To look at us both, you'd surely see

We're cut of different cloths entirely.

I of shadows, secrets and shade.

You glinting of sunfire and flashing blade.

Fool that I was, I might have thought

To wrap you in gauze - but then you'd rot.

Battered and beaten, I know better now,

The branch of peace is a flowering bough.

I dream of a time when I might meet your eyes.

In a realm of ruddy fools there are few that are so wise.

Hermione hated shopping, hated dresses, and hated Lavender Brown and Parvati. Luckily, Padma, who also thoroughly hated these things, was here to share her misery. They didn't even have dress robes, a matter that Lavender was nearly shrieking about. Still, the dance was in just a few days, and Lavender had enough dresses for them all. Ginny and Luna were sitting in on the chaos, even though they weren't going. Hermione knew better than to tease Ginny about Harry - she'd had enough of that her first year, and even with the shade in her head shook out, she didn't need the aggravation. Luna, however, was fair game!

"If you could go with someone, who'd it be?" Hermione asked Luna, wanting a distraction from Yet More Dresses (how Lavender had managed to pack them all, Morgana only knew).

"Cedric, actually." Luna said softly.

"For real!" Parvati said, "Why him? I would have figured you'd be pining after Zambini, or maybe Longbottom."

"He always smiles at me," Luna said, smiling gently herself. "And he looks like he wants to say something, but never gets up the courage."

Hermione took a deep breath, and said, "I've got news about the person writing my letters."

Instantly, all eyes turned towards her. "Blaise Zambini says the writer's in Slytherin."

Padma stomped her feet, "Poop. I thought he'd be a Ravenclaw, sure as I bleed blue and bronze."

Luna simply smiled, and said, "No Ravenclaw I know would wait this long..." Her eyes turned questioningly to Hermione.

Hermione twisted the fabric of the dress in her hands, before raising her eyes to Luna's blues, "He's got reason to wait... Blaise said - and this doesn't go any further than this room, that the writer is the child of a Death Eater."

Lavender laughed that truly irritating twittery laugh of hers, and said, "Gods above! If he's going to wait, he might be waiting a long while!"

Luna's smile was wintry, the raven alone in the deepest snow, "Yes, I'd imagine so."

Hermione opened her mouth, closed it again, "I've got better news than that, though. Blaise took as his payment for this information... well, he's asked me to have a dance with any Slytherin that wants to at the Yule ball."

"Has he really?" Luna Lovegood said, smirking, "How nice of him. I wonder what he gets out of it."

Hermione frowned, and thought about it some, while her roommates prattled on about how it might have been Blaise that wanted the dance. Finally, after the talking had died down, Hermione Granger said, "Trust, I think." Looking at Luna, she frowned, deeply, "He's asked me to owe him a favor - another one, and I don't know what he'll ask of me."

Luna frowned, and said, "How likely are you to actually do what he asks?"

Hermione smiled, laughed and said, "That's the strange thing. I have the uttermost certainty that I'm going to do it."

Parvati laughed, her nails clicking together as she gathered the dress around Hermione's waist, "How did he manage that one?"

"He asked me if I would mind doing something a little immoral." Hermione said, and to the frowns, "No, not that bad, he said that I needn't do it if I thought it was wrong!"

Luna Lovegood said, "And you'd do something immoral?"

Hermione nodded, "I might. Tease someone a bit unkindly, do something that wasn't Truly harmful."

Luna Lovegood nodded slightly, saying, "It's a good thing someone thinks of these things."

[a/n: Hermione was the one procrastinating about finding a dress. Because obviously.

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This is Thursday, dance is on Saturday. But I'm not done with Thursday yet. You haven't seen what Draco's been up to.]