Roommates || A Harry Potter Fanfiction

Chapter 18

Hermione was alone in her room. Ginny was out, thank god. She was a good friend, but Hermione didn't need a witness while she huddled on her bed crying. When her tears finally dried up, Hermione sat up, exhausted and head-achy but calmer and clear-headed. She blew her nose, then forced herself onto her feet to wash her face in the bathroom.

It was past dinner time. The Commons would be closed by now—but she wasn't really hungry anyhow. She dithered, uncertain how to fill the hours until bedtime. She was in no mood to study, nor to read or watch a movie on her laptop. Ginny might return to the room any minute with a guy in tow, and she really wasn't in the mood to deal with that.

Hermione checked her phone. No more texts from Viktor, not that she expected to get any more from him. Nothing from Draco, either. She didn't know if that was a good or a bad sign. She sighed. She didn't know if she wanted to get texts from Draco. If he texted, it would be because he wanted sex. And if she never had sex again, that would be—well, unfortunate.

Swearing off sex seemed like a good idea now. She was upset and hurt, ashamed of her behavior and feeling guilty over her treatment of Viktor. But Hermione knew herself well enough to know that wouldn't last. Give her a couple of days and she'd be horny again. Ginny's influence had unleashed a side of her she'd never imagined existed.

Until she'd met Ginny, she'd considered sex overrated. She'd occasionally masturbated to relieve the pressure, but it had been a low priority. Now, though? After seeing Ginny enjoy it so much, and after her own experiences? She was a changed woman. She thought about sex all the time, and wanted it pretty much all the time too.

As evidenced by how quickly she'd cheated on Viktor. The memory of his face erased her smile. No, she was too knotted up tonight to be interested. But that would change. She knew it would. If Draco was still interested, Hermione knew she'd sleep with him again. Just not tonight.

Tonight she still needed something to occupy her. Something to take her mind off of her problems. And as she scrolled through her phone, she found just the thing. When the semester started, she had found a group of role-players and joined their game. She'd been a regular until she started spending her free time with Viktor—or Draco.

She'd fallen away from the group. But they still invited her to game with them, and she had a text about a session tonight. They'd been playing for a couple of hours already, but she knew they'd be at it for hours more.

Hermione stood staring at her phone, at the text. Yeah. Losing herself for a few hours in a space adventure seemed like a great idea. She grabbed a notebook and a pen and left the room.

An hour later Hermione was fighting for her life. "I'll leap past the doorway, shooting down the corridor at the guy with the laser rifle!"

"Roll to hit," Ernie told her. He was seated at one of the two desks in the dorm room where they played, acting as GM for the game. Books and papers were scattered across the desk.

Hermione sat tailor-fashion on one of the beds, a clipboard holding her character sheet on her lap. She rolled her dice on it. "Seven," she announced.

"You hit," Ernie announced, to cheers from the other players. "Roll damage."

Hermione grinned, pleased by her success—and by the feeling of companionship she got from her fellow gamers. She'd been greeted enthusiastically when she knocked at the door and entered the room. She'd been absent from the game quite a bit lately but they were glad to have her back. It was a good feeling.

She borrowed more dice from Colin Creevey, who shared the bed with her. She rolled well, and Ernie narrated the grisly end of the man she'd killed. Colin held up a hand and Hermione high-fived him. Across the room, the other three players gave her approving looks or thumbs up.