Ron Weasley…Matchmaker??? Part 4
By Firenze
A/N: This has what goes on with H/H's date, the Hogsmeade trip, and it has the romance. It should be the last in this pathetic series. This also has lots of spoilers if you haven't read The Prisoner of Azkaban (yeah right), because Harry and Hermione talk about their third year a lot.
Sorry, but this story got so long that I had to split it into two more parts. Sorry for the inconvenience, but it was actually a good thing since it was more than 10 pages long! Oh yeah, this is 3rd person this time to make it easier. Read and review!
Disclaimer: Everyone, everything, and anything else belongs to J.K. Rowling, etc. I only own Marlene, Seamus' girlfriend, and Emily, Colin's sister. I also own Rainbow Suckers, Candy Time-Turners, Invisible Slime Balloons, and the Creepy Café.
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The rain didn't seem to stop falling, and it was pouring down even harder in Hogsmeade. The carriage with Justin, Harry, Hermione, Mandy, Terry, Seamus, and Marlene finally came to a stop. Justin, Hermione, and Harry woke up, and everybody got off the carriage.
Hermione, who was still feeling uncomfortable about what had happened on the ride there, opened up her umbrella, and Harry, who was also uneasy, got under it too. They walked to the village in silence.
They got to the main square. "Where do you want to go first?" Harry asked Hermione.
"I don't know. Maybe Honeydukes?" she suggested.
"Okay," he agreed, "Ron's probably there."
"With Lavender!" They both laughed, seeing a visual picture of Lavender prancing around the sweetshop and babbling non-stop, clutching to Ron's arm, and him with a pained look on his face.
They ran to Honeydukes, because it was really cold. A lot of students were crowded around there already. Hermione closed her umbrella and Harry let her in first.
As they guessed Ron and Lavender were there, and their mental picture had been correct, except Ron was…happy??? When he caught sight of Harry and Hermione, he grinned even wider and waved.
"See, I told you I could get them together," he said to Lavender, who pulled him off to look at the barrel of Bertie Bott's Every-Flavor beans.
"Maybe Ron really does like Lavender…" Harry said contemplatively.
'Who'd have guessed,' Hermione thought.
She went off to look at some of the new candy, like the Rainbow Suckers, lollipops that turned your tongue and teeth different colors that changed every five seconds, or the Candy Time-Turners, which looked just like the real things. Of course, they didn't work, but each had a card inside the hourglass, which focused on a different year and told of the famous events that happened.
Harry found Blaise Zabini and Morag McDougal there, secretly grabbing handfuls of Pepper Imps and sneaking them into their pockets.
He turned away to talk to Ron, but all he managed was a, "How's it going?" before Lavender dragged Ron, who couldn't reply, to the post office, rambling about how she needed to mail her best Muggle friend a letter.
Harry and Hermione decided to leave too soon after that. When they walked back outside under the umbrella, their pockets bulged with sugar quills, Tooth-flossing Stringmints, Chocoballs, Jelly Slugs, Every Flavor Beans, Fizzing Whizbees, lots of fudge, Ice Mice, toffees, and other sweets.
Next, they decided to visit Zonko's Joke Shop. They spent a long time in there, looking at prank things to use on Malfoy, who wasn't allowed to go on the trip, and the other Slytherins. Harry bought some Filibuster's Fireworks, a bag of Invisible Slime Balloons that only popped when they hit someone, and about half the store.
Even Fred and George didn't have close to as much stuff as he bought. But they weren't paying much attention as they ran out the store pelting Katie Bell and Alicia Spinnet with their newly bought dungbombs.
It was close to lunchtime when Harry and Hermione left the store, and Hermione was nearly starving.
"I was planning to have a picnic," Harry said, "but with this weather…" He glanced at the dark sky and raindrops pelting down.
"It was sweet of you to think of it," Hermione said shyly, still wishing that they could have had a picnic.
Harry turned red. "T-thanks," he stammered.
"We could always eat at that small restaurant right by the Shrieking Shack," she suggested. "The Creepy Café or something."
"Okay," Harry said, with an odd gleam in his bright, emerald eyes. "Race you!" he shouted, and sprinted off.
"Wait up!" Hermione called, putting away her umbrella and running to catch up.
