"Off to class? OFF TO CLASS? How can they expect us to concentrate
knowing that we could be meeting our perfect match in less than 24 hours?"
Hermione said, panicking as she tried to comb her fingers through her bushy
brown hair.
Ron and Harry laughed as they made the familiar walk to Transfiguration. "Hermione, I think you're taking this too seriously. It's just a stupid game show, after all. This is all so that Fred and George can wind up with the girls they want and so that they and Dumbledore can have a laugh. It's not like it determines who you'll be spending the rest of your life with!" Ron said before they walked into class. "But it could!" Hermione said earnestly, "My parents were matched up on a game show!"
Shaking their heads, the boys took a seat in the back of McGonagall's class, leaving Hermione to sit up front with Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown. "This is so, exciting, Mione!" Parvati said happily, blushing, "I hope I get paired up with Harry. The way his hair is so messy all the time is such a turn-on!"
Lavender looked just as excited. "Yeah, Mione, don't you think Parvati and Harry would make the cutest couple? And maybe I'll get matched with Seamus! Of course, then we'd have to hope Dean was matched up too, because Seamus is so loyal he would probably feel bad leaving his best friend," she said, talking so fast it was hard to understand.
"Do you ever think about anything but guys?" Hermione asked in frustration. Both Lavender and Parvati shook their heads, looking very proud. 'Some people can be so shallow,' Hermione thought. What else could she have expected, though? If the school was going to be setting people up on a blind date matchmaking show, and then having them go with their 'perfect match' to the dance, how could anyone be anything but shallow. Hermione shrugged, going with the flow. "I wonder who I'll end up with!" she said to Parvati and Lavender, "I hope it's someone totally hot though."
"Enough, class," Professor McGonagall frowned, walking into the room, "The Weasley twins seem to be trying to corrupt the entire school to think and act like they do, and all I can say is that I hope they don't succeed. Now I have an important lesson to teach today, so let's get to work and talk about what's happening after class after class."
Because the whole class had had experience in how strict McGonagall could be, even taking points away from her own house, they obliged. But they were very happy to get out of class and talk in the halls about Blind Date. Hermione even walked on to lunch with Parvati and Lavender, so engrossed in their conversation about how the show was actually incredibly accurate and predicted who you really were a perfect match for very truthfully that she forgot to walk with Harry and Ron.
"I'm worried, Ron," Harry said a little anxiously, "Hermione is taking this whole thing really seriously. What if she ends up with Neville or something! Think how upset she'll be!" Ron rolled his eyes. "You worry too much Harry," he said calmly, "It's going to be fine! It's so obvious. Hermione will just end up with one of us! We're best friends already; one of us must be the perfect match for her!" Harry nodded, slightly reassured. Ron was right- Who better to be Hermione's perfect match than one of her two best friends. He hoped.
In the Great Hall, Harry and Ron sat down next to Fred, George, Angelina, and Alicia. "Hey Harry, enjoying the suspense?" George asked, grinning. Harry shrugged and nodded. What could he say? He was. "Know who you want to end up with, Ronniekins?" Angelina asked, laughing. Ron blushed. "Well, um, I," he stammered, at a loss for words. Alicia took over from there. "Ronnie, who's the lucky girl? Come on, you can tell us!" she said in her most persuasive tone.
Ron grimaced. He hated when his brothers [girl] friends treated him like a two-year old. Bill had always had girls over over the summer, and they had completely ignored him. Charlie's girls had always tried to bribe him to help them lure animals to the house, even though he always wound up with a burn or a bite. With Percy, girls like Penelope Clearwater acted like he was dumber than Crabbe and Goyle. And now Fred and George's girl friends acted like he was still in grade school. He was only 2 years younger than them! Well he would show them. Blind Date would show that he was the perfect match for an older girl, and they wouldn't treat him like a kindergartener anymore. Until then, at least he was thankful that they talked to him and knew his name.
"I'm not telling," Ron said, sounding very mature indeed as he finished his lunch quickly and went off to the Gryffindor common room. Harry laughed along with Fred, George, Angelina, and Alicia. "So then who do you want to go with, Harry?" Fred and Angelina said at almost the exact same time. Harry suddenly turned red. "Oh, I don't know," he said, and hurried off to join Ron in the common room, where they could complain about how little secrecy there was about who liked which girl.
