A/N: Yes, me again, the evil cliffhangerist Crystal Music! ;) Never fear. The last part of Hermione's Big Day is coming, soooon.... I just suddenly was struck with an idea, and HAD to write this. **



"This," said Ron, "is too much."

He glared at Hermione, who still stood with her arms folded over her chest and was glaring straight back at him.

"I won't do it!" he declared. "I won't!"

"Come on, Ron!" she said exasperatedly. "It'll just be for ONE day. Get her off my hands for ONE day."

"One day is too much!" he argued. "With Lavender? Are you KIDDING?"

"Lavender is nice!" Hermione told him, her eyes blazing. "She just gets a little - enthusiastic - at times!"

"You mean she's a ditz!" Ron corrected.

"Yeah! And she's on me ALL THE TIME, trying to get me to ask Harry out for her!"

"So why don't you?"

"I asked Harry if he liked Lavender. He said no so vehemently, I didn't want to tell her and hurt her feelings."

Ron threw up his hands. "So you think she'll be appeased if she goes on a date with me?"

"Yes." Hermione crossed her arms.

Ron stared at her. Then he shook his head. "I must be nuts."

"Great!" Hermione's whole demeanor changed at once. She jumped up, clapped Ron on the shoulder, and said, "It won't be too bad, Ron. Trust me."

"So where do I meet her?" he asked in despair.

"Tonight, five o'clock at the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade." Hermione grinned at him. "Thanks, Ron! You've got no idea what this means to me!"

Then she hurried from the room.

Ron sighed and flopped down on the bed. "You can come out now, Harry," he said to the empty air.

Harry pulled back the curtains of his bed, feeling a little embarrassed. He came over and sat on the floor beside Ron's bed.

Ron looked at him annoyedly.

Harry looked guilty. "I'm sorry, Ron!" he said quickly. "If I knew that was what she was going to talk to you about -"

Ron covered his face. "I know, I know," he said, waving dissmissively at Harry. "You thought it was going to be her finally confessing her feelings to me about you," he said in a singsong voice.

Harry blushed. "I'm really sorry, Ron! I just thought - from the look on her face - maybe it was the time -"

"Aw, come off it, Harry," Ron said, peering over the side of the bed at his friend. "You know she likes you! You gotta make the first move! She never will!"

"Why not? Why is it always the guy that has to make the move?"

"It's not gender, Harry, it's who you are. Hermione is your friend, and she's afraid it'll ruin your friendship if she asks. Same thing with you. Plus, there's the added thing: the fact that you're the great Harry Potter-"

Harry rolled his eyes and groaned.

" - and why would you want to go out with her if you had a choice of all the other eligible girls in the world?"

"How is it I can have all the girls I want except the one I REALLY want?" Harry groaned.

This time, it was Ron's turn to roll his eyes. "Don't get me started."

Harry glared at him.

Ron rolled over on the bed and sat up. "Harry, you are going to go out there and follow Hermione, OK? Then, when you reach her, take her shoulders - flirty-style - and with one deep breath, you tell her how you feel. All right?"

"No!" Harry said, embarrassed.

"God dammit, Harry!" Ron yelled. He got up off the bed, pulled Harry off the floor, and marched him to the door. "This time, you ARE going to do it! All right?"

Harry protested. "But Ron-"

"I said, ALL RIGHT?" Ron said, shoving Harry out the door. "Now, go ask her, and if you come back here without telling her, I am going to steal your Invisibility Cloak and tell everyone in Slytherin that you are madly in love with Pansy Parkinson!"

Harry looked so disgusted that Ron had to laugh. "Don't you dare," Harry warned, starting to laugh too.

"OK, I won't. I'll think of something, though. I'll ask Fred and George -"

"I'll go! I'll go!" Harry turned from the door and began to determinedly march down the Gryffindor stairs. "Hermione!" he called.

Footsteps paused. "Harry?" Hermione asked, sounding puzzled. She opened the door to the 6th year girls' dormitory, looking out.

Lavender and Parvati appeared like magic at the door. "Did you say Harry?" they asked in unisom. Then they both spotted him.

Harry slapped his forehead mentally. He backed up as Lavender and Parvati rushed out and began to fawn madly over him. He looked pleadingly at Hermione over the tops of their heads.

Hermione shrugged, trying not to laugh. She reached forward, grabbed Harry's hand, and pulled him into the girl's dormitory.

"But I'm not - I'm not supposed to -" he protested, holding onto the door.

"Oh, don't be an idiot, Harry, there's nothing to see," Hermione said, pulling him the rest of the way in.

The girl's dorm looked much like the guy's, except that it was decorated quite differently. Harry could tell at once which bed Hermione's was. It was the only one not pasted over with pictures of male models and makeup tips cut out from magazines.

