"That was a good movie," Hermione said, finishing up her drink as they came out of the building and went back into the car.
"Yes it was," Pepper agreed, sticking the key in the ignition.
"Not enough action," Ron said.
"Ron, it was your first movie, you're supposed to appreciate things like that," Harry told him.
"Hey Pepper," said Ron, changing the subject, "How did your uncle do that thing earlier? When he came in by that blue stuff."
"Your Aunt Paige was doing it, too, wasn't she? Moving herself and objects around that way," Hermione said.
"Yea," Pepper said, impressed that Hermione noticed. "I can't really tell you how Ron, but it's called Orbing. You move from one place to another by disappearing in that blue stuff and reappearing in it."
"But your aunt was already there, your uncle just came out of nowhere," Ron said, still not getting his answer.
"He's this thing called a Whitelighter. It's a person, well, it's a dead person, sort of, well, my Uncle Leo was in a war a while ago and I guess he died then he got this option to become a Whitelighter, so it's a dead person that's brought back to life in a way...anyway they protect witches. I don't know how many, that's top-secret information, but there's one Whitelighter to so many witches. They watch over and protect and warn, I guess."
"Isn't he married to one of your aunts, though?" Hermione asked.
"Yea, my Aunt Piper. I'm not really sure how it all works," Pepper said with a shrug, suddenly wishing she did know how it all worked so she could show off for them. "Hey, we're here. Speaking of my Aunt Piper, this is her club, too."
They got out of the car and entered P3, and they were suddenly hit with a wave of music. "Drinks then dancing!" Pepper exclaimed as she walked over to the bar. "Hey, Aunt Piper," she said as she saw her aunt.
Piper came over to them and asked if they wanted anything to drink.
"I feel bad," Hermione said. "All this money you're spending on me."
"Oh, it's no problem," Pepper said. "I'm sure my Aunt Piper will give them to us on the house, as a going away present."
"Sure, anything for my favorite niece," Piper said sarcastically but with a smile.
"But I'm only your favorite niece because I'm your only niece, right?" Pepper said.
"You bet," Piper answered. "What would you guys like? They are on the house," Piper guaranteed them.
"Thanks," Hermione said softly.
Pepper and Harry ordered ginger ales, Hermione got a lemonade and since Ron didn't know any of the soft drinks on the menu Harry persuaded him to get a ginger ale as well.
"Are you guys having a good time?" Pepper asked the three hopefully. They all nodded, unable to speak because of the straws in their mouths. "Well it's about to get better," she said. "Let's go dance."
"She's brilliant," Harry said. "Best dancer I've ever seen."
"Nonsense," Pepper shook her head, "Though I owe Harry another lesson, so let's go." Harry followed her willingly, as did Hermione but Ron did not.
"Oh come on Ron," Hermione pleaded. "It'll be fun."
"I don't dance," he said stubbornly.
"Well you will, come on." She grabbed her wrist and pulled him along behind Pepper and Harry to a spot on the dance floor. Pepper, she saw, began moving to the beat immediately, swaying her hips and raising her arms. She agreed with Harry: Pepper was a brilliant dancer, she just didn't know it. Or maybe she did know and was just fishing for compliments. Hermione had observed that she was a mite cocky. Hermione began moving her hips too, though she didn't think she was nearly as good as Pepper. Hermione saw that Harry was dancing also, however robotic.
"Dance Ron," Pepper instructed.
"I don't dance," he responded.
"Sure you do," she said, picking up his hands and moving them. The rest of Ron's body refused to move.
"Do you dance, Hermione?" Pepper asked her, still dancing with Ron's hands.
"Yea, but I'm not very good," Hermione said, dancing a bit more subtly since Pepper was paying attention to her.
"Well that makes two of us," Pepper smiled, letting Ron's wrists go and moving towards Hermione. She danced gracefully in front of the other girl, encouraging Hermione with her eyes. Hermione got more courage and tried copying some of what Pepper was doing.
"How do you do that?" she yelled at Pepper over the music. "That thing with your hips," she specified.
"You've got to, oh, I don't know, sort of pop them out of the sockets, remove them from the rest of your body. That way they go smoothly," Pepper explained.
Hermione tried it, looking at her hips as she did. "Bend your knees," Pepper advised. Hermione did and saw there was a difference in the way she moved. "There! You're doing it!" She took hold of one of Hermione's hands and Hermione took Pepper's other hand so that they were wrist-to- wrist, fingers entwined and began to dance. Their hands were up above their heads, hips moving to the song, Pepper was biting her bottom lip and her eyes were closed. Hermione laughed suddenly, she felt so carefree and good.
