A/n: Hello! Please enjoy this chapter. I will talk at the end :D (btw...and this applies to every chapter...i own nothing you recognise)
This is the morning after Hermione was upset and Ron slept in her bed..well on her bed.
Chapter 7: Invitation and Rejection
Ron peered across the breakfast table to watch Hermione as she ate her toast. Every morning she would have toast with Marmite on it (a disgusting muggle spread made from yeast) but despite his distaste for the food, he loved that she loved it. He had been brought up to love muggle things and whilst he never actually knew what they were or how they worked he still found them intriguing.
She looked up from her toast and caught Ron staring at her, he flashed her an embarrassed smile "How are you today, Hermione?" and at this point he had to thank Fred and George for getting him that book on women which he later gave to Harry, for otherwise he would never have know what to say. "If you need to talk about anything, I'm here for you." I'll always be here for you, he added in his head. She smiled at him and opened her mouth to speak but before she could there was a tap on the window.
They both turned to see that the morning post had arrived and Ron got up to let the five owls in. He carefully removed all the letters and paid for The Daily Profit and The Quibbler. The owls flew away as soon as they had been relieved of their duty and Ron closed the window. "Two for you" he chucked two letters in her direction, "one for me" he chucked one down by his plate "and which one do you want to read first?" he said holding up the two papers.
"Profit please" she smiled as he passed it to her and sat down on his chair to open his letter. She looked down at her two letters, the first one had green curly handwriting on and was addresses to 'Miss Hermione Granger, Kitchen Table, Elm Cottage, Walsham le Willows, Suffolk' she recognised the style but couldn't place it, she flipped around the envelope which revealed the Hogwarts crest on the wax "Hogwarts!" she said and looked at Ron who was also holding a letter with green ink and a wax seal and looking equally as puzzled. She hungrily tore away the envelope and pulled out the rectangular piece of card with green writing on:
'Dear Miss Granger,
You are cordially invited to attend this years Summers Ball where we shall be celebrating our success in the war and reuniting your year with food, drinks and dancing. We hope you will attend and please feel free to bring along any guest you wish.
Dress code is Black tie.
We hope to hear from you soon,
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.'
She looked up at Ron who was still reading and waited until he had finished. "A Ball?" he said shocked "Like Yule Ball?" then he smiled remembering something Hermione had said in 4th year about plucking up the courage to ask before someone else did "Hermione?" she narrowed her eyes as if expecting what he was going to say "Would you like to go with me? As my date?" he shuffled nervously in his seat.
"I'm not sure that's such a good idea Ron, people will think we're together again and if word gets out then we'll be on the front page of the Profit instead of..." she looked down at the paper that was embellished with a picture of Hogwarts "...instead of the Ball announcement." She sighed and reached for the second letter.
"Not even as friends?" Ron asked hopefully.
"Ron please. You know that's not a good idea." she looked at him apologetically "I'm sure there's plenty of girls who would love to go with you! As long as you actually get up off your arse and dance with them" she giggled.
He threw her a dirty look before relaxing his face into a smile "And I think new dress robes would also probably help my situation" they both laughed. Being in each others company was so easy! Why couldn't they be in a relationship? Ron looked down at his breakfast and began to attack his hash brown with his fork.
Hermione stared at the elegant writing on the second letter for a few minutes trying to place it. Unable to guess it she ripped open the envelope, pulled out the letter and read;
'Miss H. Granger,
Whilst our last meeting was rather heated, I assure you it will not happen again. I shall be attending the ball, as no doubt will you, and I do not wish there to be any tension or awkwardness. For that reason I shall neither approach you nor your date, which will no doubt be Mr Weasley, for the entirety of the ball. No need to reply.
Best wishes for the future,
Draco Malfoy.'
BAM! She slammed her fist down on the table. "Bloody hell Hermione! What is it?" Ron said staring at the letter her eyes were fixated upon.
"I don't bloody BELIEVE IT!" she screamed, "that complete an utter ARSE!" she crumpled the letter in her hands.
"Who? What's happened? Whose the letter from?" he got up and stepped towards her hoping the reach the letter. She ignored him and stormed into her bedroom muttering things like "pompous", "arrogant" and "self-righteous" under her breath leaving Ron quite confused still standing with his arm outstretched. It was best to let her calm down otherwise she would most likely take her anger out on him.
He sat down and picked up The Profit to read about the Ball.
Hermione slammed the door behind her and sat on the end of her bed, letter still in hand. What had she done? Was the kiss really that bad? It wasn't bad for her, in fact it was the best kiss she had ever had! Admittedly she'd only ever kissed two people before; Viktor Krum and Ron. Viktor had been good, very good in fact, but nothing compared to Draco. Fuming hell! Why did she even care this much? This was Draco bloody Malfoy for peats sake, and this was probably the nicest thing he had done for her. Reject her.
After she had read the invitation she couldn't deny that the butterflies in her stomach were definitely hopeful for another encounter with Draco. "IDIOT!" she screamed throwing the letter across the room to hit the wall opposite her. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she grabbed her mothers quilt and pulled it around her. "Stupid Hermione" she whispered to herself "He will never love you."
a/n: ok so first, Walsham le Willows is a real place and my parents want to live there, many of my friends already do. Second, I am going to base Summer Ball on the one we had at my school, her dress will also be the same as mine (cause mine was bloody amazing!) so when it gets closer to the Ball chapter i shall post the picture on my page somewhere. and hey! WHO DOESNT LOVE A BALL? Thirdly, many fanfics make Ron so horrible! i dont want him to be horrible so i hope that comes across!
I want to thank everyone again especially TheHuntress95 whose comments always make me so happy!
Dont forget to follow, favourite and review!
lots of love,
Han x
p.s. i finally worked out how to do a line across the screen! woooo! go me! haha