A/N: BIG MOMENT in this chapter. It is dialogue heavy, but that's OKAY. Anyway, read and review! And follow, and favorite, and read my other fics. Only if you want to though. Enjoy! Also, haven't made a disclaimer in a while, I feel its unnecessary buuut: I DONT OWN HARRY POTTER OR ITS WORLD. just my thoughts. Love- Bookworm
"What are you wearing?" George asked, sitting next to Hermione in the common room.
"Pardon?" She asked, looking up from her homework with an incredulous look.
"The ball? You should coordinate, so I've been sent to see what you are wearing." George explained, flicking a piece of paper around the table.
"Oh, erm I haven't quite settled on anything as of now." She said, and he looked shocked.
"Hermione, the ball is two weeks away, you best get a move on." He said, and she huffed.
"Fine. Then you help me pick." She said, pulling a thick envelope from her bag. "Mum sent me cutouts of dresses to choose from." She explained, pouring the catalog cutouts onto the table. George spread them out, and picked one up.
"What about this one?" He asked, the dress in question was a short orange dress that had a tulle skirt. Hermione wrinkled her nose at it, and George laughed.
"George, it's a ball, not a club." She stated, letting out a sigh as she looked at the pictures. They sat in silence for only a moment before George's hand shot out, pushing quite a few of the cutouts on the floor on his mission to grab the one he had just spotted.
"This one." He said, and Hermione noted that it wasn't formed as a question. She leaned over and looked at it.
"George, good eye." She said, trying to not sound too excited. It really was a beautiful dress. It was periwinkle, and had layers that cascaded down like a waterfall, it looked quite elegant.
"Okay, well now I can tell him." He said, eyeing her. "And you best tell your parents which one you want." He said, handing her the picture back. She sighed as he also shoved a blank bit of parchment under her nose. "Now." He ordered, before standing up from the table and walking away.
"Oh come on, just tell us who you are going with." Ron said, and she let out an angry sigh.
"No." She said, trying to pay attention to Professor Sprout.
"Well why not?" Ron asked, ripping a leaf off of a nearby plant and getting a glare from Neville.
"You'll laugh at me." She said, trying to get him off her back about the subject and turning to the plant in front of her to feed it, Sprout had finished with her instructions and now there was talk all around the room.
"But-" Ron started, but Harry cut him off.
"Just leave it alone mate." He said, and shook his head. Hermione gave him a grateful smile. She was really tired of Ron bothering her about the subject whenever they were in class.
Ron decided to flat out ignore Hermione, which suited her just fine. He no longer was asking for help on his homework, which meant she finished her own much faster the following weeks.
"Are you excited about tomorrow?" Parvati Patil asked, and Hermione blushed.
"A bit." She tried to sound calm, though her heart was beating very hard against her chest at the fact that tomorrow she would be taken to a ball by Fred Weasley.
"You really won't say who you're going with?" Parvati asked wistfully, and Hermione shook her head with a chuckle, somehow her asking wasn't as annoying as Ron asking her.
"You are so close, it's only tomorrow, surely you can hold out?" Hermione asked, sitting on her bed, the two girls now facing each other. Hermione grinned as she watched the girl opposite her have an internal battle with herself.
"Ugh, fine. I can wait. You should know the expense is killing me though." She said, pointing accusingly at Hermione. She smiled and nodded.
"I imagine that quite a few people are feeling that way." Hermione stated, and Parvati nodded in agreement. "Oh, I do have a favor to ask of you though." Hermione said, a little nervous.
"Yes?" She nodded for Hermione to ask.
"Well, I need help with this tomorrow." She said, stroking a lock of her curly hair.
"Oh of course I'll help you!" Parvati exclaimed, she continued to go on about different styles and products, Hermione only half listening to what she was saying.
That morning, the Great Hall seemed to really be buzzing, everyone was highly talkative about the Ball. She was sitting with the twins and Lee, they weren't talking about the ball though.
"No, I reckon that the second will be worse." Lee was saying, and George laughed.
"Worse than Dragons?" He asked, still laughing slightly.
"I reckon it's going to be different, but around the same level of danger." Hermione inserted, and Fred looked at her quizzically.
"What do you mean?" He asked, George and Lee turning their attention to her as well.
"Well I mean, if you have ever read up on the Tournament, you see that the first and second tasks are usually different. Complete opposites but equally dangerous." She explained, and the boys shared looks with each other. She turned back to her breakfast with a shrug and the boys continued with their conversation, expanding on their thoughts given their newfound information.
They spent most of their day being lazy in the common room, Hermione reading her book and Fred and George planning an elaborate prank. It was about four in the evening when Parvati came up to Hermione.
"We should go get ready." She said, and Hermione nodded, setting her book aside.
"Blimey, the ball doesn't start for three hours." George said, aghast. "You need three hours to get ready?" He asked, and Hermione shared a look with Parvati.
"Perfection takes time." Parvati said wisely, and Hermione grinned.
"Yes, so we shall go." She said, grabbing Parvati's arm and leading them up into their dormitory.
It took a long time for her hair to be tamed, though Hermione gasped when she saw it.
"Parvati… It's lovely." She said, and the other girl grinned, happy with her handiwork. They quickly did Parvati's hair, hers taking much less time, then they dressed. Parvati was speechless at Hermione's dress, and had one hand covering her mouth.
"Whoever is taking you tonight… is one lucky bloke." She said after a moment. Hermione let out an uncharacteristic giggle. They finished up their looks, and walked down into the Common room. She and Fred had agreed to meet down in the Entrance Hall, and she and Angelina had agreed that they would walk down together. They grinned at each other and walked out of the portrait hole. They walked down to the Entrance Hall, both turning heads of people they passed.
"Can you imagine how many people will be staring once they see that we are going with the twins?" She whispered into Hermione's ear, who blushed when she saw the two redheads standing tall, waiting for their dates.
"Oh I don't think we'll need to imagine much longer." She said, staring at Fred as they walked. The twins hadn't seen them yet, and Hermione's heart was pounding. She reached out and grasped Angelina's hand for just a moment before they stepped off the stairs and the twins caught sight of them.
"Hermione." She saw Fred's mouth move, though she didn't hear him. She stopped walking, he was wearing a crisp black set of dress robes, with a bow that matched the color of her dress exactly. He had a lopsided smile set on his face, and he walked briskly to where she was standing. Hermione's mind flashed back to when Fred and Lee had the fight last year.
"Well I don't know how I feel." She heard him say in her thoughts.
Well, she knew how she felt, and it was time that he knew too. He reached her and held out his hand.
"You look-" He started, but was cut off by Hermione flinging herself to him and kissing him full on the mouth. His eyes opened wide before he wrapped his arms around her and returned the kiss enthusiastically. They stayed, arms around each other for a long moment before a throat cleared.
George stood next to them, eyebrows raised. He looked around, and Hermione saw that they were being stared at from all directions, she stepped away from Fred, blushing deeply.
"Well.. Shall we?" She asked, looking at Fred, who had a large grin plastered on his face.
"Oh we shall." He said, holding his arm out for her to take.