Her face was wet with tears and she was hiccupping slightly, shoes dangling from her fingers when she noticed she had company. Shiny toes of a pair of men's dress shoes stopped at her side and when they didn't continue moving along she huffed and sniffled discreetly, fingers wiping at her face furiously.
"What? Never seen a girl cry before?" She snapped waspishly. The shiny shoes moved slightly, but only to come closer.
"Sure I have. Never seen one quite so pretty crying over someone quite so bloody stupid though."
She blinked owlishly and looked up at the owner of said shiny shoes and saw one of the twins staring down at her, expression unreadable. She studied him for a moment, examined the way his hair fell across his eyes and then she saw it – the tiny scar over his right eyebrow.
"… George?" Her voice was soft and watery, a little nasal from crying for so long. "Are you here to insult me as well?"
"Could be," he offered conversationally with a cheeky grin. "After all, who in their right mind would be so torn up over dear Ronni-kins?" At her unimpressed look he sobered. "I'm here to ask you to dance." He said quietly.
She stared at him. "Is this some sort of joke?" She asked finally, looking for the other half of Hogwarts' greatest tricksters. There were few lingering couples in the corridors, most of the students having disappeared at some point between Ron making a scene and her collapsing in tears, but no Fred. She stared at his outstretched hand long enough for him to look uncomfortable before she realized that he was serious. George Weasley wanted to dance with her. Her.
It took a moment for her to realize that he was slowly retracting his hand. "Look, Hermione.. If you-"
She cut him off. "I'd love to." Her stomach gave a small flip at his happy grin but she quashed it down and carefully rose to her feet, painfully aware that she was barefoot. She moved to slip her shoes back on but George's hand stilled her.
"Leave 'em off."
She nodded mutely, inwardly hoping that he wasn't about to step on her toes as she had seen him do earlier that night with his own date and slipped her hand into his outstretched one. He helped her to her feet and led her a small ways away from the steps, then his hand was on her waist and they were swaying slowly, mere feet from the great hall.
"You do, you know," at her confused look he went on, "- look lovely, that is."
Hermione felt her cheeks flush and a sudden swarm of butterflies took off in her belly. Why was she reacting like this? It was a mere compliment, and he was probably only saying to be nice, not because he meant anything by it. Of course that was it. She looked up at him and plastered a smile on her face. It was a little watery but it was a smile none the less.
"You don't scrub up too bad yourself, Mr Weasley." She offered politely, the butterflies taking a nose dive in her belly and doing a full barrel roll inside her before settling again when she saw his pleased grin.
"Why thank you, Granger," He mock bowed and pulled her close once more, "Was dead lucky, you know. Almost had to wear those monstrosities that Mum sent along for the idiot." He saw her crack a grin at the thought and he felt his ears go pink. Thank goodness his hair covered them. "Thank Merlin for small mercies though," he grinned, "Pink just isn't my colour." When she didn't laugh he sighed and let his hand stroke the small of her back.
"It's like this, Granger… You're an amazing bird, right? Anyone would be lucky to have you and one day you will meet a guy that will treat you like the total bloody gem you are." Her head fell against his shoulder and he knew she was crying again from the audible sniffles floating up to his ears. "You don't need Ron. He's an idiot for not asking you to this shindig himself."
She sniffed delicately. "I kept waiting but…"
"Don't."
Hermione looked up at him, her arms looped around his neck loosely. She was taken aback by the shortness of his words. "Don't what?"
He looked down at her, a strange smile on his face that left her wondering what was going on in that troublesome head of his. "Don't ever wait for a bloke, Granger. If you want something you go after it, take the bull by the horns I believe the saying goes." He gave her a charming smile and bent to press a chaste kiss to her forehead. She realized the song was finished and he was stepping away from her. He held her at arms length and looked down at her, then wiped the fresh tears on her face away with his thumbs. "Alright, Granger?"
She nodded and gave him a small smile. "I'm fine now, George. Thank you."
He threw her a grin as he backed away. "Any time, Granger. Any time."
