For the First Kiss Project.
*
Ginny stood outside Hermione’s room, working up the courage to knock. She hated asking for help, especially from Hermione, who never failed to make her vaguely nervous. Tentatively, she knocked on the door. “Hermione?” she called, and opened it, leaning in a little to get a look around. “Are you in here?”
Bed curtains were pushed aside in a swish of fabric, and Hermione peeked out from behind them. “Ginny. What is it?” she asked, a little breathlessly.
“Um.” Ginny stared at her shoes, trying to avoid blushing. “I was having trouble with my arithmancy homework. I was wondering if you would help me.”
“Of course. Just give me a second.” She let the curtains fall back into place, and a few moments later emerged and slid onto the floor. “Come on in.” She smoothed out her slightly disheveled hair, and then patted the floor beside her. “Sit. What do you need help with?”
Carefully, Ginny settled down next to her, self-consciously adjusting her skirt. “Some of these problems are a bit complex.” She opened her arithmancy book to the appropriate page. “I’m not quite sure what to do here.”
“Okay.” Hermione picked up the book. “So-“
“Hermione?” Ginny interrupted.
“What?”
“What were you doing before I came in?”
“Oh.” A faint flush colored her cheeks. “I was writing to Viktor.”
Ginny wasn’t sure why that warranted a blush. “Is he really your boyfriend?”
Hermione distractedly played with the hem of her skirt. “I suppose so.”
“You suppose?”
“Well, I don’t know, really. I like him. We write to each other fairly often.”
“Right.” Ginny studied her, wondering if she should press the issue. It was certainly more interesting than arithmancy homework. “Have you ever kissed him?”
“Ginny, really,” Hermione said. “I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”
Hurt, Ginny looked away.
Hermione frowned. “No, I haven’t, okay? I haven’t kissed him.” Her cheeks reddened further. “I haven’t kissed anyone.”
“Ever?” Ginny asked, surprised.
“Not even once,” Hermione confirmed.
Ginny shrugged. “I haven’t kissed anyone, either. Honestly, the whole idea of it makes me nervous.”
“Me too. What if I do it wrong? I mean, romance novels can only teach you so much. This sort of thing requires. Well. Field work.”
“And you’ve never practiced on my brother?” Ginny grinned.
“No!” Hermione said, a little too quickly. “We’re not like that.”
“Haven’t you ever wanted to try, though?”
“On your brother? Ginny, I’m not having this conversation with you. Honestly.”
“In general, I mean. Just to see if it’s all that great. Or, if it’s not, to learn how to make it better.”
“Maybe,” Hermione said evasively. “I’m sure everyone does. It’s a natural curiosity.”
“Of course it is,” Ginny said dismissively, then pointed at her arithmancy book. “It was this problem here-“
“What about you?” Hermione demanded. “Are you curious?”
“Yes.”
“Why haven’t you, then? Whatever happened with you and Neville?”
“He was just my date for the ball. We were never- like that .”
“Did you want to be?”
“With Neville? No. He’s nice, but. I don’t really want to kiss him.”
“Oh.” Hermione raised an eyebrow. “Who do you want to kiss, then?”
Ginny looked away. “Nobody.”
“Everybody wants to kiss somebody. What about-“ She stopped. It was tacitly understood that they were not to mention The Crush around Ginny. “Well, there must be somebody,” she trailed off.
“There isn’t.”
They stared at each other for a moment.
“So,” Ginny said.
“Kiss me,” Hermione said.
Ginny stared. “What?”
“I’m curious, you’re curious, we need practice. Kiss me, Ginny,” she said reasonably.
“I’m not going to kiss you,” Ginny said, trying very hard not to turn a particularly brilliant shade of red and failing miserably.
“Fine.” Hermione leaned forward and reached up, threading her hands into Ginny’s hair. “I’ll kiss you, then.”
Then Hermione’s lips were on hers, tentative and determined, pressing too lightly. Ginny sighed, her lips parting a bit, and Hermione did the same, coming closer, pressing harder. Her tongue slid over Ginny’s hesitantly, then more confidently as she got used to the feeling, and Ginny responded in kind. Ginny’s hand rested gently on Hermione’s cheek, then over her neck. They kissed, softly, carefully, and then drew back.
“Well,” Hermione said, blinking and looking somewhere between stunned and pleased.
“Yes.” Ginny nodded.
Hermione grinned. “That was lovely.”
“Yes, it was.”
“Thank you.”
“Oh, anytime.”
“Really?”
“Really.” Ginny smiled.
They shared a grin. “So, you needed help with the homework,” Hermione said.
“Or we could practice more,” Ginny suggested.
“You can never have too much practice,” Hermione said seriously.
“I agree.”
They spent the next few hours testing that theory, and found that it was true.