"He's mine and you know it!" Hermione exclaimed. Furious at Harry,
but even more furious at Jenni, Hermione didn't know what she was doing.
"You're insane," Jenni told her. "Just calm down. Everyone knows that no relationship lasts longer than two weeks. We've already gone through one of them. The dance is coming up, and after that, it'll be like nothing ever happened."
Hilary piped up with a comment at that moment. "No offense, Hermione, but you never actually dated Harry."
That was true, but Hermione wasn't about to admit it. Here were these American girls, new, popular, always surrounded by people, smarter than anyone, and yanking up points for Gryffindor like never before.
Hilary had, surprisingly, started officially going out with Ron yesterday. This really made Hermione mad. She was losing her two best friends to these American girls! That wasn't fair, especially for go-with- the-flow Hermione.
Another thing that bothered her was that Jenni and Hilary never got in trouble for being out-of-dress code. They always wore jeans to their classes, and not even McGonagall had said anything about it.
"Oh, just cool off, Hermione. If you want, I'll break up with Harry and...yeah. I just will." Jenni smiled and flipped her hair, and Hilary followed her.
Jenni and Hilary were sure the life of the party. They'd come up with three different campus parties and had enjoyed themselves with Slytherin boys, Ravenclaw boys, Gryffindor boys, but none of the Hufflepuff boys. You have to admit, they are kind of fluffy, as Jenni says.
************************
"Oh, my gosh. Hil, I thought of the best idea ever! Let's try out that new Hogsmeade Mall tomorrow. We have to have cute clothes for the dance, considering who we're going with." Jenni exclaimed.
Hermione rolled her eyes but didn't look up from her book. Then, Jenni got an idea. "Hermione! You should come! You'd look perfect with a make-over."
"No thanks," Hermione said coolly. But strangely, deep inside she really wanted to go with them. She wanted to be a part of their popular group, she wanted to be a part of something special like they had. They were the most popular people in Hogwarts, beating out Cho by about 1000 people.
"I'm serious. Hermione, you are so coming and you are going to like it." The last "you are going to like it" part really surprised Hermione.
"If you get made-over early enough, you might snag a date for the dance. It's only Tuesday, there's plenty of time." Hilary suggested.
"I don't want to go. I have plenty more things to do than waste my time at some silly little dance." That was a lie. Hermione wanted to go so bad, but whom with? She'd rather go with Harry, and he was already taken.
"Well, at least try it and see if you like it," Hilary said. She was softer than Jenni was.
"Fine. If you'll stop, I'll go." Hermione said, throwing down her quill. Hilary and Jenni smiled at each other. "We'll stop. Okay, here's what we do. After school tomorrow we'll meet after our last class. We'll go down to Hogsmeade together, then we'll head straight to the mall." She went on and on and described every detail like she had already planned it.
*****************
The trip to the mall was pretty cool. Hermione was having a lot of fun.
"Okay. Operation Redo Hermione Granger is about to begin. First, we'll go to...mmm...the hair salon and see if they can do anything about your hair!" Jenni said. And they were able to. Within a few hours, Hermione's hair was no longer curly-curly...now, the curls hung limply around her shoulders. Most of it was straight. She was very pretty. Then they gave her blonde highlights.
"Next stop: Fashion Boutique!" Hilary announced and they were off again. They bought Hermione the cutest outfits.
"Now, see, the thing is, at school, you're going to be like us." Hilary said and started pulling things off the rack.
"I don't want to break the rules!" Hermione exclaimed, suddenly upset.
"You're not breaking them, we're bending them," Jenni explained. "Now, instead of that ugly knit gray skirt, you're going to wear this one. It doesn't say you can't wear it."
This skirt was prettier - it was a black mini skirt with a big silver belt buckle. Hermione tried not to show much attraction to it, but she was getting pretty excited.
"And now, makeup!" Hilary told her. They dragged Hermione into Pink Lip Gloss, their favorite store, and bought her all kinds of things.
