Recap: She opened her mouth to retort but she was interrupted by the steady chiming of a clock. "Oh! It's time to leave." She said.
Just as she slipped out the door, she turned and gave him a three fingered wave "Buh-bye, Drakie-poo" She said cheekily, and then she was gone.
He sighed in irritation and frustration once he noticed that she had left the pouch of money.
Brains, beauty and a temper to match. He thought, this girl will be the death of me.
As Hermione escaped the Slytherins presence for the less preferable but more tolerable presence of Ginny & Luna, she pondered what she would tell her friends.
She would have to tell them what she needed the dress for, and when she told them it was for the upcoming dance, they would no doubt demand her date's name.
What would she tell them? Ginny, at least, knew that she had, at the very least, an infatuation with one of the other students.
But before she could dwell upon it, she was already at the Great Hall and accosted by Ginny.
Ginny launched herself at her, wrapping her arms around the brunette in a bone-crushing hug. "Hermione! I haven't seen you in ages!" Guiltily, she realized that the redhead was right. She had been spending all her time pining after Draco Malfoy. She detached herself and looked at her in a manner that eerily reminded her of the Weasely Matriarch. "You haven't been eating properly." She said as she scrutinized her.
"Hello, Hermione" Luna said dreamily, rescuing her from the redhead. She smiled at her friend.
As the trio made their way to Hogsmead, Ginny struck up a conversation.
"Where do you want to go?" She asked, making Hermione cringe internally.
"Umm… Well, I'm going to get a dress for the ball…" Hermione said, preparing herself for the question that came next.
"You're going to the ball? With who!" Ginny questioned.
Hermione relaxed slightly; it was a rather moderate reaction. She was prepared for screaming and—if possible—torture to reveal her date.
"Not telling" She said defensively.
"Oh, come on, Hermione!" The read head complained. "How come you're only getting the dress now?" She asked, trying to get her to reveal something.
It worked. She scowled, and started ranting. "Ron 'forgot' to tell me there was a ball, until the very last minute, where he oh-so-generously offered to escort me to the ball, since I didn't have a date" She finished her rant, drawing in a breath and making an attempt to calm herself down.
"Idiot" Ginny said darkly. "Don't worry; I'll make sure he gets a furry 8-legged friend under his pillow tonight". She looked at Hermione. "So who are you going with?"
"How about a guessing game?" Luna asked dreamily. They both jumped; they had forgotten she was there. "We ask you a yes or no question, and you answer truthfully" She offered.
"And I'll make sure Ron gets a spider in his bed every night until graduation" Ginny promised.
Hermione looked at the two. "Fine" She said hesitantly. "But when we get back to the castle."
"Deal" Ginny said, and then, dragging Hermione with her, made a beeline to the dress store, with Luna following behind them,
Hermione stared up at the sign on the store, and gulped.
Madame Ruby's Gowns
Madame Ruby was one of the most well-known magical dressmakers in Britain. Even the Muggles had heard of her. She was also well known as having the highest prices of all the dressmakers; but it was well justified. Every one of her gowns was magical, even in one small way. Most of the time, though, it was in a fairly large way.
Hermione looked at Ginny in horror, then Luna on her other side. "Why are we here?" Hermione asked.
"We're going to buy you a gown" Ginny said, matter-of-factly. "Or rather, Rune is"
"Rune?"
Ginny fished out a piece of parchment and showed it to Hermione.
GW,
Here are some funds to pay for Hermione's gown. Get her whatever you need at Madame Ruby's.
I don't care if you have to drag her kicking and screaming into the store; just get her there.
Hermione,
You didn't think that you could get out of this that easily, did you?
And don't worry; Madame Ruby doesn't use House Elves to make her dresses. I still don't understand why you insist on pursuing a club named after vomit.
Don't put up a fuss, or I'll tell Weasley that you're waiting for him to take you to the ball.
And, please, be careful not to burn a hole in the paper with the glaring I know you're doing right now; I wouldn't want you to get your hands burnt.
