A/N: Well, ShadowRogue I'm glad you have as much fun reading my story as I do reading yours:) Though I think yours is a lot funnier than mine. All right getting back to the story:

Chapter 9: Hogsmeade

That week it was beginning to get very obvious the Halloween Ball was coming nearer. Girls traveled in small groups of four or five and giggled uncontrollably whenever a boy came near them. The boys were showing signs too: most of them looked very nervous and were sweating a bit too much and others, like Neville, looked terrified whenever they came near a group of girls, who would begin giggling uncontrollably again, causing small breakdowns amongst the somewhat weaker boys.

"Well, they are certainly taking this to an extreme level," Hermione huffed, looking at a group of Hufflepuff girls who began giggling furiously when a boy, after having mustered all of his courage, walked over to them.

"Hermione, you have no idea what it's like," Ron said weakly, "It's like a living hell out there," Waving his arm around, indicating he meant Hogwarts castle. "It's like they want to eat you alive, but can't do it on their own, so they bring all their friends and humiliate you before you get shot down." A very horrified look made it's way onto his face.

"Oh, please," said Hermione, irritably.

"It's true," Harry agreed

"Yes," said Nora, nodding. "It's what we do. But we'd better hurry up, or we'll be late for class." They all stood up and made their way to Defense against the Dark Arts with professor Spring.

That night a notice was put up on all the notice boards in the school:

Dear Hogwarts students,

As you know, the Halloween Ball will be this Sunday. You are all advised to wear costumes, and as I assume most of you do not have one, a Hogsmeade trip will be allowed for all of the third years and above on Saturday. The rest of you will have to do with old clothes you already have and some teachers will be willing to help you and teach you a few spells to make your own costumes.

Sincerely,

Dumbledore.

"I just can't wait to go, then! I don't know what I'm going to go as though, but I guess we'll just browse the shops for something nice," Hermione told Nora excitedly before going to bed.

That week passed fairly quickly, and before they knew it, it was already Saturday.

"I just can't wait to go to Hogsmeade!" Hermione squealed, for what felt was the hundredth time.

"Hermione, shut up, you've already told us," Harry told her irritably.

"So, are you two going with Parvati and Lavender?" Nora asked him and Ron, before Hermione had a chance to argue.

"Yeah," Ron said blushing a bit, "Who are you going with?"

"Hermione's going with Terry," said Nora. She hadn't told them she was being forced to go with Malfoy yet and she wasn't planning to, either. She knew exactly how they'd react: Ron would shout at her and Harry would glare at her and the Slytherin's as if she had just betrayed him.

"We knew that already, who are you going with?" Ron asked her again.

"Me? Oh, I'm… erm… going with…" Her voice trailed off near the end, but Harry and Ron had both heard.

"What? With MALFOY?" Ron exclaimed, receiving a glare from McGonagall.

"Ron! Keep it down, please," Nora begged him; she didn't want the whole school to hear their conversation. Ron paid no attention to her plea.

"You're going with MALFOY? To the Ball? WHY?" he cried, receiving another glare from McGonagall.

"Ron! Keep it down, I don't want the whole school to hear!"

"Well? Are you?" he asked. Harry was making the exact same face she pictured he'd make, like everything awful in the world was her fault.

"Yes! But Dumbledore is making us! Now either shut up or quiet down!" Nora ordered him, her temper rising up. Ron closed his mouth, though he glared at her, and Nora calmed down a bit as she grabbed a large lemon pie and was about to take a piece.

"I can't believe you're going to the ball with him!" Ron burst out, not able to just let it go. Nora snapped.

"I thought I'd told you to be quiet!" She cried in despair, slamming the lemon pie that she had still been holding, loudly on the table. Then she stood up and ran out of the Great Hall, leaving people to either stare at her or Ron. Nora ran to her favorite tree, where she always went when she needed to think and suddenly broke into tears. Thanks to Ron the whole school now knew that she was going to the ball with Malfoy. 'The stupid idiot. Does he not know when to keep his big fat mouth shut?' she thought angrily right before she noticed that a shadow had appeared beside her. Nora looked up to find Hermione with both of their cloaks and money.

"I know Ron can be a selfless git sometimes, but I was hoping to still go into Hogsmeade. I really want to go, but I think you already know that, as Harry had been so rude to tell me," Hermione said. Nora smiled through her tears, and when she stood up and looked at her best friend, she saw to her horror that her eyes were filled with tears too.

"Why are you crying? It's not because of Harry, is it? Did it really hurt you that bad?" Nora asked her.

"No, no, it's just that… well… when I saw you and Ron fighting it… it kind of reminded me of my parents." Her tears began to flow too and the two friends made their way towards the cozy village of Hogsmeade with their arms around each others' shoulders, both of them crying silently.

When they had finally reached Hogsmeade their tears had dried up and they were chatting happily.

"Ooooooh, look," Hermione said pointing to a shop called Madam Malkins' Costumes. "I bet she's got costumes, she owns the store where we get our Hogwarts' robes, too, you know."

"Well, then, let's go check." And they both made their way towards the store. The shop was incredibly large inside and it had millions of costumes that hung along the walls. To the right were dressing cabins, to try on a costume.

"Maybe we should hurry up a bit, it's not too crowded yet, but that might change," Hermione said looking around. "Actually, we're the only ones here."

"Even better, let's go browse." They both made their way to a different section and scanned millions of costumes, though none they liked. Nora looked at Gypsy costume, it was rather nice, but not really her style, so she kept looking around. Hermione found a mermaid costume but she thought it would be a bit too much trouble, with the tail and all, so she kept browsing as well. After what felt like hours they had finally both found a costume they liked and tried it on, gasping when they saw each other.

