Fic: Absolute Gravity (Hermione/Pansy, 4/6)

[fembuck]

Title: Absolute Gravity (Part 1, 2, 3)
Author: Janine
Fandom: Harry Potter
Pairing: Hermione/Pansy
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: I don’t own them
Summary: Hermione and Pansy’s relationship continues to grow. Sequel to Darling Pansy and Beautiful Day.

---

Part Four

Two weeks later…

Hermione fidgeted with her gloves as they made their way through the village, glancing back behind her every few seconds, her mind still on the shop they had just left instead of on the Hog’s Head tavern where Butterbeer and a warm fire awaited them.

“I’ll catch up with you guys,” Hermione said suddenly, stopping where she was, having come to a decision.

“What’s going on?” Harry asked looking at Hermione questioningly. He’d spent quite a lot of time looking at Hermione questioningly over the past couple of months. Something was going on with the girl, but he couldn’t tell what it was, and Ron was no help other than to mutter ‘It’s weird, isn’t it?’ over and over again when the subject was brought up. He suspected that Ginny had some idea what was going on, she’d been watching Hermione like a hawk for the past couple of weeks, but the redhead was being tight lipped and just shrugged her shoulders whenever he inquired about Hermione so he’d given up asking.

“I saw something at the last store I wanted but I wasn’t sure whether to get it or not when everyone was ready to leave,” Hermione responded telling the truth. “I’m going to go back and get it. Don’t worry I’ll only be a few minutes. Order a Butterbeer for me,” she continued and then turned on her heel and hurried back in the direction they had just come from.

“You know,” Ginny said following Hermione’s departure with her eyes. “Since we’re running off to make purchases there was something I wanted to grab at Candy’s Kane’s,” she went on convinced that there was more to Hermione’s story than met the eye, hoping that after weeks of watching she would finally be able to witness something interesting.

She’d tried following Hermione a couple of times at the school when the other girl suddenly announced she had to go to the library, but it seemed the brunette had gotten rather adept at sneaking around the castle because Ginny always lost track of her. All she knew for certain was that very rarely was Hermione actually going to wherever it was she said she was.

“I’ll meet you guy’s in a few minutes too, and don’t forget the Butterbeer,” and with that Ginny headed off after Hermione.

-

Slowly, Hermione ran her fingers over the silver necklace pendant resting in her palm. The pendant was in the shape of a flower, and when she turned it slightly to one side or the other, a faint violet hue tinted the silver making it shine purple. When she’d seen it before she’d immediately thought of Pansy, but she wasn’t sure whether they were at a point in their relationship where she could get the other girl a present ‘just because’ and she’d hesitated to buy it. However, she decided that if she was at the point where she wanted to buy something for Pansy ‘just because’ that it probably meant that they were at a point where it was alright.

Besides, as she held the pendant out in front of her, she could picture it on a necklace chain around Pansy’s neck, hanging just above the valley of the raven-haired girl’s breasts and she knew that it would look absolutely stunning against Pansy’s pale skin.

Pansy made her feel so beautiful when they were together that she wanted to get something beautiful for her as well.

Trailing her fingers over the pendant one last time, Hermione smiled to herself and made her way over to the cash. She trusted Pansy, she trusted in what they had together, and even if the raven-haired girl was surprised by the impromptu present Hermione knew that it wouldn’t be a problem. In private Pansy was always supportive of her, and in public they had begun to act civilly towards each other finding the strain of pretending to hate each other as they actually became closer and closer becoming a bit too much.

Things were moving forward for them and Hermione was sure that this would just be another step they were taking towards, well, she didn’t know where exactly only that she liked all the steps they had taken in that direction so far and that she wanted to continue.

-

Ginny concealed herself behind a row of yappy collector’s plates and watched Hermione through the gaps. The brunette was in the jewelry section looking at something intently, seemingly lost in thought. At first Ginny couldn’t tell what it was that the brunette was holding, but eventually Hermione held up the object and turned slightly finally allowing the redhead to see that she was holding a floral necklace pendant with a glamour on it that made it turn purple when light shone on it.

