The real problem was that Ginny wasn't stupid. Or at least, she wasn't unobservant, which would have been just as good.

    She'd started watching people her first summer at Grimmauld Place. There wasn't much to do besides clean, but what there was lots of was an endless parade of Order members to watch. She'd been watching Tonks to start with, fascinated by the way the witch changed details of her appearances on a whim, when she suddenly noticed that Tonks spent an awfully lot of time staring at Kingsley Shacklebolt. Then she noticed that Shacklebolt spent most of his time staring at Professor Lupin, and by the time she realized that Lupin spent all his time watching Sirius Black, she was hooked.

    At school, the entertainment value was magnified exponentially by the sheer number of possibilities. She couldn't understand why no one else saw the way Hermione constantly stared at Ron out of the corner of her eye, although she was certain Ron might have noticed if he wasn't so busy staring at Harry. Harry didn't notice anybody, not Ron or Lavender, or Colin Creevey, who wouldn't know subtlety if he won the Flamel Prize for Journalism with a photo of it.

    Ginny noticed. She found it sort of funny, an endless round of "I want him and he wants her and she wants Professor McGonagall" that was destined to go nowhere.

    "Dean!" she hissed to her current boyfriend, who'd lasted the whole summer, much to both of their surprise. "Do you see?"

    "Hmm?" Dean asked.

    "Up at the staff table!" Ginny giggled, elbowing Dean. "Flitwick's so busy staring at Snape he's nearly put his elbow in his soup!"

    "Stop it, you're making it up," Dean replied, without looking, stirring his own soup absently.

    "You're not even…" Ginny said in exasperation, turning her head quickly to see Dean tearing his gaze away from the other end of the table. "…looking."

    "Flitwick does not fancy Snape, Ginny," Dean rolled his eyes and went back to his soup. Ginny made a non-committal noise and leaned forward slightly to see who was sitting at the other end of the table.

    There was Neville, which was just wrong…and Parvati, who was far too giggly for Dean…and Seamus, who was Dean's best friend.

    "Oh," Ginny said softly.

    "Oh what?" Dean asked.

    "Nothing!" Ginny said too quickly. Dean stared at her and she put the wiles Fred and George had taught her to furious use, trying to figure out a way to narrow down the options. "I was just remembering…Neville's asked me to study in the library later, want to come?"

    "No thanks," Dean shook his head. "I had him for a Potions partner yesterday, and he went all wibbly when we had to cut up the frog bits. I can't look him in the eye yet without laughing and hurting his feelings."

    "I see," Ginny made a mental checkmark. "Don't you think Parvati looks pretty today?"

    "I…er, well, she looks the same as always, doesn't she?" Dean began to really look suspicious.

    "Does that mean yes or no?" Ginny inquired more closely.

    "Is this some sort of boyfriend test?" Dean peered at her closely. "Cause I've got more brain cells than'll allow me to say I think some girl looks smarter than you."

    That only left…

    "What's Seamus been up to lately?" Ginny asked innocently, watching Dean carefully from under her eyelashes. "I haven't seen the two of you together lately."

    "Oh you know…busy," Dean trailed off for a moment, tapping his spoon against his bowl. He shook himself slightly. "Besides, there's you, isn't there?"

    "Indeed." Ginny smothered her sigh with a bright smile. "Dean, can I ask you something?"

    "You're asking me lots of things, in case you hadn't noticed," Dean sat his chin in hand and stared at Ginny calmly. "Why stop now?"

    "Have you ever thought," Ginny lowered her voice and leaned closer so no one could hear, "about having a threesome?"

    "Of course I have," Dean shrugged a shoulder. "I'm sixteen, aren't I? And yes, you're generally involved, before you ask."

    "Who's the other person?" Ginny asked.

    "Been various people," Dean dropped his eyes, but Ginny didn't miss the way his gaze flicked down towards the edge of the table again. "Nobody in particular. Aren't you going to be late for class?"

    Ginny let the subject drop, but a thoughtful glint remained in her eyes.

    *        *        *        *        *        *

    "Dean, do you remember what we were talking about at lunch the other day?" Ginny asked, brushing his arm with her fingertips and giving him a glance that left no question what she meant.

    Dean, caught by surprise in the corridor between classes, raised an eyebrow.

    "Yes, what about it?" he asked.

    "How'd you like to give it a go?"

    Dean stared at her for a full minute, face frozen in a sort of neutral shock, before he finally spoke.

    "Who with?" he asked, voice a bit choked.

