Scholarly Interests

A/N – Okay, a few things on this chapter, which I know some people aren’t going to like:
1. This chapter has Hermione/Ginny in it, and I guess you could say a smattering of Harry/Hermione/Ginny, but only really in a voyeuristic/theoretical sense. If you’re one of those Harry/Hermione shippers who can’t stand to see Harry or Hermione with ANYBODY except the other, remember this: this is, in essence, a PWP story with horny teenagers; and I am not one of those exclusivelyHHr!shippers. If you love this story but you don’t like the Hermione/Ginny … tough. I do *halo*.
2. Hermione is very naïve in the beginning of this chapter. Many people will probably argue that she is TOO naïve, that a girl of her age would have more of a knowledge of her own body, blah blah blah blah blah. I can tell you for a fact that this is not necessarily true. Hermione’s ‘problem’ that incites her to ask for help is not trumped up, I know somebody who had the same issue. So if you’re going to flame me for making her too innocent/naïve about her body, don’t. I won’t listen and I won’t change it because I know that it really happens. Sorry, them’s the breaks.
3. It took me a long time to update. I know. I had the scene outlined in my head, but I didn’t want to rush the actual writing of it. If something doesn’t want to come (no pun intended … okay, a little pun intended), I don’t force it. The writing is infinitely better that way.
That being said, I really hope you enjoy this chapter, because I really loved writing it! I also loved the half hour of ‘alone time’ that I needed after writing it, while I was enjoying thinking about it. I’m telling ya … after this chapter was over I wanted to take a shower. More smut to come! Huzzah! Again, don’t worry that Deathly Hallows might deter me from writing Harry/Hermione. It won’t … Remember, I also write Hermione/Snape and it’s not like THAT’S ever happened/ing in canon. ^_^

Enjoy,
~~ ** Lady Tuesday ** ~~


Chapter Nine – Ginny Tries, Hermione Flies, and Harry Spies with Gawking Eyes

“Hermione Jean Granger, you put me down this instant!”

This was the fifteenth utterance of that phrase issuing from the scarlet-faced redhead’s mouth, but its recipient responded no differently than she had to the first of such. Calmly standing with her arms folded and her wand lazily pointed towards her friend, Hermione sighed.

“Absolutely not,” she said in an even tone. “Not until you calm down.”

Ginny struggled and wiggled again, thrashing against the invisible cuff around her ankle that held her upside down, three feet above the common room couch. Ginny’s ginger mane flailed as she moved.

“Calm down?” she bellowed. “Calm down! You have the nerve to tell me to calm down! After what you just told me? And you have the nerve to be surprised that I’m upset?! How dare you! I should—”

Ginny Weasley’s face was rapidly becoming purple and eventually she went limp, panting from the effort it took to grapple upside-down against a bind she couldn’t see. Her robes flopped over her face, but Hermione could still hear muffled exhalations of exactly what Ginny thought she should do to the older girl.

“You didn’t give me a chance to explain,” Hermione responded, drawing herself up. “And I assure you, there’s a good explanation. But if you’d rather not hear it, I can leave you up there. I could do this all day.”

Ginny growled a bit but then cleared her throat heavily. “All right, fine,” she said, taking a deep breath. “Put me down and I’ll listen to what you have to say.”

Without much ado, Hermione removed her wand and dropped the girl to the sofa none too gently. Perhaps that would teach her to check her temper and learn the full story before charging blindly into battle. Honestly, sometimes the youngest Weasley reminded her exactly of—

“Harry,” Ginny said aloud as she straightened her clothes and sat up against the arm. “Harry’s the one I should kill, not you. He should know better than to go behind my back and—”

Hermione interrupted the girl’s tirade with a simple clearing of her throat; frankly, Hermione was floored that had worked. She had expected to need to slap her face soundly to get some sense out of her. “He hardly went behind your back, Gin,” Hermione said calmly. With a deep breath, she decided to brave the storm. “It’s not as if you two are an item anymore. Haven’t done for months.”

