Disclaimer: I own nothing.
A/N: I had a lot of fun writing this. If you have fun reading it too, please stroke my ego by telling me so. If you don't have any fun reading it, please tell me anyway and point out what I'm doing wrong so that I can improve.
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Girls Don't Do That!
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That Saturday found Harry, Ron, Hermione and Dobby sitting at a table in the library. It was raining outside, and Harry and Ron, who had not been planning on spending their day off in the library but had been looking forward to getting some Quidditch practice, were not in the best of moods. Harry had a book open in front of him on the table, but he wasn't actually studying. Instead, he was listening to the splash-splash-splash of the rain against window, absentmindedly watching the patterns the raindrops made as they hit the glass. Ron was leaning his head in his hand, and had been staring at the same page for the last ten minutes or so. He was looking like he might be falling asleep any second.
By contrast, both Hermione and Dobby were looking quite content. Hermione was engrossed in a very thick book in some language neither Harry nor Ron could identify, while Dobby was simply staring adoringly at the other three people at the table, looking like there was nothing else he'd rather do and nowhere else he'd rather be. The fact that he wasn't quite tall enough to sit properly on the chair and his head was the only part of his body that was visible to the others didn't seem to bother him. He had shown up a bit earlier, informing the trio that it was his day off. His voice had been hushed and almost nervous and his eyes had bulged with excitement, as if he was doing something very wrong and secret and exciting and forbidden. Hermione had loudly declared it to be 'Good for you, Dobby!' and had then returned to her book.
The boring, grey weather outside seemed to be weighing heavily not only on Harry and Ron who had soon been out of things to say, but on everyone else in the room as well. It had grown unnaturally quiet, even for a library.
The two boys sighed in unison. Dobby's eyes grew wider, and Hermione looked up from her book and exasperatedly shook her head. They both seemed to be about to say something when the door to the library violently flew open with a loud bang. Three heads, one red, one brown, and one black flew up and a fourth bald one turned around to see what the source of the commotion was, and they found that it apparently was Pansy Parkinson. She was standing by the door, scanning the library with narrowed eyes, obviously looking for something. As she noticed Dobby and the trio, her eyebrows shot up and she very purposefully made her way towards them, looking alarmingly like a hunter that has just spotted her prey.
The very disapproving gaze of Madam Pince followed her across the room.
As she reached their table, Pansy drew out the chair next to Dobby and sat down, straight opposite Ron. She leaned her head in her hand in the same way he had just moment ago and levelled her gaze with his.
"The date for the next Hogsmeade weekend just came up on the notice board. Weasley, I've decided that you're going to take me," she announced.
Harry's mouth fell open, and there was a loud thud as Hermione's book fell from her hands and onto the table.
Ron looked at Pansy appraisingly for a moment. "Yeah, all right," he then said.
Hermione's gaze moved from Pansy to Ron. She was staring as if they'd both grown extra heads. Harry's face seemed stuck in open-mouthed surprise.
Pansy smiled at him. "Great!" she told him happily, and then turned to look first at Hermione and then Harry. "Close your mouth, would you, Potter, you look more like an idiot than usual," she commented.
That seemed to snap Hermione out of her stunned silence, and her eyes narrowed. "What are you up to, Parkinson?"
Pansy watched her appraisingly. "What do you mean?"
"Why this sudden interest in Ron? What are you planning?"
"I'm planning on going to Hogsmeade with Weasley, Granger. I thought that much would be obvious." Her voice sounded bored as she addressed Hermione, but as she turned back to Ron, her face suddenly seemed a little flushed. "I thought we could go to The Three Broomsticks and maybe... get some ice-cream."
She flushed some more at that, and Ron's ears suddenly went red, too.
"Ice cream sounds good to me."
Ron's voice sounded strangely choked. Their eyes met and Pansy nodded.
Harry's eyes darted suspiciously between the two of them.
Hermione's eyes were still narrowed. "Oh come on. This is one of Malfoy's plots, isn't it?"