At the end of the letter was a rune, instead of a signature. Hermione stared darkly at the letter before her mouth twitched and she smiled, surprising the two girls watching. The rune translated into 'Ferret'.
Hermione gave in and laughed, handing the letter back to Ginny.
"How much did he give you?" Hermione asked, resigned.
"15,000 Galleons" Ginny said in awe. "I guess that this is your boyfriend?"
Hermione blushed deeply "No!" She exclaimed. "We're just friends". Then she remembered what she had said before that.
"15,000 galleons" Hermione grumbled. "15,000 galleons for doing absolutely nothing, except for making Ron's face turn an interesting shade of red" Then she smiled wryly. "I suppose he enjoys it more than I do".
"Aha!" Ginny exclaimed triumphantly, making Hermione jump. "It's someone who doesn't like Ron, and Ron doesn't like him!" She mused to herself.
Hermione rolled her eyes to disguise her brief panic. "Who does Ron like?" She asked sarcastically. "Anyone I go out with, he'll immediately hate"
"The exception being if you go out with him" Luna asked in a vaguely questioning voice.
"No." Hermione corrected, her voice hardening slightly. "I will never go out with Ron Weasley again!"
"And he's rich" Ginny said, still continuing her musings on Hermione's mystery date.
"Not that rich" Hermione said, trying to cover her tracks.
"Oh, yes, he's that rich. He gave us another 10,000 each to buy stuff for ourselves." She said, her eyes gleaming.
"And you accepted it?" She asked, surprised; Ginny was as stubborn as Ron when it came to accepting gifts.
"Hey, I don't like charity, but I can forget that in the sake of fashion" She said, her eyes gleaming.
They entered the store, and Ginny immediately started browsing, while Luna drifted off to the other side of the store.
Hermione wandered through the store, looking at some of the more promising items.
That was interrupted, though, when Ginny came at her with an armful of clothes.
Hermione stared at her friend, and picked up one at random. It was red and gold, with a neckline that virtually split the dress in two.
She shook her head, not bothering to look at the rest. They were all red and gold.
"I don't want red and gold" She told Ginny, and flicked her wand to return all the dresses. "I want silver and gold"
"Aha!" Ginny said again, and Hermione suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. "He's Slytherin!"
She stared at her friend. "How on earth did you figure that out?"
"Silver and gold. House colours" She said matter-of-factly.
Hermione opened her mouth to respond, but then saw Luna coming towards them holding a strapless blue-aqua dress. It had deep blue sequins that sparkled rainbow colours running down the side, like a waterfall, and had a hem that ended in gradual ruffles that looked and moved like waves.
"It's great, Luna!" Hermione said, knowing that the dress wasn't for her. "Go try it on!" She encouraged.
Luna smiled and drifted off to the change rooms.
"I got my dress first because I knew it would take the shortest." Luna explained.
After Luna tried on the dress (sure enough, it looked perfect on her), Ginny and Hermione continued looking for Hermione's dress while Luna drifted off again.
Ginny kept throwing dresses at Hermione, and each was much too revealing for her. One was even transparent!
Then, Luna came at them again, saving Hermione from her perpetual torture. This time she was holding out a deep red dress with a subtly curving neckline and a slit down the side. The magical effect, when Ginny tried it on, was that it increased body heat, and fit perfectly. It didn't sound like much, but Ginny said that it was better than walking around in a freezing cold dress that wouldn't fit after a couple of months.
Hermione wasn't sure she was being entirely truthful, though, judging by the blush on her friend's cheeks.
And so they went back to searching for a dress for Hermione. It was remarkably hard to find a silver and gold dress that didn't make the wearer look like they're wearing a coat of sparkly paint.
Ginny would pick up a pile of clothes, and Hermione would pick out those that she knew she wouldn't wear. Then she tried the rest on, and decided whether or not to get it, and then send it back to the rack. She was contemplating picking a dress just so she could leave already.
