A/N: I want to say BIG thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter!
You guys are the best!!!
Also, I want to address a couple of the topics brought up in the reviews. Someone asked why I had Hermione just turning fifteen, and my reason is that I just have a feeling that she's the youngest of the three. It never says in the book when the cut-off date is for new enrollment, so it is just my personal opinion that Ron is the oldest, Harry is the middle, and Hermione is the youngest. I've read several discussions of this, and no one has been able to give any real proof other than the fact that at the end of the third book, Dumbledore says, "two thirteen year old wizards" when addressing Harry and Hermione. If Hermione was older, then she would be fourteen.
Also, someone asked me to say arse instead of ass. LOL, I really despise it when people overuse the word arse. I have several friends from Britain, and they rarely say arse. I really think it's overused, so that's why I mostly say ass. But I do welcome any comments from anyone who feels this story is too Americanized because I really do worry about that a lot. So thank you.
Disclaimer: Still not mine, but I would be more than willing to take over from the elusive Ms. Rowling...
***************************************** The next night Harry and Ron trudged through the door to the fifth year boys' dorm with their Quidditch equipment over their shoulders. Alicia had run them ragged in preparation for the upcoming match against Slytherin; that girl might as well have had the words "Oliver Wood, Jr." tattooed on her forehead. They were both tired and thinking only of showers and soft beds. What they found when they entered their room, though, was Dean and Seamus staring at them with identical smirks.
"What's up?" Ron asked as he slung his broomstick onto his bed and turned to face his roommates.
Dean was the first to speak. He was grinning like mad as he addressed a question directly to Ron. "Are you really going to the dance with Hermione?"
Ron turned a little red, but he nodded nonetheless. "Yeah..."
"How the hell did you manage that?!" Dean asked in somewhat disbelief.
Harry sat his Firebolt on top of his trunk and carefully turned to listen to the rest of the conversation.
Ron was looking at Dean with raised eyebrows. "What's wrong with Hermione?"
"Nothing's wrong with her!" Seamus interjected loudly. "She's totally hot!"
"Yeah," Dean piped. "How did you get Padma Patil last year and Hermione Granger this year? What is your secret, man?"
Ron was looking very confused. "What are you talking about?"
"Why do all the pretty girls go for you?" Seamus asked in somewhat awe.
"Are you going out with her?" Dean asked, wide-eyed.
"No!" Ron said quickly. "We're just friends."
"So, you haven't snogged her or anything?" Seamus asked, a gleeful expression on his face.
"No!"
Harry felt himself get a little queasy at the mere thought of Ron and Hermione kissing.
"Good!" Seamus answered just as gleefully. "I still have a chance to score with her then!"
Dean laughed, but Harry saw Ron grow completely infuriated. "Don't even try it!" he threatened, taking a menacing step toward the Irish boy.
"Why not?" Seamus asked dismissively. "If you're not getting any play out of her, someone should be at least. She's too hot to let go to waste."
This sealed the deal. Ron lunged at Seamus and swung his fist forcefully. Seamus barely ducked in time.
"What the hell is your problem?!" he asked incredulously.
Ron glared at him. "Don't talk about her like that!"
Seamus rolled his eyes. "I was only kidding!"
"Yeah," Dean said cautiously. "Calm down, Ron."
Ron glared at him for a moment longer. "Don't even think about trying anything with her."
Harry watched as Seamus rolled his eyes again. "It was just a joke, man! Damn! And why do you even care so much anyway?"
Ron pursed his lips. "Because she's my friend! How would you feel if I said something like that about your best friend?"
The other Gryffindor boys laughed instantly, and Ron finally loosened up and laughed, too, when Seamus said, "Well, I'd be a little worried for Dean. I really don't think he swings that way."
"And you would be thinking right," Dean said adamantly.
"Shut up," Ron snickered. Then he rolled his eyes. "How did you even find out that I was going with Hermione anyway?"
"Lavender told us."
"And who did Lavender hear it from?" Ron asked with raised eyebrows.
Dean answered that question. "She heard it from Parvati."
"And Parvati heard it from..." Ron shook his head.
Seamus sighed. "Lavender heard it from Parvati who heard it from Padma who heard it from Terry Boot who heard it from Hannah Abbot who heard it from Ernie Macmillan who heard it from Justin Finch-Fletchley who heard it from Dennis Creevey who heard it from Colin Creevey who heard it from Ginny Weasley who heard it from Fred and George who heard it from Harry."
Ron processed all of that and said, "Nice to know good news travels fast..." while turning to narrow his eyes at the only person he had told.
