Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, not making any money from this.
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Polyjuice potion takes a month to brew. Harry knew this when he had suggested it as a way to get information about what had really happened to Hermione and who started this rumor. Although he truly did not want to wait to reconcile with the girl he was worried so much about he thought that the time might be on their side. So in the meantime Harry and the two Weasleys began to ready their potion and came up with a plan for getting the information they needed.
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Hermione finally returned to class a week later, though she sat in a corner away from the rest of her Gryffindor classmates. She did not speak to her old friends. She did not even look at them and, seeing those efforts, they made no attempt to confront her. Draco had managed to get her to resume her rounds and they had been spending more time together than either would have preferred earlier in the year. Other than that things finally seemed to be getting back to normal… Well, as normal as can be expected.
Practical Necromancy was added to the curriculum for seventh year students the beginning of this year due to the idea that a technical knowledge of communicating with the dead might be helpful in the war. Despite her love of book learning, it was Hermione's least favorite class, next to Divination that is. She had to drag herself to the classes she actually liked now and saw no real reason, except for the fact that the head boy was practically shoving her out of the common room, why she should make an effort to continue attending such a horrible class which would probably not help her in the long run. She felt like a child with an overly cautious babysitter. In addition to the pointlessness of the material in the class the professor, Miss Sarah Lawley, had one of the most irritating cockney accents she had ever heard in her life. So, when old Miss Lawley announced in that grating voice of hers that there would again be a fancy ball for all the students Hermione glared enough daggers at Draco to send all the chefs in England out of the country for want of knives. Harry and Ron of course made some ugly sound of protest. To which Lawley countered by saying how she did not recall telling Harry that the scar on his head was a free pass to talk during her class. And that was the first time since her incident that Hermione actually felt like laughing. She cracked a tiny grin.
Sure enough there was going to be a ball held that year, and while Dumbledore had been slightly irritated that the new professor had announced it before he had a chance to let the head boy and girl in on it, he did confirm the announcement later that day and had stated that Miss Granger and Mr. Malfoy would have the pleasure of planning and decorating. One of the worst parts of this whole ball idea was that it was to be held in exactly three weeks, which gave the children very little time to prepare. Thankfully there was a Hogsmeade trip planned for this weekend so at least they would have a chance to shop.
Hermione sat in her common room scrawling her thoughts into a little leather-bound book. She normally wasn't one to keep a diary but would usually write a page or two when she came upon stressful situations. She opted not to go to the dinner feast, which was one place Draco couldn't push her to go to. He sometimes was nice enough to bring back something, although he would never come out and say it was for her. She was satisfied enough though, the small kitchen area in the common room was stocked enough so that she would not starve if she needed something to eat. She had just finished writing down a rather poetic thought when the portrait swung open and Malfoy strode in and he made himself comfortable on the sofa across from her.
"Have you given any thought to the ball Granger? We should be getting a head start on it so we know what to buy this weekend."
"I'm not very good at that sort of thing Malfoy, you would probably be more suited to this than I would. I'm not really the partying type." Hermione did not really want to be bothered, and honestly didn't even want to think about the ball, except to think of ways to get out of it.
"That's certainly true," he sniggered, "but like it or not you're the head girl and I may need your help with this." He took some parchments out of one of his books and spread them out on the table in front to Hermione, gesturing as if asking for an opinion. She glanced at them quickly and began to go back to her writing, but something caught her eye and she took a closer look.
"You drew these?" She was astonished at the plans she saw in front of her. There were four different drawings of the ballroom with different themes and decorations. All of them were sparkling and beautiful. They had obviously been enchanted to move, but the detail was impeccable. She felt like she could jump right into any one of them. Her eyes moved up and met Draco's silvery ones and she noticed a slight blush on his cheeks.
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It was Saturday, which meant it was time for the Hogsmeade trip. The two had finally decided on a theme for the ball, and had agreed that they would split up the shopping for the decorations and supplies. Since it was Draco's idea he was to come up with a list of supplies for Hermione to find and was going to give it to her on the way to Hogsmeade. The carriages were all lined up and the students were filing into them, excited of course because most of them would be shopping for gowns and dress robes. Hermione stood next to the carriage which was to lead the group, with the Head boy and girl riding in it. Draco had forgotten the lists and had to run back to the dormitory to grab them.
