Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, didn't you know that?
A/N: Okay, I'll stop saying that this fan fiction is a complete mess, because after all someone is reviewing it. Oh, thanks so much to all the people that are reviewing! I really hope that you'll like this chapter because it's my favorite in this story. It's a little bit strange, but I like it. Eh, eh! Enjoy it!
To Halo of Darkness: Oh, thanks so much for being such an excellent and quick beta-reader and a nice friend, too!
Thursday
"Hermione, can I have a little look at your Potions homework?" asked Ron, hopefully.
"Ron Weasley, you had all day to write down what is needed in a Hair-Raising Potion," she answered, sharply.
"Oh, please, Hermione, there was Quidditch training this afternoon," he said, looking at her with puppy eyes.
"Harry had Quidditch training too, and he did his Potions homework as well, didn't you, Harry?" she asked, turning towards Harry.
Harry turned slightly red. "Well, yeah – the fact is that-"
"He didn't do it either, Hermione," said Ron, pointing towards Harry and smirking.
"Shut up, Weasley," said Harry, "That's true, I didn't do it, but I'm going to do it by myself, now."
Ron glared at him. "Oh, look what a good guy our Harry Potter is," he said sarcastically.
Hermione sighed. "Stop it, Ron; you should try to do it by yourself, too."
"But will you correct it?"
"If you mean that will I have a look at it and point out what you did wrong, yes; but I'm not going to write it down for you."
"And if it is all wrong?"
"Then you'll have to do it another-"
"You will never believe what happened," said Ginny, hurrying towards them and sitting between Ron and Hermione.
"If it is any kind of gossip I don't want to-"
"Draco Malfoy asked Luna out," she said, interrupting Hermione.
"What?" she asked, jumping on the armchair, "I want to know everything!" Ginny giggled.
"Malfoy did what?" inquired Harry, with an astonishing look at Ginny.
"Luna?" asked Ron at the same time as Harry.
"Luna," confirmed Ginny, "She herself told me everything."
"Oh, please Ginny, tell me what happened," begged Hermione, looking very agitated.
"I don't know," she said, vaguely, "Did you let me help you with your hair?"
Hermione snorted, but after a while, she smiled sheepishly. "You are right, Ginny. What do you think if we go upstairs and you try to smooth my hair while you are telling me what happened?" Ginny stood up with a big smile on her face.
"Don't you try to go upstairs, we want to know, too," said Ron, forcing his sister to sit back down.
"Ron, don't be silly; Ginny will tell you later," said Hermione, annoyed.
"No, we want to know, now," protested Harry.
"I swear that I'll tell you both," said Ginny.
"No, that's not right," said Ron, "Why you have to know before us?"
"Because I'm a girl," said Hermione, brightly.
"That's not the right reason," protested Harry.
"Ok, ok, ok," said Ginny cheerfully, "Since you all want to know at the same time, Hermione, go upstairs and bring down all your hair products. I'll do your hair here."
"What?" asked Hermione, looking around at the Gryffindor common room full of people, "No way."
"Well, I'm not going to tell anybody anything, then," said Ginny, crossing her arms.
Harry turned quickly towards Hermione. "Hermione, go upstairs and take those damn hair products. Don't you see that it's for a good reason?"
Hermione crossed her arms over her chest as well. "No, I'm not going to do that. I'm Head Girl."
"I'm not going to say anything then," sang Ginny.
"Please, Hermione," said Ron.
Hermione looked at them all and snorted loudly. "Fine, but if I hear somebody laughing, I swear that-"
"That you'll give us detentions?" asked Ron, laughing.
"No, I swear that I won't help you with your homework anymore, Ronald Weasley," she said, storming out of the common room.
"She wasn't serious, was she?" asked Ron, taken back.
"I think she was, mate," said Harry, patting him on his shoulder.
"Well, I must not laugh then," he said, seriously. Harry and Ginny exchanged looks but didn't say anything because, at that moment, Hermione arrived with lots of bottles in her arms.
"Here you are," she said to Ginny, putting everything on the table.
Ginny looked like a little child in front of the Christmas tree on Christmas morning. "Sit on the floor, Hermione." Hermione thought that it wasn't a bad idea if she sat on the floor. Then, she would have been short and barely visible from the other Gryffindors, so she crossed her legs and sat in front of Ginny.
