Spin the Bottle

Spin the Bottle

It was a stormy evening, the sort where the wind buffets the trees and the rain lashes the windows, and all you want to do is stay indoors in front of a roaring fire. The students of Hogwarts were doing exactly that, and in their respective common rooms, the laughter and conversation almost drowned out the noise of the weather outside.

In the Gryffindor common room, Hermione Granger was curled up in her favourite squashy armchair, her head buried in an enormous tome about wizarding laws and decrees. She had, as usual, decided that her time off ought to be devoted to studying, despite the fact that books were the very last thing on everyone else's mind. At sixteen, however, Hermione's ambitions were growing ever-greater with the prospect of becoming Head Girl next year, as well as sitting her vital NEWT examinations.

Across from Hermione, her best friends, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, were doing anything but reading. They'd played a very competitive and dangerous game of wizard chess for about an hour, and now they were laughing over something so trivial they couldn't remember what it was. Near them sat Ron's younger sister Ginny with several other Gryffindors, all occupied with their own entertainment.

Just then, Harry and Ron's roommate, Dean Thomas, descended down the stairs from the boys' dormitories with a wide grin and a shout that made everyone look over.

"I've had a brilliant idea!" he cried. "Why don't we play Spin the Bottle?"

The reaction was not the one he had evidently been expecting. Most people exchanged puzzled glances, apart from a select few including Hermione, who rolled her eyes.

"Dean, that is so childish," she reprimanded. "Honestly, I thought I'd escaped things like this when I came here..." She went back to her book, but found it impossible to concentrate, as people were asking Dean what he'd meant, and eventually Hermione snapped her book shut and stood up.

"Spin the Bottle is a ridiculous game Muggle teenagers play at parties. Usually when they're drunk, which just shows you how stupid it is."

"What do you have to do?" Lavender Brown asked, looking excited.

Hermione refrained from rolling her eyes again and sighed. "Well, I've never played --"

"Why doesn't that surprise me," Ron muttered to Harry in an undertone.

"But," she continued, shooting Ron a dark glare, "as I understand it, you spin the bottle and whoever it points to has to choose either a truth or a dare from the person who spun the bottle. The way my cousins played it, the dare was always a kiss, oddly enough..." It was no use talking any more; all of her words were now being drowned out by chattering, and she sat back down. "It's a stupid game," she insisted, looking at Harry and Ron and hoping they would be sensible enough to sit this one out.

"I'll play!" Ginny announced, jumping up and smiling at Dean. This made Ron red with anger and he grabbed her arm.

"What are you thinking about?" he demanded.

She wrestled free of his grip and glowered at him. "Oh, don't be such a killjoy, Ron. It's called having a bit of fun! You ought to try it some time." And with that acidic comment, Ginny went over to where Dean was gathering participants, all sitting on the floor in a haphazard circle. "Come on, Hermione!" she called back, a glint in her eye.

"No thanks, Ginny," Hermione replied staunchly. "We'll just sit here."

"Speak for yourself!" Ron spluttered. "I'm going to keep an eye on Ginny!" And off he went, although not before he'd made Harry go with him. Hermione merely shrugged and tried to return to reading. This, however, was very difficult when she game began and she heard squeals from the girls and whoops from the boys, and eventually, curiosity overcame her.

"Am I too late to join in?" She stood uncertainly behind where Ginny was sitting, and looked at Dean, who shook his head.

"Course not, Hermione. Sit down, we just started!"

With a smile, Hermione took her place on the floor between Ginny and Parvati Patil, who was coming over all giggly. Glancing up, Hermione noticed Ron staring at her, and gave him a sarcastic wave before watching Dean spin the bottle in the middle of the circle. It landed on Seamus Finnigan, Dean, Harry and Ron's roommate.

"Truth or dare, Seamus?" Dean asked gleefully.

"Truth," Seamus replied, sounding confident.

Everyone leaned in a little to make sure they heard properly.