    "Who would you like?" Ginny inquired, watching him closely.

    "Doesn't matter," Dean said, far too quickly. "Just wondering."

    "Well?" Ginny pressed. "Are you in?"

    Dean took a very, very deep breath.

    "If you want to do this," he replied. "then I can try it, I suppose."

    "You're sure?" Ginny asked, feeling a tiny bit guilty about pressuring him.

    "What the hell!" Dean squared his shoulders. "I mean I'm only going to be sixteen once, right?"

    "Great," Ginny smiled. "I'll meet you in your dormitory tonight, at seven? Neville'll be in detention and everyone else has Quidditch practice."

    "Don't you?" Dean asked.

    Ginny winked, kissed Dean firmly on the mouth and skipped down the hall.

    *        *        *        *        *        *

    Dean was laying on his bed at quarter to seven that night, clenching his bedspread between his hands nervously, and staring at the ceiling of his hangings.

    "Hey," Seamus climbed up onto Dean's bed and plopped cross-legged on the end by Dean's feet. "What're you up to?"

    "Nothing," Dean answered, trying to keep the tension out of his voice. He sat up and ran a hand over his hair nervously. "Don't you have Quidditch practice?"

    "I'm skivving off," Seamus shrugged. "We haven't seen much of each other lately, I thought I might hang out with you a bit, if you want."

    "That'd be great!" Dean grinned, then the grin faded. "Only, I'm…I'm busy."

    "You don't look busy," Seamus raised an eyebrow.

    "I'm, ah, waiting," Dean's cheeks went warm, "for…uhm, for Ginny."

    "I know," Seamus told him.

    "What?" Dean narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean, you know?"

    "I asked him to skip practice," Ginny said from the doorway, slipping inside the room and shutting the door firmly behind her. "I thought he might join us, do you mind?"

    "No!" Dean exclaimed, then ducked his head in embarrassment. "I mean, I don't if he doesn't." he snuck a glance at Seamus. "Do you?"

    "No," Seamus answered, a faint blush creeping across his nose. "I don't."

    "All settled then!" Ginny announced brightly, sitting down on Dean's bed between them.

    "So…" Dean glanced from Seamus to Ginny. "What now?"

    "Now you kiss me," Ginny ordered.

    Dean was very confused, but he knew how to take an order. He leaned in and did as he was told, the familiar scent of Ginny's shampoo soothing his nerves. After a moment he felt Ginny take his hand and place it in Seamus'; fingers rough from broom-riding stroked across his palm, and he heard Seamus shift closer. He opened one eye and saw Seamus staring in fascination, mouth slightly open and face burning red.

    He looked back at Ginny to see that her eyes were open as well. She pulled away with a slight grin and glanced over at Seamus with a mischievous grin and asked. "Want to try?"

    "Yes!" Seamus leaned over Ginny and captured Dean's mouth with the same lack of finesse which he did most things, their noses banging together. Ginny giggled and shifted back out of the way, but Dean barely heard or noticed, he was concentrating on how different it was to have Seamus' chapped lips urging his open, having someone else take charge and being more than a little turned on by it.

    Dean broke the kiss with a surprised gasp when Ginny's cold hands slid under his shirt. He tore his glance away from Seamus' flushed face to look at her, feeling light-headed.

    "Sorry," she grinned, not looking sorry at all. "I was started to feel left out."

    "No, just," Dean was still struggling to breathe normally, "you're hands are freezing."

    "I can fix that," Seamus put in. He pulled one of Ginny's hands out of Dean's shirt by the wrist and brought it up to his mouth. Then, looking Dean right in the eye, he sucked her index finger into his mouth in one smooth motion, the whole way up to her third knuckle.

    Ginny raised an eyebrow, more amused than aroused, but Dean sucked in a harsh breath; it was impossible to see that and not imagine Seamus' rough lips sucking on bits of him. He made a low noise when Ginny brushed the thumb of her free hand across his nipple.

    Fuzzily, Dean saw Ginny and Seamus exchange a nod, and then Seamus dropped Ginny's hand and they turned their attention to Dean, four hands smoothing over his chest and arms, undoing his buttons and sliding his shirt down his shoulders, impossible to keep track of whose hands were doing what. Dean moaned and shut his eyes as one hand (Seamus'?) ran lightly down his spine and tickled his lower back dangerously close to the waistband of his trousers.

    Dean's own hands flexed convulsively as he laughed breathlessly and tried to squirm away from the tickling, and he caught two fistfuls of scratchy jumper. He opened his eyes to see Seamus' face only a few inches from his own, pupils so wide that the green of his eyes was only a pale ring.

