Chapter 8- Red In The Face

Disclaimer: I sadly do not own Harry Potter or the other characters...pity.....

A/N: OH MY GOODNESS!! Another chapter!! I'm so frickin proud of myself!! Thank you to all the nice reviewers!!! ROCK ON!!!



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"HERMIONE'S GOT A LOVE LETTER!!" Ron had yelled so loudly that everyone in the Great Hall turned their heads towards the infamous Gryffindor Trio, to see Hermione red in the face, Ron looking flabbergasted, and Harry looking just as confused.

Hermione being so embarrassed, quickly got up from the table, and 'accidentally' smacking Ron in the face with her bag as she turned around, then she scurried out of the Great Hall.

You could hear a few snickers coming from the Slytherin table, then before Harry and Ron knew it, Professor Snape walked over to them and grinned maliciously.

"Well, well, well, yelling out loud and disturbing the peace in the Great Hall, that's 5 points from Gryffindor for lack of manners." Snape sneered and slowly walked away, his long black robes flying behind him. Ron did a very rude gesture towards Snape's back that made the Slytherin table dramatically gasp and inform Snape of what Ron just did. For that very rude gesture, Gryffindor lost another 5 points. Everyone at the Gryffindor table was now giving Ron the death glare of doom.

Ron laughed nervously,

"Eh...I think I'll go see how Hermione's doing." He said as he quickly jetted out of the Great Hall, Harry trailing after him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hermione?" Ron and Harry were frantically looking around for Hermione. She seemed to be no where in the library or Gryffindor Tower.

Harry was walking when he nearly tripped over a large orange ball.

He looked down to see the orange ball, and realized it was Crookshanks.

'Hey Crookshanks, have you seen Hermione anywhere?' Harry asked Crookshanks in his mind. Ron looked at Harry with a peculiar look on his face.

'Yes, I saw her head outside towards that Giant's hut, what's his name again? Hagith? Hogarth?'

'It's Hagrid...thanks Crooky' Harry teased. Crookshanks muttered something and walked on. Harry just laughed and turned towards Ron, who was looking at him oddly.

"What?" Harry asked.

"What in the world were you just doing?"

"Oh...It's a long story, I'll explain later." Harry said, "Come on, let's go check Hagrid's." Ron nodded in agreement and the two boys took off running towards Hagrid's hut.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry and Ron were nearly out of breath when they reached Hagrid's door. They were just about to knock when the door opened, to reveal a Giant man, it was Hagrid.

"Hey Hagrid," Harry started, trying to look behind Hagrid to see if Hermione was in there, but he couldn't see past the Giant of a man. "Um...is Hermione here?"

"Yea, seem' really upset when she came over, looked really embarrassed an all red." Hagrid replied gruffly.

"Could we come inside? We've been looking for her." Harry said. Hagrid nodded, but then looked at Ron.

"Yeh better watch yeh back, she seems really mad at yeh." He said, Ron gulped and nodded.

Hagrid let the two boys in. When they walked in, they saw Hermione sitting on a chair that seemed to engulf her small body. When she saw them, her eyes narrowed on Ron. If looks could kill, Ron would be a pile of ooze.

"Um...I'll jus' be outside gatherin' wood." Hagrid said as he walked out of his hut and shut the door.

Ron sat down on the couch and fidgeted with his hands, Harry sat next to him. An uncomfortable silence lingered about in the air. The tension was cut off by Harry speaking.

"So...um...who was the letter from?" Harry asked quietly, Hermione just stared at him. Then she reached into her robe pocket and brought out a folded piece of paper. She handed it to Harry and Harry unfolded it, eager to see who it was from. The letter said this:

Dear Hermione,

This may seem weird coming from me, but I've had a crush on you since fourth year. I've never had the nerve to tell you because for one, you seemed like you only liked me as a friend well we hardly know each other but we do have lots in common, and for two, I didn't know how Harry or Ron would have reacted. But now I have the guts to tell you, not to your face or anything, but through a letter in which I hope you'll reply.

I hope that maybe you'll have the same feelings towards me and will maybe want to go out for a couple butterbeers one night, but if you don't we could just remain friends and act as if nothing ever happened. Please put this thought into consideration.

Yours Truly, Justin Finch-Fletchley (A/N: Were you expecting someone else? Were you expecting someone important? Who had a big role in the story? *Please ignore me* ^_^)

"JUSTIN!?" Both Ron and Harry yelled simultaneously.

"Yes Justin!" Hermione answered through clenched teeth. She snatched the letter back and took a deep breath. She seemed to be calming herself down.

"I would have thought you had seen it Ron, since you had to be nosy and get into MY PERSONAL BUSINESS!!" Hermione yelled. Harry and Ron cringed, when Hermione got mad, she got mad.

"Well, I couldn't see who it was from, all I saw was the first couple sentences and then I just kind of yelled it out loud." Ron mumbled. Harry could see Hermione clenching her fists.