A bubbly female voice called out to Hermione from a few feet away. "Hello Hermione, I expect you and the head boy have your work cut out for you with this ball don't you?"
"Yes, Luna," Hermione smiled, "I've never been one for fancy affairs and I'm certainly not meant for shopping."
"Well I feel the same way myself, but if you need any help I would be happy to. Truth is I have no idea what I'm going to wear and I could use a little help myself," The blonde girl laughed.
"Sure, I would really appreciate that actually, I would have been walking around alone otherwise. Would you like to ride with us?" Hermione asked gesturing to the carriage behind her.
"I'm sure she would, wouldn't you Lovegood?" Draco reached for the door and held it open for the two women to enter. Luna just smiled and followed Hermione into the carriage.
Once the three students were settled in their seats Hermione began speaking, "Luna offered to help me find some of the supplies we need, that's not a problem is it?"
"Of course not, the more the merrier." Draco pulled one of his trademark smirks and continued, "Blaise is going to help me find my share as well." With that he reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of parchment, handing it to the Head girl in the seat across from him. At the bottom of the sheet there was an address and the words 'go here' written hastily. Hermione put the parchment in the pocket of her jacket. The rest of the ride to Hogsmeade went pleasantly and the students parted ways.
"Well he gave me an address to do the shopping, maybe we should start there." Hermione said to Luna, who nodded in agreement. The two girls walked along the rows of shops for a while noting down some shops that looked promising for both their gowns and the supplies in case the shop Draco suggested came up sparse. The shops seemed to grow further and further apart toward the end of the row and they finally came upon the address Draco had written down. "This can't be right, this is a clothing shop. We're not going to find supplies here." Hermione gazed confusedly at the name of the shop.
"Well we need to find gowns anyway, why don't we try this shop while we're here?" Luna suggested and they entered the shop.
There were a few older witches in the shop browsing the racks, but other than that it seemed rather empty. The shopkeeper could be seen bustling around toward the back of the shop. Hermione and Luna began looking at some of the racks toward the front of the shop. The gowns they could see seemed to be rather dingy and boring looking. The girls scanned the shop and exchanged glances. Hermione motioned to Luna and turned to leave when she heard the shopkeeper call out.
"Not so fast, girls!" He was a short man with wispy white hair in a patchy brown robe. "I think I might have just what you need." The man rushed to a rack toward the back of the store and began pulling plain looking gowns off the rack. Hermione rolled her eyes as he pulled gown after gown down and each of them looked more and more boring than the last. Finally he motioned for Luna to come toward him and he held up a beautiful dark blue gown up to show her. Luna's eyes lit up when she saw the gown. The man waved his wand and Luna had the dress on, it began tailoring itself to fit her form perfectly. Sheer golden fabric wrapped itself around her waist and golden flowers formed on it. He waved his wand again and a band of matching fabric wrapped itself around her neck while strings of blue and gold crystals dripped down it. When the gown was finally finished altering itself the shopkeeper waved his wand one more time and Luna was back in her clothes. The gown boxed itself up and the man went back to looking through the rack.
"Whoa Luna that dress is amazing, it's perfect for you!" Hermione was astonished.
"I know it's great, I'm glad we came in here. I hope he can find one for you." Luna was beaming. Before long the old man motioned for Hermione to come to him. She made a foul face at the dress he pulled off the rack but the man waved his wand anyway and Hermione could feel this dress altering itself for her. It seemed to take quite a while to finish. The shopkeeper walked into the back corner of the shop and picked up a dirty mirror. He cleaned off the mirror and held it up for Hermione just as the gown was completed and Hermione's jaw dropped. Another wave of his wand and the shopkeeper had this gown packed up for Hermione. The students paid him for the gowns and made their way out of the store. Before they left the old shopkeeper spoke one last time.
"You are lucky to have found my shop, not many witches know where to come for their perfect gowns. Enjoy your ball ladies!" He smiled and waved them out of the shop.
"When he showed you that gown I thought you were going to hex him on the spot!" Luna laughed, "Who would've thought that color would look so good on you." They continued to walk around Hogsmeade, joking and searching for the supplies Hermione was assigned for the ball.
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A/N: Hey guys, hope you liked this chapter. Haven't had much of a chance to write for a while. Hopefully I'll get another one up soon!