"Hmm, let me see which one I can use first," she said, reading all the labels on the bottles quickly.
Ron sighed. "Just use one randomly, Ginny."
Both Ginny and Hermione glared at him and shook their heads. Then, Ginny took a small pink bottle and, opening it, poured some of the liquid into the palm of her hand and rubbed it over Hermione's hair. "You are going to be gorgeous when I'll be finished with you, Hermione."
Harry yawned. "Now that you are happy, Ginny, are you going to tell us exactly what happened?"
"Sure," she said, rubbing Hermione's head, "Well, it all started this morning-"
"This morning? Why didn't you tell us earlier, then? At the Quidditch training for example," asked Ron, angrily.
"Because I wanted to tell Hermione first," said Ginny, smiling. Both Harry and Ron snorted, but Ginny ignored them. Hermione was silent and waited for her to continue. "Anyway, as I was saying before my intelligent brother interrupted me," she said, stressing the word 'intelligent', "This morning I was walking with Luna in the dungeons (we had Potions class together) and we were talking about Neville. Luna said that he is funny. I think that maybe-"
"What the hell are you talking about?" asked Ron.
"I just wanted to give you all the details," she said, annoyed.
"What about Neville?" inquired Hermione, giggling.
"Please, can we come back to the Malfoy subject?" asked Harry, bored.
"Yeah, of course," Ginny said, taking a green bottle and starting to empty it over Hermione's hair, "Well, as I was saying, we were walking together when we saw Draco Malfoy. He was leaning against the wall near the Potions classroom door. My first instinct was to feel my wand in my pocket. I mean, what business does he have going there? Malfoy didn't have Potions this morning; he doesn't have anything at all on Thursday morning and-"
"How do you know?" asked Harry, suspiciously.
"What?" she asked, distracted.
"How do you know that he doesn't have anything at all on Thursday morning?"
"Oh, please Harry," she said, laughing nervously, "If he was there, he shouldn't have had anything, right?"
"Maybe he did have something. He is always late for classes."
"He told that he had nothing to do," said Ginny, rolling her eyes. Hermione raised her eyebrows but nobody saw her. "Can I go on, now?" Ginny didn't like being interrupted. Harry nodded.
"Well, as I was saying, Draco was there and-"
"Draco?"
"Uff, Malfoy was there and there was nobody else except for Luna and me. Actually, I wasn't sure about what to do, but Luna didn't seem to care that he was there. Anyway, when we reached him, he did something totally unexpected," said Ginny, seriously.
"Did Malfoy do something to you? Because if he did, I-"
"Nothing like that," said Ginny, waving a hand in front of Harry, "He smiled."
"What?" asked Hermione, jerking her head towards the younger Weasley with a 'that's-not-possible' look on her face. Ginny nodded and made Hermione turn her head towards the front so that she could go on using the products on her.
"Yeah, he smiled, and that was really strange. Even Luna thought that."
"And then?" asked Ron, coming closer to Ginny.
"Then what?"
"What did he do? You said he asked Luna out, didn't you?"
"Are you joking, Ron? Nobody, not even Malfoy, would smile and then ask somebody out," said Ginny, coolly.
"What are talking about? You said that-"
"I know what I said, it just didn't happen at that moment," she said, now stopping and looking at Hermione's hair.
"What? Why are you telling us these things, then?" asked Harry, puzzled.
"Oh, stop it," said Hermione, waving a hand over her head, "What Ginny has told us is very important. Go on Ginny."
Ginny grimaced at Ron and went on, "Well, Potions was really boring; the only funny thing that happened was when Luna put some Bubotuber pus instead of Belladonna. Slughorn became all red while he was screaming," said Ginny, laughing.
"Yeah, funny funny, and then?" asked Harry, hopefully.
Ginny seemed simply furious. "Well, if you please calm down and wait a minute – sorry Hermione – I will explain everything, but you don't have to interrupt me anymore."
"Ok, ok, sorry," said Harry, shrugging his shoulders.
"And you too, Ron."