"Ok." Dean rubbed his hands together. "Who was the last girl you snogged?" This was met with giggles and a low murmur of voices, but Seamus didn't flinch.

"This girl back home in Ireland during the summer. Ciara," he replied coolly. "And she was gorgeous. But I think she'd have run a mile if she knew I could shut her up with a charm." There was proper laughter at this, except from a highly-disconcerted Hermione. She wasn't about to back out now, though, and have people think she was scared, so she sat where she was, hoping against hope that the bottle would not land on her.

It was Seamus' turn to spin it, and he did so with force, leading it to land at Ginny. Beside her, Hermione could feel Ginny tense a little, but she hid it well as she sat up a bit straighter. Ron was looking horrified on the other side of the circle, which Hermione found very amusing.

"Truth or dare, Ginny?"

"I'll take a truth, please, Seamus," she answered, flicking her long hair back away from her face.

"Truth... Truth..." Seamus took a few moments to think, before his face lit up. "Ok Ginny, remember you have to answer this truthfully. Out of the boys sitting here, who do you think is the best looking?"

Hermione expected Ginny to take ages to speak, but she did so straight away, taking everyone by surprise. "That's easy. Harry." Hermione looked across to see Harry turning a nice shade of scarlet, and exchanged a glance with Ginny which made her want to burst into giggles. They managed not to, which was just as well because it was Ginny's spin of the bottle. Hermione couldn't stop watching Harry, though. He still looked embarrassed, but also, she noticed, rather flattered.

They waited with baited breath to see who would be next, and it turned out to be the giggling Parvati. This didn't make her any calmer, much to Hermione's annoyance. She asked for a dare, evidently thinking this might lead to a kiss. Ginny screwed her face up as she considered the people in the circle. "Alright Parvati, you have to kiss... Ron!"

Hermione stared at Ginny as if she was crazy, but the younger girl didn't even notice. She was too busy revelling in the humiliation she had clearly just caused her brother, and had no idea how hurt Hermione was... But why was she hurt? She shook herself and realised how silly she was being. It was only Ron, for goodness' sake, and it was only a game. A game she had already derided as ridiculous.

When Hermione forced herself to look up, however, she felt a huge, unmistakable pang of something resembling jealousy in her heart as she watched Parvati lean into the middle, meeting a very flustered Ron, and giving him a gentle kiss on the lips. This caused everyone to cheer, but it caused Hermione's eyes to fill with tears. What made it worse was that Ron was looking a bit too pleased with himself when she next cast a surreptitious glance over. Who was she kidding? With pretty girls like Parvati around, Hermione couldn't be foolish enough to believe anyone would rather be kissing her. Now that was ridiculous...

Hermione was so lost in thought that she hadn't paid attention to the bottle spinning, but she came back down to earth at the roar its stopping had caused. It had landed on Harry.

"Ooh!" Parvati clapped her hands together, and Hermione had to really work hard not to clap her own hands around the other girl's head. Instead, she sat on her hands as Parvati's eyes glittered. "Ooh, Harry, truth or dare?"

"He'll say truth," Ginny predicted confidently to Hermione, to which she agreed, but they both had a surprise when he chose dare, instead. "For crying out loud..." Ginny groaned. "You know he's only doing it because Ron got a kiss. Honestly..."

Privately, Hermione didn't think that was the reason. She knew Harry wouldn't want anyone asking him anything really personal, and there was no guarantee Parvati would have limited her question to his love life. She could have asked anything, to do with Lord Voldemort, for example -a remote possibility, but not remote enough.

On her right side, Parvati was 'ooh'-ing again, until a big smile broke out on her face. "Harry, you have to kiss... Miss Ginny Weasley!"

"Oh God..." Ginny looked as if she wanted the floor to open and one of Hagrid's monsters to swallow her up, but that wasn't about to happen. Hermione nudged her and nodded towards Ron, who looked furious at both his sister and Harry, who seemed to be apologizing already. "I know," Ginny muttered under her breath. "I'll kill that Parvati Patil, she's such a stirring cow." Hermione couldn't help but notice the look on Dean's face too, as he'd fancied Ginny for a while, and they had kissed a few times, although Ginny hadn't wanted to start a relationship with him.