Harry smiled weakly, not having expected the news to circulate that quickly. He'd only accidentally let it slip to the twins, after all.
********************************
The weeks approaching the ball started to grow shorter and shorter, and four days before the big event, Harry found himself sitting in the Common Room watching Ron beat a totally helpless Hermione at a game of chess. He also found himself completely dateless.
Girls had continued to ask him even after word of the tail and snout he'd given Valerie Priers leaked out. But he said no to all of them, always holding out a glimmer of hope that Cho might turn up and ask him. He'd already made up his mind not to ask her, but he couldn't say that if she turned the tables that he would turn her down. She didn't, however; in fact, Cho had obviously made an effort to avoid Harry as much as possible since the start of the new school year. She wasn't rude or anything like that, but she never went out of her way to speak to him. And the most conversation he ever got out of her was the occasional smile and nod shared in passing through the corridors. But he still tried to hold onto some ounce of hope that she would ask him. However, when he'd heard three mornings ago at breakfast that she was going with a Seventh Year Slytherin named Justin Ramor, all hopes were dashed. He had passed up all of his other options, and he had a sinking feeling that he was going to experience a dateless night on Halloween. He'd even considered asking Ginny Weasley (strictly as a friend, of course), but she'd turned up the very same day Harry had learned about Cho and Justin and announced that she was going with Colin Creevey. So that hope was dashed, too.
He was watching the chess game glumly, not even attempting to make any sort of conversation with his two best friends who kept giving him sidelong glances of curiosity. And when the portrait hole opened, he didn't even bother to look up and see which occupant of Gryffindor Tower had just come in.
Not that he had much a choice, though.
The person, or rather persons, who had entered promptly made their way over to the chess game and momentarily caused a halt in it. Harry looked up when their trio was suddenly turned into a quintet and was a bit surprised to see Lavender and Parvati grinning directly at him.
"Hi, Harry." It was Parvati who had spoken, and she took it upon herself to sit on the armrest of Ron's chair, earning herself a rather odd look from the redhead and a rather icy glare from the brunette across from him. Parvati ignored both Ron and Hermione, though, and kept her focus on Harry. "How are you doing?"
Harry was eyeing her carefully, very aware that whatever scene was about to play out would surely be quite embarrassing on his part. Casually, he answered her. "Fine, I guess."
Parvati grinned again. "Good." She then briefly let her gaze drift over Ron and Hermione before turning back to the raven-haired boy and saying in an equally casual of voice, "So, have you got a date to the Ball yet?"
Harry did his very best to ignore the stifled snicker that came from his best friend, but it was no use. He sighed inwardly, willing himself not to be rude. "No," he said waveringly. Then, just to be polite, he said, "Have you?"
To his surprise, Parvati smiled and nodded. "Oh, I'm going with Devon Ellington from Ravenclaw. My sister hooked us up."
Harry couldn't hide the furrowed brow that gave away his confusion, but before he could voice any of it, she kept speaking.
"And Lavender was supposed to be going with Christian Macmillan, but he suddenly decided to get back together with his ex-girlfriend, you know, Mindy Myers?" Harry didn't know, but he nodded anyway in an attempt to get her to hurry up. She took a breath and finished up. "And so now Lav doesn't have a date, and we hadn't heard anything about you having one, either. So, if you want to go with her, she'd be willing." She ended this with another quick grin.
Harry processed the very fast-spoken information and pretended like he couldn't tell that Ron's sudden cough was supposed to be hiding giddy laughter. He turned his head slightly to the left and looked at Lavender who was smiling shyly at him. She opened her blue eyes slightly wider than normal in what Harry knew was a repeat of Parvati's sort of proposal. His first instinct was to say no, but then he remembered that he had no real reason to be holding out and that the dance was only four days away. Lavender might be his last chance. His last decent chance anyway. So, sighing only briefly, he shrugged and said, "Okay."
Parvati and Lavender instantly broke into simultaneously giggles that made Harry flinch, Ron snicker, and Hermione roll her eyes.
"Okay, then," Parvati said as she stood up. "Goodnight." She flashed them all smiles before turning and heading toward the stairway.
"Goodnight," Lavender echoed with a mirroring smile, though hers was directed only at Harry.
Harry tried to force a return smile, but he was afraid it looked a little too much like the grimace it felt like. Lavender didn't seem to notice as she hurried away to catch up with her best friend. Their giggling was heard all the way up the stairs.
