AN: I do not own any of the characters used in this story. The characters are from the Harry Potter series owned by the talented J.K. Rowling.

Chapter 1

"Gah!"

Ginny let out an exuberant laugh as she took in the sight of her brother who had just singed part of an eyebrow off during their game of Exploding Snap.

"It's not funny," Ron remarked sternly as he grew red in the face, more likely from embarrassment than annoyance.

Ginny smirked unsympathetically. "You should know that card always explodes. It's happened loads of time before."

"Oh, just shut it," the redheaded boy mumbled as he rubbed the patch of singed skin.

"Mum, could probably fix it, you know," Ginny offered with masked kindness in her voice.

"No!" he cried. "She said she'd have my head if she had to patch me up again." The boy's face grew sick with worry at the thought of their formidable, yet mostly loving, mother.

"Patch you up how? What's happened now?"

The youngest Weasley turned her head to look over her shoulder at the sound of an admonishing voice cutting in.

"Hermione!" Ron greeted in surprise as he stood. "I thought you weren't able to come until this evening."

"My parents had to switch flights and – What in Merlin's name happened to your eyebrow?" Hermione asked as she studied Ron's unfortunate brow.

The boy's face grew red once more, the tinge now reaching his ears under the scrutinizing gaze of one of his best friends.

"Well, Ginny and I were playing Exploding Snap, and uh, well-"

"Honestly, Ronald," the brunette said before digging her wand out of her bag and flourishing it before her friend's face.

Ron's eyes followed the movements of Hermione's wand, a mixture of puzzlement and nervousness evident in his features. He let out a small gasp as the missing portion of his eyebrow popped back into place.

"How'd you do that!" He exclaimed as he touched his newly repaired brow and tried in vain to look at it.

A frown crossed his friend's face as she tucked her wand into her back pocket. "It's a simple charm spell, Ron. We learned it in third year," she explained in a curt manner.

"Yeah, I know that. But you cast it nonverbally," Ron retorted.

Hermione waved off the comment. "It's in our textbook for Charms this year – chapter four. The lesson focuses on how to cast nonverbal spells."

"Blimey. You won't even need to come to class for the first half of the term," he said.

Hermione gave Ron a look of confusion. "Why wouldn't I need to come to class?"

Ron merely rolled his eyes with a laugh. "Nevermind. Do you need help taking your bags upstairs?" he asked as he began reaching for Hermione's bags.

Before Hermione had a chance to answer, Ginny, who had been observing amusedly this whole time, shot in front of Ron, reaching for the older witch's bags.

"I've got them. I don't want you wandering around in my room," Ginny declared as she hoisted the bags off the floor while giving Ron a threatening stare.

Throwing his hands up in defence, Ron backed off. "Bet Mum wishes you were always this helpful."

Ginny shot her brother a withering look, earning a muffled chuckle from her friend.

Ginny looked over, her glare replaced with a small smile, at Hermione who had made a point of now looking away from the two siblings.

"Here, Ginny, let me take one of them," Hermione offered as she turned back to face the redheaded girl.

"No, it's alright," Ginny assured her with a grin as she walked towards the stairs.

With little effort, Ginny climbed the multiple flights of stairs up to her room where she deposited her friend's bags beside the spare bed her mother had set up early that morning. A few moments later, Hermione walked in looking slightly winded, but putting in a valiant effort to appear otherwise. The brilliant witch had many strengths, but athletics had never been one of them. Her cat Crookshanks trotted in just behind her and proceeded to make himself at home, sitting on the spare bed and looking up at his owner expectantly.

"Thanks," she breathed, as she not so casually placed her hands on her hips to perch herself upright.

A smirk crossed Ginny's lips that she quickly restrained. "Sure, no problem."

Ginny walked the few steps across her small room to where her own bed was situated. She sat down and gestured for Hermione to do the same on hers, to which the brunette gratefully obliged.

"So," Ginny said, "how were your holidays?"

Hermione smiled. "They were great, thank you. I got to go to Spain with my parents. The weather was incredibly hot, but the country is really quite beautiful. I especially enjoyed Barcelona."