"Nora, you look gorgeous!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Oh my god, so do you!" Nora was wearing an angel costume. It had white high-healed shoes with straps, and the dress she wore was white too and felt like fine silk. It fit her perfectly and the bottom of it just reached the ground if she wore the shoes. The sleeves of the dress fit her upper arms snuggly and when they passed her elbows they grew much wider. To top the costume off, there was a halo that floated perfectly above her head.

Hermione was wearing a Muggle witch costume. It looked just like Nora's but it was all in black. There was a black necklace around her neck with a dark amulet, in which there were a few colors that looked like they were mixing, but they never did. There was black, dark blue, dark purple and dark green. It looked very amazing and highly mysterious. On Hermione's head was a black pointed witches hat, she held a broom in one of her hands but had decided to leave the wart that was supposed to be put on her nose, off. They both smiled and knew these were the costumes they were going to get. After changing back into their normal clothes they both went to Madam Malkin, who was standing behind a wooden counter, waiting for them to buy something.

"Ah, I see you two have made a choice," she said in a comforting tone, smiling sweetly. Nora and Hermione nodded and both paid for their costumes. When they were about to leave, the curiosity got the better of Hermione and she turned around again.

"Excuse me, Madame Malkin?" she asked.

"Yes dear, did you want to ask something?"

"Yes, why is it that we are the only costumers in here, when every Hogwarts student is trying to find a costume?"

"Very simple, dear. I have put a spell on my shop that enables you to become invisible to the other costumers if you do not want them to see you or what costume you are buying. That is why you can only see yourself and your friend in here and nobody else. You want to keep your costume a secret from everyone except her," Madam Malkin answered smiling. "It's good to see such curiosity and the will to learn something new in a child these days." Hermione beamed and then both girls left to go to the Three Broomsticks.

"That's actually quiet interesting," Hermione said thoughtfully. "I was actually worrying on our way over to Hogsmeade that someone would see what my costume was. I did want to keep it a secret from Terry…" They entered the Three Broomsticks and Nora ordered two Butterbeers while Hermione found a vacant seat by the window. The room was decorated in orange and black and real live bats were fluttering above the visitors. There were small pumpkins in a few corners and on the tables were orange and black candles. Nora looked at their candles and saw the flames flicker as a chilly gust of air passed them. She looked up to see who had just walked in and moaned. It was Harry and Ron.

"I really don't want to see them right now. I'm still furious with Ron, and I'm not feeling any better about Harry. You should've seen how he looked at me," Nora complained to Hermione.

"I did. I thought it was unbelievable. Blaming you for going to the Ball with that hateful, slimy, pathetic excuse for a human being. The nerve, honestly," Hermione said. Just then Harry and Ron came over to their table, very cautiously. Harry nudged Ron in the ribs.

"Erm… Hi, er… I was hoping to see you here," he told Nora.

"And why is that? Come to shout some more and humiliate me in the process?" she replied, not looking at him but outside, watching a few couples walk by. She felt lonely now, not only because she didn't have a boyfriend, but also because she had to go to the Ball with Malfoy. It was like Dumbledore knew she'd have no one else to go with, and decided to torture her a bit more. Though she had to admit, Malfoy was softening up a bit on her.

"No, erm… I wanted to ehm… apologize for my behavior this morning. I shouldn't have yelled at you." Ron was getting on track now. "It was a stupid thing to do. And I really hate myself now for shouting at you, and I'm really sorry for humiliating you in front of the whole school. I didn't mean too, I just erm…" he lost it, and went back to his stuttering, his ears turned a bit red too, Harry nudged him again, "Oh, right. I was just… well… erm…" another nudged from Harry, "Ow! I was just trying to look out for you. You know we don't want you to get hurt." He pointed at himself and Harry. Just then Dean walked in with Crystal Rose and Ron scowled. "Like what he did to you." Nora looked up and found Dean walking toward the four of them with a Butterbeer in one hand and an arm around Crystal-Rose. Nora hoped that he wasn't going to mention what he heard about Malfoy. But, unfortunately, hoping hadn't worked at breakfast and obviously wouldn't work now.

"So, I heard, and very clearly at that, that you were going to the Ball with Malfoy," he said.

"Yes, so?"

"Nothing, nothing,"

"Dumbledore is making us go together!" Nora shouted at his back as he walked away, snogging Crystal. He waved a hand to show he'd heard her. Nora scowled and put her head in her hands. Harry and Ron sat down at the table and questioned Hermione, to her annoyance, about Terry.

When the four left the Three Broomsticks they looked around the shops and Ron bought some stuff at Zonko's. Halfway down the street he made them look at a vacant shop in the middle of the already occupied shops, somewhere in the street.

"What are we supposed to be looking at?" Harry asked him, tilting his head, trying to see something.

"Well I got a letter this morning from Fred and George. They bought this shop and should have it done and filled by begin December, so we can buy stuff there on the next Hogsmeade visit. Cool huh?" Ron replied enthusiastically. "I can't wait," he added, with a bit of an evil grin on his face. Hermione and Nora both dragged him away from the shop worried. Ron was actually clinging to the front window, like a little child to a candy store.

After they had finished visiting the rest of the shops they went back towards the castle. Hermione and Nora were both very excited to show the boys their costumes tomorrow at the Ball. The two grinned, and Ron, noticing, poked Harry in the arm to ask him what he thought of it.

"Probably girl stuff, Ron. We wouldn't understand," Harry muttered.

"Ah, right," replied Ron.

A/N: Hope you liked it. Next chappy: The Halloween Ball! Can't wait to write it!