Too soon it was time to go to their next class, Potions. It was their bad luck that 1:30 fell right in the middle of class with their least favorite Professor in the school. That day, everyone wound up coming to Potions early. It was a good excuse to be able to sit down and talk about the event that was going to happen that night.
Draco was especially excited. He couldn't wait to see what girl was going to get matched up with him. He hoped it was Pansy. He had decided over lunch that she wasn't too talkative after all. Besides, when she talked too much, all he had to do was snog her, and she would shut up. And she had promised him that she had a stash of Butterbeer hidden in the Slytherin common room to help them celebrate when they got paired together.
Just then, Pansy walked up to him, putting her arm around his waist. Unfortunately for them, Snape chose this moment to walk into class. "Miss Parkinson, Mr. Malfoy, if you could please keep your hands off each other while in my classroom it would be much appreciated. I hope for everyone's sake that no one in this class goes on that ridiculous show. 10 Points from Gryffindor for you, Miss Granger. Don't talk while I'm talking. Oh, and Draco, I thought I'd let you know that Mommy and Daddy Dearest will be participating in tonight's show at Dumbledore's request. So you better hope you don't get picked, anyway. I wouldn't want to be showing my face at that show with your parents," Snape said, sneering unpleasantly, "Now, without further ado, the lesson for today."
Everyone groaned at the fact that they still had to have Potions. However, all the Gryffindors' spirits were lifted by the fact that Malfoy looked sick at the thought of his- interesting- parents on Hogwarts: Blind Date. But before Professor Snape could even start the lesson, Lee Jordan's voice magically boomed throughout the school.
"Students and professors of Hogwarts School, this is Lee Jordan! I'm talking here on behalf of my best friends, Gred and Forge- sorry, I mean Fred and George Weasley, and our own Professor Dumbledore! As you may know for those of you who wear a watch, the time we have all been waiting for is approaching! That's right; currently the clocks of Hogwarts read 1:28! All teachers are requested to please stop lessons so that the students can take this opportunity to make a whole lot of noise and jump up and down! Everyone should be on the lookout! If you should receive a pink stuffed heart, then you have been selected! If not, then you can come watch and be a screaming fan! The fun starts directly after dinner tonight, so get prepared! And without further ado, at 1:29, the countdown begins! 60 59 58 57 56---11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2-"
The entire Potions class (the entire school, for that matter) held their breath as Lee Jordan counted down the final numbers. Finally, he said one, and everyone screamed, even though no hearts had appeared yet. Then the air filled with pink fluff that looked like cotton candy. Swirling around it took the shape of- you guessed it- pink stuffed hearts! "AHH! I got one!" Pansy shrieked, "And so did you Draco!"
Draco grinned self-satisfiedly. "Of course I did, Pansy. I'm a Malfoy," he said calmly. But even he couldn't retain himself, and the two hugged. "Yes! I got one!" Hermione squealed, along with Lavender and Parvati, who had gotten them too. Harry and Ron looked down only to find pink stuffed hearts in their arms as well. "We made it!" Ron yelled. All around, people were exclaiming that they had made it, and whining that they hadn't. Suddenly, an audible groan was heard. The whole class turned to the front of the room, where Professor Snape was sitting with a look of horror on his face and a pink stuffed heart in his hand.
After class, everyone rushed to right outside the Great Hall, where there was a list posted of all the people who would be on the show. Everyone wanted to see if their friends and their crushes had gotten chosen. The final list looked like this:
Blind Date- Hogwarts Style! Alicia Spinnet Angelina Johnson Aurora Sinistra Cho Chang Dean Thomas Draco Malfoy Fred Weasley George Weasley Ginny Weasley Harry Potter Hermione Granger Katie Bell Lavender Brown Lucius Malfoy Narcissa Malfoy Oliver Wood Pansy Parkinson Padma Patil Parvati Patil Penelope Clearwater Percy Weasley Remus Lupin Ron Weasley Seamus Finnegan Severus Snape Sirius Black
"You guys are lucky," Neville said to Harry and Ron, "Now you not only get to be in the cool show, you don't even have to worry about finding dates to the dance!" Harry and Ron thought for a second. It was true! They were now home free; they could have a blast on the show and come out with a date to the dance.