The redhead returned her friend's smile and nodded, "That sounds wonderful."

"What about you, Ginny? What did you get up to?" Hermione asked.

Ginny shrugged her shoulders in response. "Not much, really. Played quidditch, spent time with Bill and Charlie when they came by for a visit, worked at Fred and George's shop a few times a week. Oh, and I made time to study," Ginny noted pointedly with a nod.

A proud smile appeared on Hermione's face as she replied enthusiastically, "That's excellent, Ginny! Oh, you'll love fifth year. Studying for O.W.L.s is a huge task, but it's worth it and so satisfying afterward."

Ginny couldn't help but laugh affectionately upon seeing the look of pure glee on Hermione's face at the mere mention of studying. It would be near impossible to find anyone else in the entire school that could be so enthusiastic about studying, particularly for O.W.L.s.

"I'll take your word for it," Ginny laughed before continuing on, "And you do realize that you're going to be my living, breathing, encyclopedia this year, right? At least when you're not studying for N.E.W.T.s, yes, I know you're studying for them already."

Hermione looked at Ginny as though what she said was the obvious thing in the world. "Why wouldn't I be studying for N.E.W.T.s?" The redhead just smiled and shook her head. "And you know I'd be happy to help you study."

Ginny looked across the room at Hermione sitting on the bed, offering her a smile of thanks.

"Damn," Ginny thought. She had worked very hard this summer to ignore the feelings inside of her, the feelings that were rolling around in her stomach right now as she looked at the older witch.

For a couple of years, Ginny had been relatively well aware of the fact that she fancied women. She had yet to tell anyone of this revelation, but the knowledge and acceptance was there. She experienced no chaotic internal struggle, just the realization one day that she was thinking of girls the way that her female friends were thinking about boys. Not a big deal. What was a big deal was that these feelings of fancying women had been hopelessly spent on one, Miss Hermione Granger.

Ginny had long respected and admired her friend, but sometime during third year these feelings of friendship began to evolve into something much deeper, and sadly, more problematic. Ginny had talked herself out of the reality of the situation various times, but the night of the Yule Ball, there was no fooling even the most gullible part of herself into believing that she was eyeing the brunette in a platonic manner. It wasn't even just the physical attraction part that Ginny couldn't deny, it was the deep seated jealousy that she felt towards Victor Krum, and even her own brother. No, friends did not think of other friends in such a way.

Not wanting to make a move at the time, yet not wanting to distance herself either, Ginny had quickly resigned herself to maintaining the status quo. However, there did tend to be moments where Ginny would push her luck with Hermione and try to blur the boundaries of their friendship just a little bit. The younger witch wanted to keep pushing, but the thought of scaring the brunette away absolutely terrified Ginny. She had to proceed with caution.

"Are you alright?"

"Huh?" Ginny snapped out of her musings at Hermione's interruption. She scrambled to recollect herself. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Was just thinking about something I read for Astronomy."

"Oh, what is it? Maybe I can help," Hermione offered as she sat up furthermore.

Ginny mind raced as she tried to recall something from her Astronomy textbook.

"I was struggling with how to chart Jupiter...I heard you have to fill out a sky chart for your O.W.L. exam...," Ginny answered a lot more slowly than she had hoped for.

The older witch's eyes lit up before she responded, "I'll show you. If it's dark enough out, we should be able to see it without a telescope, but either way, once we get to Hogwarts I'll help you. Astronomy is really very interesting in fifth year; I think you'll enjoy it."

"Thanks," Ginny replied, burying the excitement that was building at the thought of spending more time with her brainy friend.

"I'm so glad you put more effort into your studies than your brother. I swear, I don't know how he got through his O.W.L.s," Hermione said in latent disbelief.

Ginny simply nodded her head at the mention of her brother. Ron, Ron, Ron...Ginny had spent a fair amount of time pondering how Hermione felt for the elder Weasley. Ginny at least knew that most everyone expected Hermione and Ron to date, and were surprised when he ended up dating Katie Bell just before summer started. Though Katie and Ron eliminated half of Ginny's potential problem, them being an item may not have done anything to diminish any feelings that Hermione had for Ron, if they did exist.

