Money Bought- Chapter SEVEN!

By: Tigre, who else?!

A/N: Alas, the makeover chapter. J The reason why this wasn't up earlier is because I'm working on a 'novel'. Seriously…that's not some lame excuse for me to stop writing! Even though it's been 6 months! I've still been skulking around ff.n, even though I didn't review hardly anything…

Disclaimer: Don't bloody well own it.

Dedication: For nearly everyone I know that I like. ;) The ones who were forced into reading this deserve some major kudos. Hehe.

* * * * *

Before Hermione knew it, the dreaded Saturday had rolled around. She had tried her best to prevent it, what with her begging to McGonagall to give her another Time-Turner, but there seemed to be no use. The fates were playing some cosmically cruel trick on her, and it was wearing its toll on Hermione.

Lavender and Parvati had been anticipating the day, talking in hushed whispers about what sort of makeup they were going to use. If Hermione wound up looking like some sort of possessed doll, there would be a quarrel large enough to end the bet. She had no plans of renouncing her oath to herself, however.

"What's wrong, Hermione? You've been acting strange lately…is it anything to do with the guy that Parvati and Lavender mentioned earlier?" Ron said at breakfast, in between bites of toast.

"No, Ron, it's not. I'm just…"Hermione paused for a moment, trying to figure out the exact way to describe her situation. "I'm just stressed out right now, okay?"

A slightly hurt look glimmered in his eyes, making her feel bad. Before, she had always told him what was up. "Okay." He then turned back to Harry. The two of them whispered, probably about her. What, exactly, had she done to break up the trio like this? It made her feel a bit queasy. With the weight of having a god-awful makeover performed in a few hours, Hermione had best decided that she go back to the common room and take a breather.

* * *

After a morning full of nothing but enjoying herself, Hermione had to float down to earth and face the horrible truth. She had been lounging on an overstuffed couch, reading a book about werewolves and impossible love. At times like these, she felt like she was trapped in some sort of box meant for animals, with two brainless trainers forever ordering her around. Sometimes, it did feel awfully nice, not having to make your own decisions…

"Hey, Hermione, are you going to get ready for your date or not?" The voice was familiar, she knew that much. Hermione looked around the room frantically, trying to figure out who it was. He- it definitely was a he- was hiding from her. How annoying. It was impossible for her to detect who exactly had said that; all of the boys she knew sounded nearly the same.

She rolled her eyes in frustration. As if she didn't have enough things to deal with already! She finally noticed a few strands of silver hair peeking out from behind a door. Oh crap. Draco had come at a very bad time.

"Malfoy, what are you doing here? And how did you get in?" Hermione was sure that the passwords of Hogwarts wouldn't be easily figured out. He had some help with discovering the Gryffindor password.

"I came here," he said, stepping out of the shadows, "to see you. Now, don't get all mushy on me. Really, I'm not here for some strange snogging session. We need to talk about terms of payment." He plopped down next to her on the couch.

"Payment? I don't have any galleons right now…"

"No, you twit. I wasn't talking about that sort of payment, although I'll be expecting the money by the end of the month. Tax returns are due, you know. I need…something priceless from you. Nothing material, just figurative. Spite me somehow."

"Why? That wasn't in our agreement."

"I'm doing a service by showing myself in public with you. Surely, I shall need some extra compensation, more than I ask from my other customers. You're the most regular; you take up the most of my time. Otherwise, if I don't get what I want, the date will be off and you will have to pay me double for my services."

"You wouldn't." Hermione was appalled. How dare he threaten to raise the price? If the date wouldn't happen, she would lose the bet to Parvati and Lavender. That would deflate her self-esteem greatly. She hated to lose.

"I would. I've already got enough blackmail on you, nearly enough that your money is almost worthless to me in comparison."

"What do you truly want from me? You don't want my money, none of my possessions…is it that you wish to take my soul, my heart, my very essence?"

He shook his head and grinned. "This." He closed his knowing gray eyes and began to kiss her. Hermione certainly hadn't been expecting that. She leaned closer into his strong embrace, trying to seize the moment. It didn't matter that there were no mutual feelings involved; all that mattered was the impulsive, naturally sweet magic of the kiss.

After a few moments, they moved away from each other. Hermione was the one who spoke first. They were both trying hard to catch their breath.

"I thought you said that you weren't here for a snogging session."

"I'm not. I needed emotional payment. Like I said before, why would I need your galleons in advance when I've already acquired a small fortune? My business is doing quite well. Anyway, the date is still on, correct?"

"Yeah. It's going to be at 6, okay?" That's three hours from now."

"I wouldn't expect any other time from Granger-the-perfect. After all, it's sixth-year Hogsmeade time. I know a place where virtually no one from Hogwarts goes. I'll wait here while you get ready."