They danced like that for two songs, their bodies synchronized. "You're brilliant!" Hermione yelled at Pepper.
"Right back at you!"
When a slower paced song came on they both dropped hands simultaneously and Pepper said she'd be right back and made her way through the crowd towards the stage.
She got up on stage and went over to the DJ to request a song before fighting back through the mass of people to get back to Harry, Ron and Hermione. "What about my lesson?" Harry asked her.
"You're doing great on your own, Harry!" she told him. "But I requested the song that came on last night..." Just as she said that the song began to play and she took Harry's hands as she had before and danced with him.
"Ron!" they heard Hermione whine. "Dance!"
"No," came Ron's stubborn answer.
"Are they a couple?" Pepper asked Harry quietly.
Harry burst out laughing. "Ron wishes," he said. "Hermione might, too. Neither knows how the other feels yet."
"Well I think they should be a couple, then, if they like each other."
"Pepper," Harry began warningly, "don't mess with their relationship, it's already screwed enough."
"Fine, but I'm going to work on Ron's dancing," she said, letting Harry's hands dance on their own accord. "Hey, Ron," Pepper said, dancing next to Hermione, who was still unsuccessfully trying to get Ron to dance. "Dance, man!" She twirled around him, her gauze skirt billowing out. "This is the best song in the universe, don't waste it!" She danced around him, singing the words, trying to get him to move at least a little bit.
When the song ended, Hermione said she wanted to get something to drink, so the four of them went back to the bar, plopping heavily into the stools, (Harry, Pepper and Hermione from fatigue and Ron from stubbornness). "Waters please," Pepper requested to the man behind the bar and found when he turned around that he was her Uncle Leo.
"Hey," Leo said.
"Hey," Pepper smiled.
"You okay, kid? I heard you got knocked unconscious by that Doguo this afternoon."
"Yea, I'm fine. Oh, now you can meet my new friends," Pepper realized. "This is Ron, Hermione and my god brother Harry."
"Hello, nice to meet you all," Leo said as he slid their waters to them along the bar top. "So you're all heading off to school tomorrow?" he asked as he cleaned the bar of empty glasses and beer bottles.
"Yes," Hermione said, taking a gulp from her glass. "I can't wait; Hogwarts is the best place in the world."
"Sure is," Harry agreed with her, holding the glass of water to his flushed cheeks to cool them down.
"I can't wait to go either, it sounds exciting from all the things these three have told me," Pepper told Leo.
"I can't wait for you to leave, either, and get you out of my hair," Leo joked.
"Why is everyone being so mean to me tonight?" Pepper groaned.
"You're just so easy to tease." Pepper stuck her tongue out at him. "Oh, real mature," Leo said. "If you'll excuse me, there are other customers to attend to."
"See you tomorrow morning when you stop by to say farewell, right?" Leo nodded, smiling, and walked away.
"Well we have three choices now," Pepper announced. "Dance, sit or leave."
"I vote to leave, I'm too tired to dance anymore," Harry said.
"Me too," Hermione said.
Pepper and Ron both agreed with the other two so they got down from their stools and left the club. When they got back to the house, they found Paige asleep and Phoebe was nowhere to be found. "She's probably on a date," Pepper told them. "Do you guys want a tour of the house?" she asked Ron and Hermione.
When Hermione spotted the vanity in Pepper's room with heaps of makeup on it she gaped. "What, haven't you ever seen makeup before?" Pepper asked, amused.
"Of course I have," Hermione snapped. "Just never that much in one place."
"When have you seen makeup, Hermione?" Ron asked, his eyebrow raised. "You never wear any."
"You're kidding me," Pepper said, stunned that she'd met a girl who left her face alone.
"You never do, do you Hermione?" Harry asked, just realising that fact.
"Well...so?" Hermione spluttered. "Just because I don't want to tamper with my looks doesn't mean anything."
Pepper suddenly shooed Ron and Harry out, telling them to go watch television, or something, while she "tampered with Hermione's looks." Hermione protested heavily, but Pepper brushed her gripe aside and sat Hermione in her vanity chair.
"Don't worry, I won't ruin your pretty face," Pepper assured the other girl. "I'll just enhance your looks, that's all. You'll be irresistible by the time I'm finished with you. Then, if you like you can go take a shower and wash it all off, but I just want to show you what a little makeup can do."
After Pepper was done, she turned Hermione's chair around so that she could look at herself in the mirror. "Voila," she announced.