Resignedly, Ginny moved towards the middle of the circle, where Harry was waiting, looking very nervous but also quite pleased, if Hermione was reading his expression correctly. A collective breath was held as the two approached each other, smiling shyly, and then they kissed lightly -once, twice, three times! Hermione stared, open-mouthed as Ginny sat back down beside her, blushing as red as her hair. Ginny laughed when she noticed her friend's speechlessness.

"Oh come on 'Mione, we had to ham it up for a laugh," she grinned slyly. "I mean, look at Ron and Dean... and Parvati!" Sure enough, all three of them looked quite prepared to hit something, or indeed someone, before Harry grabbed the bottle. Hermione closed her mouth and had to admit, the atmosphere in the circle had changed markedly. Now people were waiting in anticipation, seemingly aware that this game to lead to their first proper kisses with the opposite sex. Hermione wasn't worried, though. For some reason she was sure the bottle would never land at her, and for another, she knew she wouldn't be foolish enough to choose a dare.

The bottle landed at Dean, and as he went for a truth, Harry had to think up a suitable question. Hermione could see Ron whispering things to him before Harry was ready and sat up.

"Hmm, ok Dean, which of the girls do you fancy?" Cue lots of giggling from all the girls except Hermione, who yawned and crossed her legs.

Dean's gaze flickered hungrily around the female occupants of the circle, and his grin widened as he took them all in. "I fancy... Ginny, Lavender... oh, and Parvati of course," he added, nudging the girl sitting on his left, who burst into uncontrollable giggles yet again. "Not that I'm choosy or anything."

Most people laughed, but Hermione didn't. She was the only girl Dean hadn't mentioned, and while she wasn't remotely interested in him, she still felt more than a little hurt. Ok, she was well aware she perhaps wasn't the prettiest, or the sexiest, or the blondest, but she was a nice person, wasn't she? Without realising, tears had formed in her eyes and she was trying to blink them away as she looked up and saw Harry and Ron both laughing with the people near them. Hermione felt her breath catch in her throat and a lump form; obviously they'd found it amusing that she'd been left out as well.

"As a prefect, I feel this game is getting a bit out of hand," she said suddenly, making all heads turn to stare at her. "I'm sorry but someone has to be responsible around here." She was trying to sound nonchalant, like her old bossy self, but something had changed inside her and she knew if she didn't leave the room right now, she was going to start crying properly and inexplicably.

"Aww, come on, Hermione!" Ginny said from beneath her. "It's fun, isn't it? I thought you were enjoying yourself?"

Hermione shrugged. "I was, but..." She raised her hand to brush away a threatening tear, and accidentally caught Ron's eye. He was looking at her oddly, as if he'd never seen her before, and she blushed before turning away. "I just think we should stop."

A silence descended which remained unbroken until Ginny spoke again. "Well, how about we have a couple more turns and then we'll stop?" She evidently thought this was a reasonable compromise, and the others agreed, so Hermione had no choice but to nod. "Do you want to stay?" Ginny asked her gently as Hermione sat back down, and she nodded in reply. "Ok." Ginny smiled at her friend and they both watched as Dean spun the bottle once more.

It landed on Hermione. She was so shocked she couldn't even protest; she just stared at the bottle as if it was poisonous, only snapping out of her trance when Dean's voice broke in.

"So Hermione, truth or dare?" He didn't sound very excited, probably convinced that anything Hermione had to say would only be extremely boring. She tried to ignore this, and instead looked him in the eye.

"Truth, Dean." She prepared herself for the worst and knew she would answer honestly. Now she was playing, she wanted to play properly, as she always did.

