Hogsmeade was always crowded on those few weekends throughout the year when the students were allowed to visit. This weekend, however, it was absolutely filled to the brim with frantic customers as Christmas was rapidly approaching.

Therefore, it was a pretty awful time to choose to go on a first date, but that didn't stop Horatio Granger from asking Tracey Davis to accompany him to the village. Tracey had been Horatio's study partner since first year. Both of them were outcasts in their respective Houses. Horatio was considered an insufferable know-it-all by the majority of Gryffindor House and Tracey was a half-blood in Slytherin, so it was a wonder she had survived as long as she did.

Of course, they had eventually made friends in their Houses. Daphne Greengrass had taken Tracey under her wing and Horatio had been saved by Harry Potter and Ron Weasley by a mountain troll. Horatio had vowed never to eat dinner alone in the toilets ever again, no matter how much he was teased.

His friends had teased him relentlessly about going on his first date. Well, Ron had joined in only after whining for an hour about Horatio dating a sneaky Slytherin girl. Harry had smacked him over the head and Ginny had kicked him in the shin so his ire became focused elsewhere long enough for him to grudgingly admit that Tracey was nice - for a Slytherin.

"Am I to assume that we're heading to Tomes and Scrolls first chance we can get?" Tracey asked as they dodged around the masses.

"We are pretty predictable, aren't we?" Horatio answered and Tracey grinned.

"Well, it's not like we'll be getting into Honeydukes or Zonkos anytime soon with that - oh, Merlin, there's a queue wrapped around the building!" Tracey gasped in astonishment. Horatio agreed that the sheer amount of people waiting to get inside the two buildings was almost awe-inspiring.

"I was thinking if we did a later lunch we could miss any big crowds at the Three Broomsticks. I'd rather die than go into Madame Puddifoot's," they both shuddered at the thought of that pink pastel nightmare.

"Let's head in then, we just have to push through this wall and we've made it," Tracey's face became very determined. Horatio readied himself to sprint ahead, but Tracey had already grabbed his arm and was weaving them both through the throngs much more forcefully than someone of her stature should have been able to do.

The book shop was blissfully quiet compared to outside. Thankfully, people didn't really seem to think that books were the best Christmas gifts (Horatio and Tracey would both disagree) and they only found a few Ravenclaws inside.

"I always forget Shakespeare was a wizard," Tracey whispered as they passed by the fiction section. They had agreed beforehand to look at fiction first and academic last, otherwise they would probably have skipped over the fiction altogether.

"I never do," Horatio grumbled good-naturedly. His parents had named him after the Hamlet character and they had been absolutely delighted upon learning from their son that the Bard had been magical. They had taken to mentioning it proudly every time Horatio came back for breaks.

"I suppose I'll buy the full collection. After all, I haven't read many of the tragedies and I want to know the origin of your namesake," Tracey winked at him as she picked up the thick tome before they moved along.

After an hour or so, they had finally worked their way through the entire store. As Tracey put her large book pile on the counter to make her purchase, Horatio quickly slid his pile on as well and pulled out his money pouch before she could protest.

"You didn't have to buy me all of these, you know. I had quite a few…" Tracey fretted a bit as they walked away from the shop, their purchases shrunken down to a more manageable degree.

"I'm not exactly poor, Trace. Consider it an early Christmas present slash a memory for the first date," Horatio responded, his cheeks heating up a bit as he said the word "date."

"Fine, but you're letting me buy lunch and that's final!" Tracey huffed, but Horatio could tell she was secretly pleased. Her cheeks had also taken on a pleasant pinkish tint.

"Actually, I was wondering if you'd like to go back to the castle and spend the rest of the day reading some of our purchases. Everyone's out of the castle right now, so I could take you to the Gryffindor dorms and no one would bother you. In front of the fireplace is the best spot," Horatio's blush grew darker as Tracey looked up at him with a giant sparkle in her eyes and a smile plastered on her face.

"I'd like that very much," she said sweetly. He took her hand and they maneuvered their way back to the path leading up to the castle. They made it to the front doors and Tracey suddenly stood on her tiptoes to give him a kiss on the cheek. Horatio smiled and kissed hers in return. The date wasn't even halfway over and it was already a spectacular success.

Word Count: 864

Hall of Mirrors: Genderbend

Hedge Maze: (word) spectacular