Harry made a very conscious attempt to not make eye-contact with the two people he could feel staring at him. When he realized this was impossible, though, he looked up at his best friends slowly. Ron was wearing a rather amused smirk, and his lips were pursed knowingly. Hermione was looking at Harry as though she didn't know whether to pat him on the back and express her sympathies or have him committed.
She obviously opted for the latter.
Because seconds later, she burst out with, "Have you gone mad, Harry?! Lavender Brown?!"
This caused Ron to snicker all over again, and Harry could feel himself turning bright red. Quietly, he tried to defend himself. "Well, I haven't got a whole lot of choice, do I? The ball is in a few days, and everyone else is already taken."
"But all those other girls asked you," Hermione pointed out a bit more calmly. "And you said no to all of them."
Harry really wasn't in the mood to go into the reason why he had turned down all the other invitations, but a second long glance at Ron told him that at least one of his best friends already knew the reason. He blushed at this realization but continued to address Hermione nonetheless. "Well, I just sort of let it sneak up on me. I just suddenly realized I only had four days left."
"But Lavender Brown?" Hermione was looking at him in the most confused of ways.
"Well, she's probably the only pretty girl in the school that doesn't already have a date," Ron spoke up earnestly. The second he'd said this, though, it was clear that he regretted it. It was all too reminiscent of the previous year's ball- an event that all three of them would just as well have removed from their memories.
Hermione looked at Ron blankly for a moment before her expression turned to one of slight offense. She was obviously remembering the Yule Ball, too, and it was, perhaps, the most painful for her.
Ron was looking at her warily, and he didn't speak for several moments, as he was clearly trying to think up the right sort of apologetic move. Finally, he looked sincerely at her and said, "Uh, I just mean, you know... It's getting close..." He spoke quietly and then glanced down at his hands shamefully.
There was silence among them for another moment before Hermione finally stood up and announced that she was going to bed. Without so much as a goodnight to either boy, she turned and followed her roommates up the stairs.
When she had gone, Harry looked back at Ron who was still looking at the staircase Hermione had just ascended. He didn't say anything until the redhead finally gave up and turned to meet his eye.
"I'm such an idiot."
Ron's expression of himself was not totally disagreed with by Harry. However, Harry, being the best friend that he was, decided to take mercy and be sympathetic. "She'll get over it." Okay, well maybe sympathetic wasn't the exact correct word choice.
Ron looked away for a second and then back. "I didn't mean for it to come out like that."
Harry could tell that he was being sincere, and he told him so. "I know. It's just that Hermione's really sensitive, and little things set her off." He attempted a smile. "Don't worry about it."
Ron shrugged glumly and started gathering up the now asleep chess pieces. Once he had them all soundly in the velvet bag that was their home, he said, "I'm going to bed, too."
Harry nodded and watched his best friend walk slowly up the opposite staircase of the one that Hermione had just taken.
He finally sighed to himself, not knowing what to make of anything at all lately.
********************************
"Are you excited about the ball, Hermione?" Lavender was looking intently at the other girl across the room much to Hermione's annoyance.
Hermione looked up from the Transfiguration book open on her lap and gave a half-shrug before looking back down at her work. "I guess so."
"Is Harry excited?" It was clear by this point that this question had been the original intention of the conversation.
Hermione bit her tongue to refrain from saying that Harry was looking forward to the Halloween Ball about as much as he was looking forward to returning to the Dursleys in June. Instead, she gave another half-shrug and said, "I guess so," once again.
Parvati spoke up, not being able to hold her opinion to herself for a second longer. "Well, Lav," she said matter-of-factly, "I just hope you have a better time with him than I did last year."
Hermione looked up from her homework and frowned at her dark-haired roommate. "You can't blame Harry," she said hastily. "He had a lot on his mind last year."
"Yeah," Parvati said sullenly. "A lot of Cho Chang."
Hermione watched as her roommates snickered, and she couldn't help but feel a little annoyed with them. She didn't know how they knew about Harry's crush on Cho, but after a second's thought, she realized they probably knew the same way she did.
It was painfully obvious.
Not being able to resist defending her friend, she said, "Well, you certainly didn't waste anytime replacing him, Parvati."
Parvati's snicker turned into a rather cold look. "Well, can you blame me? Of course, it's not like you have anything to compare it to since your date was at your beck and call all night long. Not to mention the fact that you're the reason my sister had an equally awful date."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Hermione set her book aside, focusing completely on the now slightly heated conversation.
"Don't play dumb, Hermione," Parvati said hastily. "It's not an easy act for you to pull off."
Lavender laughed at this, but Hermione ignored her. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Parvati sighed loudly. "Ron!"