"He can be quite lazy, can't he?" Ginny ventured. "Do you ever find it irritating?"

Hermione scoffed, "Ginny, you know his study habits drive me up the wall. He refuses to study or do his work ahead of time, and then he comes to me for help the night before the assignment is due."

"Yeah, unbelievable," the younger Weasley agreed. "I'm still amazed that Katie puts up with him."

Ginny watched closely to see how Hermione would react to the bait.

The brunette put a finger to her chin and looked up at the ceiling in contemplation. "It is interesting. They do have quidditch in common...though I can't say much more; I don't know Katie particularly well."

Ginny tried to interpret Hermione's response regarding Ron and Katie. She didn't get worked up, that was a good sign...she wasn't catty or bitter. Though Ginny did pick up on something when Hermione mentioned quidditch, but she couldn't determine just what she had noticed.

"Well, all that matters is that they're happy," Hermione said as she got off the bed and began unpacking a few of her things.

"Yeah, that's true," Ginny concurred. She saw an opportunity in their conversation to probe a bit deeper on the topic. "Hey, Hermione?"

"Hm?" Hermione responded as she continued rummaging through her bag.

"Do you ever still talk with Victor?" Ginny asked as nonchalantly as possible, even pre-emptively avoiding the eye contact that she knew was coming. Sure enough, Hermione snapped her head towards Ginny.

"Victor? I haven't talked with him in months. Why?" She asked suspiciously.

"I thought you fancied him, that's all," Ginny replied, anticipating Hermione's reaction once more, but knowing she'd just have to suffer through it to get to the final point.

"Ginny, I told you last summer that the thing with Victor fizzled out. He lives in Bulgaria, for goodness sakes. Plus, I just wasn't interested," she stated as she returned her attention to a shirt she was folding.

"Right, sorry," the redhead replied quickly. "Okay, so Victor's out of the picture. Anyone new in sight?" Again, Ginny did her absolute best to not sound anxious.

Hermione glanced back at Ginny momentarily with a look halfway between uncomfortable and annoyed. "No, I can't say there is. I don't exactly have time right now to devote to pursuing someone or being in a relationship. My future career relies almost entirely upon my N.E.W.T.s results; the last thing I want is to be distracted."

"Fair enough," Ginny replied. She wasn't quite content with Hermione's answer though, and probed on. "You know, Ron used to fancy you quite a bit."

To Ginny's surprise, the brunette let out a laugh. Not an awkward or embarrassed laugh, but an amused one.

"Yes, I'm well aware," Hermione said, still putting away clothes. "But, thankfully, he appears to be over that whole thing now. I think he just fancied me because I was the only girl he ever really got up the nerve to talk to. Being on the quidditch team certainly boosted his confidence; it's been quite good for him."

"So you don't care?" Ginny questioned, forfeiting the effort required to cover up her confusion over Hermione's reaction.

The brunette turned around to look at Ginny, a bemused look on her face. "Are you getting at what I think you're getting at?" Ginny just gave her a blank stare, causing Hermione to laugh once more. "Ginny," she said patiently, "I don't like your brother."

The younger witch blushed deeply at being caught. She quickly tried to process an explanation that would get her out of this little jumble, but couldn't come up with much beyond playing the 'sibling' card.

She was about to stumble through her response when Hermione spoke up again.

"I know people expected us to get together, but we're just really good friends, you know? I truly can't think of Ron that way. And don't think you're getting off scott-free, it's my turn now."
Ginny did her best to not visibly gulp as panic began to constrict her throat.

"Are you excited for Saturday?" the brunette asked as she pulled a book out of her near-empty bag and sat down on the bed.

Ginny quirked an eyebrow in question, "What's on Saturday?"

Hermione gave her friend a look of minor disappointment before explaining in an exasperated manner, "Harry's coming!"

"Oh," Ginny blushed once more.

Most might have thought her reaction was due to the mention of Harry's arrival, who Ginny had long ago worshipped, and they would be right to some degree. But really, she was more embarrassed about the fact that she didn't know when he was coming.