    "Scratchy," Dean reported, voice hitching. "Take it off."

    Seamus pulled his hands away from Dean (he had been the tickler after all) and found the hem of his jumper. Dean felt Ginny press against his back and rest her head on his shoulder to enjoy the show as well, and as her arms came around his chest, Dean realized that she had lost her shirt somewhere along the way, her torso ridiculously warm on his back in contrast to her still-chilled hands stroking his abdomen.

    Seamus pulled the sweater up from his body in one smooth motion, taking the T-shirt he wore underneath right along with it, and exposing a very acceptable pale plane of smooth Quidditch muscle, interrupted only by two very hard nipples. Dean swallowed hard, unable to decide whether he wanted to lick the smooth or the pointy skin first.

    Seamus' head emerged from the sweater, hair sticking up in all directions from the static, and it was so adorable that Dean discarded both plans for the sake of sitting up on his knees and running fingers through the fine, reddish-blond strands, smoothing it down. Seamus made a warm, contented noise and closed his eyes, pushing into Dean's touch and reaching out with a blind hand to pull Dean in for a kiss. This time it was Dean who was the aggressor, forcing Seamus' lips open and bringing his tongue across the other boy's, earning a groan that he felt at the base of his spine.

    Dean cracked an eye open when Ginny's hands left his chest and saw her starting to undo Seamus' trousers, one hand slipping down to squeeze the prominent bulge right underneath. Seamus jerked in surprise, breaking the kiss, and Dean bent his head to lick Seamus' neck instead, the pale skin tasting somehow even better than Dean had imagined, salty and heavier than Ginny's taste had ever been on his tongue. Seamus leaned his head back, arching in pleasure, and Dean sucked harder, leaving marks this time.

    Through half-slitted eyes he saw Ginny finally free Seamus' erection, and he felt Seamus' shudder as she curled her delicate hands around him and stroked. Ginny's hands looked even smaller than usual pressed against Seamus' straining flesh, and Dean moaned as he remembered what it felt like to have those cool hands stroking him. He reached down and slid his hand next to Ginny's, grasping Seamus firmly and marveling at the weight and feel of someone else's cock in his hand.

    Seamus was a bit shorter than Dean, but thicker, and he filled Dean's palm heavily. Seamus cried out at Dean's first experimental stroke and thrust into his hand.

    "Please," he gasped, "oh god, don't stop…"

    Ginny let Dean take over, but before she pulled her hands away, she ran two fingers over Seamus' head, rubbing them through the precome beading there. She laid her fingers against Dean's lips, and he tentatively flicked his tongue out to taste Seamus.

    Pleasure shot through him, and Dean sucked Ginny's fingers into his mouth greedily and licked them clean. Seamus tasted unbelievable, like the tastes of himself he had licked off Ginny's mouth and fingers before, but the sub-flavors were different, intoxicating.

    Before Dean had really thought about what he was doing, he slipped out of Ginny's arms and to the floor beside Seamus, replacing his hands with his mouth. Seamus made an unintelligible noise as Dean licked the tip of him with an ecstatic shiver, and Dean glanced up to see Seamus' face set in a wide-eyed 'O' of surprise, Ginny sliding behind him and curled around his back, watching Dean's face with hooded eyes as she squeezed Seamus' nipples.

    Heart pounding from either nerves or arousal (the two were indistinguishable at this point), Dean wrapped his lips around Seamus' cock again and was rewarded by another exclamation and Seamus thrusting into his mouth. Grabbing Seamus' hips to keep them on the bed, Dean sucked him further into his mouth and pressed his tongue against the underside of the shaft, stroking wetly. Seamus grabbed his shoulders and squeezed, begging for more around gasps of air.

    About halfway down, Dean had to stop for a breath, and he started over again at the top, urged on by Seamus' strong hands massaging his shoulders just this side of too hard. He made it a bit farther down before taking another breath, and in half a dozen tries, was nearly getting Seamus' whole length inside his mouth.

    "Oh!" Seamus called suddenly, the first intelligent thing he'd said in a minute or two. "Yes! Oh god, Dean!"

    Even though he had a good idea of what was coming, Dean was still caught a bit off-guard, and Seamus spilled down his cheek some before Dean drew back enough to swallow properly. It was sharper than the taste of precome he'd had, but not distasteful at all to Dean, not to mention pretty damn arousing, and Dean continued to suck Seamus clean until Seamus tugged him up by his shoulders.