"This has nothing to do with Draco, Granger," Pansy answered, now sounding a bit annoyed.
"Of course not. Just because you're usually dating him and hanging around him all the time, that doesn't mean anything at all. Do you really expect us to believe that out of nowhere you suddenly want to go on a date with Ron? Don't tell me Draco" – she practically spat out the name – "has got nothing to do with it."
Pansy sighed. "Draco and I are friends. We went on one date, in fourth year. That's three years ago, Granger. I thought you, of all people, would understand that it's actually possible to be friends with a guy. But I suppose that's overestimating your pathetic little Gryffindor brain." She paused, and frowned, and then leaned conspiratorially towards Hermione. "Besides, Weasley is much cuter than Draco, don't you think? I like him," she declared, nodding very seriously.
Ron's ears went red again, and he quickly looked down on his book, trying not to look too flattered.
Hermione still looked very sceptical as Pansy rose from the table. "See you next weekend then," she said brightly to Ron before turning and leaving the same way that she had come.
"I'll meet you in the Entrance Hall!" Ron called after her.
Harry and Hermione stared after her for a few minutes after the door had closed and she had disappeared out into the hall and then as one turned to Ron. He lifted his book from the table, raising it to hide his face from the questioning looks of his two best friends. As he didn't seem to want to tell them anything, Hermione finally leaned forward, looking at Harry on Ron's other side instead
"Well! Can you believe that!" she exclaimed. "Who does she think she is, barging in here like that... 'I've decided that you're taking me to Hogsmeade' indeed. I mean, really, what kind of person just orders people around like that?"
Ron's head reappeared from behind the book, and he looked at her in disbelief. He then turned to Harry, who seemed to have suddenly developed a cough.
"Yeah, ordering people around. What kind of person would do that?" he managed, exchanging a look with Ron in between coughs.
"We really need to find out what she's up to though," Hermione continued thoughtfully. "Good thinking there actually, saying yes, Ron. It will make it much easier. You go with her and try to find out what's going on, and Harry and I will follow the two of you secretly and make sure nothing happens. Maybe we could take the Invisibility Cloak..."
Ron had been looking more and more alarmed during her monologue. "No you couldn't!" he interrupted her.
Hermione frowned. "Why not?" She leaned forward and looked at Harry again. "There's nothing wrong with it, is there?"
Harry shook his head, his eyes on Ron.
"Why then?" She turned back to Ron.
"Yes, I'd like to know that too, Ron," Harry added.
"There'll be no Invisibility Cloak and no following us! We're just going to go---"he trailed off, blushing again. "---Get some ice cream," he finished sheepishly.
"You and Pansy Parkinson?"
"Yes! Hermione, we'll be in The Three Broomsticks, surrounded by basically all of Hogsmeade. She won't be able to do anything fishy, ok?"
"Why?"
Ron frowned. "Why, what?"
"Why are you going with Pansy Parkinson of all people?"
"Dunno. She asked." He shrugged.
"More like told you! Besides, you've hardly even talked to her before. Except when she's insulted us, of course."
Ron was silent for a while. "Right," he then said, sounding very unconvincing.
Hermione leaned back in her chair, her eyes narrowing again. "Ron, there's something you're not telling us, isn't there?"
Ron fidgeted in his chair. "Well, we've been... kind of running into each other accidentally all around a lot lately. There was that time outside Greenhouse... and the incident with the crystal ball, after Divination... and of course the thing in the Prefects' bathroom last week, with the ice cream..." he trailed off again at the mention of that, blushing yet again.
At that, Dobby, who so far had only been following everything that had been going on with very wide eyes, started. "Last week in Prefects' bathroom? On Thursday? That was Wheezy, sir?" he squeaked. "House Elves have never seen Prefects' bathroom in such shape before! It took very long time and very powerful magic to get back to normal."
Dobby stared at Ron with eyes almost impossibly wide, Ron suddenly seemed to find his book very interesting again, and Harry and Hermione's eyes darted from one to the other. There was a silence until Harry suddenly let out a long breath and shook his head with an odd little smile on his face.