Hermione studied herself for a minute before saying, "I do look prettier, don't I? Maybe I should start wearing makeup more often."
"Then even the bloody great git Malfoy and his great hair won't even be able to resist your great looks and charm," Pepper said in a French accent.
"He's got great eyes, too," Hermione giggled. "Hey, can I wear some of your clothes when we go downstairs, to really surprise Harry and Ron."
"Sure," Pepper said, going to her closet. "What wouldn't you normally wear?" she asked Hermione. Hermione pointed to a beige corduroy knee length skirt and a dark honey colored v-neck top with lace in the v-neck part of the shirt. Pepper also pulled out brown boots to match and held them out to Hermione. "I'm going to take a shower while you change, so take all the time you need," Pepper said, grabbing her pajamas and leaving the room, shutting the door behind her.
As soon as Pepper finished her shower and got dressed she knocked on the door of her room to see if Hermione was ready to go downstairs. "Come in," Hermione told her, and she entered the room.
"Irresistible," Pepper whistled. "You're gorgeous, Hermione," she said.
"You think so?" Hermione blushed.
"Absolutely, now let's go," Pepper said. "If you don't mind me asking...I was wondering if you liked Ron."
"You won't tell him, will you?" Hermione asked.
"Nope, but I think he likes you, too."
"Oh, I know he likes me, I've known for a while. He gets jealous when I talk to other boys, he flirts...I'm just waiting for him to make a move. I've been dropping hints to him, but he's just so blockheaded!" Hermione fumed.
"Well he may just drop down on one knee and propose when he sees you come down those stairs," Pepper said.
"So what are we waiting for?" Hermione grabbed Pepper's hand and dragged her out the door.
Ron and Harry were enthralled by the television when they heard loud coughing behind them. Pepper was standing on the stairs, looking expectant. "Presenting, the new and, well, she thinks she's improved in looks anyway, irresistible even to that bloody great git Malfoy and his great hair – "
"– and great eyes!" Hermione added from her hiding place at the top of the stairs.
"And great eyes," Pepper added. "The beautiful, sensational, gorgeous – "
"Get on with it Pepper!" Hermione yelled.
"Oh, fine – the superendiforous, HERMIONE GRANGER!" Pepper finished, clapping wildly and running to the foot of the stairs to let Hermione come down them.
The look on the boys' faces was priceless, as Hermione knew it would be, and she'd made sure Pepper was prepared with a camera before they descended the stairs. The two boys saw a flash go off and found that Pepper had taken a picture of them, but they didn't care at the moment, they were too flabbergasted by Hermione. They'd never seen her wear something so...girly and she definitely looked different with makeup on.
"Well?" Hermione asked, wanting their opinion. She came and stood in front of them, twirling around in circles. She hadn't had a good girlfriend since she was ten. Pepper snapped a picture. "What do you think?"
"Hermione," Harry said, regaining his voice, "you really are a girl." Pepper snapped a picture.
"Yes, I am, Harry," Hermione said, laughing. "Ron?"
"Who do you think you are?" Ron roared, suddenly standing up and wheeling on Pepper. "Just-just coming in and teaching Harry to dance and corrupting Hermione!"
"Ron!" Hermione said, angered. Pepper stood there in shock, realising she'd done anything wrong. She decided to stay quiet, though, it was mostly between the three old friends. Namely between Ron and Hermione. "I am NOT corrupted!" Hermione continued.
"Look at you Hermione!" Ron said.
"Yes? Look at me! What do you see wrong?!"
"That isn't YOU! She's degraded you!"
"DEGRADED ME? You really think that little of me, Ronald! You think I would let myself be DEGRADED? She did not DEGRADE me! Personally, I LIKE this look. And who ever said I would dress like this every day – this isn't me - ha. You just want me to stay a little eleven year old forever, don't you? You don't get the fact that I'm GROWING UP! Just because I look a bit different doesn't mean I've really changed!"
Ron mumbled a bit, his ears very red. "Well you're always doing this, Hermione," he said, thinking of something to say. "Trying to work your way out of our friendship! You did the same thing with Krum!"
Pepper noticed Harry was staying out of this. They must fight all the time then.
Hermione paused, clenching her fists. "I am NOT trying to work my way out of our friendship, Ron, though maybe I SHOULD!" With that Hermione ran upstairs, locking herself in Pepper's room.
Pepper stood there, wondering what she should do. She hadn't meant to do anything wrong...She looked at Harry to see if he could give her some instruction but he looked pretty helpless, too. She certainly didn't want to talk to Ron; he'd pissed her off a bit. "Do you want me to talk to Hermione?" she mouthed at Harry. He nodded and motioned he'd talk to Ron.