"What about him?" Hermione was definitely not in the mood to defend both of her best friends, even though she was rather exasperated with both of them at the moment, but she could already see that that was exactly the direction in which this conversation was headed.
"Oh, please," Lavender piped up. "Don't even pretend like you don't know that Ron was eyeing you like a hawk on the prowl at last year's ball. Padma didn't have a chance!"
Hermione could barely feel her cheeks tinge pink. She looked away for only a second before turning back to her roommates. "That is absolutely ridiculous."
"Oh, is it?" questioned Parvati.
"Yes," she answered without hesitation. "Ron was not watching me the entire night, and if he was, it was because he was being a complete and total prat. You both know that he accused me of fraternizing with the enemies because I went to the ball with Viktor! I can't help it if he's stupid." She paused for only a second before finishing with, "Trust me. I've tried many times."
Lavender and Parvati both rolled their eyes, obviously not convinced. "Keep denying it, Hermione," Parvati said coolly. "But you can't deny the fact that you agreed to go with him this year."
Hermione felt the pink rise into her cheeks for a second time. "We're going because we're friends. It is possible to be friends with a boy and not be anything else." She surveyed both roommates for a second before adding, "But maybe you two can't comprehend that."
"Whatever you say, Hermione," Lavender said with a wispy air. "You can try and deny it all you want, but we've had the two of you matched since second year."
Hermione wanted to roll her eyes and go back to her studying, but some rotten little thing was making her more and more curious. Not wishing to lose her calm, cool, and collected bit, though, she tried to ask in the most inconspicuous of ways. "What are you talking about?" Okay, so maybe it wasn't that completely inconspicuous.
Parvati grinned, quite obviously thrilled to fill Hermione in on her and her best friend's matchmaking decisions. "Well, we figured it out when you were petrified. But, of course, you don't remember that."
Well, that much was true anyway. Hermione didn't remember anything about the time that she spent in the hospital wing during second year completely petrified.
Parvati continued. "Well, when you first got put into the hospital we all were just shocked. Because, you know, we all thought it was Harry at that time, but we knew he wouldn't do anything to you. So, we were all sort of just completely bewildered as to who the actual person was that was committing all these terrible acts." She paused for what Hermione figured could only be dramatic effect. "But Ron..." she smiled slightly. "Ron was a total mess!"
"Yes!" Lavender piped up. "He nearly killed Malfoy in Potions one day because Malfoy said something about wishing you'd been the one to die or something like that." Hermione felt her blood heat up a bit. "And it took Harry and Dean both to hold him back!"
Hermione wasn't quite sure what this had to do with she and Ron being destined for each other. "So? Ron always tries to kill Malfoy."
"True," Parvati agreed absently. "But I've never seen him as furious as he was that time. He said he was going to kill him with his bare hands!"
"Yes," Lavender said adamantly. "And only because Malfoy said something mean about you."
Well, that certainly wasn't anything new. Hadn't they noticed that Ron tried to kill anyone who ever said anything bad about her? She herself had noticed it many, many times, but she couldn't help noticing that he didn't waste any time in saying bad things about her himself. But she knew it was just like a sibling thing- how you can tease your sister, but the second someone else does, it's time to go in for the kill.
It just went onto prove that Ron thought of her in the same way he thought of the rest of his siblings. Hermione pointed this out to her roommates.
"Ron has never tried to kill anyone because they said something rude about Percy," Lavender said matter-of-factly.
"Well, Percy's different," Hermione said quickly. "You see how protective he is of Ginny."
"But that's different," Parvati said adamantly. "He has to act like that about her because she's his sister."
"Well, he has to act that way about me, too," countered Hermione. "Because I'm his best friend."
"He doesn't act that way about Harry." Parvati raised both eyebrows in defiance.
But Hermione wasn't going to be defied. "Yes, he does. Ron has defended Harry loads of times!"
"But not to the extent that he does you, Hermione." Parvati shook her head. "He was really going to kill Malfoy that day!"
Hermione huffed up a little and finally said, "Well, so what? Ron would use any excuse he could find to kill Malfoy!"
"Hermione, please!" Lavender was quite exasperated by this point. "You can't sit there and pretend like you don't know that Ron likes you and has for awhile now."
"I don't know it," Hermione said in her own defiance, "because it isn't true."
"Whatever." Parvati rolled her eyes, and Lavender followed suit.
After that, they decided to drop the subject and let Hermione get back to her Transfiguration. The only problem was that Hermione couldn't concentrate on Transfiguration to save her life. Every single thing that Parvati and Lavender said kept sneaking its way back into her brain and settling there- completely cutting off any chance that she might have had at studying.