"Well, I suppose that answers my question then," Hermione stated as she opened her book to where her bookmark lay.

A small laugh escaped Ginny's throat. "Yeah, sorry, my obsession with Harry is long gone. I thought that would've been clear by now."

"Yes, I figured as much, but I thought I'd check," Hermione replied somewhat distracted as she scanned the pages before her. "And no need to be sorry, you're better off, seems like he's quite interested in Luna these days."

Ginny smiled at the mention of her Ravenclaw friend and felt the urge to send her friend an owl at receiving this update. Luna had informed Ginny last year that she did in fact have feelings for the boy-who-lived, and personally, Ginny thought the two of them would be quite a cute match.

"That's great news," Ginny confirmed. "I won't be surprised if they're together by the time Christmas rolls around."

Hermione smiled knowingly. "I thought she liked him. Hopefully this upcoming relationship doesn't prevent him from focusing on his studies. He'll need to do well on his N.E.W.T.s if he wants to be an auror."

"He'll be fine," Ginny assured her with a laugh.

"And what about you, Gin? Is there anyone who's going to take away from your studies?" The brunette teased.

Ginny narrowed her eyes at the older girl with mock irritation. "No, Hermione," she assured her in the same mocking manner. "My life will be fully dedicated to studying...and quidditch."

Hermione looked up from her book and gave Ginny a reproachful stare. "Honestly, am I the only one who doesn't live and breathe quidditch?"

"Probably," Ginny replied with no hesitation, earning her a pillow-projectile which she easily dodged. "See, right there, quidditch skills in action. If I can dodge a bludger, I can certainly dodge a pillow. You, on the other hand..."

Hermione squealed as she was hit in the chest with the same pillow she had just thrown.

"Ginny!" She yelled.

Guessing from the restrained smile on Hermione's face, Ginny figured she wasn't too deep in trouble.

Hermione quickly set her book off to the side as she swiftly got up from the bed, pillow in hand and rushed at Ginny.

A look of alarm sprung onto the redhead's face as Hermione crossed over to her in the three or four steps required to reach her bed. Ginny put her hands up to block the oncoming assault and grabbed the pillow when it made contact with her hands. The brunette hadn't let go of the pillow either, so their pillow fight had now turned into a tug-of-war.

Ginny couldn't get any decent leverage from her sitting position on the bed, but even then she could still overpower the brunette had she wanted to. This sudden development had presented Ginny with some great opportunities for blurring those lines of friendship, and she quickly ran through the possibilities in her mind.

The young athlete made her decision with a sharp tug. Somewhere deep inside her mind, her conscience was scolding her, but she'd worry about that later. Right now, the witch of her affections had just fallen partway on top of her, and to her amazement, was still laughing and playing along.

"Ginny!" The brunette yelled again as she sat up enough to swat Ginny repeatedly on the arm, drawing further giggles from the redhead.

"Okay! Okay! I'm sorry, I give up," Ginny laughed as she tried to grab at Hermione's hands that were still landing light blows.

"Hmph," Hermione said with mock pride.

As the brunette ceased her assault, Ginny became aware that she was essentially holding Hermione's hands. She looked at Hermione with what she imagined was a look of panic, only to see Hermione studying her curiously.

"Girls! Dinner's ready!"

Hermione practically leapt off Ginny and had nearly collided into Ginny's dresser in her alarm. Ginny bolted upright and got off the bed, ensuring to keep a few feet of space between herself and the older witch.

"Sorry about that...You okay?" Ginny asked.

Hermione's eyes darted around the room, landing anywhere but on Ginny, as she stuttered through a reply. "Oh, um, that's fine. It's not – don't worry. Dinner, your mother called us." And with that, the anxious girl made a hasty exit from the room that felt suddenly smaller.

Ginny's shoulders slumped and she sighed heavily. What had just happened? The young Weasley ran through the past few minutes' events in her mind, trying her best to comprehend everything. Had she and Hermione had a 'moment'? What was she supposed to do now?

As she trudged down the stairs to the dining room, she couldn't help but pray that this wasn't going to be a trend for this year.

