Forbidden and Wrong

I awoke the next morning still in Ginny’s bed. We had shifted during the night. I rolled over and watched her sleeping. She’d never changed out of her school clothes the night before, so they were rumpled and askew. As I watched her chest slowly rise and fall, I couldn’t believe how perfect she was. She was so beautiful, so smart, so caring. And she loved me.

I reached over and traced the line of her jaw with the tip of my index finger. She stirred, but did not wake. Her skin was so smooth and creamy. I knew she was self-conscious about her freckles, but to me they were just another part of her. They contributed to her perfection. I rolled over again onto my back and sighed contentedly. I remembered the Silencing Charm I’d put on the bed the night before and started to remove it, but I stopped. It was a Saturday, we could sleep in. And if anyone questioned her, Ginny could claim to have been upset about Michael, and had wanted to be alone. I smiled. Or maybe just with me.

I looked over to see Ginny stirring. Slowly, she opened her eyes. I watched her pupils adjust to the dimly lit space within the bed hangings. “Morning,” I said softly.

“Morning, ‘Mione.” She smiled at me, then yawned and stretched. I remembered from all of my stays at the Burrow that Ginny wasn’t much of a morning person. I watched her rub the sleep from her eyes, then groan and pull the covers over her head. “Do we have to get up?”

I laughed. “No, we don’t have to get up,” I assured her. “But you do have to take the covers off of your head.” I reached up and pulled them down again. God, was she beautiful! Even with tangled hair and eyes half-open, she was the most beautiful creature imaginable.

“Is this really happening?” she asked me. “Are you really here with me, in my bed? Did last night happen, or was I dreaming it all?”

“Oh, I certainly hope it’s really happening. I don’t know what I’d do if I woke up and found out you were still with Michael. I couldn’t bear it if you didn’t love me.” For an instant, I felt a shock of fear at the thought of losing her. I’d only been aware of it for a few hours now, but my love for her was stronger than I’d ever imagined possible. She reached over and touched my cheek, and all my fears evaporated. She was here with me now.

“I love you,” she whispered. She leaned over and kissed me, lightly, on the lips.

“I love you, too. I don’t know what to do, though. Once word gets out that you and Michael broke up, the whole school will be after you. You can’t stay ‘single’ forever without people asking questions.” Ginny smiled.

“What is a girl to do?” she asked sarcastically. “I went out with Michael because I didn’t want anyone to see how much I wanted to be with you. I guess if I had another boyfriend, no one would suspect I had... other interests,” she said coyly. I laughed, but I was troubled. I didn’t want to have to watch her with anyone else.

“Gin, I don’t know. I mean, I couldn’t stand to see you... kissing... anyone else...and...” I struggled to put my thoughts into words without sounding possessive, or as though I didn’t trust her. But I think she could read my thoughts.

“I would never, ever, want to be with anyone else but you, Hermione, I only meant that it might... help things a little bit, you know? We don’t have to do it.” I immediately felt bad for feeling so jealous. She’d had a good point. If Ginny had a boyfriend, she and I could do anything we liked. No one would ever think we were more than just good friends. I sighed.

“No, Gin, you’re right. It’s a good cover-up. Now all we need is a guy who won’t get too suspicious. Someone trusting, and a dash of stupid would certainly help.” I considered all of the guys in the school that I knew. “It’s too bad Ron’s related to you, he’s perfect!” I mused. Ginny laughed aloud.

“Harry might work,” she suggested.

“No,” I said. “He’s too wrapped up in Cho Chang to remember you exist for the next few weeks or so.”

“Well let’s not do this now. I can’t have a new boyfriend the day after I broke it off with Michael anyway. Let’s just wait for someone to show an interest or something, okay? Besides, why do I have to be the one with a beau, and not you?”

“Because no one wants me, that’s why.”

“Yes they do! I do!” she objected. I had to laugh.

“Maybe, but no one knows that, now do they?”

“Fine, fine. What about Krum? No one can claim that a world-famous Quidditch champion took you to the Yule Ball ‘just as friends’.”

“That’s true,” I conceded. “But I never felt the same way he did. And he’s in Bulgaria.” I thought about him for a moment. “He still asks me to visit him, you know.”

“Are you trying to make me jealous?” Ginny asked, one eyebrow raised.

“That depends, is it working?”

“Of course. Now you’re going to run away to Bulgaria to live happily ever after on the back of a Firebolt and leave me here to date a clone of my brother!” she whined facetiously.

“Well, in the meantime, let’s go down to breakfast. I’m sure everyone’s wondering where we are.”

At breakfast it was all I could do not to kiss Ginny every time I looked at her. She was telling Parvati about her breakup with Michael. We’d hoped to keep it quiet, but since Lavender and she had noticed Ginny crying, and the fact that I never came to bed, Ginny decided to tell her about the breakup and that I’d stayed with her to make her feel better. It was the only story that would prevent awkward questions.

After about a half hour, we finished eating and stood up to leave the Great Hall. On the way out, Dean stopped us and asked Ginny if he could talk to her for a moment. Before he pulled Ginny aside, I gave her an “I-told-you-so” look and told her to meet me in the common room.

She clambered in through the portrait hole about ten minutes later, smiling. She scanned the common room and found me sitting at a table against the windows. She crossed to me and sat before saying, “I guess we have our decoy boyfriend.”

“I told you it wouldn’t take very long.”