Hermione was wearing a dress for the first time in a long time, and she had braided her hair carefully too. She felt as if she was putting too much effort into Harry's scheme, but then again, what was so bad about her wanting to look nice? After all, it wasn't everyday that she got to leave the Hogwarts castle and take a day-trip down to Hogsmeade. Her dress was white- a colour she thought was safe from house prejudice- and it had lacy detail on the bodice and a black ribbon sash around the waist. She was also wearing a black cardigan with little red buttons on; the cardigan had quarter-length sleeves and it hung, undone, to her waist. She was also wearing the little black boots with kitten heels that her mother had bought her the previous Christmas; it was her first time wearing them.
She hadn't formally arranged to be Draco's partner, but she was planning on cornering him in Hogsmeade and inviting him to the Three Broomsticks for a butter beer. She was thinking that she might get a chance to look at his wrist, but then again, she couldn't imagine how that would come up.
She was going to walk out of the castle with Harry and Ron, and spend the first part of the day with them. She did need to buy more parchment and ink, anyway, and she had been meaning to buy a new book too.
Ginny was standing at her mirror, combing her hair. It was straight, for the most part, and Hermione found herself envying the girl's straight locks. Curly hair could be such a nuisance sometimes. She had wanted her hair to be nice today, and had barely managed to control it in the braid. Still, she thought it was nicer than usual.
Ginny smiled at Hermione and the two girls walked downstairs together. Ginny was wearing dark blue denim jeans and a pale blue sweater. Hermione was envious, again, of Ginny's casual attire, and she was questioning herself on why she was so dressed up.
To Hermione's relief, she wasn't the only girl in the Gryffindor common room who was wearing a dress. Lavender was wearing a red frilly dress, and another girl was wearing a pink dress.
Ron and Harry looked at her when she stopped in front of them. Harry grinned, "Who are you and what have you done with Hermione Granger?" He asked humorously, nudging Hermione's arm with his. Ron didn't say anything, but he was looking at Hermione and silently cursing himself for letting her go though with this stupid Malfoy plan.
The group soon left the Common Room. Hermione was walking beside Ron, and Harry and Ginny were walking together, chatting animatedly about the latest Quidditch game. Ron was talking about Quidditch too, but Hermione was too nervous to listen. She did, though, nod and reply with a vague 'yes' when it was called for.
Outside of the Castle, Hermione's peers had gathered together. It was a sizeable group, but Hermione immediately saw Draco, surrounded by his stupid goons. Draco was wearing smart black trousers, a white t-shirt, and a black coat. Hermione realised that she never saw Draco wearing anything that exposed his forearms. This only filled Hermione with a tiny, unrecognisable sense of dread.
Draco did look nice, though.
He saw Hermione, and came to the same conclusion; she looked nice. He smiled slightly at her and she smiled back, raising her hand just a little bit in a lazy wave. Draco snapped out of his idiocy and sneered at her just the way he always had. He reminded himself that even though Granger had put on a dress, she was still Granger; ordinary, boring and not remotely attractive.
Still, it was a nice dress. And her hair looked nice too; different from her usual cloud of chocolate curls.
Draco looked away from Hermione, and back at his friends, who- thank Merlin- hadn't noticed Draco's momentary change.
Harry and Ron walked on either side of Hermione as the Hogwarts students left the school grounds and it wasn't long before they were in Hogsmeade. Hermione loved these trips. Hogwarts was her home and she loved her time there, but still, there was something so comforting about a change in scenery, yet Hogsmeade was familiar enough to soften her nerves and bring a smile to her lips.
Ron wanted to go to honeydukes and Zonko's joke shop, and Harry wanted to go to spintwitches. Hermione happily went with them to those shops, and even looked around too- even though there wasn't anything in those shops that Hermione really wanted. She did treat herself to a Chocolate Frog, though, and had to laugh at herself when the card depicted Morgan le Fay; a well known- very powerful- dark witch from the Middle Ages.
After she had gone with them to those shops, she made them go to the shops of her choosing with her. First, they went to Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop, because Hermione's quill had snapped a week ago. Then she dragged her friends to Dominic Maestro's music shop, and finally the three of them found their way to Tomes and Scrolls. Hermione lost herself in the bookshelves inside the book shop, and she spent more money there than she would admit. Harry was quite patient, but Ron was groaning and whining about how bored he was.
The three of them were on their way to the Three Broomsticks when she saw Draco loitering alone outside Spintwitches and Harry gestured for Hermione to go over there. Hermione felt a little disrespected, but nevertheless, she made her way to Malfoy.
When she stopped in front of Draco, Draco didn't look especially pleased to see her. In fact, he grimaced. "Hey," He said, sounding close to miserable. Hermione screwed up her nose at this, then stopped when she realised that that probably canceled out all of her efforts to look nice.
"What's wrong?" Hermione asked him, genuinely intrigued.
Draco shrugged, "Don't worry about it," He replied gingerly, careful not to look directly at her. Hermione shrugged back at him. "Hey, do you wanna get a butter beer?" Draco asked nonchalantly.
Hermione nodded, and smiled, because she had expected that to be so much harder.