Dinner was a rowdy affair per usual, but Hermione herself felt different. She was hyper aware of every time Ron glanced in her direction, but they both tried to cast of the film of awkwardness that had settled over them briefly, both engaging with conversations with the rest of the family and each other. Molly's stew was delicious, of course, and Hermione found herself a little envious of the kind woman who was able to seemingly effortlessly whip up perfect meals every night. Magic helped, she assumed.

The heat of the cramped kitchen, full of steam and body heat was getting to her. She pulled one of her charmed hair bands, a birthday gift from Ginny meant to contain her unruly curls, and swept her hair up into a loose pony, careful not to elbow Remus or Ginny on either side of her. She still wasn't used to living in such close quarters with her professor. Ron, sitting across from her paused momentarily, fork in the air, to watch. Hermione noticed and ducked away from his gaze towards Ginny, the tension between them flashing her back to the memory of laying beside him only half an hour before. Unfortunately, the tension also reached Ginny.

"We're talking, after dinner. No argument" She whispered to Hermione.


"Ginny! Slow down!" Hermione hissed as Ginny dragged her up the stairs to her bedroom.

"No! Girl talk is long overdue based on the looks you were giving my brother!" She pulled them both into her room and swung around, jabbing a finger at Hermione "You're snogging my brother!"

Ginny glared at her convincingly for a few seconds before her expression cracked "Hah! You're snogging my brother!" She cackled "Fred and George owe me two sickles, they bet he didn't have the bollocks!"

"Ginny! I am not snogging your brother!" Hermione cried, then glancing at the door, she continued in a hushed whisper "I am not snogging your brother, we were just talking up there, nothing is going on, we're friends. That's it."

Ginny shook her head "Yeah. Of course. That's why you were swooning at each other over the table"

"Swooning? There was no swooning, Ginny you've been reading too many of your Mum romances, Ron and I are friends."

"My brother's been practically in love with you since third year" Ginny scoffed back at her "And you expect me to believe there's nothing going on after I caught you two acting all weird upstairs and then again at dinner? Not bloody likely Ms. Granger" She cast Hermione an appraising glance, and then changed her tact "C'mon just tell me, I won't say anything"

"What do you mean in love with me? He's not in love with me. You know he used to hate me in first year? He doesn't think of me like that" Hermione hated the way disappointment tinged the last sentence.

"Hermione you're kidding" disbelief and concern painted her feature "My idiot brother is obsessed with you, you're his best friend other than Harry!"

She laughed sardonically "Oh just what every girl wants to here 'other than Harry'"

Hermione took a breath and reconsidered the situation. Sure, there had been some charged moments, but on the balance of six years of friendship, she'd rather preserve the relationships she'd built with Ron and Harry than to pursue some teenage crush on a guy who surely wasn't interested. "Nevermind Ginny, it was nothing, we're just friends.'

Ginny watched her as she composed herself, and then shook her head "Hermione, please. Even if he wasn't my brother, I could tell he likes you, it's obvious to anyone with two eyes and I'm pretty sure Mad Eye could spot it without his magic one. But if you want to pretend there nothing going on, Fine! We won't talk about it." She smirked and dramatically flicked her hair off of her shoulder "We can talk about me." She tugged Hermione down onto the bed with her, and they lay side by side. Hermione still, even after dorm living for the past several years, wasn't used to the kind of casual physical affection the Weasleys displayed. She knew it caught Harry off guard sometimes too.

"So, Obviously I'm trying out for quidditch this year, but I feel like I need to do something new. I'm so bored of everything - Katie lent me this book on spells for like glamours and stuff but some of them are actually tricky - you want to help?" She looked at her pleadingly "Pleeeease Hermione"

Hermione was hesitant. Most wizarding girls learned all the personal appearance and care charms before they were even at Hogwarts, from older sisters and mums. She felt like she was way past the age when she was supposed to be trying it out.

"Would it help if I made up a test of it for you to study?... You don't have to do any of them, just help me!"