"Ginny, darling!" Her mother called to her as Ginny walked into the room, trying her best to conceal her recent moodiness. "Have a seat, dear. The meatloaf is still hot, so be careful."

Ginny scanned the seating at the table and saw that the only seats open were next to Hermione and one directly across from her. Reflecting on what had happened moments ago upstairs, Ginny opted to sit opposite the brunette, who had not yet acknowledged Ginny's presence. Ginny settled into the seat next to her brother, George, who along with Fred had come home for a couple of days.

"What's with the sullen face, Gin?" George asked in a teasing manner as he ribbed her while reaching for a bun off of the table.

"Nothing," she replied flatly. "Why are you in such a good mood?" she asked with suspicion, knowing full well from the mischievous look on his face that he was up to something.

"Nothing," he responded airily.

Ginny glared at her brother and reached for a bun as well. She jerked her hand back when it made contact with someone else's.

Eyes widening in surprise and sharply turning her attention forward, she took in the sight of Hermione pulling her hand back as well. The brunette's cheeks were beginning to glow a pale pink and she had shifted her gaze to the upper corner of the room, a tense look on her face.

"Sorry," the youngest Weasley mumbled. "Go ahead."

"Oh, no," Hermione eyes flickered towards Ginny before focusing on her plate, "I'm quite alright. You go ahead."

Ginny tentatively reached out and grabbed a still-warm bun and began to butter it. Her eyes remained on Hermione, who seemed determined to focus all of her energy and attentiveness towards the food on her plate.

Losing interest, Ginny looked around the table to see Fred and George stifling laughs around mouthfuls of food, and to see Ron chomping down on an oversized mouthful of food, but staring at her with a perplexed look on his face.

"What!" Ginny snapped.

"No'-in'!" Ron did his best to snap back around the food in his mouth. He swallowed. "You're nutters..."

"Shut up, Ron," Ginny muttered as she began cutting into a piece of meatloaf.

"Ginny!" her mother scolded.

With sorry eyes, the teenage girl mumbled brief apologies to her mother and brother.

The remainder of the dinner was quiet and uneventful. Hermione had eaten very little, despite much encouragement from Mrs. Weasley to help herself to multiple servings, and instead had begun to help Mrs. Weasley clean up.

Ginny was the last to finish her dinner and brought her empty plate into the kitchen along with any remaining food that was out on the table.

"Thank you, dear," her mother said as she took some of the load out of Ginny's hands.

Hermione was at the sink rinsing off some plates in the muggle-fashion. Ginny walked up next to her, grabbing a towel and began drying the plates that Hermione had set down.

The brunette looked over at her newly arrived partner with some level of surprise in her eyes. "Ginny," she said. "Oh, you don't have to help if you don't want. I'm nearly done."

"No, it's fine," Ginny said as affably as she could.

A moment of silence passed; the air still slightly heavy between them.

"You must think I'm crazy," Hermione spoke up, "doing this the muggle way. I know your mom thinks I'm a little crazed."

Ginny followed Hermione's gaze to look at her mother who had now left the kitchen and was using magic to clean the table.

"Mm, not at all," Ginny said seriously. "Sometimes magic is unnecessary. Besides, this is kind of relaxing."

Hermione looked at Ginny in amused awe, drawing a laugh out of the redhead.

"Not saying I would do it the muggle way all the time," she said pointedly, "but it does serve its purposes. And I don't think you're crazy."

"Thank you, Ginny," Hermione said warmly, an appreciative smile on her face.

Several minutes later, Ginny and Hermione dried their hands and walked out of the kitchen. Ginny felt slightly rejuvenated after the friendly conversation she and Hermione had had. Things seemed to have more or less returned to normal and Ginny silently thanked Merlin for it.

Ginny looked outside and saw that the weather had remained cooperative and the sun was still high in the sky. Turning to face Hermione, Ginny spoke.

"Hey, did you want to go for a walk? The weather's really nice right now," she suggested hopefully.

Hermione looked out the window for a moment and nodded her head. "Sure, Gin. Looks lovely outside."

"Great," Ginny smiled.

