Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter franchise, nor anything affiliated with it.

Hermione's POV

I'm in the Great Hall eating my breakfast with Blaise, Draco, and Neville when I get a letter from Harry.

Dear Hermione,

I know it's been awhile since my last letter, sorry it's taken so long. Ron and I have been really busy with Auror training. I heard from Ginny that you, Blaise, Neville, and Draco are hanging out a lot now. Be careful around the Slytherins, I don't entirely trust them. I do however, trust your judgement so I won't be coming over there with wands blazing ready to hex them into oblivion. Just know that if you do happen to need me though, I'll be ready. Now, I haven't told Ron about this yet, and you can guess why. He still hasn't even bothered trying to change his mindset. It's getting really irritating listening to his poisonous words about the purebloods, and how they're all Death Eaters. It's a little stupid because his own family is pureblood as well but as he says, "we're different though, we're blood traitors so we don't really count."

Anyway, I've sent you this letter because I've requested some vacation time for next weekend to coincide with your trip to Hogsmeade. I'd like to meet up with you, Ginny, and all your friends. I haven't told Ron, and hopefully he doesn't find out. As much as he's my friend, he's not ready for a meeting like this yet. Well I have to go study for my next set of Auror practical exams now, so see you then! Have a great time during the Halloween ball, I'm sure your planning will go smoothly.

Till next weekend,

Harry

I put down the letter and make a mental note to reply before lunch. All the students have the morning off to get ready for the ball, but I'll be spending it doing last minute counts of everything before we actually set up after lunch. I personally don't see why we need that much time, but some people like to get their hair done, and get makeovers.

I finish my meal and signal for Draco to hurry up so we can go over details one more time. We leave the Great Hall and make our way to the portrait. We get inside and I grab my folders with all the table plans, food plans, rough performance and karaoke schedule, and decoration plans. I come down and see Draco at the counter waiting with a small dark blue box.

"Draco, what's that?" I say pointing to the box while feeling a bit nervous. Why I don't know, but it's just a gut reaction to the situation I guess.

He laughs at my question and responds, "Hermione, I know this is really late and all, but do you want to go to the dance with me?"

"Oh Draco, that's so sweet! I'd love to." I say with a smile.

"I got you a gift for the dance. You can also consider it a really late birthday present." At that he pulls out a thin silver necklace with a blue spherical pendant that glowed in the relatively dim light of our kitchenette.

"Oh my gosh! Where did you get this? This is so pretty." I say.

"May I put it on for you?" He asks.

I say yes and turn around for him to clasp it around my neck. He lifts my hair up gently and puts it over my right shoulder. Then he pulls it around my neck and clasps it. I turn around to look at him and give him a huge tight hug.

"Thank you so much. How did you know when my birthday was?"

"I remember hearing Ginny talking about it with Neville a couple weeks back. She said she was so upset that neither Harry nor Ron sent you anything for it. To answer your earlier question on how I got it, I was exploring some muggle shopping websites and found this on a site called Etsy. I didn't give it to you before as it took a couple weeks to arrive, and I had to have it delivered to the Manor, and then get my mother to send it over to me by owl."

"Wow, thanks again." I pause. "Well um, we should probably do a quick review of the plans for the ball."

"Right. What's the rough number of students who are confirmed to attend?" he asks me.

"About 280. Let's leave enough room for an additional 20 people. That takes us up to 300 people. The tables should have about 12 seats, so we need about 25 tables. Then we also need the food tables, the stage for the Weird Sisters and the karaoke, and we have to make sure we have enough space on the dance floor."

"Well, we can always expand the hall with an undetectable extension charm. We just have to ask McGonagall for permission. It'll give us the extra space we need."

"That's a great idea, I can't believe I didn't think of that. I'll send an Owl to her as soon as possible. I think that's all we need to review. You can go do whatever you want till lunch. I have to take care of some letters."

"Alright, if you need any help with anything I'll be in my room." Then he walked up the stairs to do whatever it was that he was going to do.

I gather the papers and go to my room. I put the folder in my filing cabinet that I had transfigured from a briefcase. I pull out my stack of parchment and a black pen.

Dear Headmistress McGonagall,

Draco and I have realized that the hall isn't quite big enough to hold everyone and everything needed. We were wondering if we could have your permission to use an undetectable extension charm on the hall so that there will be more space. Please respond at your earliest convenience.

Sincerely, Hermione Granger

I finish the letter, seal in an envelope, and set it aside to take to the owlery later with my letters to Harry and Ron. I pull out another piece of parchment and start my second letter.

Dear Harry,

I'm sorry I didn't respond to your first letter. I just got so upset about Ron being such a git, and then I got too distracted with all the preparation for the ball.

To answer your question, I am making friends with Blaise and Draco. I know they are Slytherins, but I've found that they are actually a lot of fun and quite nice. I know it seems so sudden of a change, but McGonagall and the teachers implemented a new policy to bring the houses together. I think it's actually worked really well. Muggle studies is now mandatory, and muggle borns basically tutor purebloods. We each have a partner for the semester and my partner is Draco. I've learnt a lot about him, and he's learnt a lot about me. It turns out he finds the muggle world as fascinating as you and I find the wizarding world. Blaise, Draco, Neville, Luna, sometimes Ginny, Draco, and I have been hanging out together. We've done movie nights in the head's common room, and gone to Hogsmeade together. It's been a lot of fun but I have missed you, and even Ron a little bit, here. I wish we could have all come back together.

Meeting up next weekend is a great idea, and yes, bringing Ron the first time may not be the best idea. Maybe if he calms down with his raving we can consider it. I'll be sending a letter to him as well and see if I can change his mind. It's really sad actually, that he's like this. He's missing out on so much of life. Well, I have to finish this quickly so I can get back to prepping for the ball. I miss you so much, see you next week.

Sincerely, Hermione

Sealing my letter the same way I did McGonagall's, I set it aside. Now for the more challenging letter. I take a deep breath and pour a bit of my heart into it.

Dear Ron,

I know it's been awhile since we last spoke. Despite what I've said, I do hope you're okay. I wanted to let you know that I'm still your friend, but that your biases really upset me.

Pure Bloods, half-bloods, muggles, we're all human and I hope you know that. Your current mindset really upsets me because it's exactly the same as how the Death Eaters used to think. You've just flipped the tables on them. I really hope you realize how you messed up, and I hope that one day I'll get an apology. I'll wait for it, because I miss being your friend.

Sincerely, Hermione

I feel like there's no other way for him to understand. I don't know how he can think like that. I guess he'll change when he wants to.

I finish all the letters and gather them together. I exit my room and walk to the owlery to send the letters off. I send them on their way, and head back down. It's about 20 minutes till lunch, and then we have to prepare for the ball. I walk to the Great Hall early, and wait till more people arrive. I finish my food quickly and so does Draco. We walk back to our room and gather the decorations and other equipment we need. McGonagall approved of the use of the extension charm so we go down to the Great Hall again as people are leaving. We put down the materials and wait for the prefects to arrive.

Author's Note: The necklace does exist as do many other cool jewelry and bookmark pieces from the same artist. You can fin her work on Etsy, under the account of Pappillon9. Her work is really cool, but a little pricey. There are also a lot of other artists there who have great work so check them out as well. Anyway, sorry I haven't updated in a few days. I had a few time issues. The next chapter should be up tomorrow. Please read and review, and thank you to those who have, your continuous support means a lot to me. Have a great week, till next time!