[HP] Complex Touch

Ginny hurried back to the Hufflepuff common room, all she wanted to do was tell her friends about her encounter with Snape.But she knew she couldn't.If she told Dorcas or Marlene about Snape, they'd ask her what she knew that made him so angry, and she couldn't tell them.Ginny couldn't put it down even angrier, lost in her own thoughts, not seeing the two boys outside the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room.

She had spoken the password and was about to go in when laughter pierced her troubled thoughts.Ginny looked behind her, eyes wide.She stopped before entering the common room.Sirius and James were still smiling at her as she walked towards her.

"We've been waiting for you for almost an hour!" James said to her, laughing. "But you didn't even hear us calling you, so you just walked past us."

She folded her arms defensively and frowned at the two Gryffindors.

"Why are you like this?" Sirius asked her.

"Slytherin," Ginny said to them, and they nodded understandingly.

"They're disgusting, aren't they?" James said cheerfully.

Ginny didn't answer, and the awkward silence that followed wasn't what she'd expected.James just pushed his glasses on the bridge of his nose and continued.

"We're here to pay the debt!" he said cheerfully.

"What?" Ginny blinked in confusion.

"We told you we would make it up to you," Sirius said. "So here we are."

She still didn't speak, but the two boys didn't seem to care.

"We have a magical—"

"Awesome-"

"Heavy-"

"The night is arranged for you." Sirius said with a smile, he was much more casual around Ginny than before.

"Really?" she asked suspiciously. "I'm not sure I'm in the mood..."

"Oh, of course you have," James told her firmly. "You can't escape."

"But I have a ton of homework."

"So do we!" Sirius replied.

Ginny fidgeted, then sighed.They took this as consent.

"Now go change and pack your things. We'll pick you up around curfew," James told her.

She watched him.

"What are we going to do tonight?"

James and Sirius looked at each other.Then Sirius leaned over Ginny.

"We're going to Hogsmeade." His whisper made the hairs on Ginny's neck stand on end.

Ginny felt so excited that she couldn't help smiling, she didn't know she even wanted to smile.Both boys seemed to be having a good time.She walked into the common room feeling better than before.

---

By curfew, Ginny had finished all of her Transfiguration homework.Ginny had just closed her textbook when Marlene arrived in the common room, and Dorcas and Ginny looked up at the delighted brunette.She looked as if she had just had a lifetime of smacking.

"Find a nice broom closet for kissing, eh?" Dorcas asked, making a kiss about Marlene.

Marlene rolled her eyes and sank into the sofa next to Ginny and Dorcas.

"Yes." Marlene replied with a smile, her cheeks flushed. "Connor's kiss was great—"

"Connor!" Ginny called. "You betrayed Marcus?"

Dorcas and Ginny looked at Marlene in disbelief, and then she shook her head.

"I didn't betray Marcus," Marlene said. "we broke up."

"What?" Dorcas asked in shock. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"It only happened a few hours ago," the girl said to them, shrugging casually.

"Who broke up with whom?" Dorcas looked at Marlene, trying to detect sadness.

"Dorcas, it really does matter—"

"Yes!" she cried.

"He broke up with me because of his studies!" Marlene exclaimed, suddenly bursting into anger. "That big idiot, that bastard, that rotten-"

"You deserve better," Ginny said reassuringly.

Marlene stared at Ginny for a long time, as if seeing her for the first time, and then, her brow furrowed, her anger vanished.Dorcas spun around, cursing Marcus like Marlene had done not so long ago.

"James Potter and Sirius Black are waiting for you in the corridor," Marlene told her. "Why are you meeting them?"

Dorcas paused, her interest peaking.

"I—uh," said Ginny uneasily. "We are friends?"

"Why did you say a question?" asked Dorcas, laughing.

"I didn't!" replied the red-haired girl. "I have to go. To meet them."

"Well, have fun," said Marlene, standing up, her eyes following Ginny.

"Don't get caught, it's after curfew," Dorcas warned.

"Really, Dorcas, she's with two of the naughtiest boys Hogwarts has ever seen, and one of them is Head Boy. Ginny needn't worry."

Ginny rushed out of the common room, undeterred by Marlene and Dorcas' questions.But when she stopped in the hallway, it was empty.Did they leave?Ginny looked around, frowning and wanted to leave, when James' head appeared in front of her.She was startled, but she didn't scream because she had seen Harry do this trick many times before.

Sirius' head appeared next to him, and then they took off their cloaks, revealing themselves completely.Ginny raised an eyebrow at them.