On the bedside table, where Harry had his Quidditch stuff displayed, there was an amazing assortment of blush, lipstick, eyeshadow, mascara, and what Harry was sure was the largest collection of nail polish in the Northern Hemisphere. Half of the bottles were uncapped, and there were several dresses on hangers next to a full-length mirror.

Lavender squealed as he came in. "Harry! What a pleasant surprise!"

"Uh, Lavender," Harry struggled to explain, "could I just talk for a moment alone with --"

Neither one of them heard him. Parvati exclaimed, "We were just getting ready for Lavender's date with you, Harry!"

Harry's eyes went wide, and he began to splutter, looking helplessly at Hermione.

Hermione was quick to the rescue. "Lavender, I think you misunderstood - I said that someone had said yes - except, it wasn't Harry -"

"WHAT?!" Lavender stared at Hermione, her eyes wide. "THEN WHO DID??"

"Ron did," Harry said quickly, finding his voice.

"WHAT? RON?!?!?! HERMIONE, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!?"

Harry reeled, stunned by the intensity in Lavender's voice. Hermione appeared quite unfazed, though uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry, Lavender," she said quickly. "But - uh - Ron was the only one in the boy's dormitory at the time - and it just sort of, happened," she made up.

"Ron?" Lavender sank into a chair. "Oh, no! Now I'm going to have to entirely re-think my approach!"

" 'Approach'?" Harry said, surprised. Hermione glanced up at him and began to grin, spreading across her face at his reaction. He would have killed for that smile.

"Of course, approach!" Lavender said, jumping up from her chair and frantically beginning to sort through the makeup bottles. Harry watched her, half-amused and half-amazed.

"I bet Ron's a Midnight Blue person," Parvati said critically, helping Lavender search through the myraid bottles.

"No, wait, remember, he said once he liked Fleur's nails when they were that baby-blue color, right?"

"Oh, yeah, you're right!" Lavender searched more vigorously, tossing aside bottles as she hunted for the right blue.

Harry stared open-mouthed at this assessment. Hermione laughed out loud at his expression, and pulled him close to her. He breathed in the smell of her hair as she laughed. Mmmm ..

"They'll be at this for a while," she whispered. "Let's escape down to the common room."

"All right," he agreed, so intoxicated by her nearness that he would have agreed if she'd said that Snape was a cutie.

He stayed close to her as she led him out the door (closing it very quietly) and down the stairs to the common room. Outside, snowflakes fell softly, but there was no one in the common room that wintery Saturday.

Hermione walked over to the window and Harry followed her.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" she said softly, then added with a small laugh, "I always liked snow. I've got no idea why."

"Me too," he agreed, looking out at the white-blanketed trees. "I've always loved Christmas. I still remember my first Christmas at Hogwarts .. it was like when I first realized I actually had friends that liked me enough to give me presents." Harry cringed as the last sentence came out. No, Potter, he scolded himself fiercely, self-pity's not the way!

But Hermione was looking sad and staring out the window, her eyes on the dancing snow.

"Hermione," he said, gathering his courage, and she looked up at the intensity suddenly in his voice, "There's something I've got to-"

"Hey, HARRY!" called a loud voice from the opposite end of the common room. "Wanna come out with us and snowball fight?"

Harry and Hermione spun around, Harry's heart still going double-time. Dammit! he cursed. So close ..

Dean and Neville were at the entrance, covered in snow, their faces bright red and waving. "Come on!" Dean yelled. "Let's go! The Weasleys're wagering four packs of Filibuster Fireworks an' a dozen Canary Creams on their new automatic snowball-making machine!"

They suddenly noticed that Harry and Hermione were alone together, and Dean's grin spread across his face. "Yeah, you wanna come outside and cool off a little bit?" he teased, grinning obnoxiously.

Harry felt his face grew hot. "Shut up, Dean," he said as calmly as he could manage, glancing at Hermione and seeing that she was as red as he was.

Neville called, "Come on, Harry! It'll be great!"

"Naw, that's okay," Harry said, waving at them. He turned and looked back out the window.

"Lousy Potter, all he's got on his mind's Hermione lately," he heard Dean mutter as they turned to go back outside. He whirled quickly, praying that Hermione hadn't heard them.

If she had, she was doing a good job of hiding it. "I'll guess I'll go up and help Lavender get ready for her and Ron's date," she said, turning to go. "They're probably spraying each other with scented body lotion as we speak."

Harry watched her go up the stairs, his heart heavy. When she was gone, he dropped into one of the armchairs in front of the fire. "When am I ever going to work up the courage to ask?" he said aloud, pitying himself. "Thanks, Dean. Great timing, that was."

He sighed and stared into the orange dancing flames.

"I'll do it next time we're alone," he promised himself. But even in his heart, he knew that it wasn't likely to happen soon.

Someday...

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