Lavender's Mistake by The Queen of the Pugs
"You can probably leave now," Hermione said to Lavender after a moment. "Um, thanks a lot for convincing me to take Ron back. I—I really appreciate the help." It was no use; Lavender didn't budge.
"Oh, please. Save your flattering words, Granger," Lavender said, rolling her eyes. "I'm staying here until I know that you two are back together." She stared at Hermione with a defiant expression on her face, as if she were daring Hermione to challenge her.
Of course Hermione couldn't pass up the opportunity. "How do you know that Ron and I are going to get back together for sure?" she demanded. "What if he suddenly decides he doesn't love me anymore?"
Lavender stared at Hermione as if she were looking at the dumbest person she had ever seen. "Ron wouldn't do that," she said slowly, as if to be sure Hermione would understand her that way.
"How do you know that? I mean can you really tell?" Hermione knew she was behaving childishly, but she couldn't help it. She couldn't really tell why she was acting that way, but she sure would like to know. She usually didn't act like this.
Lavender shook her head and took a deep breath to calm her down. She felt like slapping Hermione at the moment, but she knew that somehow that wouldn't help her. "People don't just wake up and decide they aren't in love with someone, Hermione. Things don't work that way."
Hermione sighed and looked like she was going to argue some more, but instead she said, "Fine. What is it going to take to get you out of my house?"
Lavender smiled only too readily. "I was waiting for you to ask me that, though not in those exact words. Now you're going to write a letter to Ron asking him on a date."
"What? Why?"
"What do you mean, why?" Lavender asked, surprised by Hermione's response. "How else are you two supposed to get back together?"
"Well, I was just planning to go to his house and tell him that I changed my mind—"
"Don't be ridiculous," she mocked, shaking her head. "You have to do something romantic, Hermione, not just walk up to him and say, 'Oh by the way, I forgive you.' It doesn't work that way. Boys love romance."
Hermione glared at the girl sitting in front of her, sincerely wishing that she would just leave her house and quit bugging her. This was her relationship with Ron, not Lavender's after all. Lavender had had her chance with Ron, and now it was Hermione's turn to win him back, and she was going to do it on her own if it killed her.
"Oh, and just how did you run across this little piece of information?" she asked Lavender haughtily.
"Oh please, Granger!" Lavender cried, starting to get extremely frustrated with Hermione. "Are you always like this?"
"Like what?" she demanded.
"Like you just know you're right! You always act as if whoever you're talking to is incredibly dense or something! It's rather annoying, you know. I just don't know how Harry and Ron keep sticking around you, let alone Ron being in love with you! That's why I got so jealous of you, because Ron loved you even though you were such a huge know-it-all."
"Get out."
"What?!"
"You heard me," Hermione said, her voice shaking from anger. "I said get out of my house, now. If you're just going to sit here and poke fun at me, you can just leave now and spare me getting really upset."
"I think it's a bit late for that," the other girl responded curtly. "Besides, I've already told you that I'm not leaving until I know you and Ron are back together. Call it…a birthday gift from me to you."
"My birthday is in September."
"You can never make things easy can you?" Lavender repeated, sighing for what seemed like the hundredth time since she'd been in Hermione's house. "Now have you got a bit of parchment and a quill laying around here somewhere perchance?"
A full twenty minutes and quite a few arguments later, a letter for Ron was produced, in which he was asked to meet Hermione in Madam Puddifoot's, a quaint little tea shop in Hogsmeade. Lavender had scoffed at her when Hermione had suggested going to Honeydukes, the wizarding sweet shop, insisting that going with somewhere more romantic would be so much better, but Hermione had argued that it would be better if they were in a setting that they both felt comfortable in. But in the end Hermione gave into Lavender's demands, but only because she was giving her a headache.
Lavender attached the letter to Hermione's owl's leg and sent it off to Ron's with a look of satisfaction on her face. When the bird had flown out of sight, Lavender turned back around and shot a smug look at Hermione, who was now looking worried upon seeing that look on Lavender's face.
"What?" she demanded.
"Now we have to get you ready for your date. Do you have any make-up, because I think we'll really need some---"
"Make-up?" squeaked Hermione.
An hour later, Lavender finally declared Hermione ready for her date with Ron, after almost giving up and proclaiming her a hopeless case. Hermione hadn't argued with Lavender about the make-up, though she really didn't want to wear any. At that point, she just wanted her former classmate out of her house.
The only part of her look that she liked was her outfit, and she'd chosen the shirt. She was clad in a light blue tank top and a jean skirt that (thankfully) went down to her knees. As a final touch (to her outfit, anyway) Lavender had thrown on a jean jacket over her bare shoulders.
Lavender, a huge grin on her face, turned Hermione toward the mirror she kept in her bedroom. Hermione had to grip the stool she was seated upon in order not to fall off it. She felt ridiculous covered in all of this make-up that she wasn't used to wearing. Her eyes were outlined with thick black eyeliner, her lashes were coated in mascara, and her eyelids looked as if they had been smothered with blue eye shadow. Her lips seemed too shiny, and she was sure that Lavender (or anyone else who happened to look at her) could see her reflection in them.
But that wasn't even the worst part. Lavender had attacked her bushy hair with several straightening spells, and now it hung limply around her face and shoulders. Hermione watched her eyes grow wide in the mirror as she turned to look at Lavender, who was watching her gleefully.
"What have you done to me?"
"Don't you just love it? I think it looks lovely, and so will Ron. Now hurry up, or you'll be late."