Also, I want to address a couple of the topics brought up in the reviews. Someone asked why I had Hermione just turning fifteen, and my reason is that I just have a feeling that she's the youngest of the three. It never says in the book when the cut-off date is for new enrollment, so it is just my personal opinion that Ron is the oldest, Harry is the middle, and Hermione is the youngest. I've read several discussions of this, and no one has been able to give any real proof other than the fact that at the end of the third book, Dumbledore says, "two thirteen year old wizards" when addressing Harry and Hermione. If Hermione was older, then she would be fourteen.
Also, someone asked me to say arse instead of ass. LOL, I really despise it when people overuse the word arse. I have several friends from Britain, and they rarely say arse. I really think it's overused, so that's why I mostly say ass. But I do welcome any comments from anyone who feels this story is too Americanized because I really do worry about that a lot. So thank you.
Disclaimer: Still not mine, but I would be more than willing to take over from the elusive Ms. Rowling...
***************************************** The next night Harry and Ron trudged through the door to the fifth year boys' dorm with their Quidditch equipment over their shoulders. Alicia had run them ragged in preparation for the upcoming match against Slytherin; that girl might as well have had the words "Oliver Wood, Jr." tattooed on her forehead. They were both tired and thinking only of showers and soft beds. What they found when they entered their room, though, was Dean and Seamus staring at them with identical smirks.
"What's up?" Ron asked as he slung his broomstick onto his bed and turned to face his roommates.
Dean was the first to speak. He was grinning like mad as he addressed a question directly to Ron. "Are you really going to the dance with Hermione?"
Ron turned a little red, but he nodded nonetheless. "Yeah..."
"How the hell did you manage that?!" Dean asked in somewhat disbelief.
Harry sat his Firebolt on top of his trunk and carefully turned to listen to the rest of the conversation.
Ron was looking at Dean with raised eyebrows. "What's wrong with Hermione?"
"Nothing's wrong with her!" Seamus interjected loudly. "She's totally hot!"
"Yeah," Dean piped. "How did you get Padma Patil last year and Hermione Granger this year? What is your secret, man?"
Ron was looking very confused. "What are you talking about?"
"Why do all the pretty girls go for you?" Seamus asked in somewhat awe.
"Are you going out with her?" Dean asked, wide-eyed.
"No!" Ron said quickly. "We're just friends."
"So, you haven't snogged her or anything?" Seamus asked, a gleeful expression on his face.
"No!"
Harry felt himself get a little queasy at the mere thought of Ron and Hermione kissing.
"Good!" Seamus answered just as gleefully. "I still have a chance to score with her then!"
Dean laughed, but Harry saw Ron grow completely infuriated. "Don't even try it!" he threatened, taking a menacing step toward the Irish boy.
"Why not?" Seamus asked dismissively. "If you're not getting any play out of her, someone should be at least. She's too hot to let go to waste."
This sealed the deal. Ron lunged at Seamus and swung his fist forcefully. Seamus barely ducked in time.
"What the hell is your problem?!" he asked incredulously.
Ron glared at him. "Don't talk about her like that!"
Seamus rolled his eyes. "I was only kidding!"
"Yeah," Dean said cautiously. "Calm down, Ron."
Ron glared at him for a moment longer. "Don't even think about trying anything with her."
Harry watched as Seamus rolled his eyes again. "It was just a joke, man! Damn! And why do you even care so much anyway?"
Ron pursed his lips. "Because she's my friend! How would you feel if I said something like that about your best friend?"
The other Gryffindor boys laughed instantly, and Ron finally loosened up and laughed, too, when Seamus said, "Well, I'd be a little worried for Dean. I really don't think he swings that way."
"And you would be thinking right," Dean said adamantly.
"Shut up," Ron snickered. Then he rolled his eyes. "How did you even find out that I was going with Hermione anyway?"
"Lavender told us."
"And who did Lavender hear it from?" Ron asked with raised eyebrows.
Dean answered that question. "She heard it from Parvati."
"And Parvati heard it from..." Ron shook his head.
Seamus sighed. "Lavender heard it from Parvati who heard it from Padma who heard it from Terry Boot who heard it from Hannah Abbot who heard it from Ernie Macmillan who heard it from Justin Finch-Fletchley who heard it from Dennis Creevey who heard it from Colin Creevey who heard it from Ginny Weasley who heard it from Fred and George who heard it from Harry."
Ron processed all of that and said, "Nice to know good news travels fast..." while turning to narrow his eyes at the only person he had told.
