cool and detached.
“Honestly, all the boys here are idiots. When I’m out of Hogwarts I’ll find myself a very mature man to whisk me off my feet. Maybe you can help then.”
Ginny frowned. Hermione was twisting the front pieces of her hair around her finger and staring at one spot in her textbook.
“Ok… well, it’s fine if you fancy a bloke who’s an idiot. I wouldn’t make fun of you or anything.”
“Ginny, can you drop it?” Hermione asked loudly, avoiding Ginny’s gaze. She fixed her eyes on Ginny’s shoulder.
“I’m trying to study,” she added meekly.
Hermione’s situation was much worse than Ginny had imagined. Merlin, could she be in love with Ron? Ginny swallowed nervously. No, she must not go down that garden path. She wasn’t dying to play her brother’s wingman, but she’d do anything for Hermione. Right now, Hermione needed all the help she could get. She may be too embarrassed to admit it, but that wouldn’t stop Ginny.
After Hermione had gone up to her dorm and a snowy night had glided over the castle, Ginny devised a game plan. Sneakily, without any of them ever knowing, she’d get Hermione and Ron together. Ginny smiled, imagining Hermione happy. In her head, Hermione was saying: “Oh, thank you Ginny, you’re amazing, really, you are!” She snorted. That didn’t sound like her at all. Outside, snow floated down silently, and for a rare moment, Ginny felt comforted by the empty sound.
“Dean, can you pass the toast?”
“Sure.”
His hand fell from the plate to her thigh, his thumb brushing up against her. She smiled, enjoying the attention. Dean liked to wake up early and jog around the Quidditch pitch a few times a week. Sometimes, she joined him. They’d jog for forty minutes, then get breakfast. Those early mornings seemed like the only moments they got along these days. Probably something to do with them both being tired and brain-dead.
“You know, I really think this is going to work,” Ginny said, buttering her toast.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” she said. “I’ve got a feeling about this. They’re meant to be.”
“Ron can be pretty thick sometimes.”
Ginny scoffed. “Don’t I know it.”
She lathered her favourite raspberry jam onto the toast.
“He might be more trouble with this plan than Hermione.”
“Hmm.” Ginny frowned slightly, taking a bite of her toast. Damn, that was good.
Just then, Ron trudged up to the Gryffindor table. His robes were wrinkled and his tie was swung haphazardly around his neck like a necklace. “Ugh, I want to kill Snape.”
“Get in line,” Dean smirked.
“Not before I do,” Ginny said at the same time.
Dean turned to her and smirked. Ginny snorted and rolled her eyes. They did this every time: a staring contest. But Ginny could win any staring contest. It wasn’t so much of a contest as it was a reminder of her skills. One of the blessings of having six brothers was all the training she’d gone through in staring contests. Just pretend you’ve already blinked.
Finally, Dean lost.
“Fuck!”
“Yes!” Ginny swung her arms in the air.
“So, the Potions essay?” Dean asked calmly, turning back to Ron.
“Uh-huh,” he answered, a mouth full of food. He was already downing a bowl of cereal and coffee. “I was working on it until two. Hermione didn’t even want to help.”
Dean shook his head. “That sucks.”
Ginny snorted. “Are you surprised she didn’t want to help? With the way you’ve been carrying on with Lavender, it’s no surprise she’s been giving you the cold shoulder.”
Ron’s ears turned bright red. “Carrying on?! She’s my girlfriend. We’re entitled to showing our affection. If Hermione’s bothered she just has to say so.”
Ginny rolled her eyes.
“Where is Lav-Lav this morning?” She asked innocently.
Ron gave her the most deadpan expression of his life, further dramatized by his already dead-looking face.
“She’s got some girl thing with Parvati.”
“Ooh, pillow fight?”
Ron lifted a finger in front of his cereal bowl. Ginny grinned, glad that she’d gotten the better of him. Ron’s skinny finger didn’t bother her.
“Wow, bit early in the morning for that, innit?”
Harry sat down beside Ron on the other side of the table, smirking, despite looking tired. Hermione glided down beside Ginny.
“It’s never too early with these two,” Dean said.
Ginny suppressed an eye roll. “Oh, come on, Dean. Don’t be a prat.”
