Could it be...? Chapter Two: Making Assumptions

On Sunday evening, Lavender and Parvati sat in a far corner,
whispering. It wasn't like them not to be in the thick of things,
Hermione thought. Hermione, however, had other things on her mind...

"I can't believe I'm FINALLY beating you at chess!" she purred.

Ron was looking sullen. "I can't believe you're finally beating ME
at chess," he groaned.

Harry was still in the Hospital Wing. Long ago, Ron and Hermione had
decided that every time they were alone together, they'd take turns
picking something to do. Hermione always picked studying. Ron usually
dithered between chess and Gobstones, because he was good at both.
Tonight however, Hermione had taken almost all of Ron's pieces and was
acting very cocky about it.

Although Ron and Hermione didn't know it, they were being closely
watched. Lavender and Parvati were discussing their latest 'project',
which was plainly, to fix up Hermione and Ron. It wasn't unusual for
them to take sudden interest in other people's romances. Only last
fortnight they'd told Ernie Macmillan that Hannah Abbot, his best
friend, had wanted to be his girlfriend since second year. Ernie had
confronted Hannah, who'd denied she'd said any such thing. They still
weren't speaking to each other.

"Look at that body language!" whispered Lavender rapturously. "See
how she's sorta leaning towards him? That's what I call chemistry."

"Yeah," hissed Parvati. "Now, how ARE we going to get them together?
Any ideas, Lavvie?"

Because of their tiny IQs, it took them a teensy bit longer to
ponder things than intelligent, NON-ditsy people. But after ten
minutes, Lavender snapped her fingers. "Got it!" she squealed.

Parvati suddenly grinned. She'd gotten the exact same idea. "I know,"
she giggled.

"I know too." Lavender looked suddenly blank. "Er- what is it again?"

"It's very simple, Lavvie dear. We just find out what Ron thinks
Hermione's best feature is, and vice versa. Then we figure out how to
en... en..."

"Enhance," offered Lavender.

"Yeah, that- enhance it so the other notices it."

"It's brilliant! Foolproof!"

"Isn't it though?"

Back at their chairs in front of the fire, Ron and Hermione's chess
game had taken a sudden twist.

"Check," said Ron, beaming.

Hermione was suddenly alert. "What d'you mean, check?"

"Well, my pawn got your king."

"But I was winning!"

"And now I have. Ron Weasley is still the champ," crowed Ron.

They watched as the white pawn dragged the black king to the side
of the board, labouring under the much larger piece. The king became
aggressive and with a swipe of his black arm, swept the pawn off the
board and out of sight.

"Damn!" said Ron. "My pawn!" He dropped to the floor and began looking
everywhere for his pawn.

Hermione grinned rather wickedly. "Want some help?"

"If you like," grunted Ron, shoving the table aside.

"I have some Arithmanthy homework that needs finishing," Hermione said
apologetically.

"Fine," said Ron, still searching for the pawn. "See you tommorrow."

Hermione bid him farewell and left. This was the chance Parvati and
Lavender had been waiting for. As soon as Hermione was out of sight,
they swanned across the room to Ron.

"Hi, Ron," they said together.

"Hey," said Ron, looking up at them.

Lavender and Parvati looked at each other and giggled.

"Ron," said Lavender. "We wanted to ask you something. You know-" here
she looked at Parvati. They giggled again and Parvati continued.

"You know Hermione," smiled Parvati. "Well, we were just wondering-
what d'you think Hermione's best feature is?"

"Her best feature?" said Ron blankly. "I guess that she's strong. She
doesn't let people push her around." He kept seeking the lost pawn.

Lavender rolled her eyes at Parvati. "No, silly. You misunderstood.
We mean her best feature- as in looks."

Ron raised his eyebrows. "Well... look, are you girls going to harp on
about this?"

"No," they said together. For once they didn't giggle.

"Well- I guess it's her eyes."

"Her eyes?" Ron wondered how they could keep speaking in perfect time
like that.

"Yeah," and he smiled in spite of himself. "Hermione has really pretty
eyes. Especially when she's happy."

Lavender and Parvati beamed down at him. "Thanks, Ron."

They only started talking once they were out of earshot of Ron. "Well,
that went well." commented Parvati.

"Mmm-hmm. Hey Parvie," said Lavender, shuddering suddenly. "What if
he'd said it was her HAIR, or something?"

"Oh, come on, Lav. Even Ron's not that stupid!" They howled with
laughter all the way to their dormitory door.

Parvati frowned. "So how are we going to make Hermione's eyes look
nice?"

Lavender smiled broadly. "Oh, Parv." She delved into her pocket and
extracted some eyeshadow, which she held up for Parvati to see. "Was
there ever anything makeup couldn't fix?"

***

How did you like that? Extremely OOC, wasn't it? Well, like I said in
my last chapter, romance just ain't my thing. Please review, and if
you're dissatisfied, please be nice about it. Check ya!