Forbidden Fruit

Hermione sat cross legged on the floor of the Gryffindor common room. Her Transfiguration book was in her lap, and numerous other books scattered around her. Ron paced the floor in front of her, his arms flailing wildly as he continued on with his rant.

It was quite a normal scene.

"That stupid, self-righteous git! He thinks just because he's rich or his father is a Death Eater he can stay in the bathroom for hours? There are others that want in there too! Bloody prat! And the way he says things. 'Go away, Weasley. Unless, of course, I was right and you'd rather be in here with me than that Mudblood. But on second thought, you're not my type so just go away. First come, first serve.' And he makes Weasley sound like it should be an insult. An insult!" Ron growled. "And I swear to the gods, if he ever says that word around me without the presence of a locked door..."

"I know, Ron. We all know. It's just a bath; you can go later." Hermione sighed. She really wished he'd get it all out of his system so she could get back to her studies, but by the look on Ron's face, that wasn't going to be for a while. A very long while. Silently she leaned against the table behind her and watched.

"First come, first serve? He's going to be in there all night! And I know I heard a girl's voice in there. He's breaking the rules, and I'm the one paying! I should just go get Professor McGonagall right now."

"He hasn't let up yet?" Harry asked, sinking down beside Hermione. He received a short shake of the head and picked up a Muggle ball one of the first years had left in the floor. "Hackey sack! Have you played?"

Hermione just glared. "Of course not. Can we think about calming Ron down, please? I really must study for my exam tomorrow!"

Harry tossed the ball and smiled as it connected right in the middle of his friend's forehead. "You know, you could use the regular bathrooms like the rest of us if you're that desperate."

"But I'm a prefect!" Ron gasped, as if the idea were absurd. "I earned the right to that bathroom, and now I'm locked out while Malfoy has some kind of tryst? It's just not right!"

"Things rarely are when Malfoy is involved."

Ron suddenly stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the door. Harry and Hermione sat up and turned to see what had caught his attention. "What, Ron? It's just Ginny." Hermione sat back down but looked again as Ron's eyes narrowed.

"Why is her hair wet?"

"And I would know that, how? I've been sitting here listening to you rave on like a lunatic!"

Ron spared Hermione a small, apologetic glance before turning back towards the door. Ginny was already starting up the steps to her room when he bellowed, "Oi, Ginny! Where are you going?"

Ginny stopped and turned slowly. "My room?"

"Where have you been?" Ron asked, slowly leading up to his real curiosity.

"Not in my room?" Ginny again answered with a question before slowly taking a step back up the stairs.

"Ginny," his voice was sing-songy as he walked towards the stairs "why is your hair wet?"

Ginny froze. She hadn't thought of that! Her eyes swept the room before coming back to Ron. "Peeves!" she answered quickly. "Peeves threw a bucket of water on me."

"Just on your head? Why aren't your clothes wet?"

Ginny was at a loss. She had no idea what to say and was glad for the distraction when a group of first years started laughing so hard they tipped a table over after one of them, probably a Muggle-born, pointed his wand at his book and yelled, "Velveeta!"

Of course, nothing happened. Ginny was able to use the distraction to her advantage and get into her room without further questioning from her brother.

Ron's feet were planted as he looked to the empty spot where his sister had previously stood. His jaw was agape. "I hate it when she does that! When did she start doing that?" He swung his gaze around to Hermione. "Will you go find out why her clothes were dry? Please?"

"I will not! Leave her alone, Ron. Ginny deserves some privacy and respect, even from you."

"But I think she's lying to me!"

Hermione, always the voice of reason, stood up. "Why would Ginny lie to you? She's a good girl. You shouldn't worry so much about her when you could worry about so many other things."

"What else do I have to worry about? Harry defeated...." he shuddered, "him. And_"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "You can say his name."

"No, thanks. All I was saying was that Harry defeated him, and my grades are fine, thanks to you tutoring me. Mum doesn't have all of us at home to look after. Besides, someone has to watch over her without Mum around." He looked down to see Hermione glaring at him. "What? What'd I say?"

"If you don't know, then I'm not going to tell you," Hermione sniffed, standing and gathering her books. "I think I'll go talk to someone who will give me a decent conversation."

Ron watched as his friend stormed away, completely confused. "What'd I say?" he repeated, this time directing the question to Harry.

Harry shrugged. "How does a game of chess sound?"

