Chapter 10 – Paris
Hello! Another chapter, because you wonderful people got me PAST 100 REVIEWS! Thank you all so, so much. You are...amazing.
A quick shout-out to Dramione Malfoy - a guest reviewer. Woah...I am so, so flattered. You want to translate Uncovered into CHINESE?! I don't know if you meant Mandarin, or Cantonese, or what...but that would be AMAZING. The thing is...you said that I should email you, but didn't give me an email address: if this was just some sort of practical joke, then I've got to say that's an absolutely horrible thing to do to someone. If you meant it, but actually forgot...then I'm going to feel like an idiot :P Please, please to contact me again...
Anyway. Enough of my chatter. Here it is, people! Enjoy!
Hermione took a deep breath before knocking on the door; rather than flooing, she'd decided the muggle way would be more appropriate – and she needed to butter-up Ginny if she needed her help. Appearing in her living room and interrupting one of her eat-all-you-can-while-you're-pregnant-and-have-an- excuse sessions would NOT be helping her case.
She knew that Ginny would hate – no, detest – no, loathe her reasons for turning to her for help, but Hermione couldn't shop for her life. Worse still, she couldn't clothes' shop for her life. And after Draco had left, it had hit her that she needed to buy a dress/gown/whatever-the-hell people wore to fancy events, which was where Ginny came in.
It wasn't actually necessary for her to buy something, because she could easily find a hand-me-down of some sort…but something inside of her made her want…or even need to impress Draco. She told herself that she wanted to show once and for all that muggle-borns were equally as good as purebloods, but deep down she knew the truth – she wanted his approval.
"Earth to Mione! Hellooo?"
She was snapped out of her thoughts by her red-headed friend's face practically nose-to-nose with her, and gesticulating wildly with her arms.
"Ginny! Sorry, I was just thinking about something…"
"Damn right you were. I've been standing here for about twenty minutes trying to get you to snap out of it!"
"Twenty minutes? Really?" she asked, disbelievingly.
"Okay, maybe it was about ten."
"Uh huh?" she replied, sceptically.
"Five?" she smiled, hopefully
"No, Ginny, probably about two, knowing your knack for "stretching the truth"."
"Oh, alright smarty-pants, no need to be so snarky. Now are you coming in or not? Because I've got a bowl of strawberries and fudge waiting for me, and if you're nice…I might let you have a bit. Only a bit, mind. Now come on! Don't keep the heavily pregnant woman waiting!"
"I'm coming, keep your hair on!"
Ginny turned around. "Huh? My hair is on!"
Hermione smiled at her friend. Though she had improved, her lack of knowledge about muggle idioms was really quite endearing at times. "Muggle phrase." She said, by way of explanation.
"Ahh…okay. Come into the living room."
The pair made themselves comfortable before Ginny offered Hermione a ladle.
Yes. A ladle.
"Umm, Ginny…what's the ladle for?"
The red-head grinned. "This!" she yelled, and produced a huge bowl of fudge mixed with strawberries, filled to the brim. "We use the ladles to eat it, and…I have this too!" and she conjured up another bowl, this time filled with…prawns?
"Ah. Slight malfunction?" Hermione smiled knowingly.
"Nope!" and she scooped up a prawn using her ladle, covered it in fudge, added a strawberry and shoved the whole concoction into her mouth before chewing noisily. "I had a craving for seafood and sweet stuff the other day…and now I've made a whole range of different snacks!"
At Hermione's disbelieving look, she raised her hands defensively. "Being pregnant does that to you, ok?!" and she pushed Hermione playfully.
The sudden impact made Hermione topple over slightly, and as she fell to the ground, she heard a sudden pounding in her ears, and the room started to spin out of focus. She felt a throbbing at the back of her head, and prayed desperately that the wound hadn't suddenly opened up. A voice echoed somewhere far away:
"Mione? Are you alright? Mione!"
Then, as suddenly as it had come, the sickness disappeared again. She sat up weakly. "Um, yeah. Just a head rush." She lied. She didn't want to complicate matters between her family.
"If you're sure." Ginny said, giving her a concerned look.
"Yeah. I think your…interesting…snacks had a weird effect on me."
"Huh?"
"Disgusting things creep me out." She joked.
"Ha. Haha. Ha. Very funny. Just hilarious, let's all make fun of the pregnant-woman's cravings! Anyway Miss-I'm-The-Best, what made you barge into my home without being invited in the first place?"
Hermione swallowed. "I need your help."
ooooo
"YOU WANT ME TO WHAT?!" Ginny bellowed.
