Brown Eyes

Ch. 2 The Outside View

Ginny's POV

I was happily chatting with Dean, my boyfriend, when I heard what should have been a love fest between Hermione and my brother, turn into a screaming match. I turned to look as Ron came barrelling out of the closet, headed as fast as he could towards his dorm. He was crying, and his face was red with anger and embarrassment. I hadn't seen Ron cry in years.

"Just because I'm a lesbian doesn't make me a bad person! I'm still the same person I was a moment ago!" Hermione was screaming at him, "And if you...if you..." She seemed to notice we were there. "So? Do you have a problem with it?" She was looking right at me! "Fuck you too!" I don't think I had ever heard Hermione swear before, especially at someone.

Everyone stared after her as she ran up the stairs, shaking the whole way.

"Oh my," I spoke, breaking the silence, which finally caused the rest of the room to start talking again. I turned to Dean and Harry. Harry was in absolute shock--eyes wide, mouth moving silently...

Dean shrugged at me, "I hope they're alright."

He can be such a sweetie; I had to smile at him.

"Me too," I responded, slowly. I paused and then giggled slightly.

"It was rather ironic, don't you think, that she was walking out of a closet when she said that?" Those who could hear me laughed, but it wasn't cruel laughter. I mean, it was rather amusing.

Then I noticed that Harry still hadn't snapped out of it.

"Harry? Harry? Are you alright?"

"What? Oh, um, yeah, just, er, surprised is all. But, oh..." He rubbed his head. "I just hope they don't stay mad at each other, I mean, there's so many things going on. I need them to be friends!"

"Because you're going to need their help, and they can't let personal issues like this get in the way, right?" I sort of finished for him. "I hope so too, but, unfortunately, personal problems have a way of popping up when they're least wanted."

Dean grinned at me and wrapped his arms around me. I smiled and snuggled closer. Harry also smiled at me.

"Yeah, I guess. Er, I'd better go try to talk to Ron. I don't really know what to say to help him..." Harry was always bad at explaining personal things, even if he was a great defence teacher. "See you!"

"Good luck," Dean said to him as I went back to my History of Magic essay. I wished I could go talk to Hermione, but I felt like it might be overstepping my boundary of sort-of-friendship we shared.

I tried to concentrate, I really did, but everyone was talking about Hermione and Ron. Well, mostly Hermione. She wasn't the first person to 'come out' in Gryffindor, but she was the most dramatic in memorable history.

End Ginny POV

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Flashback:

The common room was packed with people studying for the final tests of the year, including those studying for their OWLs and NEWTs. The Marauders and Lily were in their sixth year, which meant they didn't have as much work to do, but when James and Peter returned to the common room with food stolen from the kitchen they were surprised to find Sirius and Remus missing.

They put the food down on the only unused table in the common room, and Peter went up to the dorms to look for their missing friends. James said he would stay in the common room and ask around, but really all he wanted was a chance to flirt with Lily.

Peter walked downstairs looking upset because he couldn't find either of them but suggested, "Maybe they went to the bathroom...or something."

"That's it! 'Or something!'" James said much too loudly, "Padfoot has been moping after some girl for awhile now, well, he wouldn't tell me who, but he gave enough hints he was after someone! I bet she finally said yes to him!"

James paused for a moment in thought, then leapt from the couch he was sitting on, surprising some First Years. He walked swiftly across the room and yanked open the broom closet door, thinking it would be funny to surprise Sirius and his new girlfriend. The surprise, however, was on him as well, for it was Sirius in the closet alright, but his new 'girl' was Remus.

They toppled out of the door, onto the floor arms and legs still wrapped around each other. James, and everyone else in the common room, stared at them in disbelief.

"Fuck," said Sirius.

End Flashback

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After quietly discussing Hermione, both Parvati and Lavender decided they could deal with it, as long as she didn't 'come on' to them. They headed up for bed early to check on her. While they weren't on the friendliest terms with her, they felt like they should at least say something about how they weren't upset and that Ron was just being a plonker.

They climbed the stairs together, giggling about some people's reactions to Hermione's coming out of the closet. Even they could get the irony on this one. When they entered the room, however, it was very quiet and dark. Hermione's curtains were closed, and when Parvati walked up to peek in on her she found she couldn't reach the curtains; there was something blocking her hand.