Ginny bit her lip. She had seen the pendant when she was walking around earlier. It was the only one in the shop and was quite beautiful, but it was definitely not scandalous in any way. She had been hoping that Hermione had gone to meet her secret boyfriend and when she saw that Hermione was actually going back into the shop she hoped at least that the brunette was going to buy something of the masculine persuasion, something that might give some more weight to her boyfriend theory or even shine some light on who it was that Hermione was interested in. Instead she had just caught Hermione buying herself a gift.

Sighing softly, Ginny stepped out from behind the china and carefully made her way to the door, exiting the store just as Hermione picked up a small muddle-mouth translator from the front of the counter and added that to her purchase along with the pendant.

-

Hermione sat down with a happy sigh glad to be indoors in the warmth after wandering around the snowy streets of Hogsmeade for so long. She reached out for the Butterbeer that was waiting for her and took a long sip, needing some refreshment before she could even bother to begin taking off her gloves.

“Well, what’d you get?” Ron asked eyeing the package Hermione had rested on the table when she sat down.

“Take a look,” Hermione responded finally busying herself with her gloves, pulling them off of her hands as she removed her jacket, a smile touching her lips as her fingers brushed against the small box in the right-side pocket.

“A muddle-mouth translator,” Ron complained opening up the bag and pulling it out. When she’d gone back to get it in secret he’d hoped that it would be something good, but instead it was a perfectly geeky, Hermione purchase. She probably wasn’t sure whether to get it or not because she already had one and this was just a backup in case of emergency.

Ginny stared at the small device in Ron’s hands, her eyes going to the now empty bag lying on the table top. That was not what she had seen Hermione looking at, and there was nothing else in the bag. Ginny looked over at Hermione curiously, wondering what was going on.

“They’re very handy,” Hermione responded ignoring Ron’s tone before reaching out for the translator, placing it back in her bag when Ron handed it over.

“Whatever. What’d you get, Gin?” Ron asked turning towards his sister, his attention focused on Ginny so that he missed Hermione’s sharp look in the redheaded girl’s direction.

She’d thought she’d seen Ginny entering the Hog’s Head as she approached the building after making her purchases, but she’d figured she must have just been seeing things because Ginny should have been settled inside a long time ago like the others. But now it looked like Ginny had just come back as well.

Hermione remembered how curious Ginny had been after finding her love note and wondered if it was possible that the girl had followed her to see if she was meeting someone? She had gotten the uncomfortable feeling that she was being followed a few times in the past couple of weeks, and she was now certain that Ginny was stalking her.

“Some Expanding Elves,” Ginny responded holding up a small package well out of reach of her brother, aware of Hermione’s eyes on her but ignoring it.

She’d bought the candies much earlier in the day but had hidden them away so that Ron wouldn’t ask for any. Not wanting to share with Ron had worked out better than she could have hoped however because it gave her a solid alibi for where she had been which meant that even if Hermione was suspicious of her – which Ginny was sure she was – that the brunette couldn’t prove anything.

“Oh, great,” Ron said excitedly. “Give some over here.”

“I don’t think so,” Ginny responded tucking the treats away again. She knew this would happen. “They’re mine.”

“You’re not going to give me any?” Ron asked in a wounded tone of voice. “I’m your brother! I can’t believe you would choose chocolate over me.”

“You once tried to trade me for a faster broom, so don’t play the brother card with me!” Ginny responded glaring at Ron.

“That was a joke,” Ron insisted. “If I’d really wanted to trade you, I would have tried to get a much nicer broom.”

Ginny’s leg kicked out under the table and Ron yelped in pain a moment later.

“So, how’re things?” Hermione asked smirking as she turned towards Harry, who laughed and then reached for his Butterbeer before they both went back to watching the Weasely’s fight.