"Well, I still can't believe it," he declared.
"Yes. Honestly, Ron!" Hermione said reproachingly.
"I mean, a girl told you she likes you and wants to go out with you, flat out! Just like that! It's like my world has been turned upside down! And it's not fair."
Ron lowered his book and grinned at him.
Hermione huffed. "Well, don't get too used to it, only girls like Parkinson do things like that," she declared scathingly, the tone of her voice telling them exactly what she thought about Pansy. "Normal girls don't."
"She's actually not that bad when you get to know her better---" Ron began defensively, but he broke off as the chair that Pansy had occupied a while ago was pulled out once again. Luna Lovegood had drifted into the library and made her way over so silently they hadn't noticed, in a manner as unlike Pansy's that was humanly possible. She sat down facing Ron, cocking her head to the side and staring intently at him.
Harry's eyes snapped away from his two friends. "Luna!"
She smiled slightly. "Yes, that's me. Hello Harry, Hermione," she continued, her eyes still on Ron. "Hello Ronald."
"Umm... Hi, Luna. Err... How are you?"
"Oh, I'm fine, thank you. I heard you are going to Hogsmeade with Pansy Parkinson."
Ron blinked in surprise, his eyebrows shooting up. "Yeah, I am. How did you know?"
"News travel fast in this place," she said vaguely, waving her hand a little. She then turned to Dobby in the seat beside her. "Hello Dobby. How are you?"
"Dobby is fine, miss Loony," he answered, leaning towards her. "It is his day off," he whispered, and then slapped his hands over his mouth.
"Oh, that's nice. How is Winky, then?"
Dobby's hands fell down from his mouth, and he shook his head a little, looking sad suddenly. "Oh Winky is not very good, miss. Only when she gets very challenging things to do she is ok." He seemed to perk up again. "Winky was heroine of Great Prefects' Bathroom Cleaning last week, she was the one who finally figured out how to get footprints that just would not go away out of ceiling!"
Dobby beamed proudly, Luna nodded seriously, and Harry and Hermione turned to Ron with their eyebrows raised. Ron raised his right arm, scratching his neck and avoiding their looks. Harry was just opening his mouth to say something when he was interrupted by Luna.
"Anyway, I was really looking for Harry," she declared, now looking at him instead.. "You see, I've decided I'd like to go to Hogsmeade with you next time."
Harry's eyebrows shot up, and a smile spread across his face. "That would be great, Luna! What would you like to do? You don't want to go to Madam Puddifoot's, do you?" A shadow seemed to cross his face.
Ron turned to Hermione. "Is he babbling?" he asked quietly. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"We could go to the Hog's Head," Luna was saying. "That place seemed quite interesting."
Harry nodded.
"Well, I'll see you then," Luna continued, getting up from the table.
Harry stared after her as she walked towards the door, and after the door had closed behind her, he sighed happily and kept staring at it with an expression almost as dreamy as Luna's on his face. Ron sniggered a little and then turned to Hermione. "Girls don't do that, huh, Hermione?" he said, grinning.
Hermione glared at him. "Well!" she huffed, but trailed off suddenly, straightening in her chair. She was quiet for a long moment and then slowly turned her head to the side, a very strange gleam appearing in her eyes, and got up slowly. Harry snapped out of his dreamy revere as Ron elbowed him in the side, nodding towards Hermione. He, Ron and Dobby watched her make her way to another table further away, pull out a chair and sit down. The people at the table looked up from the books they had been reading. They were too far away for Harry and Ron to hear what they were saying even when they leaned over and strained their ears as much as they could, but luckily, Dobby, who with his ears obviously didn't have the same problem, still noticed their predicament and mumbled something they didn't quite catch under his breath. Hermione's voice came drifting over to their table, loud and clear.
"Ernie, did you hear about the next Hogsmeade weekend? I've decided we're going together."
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