Harry smiled weakly, not having expected the news to circulate that quickly. He'd only accidentally let it slip to the twins, after all.
********************************
The weeks approaching the ball started to grow shorter and shorter, and four days before the big event, Harry found himself sitting in the Common Room watching Ron beat a totally helpless Hermione at a game of chess. He also found himself completely dateless.
Girls had continued to ask him even after word of the tail and snout he'd given Valerie Priers leaked out. But he said no to all of them, always holding out a glimmer of hope that Cho might turn up and ask him. He'd already made up his mind not to ask her, but he couldn't say that if she turned the tables that he would turn her down. She didn't, however; in fact, Cho had obviously made an effort to avoid Harry as much as possible since the start of the new school year. She wasn't rude or anything like that, but she never went out of her way to speak to him. And the most conversation he ever got out of her was the occasional smile and nod shared in passing through the corridors. But he still tried to hold onto some ounce of hope that she would ask him. However, when he'd heard three mornings ago at breakfast that she was going with a Seventh Year Slytherin named Justin Ramor, all hopes were dashed. He had passed up all of his other options, and he had a sinking feeling that he was going to experience a dateless night on Halloween. He'd even considered asking Ginny Weasley (strictly as a friend, of course), but she'd turned up the very same day Harry had learned about Cho and Justin and announced that she was going with Colin Creevey. So that hope was dashed, too.
He was watching the chess game glumly, not even attempting to make any sort of conversation with his two best friends who kept giving him sidelong glances of curiosity. And when the portrait hole opened, he didn't even bother to look up and see which occupant of Gryffindor Tower had just come in.
Not that he had much a choice, though.
The person, or rather persons, who had entered promptly made their way over to the chess game and momentarily caused a halt in it. Harry looked up when their trio was suddenly turned into a quintet and was a bit surprised to see Lavender and Parvati grinning directly at him.
"Hi, Harry." It was Parvati who had spoken, and she took it upon herself to sit on the armrest of Ron's chair, earning herself a rather odd look from the redhead and a rather icy glare from the brunette across from him. Parvati ignored both Ron and Hermione, though, and kept her focus on Harry. "How are you doing?"
Harry was eyeing her carefully, very aware that whatever scene was about to play out would surely be quite embarrassing on his part. Casually, he answered her. "Fine, I guess."
Parvati grinned again. "Good." She then briefly let her gaze drift over Ron and Hermione before turning back to the raven-haired boy and saying in an equally casual of voice, "So, have you got a date to the Ball yet?"
Harry did his very best to ignore the stifled snicker that came from his best friend, but it was no use. He sighed inwardly, willing himself not to be rude. "No," he said waveringly. Then, just to be polite, he said, "Have you?"
To his surprise, Parvati smiled and nodded. "Oh, I'm going with Devon Ellington from Ravenclaw. My sister hooked us up."
Harry couldn't hide the furrowed brow that gave away his confusion, but before he could voice any of it, she kept speaking.
"And Lavender was supposed to be going with Christian Macmillan, but he suddenly decided to get back together with his ex-girlfriend, you know, Mindy Myers?" Harry didn't know, but he nodded anyway in an attempt to get her to hurry up. She took a breath and finished up. "And so now Lav doesn't have a date, and we hadn't heard anything about you having one, either. So, if you want to go with her, she'd be willing." She ended this with another quick grin.
Harry processed the very fast-spoken information and pretended like he couldn't tell that Ron's sudden cough was supposed to be hiding giddy laughter. He turned his head slightly to the left and looked at Lavender who was smiling shyly at him. She opened her blue eyes slightly wider than normal in what Harry knew was a repeat of Parvati's sort of proposal. His first instinct was to say no, but then he remembered that he had no real reason to be holding out and that the dance was only four days away. Lavender might be his last chance. His last decent chance anyway. So, sighing only briefly, he shrugged and said, "Okay."
Parvati and Lavender instantly broke into simultaneously giggles that made Harry flinch, Ron snicker, and Hermione roll her eyes.
"Okay, then," Parvati said as she stood up. "Goodnight." She flashed them all smiles before turning and heading toward the stairway.
"Goodnight," Lavender echoed with a mirroring smile, though hers was directed only at Harry.
Harry tried to force a return smile, but he was afraid it looked a little too much like the grimace it felt like. Lavender didn't seem to notice as she hurried away to catch up with her best friend. Their giggling was heard all the way up the stairs.
Harry made a very conscious attempt to not make eye-contact with the two people he could feel staring at him. When he realized this was impossible, though, he looked up at his best friends slowly. Ron was wearing a rather amused smirk, and his lips were pursed knowingly. Hermione was looking at Harry as though she didn't know whether to pat him on the back and express her sympathies or have him committed.