"KIND OF!? You 'kind of' yelled it?? The whole damn Hall turned to see who said that, and you just HAD to say my name didn't you? Don't you ever think before you act?! Or do you act on impulse every DAMN TIME!" Hermione yelled in rage. She then took another deep breath and composed herself. She looked at Ron in an almost sympathetic look. I said almost.

"Sorry Ron, it's just....why did you have to go and yell that?" Hermione asked, Ron just shrugged his shoulders.

"So Hermione," Harry started, "Are you gonna take Justin up on his offer?" Harry asked, one half of his was burning with curiosity, and the other half was burning from pure jealousy.

"Well," Hermione said, "We do have a lot in common, were both muggle-borns and we get good grades and we take Arithmancy together..." Hermione went on and on with the facts. But Harry's jealously was getting the better of him.

'And besides,' Hermione thought to herself. 'It's not like your going to ask me out any time soon, might as well say yes to Justin.'

"So I guess I will, I mean there's no harm in going out for a butterbeer right?" Hermione asked.

Ron nodded, and Harry had to force himself to nod.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was now dinner time and Hermione gathered all her courage and walked over to the Hufflepuff table where Justin was sitting with his friends, she had to admit, he was pretty handsome.

'Maybe this won't be a complete disaster...' Hermione thought, with her new makeover and everything, she noticed that she made more heads turn in the halls, but she never expected Justin of all people to like her. When she reached the Hufflepuff table, Justin's friends went silent and look over at Justin with smiles on their faces.

"Um...Justin?" Hermione asked, Justin turned his head and his eyes widened.

"Hermione?"

"I got your letter, and I just wanted to tell you that I'd love to go out on a date with you for a few butterbeers." She smiled. Justin numbly nodded his head, then he snapped out of it and clumsily got up from his table and stood in front of Hermione, who was about a foot shorter then him.

"How 'bout at six tomorrow night?" Justin asked with hope in his voice, he was hoping she didn't have any plans for tomorrow. He grinned when he saw Hermione smile and nod her head.

"Well, see you then." She said as she walked off towards Gryffindor table. Justin just dumbly stared after her and waved goodbye.

Over at the Gryffindor table, a certain boy with green eyes and messy black hair stared at Justin through narrowed eyes.

'Looks like I'm gonna have a little competition.' Harry thought to himself. He then snapped out of his thoughts when Hermione returned to the table.

"So?" Ron asked, "Did everything work out ok?"

"Yes, were going out on our first date tomorrow night." Hermione replied happily, it had been a long time since she had been on a date, and she was looking forwards to it, but she still wished she was going with Harry instead of Justin.

"Though I'm going to have to bring Crookshanks along." Hermione pointed out, this brought Harry to full attention.

"Why?" Harry asked.

"Well, he's been coming down with flu or something and Madam Pomfrey said to just always have him with me and give him his daily medicine, I had asked her if she could put a charm on him or something but she said she didn't know how any of the charms would work on animals. I'm awfully worried about him, so I'm just going to have to bring him along. I hate leaving him alone anyway." Hermione said, but she wasn't able to get a reaction from Harry because he had suddenly left the table and ran out of the hall.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'Crookshanks! Crookshanks!' Harry yelled out in his thoughts. He ran into the Gryffindor common and saw the orange cat sprawled out on the sofa.

'What is it?' Crookshanks asked, you could hear the stuffiness in his voice.

'I need you to switch bodies with me quick!' Harry blurted.

'And why is that?'

'Because Hermione's going out on a date with this kid named Justin and I just want see what happens at their date, its tomorrow.' Harry said.

'But, I can only switch bodies with people once-' Crookshanks was cut off.

'Look, you said you switch bodies with people for a purpose, well this is for that same purpose! And it's all going to go down hill if you don't switch bodies with me! So please! Just this once!' Harry pleaded, Crookshanks looked at him with a thoughtful look on his face.

'Why don't you just use that invisibility cloak?' Crookshanks asked. Harry was about to ask Crookshanks how he knew about the cloak, but thought not to.

'Because I know I'll end up blowing my cover and everything would be ruined.' Harry said in a agitated voice. Crookshanks looked at Harry and sighed.

'You really like Hermione don't you?' Crookshanks asked. Harry nodded his head.

'I'll tell her my feelings only if you switch bodies with me, then I'll tell both Ron and Hermione about you and me switching bodies.' Harry continued.

Crookshanks sighed and nodded his head.

'But I'll have to do it tomorrow morning, right now this flu is killing me and it might clear up just a little tomorrow. You do know that you'll be stuck with this flu, because even if we switch bodies, the flu will stay in this body while you're in it.' Crookshanks pointed out. Harry nodded, how bad could a cat flu be?

'Until tomorrow...' Harry thought, then he smiled when he realized he was going to make Justin look like a really bad date.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WHEW!! Done! I'll put up the next chapter when you review!!!