It was nice that they had finally stopped acting weird around each other, and now they just behaved like they normally did before "Ron's Incredible Plan" or the "perfect couple" nonsense.
Hermione refused to let Harry allow her to win, so he got there first and waited outside the café. She came panting and smiling, but right when she was almost there, she slipped in a muddy area and fell.
Harry caught her, but they toppled over and landed in a huge puddle. They were now filthy with sludge, but they just sat in the puddle laughing their heads off.
People dining in the café looked out the window, watched them, and thought they were just plain idiots. Hermione noticed the people staring after a while, and told Harry.
So he offered a grimy hand to help her up, but they were so breathless with laughter that she accidentally pulled him back in. After ten minutes if craziness, they composed themselves, and wiped the muck off them as best as possible. The rain helped to wash it off.
Completely drenched and still dirty, they opened the door and walked inside. They had a quick lunch, but they kept thinking of what had happened outside and burst into laughter every now and then. Hermione ate a ham and turkey sandwich with some pumpkin juice, and Harry hardly touched his own corned beef sandwich.
Harry offered to pay for it, but Hermione insisted on paying for her own meal. Date or no date, she wouldn't make her best friend buy her things for her. After that, they walked up the slope to the Shrieking Shack.
Some 3rd years were there, looking scared and refusing to walk any closer to the gate.
"I heard it's the most severely haunted building in all of Britain," a little Ravenclaw girl with thick glasses said.
Harry laughed and shot Hermione a look, remembering that was the exact thing Hermione had said in the beginning of their third year.
"Oh, what does the Sites of Historical Sorcery know?" she laughed. She unwrapped a Rainbow Sucker and popped the lollipop in her mouth.
"Maybe Lupin's was just inside there," Harry said. "After all, last night was a full moon."
Hermione smiled, showing a set of green teeth, which changed light blue. Harry and her doubled over laughing. Again, they acted like a bunch of lunatics in the rain.
The 3rd years stared. "They've gone loony with fright," a Hufflepuff boy said.
Colin Creevy's little sister Emily just snapped some pictures of Harry in front of the Shrieking Shack with her camera.
Hermione noticed her. "Can I have your autograph, mister?" she asked Harry in a high-pitched voice, her teeth a dazzling magenta.
"They're weird," another Ravenclaw girl said. "Let's go visit Dervish and Bangs."
"Colin told me they have these neat magical instruments," Emily said, as they walked away.
"I don't see much point in staying either," Harry said.
"Yeah, we're one of the only people who actually know this place isn't haunted," Hermione added. "So there's no real thrill in looking at the place."
"Remember how we found out it wasn't haunted?" Harry asked her.
"I don't want to think about that much," she admitted, "but yes, I do. How could I forget?"
"Nothing bad really happened," Harry said casually, leaning against the damp fence. "We only caught up with my godfather who we thought was a murderer, met one of Vol – You-Know-Who's followers who's responsible for killing my parents, watched our DADA professor turn into a werewolf, knock out an ignorant teacher, and have Ron break his leg."
Hermione giggled. "Good things happened too, especially to you."
"Like what?"
"You tried to kill Sirius Black, who we thought was an escaped convict, which was very brave, and matured a lot in just a few hours, by figuring your parents wouldn't like it if you, Black, or Lupin killed Pettigrew."
"I never looked at it that way," he confessed.
"You should."
"You know what we should do right now?" Harry asked.
"What?"
"We should really get out of the rain before one of us catches pneumonia."
Hermione giggled again, and this time, her teeth were sparkly white like normal. "You sounded like me!"
"I'm serious, Hermione," he said in a high-pitched voice. "If we don't get inside somewhere soon, I'll – I'll tell McGonagall!"
"Quit it," she said, clutching her stomach with laughter. She pushed him into a puddle.
"Not this again," he groaned, and picked up a handful of sludge.
"Oh no you don't!" Hermione shrieked, as he tossed it at her. She dodged it.
Harry picked up some more greenish mud; much like the one he had thrown in Malfoy's silvery blond hair in their 3rd year, and chased Hermione down the hill.
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Sorry about breaking it off here. This was too long, so I had too. The next part should be up at the same time though, so don't worry. I swear, I will try to make it the last one, but this opposite of writer's block thing is making me go on a writing frenzy! Please, please, please tell me what you thought of this!