Pepper went upstairs and knocked on her bedroom door. "Hermione?" she said softly. She heard crying from inside. "Hermione, could you unlock the door? It's Pepper."
"It's unlocked, come in," sobbed Hermione. Pepper opened the door and saw Hermione sitting on her bed, her head in her hands. Pepper went over and sat on the bed next to Hermione. "He always starts these vicious rows with me," Hermione said angrily, swiping at her tears. "He-he wants to be so bloody protective, well, I'm tired of it! I just want to go down there and tell him how I feel, maybe that will shut him up!"
Pepper didn't want to encourage Hermione to go do just that because she thought it might make Ron madder, or get Hermione or Harry mad at her. She wondered if Hermione or Harry was mad at her already. "Her-Hermione, are you annoyed with me? Do you think I'm butting in, like Ron said?" Pepper asked timidly.
Hermione turned her tear-stained face towards Pepper, her red eyes wide. She shook her head slowly. "Ron's a git, don't listen to anything he says, Pepper. He's so big headed. Though," Hermione began as sort of an afterthought, "you do come off as a bit overpowering..."
"Oh...I'm sorry, I'll try to tone it down a tad," Pepper apologised.
"But it's not your fault Pepper, Ron's just overprotective. I know he likes me but then he rows with me and it pushes me away. I-I just can't stand it. Does he want me to like him back or not?" Hermione's voice wavered and she burst into tears again, her head returning to her hands. Pepper hesitantly put her arm around the girl and when Hermione didn't seem to notice she began to move her hand soothingly up and down her back in an effort to comfort her.
There was a knock at the open door and Pepper saw Harry was standing there wearing a slightly pained expression. "Ron's gone home," he said. "Said you were too big headed to be his friend." Pepper didn't point out to anyone that Hermione had also called Ron bigheaded.
"Well..." Hermione lifted her head and looked at Harry. Her tears were waning but her face was red and blotchy. Harry looked at her in a way that told Pepper he wished he knew what to do to comfort her.
"I s'pose he'll be back though, to apologise," Harry shrugged. "Mrs. Weasley'll see to that. You know, Hermione," Harry said, sitting on the bed on the other side of Hermione and placing his hand on her knee, "he really fancies you, he just..." Harry could think of what Ron "just" was.
"He's JUST a git who wants to have a handle on me," Hermione finished for him.
The three of them sat there for a while until Pepper said, "Maybe I should just apologise to him. It was my fault he was shouting at you."
"It's not really your fault, Pepper," said Harry. "He just feels threatened, you being a new friend; you might pull some of Hermione's attention from him to you, that's all."
"Yeah, Pepper, he just always needs something to fight about," Hermione sniffed.
"But I'm still imposing, just barging into your lives like this, and I'm head strong about it, too," Pepper argued. "I know I wouldn't want anyone doing that to my friendship."
"Pepper, believe me, we'd tell you if we didn't like you or what you're doing," Hermione said pointedly.
"Well Ron told me he doesn't like it...so I think we should go downstairs and wait for him to come back – if he really will." Pepper got off the bed and went back down to the living room to wait for Ron.
Hermione let out a sigh. "She really thinks we don't like her?" she wondered. "I like her."
"I like her too, but from what I gathered from her aunt's letters, she hasn't had very many friends in the past sixteen years and I s'pose she wants us to like her so she'll have some guaranteed friends at school," Harry said. "Oh, and...Hermione...your, um, make-up, it's sort of running all down your face."
Hermione ran to the vanity and looked in the mirror. Squealing, she took a tissue and rubbed her face furiously with it. "Do you really think Ron will come back?" she asked amid rubbing and wiping.
"Yes," Harry said. "Mrs. Weasley won't let him stay there for long after she finds out he's had a row with you, and especially one about Pepper."
"I think Mrs. Weasley liked her, don't you?" Hermione said, licking the tissue and commencing rubbing.
"Yes," Harry agreed. "Why wouldn't she like her? It's not as if Pepper gave her a reason not to. She was polite and talkative and..." Harry went on and on about what Pepper was.
Hermione turned her head towards Harry with an amused look on her face. "Do you like her, Harry?" she asked.
"Of course I like her, Hermione, we just went over this."
"No, do you fancy her?"
"I don't fancy her, Hermione; I've only just met her yesterday!"