Ginny’s face pinkened with anger and her mouth pursed, but there was something of embarrassment and hurt in her eyes. “I know that,” she said gruffly, “but couldn’t you have at least told me the truth? Didn’t you think that I’d be hurt when I found out?”

Hermione tilted her head to the side and brought a hand up to twine in her hair as she thought. “Looking back, I suppose it’s something I should have considered, but honestly Gin, I wasn’t thinking about you at the time.”

Ginny’s anger deepened and an angry growl escaped her throat; she leaned towards Hermione, one fist clenched, the other searching for her wand. Realizing her words, Hermione blushed in embarrassment and threw up her hands in yield.

“I didn’t mean then; I meant when we first agreed to,” Hermione stopped to clear her throat, “attack the project in that particular manner. I really didn’t think anybody else would be hurt by it because I’ve been looking at it as merely a school project.” Something tightened in Hermione’s throat and part of her recognized something in that statement as a lie. But she couldn’t think about that now. Not with what she needed to ask of the girl.

“Well, it does hurt,” Ginny said. “And you should have considered that it would.”

Hermione curled her legs under her as she sat facing the girl on the couch. This person was the only girl she could really call a girlfriend and she had no desire to hurt or alienate the plucky younger girl.

“You’re right,” Hermione said, dropping her hands to her lap and fidgeting with a hem on her robes. “I should have thought about your feelings. But it got pushed into a part of my mind that was the same as homework. I mean, who ever got hurt by homework?”

Ginny quirked an eyebrow at Hermione but eventually sighed heavily. Her eyes were shadowed and it didn’t entirely have to do with the lateness of the hour. The empty common room was dim in the firelight of nearly 2 am and Hermione could see the strain that the war had put on her friend.

“I’m sorry,” Hermione said, and reached out a hand to place on Ginny’s.

At length, Ginny curled her fingers around Hermione’s. “It’s all right,” she said. “I mean, it’ll take lots of getting used to, but as I know you don’t give up a project once you have it, I’ll just have to get used to it.”

Hermione nodded and bit her lip as she realized that the time had come for her to ask her favor. “Well, I … you see, I didn’t just tell you this so you’d know, Gin. I need to ask you to help me with a part of the project.”

Ginny raised her head, surprise, concern and a bit of fear on her face. “What could I possibly help you with on something like that? Harry and I haven’t … well, we didn’t …”

“I know,” Hermione said quickly, sparing Ginny finishing the statement. “But you see, this week is a topic that I … I don’t know anything about, and it’s sort of tricky …”

Ginny raised an eyebrow and waited for an explanation. Hermione blushed crimson as she gave one.

“You see,” she began hesitantly, “reading about it doesn’t really help much. I mean, it only goes so far, you see. It gives you the general idea, but not the … actuality.”

“Hermione, spit it out. What do you want me to teach you about?”

Ginny was beginning to look frustrated, so Hermione took a deep breath and did just that. “I need you to teach me to masturbate, Ginny.”

For a moment, the youngest Weasley’s face was stone, but then the girl burst into hysterical peals of laughter, slapping her knee and nearly falling off the couch in hilarity. Hermione merely waited for her to finish and watched her as patiently as her nervousness would allow. Eventually, Ginny’s laughter died away, but when she wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and looked back to Hermione, her face glazed over and she paled.

“Oh, Merlin’s teeth, you’re serious.”

“Of course I’m serious,” Hermione said huffily. “Would I take the trouble to make such an arse of myself if I wasn’t?”

“Hermione, you can’t possibly actually want me to teach you that.”

“I do.”

“That’s ridiculous!”

Hermione scowled. “Why?”

“Well, I … you—” Ginny sputtered. “Well, for one thing, it’s a very private act—”

“That you’ve told me about on your end in excruciating detail—”

“— and it would require a certain level of intimacy that I doubt you’re willing to share with me—”

“Ginny, you’ve seen me naked, we’ve shared a room—”

“And … and …” Ginny searched frantically. “And I refuse to believe that you’ve never even tried it before! Everyone’s tried it at least once.”