"Erm... If you could kiss any guy in the world, who would it be?" Dean's tone was indifferent, which incensed Hermione, but she kept it well hidden, and gave an answer which was certainly honest - to an extent.

"My dad, on the cheek of course!" she replied with a smile, and several people laughed, although Dean rolled his eyes.

"Wow," he muttered, almost inaudibly, but Hermione heard him loud and clear, and by the looks of things, so had Ron. He was glaring at Dean with the sort of hatred normally reserved for Draco Malfoy or another of the Slytherins, taking Hermione aback. Of course, if she had been absolutely honest, her answer to Dean's question would have been Ron, without a doubt. That was her instinct, and as she watched him continue to shoot Dean filthy looks on her behalf, she suddenly felt overwhelmed and knew she liked Ron beyond simply best friends. This made her nearly cry again, because she knew how silly she was being if she thought for one moment Ron would ever be interested in her. Why would he? Dean had already made it perfectly clear who the 'fanciable girls' were, and she wasn't one of them. Sighing, she reached over and gave the bottle a forceful spin.

To her horror, it ended up pointing to Ron, who wasn't even paying attention until Harry elbowed him sharply in the ribs. "What?" he demanded, his angry expression changing into one of fear as he noticed the bottle. Hermione stared down at her hands. She hadn't wanted that to happen; it was as if the bottle had somehow known who she had been thinking about, and deliberately done this to wind her up.

"Hermione?" Ginny was saying, looking concernedly at her. "You have to ask."

Hermione forced herself to look up, and met Ron's eyes across the floor. She tried to smile in her normal, friendly way, hoping it didn't look too fake, and said clearly, "Truth or dare?"

But Ron didn't return her smile. He was just staring back at her again, and it unnerved her a little. He was probably weighing up the chances of her asking an embarrassing 'truth' question, she thought, until he spoke.

"Dare."

Hermione's eyes widened. She opened her mouth but didn't know what to say, and no sound would come out anyway. Dare? What was he thinking? How could she possibly tell him to kiss one of the pretty girls, while she was sitting there, falling for him more with every second that passed. Not for the first time, she wished she'd never agreed to play this game.

Hermione cleared her throat as she realised all eyes were on her once more. She was just going to have to do this; pick someone and get it over with. "Ok, you have to kiss... Kiss..." The word resounded in her head as she tried to think clearly. It didn't help that Ron was still staring - what was his problem?

Hermione cleared her throat again. "You have to kiss... Erm..." Suddenly she felt a wave of panic rise in her throat, quite unlike her, and without thinking she scrambled to her feet, breathless. "I'm sorry, I don't feel very well," she said, and stumbled from the common room, out of the portrait hole and into the relative safety of the corridor. It was lovely and cool out here, and she stood against the wall for a few minutes, trying to calm down. She knew she'd made a total show of herself with everyone, but she'd had to escape the strange claustrophobia which had overcome her in there.

It had been horrible, everyone waiting for her to tell Ron who he should start kissing right in front of her. Did nobody care how she was feeling? Nobody knew how she was feeling, but that was beside the point, Hermione sighed. What on earth had possessed Ron, of all people, to opt for a dare? As far as she knew he was far too preoccupied with Quidditch and whatever other nonsense to care about girls. And even if he did care, the last person he'd want to kiss would be Hermione. She wasn't like the others... They thought she was boring and predictable.

She started walking, hoping to clear her head, but a shout of her name from behind stopped her dead in her tracks and made her spin around. It was Ron, running after her, looking worried.

"What's wrong, Hermione?" he asked once he drew level with her. She shook her head and forced a smile.

"Nothing, I'm fine Ron, honestly. You go back in there and enjoy the rest of the game." Hermione turned again, but Ron grabbed her arm and pulled her back to face him. He was frowning.

"The game's finished. We decided to stop. 'Mione, please tell me what's wrong." He was still holding on to her arm, something she noticed without commenting. Sighing, she shook her head. "Is it... Was it because Dean said that to you?" There was anger in his voice when he said Dean's name, and Hermione's stomach flipped a little.

