Ginny was grinning throughout the entire lunch period, which caused Hermione to roll her eyes quite a bit in response.
"Gin, it's not a date," Hermione said for the hundredth time.
"How is it not?" Ginny asked. "He asked you to Hogsmeade for the afternoon!"
"Yeah, because he wanted to go and the other three were busy," Hermione explained.
Ginny raised an eyebrow. "I doubt they're that busy on a Saturday afternoon."
Hermione shrugged. "Either way, it's not a date."
"It's definitely a date," Ginny grinned again.
"I'm not even technically broken up with Ron yet!" Hermione exclaimed. "It's not a date!"
"Is that the only reason?" Ginny raised an eyebrow at her friend.
"Yes!" Hermione then caught herself and shook her head. "I mean, no! No it's not!"
Ginny was still grinning as she said, "Whatever you say. You can always break up with Ron today."
"No, the agreement was to wait until the end of next week and then break it off if I don't hear from him," Hermione reminded her.
"You can change that deal, 'Mione," Ginny shrugged. "It's not like Ron knows there's a deadline. And what are you going to do if he does write? You already said you were doubting the relationship for reasons other than him not writing to you."
"True..." Hermione trailed off, thinking on that. Ginny was right, of course; she just wasn't happy in the relationship anymore. Not that there was much of a relationship to begin with, anyway.
"I'll think about it," Hermione said finally.
"Gonna see how your date in Hogsmeade goes before you decide?" Ginny asked slyly.
Hermione scowled at her before tossing a piece of bread at Ginny, who simply laughed in response.
Lunch soon ended, and Hermione nervously made her way down to the carriages, unsure of how the rest of the day was going to go. It seemed there were quite a few other students who had the same idea to go to Hogsmeade, but luckily Hermione was able to snag a carriage for herself and Draco.
She waited patiently, searching through the crowds for the familiar platinum blond hair. But the longer she waited, the more nervous she got. Maybe he wasn't coming? It didn't make sense for this to be a prank though since he had been nothing but nice to her recently. But soon fifteen minutes had passed by, and there was still no sign of him.
Sighing and pushing her hands further into her jacket pockets, she began to think he wasn't actually going to show up. But then he appeared, walking down the hill towards the carriage. He gave her a smile as he approached and she couldn't help but smile back, her nerves fading away.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to keep you waiting," He said, stepping up into the carriage and sitting down across from her. "The others were pestering me about coming."
"It's alright!" Hermione said as the Thestral began to pull the carriage away towards Hogsmeade. "I wasn't waiting too long anyway."
He smiled at her and she felt her cheeks turn red slightly as she smiled in return. There was silence for a few moments before Draco asked, "Do you only have one beanie?"
She instinctively reached up to touch the item in question and asked, "Yes, why? Does it not look good?"
"No, it looks fine," He said quickly. "I was just curious because I only see you wearing the one. I'm surprised it's a cranberry red and not a Gryffindor red."
Hermione laughed. "My mum bought it for me years ago, I've always really just liked this color too."
"It's a good color," Draco agreed before smirking. "For a shade of red."
Rolling her eyes, Hermione shook her head. "You're ridiculous."
"Only sometimes," He grinned, leaning back against the carriage and pulling his leg up to rest on his other knee.
Ginny wandered through the halls, trying to figure out what to do that afternoon. She wanted to hang out with Hermione, but since she was already preoccupied the red head had nothing to do. She really wanted to find out about their date too, and hear how it went, and she didn't want to wait until afterwards.
She paused and grinned to herself before racing up to Gryffindor tower to grab a piece of parchment and quill. After writing a quick note, she folded it up and sent it off, waiting somewhat impatiently for the response.
It didn't take more than five minutes for the response to come back, and after reading it Ginny bounced up and down with excitement before changing into warmer clothes, grinning to herself.
Racing through the halls, she was nearly out of breath when she arrived down at the carriages, finding Pansy already there.
"Did you seriously run all the way from your tower?" Pansy asked in amazement.
"I...wouldn't have...made it on time...otherwise," Ginny said between breaths. "I was just too excited too!"
Pansy grinned at that. "How long ago did they leave?"
"Just after lunch," Ginny answered, straightening up and grinning as well. "So did you know about it?"
"I knew he was going to Hogsmeade, but he didn't say who with," Pansy said as they got into the carriage.