She obviously opted for the latter.
Because seconds later, she burst out with, "Have you gone mad, Harry?! Lavender Brown?!"
This caused Ron to snicker all over again, and Harry could feel himself turning bright red. Quietly, he tried to defend himself. "Well, I haven't got a whole lot of choice, do I? The ball is in a few days, and everyone else is already taken."
"But all those other girls asked you," Hermione pointed out a bit more calmly. "And you said no to all of them."
Harry really wasn't in the mood to go into the reason why he had turned down all the other invitations, but a second long glance at Ron told him that at least one of his best friends already knew the reason. He blushed at this realization but continued to address Hermione nonetheless. "Well, I just sort of let it sneak up on me. I just suddenly realized I only had four days left."
"But Lavender Brown?" Hermione was looking at him in the most confused of ways.
"Well, she's probably the only pretty girl in the school that doesn't already have a date," Ron spoke up earnestly. The second he'd said this, though, it was clear that he regretted it. It was all too reminiscent of the previous year's ball- an event that all three of them would just as well have removed from their memories.
Hermione looked at Ron blankly for a moment before her expression turned to one of slight offense. She was obviously remembering the Yule Ball, too, and it was, perhaps, the most painful for her.
Ron was looking at her warily, and he didn't speak for several moments, as he was clearly trying to think up the right sort of apologetic move. Finally, he looked sincerely at her and said, "Uh, I just mean, you know... It's getting close..." He spoke quietly and then glanced down at his hands shamefully.
There was silence among them for another moment before Hermione finally stood up and announced that she was going to bed. Without so much as a goodnight to either boy, she turned and followed her roommates up the stairs.
When she had gone, Harry looked back at Ron who was still looking at the staircase Hermione had just ascended. He didn't say anything until the redhead finally gave up and turned to meet his eye.
"I'm such an idiot."
Ron's expression of himself was not totally disagreed with by Harry. However, Harry, being the best friend that he was, decided to take mercy and be sympathetic. "She'll get over it." Okay, well maybe sympathetic wasn't the exact correct word choice.
Ron looked away for a second and then back. "I didn't mean for it to come out like that."
Harry could tell that he was being sincere, and he told him so. "I know. It's just that Hermione's really sensitive, and little things set her off." He attempted a smile. "Don't worry about it."
Ron shrugged glumly and started gathering up the now asleep chess pieces. Once he had them all soundly in the velvet bag that was their home, he said, "I'm going to bed, too."
Harry nodded and watched his best friend walk slowly up the opposite staircase of the one that Hermione had just taken.
He finally sighed to himself, not knowing what to make of anything at all lately.
********************************
"Are you excited about the ball, Hermione?" Lavender was looking intently at the other girl across the room much to Hermione's annoyance.
Hermione looked up from the Transfiguration book open on her lap and gave a half-shrug before looking back down at her work. "I guess so."
"Is Harry excited?" It was clear by this point that this question had been the original intention of the conversation.
Hermione bit her tongue to refrain from saying that Harry was looking forward to the Halloween Ball about as much as he was looking forward to returning to the Dursleys in June. Instead, she gave another half-shrug and said, "I guess so," once again.
Parvati spoke up, not being able to hold her opinion to herself for a second longer. "Well, Lav," she said matter-of-factly, "I just hope you have a better time with him than I did last year."
Hermione looked up from her homework and frowned at her dark-haired roommate. "You can't blame Harry," she said hastily. "He had a lot on his mind last year."
"Yeah," Parvati said sullenly. "A lot of Cho Chang."
Hermione watched as her roommates snickered, and she couldn't help but feel a little annoyed with them. She didn't know how they knew about Harry's crush on Cho, but after a second's thought, she realized they probably knew the same way she did.
It was painfully obvious.
Not being able to resist defending her friend, she said, "Well, you certainly didn't waste anytime replacing him, Parvati."
Parvati's snicker turned into a rather cold look. "Well, can you blame me? Of course, it's not like you have anything to compare it to since your date was at your beck and call all night long. Not to mention the fact that you're the reason my sister had an equally awful date."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Hermione set her book aside, focusing completely on the now slightly heated conversation.
"Don't play dumb, Hermione," Parvati said hastily. "It's not an easy act for you to pull off."
Lavender laughed at this, but Hermione ignored her. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Parvati sighed loudly. "Ron!"
