Lost Soul

This is a story of tragedy, of peril and of romance. It includes a newly formed romance between Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger and a lost soul.

Ron burst into the Gryffindor common room late one mid October night, startling Harry and Crookshanks, a bottlebrush tailed, bow legged cat that belonged to Hermione Granger. Ron plopped exhaustedly down into a soft armchair. "Damn that Snape! Damn that Malfoy! I swear they'll be the death of me," he grumbled into his hand. Harry had been working on a divination assignment when he looked up at his best friend.

"What'd they do this time?" Harry sat up and looked at him questioningly. Ron almost shouted as he answered Harry,

"So I was just working on a shrivel fig for my potion, minding my own business when Malfoy, that bugger knocked me into my cauldron and I spilled my entire thing on Lavender. Then Snape made me stay after class to clean it up and then he said I'd have to write a 2000 word essay on the importance of classroom safety. Poor Lavender, she's still in the hospital wing. Why'd we have to be making buggy eye potion today?"

Ron sat, staring into the fire for sometime before he asked, "Do you know where Hermione is? I haven't seen her all day? I could really use her comfort." He grinned at Harry.

"Yeah, last time I saw her she was in the library, but that was just after supper. By the way, since you two are like a couple," Harry began.

"Going on three months," Ron explained.

"Are you taking her to the Halloween dance?" Harry finished. He too had asked someone. He finally mustered enough courage to ask Cho Chang, the pretty Ravenclaw seeker to the dance and surprisingly she said yes without any hesitation. Ron grinned again and said,

"Yeah I asked and yeah were going, it seems like everyone is going to be there."

"But not me," Ginny Weasley said softly as she walked into the common room. Ginny had some time since her last rendezvous with Harry, which was almost three months ago. Harry couldn't stay with the Weasleys since the war this the dark lord was well underway. Harry had to be kept safe and protected at all times. He had spent many nights at different members of the Order of the Phoenix's houses.

In that short while Ginny had began to fill out her "womanly" figure and began to get curves in all the right places. Already in her fifth year, she was struggling with herself trying to discover who she was and where she fit in. She found herself drifting many nights to fantasies about Harry and one other person in particular. She found it hard to do much of anything else recently and couldn't wait to set her beautiful eyes upon those two people. Ginny had changed and hoped that Harry would have too. She hoped that he would no longer see her as Ron's little sister but as the beautiful young woman she was turning out to be.

"I was looking for you Harry." She began idly tugging at her soft rose cardigan. Her silky red hair slipped form behind her ears and cascaded over her delicate shoulders. She managed a soft smile before she looked back down at her feet.

It was then that Harry noticed how pretty she had become. She glanced up at him and asked, "Can we talk? Alone?" With a sparkle in her eyes she turned to her brother and nodded toward the dormitory stairs. Ron took this cue to leave to go to speak with Hermione.

Ginny sat down beside Harry on the floor and twisted her long hair around her finger. "I uh wanted to know if you were going to the dance?" Ginny reassured herself that it wasn't the end of the world if he said he wasn't going nor would it be if he said that he wouldn't go with her. She promised herself that she wouldn't get worked up over this. She lifted her head ever so slightly to witness his response.

"Well yeah, are you?" Harry looked into her big, innocent, amber eyes and saw her, really saw her for the first time. He noticed the soft pink colour to her cheeks, her creamy skin and the way her hair gently formed her pretty face. He even noticed how her robes carefully hugged her curves and edges and formed her picturesque body. The way Harry was looking at her made Ginny start to blush.

"Well I was wondering," she began and paused just to take in the moment, "Do you want to go with me?" Her soft, pale face's natural soft pink colour radiated her dewy skin. She was dreadfully nervous and didn't think she could handle his rejection, yet she forced herself to remain calm. She seemed to be over him but she couldn't forget the way he made her feel sometimes. Harry glanced at her then to the fire. He wanted to kick himself for making plans so soon,

"I'm sorry Ginny, I'm already going with someone." Her bottom lip trembled as her eyes brimmed with tears,

"Oh, I didn't know. Sorry I bothered you," she bolted away from him, not wanting to see him look at her like that ever again and tore toward the dormitory staircase. Ginny nearly toppled Ron as she ran up the stairs.

"What's her problem," Ron asked as she slammed the door.

*

The door slammed and Hermione whipped around, "Oh Ginny you scared me." Seeing her tear streaked face she asked, "What's wrong?" Ginny ran over to her and threw herself into Hermione's arms. Hermione held her for a long time while Ginny pulled herself together. "Now what's the matter?" Hermione asked again.

Ginny held her head low as she regaled her with the incident with Harry. "I know it's because he thinks I'm ugly." She began to cry again yet this time the tears silently streamed down her face.

"Oh honey, that's not true," she touched Ginny's face and brushed the tears away, "I think you're beautiful." Ginny's mind buzzed, she had been struggling for some time with her thoughts of love and loss and now she was finally sure of something for once in her life.

Ginny took a deep breath and leaned in. She caught Hermione's lips by surprise and held on for dear life, clinging to her only means of support. Hermione was the first to pull away after mere seconds, yet those seconds to Ginny were like precious hours. She had finally done what she had dreamt about, thought about and even fantasized about all summer. She really was beginning to believe that Hermione might have feelings, the same feelings for her too.

"O!" Were the only words to escape Hermione's lips after the kiss. She felt the heat rise up to her face the same way it had done the first time she kissed Ron. She didn't know how to respond to this.

"Ginny, what was that? Where did that come from?" Hermione asked in a somewhat harsher tone than she had meant. Ginny's large eyes again filled with tears. All in one night she had done what she had longed to do and all in one night she had her heart shattered twice. She looked up and let Hermione brush away her tears.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me. I guess it, well just seemed right at the time." She shook her head and ran her hands through her hair.

"I guess," Hermione began, "You were just upset and weren't thinking straight. Don't worry, its okay." She smoothed back Ginny's hair and let her slowly rise from the bed. She stood up tall and proud and faced Hermione and muttered softly,

"Can you not say anything about this to Ron? He might tell my mom." She turned toward the door to leave. She opened the door slowly and she was almost totally out of the room before she heard Hermione say,

"It's not like I hated it!"