The Centaur Clan

Four- Autograph

Hermione pulled on the black and white knee-length dress and a pair of black flats. The dress was a little thick, perfect for this chilly night. Hermione left her hair down, but she curled it into long ringlets rather than her earlier messy curls. She adds chapstick to her lips and calls it good.

Hermione grabs her purse from the dresser, and as she does so, her eyes glaze over the makeup kit that Ginny had bought for her. Hermione never used it- she never wore any more makeup than mascara and lipstick. The only time she planned to use it was at her wedding, and then she would leave it with her other things she had but never used.

She touches the plastic of the kit for a second, shakes her head, and pushes it away from her, snatching her purse up into her fingers and leaving before she could do anything else with the kit.

Ron was leaned against the door, watching a video on his phone while he waited for her. Hermione and Harry had both just recently taught him how to use a cell phone, and he had recently been introduced to a touchscreen phone, something that had been invented in 1992. "I reckon we get one, don't you? It's the year 2000, and touchscreens have been out for almost a decade... I feel old." Harry had said.

Hermione walks up to him and pushes the off button, making him look up. "Hermione! I was reading!"

"You? Read? What were you really doing?"

Ron shakes his head. "Reading!" He turns his cell phone back on to show her a long paragraph of words.

"What's it about?" Hermione asks, now intrigued. She takes the cell phone from him and turns it's screen brightness down after she nearly burns out her retinas. "Merlin, Ronald, how can you see with it so bright?"

Ron snorts. "Ha- it's been a while since you called me Ronald."

"I only do it when you annoy me."

"Touche."

Hermione's eyes scan over the paragraph before she looks away, rolling her eyes and turning the phone off. "You were reading about why a French poodle is called a French poodle?"

Ron nods eagerly, opening the apartment door for her and letting her out. "Yeah. I was planning on discussing it with you at dinner, but now since you've already moved on from that topic..."

Hermione shakes her head, locking the door behind them. "No, go ahead, tell me. Why do they call a French poodle a French poodle?"

Ron shrugs. "I don't know. I didn't get to that part yet."

Hermione laughs, and glances at Harry and Ginny's door as they pass it by. "So where are we going for dinner?"

Ron shrugs. "Maybe Lee's?"

Hermione thinks about her night there with Harry, and for some reason, she feels reluctant to go with Ron. A small voice is in the back of her head, saying that she wants to leave Lee's as a place where she goes and eats with Harry- just Harry.

"Nah... I'm not really feeling pizza."

"They have other food there-"

"We should eat somewhere a little fancier." Hermione replies hastily, nodding to her dress and Ron's khakis and shirt. "We're a little dressed up for Lee's, don't you think?"

Ron opens the entrance door in the lobby, and the pair step outside into the freezing cold air, and their breaths come out into harsh puffs of white in the crisp chill. He nods at her comment and takes out his keys, unlocking the car and climbing in. Hermione climbs in on the passenger side ust as her phone chimes.

She takes it out to see a text from Harry.

'Have fun on your date bestie :) make sure you don't snog the entire night away...'.