Fall Weekend
The end of September was approaching and to the students at Hogwart's, that meant two things. A Hogsmeade trip on Friday afternoon, and a big ball on Saturday night. All of the students were anxiously waiting for the day to come when they could go down into the village. The guys all went to Honeyduke's Sweet Shop or Zonko's Joke Shop. The girls all fled to the local boutiques in order to find the perfect dress robes to wear to the ball. There were so many different colours and styles to choose from, sometimes the girls spent their entire afternoons just trying on dress robes. Michelle, Kim, Katie and Jenny were no exception.
Friday morning had finally come, and everyone was sitting at their tables, discussing what they're going to wear on Saturday. The girls were huddled in front of the entrance to the Great Hall.
"O.K, just so you all know, I am going to wear red tomorrow night," said Jenny. "And if I see any of you wearing the same, I will kick you."
"That's alright. I'm gonna get myself something in black!" Kim was looking forward to purchasing some new robes.
"Ugh, alright then. Black is very boring, so it will suit you."
"HEY!" shouted Kim. Michelle and Katie laughed out loud, and noticed that a few people were staring at them.
"Dude, I'm just joking. Good grief. What colours are you two going to get?" Jenny stared at Katie and Michelle. They pondered for what seemed like ten minutes.
"Well, I haven't exactly decided yet," said Katie. "But I was thinking of either green or orange."
"Woah, that's awesome," said Michelle. "I'm just trying to figure out what shade of blue I would like to wear the most."
"Don't get baby blue – it's a crappy colour!" shouted Jenny.
"Jenny," said Kim. "Shut up."
Michelle looked down at her watch and said, "Shit you guys, class is going to start in like, three minutes. We better go!" All of the students in the Great Hall also realized this, and the massive crowd travelled through the castle to reach their morning classes.
Since the afternoon was dedicated to Hogsmeade, all of the classes were compressed to fit in the morning. None of the professors really felt like teaching anything, so they just let the students sit in the classroom and socialize as much as they wanted. Jenny, Kim, Michelle and Katie all had Muggle Studies together. They didn't really have any interest in the subject, but it was a good way for them to all be together. The Professor was busy marking homework from some other classes, so everyone else was indulged in their own conversations. Most of the class was discussing the dance. All of the girls in the class seemed more giggly than usual. It was probably due to the fact that they were all talking about dates.
"Obviously Michelle has a date. It'll be a magical night for you and Harry," Jenny said with her usual sarcasm.
"Funny. And has Draco asked you yet?" Michelle shot back.
"No, and I doubt he's going to," replied Jenny.
Kim then said, "You don't know that. I bet he'll ask you this afternoon. So you guys, if Jenny goes missing, we'll know where she's gone off to!"
"Oh man, that's great," said Katie.
Jenny looked quite cross at the others. They were talking so loud; the whole class probably heard their conversation.
"Katie, has George asked YOU yet? Or is he too much of a pansy to do it?"
"Actually," Katie started. "I think I might ask him today. Kim, do you know if he's going with anyone yet?"
"No way," said Kim. "He said that there's no one in the school who would consider going with him."
"AWWWWWWWWWW," said Michelle and Jenny in unison. "He doesn't know how wrong he is!"
"Katie, you should just do it. We'll like, meet them in the village or something. Then me, Jenny, Michelle and Fred can get lost so you can ask him." Everyone agreed with Kim's idea. A few minutes later, the ball rang and everyone set off for their last class of the morning.
All of the students were to finish eating their lunches before they left for the village. The first and second years were not allowed to go, so they had the afternoon to roam the grounds or hang out in their common rooms. At 12:30, everyone who had permission lined up outside of the Great Hall so Filch could check their names on the attendance. He walked by, checking to make sure that there was no one trying to sneak into the village. Once all of the students had arrived and were checked off, the group headed towards Hogsmeade.
"Man, we haven't walked this much since last year!" exclaimed Michelle.
"Well, I'm not so sure all of us have gone without long walks," replied Jenny. Her and Kim laughed to themselves. No one knew that they had snuck off to go see a Quidditch game the previous week. Jenny looked over to Draco, who was walking with Crabbe and Goyle. He glanced over towards where Jenny and the rest of the girls were walking. They both made eye contact; that is, until Jenny smacked right into a pole on the side of the road. Katie, Michelle and Kim laughed so hard, no one could help her up.
