Chapter 21: "Hogsmeade"
"Ok, where do you wanna go?" Harry asked Ginny as they arrived at Hogsmeade.
"First?"
"Are you planning to visit more than one shop?"
"Yeah… of course! Let's go to that shop there, they have wonderful clothes…" She said pointing to a little shop in one of the corners.
"Gin! Harry!" They heard someone behind them shout.
"Mione!" Ginny said, running towards her… but as soon as she saw Draco, she stopped dead in her tracks.
"It's ok; he's all right now…" Hermione said, lifting the hand she was holding with Draco.
"Why are you here? Are you buying something?" Harry asked putting an arm around Ginny's shoulders.
"Yeah… let's say it's a kind of punishment…" Draco said.
"Ah… you too… seems like all women have the same ideas…" Harry said gloomily.
"And these women want to buy something, so let's go…" Hermione said pulling Draco. "Meet you at the Three Broomsticks in an hour!" Hermione added as she dragged Draco towards one of the shops.
"Ok!" Harry answered.
"I'll have to hurry if I wanna be there in an hour…" Hermione said as she entered the shop.
"You'd better…" Draco said under his breath… He hated going shopping with women… ever since he had been able to talk; he had been making up excuses to avoid going shopping with his mother or any other woman… He was just doing it for her… for Hermione… He knew he had screwed it up badly… he had to gain her trust again… He would do anything to keep her at his side… anything…
Hermione walked around the many shelves full of books, but couldn't find one that really suited her needs. She looked in many shops… but she still couldn't find what she was looking for… she didn't even know what she was looking for… Draco was surprised when he realized how many shops they had been into in only half an hour…
"What are you looking for?" Draco asked as they went out from what seemed to him as the fiftieth shop…
"I don't know yet… I'll know when I find it…" She answered walking happily.
"What about that shop?" He said pointing to a clothes shop.
"Ok, I'll go there…"
"Let's do something, I've gotta buy something, you wait here, all right? Go into the shop… and if you want to buy something tap the ring… (A/N: Remember the locate aparo rings???) And I'll be here…" He explained.
"Ok, where are you going?"
"It's my business, Granger, not yours…" He said smiling.
"As you wish self-centred albino ferret…" She said kissing him.
Draco waited until Hermione went into the shop and made his way into a little shop… a jewellery shop…
"How can I help you, Mr. Malfoy? I haven't seen you in a long time… how's your family?"
"Dead." He said distractedly.
"I'm terribly sorry…" The saleswoman said looking down.
"Don't be, I'm glad they are…"
"Were you looking for something special?" She asked, trying to change the subject.
"Umm… I don't know… she's rather special, you know…"
"A ring, maybe?"
"Nah… I already have those… maybe a bracelet…"
It took Draco several minutes to decide what to buy, until he saw a necklace with a locket that really called his attention… it was shaped as a dragon… its red eyes and golden body were gorgeous…
"How much is this?" He asked.
"Fifty Galleons… you know what that is, don't you?"
"Umm… nope… Can you tell me?"
"Yes, certainly sir. It's your family crest…"
"Really? I didn't know… I mean, I knew it was a dragon… that's where my name comes from, but… I didn't know there was jewellery with the family crest… Does it have any special feature or something?" He asked turning it around in his hands.
"Not really… the only thing is that it's made of gold… and that it's always silver… the only ones who can see its true colour are the members of the Malfoy family…"
"I'll take it…" He really didn't want to keep listening to this woman's nonsense, so he took the dragon…
He paid the woman and left the shop so as to look for Hermione… he went into the shop where he had left her and taped his ring…
He saw her coming out of one of the changing rooms… she looked stunning.
"Just beautiful…" He whispered in her ear making her jump.
"Hi… I know… it's wonderful… can I have it?"
"Yeah… how much is it?"
"Twenty Galleons and thirty three Sickles…"
"All right, change and we'll go and pay for it…" He said thinking that if every time he screwed it up, he would have to spend that much money, he'd better be a good boy…
"Thank you so much!" She said jumping happily and kissing him on the cheek…
They got out of the shop after having paid and headed towards the Three Broomsticks…
As soon as they entered, they spotted Harry and Ginny kissing in one of the tables…
"Showtime is over, Potty, let go of the girl for God's sake…" Draco said.
Ginny turned as red as her hair…
"Draco! Be nice!" Hermione told him laughing.
"I will…" He said smiling at her. "Let me have some fun once in a while."
"So, what did you buy?" Ginny asked Hermione interested.
"I bought a gorgeous dress for the ball… it's so beautiful…"
"Let me see it…" Ginny said excited.
Hermione took out the dress and showed it to her.
"It's great!" Ginny exclaimed.
Harry rolled his eyes at Draco and they started laughing.
"What?" Both girls asked at the same time.
"You get so overexcited about a dress…" Draco said.
"So what? We like dresses… when you step in front of a Quidditch store you keep staring stupidly at a broom for hours and hours…" Hermione said.
"Stupidly? Brooms for us are like books to you, Hermione… We can't stop thinking about them…"
"Thank you… can I kick your ass now?" She said sarcastically.
"Go ahead, Mione… I'll help you." Draco said.
"Hello, kids. What can I offer you?" Madame Rosmerta asked.
"Four Butter beers, please" Hermione answered.
"Right away…" She said and a few seconds later, she appeared with a tray.
"Thank you…" Draco said and paid the woman. "This is on me…" He added when Harry leaned over to pay his and Ginny's Butter beer.
"Who are you and what did you do with Malfoy?" Harry asked faking surprise.
"I may be a jerk, but I'm not cheap…" He said in a fake dignified way.
Everyone laughed.
They saw Ron entering the Pub with Luna; they too had been shopping… As soon as they spotted Harry and the others, they joined them.
"What did you do?" Draco asked Ron.
"Don't ask, Malfoy… just don't ask…" Ron told him sitting on one of the chairs. Luna did so too.
"C'mon! It can't be that bad, Weasley!"
"All right… if you insist…" He looked at Luna. "She was wearing lettuce shaped earrings, and I just told her I didn't like them… and she somehow got mad at me for that… I dunno why yet, but she did…" Ron explained.
"You don't know why?! Ronald! You didn't just say you didn't like them! You started laughing and asked me to stop the prank and take them off! You said they were horrible!" Luna said outraged.
"All right, all right…" Ron said accepting defeat.
"So now his punishment is buying me a whole new wardrobe… and jewellery too…" Luna said.
(A/N: After the Great War, Mr. Weasley was elected Minister of Magic and made a little fortune… it still didn't reach Harry's and Draco's level… but they had a lot of money now… and Ron had been awarded, as all the people involved in the War, for his bravery with ten thousand Galleons a year… Sorry I didn't explain that before… but I didn't think I was going to need to…)
"What did you buy?" Ginny asked.
"I bought some earrings and some necklaces… now we have to go buy the clothes… I was wondering if you could help me, girls…" Luna answered.
"Yeah, sure, we'll go as soon as we finish here…" Hermione answered.
Ginny and Hermione spent all afternoon looking for clothes with Luna. The boys stayed at the Three Broomsticks talking about Quidditch. Now everything was perfect… All they had to do now was to wait for the exams to come… and they were going to be really hard…