    Face to face with Seamus, Dean felt suddenly embarrassed. He had just sucked off his best friend and enjoyed it pretty shamelessly, and he had no idea what Seamus, who liked only girls so far as Dean had seen, was going to say about all this.

    Seamus said nothing, in fact, but kissed Dean hard, tongue darting out to lick the dribble of himself that had slid down Dean's chin. He made a soft, throaty noise, which might have been 'Mmmm' if his mouth had been closed at the time.

    Dean felt Ginny's hands tug him backwards, towards the head of the bed, and he allowed himself to be pulled back onto the bed and sank down onto his back with his head on the pillows. Seamus flopped down beside him bonelessly, giving Dean a contented wink before continuing the kiss, hands stroking across Dean's chest, and then dipping lower to brush against Dean's long-standing erection. Dean gasped and flicked a lazy glance down towards Ginny, who was slipping off her skirt with a practiced wriggle before climbing back onto the bed on Dean's other side.

    "Budge over," she nudged Dean. "These beds aren't exactly made for this."

    The comment struck Dean funny, and he pulled away from Seamus to snort soft laughter as he complied, pulling Seamus closer with one arm, and reaching out to tweak Ginny's nipple with the other. He was so hard he was beginning to ache at this point, his cock pointed nearly straight up into the air, and Seamus' light stroking was not really helping the matter, great as it felt.

    "Ginny," he murmured, trying to push harder into Seamus' teasing hand, "I need…"

    Ginny swung her leg over Dean's hip in answer, straddling him. Seamus held Dean's cock steady as Ginny sank onto it without preamble, arching her back and moaning loudly. Dean was beyond sound at this point, the wet heat of Ginny squeezing his tortured erection making little bursts of light pop behind his eyelids.

    Prying his eyes back open, Dean saw Seamus's hand had left his cock, but not gone far; his hand was splayed across Ginny's hip, thumb making tiny circles against the slick folds where her clit was hidden. The sight of Seamus masturbating Ginny while his own cock pushed in and ought of her was so hot Dean thought he might come right then, but he fought off his orgasm to watch Ginny fuck him for as long as possible.

    Ginny's release was heralded by nothing, since she was eerily quiet during sex, but the clenching of her body was unmistakable, and Dean gave up holding his own off with intense relief. Seamus biting his neck was the last straw, and Dean thrust hard up into Ginny a last time, nearly blacking from the intensity.

    The room seemed to spin as Dean was coming down, so he shut his eyes. Dizzily, he felt Ginny slide off him and lay limply against the side of his chest; Seamus pressed against him on his other side, breath brushing his neck warmly.

    If this wasn't time for a post-sex nap, Dean had no idea what was.

    *        *        *        *        *        *

    Ginny slipped out of bed while the two boys were still sleeping, silently reaching for her shirt and skirt. Dean's eyelids flickered for a moment, but then he rolled towards Seamus and fell back into sleep without ever really waking up. Seamus gave a contented sigh and snuggled closer, one knee thrown carelessly over Dean's hip.

    Ginny suppressed a small sigh as she dressed quickly, a bit maudlin over what she knew was the end of her and Dean. Even Dean wasn't dense enough to have missed Seamus' clear invitation during all of this, and she probably wouldn't be able to talk him into many more of these threesomes. Dean Thomas wasn't a casual sex sort of guy. Better to get out now, face the inevitable.

    Besides, she hadn't exactly been the center of attention during all of this.

    At least they're cute together, she thought, giving the pair a last look, Dean's soft snores stirring Seamus' hair. And now I'm free to take that Hufflepuff Sixth Year out for a test drive. I'll bet she's in the library right now!

    Cheered by the thought, and pleased with her matchmaking ability, Ginny left the room with a light heart, closing the door softly behind her.

    "There you are!" someone growled in the corridor behind Ginny, startling her. She whirled around to find a very irritated Harry.

    "Here I am," she said brightly, grimacing internally at her Quidditch Captain's glare.

    "Some Quidditch practice that was!" he snapped. "Missing a Chaser, not to mention a Beater! I'll deal with you later, is Seamus in there?!"

    Ginny thought for a moment, picturing Dean and Seamus' peaceful slumber in the room behind her.

    "Yes," she answered. "He's free for a talk right about now, I should say."

    Ginny stepped aside and let Harry shove the door open and slam it behind him, then skipped happily down the hall.

    Maybe she was just a smidge jealous, after all.