Then, a shining beacon of light: Luna came again. She didn't have a single dress, however, but instead a neat stack of clothes.
Hermione went through them with more patience, knowing that Luna's fashion sense may not be used regularly, but when it was, every male in the room started drooling. When paired with Ginny, they fainted and asked the woman in question to marry him.
There were ten dresses in all. This was significantly smaller than the number of clothes she'd tried on already. She narrowed it down to five dresses she'd try.
The first was a nice conservative dress with long, trailing sleeves the color of silver, and a gold body that shone like jewels.
The next was a sleeveless number that dipped at the sides. It was gold with a silver print of a vine that moved and grew like it was alive. Once the entire thing was covered in the silver of the vine, then a gold vine started growing, and on it went, in a continuous cycle.
The third had straps that hung horizontally off the shoulder. It was silver fading into gold with a gold pattern on the neckline and a silver pattern on the hem.
The fourth was meant to hang off the wearer's shoulders in ruffles that gradually lessened to a flowing bottom.
The other dresses just didn't fit her, but not in the literal sense of the word. There was only the one left.
The last was the one that she fell in love with. It had long sleeves, but left her shoulders exposed. It started off with a red haze that faded into gold. It had a pattern of silver and green intertwined vines trailing along the sides and sleeves.
She knew, though that it wouldn't look good on her. Maybe on someone who was actually pretty, like Lavender, or Parvati, but not her. On her, it would be shockingly obvious that she didn't belong in the dress.
Just like she didn't belong with Draco.
She rubbed her eyes in an effort to stop the tears pricking at the corners.
"Come on, Hermione!" Ginny said impatiently. She was still waiting for her to come out and try on the last dress.
She sighed, and put the gown on, closed her eyes so she couldn't see what she looked like, and stepped outside the dressing room.
She heard Ginny's gasp and Luna's approving sigh.
'They've seen me, and they know that it's the perfect dress, for someone else' she thought, resigned, and opened her eyes.
"Hermione! This is the dress!" Ginny squealed, and Luna nodded.
"Really?" She asked, startled, and ducked back into the change room to look in the mirror.
And promptly rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things.
It fit perfectly on her, in both senses of the word. It fit in all the right places, and matched wonderfully with her hair and chocolate brown eyes.
She had to blink for a moment to remind herself that this was her.
She took the dress off and exited the dressing room.
Then she looked at the price tag.
"10 thousand galleons?" She exclaimed, and then started rapidly shaking her head. "No, no, no"
"Now, now, Hermione" Ginny said reprovingly, taking the dress from her. "Do you want me to call Rune?"
She opened her mouth, then remembered his threat. There was no way that she was accompanying Ron Weasely anywhere!
Even if it meant buying a ten thousand galleon dress…
She sighed and put her hands up in surrender.
"Ok, fine" she said, defeated.
Ginny cheered and led Hermione to the register, after picking up a pair of silver strappy heels.
Hermione balked. "Ginny, I can't wear those!". She'd probably end up amputating someone's toes if she tried to dance in heels that long!
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Fine" she said. "We'll ask the clerk to shorten them"
They put their purchases on the counter in front of the clerk, and made the request. She was an old woman with a twinkle in her eyes that made her suspect a relation to Dumbledore.
"Hello, dears" She said in a cheery voice. "Is this the lot?"
Hermione nodded, then thought of a question. "What's the magical effect for this gown?" She asked, pointing to her dress.
She examined the dress, then brightened. "You have nice taste, young lady!" She said, smiling. "As long as you are wearing this dress, you are guaranteed to dance with your true love"
"My true love?" She asked skeptically.
"Don't sound so skeptical, now." She said, smiling. "Love is very powerful"
Hermione stared at the woman. It seemed like a very Dumbledore-esque thing, what she had just said.
She was pulled out of the shop, though, by Ginny and Luna. They had already paid for their purchases.
She looked back at where the woman had been as she left the store with her two friends.
But she was gone.