"Please, please help me, Gin. I need you – I can't do this by myself."
"Mione, I TOLD you that I was against this "case" with that…monster…and now you're asking me to help you find a gown for him? No, wait, that came out wrong. You want me to help you find a gown to IMPRESS him?! I'd rather be trampled to death by a herd of hippogriffs!"
"No, Ginny." Hermione tried her final reason. Reason/lie. She was too desperate to feel guilty at the moment. "Ginny, I have to show him how much better I am than he is. You know, I need something classy, sexy, but that doesn't make it look like I've tried too hard because I HAVE to show him that I'm not the bookworm I was anymore. And that muggle-borns are just as good as purebloods! And I CAN'T do it without you!"
"I see…"
She gritted her teeth, ready to start the flattery, "and with your supreme fashion sense and knack for creating – "
"Shut up Mione. Flattery doesn't work on me – I live with Harry Potter for Merlin's sake!"
"So you'll do it?" she asked, hopefully.
Ginny grimaced. "Okay, Fine. But only because I love you and you're my best-friend. And don't even think about pulling something like this again! This is a one-off!"
"THANK YOU!" Hermione squealed, and launched herself at her friend.
"Get off, Mione!" Ginny laughed. "Wait for me to do my make-up, and then we can go."
"What – now?"
"Oh yes. And I've got just the place we can go to." She smirked.
Hermione sighed. "Why do I have a feeling I'm not going to like this?"
ooooo
Once the sensation of side-along apparition had subsided, Hermione looked around in shock.
"YOU BROUGHT ME TO FRANCE?!"
Ginny brought her face closed to hers, about as close to being menacing as a pregnant-woman could get. "Paris, to be specific. Now you look here, missy. You made me do this, so while I'm helping you, we go by my rules. Get it it?
"Got it."
"Good." Then, suddenly, all sunshine-and-smiles again, she squealed, "So let's gooo!" and dragged Hermione to the closest boutique.
ooooo
Three hours later, and she was staring, breathless, at her reflection in the mirror at "Belle's Boutique".
"It's gorgeous." she breathed.
The sales assistant nodded approvingly as Hermione twirled and Ginny squealed. After what had seemed like endless hours of painstakingly looking for the "perfect" dress – and the bloody shoes to match, as Ginny had insisted – she was finally happy. Overjoyed, actually.
They'd picked out a midnight blue gown; the bodice made of chiffon, and fitted until the waist with a striking halter-neck finish. From the waist, it loosened slightly and two overlapping layers of material dropped straight down until her ankles, so when she walked the light filtered through them, creating a dappled effect. A slit up the left side showed the perfect amount of leg – sexy, but still classy, and paired with some edgy black peep-toe pumps, she looked and felt gorgeous.
Vain much? She smiled to herself.
"Mioneeee! It's perfect! I lovelovelove it! Ooh, you bitch, stop twirling, you're just rubbing in the fact that I'm too fat to fit into a decent dress!" Ginny shrieked.
Hermione turned to her and smiled.
"You know what? I was worried when you dragged me to Paris, but now I'm unbelievably grateful…thank you so much Gin!" she hugged her friend.
Ginny held her by the shoulders for one last inspection.
"You're gonna knock 'em dead!"
Righto. I've just got to say, this was only a filler...just a bit of fun, really. Some drama coming up soon, though! I'd love to hear your feedback...and around 113 reviews an I'll post another chapter.
*update: as requested by MemoirsofaLostCause, her's a link to what Hermione's gown might look like... to be honest, it was difficult tp find the exact design I'd emagined, and the colour of this is wayy too light, but it's the closest to the dress I could find. Oh well!*
. /search?lr=&hl=en&q=chiffon%20midnight%20blue%20gown&biw=1241&bih=593&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=Cx7sUf6oHoPEOZyGgeAE#um=1&lr=&hl=en&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=chiffon+blue+gown+halter&oq=chiffon+blue+gown+halter&gs_l=img.3...26393.29862.0.30...0.0..1c.1. .RiBS4AyH9jk&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.49478099% % . _US.c75bKy5EQ0A.O&fp=524bebb04d7d33e3&biw=1241&bih=593&facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=zmUI-bvron3eCM%3A%3BvMfzu-a0U7n7cM%3Bhttp%253A%252 F% %252Fimages%252F201305%252Fsource_img%252FAdorable _Sequined_Halter_Top_Royal_Blue_Chiffon_Slit_Floor _Length_Sheath_Prom_Gown_WPD6218_original_img_1368 6095068042_6218_.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F% % %3B900%3B1200
Yeah, it's a long link :P
Tris xx