Why the Hell Shouldn't I?
Ginny was covered in paint. Three of her fingers were yellow, and the rest were blue. If she looked down she could faintly see a streak of green across her nose, and her painting overalls had four new shades of purple added to the mess of paint they already adorned.
She sat on her stool, far enough back from the painting to get the full scope of it. The shade of the leaves was all wrong and she’d been trying to fix it for the last thirty minutes.
“Ugh!” she threw up her hands in dismay.
Just then the dorm room door creaked open. Hermione popped in, shutting it behind her. She had a glaze to her eyes and a sickly sweet smile on her mouth. She must have just left Draco, Ginny surmises.
“Hey Gins,” she speaks up after a moment, coming to stand beside the stool, surveying the canvas alongside her friend.
“That looks amazing,” Hermione praised.
Ginny knew that her friend wouldn’t tell her the painting looked good if it didn’t but she still said, “It’s all wrong,” in a frustrated tone.
“What is?”
“The leaves. I can’t get the shade of green right.” Ginny pointed to the tall trees off to the side of her landscape.
“I think it looks great,”
“Well, it doesn’t.” Ginny spouted off in a moody tone, cringing at the harshness in her voice, “But thanks anyway.” She tries to soften the blow and her voice.
“What’s wrong?” Hermione isn’t talking about the painting. Ginny knows this. Her friend is astute in many ways, reading the redhead’s emotions is one of her top skills; she’s discovered this over the many years they’ve spent together.
“It’s nothing, don’t worry.” Ginny brushes off the conversation not wanting to get into the day’s trials and tribulations. Especially since she decided to keep the bit about her and Pansy’s fake dating plan a secret.
She knew it was wrong to lie to her friend and it could get messy but Pansy was right—they should try to keep this whole thing under wraps. If she told Hermione, Hermione would tell Draco, and while Ginny trusts him, she doesn’t want to risk him slipping up and telling someone. She didn’t think she would recover from the embarrassment of people finding out about their plan.
She and Pansy would fake date for the next few months, then they would stage a breakup, and that’s when Ginny would come clean to Hermione; maybe.
“It’s obviously not nothing. How did today go?” Hermione’s tone was weary, as if scared to hear the answer.
“Today… today went fine,” Ginny doesn’t quite know how to broach the whole ‘I’m dating Pansy Parkinson’ subject.
“Just fine?” Hermione doesn’t believe her. She’s stress painting for Merlin’s sake. Obviously, everything is not fine.
“You’re stress painting, so what actually happened today?” Hermione questions, reading Ginny’s mind.
“Nothing happened, every-”
She’s cut off by Hermione’s shake of her head, “Nope. Out with it Gins.”
Ugh, this was going to be painful. “Alright,” Ginny takes a deep breath and then mumbles, “I maybe, happen to be dating Pansy now.” She shrugs her shoulders refusing to meet Hermione’s gaze.
When she’s met with unexpected silence for what has to be at least a minute, she guesses, Ginny looks up at her friend.
Hermione stands motionless, jaw hanging open, arms limp at her sides. Wow, left speechless twice in twenty-four hours. That’s a new record. Ginny thinks.
“You’re going to catch a fly if you keep your mouth open like that,” Ginny chuckles at her friend’s expression.
At the reminder, Hermione shuts her mouth and props her fists on her hips, “What do you mean you and Pansy are dating?”
“Well Hermione, when two people like each other very much—”
“Be serious Ginny!” Hermione cuts her off, making Ginny giggle.
The redhead gets up from her stool, groaning as her muscles stretch. She’d been sitting in the metal chair for the last few hours, deciding to skip her last class and focus on trying to de-stress after the day’s events.
The anxiety had her muscles tense and locked up all day, now she was paying the price. She walked to her bed, sitting down and looking at her friend who still stood in the same place with her motherly-looking scowl.
“Alright, alright,” Ginny sighed, resigned to her fate, “I went to class, Pansy caught up to me after Charms and asked if we could talk somewhere private,”
Hermione’s eyebrows were raised in question.
“I brought her back to the dorm, where she said she thinks we should give dating a chance,” Not totally a lie, which helped Ginny get through the story. She would try to be as truthful as possible, just leave out the little fake part of it.
“I agreed, so… here we are.” Ginny clasped her hands waiting for Hermione’s lecture.
Hermione just stared for a few moments, floored at her friend’s confession, “I didn’t know you liked Pansy.”
“Well, I don’t know,” a shrug, ‘I haven’t talked about it a lot but… you know I’m not straight.”
The girls had never really talked about Ginny’s sexuality. It’s just always been there; this elephant in the room. Hermione just nodded, letting Ginny say her peace.
“I don’t know what I am,” she chuckles a self-deprecating laugh, “But I know that I find Pansy rather cute, and honestly, why the hell shouldn’t I date her? She’s cute, I’m cute. We’re young. So yes, I’m dating her.” She finishes her monologue with her head held high.
If they were going to convince everyone she and Pansy were dating then why not jump in the deep end and try to convince Hermione first? She was the one person who would see right through her lies. If she could make Hermione believe it then she could convince anyone else as well.
Luck was on Ginny’s side this time because Hermione smiled. She actually smiled and said, “Well, I’m happy for you Ginny, really.”
It was Ginny’s turn to let her jaw drop to the floor. She didn’t know what she expected from Hermione. A rant and why she shouldn’t be dating so soon after Dean? Sure. A disappointed look? Definitely. But this? A smile and an approving comment? No. Ginny would have never guessed the outcome of this conversation.
“What? Don’t give me that shocked look. I am. I’m happy for you.” She just continued to smile at the girl.
Ginny closed her mouth, licking her lips to wet them.
“I guess I just didn’t expect you to be so approving,”
“Well, I’ve watched you endure Dean The Ass for the last two months so anyone is a step up from that but also, I’ve seen Pansy around. She seems nice. A bit intimidating, but nice. I think it could be good for you; a way to move on from the wormhole Dean so graciously sucked you into against your will.” She said the last part with an eye roll so harsh Ginny was sure it hurt the brunette.
“Thank you,” Ginny whispered. She knew she didn’t need Hermione’s approval to do anything. She was her own person after all but, she valued the girl’s opinion. Mi is like her older sister so of course she wants her to approve of the person she decides to date. Fake date, Ginny. Fake, she has to remind herself.
Hermione’s shoulders relaxed as she gave the redhead a small smile. The woman walked over to Ginny’s mattress and sank down beside her, wrapping her up in a tight hug.
Ginny returned the gesture.
“Honestly Gins, I’m happy for you. Everyone else will be too,” Ginny’s nose started to sting. She knew she wasn’t actually dating Pansy, but it felt good to be reassured that she was making the right decision. Even if Hermione didn’t know the whole truth of the matter.
“So,” Hermione pulled back to look at her friend’s face, “When do we get to officially meet her?” there was a twinkle in Hermione’s eye; like she knew the ordeal of her friends meeting her fake girlfriend would be interesting, to say the least.
“Ugh. I don’t know. Soon,” Ginny’s eyes pleaded to not be fought on this subject. She needed to get to know her fake girlfriend before her friends were folded into the mix.
“Okay, okay. When you both are ready we’ll be here for you. Are you at least going to tell everyone else?” Hermione lets the subject go.
“They are going to find out anyway, won’t they?” Ginny knows there will be no hiding this relationship from her friend group. At least she can try and keep Pansy away for a little bit, but her brothers and friends were bound to find out, probably within the next few days.
“Yes. Yes, they are.” Hermione patted her shoulder.