Hermione blushed crimson, but she knew that if she was going to get what she wanted, she’d have to get through this conversation. “Well, of course I’ve tried it, but,” she blushed harder and looked away from Ginny’s eyes, “it hasn’t really … worked. I must have been doing something wrong. So I stopped.”

“Something didn’t go right on your first try so you just quit?”

Hermione shrugged, slightly indignant. “Why continue trying if you can’t do it?”

“Nobody learns something exactly right on the first try.”

“I do!” Hermione said, her voice unsteady.

Ginny sighed and patted her friend’s hand. “Well, there’s your first lesson about sex, girl to girl. Nobody gets it right on the first try. Not just for this particular act, but across the board.” Seeing the look on Hermione’s face, she continued. “Not that I have so much experience that I’m oozing with advice, but just from what I’ve done with lads and with myself, I can tell you this, Hermione: you’ve got to keep trying. Perfect your technique. And if that fails, ask for help and advice from your partner.”

At that, Hermione smiled. She was winning. Sensing the triumph in Hermione’s eyes, Ginny threw up her hands nervously and waved a bit. “Ho, hang on. I’m not your partner …”

“Please, Ginny,” Hermione said, not caring that her voice was desperate. She clasped her friend’s hand in both of hers. “Please, I need your help. I don’t want to look silly in front of Harry.”

Ginny floundered quietly for a minute. She could understand that embarrassment and desperation. She hadn’t wanted to look silly in front of Harry either, not so long ago; it had been part of why she had pursued Michael and Dean, though she wasn’t proud to admit it. But what Hermione was asking of her … she just wasn’t sure if she could go through with it.

“Hermione, I dunno,” Ginny said after a bit. “It’s not that I don’t want to help you, it’s just … well, it’s very intimate and … well, you get embarrassed easily and I … I just don’t think I can.”

Hermione nodded and turned her head away. Tears had started to spring to her eyes; she just didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t really reason why she was so afraid of silly in front of Harry. Part of her knew that he wouldn’t care, but it wasn’t just for him. She wanted to be able to show him what made her feel good, only she didn’t really know what that was. Scrubbing her sleeve across her eyes, Hermione mumbled, “Thanks anyway, Gin. It’s okay. I’ll … figure something out.”

Hermione heard a long sigh.

“When’s your lesson with Harry?”

She sniffled. “Sunday. Two days should be more than enough to—”

Ginny cleared her throat. With a deep, steeling breath, Ginny rose from the couch, turned to face the Common Room portrait hole – lest anyway show that they were going to come in or go out and spy them – and seated herself on the floor, leaning back against an armchair. “Come here,” she said, and patted the floor in front of her. “Come and sit in front of me, facing away.”

Puzzled, Hermione stood and moved to where her friend had indicated, seating herself within the redhead’s outstretched legs and crossed her own in front of her. She turned over her shoulder to regarding the youngest Weasley, whose face was now serious but not unkind.

“Before, when you … tried, what did you do?”

Hermione cleared her throat but spoke. “Well, I just sort of touched around in that general area, but I didn’t really feel anything.”

“What did you touch?”

“Well,” Hermione stumbled, “you know, sort of everything. I guess.”

“Did you focus on anything specific?” Ginny rested her hands on Hermione’s thighs and, though it made her jump just a tiny bit, Hermione tried to relax into the touch.

“Like … going inside you mean?”

“Well, that, but mostly I mean did you touch your clitoris?”

Hermione turned forward so her friend wouldn’t see her blush. “Honestly, Gin, that’s sort of why I need your help. I couldn’t really … find it. I know that sounds stupid,” she added hurriedly.

Hermione smiled when her friend said, “Not really. It just takes a bit of practice and exploration to know where you’re going and what you’re touching. And if you stopped really soon after starting, you probably didn’t let yourself get excited enough to really have a clear idea of what you were touching. Now, the biggest thing I can tell you,” Hermione had to stifle a giggle at the serious, teacherly tone that was so unlike Ginny’s usual voice, “is that you have to relax. If you don’t let yourself lay back and enjoy it, you could honestly scare yourself right out of any pleasure. That’s probably why it didn’t work for you before: you were probably so intent and so frustrated that your body wouldn’t allow itself to enjoy things. You have to remember that girls aren’t like boys; boys can get excited no matter what and once they start, they’re almost guaranteed to finish unless something really big interrupts things. A girl’s not that way; her head is the biggest thing that can get in the way of her pleasure.”

