Quidditch tryouts had gone well, but the rest of the week seemed to drag on for Ron and Hermione and when Sunday finally came, when it was finally the Hogsmeade trip, Ron had never felt worse. He was so nervous that his stomach did a back flip every time he caught a glimpse of her, and he was still trying desperately to decide what to wear.
"Harry, is this acceptable?"
"Sure."
"But would it go with these pants do you reckon?"
"Sure."
"Or should I wear a sweater? It might be chilly and I don't have any decent jackets."
"Sure."
"Harry, you haven't looked up from your magazine in ten minutes; I get the feeling you're not even paying attention!"
"Look, Ron. This is Hermione we're talking about. She couldn't possible care any less what sweater you wear! Personally I'd be more worried about what to say than what to wear."
Ron had never thought about it. He had guessed he would talk about the same things he always did. But this was a date and things were always different on dates. Now what to wear was the least of his worries.
It was now quarter to twelve and he had decided on a maroon sweater and some pressed khakis. He walked down the stairs and saw Hermione chatting casually with Lavender. When she noticed him she smiled. He smiled back. She looked nice, not that she did anything extra though. Her ringlet curls bounced beside her face as she walked over to him.
"Don't you look stunning?" she said in a would-be casual voice.
"I should hope so I spent an hour on this!" They both laughed and before they boarded the train she grabbed his hand.
"So how were tryouts?" she asked casually.
"Actually, pretty good. We found some pretty fair Chasers, and you'll never believe who we got as one of the Beaters."
"Who?"
"A second year girl by the name of Candi Malfoy."
He watched as her mouth fell open. "Are you mad?" she remarked.
"No, but I think the Sorting Hat is. Who would put a Malfoy in Gryffindor? But anyway she's really, really good. At first I thought, this has got to be a joke because this girl is the most dolled up little supermodel, I swear. She looked like if a Bludger hit her she'd snap in two. But she certainly proved me wrong. She hit a Bludger through one of the goal posts! Can you believe that?"
"Wow. 'Spose she's no beginner. But who was the other Beater?"
"Not real sure. Some Natalie Combs, but only by default-- Colin Creevey wimped out."
Hermione stifled a laugh. "Colin Creevey? A Beater?"
"Yeah. So we really don't know too much 'bout this Combs girl. We never saw her fly. But I hear from Dean she's got a Firebolt so she can't be too bad."
"Yeah I've spoken to her a few times. The Swedish one right? Who got transferred from Durmstrang a few years back? She's really smart you know."
"Is she...?" Ron said sounding none too interested. This was going far better than he expected. He could speak freely to her, and when she wasn't looking at him he could stare at her.
They arrived at Hogsmeade before they could pick another topic to talk about, and stepped out onto the cobblestone. Hermione gasped as she took hold of Ron's hand again.
"I haven't been here in the fall in years! I've forgotten how beautiful it is!" She was gazing around and he could see the genuine sparkle of joy in her eyes.
"Yes, yes it is very pretty out here. Where do you wanna go?"
"Oh I dunno, lets just walk around for a while."
So they strolled around the streets looking through windows and kicking up leaves. They talked about the weather and they talked about Honeydukes and the best candies there are and they really just talked about everything. After about an hour, Ron changed the subject abruptly to food.
"I'm hungry. Do you want to go get a coffee or something?"
"Oh, sure. Where should we go?"
"I dunno. Anywhere warm really."
How 'bout Madam Puddifoots? I hear they have wonderful scones there."
So they set out in search of Madam Puddifoots. As Ron went to open the door he reluctantly let go of her hand and stepped in after her. As soon as he did however, he regretted it.
Couples everywhere were either snogging or at least kissing and it made him feel extremely uncomfortable. Did she expect him to do the same?
They sat down at a table and ordered coffee and scones.
Ron began to play with his knives and forks in an attempt to ignore the surrounding couples. Hermione was nervously twiddling her thumbs and looking at her feet. She knew they shouldn't have come here.
When the food and drink came they were both grateful to have a distraction.
"Thank you," Ron said as he searched his pocket for galleons.
"Ron you don't have to pay I'd rather-"
"No. The gentleman always pays for the lady."
She looked at him in an unsettling way, but he gave her a wink for reassurance.
They sipped their coffee and ate their scones in silence. The awkwardness was getting unbearable when Hermione finally spoke up.
"Look, Ron. I know you're uncomfortable in here-- I am too. I'm regretting coming in here in fact, but I really don't expect you to...you know." She nodded at the other couples in the diner.