The girls headed upstairs to Ginny's room to grab their jackets, at Ginny's suggestion in case the weather turned. They then walked out across the field and over the hill, the rays of the sun beaming down and warming their skin. They talked more about Hermione's trip to Spain and Ginny's hopes for the quidditch team this year.

"-I've been practicing a lot this summer with Ron, Fred and George. I don't think they went easy on me, in fact, I think they were harder on me than they would have typically been. So, I'm feeling pretty good. I-"

Ginny turned around to see Hermione a number of feet behind her looking nervous. Ginny looked down at the ground and between them, there was a small creek, about 15 feet wide with a fallen tree lying across it. Ginny had crossed the creek using the log without so much as a thought. She had been across it so frequently that she didn't even notice it anymore.

"It's safe," she assured Hermione, who took a few hesitant steps towards the log.

"I'm not sure, Ginny," Hermione shook her head. "What if I slip?" She looked down, "I don't fancy falling in."

Ginny looked down at the water that was going along at a leisurely pace. Falling in wouldn't have been a big deal at all. She knew the creek to be shallow at this point in the crossing; she had even waded across the creek a few times just for kicks.

"If I could apparate," Hermione continued, "this would easy."

Ginny laughed lightly at the brunette's unnecessary concern. "It's okay. Really. You'll be fine."

She walked out onto the fallen tree just to show Hermione that it wasn't a big deal. If anything, Hermione looked even more worried now. "Ginny, get off of there, it's dangerous!" the brunette scolded as she pointed to the ground next to her in emphasis.

Ginny couldn't help it, she stuck her leg out to gesture that she was going to walk off.

"Don't! Get over here!"

The redhead laughed good naturedly and crossed the rest of the way over to Hermione's side of the bank. She continued to smile despite the unimpressed glare she received from her friend.

"Honestly, Ginny. You're terrible sometimes. You must've spent too much time with Fr-"

Hermione's admonishment was cut off when she let out a shriek. Ginny had rolled her eyes partway through the brunette's speech and had swiftly scooped the older girl up in her arms. The time that Ginny had devoted to playing quidditch had served her body well and carrying the petite brunette was of little difficulty for her. She stepped up on the log. The brunette now gripped her tightly around the back of the neck and yelled threats intermittently between more squeals of fear.

"Easy now, 'Mione," Ginny said in an exaggerated fashion, "You're making me nervous, I could lose my footing. And if you keep squirming I might lose my grip on you, that's a long way down...," she said as she made a point of looking to the water below.

Hermione's grip tightened more-so on Ginny, pressing her body further against the redhead's and Ginny could feel Hermione's hot breath on her neck. Another slew of hushed threats came out of the brunette's mouth as they finished their short journey to the other side. Admittedly, Ginny took her time walking across; she wanted to relish this moment of contact, feeling the brunette curl up against her sent a rush through her and had she not needed to focus on her footing, she would have given in to the light-headed feeling that wanted to wash over her.

Once safely on stable ground again, the young Weasley gently placed Hermione back on her feet. The fierce look that the older witch was giving her did little to diminish the grin on Ginny's face. She might have felt guilty about taxing the poor girl's nerves, but the slight blush of her cheeks and the flash of a smile that was quickly stamped out in favour of a stern frown let Ginny know that she hadn't quite gone too far. Hermione gave her a light slap on the arm for good measure anyway.

"I'm sorry," Ginny said, accompanied with a charming look.

Hermione 'hmphed' and stalked off dramatically, surely knowing that Ginny would follow.

With a laugh, the redhead caught up and leaned in a little, apologizing again, this time a little more extensively. The new apology seemed to satiate Hermione's mock anger and the two carried on down the path returning to their previous conversation.

Some while later, the girls reached their destination and Ginny sat down on the grass.

"Well, this was a bit more than a walk," Hermione stated in a low voice as she sat down a little heavily next to the redhead. She looked slightly dishevelled from their winding walk up, over, and all around to get here.

Ginny looked out ahead of her and could see the Burrow in the far off distance, a mere smudge on the landscape. They were now seated on top of the highest hill in the area surrounding the Weasley residence. The area was quiet, secluded and beautiful. Ginny had discovered it a few summers back and kept it to herself as a place that could be hers and hers alone. Growing up as a member of such a large family, having something like this where one could gather their own thoughts in complete peace was highly coveted and Ginny treasured it thoroughly. However, she wanted to share it with Hermione.