"What? But I'm your brother, you can't-"
Harry shook his head. "Just say that you wouldn't interrupt her anymore, Ron, please. I still have my Potions homework to do."
Ron snorted. "I won't interrupt you anymore, now please go on."
"And don't hurry me," she snapped. Ron was going to reply something very nasty to his sister, but Harry elbowed him in his ribs and that made him shut his mouth. "Anyway, as I was saying, after two boring hours of Potions, we had Transfiguration. We walked there together and guess who was waiting for us next to the Transfiguration classroom door?"
"Draco?" asked Hermione.
"Draco?" asked Ron, "Since when does everybody here call him Draco?"
Ginny glared at him. "Exactly Hermione, Draco Malfoy. And this time he did not only smile. He even said, 'Hi.'"
"I can't believe that," said Hermione with her eyes wide open, "He said, 'Hi'?"
"Hey, why can Hermione interrupt you?" protested Ron.
Ginny ignored him. "He said, 'Hi.' Really, I couldn't believe my ears. He wasn't saying anything nasty nor was he unkind. Malfoy just stood there and said 'Hi.' to us, or rather, he was talking to Luna, because he didn't even look at me," she said, stroking Hermione's hair a little bit too strongly.
"Ouch," cried Hermione, rubbing her head.
"Sorry again, Hermione," she said, patting the other girl's head, "Well, and he also went on speaking, always to Luna, of course. He acted almost like I was not there," she added bitterly, "He said that he found Luna's timetable somewhere in the castle and he decided to bring it back to her. Malfoy said that, after all, he was Head Boy and he cared about all the poor little girls that-"
"No, wait," Hermione almost screamed, "Did he actually say those things?"
"Every single word."
"No, I can't believe that," she said, shaking her head, "What a filthy hypocrite he is."
"Hypocrite?" asked Harry, not understanding, "I would rather say what a liar."
"Harry, don't interrupt her," reminded Ron.
"But, Hermione-"
"Ron's right, Harry. Don't interrupt Ginny," chastised Hermione.
"Thank you, Hermione," said Ginny, pouring another potion on her hair, "Anyway, he gave the timetable to Luna and walked away. You know what the funny thing was. Luna hadn't lost her own timetable, but Draco's one was not a copy, either."
"No!" said Hermione, trying to sound genuinely surprised.
"Yeah, I really wonder where the hell he took it."
"And why," said Harry, seriously. Both Hermione and Luna looked at him with their eyebrows raised and a couple of seconds later, Ron joined them, but not understanding why.
"Oh Harry, you are so naïve," said Ginny, "Obviously he was looking for a pretext to talk to Luna."
Ron and Harry burst into laughter. "And why would he want to talk to Loony Lovegood?" asked Ron.
"Don't call her that, Ron," said Ginny, glaring at him, "Luna is a very nice girl, in her own way. I think."
"She is much too nice," murmured Hermione, "But he couldn't have asked her out at that moment, right?"
"Right. He just walked away with a big grin on his face. That was the first time that I saw Luna surprised. Can you believe that she said, 'Thank you.' and he also answered, 'You are welcome.'?"
"It's unbelievable," Hermione remarked.
"Yeah, and when Luna told me what happened this afternoon, I couldn't believe it either," she said, pointing her wand at Hermione's hair and waving it lazily. Hermione's hair turned blonde and straight. Harry and Ron jumped out of their armchairs and Ginny seemed a little surprised, too.
"Ginny, what did you do?" asked Ron, kneeling down next to Hermione and looking at her with his nose in her hair.
"Why?" asked Hermione, automatically bringing her hands to her head and smiling, "Ginny, that's great; my hair is straight and-"
"-blonde," Harry finished for her.
"Yeah, and – what?" she asked, taken back, "Blonde?"
"Well, it's not blonde, it's just a little bit less dark than usually," said Ginny, observing Hermione from various distances.
"I think that Fleur is not even as blonde as her," said Harry, looking at Hermione.
"What?" screamed Hermione, causing lots of first-year Gryffindor to look at them and laugh.
"Don't scream, Hermione, because then everybody will notice you," said Ginny, trying to cover Hermione's head with her hands.
"I think that people will notice her anyway," said Ron, who was hardly trying to hold back his laughter.