"Way to make an ass of yourself!" shouted Katie over everyone else's laughter. The rest of the journey was rather boring, aside from the occasional dirt ball thrown by some of the third year Slytherins at a group of unsuspecting Hufflepuffs. When all of the students made it to the entrance to Hogsmeade, they all scattered in every direction. The town was so lively, full of witches and wizards that were unfamiliar to Hogwart's students. The girls stood in the middle of the street, and argued over which store they should visit first.
"Come on you guys," said Jenny. "We all need to get our dress robes. Then we'll go shop for shoes and accessories. It's all part of the shopping plan that I've written up."
"Jenny," started Kim. "Can I not tell you enough times what a loser you are?"
"I think one more time should do it!" snapped Jenny.
"Personally, I think we should go to Zonko's." Everyone stopped to turn and look at Katie. "What?" she said as she shrugged her shoulders.
"You just want to go and stare at George. I think I'm going to tell him that you fancy him, because obviously you aren't going to," said Michelle.
"I am going to tell him!" protested Katie. "That's my mission of the day. But first, I think we should go shopping for all of our stuff for tomorrow night. Let's go." They all headed towards the local robes shop with their pockets loaded with coins, hoping to make some major purchases.
The girls walked into Lina's Lovely Robes. It was packed with girls from Hogwart's. Different colours were flying all over the entire room as girls were fighting to try on different robes. The robes were sorted out by colour, so the girls scattered in different directions. Katie ran to a rack of orange robes and snatched the first one she could get her hands on.
"Hm - I wonder what this will look like on me?" Katie said to herself. "Ooh! They have the same one in green!" She grabbed the green dress and surfed through the crowd to the nearest change room. Michelle was the second one to make her choice. She took Jenny's advice and decided that baby blue was not her colour, so she picked out royal blue robes and just knew they would be perfect. She went to the change room just to make sure.
Katie tried on both outfits, but she decided to go with the orange. She met up with Michelle and they headed to the front of the store to pay. On the way, they spotted Kim who was holding a set of robes in her hands. They were a dark shade of purple.
"Wow, Kim. You getting those?" asked Michelle.
"Yeah, it's totally hot. It's also a lot cheaper than the other robes in here! I looked at the black ones, and for some reason they're nearly twice as much. I've already paid, so we should get out of here. I hear Honeyduke's is having a sale, and I'm really hungry." Kim rubbed her empty stomach.
"I agree," replied Katie. "Wait, where the hell is Jenny? I haven't seen her since we got in here." Kim, Katie and Michelle looked around at the different areas of the store for Jenny. She wasn't in the green, blue, black, yellow, orange or purple sections. Sure enough, Michelle spotted her standing right between the red and pink robe sections. They walked up to where she was standing. Jenny had a puzzled look on her face.
"Um, Jenny? Why haven't you picked out your robes yet?" Kim asked. Jenny turned around and stared at her.
"Red - Hot Pink - I want both - " She turned around and stared at the robes again.
"Listen," Michelle started. "Just pick a dam dress. I'm sure Draco will think you're hot in anything you pick. I think pink is a crappy colour anyway. Why would you want it? Here, I'll pick the dam thing for you." Michelle closed her eyes and picked the first thing she could reach for. It was red. Jenny picked it up and examined it.
"Holey crap, Michelle! This is awesome. I have to go try it on first. I'll be back in a second you guys." Jenny hurried off to find an available change room.
"Yeah, and you better be fast. I'm getting hungrier every second," said Kim. In almost and instant, Jenny emerged from the crowd. She was wearing the robes she had tried on.
"So - what do you think?" Jenny did a little twirl.
"I think that you are a loser," replied Kim. "But on a more positive note, you look lovely. Now can we please go?"
"That's not nice, Kim. Fine, just let me pay for this. Oh Michelle, I'm excited! Thanks for picking this out!" Jenny hurried off to change back into her regular clothes. She paid for her robes, and the girls left the robes shop. Since Kim kept complaining, they started to walk towards Honeyduke's. The girls seemed to be in a very hyper mood, so they all took turns leading a sing-along. There were plenty of people staring at them, but they didn't care.
"Sweet dreams are made of these, who am I to disagree? I travelled the world and the seven seas, everybody's looking for something!" they all sung pretty much off key. Michelle did not appreciate the bad singing she was hearing. She stopped singing, soon followed by Katie and Kim. Since Jenny loved that song so much, she didn't realize that she was the only one singing.
"Some of them want to use you, some of them want to get used by you," she sang at the top of her lungs.
"Some of them want to abuse you, some of them want to be abused - " said a very familiar voice.
