Ginny's outfit above, to the side, whatever, it's above to me ily all
Hermione
"So, what are your plans for today? Going to Hogsmeade, because we could go together. Like a date. We haven't had one in a while." Ron looked at me questioningly. "Actually, I already am going with someone. But it's not a date, trust me." I answered, grinning.
A date with Malfoy, don't make me laugh. Although, for some reason, I wasn't quite as disgusted as I would have been just weeks ago at the thought.
"I'm your boyfriend, Hermione, don't forget that. Who are you going with?" Ron's mood changed in an instant.
" I'm going with Draco, Ronald, not that it's any of your business." I snapped.
His face twisted in anger, and I stepped back a little. "You're going to Hogsmeade with MALFOY?!"
"We're just finalizing dance plans! We're in charge, remember, or were you even listening?"
Ron growled, stepping forward and locking my arm in a vise grip. I flinched, and yanked my arm out of his grasp. "DO NOT go to Hogsmeade with that Death Eater, or we're OVER!" He snarled.
I gasped. "FINE! I guess this is done then!" He paused, startled by my answer. I guess he'd thought I would just say 'okay, sounds good,' and we'd walk hand in hand to the Three Broomsticks. I don't think so.
"Fine!" He retorted. How original. Not that I had anything better. "Fine!"
And then we both stormed off in opposite directions.
I met Draco outside my room at ten, just as we'd planned. He'd dressed kind of fancy, in jeans and a nice shirt. I felt plain next to him, boring, in my leggings and tee, but when he saw me he smiled, holding his arm out for me jokingly.
I laughed and we walked out of the common room, talking about our plans for the masquerade.
"Has anyone asked you yet?" He wondered.
"No," I answered, with a small smile, as we walked out of the grand front doors. "Huh," he muttered, sounding a little perplexed. I shook it off, and said, "Who are you going with?"
"Well, about that—" he was cut off by someone shouting my name from the steps behind us.
"Hermione! Hermione, wait up!" I turned on the stairs, facing the boy calling me. "Oh, hey Seamus!" I smiled.
"Hi! So, I was, I was, was wondering-" he paused. I waited.
"- I was wondering how, how the planning for, for the dance was, er, coming along." He rubbed his palms nervously on the sides of his jeans.
It was the Friday before the dance, so we had no classes today, courtesy of Ginny and me. We had built a solid argument around shopping.
I shot a side glance towards Draco, who was looking at his shoes. Well, no help from him, I guess.
"Oh, um, it's going well. You know it's a masquerade, right? Draco and I would be delighted to make you a mask for your date, or for you, I mean," I wasn't sure how to ask him if he had a date. "Um, but if you aren't going stag, we could match it to your dress, I mean, her dress, I–"
Never mind.
He nodded along absently, then laughed awkwardly. I just stared at the floor. There was silence. I had a feeling that wasn't all he had to say.
"Is that all?" I prompted.
"Er, no." He was clearly struggling for the words. Oh god. He was going to ask me out to the dance. Oh god! Seamus was such a good friend, how could I let him down? Maybe I didn't have to....
"I was going to ask you to the dance, but I guess if you're already busy, or, man, I didn't even think to ask if you already had a date, you know, forget I even said anything. Never mind me, I'm an idiot." He turned to leave.
I hesitated. "Seamus!" I called. He spun on a dime from Mach 2, face full of hope. "I would love to go to the dance with you."
"Um, wow, great, perfect! I'll see you tomorrow then! Thanks Hermione, I think this is going to be great."
"Great, yeah..." I trailed off. This was going to be rough. I'm meeting Ginny at noon after my drink with Draco, and we were going to go dress shopping.
Draco
I'm sure the look of disappointment on my face could've killed a small animal.
Hermione
I tucked the papers from our planning session into my bag, stood up, gave Draco a hug, thanked him for the drink, and he left, leaving the seat open for Ginny. I heard the bell jingle over the door, and turned.
"Ginny!" I called, waving her over. Her face lit up, and she slid into the he seat across from me. We ordered two butterbeers and talked about our plans. When I told her that Seamus had asked me to the dance, she didn't even bother trying to hold in her laughter. I put my head down on the table. "I don't want to go with him, Ginny! But how can I reject him?"
"I don't know, just say that somebody else had asked you and that you forgot. Or, or, that you think you're going to be too busy organizing the dance to actually go with anyone. Or, just say that you and Ron made up and are going together." She said, throwing out as many options as she could think of.
"Oh, right, about that..." I laughed nervously.
"Oh, Merlin, did you and Ron have a row again?"
"Yeah, just this morning. He yelled at me for going to Hogsmeade with Draco! All we were doing was going over dance plans, we figured we might as well drink on it. And then he grabbed me, Ginny. Hard!" I tentatively pulled up my shirt sleeve to see that finger shaped bruises were already forming around my bicep. Ginny gasped. "That rat! Don't worry Hermione, I've got this."
"No, Ginny, I don't want you to do anything. It's okay. It was just this once, I'm sure he feels terrible," I protested.
