When Ginny went down to lunch at 12:30, she was surprised to see Hermione Harry and Ron there, and she was even more surprised when she slid into a seat next to Harry and he asked her to come to the Halloween dance without a hello before.
"Um. Hello to you too Harry. I thought you were going to go with Hermione."
Harry shook his head, ignoring the open mouthed expressions on his friends' faces. "Ron beat me to that," he said, trying not to flinch as Ron kicked him under the table in embarrassment.
"Yeah, well I didn't want to end up going with Padma again, did I?"
Ginny raised her eyebrows at this newly acquisitioned information. "I thought you were going to go with Travis?" She asked Hermione rather scandalised.
"Oh, I am." Hermione reassured her. "Which is why I had to turn Ron down."
Just then three shadows fell over their table. "Don't tell me you asked a mudblood to come to the dance Weasely. Out of all the other poor people you know, you had to go pick a mudblood?"
Draco laughed, and Crabbe and Goyle guffawed loudly behind him.
Hermione turned, and to everyone's surprise, smiled at Malfoy. "Oh, no. You see, he is actually formally going with Raven - you DO know raven don't you? - except she just owled him yesterday, telling him she was going with him, and I was a little "back up" plan for if she declined. Although I already have a date, but that's not the point."
Everyone, - including Malfoy - seemed taken aback by this little piece of information.
Ginny smiled at him. "Care to join us and discuss your lovely plans for the dance, or would you rather clear off and leave us alone?"
He barely glanced at her, but when he did, it was a piercing stare, that made Ginny want to look away although she did not.
He snarled in response "looking forward to seeing you in a purple dress again Weasely" and he departed.
When he was well out of earshot Ginny said "you're not actually going with Raven are you?"
Instead of answering Ron just stared at Hermione. "What did you have to go and do THAT for?"
"Because," Hermione said rolling her eyes "It made him go away didn't it? Or would you rather have him back here tossing random insults at you? And don't worry about Raven" Hermione said when she saw him open his mouth "I over heard her telling Fanny that she has a crush on you when I was queuing up for ancient ruins."
"Oh," was Ron's response to this rather startling piece of information. "Are you sure?"
"Of course she's sure. She looks like Hermione to you doesn't she?" Ginny asked, mimicking Hermione and raising her eyes to the ceiling. "And by the way," she said, turning her attention back to Harry "It would be a pleasure to be your escortee."
"Escortee?" Harry echoed.
"Yes."
"Ginny-"
"As in dumpee? When you dump someone you are the dumper, they are the dumpee? Someone asks you to the dance, you are the escortee."
"If you say so."
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"You're sure he is coming? He promised you right? Because it would totally suck if -"
"Ginny," Hermione laughed "He IS coming I assure you. You have my word, and I have his."
"Well, good. Because if I don't meet him soon I might start thinking you made him up."
Hermione rolled her eyes and contemplated herself in the full length mirror lining the wall opposite her. "That would be childish. What do you think?"
"Whitish gold, otherwise..."
"I was thinking something along the lines of black actually..."
Ginny's eyes formed into slits. "No, that's not fair. I'm wearing black. I think you should wear red. Off shoulder that falls to your ankles, with a slit up to your mid-thigh, or one that stops right above your knees and with a square cut neckline. No, one with straps and it starts right by your bust."
"Oh. Right. Okay. And you should wear a tight black leather one. No way Gin."
"Aw, come one Hermione! It would look great on you."
Hermione wrinkled her nose "not my mental image."
"I know. We'll go into hogsmead tomorrow and we will see what fits you best. I promise you won't be able to pick the best one."
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"The first one."
"I agree with Derek. The other one makes you look a bit slutty."
Hermione splayed with the silky red material. "You're sure?"
When both her friends nodded she had to admit that she did look rather stunning.
"Okay, my go," Ginny said, clapping her hands and standing up to leave for Hermione's dormitory. When she came down, his breath caught him in his throat.
