I dare You

8. It did hurt!

The common room was empty as Hermione finally got back. The fire had burned down and the embers where letting the walls and furniture glow in a soft golden light.

She leant against one of the sofas in front of the enormous fireplace and nearly screamed as a head with long red hair surfaced from beneath the cushions.

"Hermione?"

"Ginny? What are you still doing here?"

"I could ask you the same."

She had got up and now openly stared at her friend, which looked puzzled.

"What?"

"I don't know, where you have been, but I do know that wherever it was you were not alone." she smirked.

Hermione looked down at herself and saw her clothing in disarray. She blushed deeply.

"I think it's time you tell me what's going on here."

Hermione nodded. She wanted to talk to somebody. She needed to talk to somebody.

The two girls sat in the corners of the sofa, cushions around them facing each other.

"So, when you were sleeping here in the common room, why..."

"I had found him on my way back from the library unconscious on the stone floor. So, I got him to the hospital wing, Madame Pomfrey took care of him and then allowed me to sit with him for a bit."

"I know when the library closes, and I also know that Madam Pomfrey is very strict about visiting times..."

"She allowed me to stay with him..."

Ginny starred at her.

"All night long?"

Hermione nodded.

"I sort of slept next to him..." she blushed.

Ginny just tried to get to grips with the information. Her best friend had spent a night in a hospital bed next to a boy and Madame Pomfrey hadn't said anything? Unbelievable!

"When did you come back?"

"Sometime after dawn..."

The younger witch was lost for words.

It took a long while before she asked "And that is where you have come from now?"

Hermione smiled. Ginny's eyes widened.

"No. We met after the prefects meeting."

"Making out by the look of your cloths."

The older witch sighed.

"You did."

There was a long silence.

"Have you two..." Ginny ventured finally.

Hermione shook her head.

"Why not?" Ginny clamped her hands over her mouth. She hadn't really intended to ask that aloud.

"We probably would have, but he wants it to be... perfect for us. Us both."

"He must really love you, Hermione!"

"Why do you think that?"

"If he thinks of you first, wants to make sure it is right for you then he definitely loves you."

Another stretch of silence followed.

"Hermione?"

"Yeah?"