"See, and he told Hermione that you three were busy," Ginny laughed.
"Well he is in Slytherin for a reason," Pansy shrugged. "I guess he's missed spending time with her since you guys all switched rounds partners."
Ginny grew silent and Pansy noticed the immediate change in her demeanor. "Sorry, we don't have to talk about it. I don't even know what happened, honestly."
"That's surprising," Ginny muttered. "Well, I confronted Blaise about why he flirted with me all the time and after some going back and forth, he kissed me."
Pansy's eyes went wide. "What?"
"Yeah," Ginny sighed, looking away. "It's just been a lot for me to think about, since I'm still with Harry and all."
"What are you going to do?" Pansy asked.
"Well, I'm going to have to tell Harry," Ginny said. "Other than that, I don't know."
Pansy was quiet for a few moments and said, "Maybe Harry is the deciding factor in this."
"What do you mean?" Ginny asked.
"Once you tell him, you have to wait and see what he wants to do," Pansy said. "If he is the one to break it off, you won't have to make that decision then."
Ginny thought about this for a few moments before smiling slightly. "You're right."
Pansy laughed slightly. "Honestly, it sounds like you might already want to break up with him anyway."
"It's just been hard not hearing from him, and when I did hear from him, it was different," Ginny explained. "I'm just going to write to him tonight, tell him what happened, and then see what he says about it."
"That's pretty much all you can do at this point," Pansy said. "That, or breaking it off before he does."
"Merlin, I need to come to you more with decisions I'm having problems making," Ginny said, laughing. "You and Hermione made it so much easier!"
Pansy laughed as well. "Having girlfriends tends to help with decisions when they're supportive!"
"True that!"
"Can't believe Pansy left us here."
Blaise and Theo both were grumbling on the couches in the Slytherin common room, sharing firewhiskey.
"I can't believe Draco actually asked Hermione to go to Hogsmeade," Blaise said, his eyebrows going up in surprise. "Didn't think he'd actually do it."
"Me neither," Theo said, taking a sip before eyeing Blaise suspiciously. "Why did Pansy say that it wouldn't be a good idea for us to go with her and Ginny?"
Blaise sighed, leaning his head against the back of the couch to look up at the ceiling. "Because Ginny and I are...having some difficulties."
"Difficulties, eh?" Theo grinned. "What did you do? Tell her you love her?"
Blaise looked up to glare at the other Slytherin. "No."
"Well, you haven't had sex yet so it can't have been poor performance," Theo said thoughtfully before grinning again. "Unless your patrols in the Astronomy Tower have been much more intimate than you let on."
A pillow landed against Theo's face, causing him to laugh hard. "I'm just joking, mate!"
"You better watch it, Nott," Blaise warned, pointing a finger from his whiskey glass at Theo.
"Alright, alright." Theo's hands went up defensively. "No more jokes. But seriously, what did you do?"
Blaise looked back up at the ceiling again and sighed. "I kissed her."
"That's it?"
His head whipped up again. "What do you mean, 'that's it'?"
Theo scoffed. "The way you made it sound, I thought you had killed her pet pygmy puff."
"She has a pygmy puff?" Blaise asked.
"You don't listen very well, do you?" Theo retorted.
"I'm not her Charms partner," Blaise glared.
"His name is Arnold, for future reference," Theo said, nodding towards Blaise. "Nah, mate, it was just a kiss. She's probably going to tell her boyfriend, he'll break it off, and then she'll be all yours!"
Blaise raised an eyebrow at Theo. "I think you've had enough firewhiskey."
Theo rebelliously finished his glass and smirked at Blaise, who rolled his eyes and grabbed the bottle before Theo could. Theo simply shrugged and leaned back against the couch, pulling his leg up to rest on top of his knee.
Then his eyes widened and he grinned. "I just got a wonderful idea!"
"Oh Merlin," Blaise muttered before taking a drink. "And what would that be?"
"Let's go spy on the girls as they spy on Draco and Hermione!"
Blaise thought about that for a few moments, tilting his head back and forth. He did want to see Ginny, and it would be rather fun to see if Draco screwed up his date.
"Alright, I'm in."
A/N: So I lied, here's the next chapter! I just couldn't resist posting it, I had so much fun writing it and was laughing the entire time. I need to write more stuff with Theo, because I'm loving his character right now. Enjoy everyone!! <3