After checking the list, Hermione came over to them. "Harry, Ron, we made it! Aren't you happy?" she asked, hugging them both at once, "But can you believe some of the people they have on here? Snape? Please, who would be the perfect match for him?"
Ron and Harry laughed as they made the familiar walk to Transfiguration. "Hermione, I think you're taking this too seriously. It's just a stupid game show, after all. This is all so that Fred and George can wind up with the girls they want and so that they and Dumbledore can have a laugh. It's not like it determines who you'll be spending the rest of your life with!" Ron said before they walked into class. "But it could!" Hermione said earnestly, "My parents were matched up on a game show!"
Shaking their heads, the boys took a seat in the back of McGonagall's class, leaving Hermione to sit up front with Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown. "This is so, exciting, Mione!" Parvati said happily, blushing, "I hope I get paired up with Harry. The way his hair is so messy all the time is such a turn-on!"
Lavender looked just as excited. "Yeah, Mione, don't you think Parvati and Harry would make the cutest couple? And maybe I'll get matched with Seamus! Of course, then we'd have to hope Dean was matched up too, because Seamus is so loyal he would probably feel bad leaving his best friend," she said, talking so fast it was hard to understand.
"Do you ever think about anything but guys?" Hermione asked in frustration. Both Lavender and Parvati shook their heads, looking very proud. 'Some people can be so shallow,' Hermione thought. What else could she have expected, though? If the school was going to be setting people up on a blind date matchmaking show, and then having them go with their 'perfect match' to the dance, how could anyone be anything but shallow. Hermione shrugged, going with the flow. "I wonder who I'll end up with!" she said to Parvati and Lavender, "I hope it's someone totally hot though."
"Enough, class," Professor McGonagall frowned, walking into the room, "The Weasley twins seem to be trying to corrupt the entire school to think and act like they do, and all I can say is that I hope they don't succeed. Now I have an important lesson to teach today, so let's get to work and talk about what's happening after class after class."
Because the whole class had had experience in how strict McGonagall could be, even taking points away from her own house, they obliged. But they were very happy to get out of class and talk in the halls about Blind Date. Hermione even walked on to lunch with Parvati and Lavender, so engrossed in their conversation about how the show was actually incredibly accurate and predicted who you really were a perfect match for very truthfully that she forgot to walk with Harry and Ron.
"I'm worried, Ron," Harry said a little anxiously, "Hermione is taking this whole thing really seriously. What if she ends up with Neville or something! Think how upset she'll be!" Ron rolled his eyes. "You worry too much Harry," he said calmly, "It's going to be fine! It's so obvious. Hermione will just end up with one of us! We're best friends already; one of us must be the perfect match for her!" Harry nodded, slightly reassured. Ron was right- Who better to be Hermione's perfect match than one of her two best friends. He hoped.
In the Great Hall, Harry and Ron sat down next to Fred, George, Angelina, and Alicia. "Hey Harry, enjoying the suspense?" George asked, grinning. Harry shrugged and nodded. What could he say? He was. "Know who you want to end up with, Ronniekins?" Angelina asked, laughing. Ron blushed. "Well, um, I," he stammered, at a loss for words. Alicia took over from there. "Ronnie, who's the lucky girl? Come on, you can tell us!" she said in her most persuasive tone.
Ron grimaced. He hated when his brothers [girl] friends treated him like a two-year old. Bill had always had girls over over the summer, and they had completely ignored him. Charlie's girls had always tried to bribe him to help them lure animals to the house, even though he always wound up with a burn or a bite. With Percy, girls like Penelope Clearwater acted like he was dumber than Crabbe and Goyle. And now Fred and George's girl friends acted like he was still in grade school. He was only 2 years younger than them! Well he would show them. Blind Date would show that he was the perfect match for an older girl, and they wouldn't treat him like a kindergartener anymore. Until then, at least he was thankful that they talked to him and knew his name.
"I'm not telling," Ron said, sounding very mature indeed as he finished his lunch quickly and went off to the Gryffindor common room. Harry laughed along with Fred, George, Angelina, and Alicia. "So then who do you want to go with, Harry?" Fred and Angelina said at almost the exact same time. Harry suddenly turned red. "Oh, I don't know," he said, and hurried off to join Ron in the common room, where they could complain about how little secrecy there was about who liked which girl.