~*~

Ginny lay peacefully across her bed, deep in dreams, when she heard Hermione stomp in and drop her load on the bed before sitting with a squeak of the old, rusty springs and a sigh. "Ron?" she asked knowingly.

"He's an idiot. You were right."

"What'd he do?"

"Don't ask that! You sound just like him. 'What'd I do?'" The mocking tone was perfect and sent Ginny into fits of giggles. "I don't want to talk about it," Hermione said sternly. "You were in a peaceful state. What might you have been thinking about? A boy?"

"Yes." Ginny smiled before she knew what she'd said. Her eyes opened in horror as Hermione stared at her questioningly. "I mean no!"

"No, you don't. Tell me! At least one of us should have something interesting going on!" Hermione laughed and made herself comfortable.

To Ginny, it was obvious she wasn't getting out of this talk. Now she had to figure out what to say. She bit her bottom lip and played with the edge of her pillow until she felt her friend's impatience filling the room before finally speaking. "It's just a boy..."

"Are you dating him?" Hermione interrupted.

"Yes and no. We've done a few things together, but nothing, you know, to make it public." Ginny smiled inwardly. Draco would be proud, and she hadn't even had to tell a lie, yet.

"Well?" Hermione pressed. "Who is he? I bet it's Justin Finch-Fletchley. Isn't it?"

"No. Not Justin. I'm really not..."

"Ernie Macmillian?" Hermione interrupted.

"No. I'm really not comfortable with it being public yet."

"Public? You know I wouldn't say a word!" the girl sniffed. "Honestly, Ginny. I'm the most trustworthy person you know."

"I agree. You are. I'm just not comfortable with anyone knowing yet. You know how Ron is. What if something slipped? Not on purpose, mind you, but it could happen. And when one person knows something at Hogwarts, everyone knows, and then if this thing didn't work out, everyone would know that too."

"Fine. Will you tell me about him though?"

Ginny smiled. "He's the sweetest guy in the wizarding world. He's the one that sent me this necklace and Flitterbloom. He trained Flitterbloom for me just so we'd have a way to communicate. Isn't that sweet?" Hermione nodded eagerly, and Ginny continued. "He sends me notes in class, and we meet sometimes. Not up in the Astronomy Tower or anything like that, just different places that we can talk and get to know each other better."

"He sounds wonderful. I wonder where some other boy could go to get lessons."

Ginny laughed. "If you're counting on any of that from Ron_"

"I know, I know. He's utterly clueless sometimes. But I want to hear more about your boy. How did you get together?"

Ginny thought back fondly to the fateful Quidditch match and decided it better to leave some parts of the story out. "It was a few months ago, right after a Quidditch game. I caught my robes on the stands and was getting frustrated trying to free them. He came along and.... in his own special way... removed them for me." Ginny immediately blushed. "I mean he got them loose!"

"I would hope that's what you meant," Hermione snickered. "So then what? You just started a torrid, secret affair?"

Ginny laughed. "You're relentless. Not exactly. I saw something in him that day I never expected, and, honestly, it intrigued me. So...I stalked him."

Hermione looked up, surprised, and saw Ginny staring back at her with a Cheshire grin. "You stalked him?"

"I did."

"What happened then?"

"Then it became a game. I wasn't very secretive about it, although I was trying to be. So he started mocking me, I reckon, and before long it was like one giant game of hide and go seek. One time he found me and sneaked up behind me; I didn't even hear him coming. We... talked...." Ginny thought about it, a smile plastered over her lips. Actually it had been more of an argument, but the outcome was the same. She wouldn't consider that a lie. "And somehow it turned into a kiss."

"Somehow it turned into a kiss?" Hermione repeated. "I talk to Ron all the time."

"Hush!" Ginny looked around. "That's sick."

"I didn't say anything!" Hermione laughed.

"You didn't have to. It still got the mental image into my head. And it was sick."

A thought hit Hermione as her laughter quieted. "Ginny? Why did he have to train Flitterbloom so that you could communicate? Why not just talk to you?"

"Because I wanted an owl, and he knew it." Ginny shrugged.

"But owls are expensive, I mean, unless you're a Malfoy or something," Hermione said, as if the idea was preposterous, and to her, it was. "And that necklace had to cost a pretty knut."

"I hadn't really thought about it. I guess so." Eager for a change of topics, Ginny unknowingly led herself into an even worse one. "What was Ron going on about when I came in?"