An entry for two different challenges: don'..'s Dialogue Challenge and HollyWrites's Mean Girls Quotes Challenge :)
The aim of the dialogue challenge is for the fic to solely contain dialogue - no description or anything else.
"You're going to Slughorn's party with who now?"
"Ginny! Keep your voice down, would you? I'm trying to keep it a bit of a secret until tomorrow morning at breakfast when it'll have the most impact!"
"Hermione, rumours are practically flying around school! How else do you think I heard, as you didn't care enough to tell me? And since when do you like the arrogant imbecile that is Cormac McLaggen? It would have been nice to have been told – I've told you everything, shouldn't that automatically mean that you tell me everything in return? I know you've got Harry and Ron, but they're not exactly the kind of people you could talk to about this!"
"Ginny! You're getting louder! I don't want the entire library to hear the contents of- oh just follow me, please? We can continue this conversation in private."
"Right, fine. Now that we're out of earshot of Madam Pince, and the rest of the dusty air in the library, will you please tell me what's going on?"
"Fine, as you've told me everything. I'm going with Cormac because I believe it'd be nice to actually have someone to go with who I can have a stimulating conversation with. Besides, he is very attractive and I'm sure that he's not so arrogant once you get to know him."
"That is the biggest load of bullshit I have ever heard in my life, Hermione. Did you really expect me to believe that? I grew up with Fred and George! If you wanted someone to go with who you could have an interesting conversation with, you could have gone with Harry and not had any trouble whatsoever. Or Neville."
"Well I was hoping if you believed it, everyone else in the castle would too. When they find out, tomorrow morning, hopefully they'll all believe it. And you know that people always jump to conclusions if Harry is seen talking to any girl, even if it was me. He'd be asked so many questions if I went to the party with him."
"Like I said before, a fair number of people have ideas anyway because you were seen talking to him after Transfiguration. Have you told even Harry and Ron about this? I'll be extremely impressed if they don't know alr- Oh Merlin, Hermione, no!"
"What?"
"Don't you say "what?" to me in such an innocent voice. I know what you're doing and it's not going to work! If Ron even does detach himself from Lavender's face long enough to actually listen to the rumour, I doubt he'll have long enough to comprehend what's going on before she's sucking his mouth off again! I love you, and all, but I don't think this will make my idiotic brother jealous."
"Ginny, I am not trying to make your brother jealous! I couldn't care less about how Ron feels about this entire situation – he and Lavender can go and get married for all I care! For your information, I am in fact attracted to Cormac – I find him to be very aesthetically pleasing."
"So you think he's hot?"
"Yes, in short."
"Do you want to have sex with him?"
"No, thank you… Ginny, that's just wholly inappropriate."
"In what way? You're a mature, responsible woman and he's a hot… somewhat less mature guy with raging hormones, so why not? Come on, Hermione, this is your chance to prove everyone wrong about you! This is your chance to make people believe that you're more than Harry Potter's extremely intelligent, slightly nerdy friend with explosive hair!"
"Wha- Does everyone think that? My hair isn't that bad, is it?"
"No, it's lovely. Not everyone thinks that. Mainly Slytherins and, well, that's just what can be expected from them. There are actually a hell of a lot of guys who think you're really attractive just a bit… intimidating. If you're trying to make Ron jealous – yes I'm still standing by that theory and you won't get me to change my mind – then you could have gone for pretty much any other guy! I do approve of Cormac for the looks factor though, and how much he annoys Ron is good if you're trying to make him jealous."
"I'm not trying to make anyone jealous!"
"Whatever, Hermione. You still haven't answered my earlier question."
"Which one?"
"Why are you so reluctant to get it on with McLaggen? I'm sure he'd be more than up for it and it'd make Ron – ah, stop trying to deny it – it would serve to make Ron extremely jealous! You wouldn't even have to go all the way with him, maybe just a hot make-out session where you could easily be discovered by, say, Parvati. Then you could be sure that the news would be all over the school in about half an hour: Hermione Granger; is she really as innocent as we all thought?"
"No, Ginny."
"Oh, why not? You yourself told me to employ a similar tactic against Harry by dating other guys in an attempt to get over him and get more comfortable with him, well stop being a hypocrite and take your own advice! If you're not using Cormac to make my brother jealous then you could at least use him in an attempt to get over Ron and have some fun! And it wouldn't even have to be for very long, you guys could just sneak away from Christmas dinner and come up with your own Christmas entertainment in a nearby cupboard. Or in the library, why not be a bit dirty in your favourite place?"
"We are not having this conversation."
"Au contraire, my intelligent friend. We most certainly are."
"Not anymore we aren't because, oh how convenient, I need to go to Charms. I'll see you later, Ginny!"
"Hermione, the lunch bell doesn't go for another twenty minutes! Don't you walk away from me! I know you can hear me! Hermione!"