Dean looked offended. “Wha—? I’m not.”
Ginny tore a bite of her toast. Best to let this one slide. She caught Harry sharing a knowing look with Ron as he spooned some eggs onto his plate. Whatever. Let them raise their eyebrows while she waited for the perfect opportunity to execute her plan. She didn’t have to wait too long.
Ron groaned. “Why do they always take the ketchup?”
He pushed himself up with great effort and trudged to the other end of the table, muttering under his breath.
Ginny quickly turned to Hermione, who was scraping the bottom of her porridge bowl. “Hermione, could you help me with an assignment this afternoon?”
“What’s it about?” Her brown eyes were glued stubbornly to her bowl.
“The er… changes in the moon cycle. It’s for Astronomy.”
Ginny glanced behind Hermione. Ron was scolding two younger boys at the other end of the table, waving the ketchup bottle in the air. She still had a bit of time.
“Yeah, it would help me out loads,” she said. “Please…?”
Ginny placed her chin on her palm and leaned closer to her friend. Hermione pursed her lips and sighed.
“Fine, I’ll help.”
“Thank you! You’re the best!”
Hermione smiled shyly before pushing herself up from the table. She was halfway across the Gryffindor table before Ginny said: “One o’clock! In the back of the library!”
Ginny frowned as Hermione slipped through the doors of the Great Hall. She didn’t so much as glance back. Since coming back from winter break, Hermione had been more distant than ever. She hadn’t even looked at Ginny during their conversation.
“The Robinson boys had the ketchup again,” Ron said, lifting the prodigal bottle in the air. “They were trying to hide it in their bags. I don’t know what they’re planning, but it involves a lot of fake blood.”
“Fred and George would be proud,” Dean smirked.
“I don’t know,” Ron said, shaking the last drops of ketchup onto his eggs. “Fred and George knew where to draw lines. They never messed with food from the Gryffindor table.”
Ron smeared a forkful of eggs into the ketchup on his plate and stuffed it in his mouth. Ginny’s frown deepened. She hoped Hermione wasn’t upset about Ron. Him and Lavender were nauseating, but they weren’t worth the mental strain. Besides, they’d be broken up soon.
“Hey Ron, can you help me with an Astronomy assignment? Hermione said she couldn’t help me.”
Ron frowned, chewing. “Oo fi’in?”
“No, we’re not fighting,” Ginny sighed, annoyed. “She just doesn’t want to give me answers. Says I should learn on my own. You know how she is. Plus, you’ve already done the assignments, so you can give me the answers that Hermione gave you last year.”
Ron swallowed. “Why don’t you ask Harry?”
Harry, who was staring at something behind Ginny, didn’t even look up as Ron said his name. He was absent-mindedly stirring his scrambled eggs with a fork.
“Harry?” Ron placed his hand down on Harry’s shoulder. Harry slowly peeled his eyes away from whatever he was staring at.
“Yeah?”
Ginny turned around. Two tables away was the Slytherin table, where a very pale and hunched over Draco was eating with his henchmen.
“You alright, mate?”
“Yeah, totally,” Harry said, shaking and nodding his head in all directions. He took a bite of his eggs.
“That’s why I didn’t ask him,” Ginny said, crossing her arms. “So, you’ll help me?”
“Fine,” Ron grumbled.
Ginny’s boots sunk into the snow past her ankles. It had snowed all morning and Filch hadn’t plowed the walkways to the Greenhouses. Why they didn’t have a magical caretaker was beyond her.
“Incendius.”
Luna pointed her wand at the walkway in front of them and melted the snow with a big flame.
“Thanks.”
Luna shrugged in the corner of Ginny’s eyes.
“I’m practicing for Charms.”
Luna was very smart, but lacked the focus it required to get higher than ‘Acceptable’ in Charms. Instead, she loved listening to Professor Binns “stories” in History of Magic. She filled pages in her sketchbook with goblin battles and elves riding unicorns.
“Do you think my plan will work?” Ginny asked.
“Not really,” Luna said matter-of-factly. “Incendius.”
The fire re-ignited at the end of her wand and she flicked it onto the snow.
“What do you mean?” Ginny frowned. Luna’s honesty was something Ginny really appreciated about her friend, but it could be hard to follow her reasoning.