"What the frig! Who the hell said that?" Jenny shouted and nearly fell over. She turned around to curse at whoever startled her, but she was more surprised to see who it was. "Draco? What the hell, I had no idea you liked the Eurythmics!" Jenny said in an excited tone.
"Eew no. I don't like all that dance music crap. I like the Marilyn Manson version. That's how I knew the words." Draco looked at the package that Jenny was holding. "So, those your new dress robes? Let's see them!"
"No way!" Katie interrupted. "You can't see them until tomorrow night!"
"Uh, alright. What is this like, a wedding to you guys or something? You won't let anyone see your outfit until the exact right moment. Well, I guess I shall be off then. Have a nice day, ladies." He shook Jenny's hand and waved at the other girls.
"Did he just say what I think he did?" asked Kim.
"I think so," said Michelle. "He didn't even insult us!" The girls were so busy talking about Draco's random niceness; they didn't realize the note that he had put in Jenny's hand before he left. She didn't want anyone to see it, so she slipped it into her pocket and decided to read it later.
"I'm guessing we should make a trip to Zonko's now?" Jenny asked. "I believe Katie has some asking out to do."
"But Jenny, what happened to your shopping plan? We are supposed to go buy shoes and accessories and crap like that next," Katie said.
Jenny smiled. "No no no my dear, things have changed. See, I have squeezed "ask out George time" on my schedule after robes shopping and before accessories shopping. That way, you have more time to anticipate your hot date!" Michelle and Jenny had to literally drag Katie in the direction of the joke shop. It was quite a challenge, but they managed to get her into the store.
"You know what?" snarled Katie. You guys are a bunch of assholes! All of you!"
"Yeah, but we're still cool," said Michelle. She gave Kim and Jenny a high five. "Now, let's see where your lover has gone off to." Nobody had to look very far, because standing at the side of the store was Fred and George. They were in what seemed to be a long lasting conversation with the owner of the shop, and appeared to be making a deal of some sort. Almost all of the students knew that they had their own business and were trying to make it big as joke shop owners. The girls slowly pushed Katie to where Fred and George were standing. They didn't realize how strong Katie was, because it was a struggle to move her such a short distance. Both Fred and George turned around to look at Katie.
"Well, look who it is. Katie." George pretended to tip his hat to her. "Kim. Michelle. Jenny. How would you all be doing this afternoon? Find new robes for the ball?"
"Yes!" Jenny replied. "I got these really aweso - " Michelle elbowed her in the ribs.
"He wasn't talking to you, dumb ass," Michelle whispered.
"Good grief, I'm sorry." She clutched the area where she was elbowed.
"I did find something, actually," said Katie. "And speaking of the ball, George, can I talk to you for a minute?"
"Sure. Fred, I'm trusting you to make us a deal. I'll be back in a few minutes." Katie and George walked out of the store for a little privacy.
"Dam, I can't believe she's actually doing it!" confessed Kim. "I would never have the balls to ask any guy out."
"Shall we go listen in, then?" asked Michelle.
"Obviously," said Jenny. "Fred, do you have a pair of those extendable ears on you?"
"Of course I do!" Fred reached into his pocket and took out the clever invention. They slowly crept over to the entrance and opened the door ever so slightly. It was just enough to get the ear out. The four of them huddled closely, so they could all hear what was being said.
"So - George, are you taking anyone to the ball tomorrow?"
"No, I don't think there's anyone in the entire school who would show up with me."
"Aww, don't say that. I'm sure there must be someone who would be willing to be your date."
"Like who?" Kim, Jenny, Michelle and Fred leaned in even closer to hear Katie's answer.
"Like me."
"Katie, what are you saying?"
"I'm saying, George, would you be my date for the ball tomorrow night?" There was a long pause.
"Oh my God, what happened?" shouted Jenny. "We didn't get to hear the answer! Dammit!" Fred tried to see what was going wrong with the ears, so he decided to pull it in for repair. He tugged on the ear, but it didn't come back.
"What the hell is going on," he wondered. Fred stood up and walked towards the door to pick up the ear. He opened the door and saw George standing right in front of him, extendable ears in hand.
"So, you thought you could listen in on my conversation, eh? Well, next time you try, make sure you don't use one of my own inventions against me." George tossed the ears into Fred's arms and walked back into the store. Katie followed after him with a massive smile on her face.
"You guys, I'm gonna hang out here a bit more. You can go buy your shoes and such. I already have all that stuff," informed Katie.
"Uh, yeah Fred, you should go along with the girls too. Help them pick out what they should wear," George told his brother.