"For the final touch..." Jenni said, and they took Hermione into "Accessories and Stuff".
Hermione had gotten her ears pierced. It was something she never thought she'd do, but she did it.
Then they bought her jewelry and everything. By the time it was over, the two girls had spent over a hundred dollars on Hermione.
"But it's okay. I can afford it." Jenni said. She was rich. Very, very rich.
They brought Hermione back to Hogwarts and they allowed her to change her clothes, and then they started on the makeup. They applied foundation, mascara, eyeliner, eye shadow, lip liner, lip-gloss, and even freckle-hider for the few Hermione had.
When Hermione finally brought herself to look in the mirror, she didn't know who she was. She looked like another person.
But whoever she was, she liked it.
"Listen, Jenni, I'm really sorry about Harry and everything. I really don't mind you dating him. Really."
Jenni smiled. "It's okay, Hermione. It really is." Hermione looked like she was about to burst into tears. "Don't cry, you'll ruin your mascara."
Then Hermione realized it. "If you can make me look like this, then what do you really look like?"
Jenni got all-mysterious. "You will never know."
*************
It turns out that Hermione did get a date for the dance - a very nice guy named Michael.
But she still wanted Harry.
The dance was wonderful. Hilary wore a mini rust-colored broom skirt, sleeveless red top, open-toed boots, and a matching red handbag. Jenni wore hot pink sling backs with roses on the side, a light pink belt, hot pink shirt w/ little dark pink rose in the center of the low cut collar.
Hermione looked great, too. She'd followed Hilary and Jenni's fashion advice and wore a green dress and matching green boots, designed by "the fashion legacy, Lauren Franklin".
But the thing that determined the wonderful part of this dance was that Harry kissed Jenni. On the lips. And it lasted longer than just a peck. This one was an actual kiss.
Jenni was very excited.
Hermione, however, wasn't. But what could she do? Jenni had helped her so much and she was forever grateful to Jenni.
But Hermione had a plan that would make Harry fall in love with her, instead of Jenni.
"You're insane," Jenni told her. "Just calm down. Everyone knows that no relationship lasts longer than two weeks. We've already gone through one of them. The dance is coming up, and after that, it'll be like nothing ever happened."
Hilary piped up with a comment at that moment. "No offense, Hermione, but you never actually dated Harry."
That was true, but Hermione wasn't about to admit it. Here were these American girls, new, popular, always surrounded by people, smarter than anyone, and yanking up points for Gryffindor like never before.
Hilary had, surprisingly, started officially going out with Ron yesterday. This really made Hermione mad. She was losing her two best friends to these American girls! That wasn't fair, especially for go-with- the-flow Hermione.
Another thing that bothered her was that Jenni and Hilary never got in trouble for being out-of-dress code. They always wore jeans to their classes, and not even McGonagall had said anything about it.
"Oh, just cool off, Hermione. If you want, I'll break up with Harry and...yeah. I just will." Jenni smiled and flipped her hair, and Hilary followed her.
Jenni and Hilary were sure the life of the party. They'd come up with three different campus parties and had enjoyed themselves with Slytherin boys, Ravenclaw boys, Gryffindor boys, but none of the Hufflepuff boys. You have to admit, they are kind of fluffy, as Jenni says.
************************
"Oh, my gosh. Hil, I thought of the best idea ever! Let's try out that new Hogsmeade Mall tomorrow. We have to have cute clothes for the dance, considering who we're going with." Jenni exclaimed.
Hermione rolled her eyes but didn't look up from her book. Then, Jenni got an idea. "Hermione! You should come! You'd look perfect with a make-over."
"No thanks," Hermione said coolly. But strangely, deep inside she really wanted to go with them. She wanted to be a part of their popular group, she wanted to be a part of something special like they had. They were the most popular people in Hogwarts, beating out Cho by about 1000 people.
"I'm serious. Hermione, you are so coming and you are going to like it." The last "you are going to like it" part really surprised Hermione.