Hermione nodded, vaguely wishing that she had a piece of parchment to take notes.

“All right then,” Ginny said in a business-like way and tapped her palms on Hermione’s thighs. “Hrmm … perhaps you’d better just take off your knickers, that way we don’t have to worry about them getting in the way. Then sit down with your back right against me.”

Hermione shook a bit at the idea of doing this right here out in the common room, but then considered that it was a far better idea than trying to go on about this in the girls’ dormitory where they’d have to be much quieter and more secretive. She stood up quickly and looked about to make sure, once again, that they were alone, before slipping off her robes and knickers and then stashing her knickers in the pockets of her school robes. She sat down, leaning against Ginny and feeling curiously exposed with just her skirt between her bottom and the floor. Ginny laced her arms around her friend and rested them, momentarily on Hermione’s knees.

“This is going to get very personal if you want me to show you how to do it right. I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s best to learn hands-on.” Hermione looked back and they both giggled, a bit red in the face. “Are you sure you’re okay with this?”

Gulping around the knot in her throat, Hermione nodded. “If you are.”

“All right then,” Ginny said. “Spread your legs apart like mine and then give me your hand.”

Hermione scooted her legs apart until they brushed Ginny’s, then raised her right hand and Ginny laid hers on top of it, palm against the back of Hermione’s hand. With a bit of a shaky breath, Ginny led Hermione’s hand downward and hesitated only a moment before pushing Hermione’s fingers into the warmth between her legs.

“Okay,” Ginny said, then cleared her throat. “I’m just sort of acting as a guide here, so it’ll really be your fingers that do the actions. So, erm, let’s just see if we can find what we’re looking for.”

The youngest Weasley leaned into Hermione’s back as she pressed Hermione’s fingers into her flesh. While Ginny’s hands weren’t really inside of her – just laying on top of her own – the younger girl’s knuckles kept brushing against the outer folds of skin at the meeting of her thighs, and Hermione had to keep from shuddering several times. She moved her fingers around with Ginny’s and though everything felt generally sort of ‘nice’, she just couldn’t get a sense of what Ginny was banging on about.

“Do you … erm … do you feel your clit yet? It should be just underneath where I’m pushing your fingers…. Do you feel anything?”

“Umm … I know this isn’t very helpful, Gin, but not really. I … well, I just don’t know what I’m looking for. And as you can imagine, this isn’t exactly the sexiest situation, so that doesn’t help.”

“Well, when you did this last time, did you touch anything other than just down here?”

Hermione blushed. “No. Was I supposed to?”

“It’s not really about what you’re ‘supposed’ to do, Hermione, but what feels good and makes you … you know … excited.”

“Well, I dunno … how am I supposed to get excited about myself?”

“Okay then, let’s try another approach,” Ginny said, her voice showing a bit of frustration. “Lean your head back against my shoulder and close your eyes.” Hermione was skeptical, but obeyed. Hermione shuddered when Ginny’s hand moved from on top of her fingers to threading in between them. She could feel the younger girl’s fingers start to stroke around inside Hermione’s body along with her own.

“I think you’re psyching yourself out, Hermione,” Ginny said quietly, close to Hermione’s ear. “Just relax.”

She felt her limbs get heavy as Ginny’s fingers moved in time with her own.

“Don’t just think about down here,” Ginny’s fingers stroked a tad harder, “think about everywhere. Think about what else aches when you get excited and attend that that too.”

