The Hogwarts Lonely Hearts Club

A Month of Sundays

Over the next week, Harry and Hermione wrote to each other twice more. Harry was very pliant to Hermione's demands, making her wait for only three days before he replied to her last letter. He talked mostly about how he dealt with the constant glare of attention - which essentially amounted to him basically ignoring everyone - and how he turned down Sally-Anne, ignoring her, too, after rather brusquely telling her 'no' when she cornered him after a class one day.

I think I was quite rude, actually, Harry had written. I didn't mean to be, but she sort of pounced on me when I didn't expect it. I was already in a bad mood because I heard someone say that they were going to bet on your date actually still being Krum, that you were a dirty liar and had just staged the whole 'rejecting him thing' in a public place just so that you could get some attention. How I didn't curse the sorry smeghead who said it to smithereens I'll never know!

Hermione sort of thought she ought to have been cross about that. Harry had been unintentionally nasty to Sally-Anne, then was on the verge of committing violence against another student. But in both cases, he had been defending her honour and their date agreement, and Hermione was so flattered and flustered by the acts that she didn't have it in her to be mad at Harry.

As she told him when she replied a day later. I'm trying to feel sorry for Sally, I really am, especially after what she went through with Krum. But you are MY date and I don't like the idea of someone else trying to steal you from me. I've never thought of myself as a possessive type of witch, but maybe I've just never had something worth being possessive of before. I hope you don't mind me saying this, but I think going on a date with you definitely counts.

And Harry certainly did not mind, not even a little bit. He felt very much the same, and was deeply annoyed by what Hermione kept telling him in regards to people trying to set her up with other boys from Gryffindor House.

Parvati thinks I should have accepted Neville's offer. It was sweet, he just wanted to say thank you for all the times that I've been nice to him over the years, so I didn't have the heart to tell him that he was subtly insulting me, by not believing that my mystery date was a real person.

Luckily, he took the rejection well enough ... then went and asked that meek little Daphne Greengrass from Slytherin to be his date, which is who he really wanted to go with in the first place. I probably shouldn't tell you this but, she's his Penpal Club, well ... penpal! ... and they'd been dancing around asking each other to go in their recent letters.

A bit like us, really!

Harry chuckled at that, but was soon frowning at the next part.

Of course, Ron is asking me to go with him on pretty much a daily basis now. It's because he's the only boy in his dorm without a date and he's getting desperate. Actually, I think he might be the only boy from the Fourth Year up without one. Seamus IS going with Hannah Abbott, then there's Nev and Daphne, and Dean Thomas is officially dating Ginny Weasley, so is naturally taking her to the Ball.

I don't mean to sound judgemental, but she doesn't half get through some wizards, that one. Wasn't she seeing Michael Corner at the start of the year? She's had more boys on her arm than her brother has had date rejections at this point! But anyway, Ron is on at me all the time. He seems to think that we are the only two left in Gryffindor without dates, so says it 'makes sense' that we go together.

Without tooting my own horn too much, I'm pretty intelligent ... and THAT makes only the worst sort of sense to me! It's getting on my nerves now, though. I've tried the 'softly, softly' approach, but I think a good hex between the eyes is the only thing he'll understand, what do you think? What spell would you use?