"You look amazing," Derek said hoarsely, something Ginny noticed immediately. She smiled and twirled, her dress followed after her.
It was long, like Hermione's and it had silver beads embroided in the black material along the contours. The bottom part had frills in it, and had she worn a Tiara would she have been mistaken for a princess at a funeral.
"Ginny, you look amazing," Her friend appraised her.
Ginny blushed. She had never felt more beautiful.
"Let's see the second one," Derek said, and even he couldn't mistake the roughness in his voice for a bad case of throat ache.
Ginny smiled, disappeared for a minute, and Derek was sure that even if he was Draco Malfoy he would have gaped, despite the fact that she was a Gryffindor.
"Waaaaaaah."
Hermione raised his eyebrows at him.
"I mean wow."
Ginny laughed. "What do you think?"
She was wearing another black dress that was tied tight around her waist, and then was allowed to flow freely until it reached the floor. The sleeves hung down from the elbow, growing steadily wider until the wrist, making her look gothic-ish, but in a good way. It was off-shoulder and it was the most amazing thing Ginny had ever worn, or ever seen someone wear. She found it a scandal that she had found it in a second hand shop, even though it had been rather shabby at the time, and she and Hermione had had to research an "as good as new" spell to make it as glamorous as it was now.
"You look..." Derek struggled to find words. "Pretty fucking fabulous." He grinned. "Sorry for the swearwords."
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Pea brain! I'm not 9 any more."
Hermione frowned at their childishness, but said nothing, mentally preparing herself for the excited speech about how "he told her she was gorgeous! Literally!"
Except it never came. Instead Ginny just smiled all the way through their "girls' night" - although she had to stop when the face masks started to solidify - and shared Hermione's enthusiasm about Travis coming in a week, and planning on how to do their hair and nails, and hoping their dates would be wearing matching outfits.
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"So what are you doing tonight Gin? Great! You can help me with my transfiguration essay seeing as how all of your homework is done." Ron said, taking her quarter of a second thought for granted.
She ignored him however, and went on sketching the half done unicorn with extreme care.
"Oi, earth to Ginny! When were the goblin rebellions -"
"Ron, if you don't shut up, you are risking me not helping you."
He fell silent immediately, but still looking at her expectantly.
"One, I am busy tonight. Two, you never help me, why should I help you-" she ignored his indignant splutter, although she noticed Harry's smile "and three they started in 1567."
Ron nodded his head once as thanks and bent over his essay again, leaving Ginny to her artwork. Ginny sighed, and trapped the now finished unicorn with her finger - it was running away from her eraser - and started re-drawing its tail. She watched in amusement as it turned circles, appraising its new tail and then gambered off, out of the picture.
She flicked through her brain, and then started drawing very small fairies all over the page. They all hovered around watching instead of leaving at top speed like the unicorn did.
By the time Ginny had added a couple trees and a path lines with lanterns, there were only two people left in the common room. Standing up, she crossed over to the portrait hall and left, ignoring her twin brother's cat calls that she had a secret date.
Although she did kind of have a secret date, she thought, as she descended the spiral stair case and quickly hid behind a tapestry as a ghost floated by. It just wasn't the type of date they thought. She walked across the entrance hall at top speed, trying to make the least amount of noise as possible, always sticking to the side which held the most shadow, seeing as how she would blend in perfectly if an extremely tired Filch walked past.
Although somehow she had the feeling Filch would leave her alone if she promised not to spill his secret crush on her transfiguration teacher. She sniggered slightly, and turned left, down more stairs, and walked right though a painting of a sleeping centaur, just in time to see Malfoy magically locking the door.
"Malfoy!" She hissed at the door. When it didn't open she pulled out her wand too. "Aloha-" she said, remembering to "flick and swish" as Hermione had told her so many times in her first year. Malfoy opened the door. Ginny had just enough the time to think shit as she said the last part of the spell "mora."