Hermione took in breath sharply when Ginny’s touch caressed a very sensitive spot; she felt her eyes roll back in her head as the girl’s fingers pushed against that spot again, only faster. She allowed her fingers to slip from Ginny’s when she realized that the younger girl had kept touching her there without Hermione’s own intervention. When Ginny moved faster as Hermione’s breathing sped up, she let her hands move to caress her breasts instead. Hermione could feel Ginny’s breath getting quicker too, little panting puffs against her ear as she leaned back against Ginny’s chest and her lower body started rocking against Ginny’s hand. Ginny whimpered when Hermione, shaking from fear at the new experience but strangely electrified, moved one of her hands from her own breast … to Ginny’s.

After a moment of oddly loud silence where Ginny’s fingers began to move lightening quick across that deliciously humming spot between Hermione’s thighs, the older girl dared to speak. “Gin?” she asked.

“Uh huh?” came the reply, the voice ragged.

“Is this … is this what ladies do when they have fool around together?”

Not trusting herself to speak, Ginny nodded.

“Gin, are we having sex?”

“I … I think so, Hermione.”

In what she considered to be the bravest thing she’d ever done, she turned her head to look up into the hazel eyes of her best girlfriend. They were blazing.

“Should we have a kiss then, and make it official?”

Hermione’s head felt as if she was on a ride at a carnival when Ginny’s head lowered to hers and took her lips. Ginny’s kiss was so different than Harry’s; her lips softer, smaller, her tongue somehow slicker, but the youngest Weasley’s kiss was almost recklessly quick and enthusiastic. Hermione cried out into her mouth when she felt the fingers move faster between her legs. The feeling was so similar and yet so different from that tingle that had built up in her when she had been pressed up against Harry last week. She felt as if she was going to explode as she kissed Ginny deeper, her hand moving more firmly against the other girl’s breast. Hermione clenched her eyes shut and drove her tongue further into Ginny’s mouth, surrendering to the feelings of her shaking limbs and whirring head.

With a great gasp, Ginny tore her lips from Hermione’s and started to mumble, but Hermione couldn’t stop herself from grinding her lower body against the small, thin hands that had slackened a bit. When Hermione’s hand tightened at Ginny’s breast, the other girl moaned, pushed a finger into Hermione’s body and rubbed harder. But she spoke, too, and Hermione had to shake her head before she could process the words.

“Hermione,” Ginny gasped. “Hermione, I really think you should open your eyes and look up here for a moment.”

When she did, it took a moment before her eyes followed the path of Ginny’s gaze, to behold what had shocked the other girl so. Hermione looked up to see Harry standing across the common room from the two of them. He had obviously come in while they had been ‘at it’ and been shocked at the sight, as his school bag was on the floor at his feet and his robes were dangling from his right hand. His left hand, however, was jammed unceremoniously under the open belt and waistband of his pants where she could tell that it clutched at the erection causing his open trousers to tent. His face was flushed with embarrassment, but his eyes were heated and desperate. Hermione realized that her hand was still at Ginny’s breast and Ginny’s fingers were still stroking absently between her legs. She looked, panicked, from Ginny’s face to Harry’s.

“Harry, I … we—”

“Beautiful,” Harry said, his voice cracking. “You looked beautiful.”

She could see him panting.

“Don’t,” he said, but stopped to gulp before plucking up his courage. “Don’t stop because of me.”

“Yeah,” Ginny said, her voice shaking, “it’s not as if this is something you see every day.”

She let out a nervous giggle or two before the three of them were all laughing. Harry’s face sobered quickly, though.

“I mean it,” Harry said, and Hermione could see his fingers begin to move within his trousers again. “Don’t stop.”

Hermione floundered for a second and it was Ginny who brought up the obvious. “Well,” she said, pointing with the hand not currently engaged with Hermione, “isn’t that what you’re lessons were meant to be this week? Seeing each other do that?”

Harry and Hermione nodded in tandem and Hermione couldn’t stop herself from moving against Ginny’s now-undulating fingers.

“I don’t mind,” the redhead said with a smirk. “Go ahead, Harry, have a look. We’ll give you a good show and Hermione, you can watch Harry.”

“I dunno, Gin,” Harry said, quickly removing his hand and trying to cover himself a bit more. “You shouldn’t really have to see me—”

“Harry, we used to date.”

