Hermione felt positively ridiculous sitting in Madam Puddifoot's in her jean skirt and tank top, with her hair hanging limply around her shoulders and her heavily made up face. She couldn't understand why Lavender wouldn't let her do it her own way. It was almost like Lavender was trying to live vicariously through Hermione on her date with Ron. But Lavender Brown's chance with Ron was over, and it was now time for Hermione to step up and get him back. She just hadn't imagined that she'd be look like…well, like Lavender when she did it. She tapped her fingers on the table in front of her nervously; she was unsure of how Ron was going to react to her new look. There was a couple at the table next to hers, staring into each other's eyes. It was starting to make her uncomfortable.
A moment late, the bell over the door to the teashop tinkled, and Hermione's head whipped around to see Ron enter. She thought about getting his attention, but he spotted her by himself. He slid into the seat opposite her.
"Hey," he greeted, flashing her a small smile. "I have to say I wasn't expecting you to write, especially after earlier…" He trailed off and stared at her oddly, his head slightly cocked to the side.
"I wasn't really expecting to write to you either," she replied, trying to avoid eye contact with him. She was also trying rather hard not to notice or say anything about his staring at her like his was. A moment of silence passed between them, broken only when Ron heaved a big sigh. A waitress came to the table, and Hermione ordered lemon tea and Ron ordered a medium sized coffee.
When the waitress had gone, Hermione immediately began to talk. "I wanted to say that I'm sorry about freaking out earlier when…well, you know. I should have at least given you a chance to talk with about all of this. I just…I guess I just kind of flipped out when you told me that you loved me."
Ron nodded his head understandingly. "I did spring it on you kind of suddenly. But I meant what I said---I still mean it."
Hermione swallowed hard. An awkward silence fell over them for a long time, until finally the waitress came back with their drinks. Hermione took a sip of her tea and winced; she'd forgotten to add sugar. The only noise at the table was that of crinkling paper as Hermione added sugar to her tea. Ron didn't touch his coffee.
She was starting to think that neither of them was going to speak again when he finally asked, "Hermione, what happened to you? You look…you don't look like yourself."
If she'd been any other girl on a date with Ron Weasley, she probably would have either a) slapped him, b) dumped her hot tea in his lap, or c) all of the above. But she wasn't any other girl. She was Hermione, one of his best friends, so she was used to Ron's bluntness.
"Lavender Brown happened, Ron," Hermione said calmly. "She decided to come over to my house earlier, yell at me for 'analyzing everything to death' and then help me get you back. This whole thing---apart from the actual idea of the date---was Lavender's idea. The hair, the make up, the place, everything was her idea."
"Oh," was all he said for a moment. He stared at her again, and then added, "I'm sorry."
Yet another awkward silence fell over them, but this time Hermione was the one to break it by asking, "Do you still think about her? Lavender, I mean."
Ron looked taken aback by this question, and had to take a moment to think carefully about his answer. "I guess I do think about her sometimes, but mostly just because I don't even know what I saw in her," he answered slowly. "It makes sense to me now that I know that she used a love potion on me though."
"Do you ever wonder what it would have been like if you had married her?" Hermione asked curiously. "Do you think you might have eventually learned to really love her without the potion?"
He laughed; it was a slightly surprised but mostly happy sound, and it made her smile in spite of herself. "I haven't really had time to think much about anything but trying to make things right between the two of us. Why all the questions, Hermione? What's up?"
"Nothing's 'up,' Ron," she replied. There was a slight pause. "I'm just curious, is all." He stared at her, a small smile playing about his lips. "Oh, alright. I wanted to know if you had any lingering feelings for her. The potion was so strong that the only way it would have worked so well for such a long period of time is if you had some sort of feelings in the first place."
Reaching across the table, he took her hand away from her teacup and covered it with both his hands. "If I still had any left over feelings for Lavender from the potion, I wouldn't be here with you now. I love you, Hermione, not Lavender, okay?" She muttered something inaudible under her breath, not looking at him. "Sorry, what was that?"
"You enjoy watching me squirm, don't you?" she asked, and he grinned teasingly at her. "I said, I love you too, okay? Now if you'll excuse me, I need to use the restroom."
He let go of her hand, still grinning, and she left the table in search of the girl's bathroom. Once inside, she took out her wand and said a spell Ginny had once taught her, pointing the wand at her hair. It instantly came back to life with a small pop, becoming thick and bushy once again, just the way she liked it. She put her wand back in her pocket, and then proceeded to remove the large amount of make-up on her face with a wet paper towel. In five minutes, she looked more or less like her normal self. Apparently the mascara Lavender had used on her eyes was waterproof.
Finally she deemed herself ready to go back out there. She walked over to the table with a new air of confidence about her, grabbed Ron by the hand, and tried to tug him out of the booth. She stopped for just a moment, though, but only to toss the money for the tea and coffee (that were both practically untouched).
"Come on, Ron. Let's get out of here."
Startled by her bizarre behaviour, Ron asked, "Alright. Where'd you have in mind?"
"I was thinking Honeydukes."