---

A few days later…

Ginny rolled her eyes as she rounded the corner to find Pansy Parkinson and her band of bossy bitches marching in her direction. Pansy was at the center of the crowd, as usual, looking self-important and smug, as usual, and as she always did Ginny entertained a very satisfying fantasy of tripping the dark-haired girl so that she fell flat on her face while her friends stood around and laughed.

Ginny smiled to herself with malicious satisfaction.

“It’s good that you can laugh at yourself, Weasely,” Pansy drawled as her group was about level with Ginny. “Since the rest of us do anyway,” she continued looking over at Ginny before smiling, the group of girls around her breaking out in laughter at Pansy’s wit.

Ginny opened her mouth to respond, an absolutely scathing response on the tip of her tongue when something caught her eye and distracted her. Hanging on Pansy’s chest, just visible through the parted ‘v’ of her shirt was the pendant that she had seen Hermione buy in Hogsmeade. At the angle she was standing at she could even see the purple tinge to the intricate silver design.

Ginny’s brows furrowed in confusion, it didn’t make sense. Crazy ideas began to pop into her head, she imagined Pansy attacking Hermione outside of the shop and stealing the necklace away from her, but that didn’t make sense since Hermione didn’t seem rumpled in the least when she showed up at the Hog’s Head. No, there had to be a reasonable explanation, so Ginny forced herself to calm down and think of things rationally.

Pansies were purple flowers it made sense that Parkinson would own a pendant that took after her name, but …

Ginny frowned again. There had only been one of the pendants at the store in Hogsmeade and Ginny had never seen the necklace on Pansy before, which suggested she had only recently gotten it. If that was the case, with her already having ruled out a physical attack, it meant that the only way for Pansy to have gotten the pendant was for Hermione to have given it to her and Ginny could think of no reasonable explanation for why Hermione would do that unless …

“Oh wow,” Pansy murmured drawing Ginny’s attention back to her momentarily, “great comeback. Honestly, whoever would have thought that Ron would be the brains in the family? Your mother must be so proud,” she continued smirking again as she girls around her laughed uproariously, and then they all continued on down the hallway leaving Ginny staring after them.

After Pansy and her entourage disappeared from sight, Ginny continued on her way distractedly, her mind wandering to a story Ron had told her a week before.

It had happened in Potions class. He and Hermione had been assigned as partners for the day, and he’d gotten distracted as they were putting the mixture together and added the Wolfsbane to the pot out of order. It was a pretty sensitive potion and adding an ingredient out of turn was actually quite a big deal, and before Hermione could even yell at him the mixture in front of them began to bubble and then exploded, splattering them with contents of the pot.

Ron had told her that everyone in the class had seemed to find it extremely amusing, especially the Slytherin’s, and that since it was Potions class Snape did very little to get the class under control once they erupted into laughter.

Her brother had gone on to say that the really disturbing part of it wasn’t that he and Hermione were covered in glop that felt like snot, but that Pansy Parkinson hadn’t been laughing at them, and that when Malfoy had bugged her about it, she actually turned her nose up at him and sneered “some people had a more highly developed sense of humor than others” before going back to her potion.

Pansy’s comment had apparently been the verbal equivalent of a bucket of ice water and everyone had calmed down soon after she spoke giving Hermione a chance to finally clean them both up with a scourgify spell.

As he was telling the story Ron had been virtually sputtering with disbelief. He just hadn’t been able to wrap his mind around the fact that Pansy Parkinson, of all people, had been the only one not to laugh at their humiliation and that in a round about way she had been the one to save them from being mocked for much longer period of time than they were. He’d launched into some theory about possession and body switching to try to explain it but Ginny had tuned out for that, not interested in Ron’s hare-brained theories. Still …

Ginny halted suddenly in the hallway as connections began to be drawn in head.

