Roommates || A Harry Potter Fanfiction

Chapter 10

"I feel foolish," Hermione said. She also felt daring for admitting as much. Sharing her feelings with Ginny—with anyone, really—was a new behavior, and not yet a habit. It was getting easier, but it was still uncomfortable sometimes.

"Don't," Ginny said. "You look good."

Hermione looked in the mirror. "Really?" She and Ginny were standing in front of Ginny's open wardrobe, where a full length mirror hung facing them. An unrecognizable woman in make-up and wearing a scandalously thin dress stared back at her. And it wasn't just the dress. The underwear she'd bought with Ginny was even thinner and wispier than the dress. She felt practically naked.

She watched Ginny look her up and down in the mirror. "Yes, really. You look good. You're just used to only ever seeing yourself in jeans and a t-shirt. You'll get over it."

"I'm practically naked!"

"Yeah, that's kind of the idea. You've got a nice body. It's time you let the world see it," Ginny said. She met Hermione's eyes in the mirror. "You do want to get laid, don't you?"

Hermione wondered if the make-up on her face would conceal her blush. "Yes."

"Then listen to Auntie Ginny. You're cute even in jeans and a t-shirt, but you're sexy when you take the time to get dressed up. We're going to a party. You want to look good for Viktor, right?"

"I guess."

Ginny gave her a sharp look. Hermione closed her eyes, frustrated by her own reticence. "Yes," she corrected herself. Be honest. "I want to look good for Viktor."

It was supposed to be a double date. Ginny would be dating Harry and Hermione would be dating his roommate Viktor. So far, nothing to get too alarmed about. But after the party, Ginny would be going back to Harry's room with him, and Viktor...might possibly come back to Hermione's room. If she liked him. And if he wanted. And if she didn't chicken out at the last minute.

"And you do," Ginny said. "Let's go knock his socks off."

Hermione clutched a plastic cup of beer in one hand, trying not to spill it on herself or anyone else. That wasn't easy. The party was crowded. Far too many people crammed into too small a space. There was barely room enough to move. The house, a student rental she'd been told, was jammed with enough people to give the Fire Marshall a conniption if he'd known.

The room was dark too. Some things didn't change between high school and college, apparently. And the desire to stumble around in the dark while partying was apparently one of those things. She didn't understand, and never had. Supposedly Ginny and Harry were here somewhere, but she'd lost track of them almost immediately.

Viktor turned out to be a nice looking guy. A little taller than Hermione, but solid. His dark hair was cut fairly short. His eyes were brown. He had a nice smile, too. He wore jeans and a long-sleeved pullover shirt. When they first met, Hermione wondered briefly what he would look like out of his clothes. That she even entertained the question shocked her initially, but she reminded herself that that was why Ginny and Harry had set them up.

Now Viktor shouted something. The party was loud too. They stood practically nose to nose and she still couldn't make out half of what he said. Something about classes he was taking, she thought. She smiled and pretended she could hear him over the blare of danc music and all the other party-goers shouting to make themselves heard.

This, she thought. This is why I don't go out to parties. All the excitement and terror she'd experienced anticipating her date had long since drained away. Now she was just overheated by the press of bodies, overstimulated by the blaring music and roar of conversations, and bored by it all. She didn't even drink for God's sake! Not that she had any objections to drinking—she had just never developed a taste for beer. She was only holding one because it was the only way to stop everyone around her trying to press one on her.