He could've kissed her at that moment but instead he just grabbed her hand and stood up.
"Let's go," he said smiling, and she smiled back.
They had almost cleared the room when an arrogant voice called after them.
"Oh look! Isn't that sweet! Weasel and Granger are holding hands!"
The two looked around and saw a boy looking slightly disheveled with lipstick all over his face and neck. Pansy Parkinson was perched on his lap.
"Look Malfoy I really don't want to start anything today so why don't you just go back to sucking on your pig-faced girlfriend."
"I think I will Weasel. But I advise you not to do the same. Swap spit with Granger and you'll end up with dirty spit." He said this with a smirk and then turned back to Pansy.
Ron took out his wand and moved closer to Malfoy but Hermione stopped him.
"No Ron, please! He's really not worth it! I know he's a git, but he insulted me, not you, and I can take care of myself." He stepped away and saw her eyes were a little too shiny to be natural. There were tears growing up there, but she wiped them away and pretended not to be offended by his Mudblood remark. They stepped outside the diner and Hermione put herself up against him. He hugged her.
"I'm sorry," he mumbled. "But he is such an ass!"
"Ron!"
"Sorry. But how can he say things like that? Even if you say it doesn't offend you, it offends me."
"That's no reason to pull out your wand and threaten him! That's how you lose your badge, you know."
"Yeah well, well he deserves it! He's an ass and he needs to be kicked."
"Not funny. But his father's in Azkaban and I think that's enough punishment for him-"
"No Hermione it's not! If you haven't noticed, he hasn't exactly mellowed out since then in fact he's gotten worse!"
"Yes! He has and that's because he no longer has a father!"
"I doubt he ever was all that close to his dad."
"Still."
"Ugh, why are you sticking up for a Malfoy? He called you a, a Mud- he called you a horrible name. Horrible."
"I know Ron! I'm not deaf! Can we please drop this ruddy subject and move on?"
"Fine." But she could see he was still angry.
They walked along the cobblestones in silence, and soon the grey clouds let rain begin to fall. In sheets.
"Hermione, in here," Ron said urgently into her ear. He was pointing to Honeydukes.
The store was packed with eager third years looking around in awe of all the sweets.
"Heh heh. I remember when we first came in here," Hermione reminisced happily.
"Yeah you wouldn't buy anything 'cause you were worried you'd get a cavity and disappoint your parents," Ron added laughing.
"That's not true!"
"Yes it is. Don't try to deny it."
She threw him a look of daggers and Ron decided to change the subject.
"So...do you want anything?"
"Not really. I'm just kind of looking around..."
"Well I think I'll get an everlasting jaw breaker. I haven't had one in a good year or so."
They waited in the line of seventeen billion little third years for a long time before they reached the counter.
"One bag of everlasting jawbreakers please." Ron requested in an oh-so-polite way.
"Seven sickles please," said the old witch behind the counter. But before he could get the silver Hermione had placed seven sickles on the counter.
The old witch smiled as she handed him the bag. "Thank you and have a nice day."
"Why did you do that?" he asked as the rain soaked into their skin.
"Do what?"
"Pay."
"Oh. Well I just thought that since you bought the meal I'd buy the candy. We're equals in this relationship. I don't believe in the man buying and paying for everything."
Ron laughed dryly. "Well that's good 'cause if you did I'd have to get a job or something. My funding is limited as you know."
When they got back on the train they were wetter than if they'd fallen into a lake. If that were possible anyway.
He took hold of her hand and held it until they reached Hogwarts.
"Well that was fun," she commented brightly as the reentered the castle.
"Yeah I'd like to do it again sometime before the weather gets bad-- oh wait-- it already is," he said in a very Eric Foreman sort of way.
She laughed. "We'll have to do it again before the rain turns to snow, how bout that?"
"Yeah that sounds good. But I don't think the next trip is until mid November."
"We don't have to do it in Hogsmeade. We could have like a picnic lunch in the courtyard or something."
"A picnic lunch?" Ron repeated, eyebrows raised.
"Yes a picnic lunch!" she snapped. "It'll be fun."
"I'm so sure. So...maybe we could have our "picnic lunch" same time next week?"
"I'm serious!" she said irritably.
"So am I!"
"All right then, same time next week it is." She smiled at him one last time and headed up the stairs.
Oh yeah, he thought, score two for Ron. And he launched his fist into the air.