Too soon it was time to go to their next class, Potions. It was their bad luck that 1:30 fell right in the middle of class with their least favorite Professor in the school. That day, everyone wound up coming to Potions early. It was a good excuse to be able to sit down and talk about the event that was going to happen that night.
Draco was especially excited. He couldn't wait to see what girl was going to get matched up with him. He hoped it was Pansy. He had decided over lunch that she wasn't too talkative after all. Besides, when she talked too much, all he had to do was snog her, and she would shut up. And she had promised him that she had a stash of Butterbeer hidden in the Slytherin common room to help them celebrate when they got paired together.
Just then, Pansy walked up to him, putting her arm around his waist. Unfortunately for them, Snape chose this moment to walk into class. "Miss Parkinson, Mr. Malfoy, if you could please keep your hands off each other while in my classroom it would be much appreciated. I hope for everyone's sake that no one in this class goes on that ridiculous show. 10 Points from Gryffindor for you, Miss Granger. Don't talk while I'm talking. Oh, and Draco, I thought I'd let you know that Mommy and Daddy Dearest will be participating in tonight's show at Dumbledore's request. So you better hope you don't get picked, anyway. I wouldn't want to be showing my face at that show with your parents," Snape said, sneering unpleasantly, "Now, without further ado, the lesson for today."
Everyone groaned at the fact that they still had to have Potions. However, all the Gryffindors' spirits were lifted by the fact that Malfoy looked sick at the thought of his- interesting- parents on Hogwarts: Blind Date. But before Professor Snape could even start the lesson, Lee Jordan's voice magically boomed throughout the school.
"Students and professors of Hogwarts School, this is Lee Jordan! I'm talking here on behalf of my best friends, Gred and Forge- sorry, I mean Fred and George Weasley, and our own Professor Dumbledore! As you may know for those of you who wear a watch, the time we have all been waiting for is approaching! That's right; currently the clocks of Hogwarts read 1:28! All teachers are requested to please stop lessons so that the students can take this opportunity to make a whole lot of noise and jump up and down! Everyone should be on the lookout! If you should receive a pink stuffed heart, then you have been selected! If not, then you can come watch and be a screaming fan! The fun starts directly after dinner tonight, so get prepared! And without further ado, at 1:29, the countdown begins! 60 59 58 57 56---11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2-"
The entire Potions class (the entire school, for that matter) held their breath as Lee Jordan counted down the final numbers. Finally, he said one, and everyone screamed, even though no hearts had appeared yet. Then the air filled with pink fluff that looked like cotton candy. Swirling around it took the shape of- you guessed it- pink stuffed hearts! "AHH! I got one!" Pansy shrieked, "And so did you Draco!"
Draco grinned self-satisfiedly. "Of course I did, Pansy. I'm a Malfoy," he said calmly. But even he couldn't retain himself, and the two hugged. "Yes! I got one!" Hermione squealed, along with Lavender and Parvati, who had gotten them too. Harry and Ron looked down only to find pink stuffed hearts in their arms as well. "We made it!" Ron yelled. All around, people were exclaiming that they had made it, and whining that they hadn't. Suddenly, an audible groan was heard. The whole class turned to the front of the room, where Professor Snape was sitting with a look of horror on his face and a pink stuffed heart in his hand.
After class, everyone rushed to right outside the Great Hall, where there was a list posted of all the people who would be on the show. Everyone wanted to see if their friends and their crushes had gotten chosen. The final list looked like this:
Blind Date- Hogwarts Style! Alicia Spinnet Angelina Johnson Aurora Sinistra Cho Chang Dean Thomas Draco Malfoy Fred Weasley George Weasley Ginny Weasley Harry Potter Hermione Granger Katie Bell Lavender Brown Lucius Malfoy Narcissa Malfoy Oliver Wood Pansy Parkinson Padma Patil Parvati Patil Penelope Clearwater Percy Weasley Remus Lupin Ron Weasley Seamus Finnegan Severus Snape Sirius Black
"You guys are lucky," Neville said to Harry and Ron, "Now you not only get to be in the cool show, you don't even have to worry about finding dates to the dance!" Harry and Ron thought for a second. It was true! They were now home free; they could have a blast on the show and come out with a date to the dance.
After checking the list, Hermione came over to them. "Harry, Ron, we made it! Aren't you happy?" she asked, hugging them both at once, "But can you believe some of the people they have on here? Snape? Please, who would be the perfect match for him?"
