Disclaimer: Plot is mine, but thats it. I dun get paid for nuthin.
Author's Note: Damnit, I'm breaking my own rule. x.x Sorry, villians, no victory this time.
Summary: Anyone with a best friend knows this is what they're for.
She shouldn't have said yes. Why did she say yes? Of all people, she should have known that this was one fear she wasn't just going to be able to ignore. So why in gods name did she say yes? She was only about as average as a neon cow and as stupid as a nuclear nurologist, so what perverse, self-harming section of her brain had, somehow, convinced her logical mind to say yes?
And now she'd made a true social outcast of herself. No doubt the Slytherines were enjoying her pain extensively, it was just something they'd do. Ron and Harry weren't the party-goer types, and being famous didn't change that, making her decision to go to the party even less logical. She wasn't a social person by nature, she never had been. When she'd heard "costume party", she'd worn a costume - a REAL costume. No some skimpy bunny suit or maid skirt, or something equally as likely to get one laid. She wore a legitimet costumes. A beast girl, horns, fangs, claws, the works. The pieces of it were beside her on the floor now, removed to avoid further humiliation, not that she could get much lower on the food-chain now.
She'd been invited by a Ravenclaw boy - a cute Ravenclaw boy. Justin Earlston, a pure-blood boy, which should have been the first hint, who had always had a beautiful love of books. She'd seen him in the library constantly, and she'd always thought that he never saw her, never noticed her bushy hair peeping over the top of a thick tome. Apparently he had. He'd approached her last week with a charming smile and a truly tantilizing gaze that she still didn't quite understand. Being seventeen didn't make her boy-smart. He'd invited her as his right-arm girl. No logical pure-blood boys ever seemed to take just one girl anywhere. It was always two, one on each arm - the right arm being the more important of the two. She'd said yes without thinking, being the socially awkward creature that she was.
The first thing that happened when she arrived was get dumped very publicly by her date. Draco was at his side. Everybody laughed. As much as it didn't entirely surprise her, it hurt. It hurt alot more than she'd thought it would. Now here she was, crying on the floor, not entirely sure of where she was anymore. She'd run blindly, her tears only making such a thing easier. She'd run into at least two walls, five statues, and disgruntled Sir Nickolas. She stared at the stone floor, willing herself to be like stone. She'd need it now, no way would anyone forget the spectical she'd been tonight for at LEAST a week.
"Hermione?" She jumped at the sound of her voice, her head snapping up to see one of her few female friends, a lovely little redhead. The girl looked highly distressed by seeing her friend so upset and in one of the more random locations of the castle. "Hermione, whats wrong?"
Hermione shook her head, dropping said appendage back to her knees. She just wanted to hide, but knew that she really wouldn't be given the chance. She sniffed, "Why doesn't life have a rewind button, Ginny?"
The younger girl was quiet for a moment, thinking on the question a tad more than a muggle would have to, but her answer was more creative than most humans would give.
"Because who really wants to repeat all their mistakes?"
Hermione started to laugh.
Fin
Authors Note: Fpr all those that didn't quite get what I was pointing out there - friends make you laugh, no matter how bad things look. Friends make you laugh at yourself, so your mistakes don't feel quite so bad anymore. Friends make you laugh at them, because everybody makes mistakes, not just you. Friends make you laugh, so that you might make them laugh when they need to be reminded that things really aren't so bad.
Written for my very best friend, not that he ever reads what I write anyways. ^.^ I promise, I will always laugh with you.