"Oh, stop it Ron," said Ginny, "Hermione, it's just that today we have started human transfiguration and I must have messed up the spells."
"Can I have a mirror?" asked Hermione, feebly.
Ginny opened her bag and pulled out a small mirror. "Here you are," She handed it to her.
Hermione looked at herself. "You said that you started human transfiguration today?" she asked.
Ginny looked at her; Hermione didn't seem very angry. "Y-yes."
"Well, I must say that you are great. You did a very good job. The first time that Ron tried to change the colour of his eyebrows, he gave himself a moustache," said Hermione, admiring her hair in the mirror.
"I can't believe you still remember that," said Ron, rolling his eyes.
Ginny smiled. "Actually I didn't do it on purpose, but thank you. So you do like your new colour?"
"Of course I don't," Hermione retorted, giving the mirror back to Ginny, "And I would love to have my brown hair back. Do you think you can do that?"
"I don't know, it's better if you do it by yourself," she said, putting down her wand.
"No, Hermione, keep your hair blonde. You look nice," said Ron, laughing.
Hermione glared at him. "I'm really sorry to inform you, Ronald, that from this moment on, I will never help you with your homework again," she said, pointing her wand at her hair. Her hair became brown at once and Ron gasped. "Now," said Hermione, sitting down next to Ginny on the armchair, "Will you please go on telling what happened to Luna next? Curiosity is killing me."
"Oh, yes, of course," she said, "I met Luna while I was going to the Quidditch Pitch for the training-"
"That's why you were late!"
"Shut up, Harry," said Ron, "Hermione is listening and you can't interrupt my little sister."
"That won't make me change my mind about your homework, Ron," said Hermione. Ron muttered something like, "Girls" and rolled his eyes.
"Well, I was heading for the door when she came out of nowhere. She looked very agitated. I stopped and tried to talk to her but she just said senseless things. I thought that maybe someone has Confunded her or something like that, so I made her sit down in the Great Hall and asked her what happened exactly," Ginny retold. Harry, Ron and Hermione held their breath. "She said that she was going to her common room when she met Malfoy, and-"
"But that's not possible. Malfoy has classes all afternoon on Thursday," said Hermione.
"I know, in fact, I thought that that was really strange," she said, sighing.
"Excuse me, lovely ladies, but may I ask why you know Malfoy's timetable by heart?" asked Harry.
"I'm Head Girl," Hermione answered quickly.
"And I-I've been able to look at Malfoy's timetable at the beginning of the year, b-because Professor McGonagall gave me his and gave him mine," Ginny answered, looking at her hands. Hermione thought that that was the worst lie she had ever heard but incredibly, Harry and Ron seemed to believe her. "Anyway, Luna said that she met Malfoy just outside of the Ravenclaw's common room. He smiled and greeted her when he saw her, exactly like he did this morning, and he also said that he was happy to see that she was alone because he had to talk to her. Then Luna said that he threw himself in a long discourse about how pretty she had become and stuff like that and then finally he asked her to go to Hogsmeade with him this Saturday," said Ginny sighing.
"And what did she answer?" asked Hermione, weakly. Harry and Ron thought that it was quite a stupid question because they would never expect Luna to say yes to Malfoy.
"Yes."
"Yes?" Hermione felt something incredibly heavy drop in her stomach.
"Yes," repeated Ginny, "I asked Luna if she was sure and she said that she was. After all – Hermione, where are you going?"
Hermione had just stood up. "Oh, well, Ginny, I think that I will go to bed, there's nothing more to listen to, right?"
"No, but I thought-"
"Well, you know, I have a little headache. Maybe you shouldn't have mixed up all those products together. Anyway, see you tomorrow," she said, heading for the girls dorm with all her bottles in one hand and her books in the other.
"Good night," said Ron, thoughtfully. Hermione nodded and disappeared up the stairs. When she entered her room, she threw everything on her bed.
"So, our dear Head Boy thinks that he is very intelligent?" Hermione screamed, angrily, "I'll let him see who Hermione Granger is," she laughed so hard that Parvati and Lavender, who entered at that very moment, thought that she was going a little insane.
"A little more insane than usually," whispered Lavender, causing Parvati to giggle.