"But, you speak so highly of her and – "
"Well that's because I like her, I'm trying to make her feel welcome – "
"Alright, Harry, I get it," Hermione said, stopping him from starting to rant again. She guessed that time would tell if he liked her or not. Getting up, she went downstairs to wait with Pepper.
"Hey," she said to Pepper, sitting in the armchair across from her.
"I really feel bad, even though Ron may fight a lot, I bet that was the first time it was about me."
"In a sense," Hermione said. "That thing he said about Krum, well, Krum was my boyfriend in Fourth Year, and Ron got jealous, saying I was fraternizing with the enemy because there was this TriWizard Tournament – "
"Yes, Harry told me about it," Pepper told Hermione.
"Oh, well anyway, so Krum was competing against Harry...Ron just thought I was trying to get out of the friendship, make NEW friends, which I think is perfectly okay. So, anyway, that's what Ron was saying this time, too."
"But he was yelling AT ME this time."
"Yes, but indirectly...oh Pepper, it's fine, it'll just take him a while to get used to the idea that things will change a little, we'll make a new friend." Hermione smiled at Pepper, trying to reassure her.
Suddenly, there was a great burst of soot from the fireplace and Ron came shooting out of it. As soon as he'd straightened himself out, Pepper apologised before Hermione could tell her there was no need to.
Ron was taken aback – he hadn't expected an apology. He'd been sent back by his mother, so he could apologise, not Pepper. He knew he'd been out of line. Pepper was just making friends. Harry had told him she hadn't really had many her whole life, so he could understand that she wanted friends. And naturally Hermione would take to her, after all, she was a girl and she needed a girlfriend, as her two best friends were guys. Though Ron did want an apology from Pepper for taking Hermione's attention, he knew he didn't deserve one, as Pepper wouldn't know she'd been doing anything wrong. He supposed, she hadn't done anything wrong, really. He was just jealous that Hermione wasn't paying attention to him. He wanted to tell Hermione how he felt right then and there, but he didn't have the courage to.
Hermione and Pepper sat there, wondering what Ron's response would be to Pepper's apology. He didn't seem to be doing much of anything at the moment, though both of the girls thought he owed them both an apology himself.
"Oh, er, I'm sorry," Ron finally said as if he just realized he was standing there silently and needed to say something.
"For?" Hermione prompted.
"For saying all that stuff I did, I know you didn't do anything wrong, either of you, and I'm sorry," Ron said to Hermione's satisfaction.
"It's all right," Pepper told him.
"I forgive you, Ronald," Hermione said. "But, I wish you'd stop starting arguments with me."
"I'll try," Ron promised. Hermione harrumphed but decided that was all right.
Harry appeared in the living room with a smile on his face. "All settled?" he asked. He didn't like it when his two best friends had an argument, it always left him to pick a side, which was not something he wanted to do because he usually agreed with Hermione and knew if he told Ron that he'd go a few days without speaking to Harry. He knew this row was small in comparison to some of the others, but he still didn't like it. Over the past few years he'd learned that the best way to deal with it was to stay out or comfort a crying Hermione, not choose a side. Harry just hoped this argument was over and they could move on with acquainting themselves with Pepper.
"Yes, it's all settled."
There was a stretch of silence in which they heard a bang against the side of the house. Pepper furrowed her brow and looked out the front window to see what it was. She saw her Aunt Phoebe with her arms wrapped around a guy, and even in the dark she could tell their tongues were down each other's throats. She closed the curtain and turned back to the others. Resisting the urge to gag, she told them it was nothing.
A minute later, Phoebe walked in the door. Spotting them all in the living room, she said, "What are you guys doing up so late? You start school tomorrow, you should get some sleep. I'm going to bed." She flung herself up the stairs and was out of sight.
"Looks like she had a good time on her date," Pepper mumbled.
"Where are we sleeping?" Hermione asked.
"My aunts say boys in a room and girls in another," Pepper told them. "So I guess my room and here, but I don't know who's where."
"Me and Ron can sleep down here," Harry offered. Ron nodded in agreement.
"Cool, then Hermione and I get my room. I'm not sure I'd want you guys going through my stuff anyway..." Pepper said, raising her eyebrow. "Well, good night then. The blankets and pillows are on the couches." She waved to them and after Hermione bid them good night the two girls went upstairs to Pepper's room. "Do you want to take a shower?" Pepper asked Hermione.
Hermione said yes, she did, so Pepper set up with clean towels and pajamas. While Hermione was showering, Pepper made sure she had everything she needed for the start of school in the morning. After Hermione got out of the shower the two girls talked for a while before they were too tired to do anything but sleep.