Harry Potter and the Alternate Universe!

3. Date in Hogsmeade!

Harry was waiting for his date in the great hall as they had agreed. He was wearing a black sweater with green trims and lines and a green scarf that went with his eyes. He and Hermione had decided that they would rather wear casual, for the day.

"Hello!" He heard and turned back to find Hermione smiling a bit uncertainly at him. She was wearing a denim blue cardigan and a blue muffler. Her hair was free and wavy, having natural golden highlights among brown curls, that were tamed probably with the use of Sleak-eazy. He remembered her using it for the Yule Ball. Overall she looked very pretty and it made his heart pound harshly inside his ribcage.

"Hello Hermione, You are looking really pretty," Harry complimented her with a smile as he handed a 'golden' rose to her.

"Thank you. You look good as well," She replied with a blush that deepened as Harry smirked at her in response.

"Shall we?" He said offering her his hand.

She took it nervously and nodded and they proceeded towards the carriage which would take them to Hogsmeade. He opened the gate of the carriage for Hermione and helped her in, then followed her into the carriage. He took out his wand and smiled mischievously at Hermione which led her to raise an eyebrow at him. He was thankful for the time they had spent with each other by sitting for lessons together and sometimes Harry joining her at the Ravenclaw table and library after he had asked her for the date. That had brought them close and they were already friends (sort of), or Hermione would have whipped out her wand in response to Harry doing so. It had also given Harry an excuse so that Hermione wouldn't doubt how he knew so much about her.

He put on 'notice-me-not' at the carriage and then retracted his wand. Hermione smiled at him in response and they began to talk as the carriage left for Hogsmeade.

"So what are we going to do?" Hermione asked Harry.

"Well, you said that you wanted to look through the bookstores, so we will do that. But before that, we will stop at Honeydukes and get some chocolates. The dementors are annoying, you know," Harry explained.

"Yeah," Hermione agreed, "Alright then. We can have lunch after that."

They got out of the carriage and went to Honeydukes. Many students gave them weird looks, even though it had lessened after they had been seen in public repeatedly. Harry couldn't blame them. Slytherins were really nasty in both universes. They were neutrals at best and bigots at worst. And Harry taking a muggle-born as his date ought to raise questions and eyebrows.

Harry bought a bunch of chocolates, offering Hermione a bar before putting the bag in his trousers' pocket, which again led Hermione to raise her eyebrows in astonishment.

"Extension charm," He whispered in her ears as Hermione nodded in understanding.

They went to the bookstore next and Hermione began to look for books that would catch her interest and Harry joined her in doing so while they made small talk with each other.

It had been half an hour and Hermione was getting frustrated with the books there. Nearly every other book was highly bigoted and very lacking in materials related to magical theory. Harry explained to her that the Purebloods, who sat on top of the administration in Wizarding Britain, were mostly bigots and had reached the position through nepotism and bribery. The good books were thoroughly regulated by the ministry and Pureblood families had their own Grimores that couldn't be accessed by others.

It sent Hermione to a rant which Harry shushed and led her to a clearing by her hands. On the way out he purchased 'The Tales of Beedle the Bard', which they were going to share.

Hermione was still in a bad mood after she found out about the ministry which was stopping people from gaining knowledge (she was a Ravenclaw, she ought to hate it anyway). Harry lightened the environment by talking to her about Hogwarts-A History and then introducing her to 'The Tales of Beedle the Bard'.