Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

... And if you have a spare moment, read my one-shot – 'I told her to keep her big fat mouth shut'. It's more of a long drabble then a one-sot, but it made me laugh! So read it (after this, of course!)

... and you will actually find soon out what Hermione's dress looked like – if you're actually bothered...

!"£$&()+

(Hermione's pov)

I looked like a Barbie doll. No, serious, I really did. I would have told Ginny, but she would have been like 'Barbie Doll?'

I mean, I didn't even know my eyelashes could be this thick!

But this doesn't mean I want to go. Because I still don't really want to go. But I can think of good reason to go: Ron looking totally hot in a tux.

Merlin's Beard! Did I just say hot? I feel slightly sickened with myself. I'm Hermione: the stickler for punctuality, strait 'O' student. Not Hermione: spends life obsessing over guys. Besides, I'm not obsessing...

"Hermione, you look great!" Gin said. I smiled uncertainly. I looked like someone had drawn my face on. And Ginny had.

"I dunno," I said. And that's not something you hear me say that often.

"Well, you're not letting my brother down," Ginny said. I felt sickened with myself for the second time. "Besides, you need a nice evening out!"

"Gin, I already live in this castle. This isn't a night out," I said. I know I must have sounded stupid.

"Oh, shut up," she said good-naturedly.

An alarm bell rang.

"FIRE!" I yelled, grabbing my most valuable objects, and preparing to run.

"Hermione!" Ginny yelled, and grabbed my arm. "For Merlin's sake, put Crookshanks and those things down, you have cat hair all over you now. This," she waved a disk with numbers on it, "was counting down until we have to go down and meet our dates."

Oh, she had to be kidding.

I straitened up, put my books back neatly, and brushed my remaining cat hair off.

"Well, let's go then!" Ginny exclaimed, and I was not as nearly as happy as her... maybe if I ate a puking pastel I could get out of there quicker?

What was I saying?

We walked down the steps and I could see people staring, and I could feel my cheeks going red.

"By the way, Gin," I whispered to her. "Congrats on your date." Gin blushed and she hugged Harry gracefully. I'm so happy those two got together (A/N stuff Cho. Who likes her, anyway?). I had kept my eyes on the floor, but when I looked up, hoping maybe to see Ron, I didn't see anyone I knew. Then George came down the stairs, and I can't say he didn't look good, because he did. But where was Ron?

"Hello my gorgeous date. Looking especially nice tonight," George said, handing me another daisy. I took it.

"Yeah," I said, still searching for Ron. "Good."

"If," George said, so close to me it made me shiver, "you're looking for my baby bro, then he's already gone down stairs."

"I wasn't looking for him," I muttered, knowing it was no use. I accepted George's arm, then Harry and Ginny, and George and I went down to the entrance hall, waiting for the doors to open. I was getting fidgety, and George slipped his hand around my waist. Like that was going to calm me down.

"No fast dancing," I said quietly to George. "Merlin knows too well I can't dance." George laughed. Why did I feel so nervous? Ron only had another date. Would it be that bad? I turned to Ginny and Harry to say something to them, but they had wasted no time...

"Doesn't it freak you out that your little sister is playing tonsil tennis with the Boy-who-lived?" I asked, laughing.

"Always will, Hermione, always will." I leant my head on him sympathetically.

"Oh, there he is!" George said. "And, whoa, look at his date!"

"What!" I said, snapping up immediately. Was it some extremely cute girl?

Harry resurfaced from the kiss for a long enough time to say "Oh, that's the girl who Ron took to the ball to show Hermione he was mature enough."

Maybe he said it to himself, but my heart leapt. He was doing this to impress me? Then I smiled. Bring on the girl! I thought.

Why could George see him but I couldn't? Then I reminded myself that he was at least a foot taller than me. But it's not like it was hard to be taller than me.

Then I saw Ron's date. And I grinned at how Ron was steering her towards me. My heart filled up with emotion, and I realised it in my head: he really had changed. My eyes started to water, but George said:

"You'll ruin your makeup when Ron gets here."

I didn't even bother to correct him.

I don't believe Ron remembered from last year... it was so long ago. But he had.

Ron finally looked at me, and he went bright red. Did I make him do that? He was looking, as I predicted, totally hot in his tux.

"Thought you might like the new tux," George whispered in my ear, and again I didn't reply. Did George buy that for him? Why would he do that?

"Hi," I said to the pair of them.

"Hey, Mione, you look... absolutely beautiful," Ron said, and I blushed magenta. As if I wasn't blushing already...

"Thank you," I said. Then I realised he had a date again. And he thought I fancied George. "And you look great tonight, as well," I said to Ron's date, who was beaming at me. My head was yelling tell Ron how nice he looked...

"Thanks," she said. "I wasn't sure if this was my colour, though."

"It looks good," I said, still not believing it was her. Ron must really have matured... I kept thinking. Does this mean he might like me? Don't talk crazy Hermione, I said to myself.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry 'bout that, Mione," (I smiled – that was the second time he had called me that in minutes!). "This is my date," Ron said. "Eloise Midgeon."

"Ron," Eloise nudged her date. "We sit near each other in ancient runes. I know her already."

"Yeah, I know her," I said, smiling at Ron's smile. He was so cute!

Some where McGonagall rang a bell. It was time.

I somehow felt more relaxed with Ron in my presence, and I was now looking forward to the ball.

George led me in and we sat on one of the tables near the middle. Harry and Ginny were sitting there, too, and Ron was staring at them with disgust.

"Did you know about this?" Ron demanded, as he sat down with Eloise. Fred and Angelina joined the table.

"No," I said, trying to keep my face strait. Poor Ron, he was always so overprotective of her. How sweet.

"Humph," Ron said, pulling forward the menu. I looked around at the beautifully decorated hall and smiled.

There were worse places I could be, I thought, thinking about Ron and his date.

He really had matured, he had changed...

!"£$&()+

Yeah, I still can't get borders up, so that will have to do. Please tell me if you know. There will be Ron's pov, and then there will be the actual point of view, switching views, and that will be the end. There may be an epilogue, or maybe even a sequel. But I need your opinion, so tell me!

Review! Do it! Please...?

Ps. I'm on the look out for any R/Hr fluffy stories, however long or short. If you have one that you would like to be read, I'll be happy to read it. I love them!

Now review!