She sighed, giving me a look. "Fine."
I exhaled deeply, relieved. "Thank you."
"But if he ever does it again, he's dead."
I smiled, lucky to have a friend as good as her.
"I'm sure he won't," I assured her.
As if on cue, the bell over the door rang wildly, and Ron Weasley himself came storming in.
When he saw us, the look of anger on his face was replaced with a confused one. I rolled my eyes.
Ginny cleared her throat, swirling the remainder of her drink around in its bottle, and pointedly refusing to look up.
Ron walked over to us. "Why did you tell me that you were going with Malfoy if you're here with Ginny?"
"Well actually, Ron, you just missed him. Ginny's only been here for a few minutes, I'm sure if you left now, you could catch him," I said blankly.
Ron rolled his eyes. "Drop the act, Hermione. You know I couldn't care less about him. I came here to see you."
I raised my eyebrows as he pulled up a chair to our table, taking one of my hands in his. I stared at our hands for a second, before taking mine back. His face fell. "Hermione, I wanted to apologize. I overreacted earlier, and I shouldn't have grabbed you like that. I'm truly sorry, 'Mione."
I looked at him for a moment. "Fine," I said quietly.
His eyes brightened. "So I'm forgiven?"
I groaned sarcastically. "You're forgiven."
"Yes! Thank you. Now, will you let me take you to your dance?"
Ginny, who had been silent this whole time, did a spit take, spraying her butterbeer all over the floor to our left. She started laughing like a psychopath. I rolled my eyes and glared at her. She covered her mouth, attempting not to laugh. "Look, Ron, I would love to, but—"
His face clouded with anger. "I'm too late, aren't I? That ferret already asked you!"
Now it was my turn to start laughing. "No, Ron," I choked out. "Seamus caught me on the steps."
"Oh," he muttered.
"Yeah, oh." Ginny said loudly and mockingly.
She and I shared a grin.
"Well I heard that Lavender wanted to go with Seamus, so I'll just have him ask her instead," Ron said, as if he was the sharpest knife in the drawer.
"I don't think it will be that easy, Ron." I told him, doubtful.
"What, do you want to go with him?" He asked angrily.
"No, Ron, but I don't particularly want to go with you either!" I nearly shouted, livid.
"What? But I'm your boyfriend, Hermione! Why wouldn't you want to go with me?"
"Maybe because you're being a dick," Ginny snorted.
"What she said," I agreed. "Look, Ron. I will go with you. But let me talk to Seamus, okay?"
He nodded.
Sighing, I said, "This is your second chance, Ron. Don't blow it." He thanked me, hugged me, and left me and Ginny to go shopping.
Leaving the money for our butterbeer so on the table, we ran to the nearest dress shop. We both tried some on before finding the one. Mine was strapless, a light red, almost pink color, with a beaded bodice. When I showed it to Ginny she put all hers to the side and practically shoved me into a dressing room. As I slid the silky fabric over my head and took my hair out of its ponytail, I knew this was the dress. I felt like a princess.
I strolled dramatically out of the dressing room to show Ginny. She gasped, putting a hand to her head dramatically and pretending to faint. I grinned.
"That's the one, Hermione, that's it. That's going to wow Draco."
I stared at her. "I'm going with Ron, Ginny," I reminded her. She scoffed. "Yeah, like that's who you're really trying to impress." I rolled my eyes and smiled, turning back to go change. Now it was time to look for her.
I meandered toward the back of the store, looking for an emerald green dress. Ginny said she wanted to match Harry's eyes. I pulled a free dress of the rack, admiring it before putting it back. As I reached for another one, I heard a shriek come from the front of the store. "HERMIONE I FOUND IT!" I ran up to meet Ginny at the dressing room, taking the dress from her. "Oh Merlin, Ginny, it's perfect for you!"
She grinned widely, taking it from me and twirling to the dressing room. "I know, right!"
I paid for mine while I waited for Ginny to come out. When she did, I was amazed. "Wow, Ginny. Harry's going to be so surprised!" I paused, looking her over one last time. "Please be safe." I muttered.
She laughed. "We always are!" She said, before turning back into the dressing room to change.
Good. I thought.
"Wait, what?!"
After she paid for her dress, we walked back out onto the Main Street, looking for a shoe store. The air was getting chillier in the evening, so we quickly ran across the way to the store. As soon as we walked in, I saw the ones I wanted. They were tall, maybe three and a half inch heels, black as night, with red down the front of the heel. I was in love.
Ginny quickly found hers too, a nude pump with a thick base. They were four inches tall, which was good, because she was really kind of petite. We paid and hurried to the jewelry store for our masks and necklaces. I had decided I was going to get a black clutch instead of a necklace, so I grabbed the first one I saw and an intricate black mask to go with it. Ginny found a black mask as well, and then a beautiful diamond necklace. We paid and headed back to Hogwarts, talking about what he had gotten. This was looking like it might be a fun night, with or without Ron.