"But that's three bloody hours, Malfoy. Don't you have anything better to do with your time?"

"No."
* * * *

Hermione shook her head as she paced down the hallway. She was beginning to get confused with what she felt for Draco. One minute he seemed the arrogant brat he'd been when she had first minute, but the next he could be extremely romantic. The two attributes cancelled each other out. Draco had the most contradicting personality of anyone that she had ever known.

In nearly no time at all, she had reached her dorm. Parvati and Lavender were wearing white smocks over their expensive muggle clothing, so as to not get any makeup on them. This was it.

"Hermione, where have you been? We've been waiting!" Lavender spun Hermione around slowly, displaying her so that Parvati could see. She picked up a wild piece of tangled brown hair. "Tsk! Look at this! We'll need all of the beauty products in Hogwarts to make her look beautiful!"

"You brought it on yourself…" Hermione muttered in a singsong voice. She looked at herself in the large illuminated mirror. She didn't think that she looked that bad, actually. Her hair was frizzing up a bit, but it wasn't as coarse as it could be. Her eyes were aglow with the spark that comes from being freshly kissed.

Ignoring her last comment, Parvati motioned for her to sit down in a chair. She draped a bed sheet over her, as to not get her practical outfit dirty. Parvati suddenly thought better of it, and took the bed sheet off again.

"First things first, you're going to have to choose a new outfit." Parvati frowned at Hermione's plain black robes. "Is that all you have in your closet?"

"Yes, pretty much."

Parvati flung open the wardrobe's doors. There were quite a few black robes, some a little more formal than others. For a second, she thought that she might have been in Professor Snape's wardrobe, since they were both fond of black. She rolled her eyes. Didn't Hermione have any taste at all? She saw a little piece of silk in the corner of the dark closet. She took it out, curious. It was a pretty indigo color, modeled into a tee shirt. It would be a little casual for the occasion, but it would do.

"Hermione, does this fit?" Parvati examined the tee shirt more closely. There was a black rose lightly embossed in the middle of it. Hermione nodded, but winced. The tee shirt was a little too tight for her liking, but she would do anything just to survive the bet.

"Pav, she's gotta have some cool pants, too! I'll pick them out. Hermione, do you have any jeans?"

"At home, yeah, but here I've just got skirts."

"You can borrow some of mine, dear. I've worn them one too many times." Parvati said. She fished out a tight, dark blue pair of pants from the bottom of her drawer. They looked nearly new. Everyone at Hogwarts knew the Patils had money, it was apparent just in the way that they walked.

"Thank you." Hermione grimaced. Was it really worth changing her style just for money? She quickly changed into the outfit, upset at the way that it fit on her. The shirt looked fine, although it had shrunk from the last time that she had worn it, but the pants were horrible. They clung heavily to her legs. She felt like a little girl again, wearing purple leggings that she deemed beautiful.

"Quit worrying about your appearance, Hermione. You look fine. Most girls would kill to look like you, but all you do is hide I those drab robes." Lavender picked up a pair of scissors. "Pav, let's get to work!"

"Okay! So we're going to give her a trim?"

Hermione protectively held on to her long hair. "You're not going to cut it; I won't let you…" she whispered boldly.

"Just shut up and close your eyes. Lav, you take the left side. I'll take the right." Hermione distinctly heard the sharp sound of scissors chopping off hair. She winced as she felt the cool scissors press against her head. She hoped that neither of the girls slipped while cutting and gouged a hole in the middle of her scalp.

Within fifteen minutes, they were done with the hair cutting. They placed her head under a fountain, and poured gobs of rose-scented shampoo onto Hermione's wiry hair. It took half a bottle of conditioner to smooth out every bump in her neglected hair.

While sitting underneath a magically powered hair dryer, Lavender and Parvati began to apply something cold to her face. It was foundation. Hermione cringed as she remembered the Halloween long ago when she had used foundation. Because of that, she had made a vow to herself never to wear makeup again.

"You think that the shade's too yellow, Pav?"

"Not really. But if you want, toss a little baby powder on there and rub it in." Hermione was scared. How could her face be too yellow? Did it look like she had some sort of liver disease?

Around a minute later, there was something sweeping across her eye. It tickled, but Hermione didn't dare move. Eyeshadow could be hard to remove sometimes. She didn't think that she'd have the patience to wait for them to do her eyes all over again.

"Hermione, you're going to have to look up for the mascara."

She went along with Parvati's orders, and focused on a little crack in the ceiling. The mascara felt like creeping spiders being glued to her eyelashes. She tried to blink, but found it would be impossible until the gunk dried.

The other cosmetics were applied. Lavender and Parvati worked with steady hands, never poking her throughout the process. They were squealing with joy at their makeover.

"Oh my God, I can't even tell that she was once Hermione!" Lavender squeaked.

