"Hermione, get up will you!" Hermione groaned. That sounded like Ron. "Hermione, if you don't wake up I'm going down to the Great Hall without you. I'm not missing out on breakfast standing here waiting for you to get up!" Yep, now she was positive that was Ron. Hermione knew that the only reason Ron got up and dressed in the morning was to eat. "Her-mi-one, come on!" Ron whined. "I want to eat!" Hermione decided there was no winning with Ron when it came to stuffing as much food as he could into his mouth each day and rolled out of bed.
They arrived in the Great Hall what Hermione would call "fashionably late." They arrived in the Great Hall what Ron would call "just in time to get the last of the rice pudding." Just after Ron set down his fork, patted his well-fed stomach, and wiped his mouth with his sleeve (Hermione glared at him and looked pointedly at his unused napkin), Dumbledore stood up. The Hall fell quiet except for Ron who then belched loudly and said "Oops." Dumbledore pretended not to notice and said, "This week will be a very special one for Hogwarts. All classes are cancelled." A few of the students clapped and cheered. "However," Dumbledore continued, "You will still be learning. You will all be attending Finishing School classes this week. The manners of the students here at Hogwarts have never been more disappointing. I hope these classes will help." Hermione smiled. Ron learning proper etiquette. Now that's something she has to see. "Hermione," Ron whispered to her. "What's a Finishing School class?" She smirked at him before saying, "It's a class where you learn manners and proper etiquette." He stared at her dumbfounded. "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard." Hermione raised her eyebrows. "No it's not. I think a lot of the students here could use some manners, and that includes you."
They had the rest of the day off, but the next day, Tuesday started their first Finishing School lessons. Ron didn't seem so cheerful that day, but he went to breakfast as usual. However, he was reluctant to leave breakfast. "Come on Ron, it looks our first lesson is just Gryffindor students. Oh and tomorrow we're with the Ravenclaws; that should be interesting. Some of those Ravenclaws are much too witty and sarcastic." She was reading off of a slip of paper that Professor McGonagall had passed out to them during lunch. When they finally reached their first lesson in Professor McGonagall's classroom (Hermione had to drag Ron out of his chair), Professor McGonagall stood up and asked them why they were late. Hermione explained to her convincingly that they had had to use the lavatory and the class began.
To be honest Hermione hadn't paid much attention the first two days. She already had manners and knew proper etiquette. Professor Flitwick had tried to make it sound as though all of his Ravenclaw students were perfect. McGonagall had proved him wrong when she asked a 3rd year Ravenclaw boy to please stop picking his nose. On Thursday the Gryffindors and Slytherins were to be combined, so after breakfast Hermione and Ron made their way down to the dungeons where Snape and Professor McGonagall were waiting for their houses. Ron hadn't been complaining about going to these lessons for quite some time, but now the old Ron came back. "Her-mi-one…" The way he said her name when he didn't want to do something always made her want to laugh. She smiled, rolled her eyes and got ready to hear Ron's complaints about going to the lesson with Snape all the way to the dungeons.
The lesson with Snape wasn't as bad as they thought it'd be. He sat in a corner and let McGonagall talk, but he picked on Neville while McGonagall was discussing clumsiness ("Are you listening, Longbottom? You could use this information,"). Hermione could tell that Draco couldn't care less about this. He had just sat with his head propped up by his elbow and picked at his fingernails. Crabbe and Goyle looked, as always, like they didn't have a clue what was going on and didn't even know where they were and why.
On Friday they headed over to the greenhouses. Professor Sprout and every Hufflepuff were already there when they arrived. They seemed to want to make a good impression because all the girls had their legs crossed and the guys were all sitting up straight. For some reason, this made Ron seem angry, but then he smiled, stepped aside, looked at Hermione and said, "Ladies first." Hermione blushed and said "thank you" to Ron as she made her way to a seat. McGonagall looked very pleased and smiled proudly at Ron and soon all of the Gryffindor boys were letting the girls go before them and pulling out their chairs for them to sit down. Hermione knew McGonagall would brag about it later…Hermione never thought she would see the day when Ron showed proper etiquette, but here it was.
"Hermione, get up will you!" Hermione was asleep in her bed when she heard Ron's voice the next day. "Hermione, if you don't wake up I'm going down to the Great Hall without you. I'm not missing out on breakfast standing here waiting for you to get up!" After breakfast Dumbledore got up. "This week will be a very special one for Hogwarts. All classes are cancelled." There were cheers from the students. "However," Dumbledore continued, "You'll still be learning. You will all be attending Finishing School classes this week. The manners of the students here at Hogwarts have never been more disappointing. I hope these classes will help." Confused, Hermione whispered to Ron, "What day is it?" Ron looked confused as well but in a different way. "Monday. And, Hermione, what's a Finishing School class?" Hermione couldn't believe it. It had all been a dream.