By now the sun was setting and a red-orange glow had been cast across the fields before them.

"Gosh, this is beautiful, Ginny," Hermione commented.

"It is," Ginny smiled. "Sorry about the trek. I usually fly over," at the mention of flying, Hermione gave Ginny a contemptuous look, "but, I know you don't like to fly. In all honesty, though, the walk only adds to the beauty of this place. Let's you clear your mind. Well, at least if someone isn't going off about quidditch in your ear the whole time," she joked.

Hermione's look of disdain was replaced with a faint, crooked grin.

"It wasn't so bad. Just don't make a habit of it," she warned playfully. "But really, thank you for showing me this place. It's wonderful. I don't get to see anything like this in the city," she lamented.

The girls sat in silence for a considerable amount of time. The silence wasn't one of awkwardness like they had experienced earlier in the day, this time it was comfortable and easy. Ginny lay on her back now, to look up at the darkened sky, passively taking in the constellations that sparkled before her.

A moment or so later, Hermione followed suite and lay out on her back as well, her dark, curly hair fanning out around her.

"You see that bright star over there? That should be Jupiter," the brunette said as she pointed her finger into the air and to their left.

"Hm?" Ginny asked, somewhat dazed, a little slow to come out of her thoughts.

"Jupiter," Hermione repeated, "You said you were having trouble finding it. It's right over there. It's in Taurus for now."

As Hermione pointed again, she leaned further into it in emphasis, and in doing so was now brushing up against Ginny, her arm reaching over them.

Ginny had no idea where Hermione was pointing but leaned in and nodded her affirmation with words of interest. Encouraged, Hermione starting pointing out other various constellations and stars, giving detailed stats and historical information on each of them.

Ginny was listening to what her friend was saying, but wasn't really registering any of the information. She felt endearment swell inside of her at Hermione talking so vividly about astronomy and recalling such an incredible wealth of information so effortlessly.

Soon though, Ginny felt that increasingly familiar pang of sadness inside of her. Their walk, their conversations and just as much, the comfortable ease in which they could be together in silence, the romantic sunset, stargazing, the touching...tonight would have been so perfect, but a heavy knowledge loomed over Ginny. Despite tonight and despite Ginny's hoping, they were still just friends. Hermione Granger was just a friend.

"What's wrong, Gin?" Hermione asked, worried.

"What?" Ginny asked as she shook her head slightly. She hadn't realized that Hermione was now leaning over her, looking down with concern. Feeling suddenly vulnerable, the redhead forced a laugh and inched away from the other girl as inconspicuously as possible. "I'm fine, really."
Hermione gave her a look that clearly expressed that she didn't believe a word of that.

Ginny sighed, exasperated, and avoided the brunette's prying eyes.

"I was just thinking," Ginny relented. "Not a big deal. So why was that moon named Phobos?"

"Don't change the subject," Hermione said firmly. "Something's bothering you. You've been acting off this whole day. Now, what is it?"

She was caught. Ginny racked her brain in search of a viable excuse. Multiple solid possibilities developed in her mind, but a strong feeling was pushing itself out from deep within her, and quite frankly, Ginny did not like what it was encouraging her to do.

In her effort to conjure up an excuse, Ginny had taken long enough to respond that Hermione's concern had grown further.

"Is it serious?" The brunette's brows furrowed with worry as she questioned her friend once more. "You can tell me anything, you know that, right? I'm here for you."

Ginny nodded internally. There was a reason she was sorted into Gryffindor, and she was about to prove once more that her sorting had been correct.

She sat up, and in doing so, made sure to put a few more inches between herself and Hermione, creating the buffer she desired. She looked to Hermione with a determined look on her face and stared into the brunette's dark eyes for a moment. Inside, a large part of her was jumping up and down frantically yelling at her to stop, but the small ounce of bravery called out to her much louder.

"Hermione..."

"...Yes?"

"I'm gay."