"I know, Hermione, take a look at yourself in the mirror."

Hermione hastily opened one eye, then the next. Her mouth dropped open in shock. The once-wily tendrils of hair had been softened into waves, although it was still slightly curly. The length had been reduced to her shoulders instead of the middle of her back. Her face was, for once, blemish-free, done up in soft berry tones.

Hermione had to admit it. She looked gorgeous. Was this person in the mirror even she anymore? The true Hermione had no need for beauty; it got in the way of being practical. Even though this variation of her would attract more boys, it would attract the wrong type. Boys that were as shallow as Draco Malfoy.

"You like?" Parvati and Lavender asked in unison. Hermione nodded, just to shut them up. She stole a quick glance at the clock. It was nearing 5:30. The date would be at six, but she didn't think that Draco would care if she showed up earlier.

Hermione grasped the doorknob on her way out, but stopped to say something. "Oh, Parvati?"

"Yeah?"

"You said that if Draco and I kissed, you would add an extra two galleons for every one."

"Your point…?"

"We've already kissed- twice. Add 4 galleons to the total." Hermione didn't even give them a chance to respond. She left the room abruptly, beginning to look forward to her date with Draco.

* * *

The walk back was much too slow for her liking. She was a bit eager to see what Draco thought of all this. Although she still didn't like him, she thought that he had pretty good taste in clothes and makeup. It didn't hurt that he was a good kisser, either. Who knew, asking him might add the only bit of fun to her day.

She peered into the common room. Draco was the only one in there. He looked extremely bored. She noticed that his outfit. It was simply a gray sweater with black pants. He seemed to finally be ending his craze for leather.

He grinned at her as she walked in. "Well, well, if it isn't Granger-the-perfect. She seems to have lost her goody-goody attitude, and wants the Billy Idol look-alike to help her find it."

Hermione slapped her hand on her head. During those 2 ½ hours of torture, she had forgotten what a snob Draco could be. "Malfoy, how would you know about Billy Idol? He's a bloody muggle. And…I'm not a goody-goody." With that, she fell on the couch. Draco watched her with amused eyes.

"My, Granger, you underestimate me. I like some muggle music. To be honest, you are a goody-goody, because I'd never thought I'd see the day when you dressed up like Britney bloody Spears!" He laughed quirkily. "It doesn't suit you well, though." Hesitantly, he ran a hand over Hermione's silky hair. The connection sent a chill down her spine. His eyes were locked on hers the entire time, gold meshing with silver, sun with moon, warm with cold…

Draco moved closer again, his lips nearly touching hers. "Hermione," he whispered. He didn't need to say anything else. Draco had -sort of- complied with her demands in a weird way. His eyes were melting like icebergs with every moment that passed. They gradually shut. His cool hand tilted her chin up, the other still running over her hair. Hermione closed her eyes too, expecting fireworks to appear the moment that their lips touched.

"Hermione? And MALFOY? BLOODINESS!" Ron roared. Harry soon entered the common room after him, chessboard in hand.

"What in the blazes is going on here?" Ron and Harry stared down the other duo, who had stopped flirting. This was definitely going to take some explaining from Hermione. The problem was, could she finish it in time for Hogsmeade? Or would the boys kill each other first?

* * *

A/N: Finally, after six long months, the chapter is done! *..* I hope you all enjoyed it…to be honest, I wrote this chapter in a day, although it took another day to type it up. *Giggles* I'm so proud of this! I decided that I'd better get my butt in gear before I received more reviews that said "are you going to continue?" Well, folks, I am!

THANKS TO: SugarHigh, Stepherz, Lisa, Samantha, mocha butterfly, ShojoAngel, SpiDer-ruLer2040, princessglitti, Seiki, Julia, Calypso in Love, naavi, Chunsa, Rosandra May aka Lillian, dracosluva, angel_faerei32, Princess Aiko, Mione G, Caetlin Veermer, Nemi Genn, porky pop, LilyAyl, Venus Saturnalia, anonymous, Sandy716, Mae, Alanna Roseguard, Kristina, DaSajinPan, Sarah Malfoy, Fire Goddess, lilith witch, hermioneG89, Piea, kring, Cheetah, Blue ink, Megan, Draco Malfoy's kitten, Crystal, silenced eyes, Jessie, IcyStormz, ChibiJupiter, tickle the dragon, Jordan, Protector Kristina, Alicia Malfoy, V lynne, J.J. Alan, SoleilPetal, Juliet, mafylover, Ally-sama, MochaButterfly, Camille,. Kacella, Callisto Callipsi, Claire, Night Spirit, Wendelin the Weird, DLJEWEL, Jessica, summer thyme, Vegeta's Goddess, Atalanta Zora, the oreo of love, strange vision, and Archer!

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