Hermione and Pansy were in the same Potions class, and when she found that sex note it had been in with Hermione’s potions book and homework which meant that it had likely been written during that class. And now Pansy was walking around wearing the necklace she had seen Hermione buy and then hide, as if she hadn’t want anyone to know that she had bought it so that …

… So that when she gave it to Pansy no one would be the wiser.

Ginny clapped her hand over her mouth and gasped.

Hermione was dating Pansy Parkinson!

Only, that wasn’t possible was it? It was Hermione Granger and … and Pansy Parkinson she was talking about, after all. There was no way Hermione would date someone so horrid. Ginny hadn’t known Hermione to be interested in girls, but no matter who she was interested in she was sure that Hermione would have better taste than to hook up with the Pansy Parkinson’s of the school.

Still, all of the evidence seemed to indicate that it was true. It explained why Hermione didn’t want to talk about the note. It explained Pansy’s strangely decent behavior in the face of others humiliation when schadenfreude was practically her middle-name. It explained why she hadn’t seen Hermione looking at any boys yet how she seemed to be seeing someone. And it explained how Pansy got the necklace and why Hermione had showed them the muddle-mouth translator but made no mention of the pendant.

Ginny rubbed her temple.

She couldn’t believe it.

Hermione Granger and Pansy Parkinson … dating?

She just couldn’t wrap her mind around it.

No, she would have to do a bit more digging to make sure. If she was going to have her world turned upside down she wanted to make sure that there was really a reason for it.

To be continued...

Comments

[lettersandsodas.livejournal.com]

I really like the way you're developing the relationship; it's very compelling, and oddly sweet :) Keep up the good work.

[speckofinfinity.livejournal.com]

Oh, Ginny is smart! I hope she'll be okay with this..

[smilencheer.livejournal.com]

Oh, I do so love detective!Ginny. I'm looking forward to the last two parts! ^^

[ashirashadow.livejournal.com]

I still hate Ginny.

I take it the 4/6 means you've completed this and we're looking forward to 2 more stories? ...Bring it.

And may I make a request, if you would be so kind? If not that's fine but I was wondering if you'd entertain us...mainly me, with a Bella/Fleur story? Pretty please with my whip cream on top?

[murasaki1200.livejournal.com]

This is fun: Hermione's getting bolder. Isn't getting a present for the girlfriend a total no-no in the book about happily carrying on inappropriate affairs?
On the other hand Pansy's getting more tolerable in public so she's falling down on the job also. And now Ginny knows!
Looking forward to seeing how she's going to handle this bit of traumatic news.

[jello-o.livejournal.com]

Clever Hermoine, to buy the translator... too bad Ginny is on to her. Now I'm just waiting for them to be caught by her, 'cause I'm sure that scene will be hilarious.

[zofbadfaith.livejournal.com]

WHAT?!?!??!?!?

Get Ginny and kill her! Freaking Sherlock Holmes prototype, that's what she is! (and now I'm totally hating her, hah xD that opinion changed fast!)

Next chapter is my oxygen ♥ lol

[ein-myria.livejournal.com]

Another great chapter. I rec'ed this story, btw. ;) Keep writing!

[reticentric.livejournal.com]

Dang it Ginny! Just mind your own business! LOL what a little nosy snoop but it does make for good drama hehe. Can't wait to read more.

[crimsonwhisper.livejournal.com]

Yet another wonderful chapter. This dynamic is so...tasty. I love how you have written the subtle changes in Pansy as her relationship with Hermione grows.

[lash-larue.livejournal.com]

*sighs*
So much hatin' on Ginny.
However, this story continues to win!
Great character development, and now that you have demonstrated that you can write a story without smut...

L

[orgasmicspork.livejournal.com]

FUCKING FIRECROTCHES!!!! RUIN THE WORLD.

[honeydewnuomizi.livejournal.com]

Lol. I like the fact that she hasn't gone and labeled Hermione a freak, or spread the news. She just seems genuinely curious, unlike some of the other fics I've read, where she's just aggravating.

Lovely. I can't wait until the next installment. :D