A/N: My boyfriend Jared helped me with certain things in this chapter. So credit where credit is due. Thanks Jared!
Chapter 9
"Oh, Hermione, dear! You would look lovely in this!"
"Mum!" Hermione cried, taking the dress from her mothers' hand and putting it back in the rack. "Why did we have to go shopping? Weren't we supposed to go to dinner?"
Hermiones mother sighed, "Well, if you didn't ruin all of your clothes when you were painting your room, we wouldn't be here looking for something you can go out in public in."
"Mum!"
"Don't even start, young lady. You can wear whatever you want to at school but while you're under my roof you will look presentable."
Ron held the basketball in his hands and looked at Mr. Granger who had just walked out of the front door, "How long does it take to buy a shirt?"
"You'll be a much happier man if you tried not to ask those kinds of questions."
"Yes sir."
Mr. Granger nodded to the ball in Ron's hand, "Do you play a lot?"
"What? Oh, no. Hermione just taught this morning." He tossed the ball to Hermione's father, "Do you?"
Mr. Granger grinned and threw the ball at the hoop, getting nothing but net. "I was forward on my college team."
Ron nodded as if he understood. "So are you sure you want to take me to dinner? I mean I eat a hel- heck of a lot." Ron cringed, wanting to hide under a rock. So far he was not making a good impression with Hermione's dad. Swearing and lying about basketball probably made him look untrustworthy.
"Don't worry about it."
"Do I owe you anything?"
"Of course not." Mr. Granger shot another basket, "You know… I like you, Ron."
Ron was surprised, "You do?"
"Certainly. You know who you are and you don't hide it, of course you seem to be worried about me judging you."
"Why do you say that?" Ron asked snatching the ball away and making a basket.
Mr. Granger nodded, impressed, "You're a natural."
"Er…. Thanks."
"You swallowed your tongue, in answer to your earlier question." Ron tossed the ball to Mr. Granger, "I don't think you need to worry about saying the wrong thing here, Ron. We encourage you to express yourself."
"So I can swear?"
"Around Faith and I, yes. But not around Hermione and her mother, they don't like it for some reason."
Ron laughed, "Don't I know it. Hermione always nags me about that. I do it just to bother her most of the time. Love to get her going, she's a riot when she's angry."
Mr. Granger dribbled the ball, eyes shinning, "So what is going on with you and my daughter?"
Ron gulped, he knew how fathers got about their daughters, "Uh… I'm not sure…"
"Ah, swallowing your tongue again?"
Ron shook his head, "Well there's nothing really happening. I do like her very much."
"As more than a friend."
It was a statement more than a question. Ron nodded. "I think so."
"Well, don't let me stop you from telling her that."
Ron nodded, if it was only that simple. "Well, you were just one obstacle."
Mr. Granger laughed heartily. "I see."
"I still have to tell her."
"That's always a start."
"How do you know if a girl fancies you?"
Mr. Granger sighed and walked over to Ron clapping him on the back, "Women are very difficult to understand, my boy. Especially teenage girls."
"So what you're saying is, you don't know."
"Exactly."
At that moment the car pulled into the driveway. Hermione bolted out of the vehicle, up the stoop to the front door and was inside faster than you could say: Wingardium leviosa.
Mrs. Granger sighed, "She doesn't like what she's wearing."
Both Mr. Granger and Ron sighed. "Girls."
Mrs. Granger pulled Faith out of her car seat. "I think it's best if I don't ask."
Hermione stood in front of the bathroom mirror examining her new shirt. Her new pink shirt. She bit her lip liking the way it looked, but not liking the fact that she thought it looked nice on her. She sighed and pulled on a pair of jeans.
"Well, it just figures, doesn't it?" She said to herself, "Never thought you would do silly things for boys and what do you do? Wear pink… just like Lavender and Parvati."
"Hermione, you've been in there for twenty minutes, your parents want to leave."
Ron's voice snapped her back into reality. Hermione picked up her old paint covered clothes and threw them in the laundry pile before opening the door. Ron smiled at her as she continued to look at herself in the mirror. "My mum wanted me to put on makeup and fix my hair… but I don't know a thing about that."
Ron shrugged. "You're beautiful. As they say: If it's not broken don't fix it."
Hermione felt her face get red, "Um… thank you, Ron."
