She twirled her hair around her wand as she tried to get it to behave. She was supposed to meet him in the Great Hall at eight, but all the other girls in her dorm told her she should be 'fashionably late' as they put it, so everyone would be looking at her when she entered. They had all wanted to help her get ready, but she had wanted to do it by herself, so that the only one who knew what she looked like was herself. Everything about the ball concerning her was a complete secret. She hadn't even told anyone who her date was, partly out of fear of being teased that even she couldn't resist his stereotypical looks. She hated stereotypes. Even worse, she hated falling into them. She hated the fact that everyone at school loved him and that he had the classic popular Quidditch hero with a dark side look. She hated that she liked his looks and his Quidditch abilities, and that she was going to the ball with him. It wasn't that she didn't like him as a person; she just didn't want the school to know that even she had fallen into a stereotype.
The alarm clock she had set went off at five minutes to eight. It took five minutes to get to the Great Hall if you ran, and she had to walk slowly to make sure she looked perfect when she descended the steps into the Entrance Hall. Luckily, she knew the shortcuts pretty well, and could get there most likely in seven minutes, if she didn't meet Peeves on the way. She was a bit nervous, being late, because she was always early to everything. She even set her watch six minutes ahead, so even if she was running late, she would get there on time. The doors opened at 8:01 sharp, and she was supposed to lead everyone into the Great Hall with her date and the other champions. It was eight o' clock. Increasing her speed a bit, she approached the last tapestry which held the stairs to the Entrance Hall behind it. She transfigured it into a mirror for a moment and made sure she looked okay. Everything was in place. Turning the mirror back into a tapestry, she pushed it aside hesitantly and walked down the steps. Every eye was on her and there was a stifled gasp from about half the Hall. Her date stepped forward and took her hand as she reached the last step.
"You look vunderful, Hermione."