“I don’t think Hermione fancies Ron. She’s quite vocal about how annoying he is.”
Ginny smiled and sighed. “Yeah, that’s because my brother is annoying. But despite that, she still really cares for him.”
“If you say so.”
Luna didn’t sound convinced, or interested.
“I hope it keeps snowing so the Gulping Plimpies are kept at bay,” she said ominously.
“Yeah,” was all Ginny said.
She was sure that Hermione fancied Ron. Maybe she hadn’t admitted it, but it was obvious. The blushing, her awful date to the Christmas party, how annoyed she was when Ron and Lavender started dating. Then again, everyone was annoyed when Ron and Lavender started dating.
“I’ll meet you in there,” Ginny said at the entrance to their class. Luna frowned, her delicate face looking slightly perplexed. “I left something in Greenhouse Four,” she explained slowly.
Luna raised her thin eyebrows mischievously and smiled.
Ginny was changing into her pyjamas when Hermione knocked on her door. She couldn’t remember where she put her oversized Weird Sisters t-shirt. It wasn’t over her bed where she usually put it. “Come in!”
Hermione swung the door open, looking thunderous, until she saw Ginny topless. Her eyes boggled out of their sockets.
“Sorry!” She jerked her back.
“Oh, it’s fine,” Ginny waved her off. “I grew up in a family of nine with one bathroom. We walked in on each other all the time.”
“Oh… uh, ok.”
Hermione was staring firmly at the floor behind her. She was still holding onto the door, which was slightly ajar.
“You could close the door though. I’m not trying to open my own show.”
Hermione’s bushy eyebrows shot up.
“Oh, right!” She hurried to shut the door. “Sorry!”
“It’s fine,” Ginny said, smiling bemusedly.
“Is this your shirt?”
Hermione was standing against the door, a long black t-shirt in her outstretched hand.
“Yes! Where did you find it?”
Ginny grabbed the shirt and slipped it on. It had been a present from Fred and George for Christmas.
“It was right there,” she said, pointing to a patch of ground at her feet.
“That’s weird. I swear I looked there before.”
Hermione nodded, still staring at her feet. Ginny frowned. It was so unlike the mature, head-strong Hermione that she was used to.
“So, what’s up?”
Hermione looked up at Ginny, a whisper of her thunderous expression in her scrunched-up eyebrows. She almost looked conflicted.
“Why did you get me and Ron to meet up in the library? You told me that you were going to be there and then you didn’t show, so I’m assuming that you wanted us to meet. I just don’t understand why you did it, or why you tricked us into meeting.”
“Ah, figured that out did you?”
Hermione glared at her. It only strengthened Ginny’s growing grin.
“Yeah, I’m not an idiot.” She shook her head. “I just don’t get it.”
Ginny shrugged. “I wanted you to talk… and figure some things out.”
“Figure things out? What things?”
“Hermione, you’ve been fighting with my brother ever since he started dating Lavender. I figured it was time to bury the wand.”
Hermione frowned. “Bury the wand?”
“Yeah… you know. When you bury grievances.” Hermione still looked confused. “It’s a wizard expression.”
“Oh… you mean bury the hatchet?”
“No. I mean bury the wand.”
Hermione scrunched up her face. “That just doesn’t sound right.”
“Well that doesn’t make it wrong!”
Hermione grinned and patted Ginny on the shoulder.
“It’s okay. You’ll learn about it next year in Muggle Studies.”
Ginny let out a frustrated sigh, even though she was smiling. Her and Hermione hadn’t argued like that since before Christmas. She’d missed it.
“Just don’t ditch me again, promise?”
Hermione looked at Ginny sternly, like her mother would, but with mirth in her eyes.
“Promise.”
“Alright.”
“Did you and Ron at least talk?”
Hermione instantly looked bored and on the verge of rolling her eyes. “Yeah we talked. He’s still annoying.”
“Oh.”
Ginny frowned. She wasn’t sure about anything anymore.
“Goodnight.”
Hermione smiled and leaned over to hug her. For a brief moment, with Hermione’s solid arms wrapped around her, Ginny felt calm. Then Hermione let go and slipped out of the dorm. Ginny was confused all over again.