Ron shook his head trying to rid himself of embarrassment. "We better get going, your parents are waiting."
Ron sat next to Hermione quietly on the car ride, thankful for finally arriving at the restaurant. Ron got out of the car and held his hand out for Hermione. Mister and Misses Granger got out of the car with Faith and began walking towards the building. Hermione took Ron's hand and he helped her out of the vehicle, hoping that she would not let go of his hand as they walked behind the two adults.
Instead she smiled at him and swung her arm back in forth in a slightly childlike manner. "You like my hair even though it's bushy?"
"Hermione, look at my hair. It looks like there's a bloody mop on my head."
She looked at it and squinted, before reaching out and touching it, "I like your hair, it's not too short and it's not shaggy. It's perfect. Girls like putting their hands in boys' hair. Well maybe not all girls but I certainly-" She stopped suddenly and looked down.
Ron sighed, conversations always stopped right when it got interesting.
Mr. Granger held the door open for his wife, Ron decided he should do the same for Hermione. Hermione's eyes widened as her held the door for her; he smiled and motioned her in. She thanked him nervously as he followed her inside. They were seated right away and handed menus. Ron nudged Hermione and held the menu in front of his face. "How does this work?"
Hermione must have known that Ron was talking about it being the muggle world. It was a bit different because food did not suddenly appear on your plate when you placed your order. "You tell the waiter what you want then they'll bring it to you about twenty minutes later."
"Twenty minutes?"
"Yes, well, they have to prepare it."
"Oh."
Hermione found his hand, gave it a quick squeeze and before letting go she said. "I'm sure you'll last that long without food."
Ron sighed then looked at the menu, he didn't know much about muggle money but he was sure that the numbers he saw meant the food was expensive. Again he whispered to Hermione. "I'm not sure I want your family to spend this much money on me."
"Oh, Ron, hush."
"But-"
"It's not a problem, believe me, it's not much-" Hermione suddenly bit her tongue. It wasn't a lot to her family but the amount would empty the Weasley's pockets. "Sorry."
"Don't worry about it." Ron glanced at the menu again, "So what the hell should I order?"
"Ron!" Hermione scolded.
He laughed, enjoying the face she made when she disapproved of something, "Seriously, what's good?"
"Um…. The ribs here are marvelous, um… there's brisket, that's always good. The catfish is good-"
"What are you getting?"
"Um… Chicken Kiev and a side of carrots."
"I'm going to have the same as you."
They ordered their meals and Ron looked around the restaurant. There was a dance floor where a few people were dancing. Mostly older couples, only one or two teens were dancing. There was a TV hanging from the wall by a small bar. Ron was surprised, for such a nice place it was hard to believe that there was a TV. "Whoa!" He said suddenly, making Hermione and her parents look up. "There are girls in bikinis on that TV! I could-" He glanced at Hermione out of the corner of his eye and saw her waiting expectantly, "never watch that." He said, "Muggles and their televisions."
"Nice save." Mr. Granger said.
Hermione and her mother rolled their eyes.
A new song started up on the dance floor. One Ron didn't recognize, but Hermione closed her eyes, "I love this song."
Ron looked at Mr. Granger, as if to ask permission for what he was about to do. Mr. Granger nodded.
"Would you like to dance, Hermione?"
Hermione looked at Ron in shock. "Here?"
"No, I was thinking of apparating to Hogwarts and dancing there."
"You can't apparate on Hogwarts grounds, Ron. You should-"
"Hermione," her mother interrupted, "are you going to answer him?"
Hermione blushed. "Sorry… Of course I'll dance with you, Ron."
Ron held out his hand again and led her to the dance floor. She placed her hands on his shoulders, Ron wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close to him. They swayed to the music for a second before Hermione looked up, "Why did you ask me to dance?"
"You like this song. And I never did get to dance with you at Christmas."
"There wasn't a ball, Ron."
"I know, but Harry told me that after we left they started up some music. That was the night Harry and Ginny got together."
"I didn't know that."
Ron twirled Hermione around, and grinned, "You do look great, Hermione. I wasn't lying."
Hermione looked down at her feet, "Ron… Please I know I'm not great looking."
"Well, finally you're wrong. You know, it had to happen sooner or later."
"I'm never wrong."
"That's two in a row."
"Ron!"
Remember to thank Jared cause he wants to be famous!
Lenny