“I know but—”

“Harry, I’ve probably touched it more than Hermione has.”

“Actually, I think Hermione—”

“Oh, if it’s the seeing your wanker that bothers you, I’ll shut my eyes.”

Harry cleared his throat. “I …I just—”

“Harry.”

The tone in Hermione’s voice wiped any clear thought from his head and wrenched his eyes to hers. Her cinnamon eyes were blazing with heat and he had last heard that husky quality close to his own ear as she had rode him to fever pitch. With the hand that had been playing across the stiff blouse across her breast, Hermione reached down and drew up her skirt, exposing her body to his view. Taking up the cue from her friend, Ginny stroked at Hermione again, causing her body to ripple in pleasure. A gruff moan escaped Harry’s lips.

“Harry, I want you to see me like this. I want you to see me in pleasure and I want to see you pleasure yourself. I want to see you stroke yourself, looking at me.”

Harry had to close his eyes as the shudder swelled in him. Seeing her like that was too much; too much for him to bear. Too much for him to control. When he opened his eyes, he looked only briefly at her face before meeting Ginny’s eyes. Without words, she seemed to understand; Ginny lowered her eyes and lowered her head, sucking on Hermione’s neck and she writhed against the other girl’s fingers. Only then did Harry dare to catch her eyes and when he did, it seemed as if he couldn’t get his trousers down fast enough for that blaze in her eyes. With his trousers and underwear pushed down his legs, Harry dropped to his knees in front of her and allowed his hand to stroke across his straining erection. She moaned loudly as she rocked against Ginny’s speeding fingers, clutching her own breast tighter and massaging Ginny’s until the girl whimpered against her skin. Harry gasped aloud as Hermione wriggled slightly and the hand at Ginny’s breast dropped to somewhere shadowy, out of sight beneath the girl’s skirt. Ginny’s head wavered and she moaned.

Harry’s hand was practically chafing in its intensity as it glided across his skin. He would never last. The sounds of both girls’ throaty cries as they touched each other was both bliss and torture to his ears and only panic and deep breaths kept him sane. When Ginny’s body stiffened and began to shudder, Harry had to close his eyes for a moment. For reasons he couldn’t name, he wanted Hermione to be first. Her ragged moan hit his ears and his eyes shot open, heat lancing through him like a spear as her eyes caught his, undulating in the throes of her orgasm. He couldn’t hang on; his climax ripped through him.

Harry leaned over, forehead to the floor, not really trying to shield the evidence of his orgasm or his softening erection – clutched in shaking fingers – from the girls across from him. He simply didn’t think he could stand to see more or his breathing might never slow. He smiled though, the carpet scratching his face.

“What a way to die that would be,” he muttered into the dark red fluff beneath this face.

“What did you say?” he heard Ginny’s voice ask.

Harry raised his head. “Nothing,” he answered. He was still smiling as he sat up and made a point not to rush as he used his wand to clean himself, then them, then cover himself. Regardless of their haste just a few moments ago, he didn’t want to hurry and make Ginny feel cheap or used. He let her gaze wander across his body for a few moments – flattered at her open stare – before he replaced his clothing and sat cross-legged in front of the girls. Hermione was quiet as she sat up and Harry might have been worried at this, if not for the pleasantly dazed look on her face or the way that she smiled down at her shaking hands as they replaced her askew clothing.

“Are you all right?” Harry asked her as he helped her to her feet.

“Hmm?” she said absently, but then shook her head to clear it. She smiled gently. “Yes, I’m fine.”

“So you’re—” Ginny’s voice broke for a moment before she could continue. “You’re okay with everything then? You don’t feel badly about it? Either of you?”

Ginny’s face was uncertain, looking from Harry to Hermione and clearly wondering if their friendship had been endangered. She sighed, heavy with relief, when Harry shook his head. “I’m okay,” Harry said quietly. “Bit odd, a little unexpected, but it worked out generally well for me. I mean, who’d believe what I just saw?”

Ginny laughed along with the two of them, but looked at Hermione, concerned, as the older girl’s chuckles died down. “And you, Hermione? Are you okay with … us?”