"No. No, I'm used to stuff like that," she replied. "I don't blame him, Ron. I'm not the type of girl all the boys fancy, am I? I like reading and I sit in the library, and I'm a prefect and I boss people about. If I was a boy, I wouldn't want to kiss me, either!" She laughed, but Ron didn't. "I just didn't want to play any more," she added, by way of an alternative excuse.

"Don't say things like that," Ron said quietly. "There's nothing wrong with reading and going to the library. And you deserve to be a prefect, after how hard you've worked. And I don't know how I'd manage without you bossing me about." He grinned, and so did she, despite herself. "And... I'm a boy, and I want to kiss you." It was said in such a rush that Hermione nearly missed what he said, and as it was she was too stunned to believe her ears had told her the truth.

"What?" she asked in disbelief, now acutely aware that Ron's hand hadn't left her arm, and he was closer to her than she'd first realised. "You... what?"

Ron couldn't help laughing; maybe it eased his tension, but it wasn't helping Hermione as she stared at him. "You know, for someone as clever as you are, sometimes you don't show it," he teased, before his smile faded. "Why do you think I asked for a dare? I wanted you... to kiss me. I thought maybe, if you felt the same, you'd... dare me to kiss you." He lowered his head, as if ashamed. "I'm sorry, Hermione. I didn't mean to make you upset. It was just something I had to do... I've liked you for ages and I had to know if you liked me... It's ok though."

Hermione could feel her heart expanding as a huge smile crossed her face. She could barely believe what she was hearing! Ron liked her! His dare had been a plan... And she'd been so stupid! Out of sheer relief, she began to giggle like Parvati.

"Oh Ron," she said softly, once her laughter subsided and he was looking at her, puzzled. "Of course I like you too! How could you not know? I thought you were just after a snog from one of the pretty girls," she smiled. Ron didn't smile, though. He just moved closer still.

"Hermione, you are the pretty girl. You're the prettiest girl in the whole of this school. In the whole world. Nobody makes me as happy as you. I know we argue all the time but I kind of like arguing with you. You challenge me and you make me laugh. And I'm rubbish at this." Now he smiled, more through nerves than anything. Hermione took his hand.

"Well, Ron Weasley, I love arguing with you, too. You make me laugh, and you help me relax when I'm all stressed out. And you remind me that work isn't everything. It doesn't matter as much as I pretend it does. You are what matters to me. And..." Her eyes sparkled with mischief.

"And what?"

"I dare you." She tilted her head up, looking at him, watching him grin as he realised what she meant. Then, the space between them closed and Hermione felt Ron's lips on her own, making her moan with a sense of relief and want. She'd waited so long and now he was hers.

Hermione opened her mouth and welcomed Ron in, unsure of what she was doing, but the two of them found a rhythm quickly and settled into it, deepening the kiss as much as they could. Hermione felt Ron wrap his arms around her waist, and she in turn reached up and ran one hand through his hair, placing the other on the back of his neck, feeling, rather than hearing, the guttural sound this produced from Ron. He pushed her back against the wall, his hands leaving her waist and travelling up and down her spine, making her sigh into his mouth and press herself against him as he moved a hand tentatively to the bottom of the blue shirt she was wearing. He knew it was ok, from the sounds she was making and from some sort of unspoken knowledge between them, and gently he pushed his hand underneath the material, stroking her stomach. Her fingers found their way, similarly, under his sweater and caressed his skin, and she smiled into their heady kiss as she realised she was making him very hot and bothered.

They broke apart somewhat reluctantly, as Hermione remembered anyone could come past, but she kept smiling, as did Ron who looked as if all his Christmases had come at once.

"Now it's time for truth," Hermione said, in a low voice, studying Ron's face, taking in all his freckles that made him so indescribably cute. "I love you, Ron."

Ron stroked her cheek. "I love you too, Hermione."

And that was the truth - with a hint of daring.