"But - "
"Come on Fred my dear," interrupted Jenny. "You can have an adventure with me, Michelle and Kim. It'll be good stuff." She grabbed Fred's arm and started to leave the store. Everyone left Zonko's, except for Katie and George. They look rather pleased to see the backs of their friends heads.
Walking through the village, Fred, Michelle, Kim and Jenny kept their eyes open for a sight of George and Katie. They enjoyed the rest of the afternoon searching with things to match the new robes that they bought. Fred occasionally put in his opinion, but no one took him seriously. Kim bought a new pair of high-heeled shoes, and Michelle purchased a new jewellery set. Jenny bought shoes, jewellery, and for some reason, a new purse.
"Ugh, Jenny, why do you need a dam purse?" asked Kim.
"It was on sale! I couldn't help it! Besides, I'm done my shopping for the day. What time is it anyway?"
"Time to go," said Fred. "If we hurry now, we won't be late for dinner." They all headed back to the castle to enjoy a relaxing evening. No one saw Katie or George for the rest of the night.
It was around midnight, and Jenny was getting pretty tired. She left her friends in the common room and headed towards the dormitories. She sluggishly removed her jacket, and proceeded to empty out her pockets. Lip gloss, a pen, some spare gold fell out along with a folded piece of paper.
"Where the hell did this come from?" she asked to herself. She picked up the piece of paper and unfolded it. "Oh crap, the letter from Draco." Jenny read the letter thoroughly, and was puzzled by the time she had finished it. It read:
Jenny,
I need to ask you something, but I couldn't do it when all of our friends were
around. It would be too awkward for the both of us, plus, I do have a reputation to uphold. Anyway, meet me in the Potions dungeon at 12:30 so we can talk in private. If you don't show up, I will understand. Hope to see you there.
Yours truly,
Draco
"Wow," Jenny thought. "I wonder what he needs to talk to me about. Oh, I hope he's not mad at me for anything!" Jenny folded the letter back up and shoved it into her pocket. The dungeons were really cold, so she put her jacket back on. She tip toed through the common room, so as not to disturb the few students that were still awake. It was 12:25, so Jenny was practically running through the corridors, slowing down occasionally to not draw attention to herself. It was a very dangerous thing to do, walking the corridors at night. Being caught by a teacher or pranked by Peeves were only some of the worries that were going through Jenny's mind.
Once Jenny got to the classroom, she was nearly out of breath. She had made it right on time, but she needed to take a minute to catch her breath. As she opened the door, all she could think of was what Draco needed to ask her. Was it about homework? No, he wouldn't bring her into a dungeon to ask something like that. Maybe he needed advice about something?
She looked around the room. Draco was nowhere to be seen.
"Oh crap," she said to herself. "I bet he was just playing a joke on me. Wow, I feel like a total ass right now."
"I wouldn't be too sure about that," said a voice coming from the darkness. "I would never stand you up like that."
"Draco, you have really got to stop coming up behind me and talking or else you're gonna give me a heart attack!" Jenny punched Draco in the arm.
"Shit, if you keep hitting me like that I think I'm going to have – uh - I think I'll friggin die or something." He held his arm where he got hit. Not many people knew that Draco wasn't as tough as he made himself out to be.
Jenny looked at Draco and said, "So, what is so important that you had to bring me all the way down here to ask? Are you going through changes and you don't know what they mean?" Jenny asked in a sarcastic tone. "Every boy and girl goes through it at some time. Some just experience it later than others."
"Funny." Draco didn't look too impressed. "Actually, I needed to ask you something about tomorrow. I was wondering if - I was wondering if you would be my date to the ball."
"Are you serious?" Jenny had never been in a situation where she couldn't think of anything to say.
"Yeah, I am serious. I've wanted to ask you all day, but you were always so busy around your friends. I turned down a bunch of other girls because I wanted to go with you."
"Holey crap. Wow, no one has ever said anything like that to me before. Draco, I would love to go to the ball with you!" A huge smile came to Draco's face at this moment.
"Phew, I was ready for rejection. Jenny, I promise you that you will have a good time with me. I even know some kick ass after parties that we can go to."
"Great!" exclaimed Jenny. "It'll be good times."
"Yes, yes it will. Well, it's almost 1:00 in the morning. Do you think we should head back to the common room?"
"Yeah, I don't want to get caught and friggin expelled or something. Let's go." Jenny and Draco walked back to the common room in silence, just thinking about what a great night they were going to have.