"Ok, fine" Hermione relented, "Show me the book"


"Hermione, my hair is yellow right now. Yellow. Do you understand that?" Hermione was stripped down to her muggle jeans and her undershirt which she was steadily working towards sweating through. Stray pieces of hair had escaped from its elastic band and were alternating between plastering themselves to her forehead and drifting annoyingly into her eyes

"Trust me, I understand! If I send your mother's only daughter downstairs with yellow hair I expect she will hand me over to the Death Eaters herself. I am trying to fix it! Maybe we should ask Fred and George? They know their way around this kind of thing"

"Not only are we not asking them for help, we are fixing it ourselves and never telling anyone about this; you don't know what its like to have this many brothers Hermione, they would not let me live it down!"

"Ok, Ok, give me a minute to think." Hermione had not expected the complexity of these charms. The trouble was there was just so many more moving parts than she was used to dealing with. Not only was she transfiguring a living thing, but she had to perfectly hold the vision of what it should look like, the changes it has to make to get there, and all the little colour and textural adjustments to perfect it, all while saying the incantation and doing the correct wand movements. She used to puzzle as wizarding salons, assuming that they could just do it themselves. She expected to come away with a newfound appreciation for the stylistic choices of the girls in her dorm. She took a deep breath, and cleared her mind of everything except the exact fiery red Ginny wanted to highlight her ginger hair.

The familiar electric hum of magic buzzed under skin along with a distinct feeling of rightness as she carefully twirled her wand around Ginny's hair. Their was a faint whoosh and, suddenly Ginny'e hair glimmered with highlight. Ginny met her eyes in the dirty vanity mirror they were working in front of. "Hermioneeee!" She squealed delightedly "You did it!"

Ginny leapt off the stool she had been perched on and spun to envelop Hermione in an enthusiastic hug. "Your turn!"

Hermione began to back away shaking her head, embarrassment flooding through her. "Gin, no, that's not me, that's you. I don't do makeovers"

Ginny rolled her eyes, "I know I know, I won't do anything crazy. There's a 'Mane Tamer' charm in here which could help... look! it says 'smooths and soothes wayward curls!'" She glanced up at the loose offshoots of curls spiralling around Hermione's face. "Please Hermione! Let me try. It's not like I'm gonna be able to try it on myself" She reached up and tugged a strand of pin straight hair. "I wish mine did something like yours, straight is so boring."

Hermione felt an incredulous look settle onto her face "Ginny are you kidding? I've never been able to manage this and I've been dealing with it for 16 years! You do not want to deal with this, trust me." She sighed "Fine, you can try, only because I know it isn't going to work and you'll see what I'm dealing with here."

She dropped into the chair 'The things I do for this family' she thought to herself "Ok Gin, do your worst"


"Merlin's balls Hermione! You look so hot" Ginny looked at her smugly "You should listen to me more often"

Hermione looked at Ginny in the mirror, back at her hair, then back at Ginny. "Ginny, I'm not sure, it's not really me, is it?"

She hardly recognised the girl looking back at her in the mirror. Her hair was still wild, but it had a smooth, intentional look to it. Instead of frizz, it was a riot of soft looking ringlets. It made her look more grown-up and feminine. But it also made her nervous. Would people talk? There was still a part of her that was scared of being different. A holdover from being the weird girl on the playground that made unusual things happen. She was sure people would talk about her if she showed up at school like this, or even just went downstairs with the rest of the Weasley family.

"Hermione, it's your hair, how could it not be you? Anyways, it says here the charm only lasts about a fortnight, if you're not used to it by the time we go back to school, we won't do it again. Come on, I reckon if we help Mum with the washing up she'll give us some of those tea cakes she made this morning"

Ginny grabbed her hand and tugged her up off of the stool. She yanked the door open and bounded down the stairs. Her voice echoed up the stairway "Let's go 'Mione!"

Hermione took one last look at the girl reflected back at her, then followed Ginny downstairs, fighting the rising nervousness at displaying her new look.