"What about him?" Hermione was definitely not in the mood to defend both of her best friends, even though she was rather exasperated with both of them at the moment, but she could already see that that was exactly the direction in which this conversation was headed.
"Oh, please," Lavender piped up. "Don't even pretend like you don't know that Ron was eyeing you like a hawk on the prowl at last year's ball. Padma didn't have a chance!"
Hermione could barely feel her cheeks tinge pink. She looked away for only a second before turning back to her roommates. "That is absolutely ridiculous."
"Oh, is it?" questioned Parvati.
"Yes," she answered without hesitation. "Ron was not watching me the entire night, and if he was, it was because he was being a complete and total prat. You both know that he accused me of fraternizing with the enemies because I went to the ball with Viktor! I can't help it if he's stupid." She paused for only a second before finishing with, "Trust me. I've tried many times."
Lavender and Parvati both rolled their eyes, obviously not convinced. "Keep denying it, Hermione," Parvati said coolly. "But you can't deny the fact that you agreed to go with him this year."
Hermione felt the pink rise into her cheeks for a second time. "We're going because we're friends. It is possible to be friends with a boy and not be anything else." She surveyed both roommates for a second before adding, "But maybe you two can't comprehend that."
"Whatever you say, Hermione," Lavender said with a wispy air. "You can try and deny it all you want, but we've had the two of you matched since second year."
Hermione wanted to roll her eyes and go back to her studying, but some rotten little thing was making her more and more curious. Not wishing to lose her calm, cool, and collected bit, though, she tried to ask in the most inconspicuous of ways. "What are you talking about?" Okay, so maybe it wasn't that completely inconspicuous.
Parvati grinned, quite obviously thrilled to fill Hermione in on her and her best friend's matchmaking decisions. "Well, we figured it out when you were petrified. But, of course, you don't remember that."
Well, that much was true anyway. Hermione didn't remember anything about the time that she spent in the hospital wing during second year completely petrified.
Parvati continued. "Well, when you first got put into the hospital we all were just shocked. Because, you know, we all thought it was Harry at that time, but we knew he wouldn't do anything to you. So, we were all sort of just completely bewildered as to who the actual person was that was committing all these terrible acts." She paused for what Hermione figured could only be dramatic effect. "But Ron..." she smiled slightly. "Ron was a total mess!"
"Yes!" Lavender piped up. "He nearly killed Malfoy in Potions one day because Malfoy said something about wishing you'd been the one to die or something like that." Hermione felt her blood heat up a bit. "And it took Harry and Dean both to hold him back!"
Hermione wasn't quite sure what this had to do with she and Ron being destined for each other. "So? Ron always tries to kill Malfoy."
"True," Parvati agreed absently. "But I've never seen him as furious as he was that time. He said he was going to kill him with his bare hands!"
"Yes," Lavender said adamantly. "And only because Malfoy said something mean about you."
Well, that certainly wasn't anything new. Hadn't they noticed that Ron tried to kill anyone who ever said anything bad about her? She herself had noticed it many, many times, but she couldn't help noticing that he didn't waste any time in saying bad things about her himself. But she knew it was just like a sibling thing- how you can tease your sister, but the second someone else does, it's time to go in for the kill.
It just went onto prove that Ron thought of her in the same way he thought of the rest of his siblings. Hermione pointed this out to her roommates.
"Ron has never tried to kill anyone because they said something rude about Percy," Lavender said matter-of-factly.
"Well, Percy's different," Hermione said quickly. "You see how protective he is of Ginny."
"But that's different," Parvati said adamantly. "He has to act like that about her because she's his sister."
"Well, he has to act that way about me, too," countered Hermione. "Because I'm his best friend."
"He doesn't act that way about Harry." Parvati raised both eyebrows in defiance.
But Hermione wasn't going to be defied. "Yes, he does. Ron has defended Harry loads of times!"
"But not to the extent that he does you, Hermione." Parvati shook her head. "He was really going to kill Malfoy that day!"
Hermione huffed up a little and finally said, "Well, so what? Ron would use any excuse he could find to kill Malfoy!"
"Hermione, please!" Lavender was quite exasperated by this point. "You can't sit there and pretend like you don't know that Ron likes you and has for awhile now."
"I don't know it," Hermione said in her own defiance, "because it isn't true."
"Whatever." Parvati rolled her eyes, and Lavender followed suit.
After that, they decided to drop the subject and let Hermione get back to her Transfiguration. The only problem was that Hermione couldn't concentrate on Transfiguration to save her life. Every single thing that Parvati and Lavender said kept sneaking its way back into her brain and settling there- completely cutting off any chance that she might have had at studying.