Hermione smiled and laced an arm through her best girlfriend’s. “We’re fine. First of all, it was an interesting and enlightening experience,” Ginny snorted, “and secondly, I asked you to do this, remember?”

Ginny nodded and smiled as the three of them started to climb the stairs. As they moved upwards, Harry took Hermione’s upper arm and held her back. Ginny looked back, smiled and kept climbing, but a bit slower, waiting for Hermione. Harry leaned over her shoulder and whispered in her ear.

“So does this mean we’re done with this week’s lesson early, then?”

“Mmmm,” Hermione said, shivering at his breath on her ear. “I guess we did knock that one out of the park on the first try.”

“Then we can go straight on to the next lesson?” He didn’t have to be reminded that the following week’s lesson was to be ‘partner-based hand stimulation – Harry receives;’ that one, he’d committed to memory. His muscles twitched and his heart began to race again, thinking of Hermione’s hand doing to him what his own had done this evening.

Hermione slipped a hand between their bodies as she leaned back against his and let her palm glide across the front of his trousers. She smiled when she felt his body leap to respond. “I suppose we could. Fancy starting on that one on Sunday?”

His hand skimmed up her side and darted, lightning-quick, across her breast. She whimpered just a bit. “I can’t wait.” He let her go and smiled to himself, steadying her with a hand at her back when she missed the next stair.

When Hermione caught up with Ginny, the three started to move to their respective dormitories. “Oi!” she said to Harry as he began to move away. Hermione looked down at her from the next stair up, Harry gazing across from the doorway. “If you ever need help with your field research again, I’d be happy to lend a hand. Or a … well, use your imagination.”

An eruption of laughter echoed from the girls at the completely gobsmacked look on Harry’s face. They wished him goodnight and dissolved again into giggles when he smacked face-first into the doorjamb of the boys’ dormitory before ushering himself towards bed.


*****

Hermione alternated between giggles and wanting to break into a sweat as she shucked her clothes and slipped her nightgown over her head. The hush of the nighttime noises of the dormitory threw her elevated breathing and quiet ramblings into sharp relief. What a night she’d had! She looked around at the beds of the other sleeping girls; none of them would ever believe this of her: Hermione Granger, goodie-two-shoes, would never be sexually outlandish!

“Ha!” she chuckled aloud. Well, they’d never know it, but she’d shown them. And she was sure that she’d be thinking just as much of the raging heat in Harry’s eyes as he had watched her pleasure as she would of Ginny’s hands tonight. This field research lark was turning out better than she’d ever have imagined.

“Psst!” she heard whispered from the door as a slice of light fractured the late night dark. “Hermione!”

She turned to see Ginny at the door. Hermione waved her in quickly and the redhead joined her on her four-poster before she wrenched the curtains shut.

“What’s up?” Hermione asked.

“You’re sure everything’s all right then? Not just between you and me but,” she cleared her throat, but only minutely, “you and Harry, too?”

“Oh, Harry and I will be just fine,” she said with a smirk. “Better than ever I think. Which reminds me, how are things going with Neville?”

To Hermione’s pleasant surprise, the redhead smiled quite genuinely. “Actually, really well. Once he got over the blushing nonsense, he had quite a bit to ask and was more mature than I thought. He even had the idea of going out to St. Mungo’s the other day. We went and talked to a Healer and he asked some really good questions. Of course, they thought I was his girlfriend he’d gotten pregnant, but once we said that no, we were just looking for information, she commended us on ‘treating the issue like responsible adults.’ Quite nice actually.”

“Well, good!” Hermione said, patting the girl on the hand as she slipped from the bed. Hermione watched the girl start to disappear, but Ginny poked her head back through the curtains with a smirk.

“I think I might ask him if he fancies some field research, though. See how he likes the idea.”

Hermione’s eyes opened wide and Ginny laughed as she slipped away.

“Poor Neville,” Hermione muttered as she lay down. Then she laughed. “Lucky Neville. He doesn’t know what he’s in for....”