"If you get made-over early enough, you might snag a date for the dance. It's only Tuesday, there's plenty of time." Hilary suggested.
"I don't want to go. I have plenty more things to do than waste my time at some silly little dance." That was a lie. Hermione wanted to go so bad, but whom with? She'd rather go with Harry, and he was already taken.
"Well, at least try it and see if you like it," Hilary said. She was softer than Jenni was.
"Fine. If you'll stop, I'll go." Hermione said, throwing down her quill. Hilary and Jenni smiled at each other. "We'll stop. Okay, here's what we do. After school tomorrow we'll meet after our last class. We'll go down to Hogsmeade together, then we'll head straight to the mall." She went on and on and described every detail like she had already planned it.
*****************
The trip to the mall was pretty cool. Hermione was having a lot of fun.
"Okay. Operation Redo Hermione Granger is about to begin. First, we'll go to...mmm...the hair salon and see if they can do anything about your hair!" Jenni said. And they were able to. Within a few hours, Hermione's hair was no longer curly-curly...now, the curls hung limply around her shoulders. Most of it was straight. She was very pretty. Then they gave her blonde highlights.
"Next stop: Fashion Boutique!" Hilary announced and they were off again. They bought Hermione the cutest outfits.
"Now, see, the thing is, at school, you're going to be like us." Hilary said and started pulling things off the rack.
"I don't want to break the rules!" Hermione exclaimed, suddenly upset.
"You're not breaking them, we're bending them," Jenni explained. "Now, instead of that ugly knit gray skirt, you're going to wear this one. It doesn't say you can't wear it."
This skirt was prettier - it was a black mini skirt with a big silver belt buckle. Hermione tried not to show much attraction to it, but she was getting pretty excited.
"And now, makeup!" Hilary told her. They dragged Hermione into Pink Lip Gloss, their favorite store, and bought her all kinds of things.
"For the final touch..." Jenni said, and they took Hermione into "Accessories and Stuff".
Hermione had gotten her ears pierced. It was something she never thought she'd do, but she did it.
Then they bought her jewelry and everything. By the time it was over, the two girls had spent over a hundred dollars on Hermione.
"But it's okay. I can afford it." Jenni said. She was rich. Very, very rich.
They brought Hermione back to Hogwarts and they allowed her to change her clothes, and then they started on the makeup. They applied foundation, mascara, eyeliner, eye shadow, lip liner, lip-gloss, and even freckle-hider for the few Hermione had.
When Hermione finally brought herself to look in the mirror, she didn't know who she was. She looked like another person.
But whoever she was, she liked it.
"Listen, Jenni, I'm really sorry about Harry and everything. I really don't mind you dating him. Really."
Jenni smiled. "It's okay, Hermione. It really is." Hermione looked like she was about to burst into tears. "Don't cry, you'll ruin your mascara."
Then Hermione realized it. "If you can make me look like this, then what do you really look like?"
Jenni got all-mysterious. "You will never know."
*************
It turns out that Hermione did get a date for the dance - a very nice guy named Michael.
But she still wanted Harry.
The dance was wonderful. Hilary wore a mini rust-colored broom skirt, sleeveless red top, open-toed boots, and a matching red handbag. Jenni wore hot pink sling backs with roses on the side, a light pink belt, hot pink shirt w/ little dark pink rose in the center of the low cut collar.
Hermione looked great, too. She'd followed Hilary and Jenni's fashion advice and wore a green dress and matching green boots, designed by "the fashion legacy, Lauren Franklin".
But the thing that determined the wonderful part of this dance was that Harry kissed Jenni. On the lips. And it lasted longer than just a peck. This one was an actual kiss.
Jenni was very excited.
Hermione, however, wasn't. But what could she do? Jenni had helped her so much and she was forever grateful to Jenni.
But Hermione had a plan that would make Harry fall in love with her, instead of Jenni.
